All right, we're here in John chapter 3 and so the night sermon is called he
must increase but I must decrease and that's a very famous verse in John 3
verse 30 but there are a couple verses here in this chapter that I don't want
to skip so we have two rabbit trails and we're gonna hit those right off the bat
just so when we get to the sermon it's really a kind of a congruent sermon not
going off in all kinds of tangents and so the first thing I want you to notice
is in John 3 starting at verse 32 where the Bible reads and what do you have seen
and heard that he testifieth and no man receiveth his testimony he then hath
received his testimony hath said to his seal that God is true so the Bible is
talking about receiving the testimony of Jesus Christ now we know when the Bible
talks about receiving him or receiving Jesus or receiving the word we're
talking about somebody getting saved so when it says receiving his testimony
it's talking about them getting saved so it says in verse number 32 no man
received his testimony now the reason why it says no man is because by and
large there's very few people that actually believe his testimony and get
saved yeah and the grand scope of things it's very small I mean it's literally
like no man compared to the rest of what it's like one less than 1% of this world
is saved very few people receive the testimony of Jesus Christ the reason
why we know it's not no man like completely zero is because the next
verse he says he that hath received his testimony so there are some that do
receive his testimony all of us have received the testimony of Jesus Christ
that he died on the cross he was buried and rose again but then again the vast
majority of people we know in our personal lives they haven't received
the testimony of Jesus habit so it's as if it's no man says he that hath
received his testimony has said to his seal that God is true now what I really
want to highlight here is the fact it talks about the testimony of Jesus
Christ see salvation is do we receive the testimony of Jesus or do we
reject the testimony of Jesus now you know there's a lot of people when they
preach the gospel they want to focus on their personal testimony yeah that is
not how we preach the gospel yeah because the gospel is not that well when
I was 18 years old I got saved where I started going to church when I was 19
years old no salvation the gospel is the testimony of Jesus that he was crucified
buried and rose again you know what there's a lot of people out there that
would spend their time focusing on their personal testimony now the biggest
culprits are these repentance of sins heretics yeah that's all they talk about
is their testimony they talk about boy I was the worst center of them all I used
to drink I used to party I was a drug addict and then I received Jesus bless
God yeah that what they say now now here's my testimony I didn't drink
before I got saved I didn't party I was homeschooled now now let's be honest who
has a better testimony who has a cleaner testimony probably me because I wasn't a
drunk why would you glory in your sin that's garbage praise the Lord if you
quit drinking but look the sins I committed I'm not gonna stand up here
and brag about what I did before I was saved or what I did several years ago
yeah I'm glad I got it out of my life why would you brag about do you ever see
God's people bragging about the sin they used to commit do you see Paul the
Apostle talking about boy man I used to kill people you don't see that he's not
bragging in a personal testimony and why would you brag about that it doesn't
make sense the repentance of sins crowd is the worst culprits but you know what
the truth is that I've heard independent fundamental Baptist preachers say the
strongest thing you can have is your personal testimony because nobody can
argue against your personal testimony you know what happened in your life but
they can argue about the testimony of Jesus it's like salvation is whether or
not they believe the testimony of Jesus or not yeah here's what's funny about it
most people do not receive the testimony of Jesus could we agree on that we got
99% of this country that you know rejects it 90% this country's Catholic
9% is all kinds of other weird religions most people reject the testimony of
Jesus you know what the truth is there probably a much higher percentage of
people that would receive my testimony if I told them about how God changed my
life they'd be like wow that's amazing that doesn't get them saved though yeah
I mean who cares if I give them my testimony and they say wow that's great
now look if we want to bring people to church talk to people that you know that
are saved and tell them how great this church is and how it is changing your
life but if you're gonna preach the gospel to someone you don't talk about
your testimony yeah talk about the testimony of Jesus Christ now turn to
Psalms 19 Psalms 19 verse 7 and when it comes to people that focus on their
testimonies by and large they're usually not saved yeah you know I've been to
when I was a freshman in college when I got saved so the next couple years I was
in all these like Christian groups on the college campus you know and they
have like every denomination under the Sun because they want to accept
everybody so you got Methodists Lutherans Catholics Baptists Pentecostals
you got people from all backgrounds in these places they would have testimony
time and people would get up here and give their testimony and they talked
about boy I grew up in church and you know when I was a teenager I started to
drink I strayed away from God and I came to college I decided to rededicate my
life to God and everyone starts clapping and I'm looking around like am I missing
something where's the part about you believed on Jesus and the truth is the
vast majority of those people are unsafe that's why they receive that testimony
but they reject the testimony of Jesus Christ our salvation is dependent on
what you think about the testimony of Jesus do you believe or do you reject
Psalms 19 verse 7 the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the
testimony of the Lord is sure making wise and simple now this verse is the
whole basis for the way of the bastard series the way of the master and that is
not cussing that word is in the Bible the way of the bastard series by Ray
Comfort who here knows Ray Comfort the way of the master series he's the
biggest repentance of sins heretic in the world right yeah he has such a huge
reach where he's preaching the gospel to people and his whole thing is getting
people to turn from their sins this is his big verse for his ministry what he
says is this he says when it says the law of the Lord is perfect he says
that's referring to the Ten Commandments so when we preach the gospel if you want
to get people say if you want to convert the soul you just talk about the Ten
Commandments now here's why that's foolish look up the word law throughout
the entire Bible and guess what the law first off there's more than Ten
Commandments buddy yeah there's a lot of Commandments right but the second thing
is this look up the law in the Bible and guess what it's referring to it's
referring to all the words of God yeah it's not just referring to Commandments
yes there are certain laws in the Bible but the whole Bible is referred to as
the law of God I mean have you not cross-reference it have you not looked
that up Ray Comfort and so what is saying the law of the Lord is perfect
converting the soul amen cuz guess what you can't get saved without the word of
God but it's not the Ten Commandments that's perfect converting the soul
that's garbage and yes at the beginning of the conversation we show people
they're guilty but look you know you don't have to browbeat someone and just
talk about how in front of their wife have you ever lusted after another woman
that's garbage why are you doing that once someone understands they're guilty
you give them the good news yeah if all you're doing is just giving them the Ten
Commandments how is that good news you give them the good news and the second
part of this verse says that testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the
simple so once again what we're seeing is to convert the soul you use the Word
of God and the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ when we preach the gospel
we use the Word of God and we really focus on what Jesus Christ did now turn
to 1st Corinthians 2 1st Corinthians 2 you say well that's just your opinion I
think I can convert people with my testimony well I think most of us in
this room would agree that outside of the Lord Jesus Christ Paul the Apostle
was maybe the greatest soul winner who ever lived I mean this is a guy who
spoke so many languages he can literally go on any missions trip and it's like
well they speak English it doesn't matter he speaks the language right he
go anywhere I mean he was a guy who knew languages and he was just so dedicated
wrote half the New Testament what does Paul the Apostle say in 1st Corinthians
2 verses 1 & 2 and I brethren now now think about Paul the Apostle this guy
was a wise guy this guy was a smart guy if there was anybody that could convert
people from his personal testimony he used to kill people he used to be in a
part of that in helping people destroy Christians and destroy the church if
anybody had a powerful testimony wasn't it Paul the Apostle yeah what does he
say in 1st Corinthians 2 verses 1 & 2 and I brethren when I came to you came
not with excellency of speech of wisdom declaring on you the testimony of God
for I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him
crucified Jesus for Paul the Apostle he realized that yes I have a powerful
testimony of how I became a Christian a very unique story but he doesn't tell
people about how hey I was on the road to Damascus and I saw this big light
from heaven in this voice he doesn't do that he's not a Pentecostal right that's
Manny Pacquiao's conversion story it's like why don't you focus on the
testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and that's what Paul did he didn't use wise
words he just told he said I determined not to know anything he made it a point
to say I am NOT gonna try to talk like James White and these Calvinists that
talk about how smart they are and talk on such a level that nobody understands
the words they're saying he says I determined not to know anything save
Jesus Christ and him crucified all he did was give the testimony the Lord
Jesus so how do people get saved it's the testimony of Jesus not our own
personal testimony but wise words turn back to John 3
we're gonna look at one other thing so the first thing is the testimony of
Jesus is what saves this is not really part of the sermon but I just think it's
a really awesome verse that we should highlight here and the second thing I
want you to talk to you about which is a controversial thing even in regards to
within our movement we posted videos on our YouTube channel and Verity Baptist
I've been called a heretic for what I'm gonna preach I'm gonna repreach it
because it's right what the Bible says and that is this that a person cannot
quit believing amen okay now I want to make it very clear I'm not saying they
can never be confused at all okay because we see in the Bible in the
Church of Galatia they do get confused a little bit with false teachers false
teachers come in and they preach on things over and over again you can get
confused but you cannot get saved to become an atheist you can't get saved
and become a Mormon or Muslim or INC or one of these calls look at what it says
in John 3 verse 33 he that hath received his testimony hath said to his seal that
God is true this is talking about somebody getting saved they receive the
testimony of Jesus and it says hath said to his seal that God is true so two
things I want to highlight here said to his seal notice that word seal and that
God is true now turn to Ephesians 1 Ephesians 1 now I literally preach
pretty much word for word what I'm about to preach again because it's what the
Bible says and I won't back down on this I don't care who calls me a heretic
because this is what the Bible says Ephesians 1 in whom he also trusted
after that he heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom
also after that ye believe ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise
notice seal with the Holy Spirit of promise remember the Bible calls the
Holy Ghost the spirit of truth okay said to his seal that God is true you're
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the spirit of truth the Bible
says when you get saved you're sealed with the spirit of truth these are not
just vain words God's using he's trying to tell you something okay now turn to
1st John 5 1st John 5 now it's turn to 1st John 5 I'm gonna read you Romans 1
verse 4 I think it's 3 verse 4 I got wrong reference but it says in Romans
let God be true but every man a liar let God be true but every man alive see
these things are opposites from one another if I were to tell you tonight I
have a son named Zephaniah and you say you know what I don't think you're
telling the truth you're calling me a liar but if you do believe me you say
I'm not lying you're telling the truth see these things are opposite from one
another and see when you get saved you set to your seal that God is true which
means you're never gonna call God a liar okay you're calling God true you're
never gonna call God a liar 1st John 5 notice what it says in verse 10 he that
believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself he that believeth not
God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave
his son and so the Bible says that if you don't believe the record if you
don't believe what's written about Jesus Christ you're making God a liar you
either believe what's written you believe he's telling the truth or you're
calling him a liar it's one or the other okay and the Bible says those that don't
believe they're making God a liar because they're not believing the
record now remember when you get saved you've set your seal that God is true
you're never going to make him a liar now what is it exactly that it says
you're not going to make him a liar about notice verse 11 and this is the
record this is what is written that God hath given to us eternal life and this
life is in his son three things mentioned there one is life is in his
son salvation is only in Jesus Christ the Bible saying is once you get saved
you believe that to get saved you must believe salvation is only in Jesus and
you're never going to change your mind about that yeah you're never gonna say
well wait a minute actually I do believe there's salvation in Muhammad after all
no you're gonna realize that salvation is only in Jesus and when the spirit of
truth indwells you you will not believe anymore that salvation is in Muhammad or
Buddha or all these other methods you're gonna realize there's one way to heaven
it's only in Jesus Christ but it also says God hath given to us okay this is
parallel with Romans 6 23 the second half that verse God's giving you
eternal life the gift of God if something's being given to you it's a
gift so when you get saved what do you have to believe you have to believe
salvation is a gift not 99% again but a hundred percent that Jesus paid it all
100% I don't have to repent of one sin to be safe I don't repent of any sins
to be safe because it is a gift God's giving us eternal life and see when you
get saved you realize God's giving you eternal life which means you're never
gonna say one day you know what I think I got to get baptized to be saved now I
think I gotta live a good life to be saved look it's possible to get confused
but you know what you can only get confused so far and here's what I've
noticed through my years of soul winning that sometimes I'll talk to someone and
they'll say hey salvation's in Jesus and I'll ask them about eternal security and
they'll say you know what you know that's an interesting question sometimes
you'll have people that are like huh that's interesting and then you give
them one verse and they immediately switch and say of course that makes
sense it's eternal you know you're a child of God that's gonna be forever now
that's a sign to me that that's someone who got saved that has never heard real
Bible preaching before if we get somebody saved in Rizal Park and they
stay in Catholic Church for years and they never hear good preaching they can
get a little bit confused but honestly they're gonna switch immediately when
they hear the truth because they either hear the voice of the shepherd where
they don't hear the voice of the shepherd and when people are saved with
the spirit of truth inside of them they're gonna hear the voice of the
shepherd now obviously we got heretics that try to come in and be very
confusing on topics like repentance of sins because you got three sides of
this repentance of sins you got us that would say it's work salvation you got
them that say you got to repent of your sins and then there's people like why
can't we just all be friends why can't we just agree to disagree I mean this
is not a big deal I mean whether you repent or you know I mean it's I mean
it's the same thing right no it's not yeah and see these people in the middle
or what confuse people because we feel like we're too fundamental sometimes on
topics because everybody's like man why can't we just get along and you start
wondering in your head a little but maybe I'm too extreme right and so what
it does is it makes the area gray okay they're the ones who confuse so they
make it very confusing so people sit in those churches and they can get a little
bit confused themselves but they can only get so confused okay I've heard
stories of repentance of sins heretics pastors that somebody will come down to
the altar to get saved and then they'll say you know what you know you must
quit living with your girlfriend before you can be saved no safe person is ever
insane okay you're not gonna get that confused right see there's a reason why
we say the eternal security of the believer because guess what when you get
saved you will always believe right that's the proof of whether or not
someone say we talked to them they have the wrong message of salvation but
they're living a great life I assume they're not saying they have the right
message of salvation they're living a rotten life I assume they are saved
because salvation is based on what you believe okay now turn back to John 3
turn back to John 3 also in that verse is your turn in John 3 when it said
eternal life you must believe it's eternal and here's the thing once you
get that you're never gonna change your mind about that you're not gonna say
well you know actually I do think that you can lose your salvation no you're
not gonna think that right you're gonna understand salvation lasts forever okay
now in two common salvation verses we use John 3 18 and 336 these actually say
exactly what I'm saying it says in John 3 verse 18 he that believeth on him is
not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already so there's two
people those that believe in those that don't those that are not condemned to
those that are condemned the person that does not believe notice this because he
have not believed he never believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God
he didn't believe and stop with no he never believed he had not believed he's
never believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God you know when one of
these guys called me a heretic I commented back on YouTube for whatever
reason I was wasting my time and you know he told me he's like well if you
want to take the Bible that literally it's like yeah I do take the Bible
literally that's what it says you're admitting yes that's what it says I
don't know how to answer it yeah I understand there's Christians and
believers they get worldly I understand Solomon got deceived by his wives and
allowed himself to have all these idols in front of him it doesn't mean he
changed what he believed it took to get to heaven it means he was living a very
backslidden life okay and see there's a big big difference there notice John 3
verse 36 he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life and he that
believeth not the son shall not see life he'll never see life he'll never
receive life it's not that you can have life and lose it the person that doesn't
believe he shall not see like why cuz he never believed he never had like he
shall not see life yeah yeah you take it literally that's what it says that's why
I said in the verses in our bulletin that's why we memorize the salvation
verses those those verses I know we know these verses we've heard of preached a
million times these are deep verses we want to understand these verses left
right and down the center so we have heretics come with weird things we can
stomp them out and destroy that right there yeah so those are the two rabbit
trails right off the bat that you know what the testimony of Jesus that's what
say not our own personal testimony and you cannot quit believing and I'm not
gonna back down on that topic I understand people can get a little bit
confused but don't tell me this is this is the thing they'll say you know well
you know I know somebody that when they were eight years old they pray and ask
Jesus to save them and now they're an atheist if you don't believe they're
saved then you must not believe in eternal security that's garbage it's not
what the Bible teaches you know yeah plenty of people pray and ask Jesus to
save them that are from Pentecostals preaching them the gospel all the time
that doesn't mean they got saved so let's look at John 3 verse 22 John 3
verse 22 and it says in verse 22 after these things came Jesus and his
disciples into the land of Judea and there he tarred with them and baptized
and John also was baptizing an anon near to Salem because there was much water
there and they came nor baptized for John was not yet cast into prison then
there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about
purifying and so John's disciples and the Jews they get into a disagreement
they get into an argument it's not really surprising because you know what
if we were there as John's disciples or people that love the Lord we'd probably
be arguing with the Jews about anything that comes up when it comes to religious
topics verse 26 and they came on to John and said unto him rabbi he that was
with thee beyond Jordan to whom thou bearest witness behold the same
baptizeth and all men come to him now when you stop and think about what
they're telling him it's kind of a rude statement they're basically saying you
know what John he used to be the hottest thing in town now everybody's leaving
you and they're going to Jesus when you notice what they're saying it's actually
kind of a rude statement I don't know if it's intentional but it is a rude
statement now one thing I've noticed in churches that are like-minded honestly
sometimes people make statements like this I've heard people say that you know
they'll be in front of a pastor that loves the Lord that's serving God and
they'll talk about how pastor Anderson's their favorite pastor in front of one of
the pastors in our movie people we would listen to in love it's like what are you
doing it's like you know before you learn all this doctrine you might want
to learn when to speak and when not to learn to have some discretion rather than
just saying whatever pops into your mind and it's like look I you know there's
lots of great pastors out there but there's no need to compare compare them
from one to the next John the Baptist is doing a great work so why would you say
you know what everybody's leaving you because Jesus is better than you
obviously Jesus is better it doesn't mean that you have to tell him that
obviously John the Baptist was a great man now honestly when it comes to our
flesh it's very easy to get offended by this sort of state John the Baptist
that's why John 330 which is the title of the sermon we have one of the most
famous verses in the entire Bible because John the Baptist there's a
reason why the Bible says he was better than anybody else and he was a guy who
not only knew scripture but he had the personality I mean he had everything he
loved the Lord he was a very righteous man and so one thing we don't want to
ever do is compare from one pastor one church to another look there's other
churches in the Philippines that are doing great works and you know us some
are getting more saved than us I have no problem with that praise the Lord
that's great I'm not I'm not comparing myself with them that's great if they're
getting more say that's great they're getting off and say we're getting a lot
of people say they're getting more safe I don't have a problem with that if
they're getting more baptized in us I don't have a problem with that if their
church grows faster than us I don't have a problem with that because this is the
area that God has placed us in and we just have to zealously live for the Lord
and do what we can to build this church and grow this church hey if God is
blessing other people more than us or they're doing a better work praise the
Lord I don't need to compare myself with them because this is a great church and
we know that there's no need to compare ourselves to another church if we exceed
another church we should never say to them hey you know we're running more
than you or we get more saved than you that's that's a foolish statement to
make it's a foolish attitude to have there's no need to compare especially
when you've got two great churches it's not like we're comparing this church to
a lame Baptist Church and then all of a sudden say well your church is garbage
yeah your churches are garbage they don't even have the right message of salvation
they're not going so winning yeah when you come to two churches that are doing
good works or two people in this church there's no need to compare various
people in this church to say well so and so gets more saved than so and so look
almost everybody this church goes so winning that's great and we're all
growing and some people maybe you're growing faster than others or slower or
maybe you've just been saved longer and listen to the preaching longer so you're
further up ahead there's no need to compare us it's a foolish thing the
Bible speaks about that not comparing yourself it says you're unwise if you do
that so they make the same as John the Baptist which honestly is kind of a rude
statement but you'll notice the way John the Baptist responds is perfectly and it
gets to that verse in verse 30 where he says he must increase but I must
decrease so how does a person have this sort of response how is John the
Baptist able to deal with this because I'll be honest that if somebody came
with that sort of rude statement to me it'd be very hard to have the perfect
attitude like John the Baptist had John the Baptist Bible says with the greatest
man born among women there's nobody better than him at that time and he
hears this statement he has the perfect response we're gonna look at three
points of how John the Baptist and why he was able to respond that way and
honestly mean it and not get envious not get mad whatsoever the first thing I
want you to understand is this that everything we have in life comes from
God look at John 3 verse 27 John answered and said a man can receive
nothing except to be given him from heaven talk about a good response to
that statement a man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven you
know what he's saying he's like yeah you know what he was given more from heaven
than me he's like the reason why he's bad God gave him more he has no he's not
trying to compare himself one another he's basically saying everything I've
been given hey praise the Lord for that he's been given more that's up to God I
don't decide that right and so I want to look at a few areas where we need to
realize that everything we get comes from God that's turned to Psalm 75 Psalm
75 and one area in life where we need to realize that everything comes from God
we need to realize that the jobs we get in life they come from God yeah it says
in Psalm 75 verses 5 through 7 lift not up your horn on high speak not with
stiff neck for promotion come with neither from the east nor from the west
nor from the south but God is the judge he put it down one and he said it's up
another he said brother stuck you know my job I don't make as much money as I
deserve that's God's decision work hard at that job maybe he'll bless you and
you'll make more money maybe you won't now let me say this as a tangent thing
one thing we should never do which is rude is disrespectful not that I think
they have a problem with it but I just want it to be known we should never ask
people how much money they make okay that's that's a foolish thing to do okay
certain things should be kept private I know we live in this Facebook world
where everything just goes online there's certain things that should just
be private things it's not something you talk to amongst yourselves say well you
know so-and-so makes this much money look there's no need to talk about
something like that but we realize that you know what God's the one who puts up
one and puts down another so if there's somebody at this church who makes good
money you look maybe God just decided to promote maybe they just worked hard or
maybe just God knew they could actually handle the money who knows but you know
that's God's decision so what all of us need to do whatever job we have is just
work hard and trust in God now I do believe one thing I do want to mention
is this especially as we have a lot of young guys here or not at this time
married you want to work hard now and put yourself in position so you can
support him now in America I'll be honest with you every single guy who's
married can support him now you might have to work a lot of hours but even if
you had no skills whatsoever and you worked at McDonald's you could work 80
hours a week you'd be able to support a fan I'm not saying would be the nicest
lifestyle but you'd be able to support a family the truth is in the Philippines
we're not as blessed financially as the United States right United States you
know actually the United States you can work zero hours and the government will
pay for you and your wife you don't even need to get a job right but here in
the Philippines it's gonna be difficult I'm not saying it's gonna be easy and
even more so especially when you're young put yourself in a position where
you can support a family which means don't just waste all the money you get
and work hard and so God will look down at you and he can build you up and put
you in a position so you can get married and you can support a family it's not
gonna be easy now I believe the reason why this country is not blessed
financially like it was what like 30 40 years ago when it used to have a lot
more money you say well it was you know what is Marcos is that the name of the
guy it's Marcos fault right no actually it was probably this country got wicked
and that's why God looked down and took everything away that's what you see
throughout the Bible when a country gets wicked God takes it away yes there was a
man who was in charge of it here in the country but it wasn't his fault it was
God's people fault that's the reason why somebody wasn't going on it wasn't being
preached at churches and that's why the country this country's become more poor
because this country used to be a wealthy Asian country compared to most
countries in Asia now it's now it's mid-range we're still not really a poor
country though when you compare us to a lot of countries there's a lot of
countries poor but you know honestly you're gonna have to work hard to
provide for a family so the smart thing is put yourself in a position now if you
say I want my wife to stay home and raise the kids I want to homeschool the
kids when you're young put yourself in that position now save up don't waste
money work hard work overtime when you can do what you need to do to put
yourself in that position because honestly it's not going to be as easy
and honestly you listen all the preaching that comes from the u.s. you
have to realize they're in the u.s. and they understand how it works there it's
gonna be harder here it's going to be more difficult here it's just a reality
it's going to be tougher so even more so especially when you're young while
you still can do it work hard to put yourself in a position where you can
provide but we do realize everything comes from God God's the one who
provides your job and look in the Bible there's people that had miserable jobs
but they were living for the Lord and all of a sudden they're the second
person in Egypt in charge Joseph right God can put you up so work hard and God
can push you up into a better position help you make more money
turn to Proverbs 30 Proverbs 30
Proverbs 30 and the next thing I want to look at not only jobs but also when it
comes to money or wealth we realize that comes from God these things are kind of
related but notice what it says in verse 7 Proverbs 30 verse 7 two things have I
required of thee deny me them not before I die remove far from me vanity and lies
give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me lest I be
full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and
take the name of my God in vain and so he says basically I don't want to be
rich I don't want to be poor I just want God to provide my needs quite honestly
all of us are having our needs provided right we might not have only one maybe
we don't get to eat at what's the big buffet rest of the spiral buffet
restaurant I've heard about here it's like 70 bucks per plate or something
you're like some crazy man like 4,000 pesos for a meal it's like maybe we
don't get to eat there every week okay we're not Baptist pastors right but you
know God still provides our needs he still provides our food and our wealth
that we have it comes from God man a couple other things I won't turn to any
verses but you know when it comes to intelligence you know what some people
are born more intelligent than others don't look down on someone because maybe
they want the most intelligent person born that's not their fault
don't glory in how intelligent you are but also if you're not as intelligent
look you can still work hard to provide for a family it's not like oh wow you
know I'm just gonna throw in the talent life no God has a purpose for you we
realize everything comes from God if our our health our health comes from God now
obviously God expects us to eat healthy and put ourselves in a good position in
life and not just you know I don't know jolly be everyday or whatever I'm not a
fan of jolly be so obviously God expects you to drink more water than pop
and you know what but at the same time we realize our health comes from God and
I truly believe that living righteousness the number one way to stay
happy that's my opinion and actually I believe I can prove that scripturally
it's part of a sermon series later this year we'll talk about health but our
health comes from God but you know there's people in the Bible that were
very godly people like Elisha and you know he struck ill with the disease just
because someone struck you with a disease that doesn't mean they're not
right with God we realize our health comes from God even our state of mind
our sanity comes from God remember Nebuchadnezzar God struck him and made
him crazy it was insane think about Saul Saul was given an evil spirit I believe
that evil spirit was the spirit of fear that God put upon him and when your
whole life is driven by fear you're gonna act like a madman scared to death
of everything Saul had lost his sanity even as a believer Saul had lost his
sanity so we realize that all these things come from God and this is
something that John the Baptist realized that's what he said and John you can
turn back to John 3 but that's what he said in John 3 he said a man can receive
nothing except to be given him from heaven so we realized everything we're
given in life that comes from God and so here's the thing when you realize
everything comes from God when you lose it all it's not gonna bug you as much
because you realize you know what God chose to take it away think about the
way Joe reacted I don't think I'd react the way Joe did it's probably the reason
why God's not gonna put me in position like Joe had that sort of money and that
sort of you know influence and power or whatever because in fact I probably
wouldn't deal with it as well as Joe but you know John the Baptist what he
realized is you know what God gave me this ability to influence all these
people my whole goal was just to serve God and now I don't have the same
influence anymore it didn't bother me didn't bug him John chapter 3 and the
second point we have is this another thing to keep in mind something John the
Baptist did was our purpose in life here is to serve on behalf of God we are just
here to serve God notice what it says in verse 28 ye yourselves bear me witness
that I said I am NOT the Christ but that I am sent before him he that hath the
bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and
heareth and rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice this my joy
therefore is fulfilled so Bible talks about the bride and the bridegroom then
it talks about the friend of the bridegroom right in in our modern day you
know you hear like the best man at a wedding okay the friend of the
bridegroom the best man now I have an interesting story I was the best man at
a wedding four years ago before we got married and I remember it was Paul
Wittenberger was like filming Marching to Zion and he was there and I got a
call from Pastor Anderson Pastor Anderson asked me if I wanted to be in
Marching to Zion to explain a math problem okay but you know I was the best
man at the wedding and I paid I told Pastor Anderson I'll try to make it but
I don't know I wasn't able to make the interview why because you know what when
you're when you're the best man at a wedding you know that's the most
important thing for you to be doing right and it's like you know the friend
of the bridegroom he's here just to help the bridegroom out right at a wedding
when you're the best man when you're just a friend you're just there to serve
and help the best you can aren't you and see that's what it's talking about here
verse 28 29 the friend of the bridegroom how does he get his joy he rejoices
greatly because the bridegroom's voice this my joy therefore you're just happy
to be the best man you're just happy to be the friend helping to serve that's
the way John the Baptist was he realized I'm just here to help serve I'm not here
to be the big man in town I'm not the bridegroom I'm just a friend of the
bridegroom to help out I'm just trying to help people realize how great the
bridegroom is John the Baptist realized that turn to John 15 John 15 people have
this idea in life that their whole goal is to be happy we're supposed to be
happy and everything we should do should be based on how happy does it make it
make us if you live that life you will be miserable for one yeah when you just
serve yourself and just make yourself happy you're not gonna be happy but you
know our life is not about being happy our life is about serving God that's
something John the Baptist got and see John the Baptist realized I'm just here
to serve God so when all of a sudden he loses his influence it doesn't bug him
that much why is he still serving God it's not like he quit serving God it
says in John 15 verses 12 through 13 this is my commandment that you love one
another as I have loved you greater love have no man than this that a man
laid down his life for his friends now this is these are interesting verses
here because he says I've loved you in this way and then he talks about laying
down your life which the literal thing he's saying is dying for your friends
now truly being willing to die for your friends that's a pretty big sacrifice to
think that you're willing to die for your friends but Jesus has not died in
school but he says love in the same way I've loved you so there's a literal
laying down your life there's also a figurative were you in your life you lay
it down and care about other people more than yourself that's what he's trying to
say basically loves the same way I loved you when Jesus was here didn't he lay
down his life in all aspects even before he died on the cross I mean he would
just preach to who wanted to hear I mean he would spend all night in prayer I
mean he never took a vacation why because there's always people that he
need to help minister to right he literally laid down his life in all ways
for us and the Bible says we ought to lay down our life in the same way turn
to Philippians 2 Philippians 2
and if Philippians 2 what it says in verse number 3 Philippians 2 verse 3 let
nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind let
each esteem other better than themselves look not every man on his own things but
every man also on the things of others so I was in the verse number three is
seeing others better than yourself basically look at them as being more
important than you and that's the way God tells us to be we ought to look at
other people as being more important so when it comes down to what do I want or
what do they want you know what you ought to do what they want right now
obviously you know take this in context of what I'm saying what the Bible saying
is you ought to care not about your own things we ought to think about the
things of others okay it says look on every man on his own things but every
man also on the things of others now that does not mean that you look at
their wallet with all their money don't look on your own things look on the
things of others it's like I want that money over there that's not what it's
talking about but what it's saying is basically you look at other people's
lives and realize you know what they're important and be willing to sacrifice
and say you know what I wanted to do this but I'm not going to do this because
you know what I'm gonna do it what so-and-so wants now obviously that
doesn't mean that hey we go to a bar or go to some part of people getting drunk
obviously you guys know in context what I'm talking about but basically your
whole life is not just about you care about the things of others verse 5 let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus see we see this mind was in
Christ Jesus he laid down his life for other people who being in the form of
God thought it not robbery to be with God but made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and
being found in fashion as man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death
even the death of the cross so Jesus Christ he did lay down his life
literally but also figurative when he was around he did not care about his own
things he cared about the things of others in the bosses let this mind be in
you which was also in Christ Jesus that's the way we ought to be turned to
Romans 12 Romans 12 it's kind of interesting when you think about Jesus
Christ that he made himself of no reputation but who has a better
reputation than Jesus Christ nobody does right he made himself low
intentionally and now look at John the Baptist made himself pretty low in this
life right I mean you look at his life I mean he lived a tough life to serve God
but doesn't he have a pretty good reputation this is the greatest man you
know the the the level at which you exalt yourself is the same level you'll
be humbled the level you humble yourself is gonna be the level you get exalted
that's the way it works nobody humbled themselves more than Jesus Christ who's
exalted nobody Romans 12 verses 1 & 2 I beseech you therefore brethren by the
mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly
acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed
in this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God the Bible says make
you yourself a living sacrifice what does that mean it's not saying that on
Good Friday you go to San Fernando and you sacrifice yourself I'm sorry
Catholics you're taking that verse out of context you don't make yourself a
living sacrifice like that but what it's saying is not an actual sacrifice but
your whole life is a sacrifice yeah you just minister your whole life you serve
your whole life you're a living sacrifice your whole life you say you
know what I wanted to do this but it's more important to do this you lay down
your own personal goals and your personal dreams to help other people out
that's what the Bible teaches turn one other place Matthew 20 Matthew 20
one thing we can make a mistake we can look at our lives as soul winners and we
can feel like we've really laid down a lot because it's like man look at the
world out there most Christians are doing nothing but just because they're
doing nothing doesn't mean we're doing enough God said to be a living
sacrifice but reading one chapter in the Bible a day it's not enough right yeah
that's more than 95% of this country so what we don't compare ourselves other
people just because others say people are doing nothing doesn't mean we're
doing enough Bible says to be a living sacrifice am I a living sacrifice you
know I've got a long ways to go all of us to I'm not saying I'm at this level
because you know what there's times I know God wants me to preach the gospel
and I choose not to there's times I know I should read the Bible and I choose not
to I'm not a Calvinist that's getting more sanctified I got to work on it to
be more sanctified every single week it's not easy because there's times we
want to do things and we choose to please ourselves rather than choosing
please God that's the truth and so this is a tough thing I mean these words to
I mean trying to live up to John the Baptist this is the last part of John
the Baptist really in the Bible obviously it talks about him dying but
this is kind of like the main thing you know John chapter 3 is famous for a
strong 330 Matthew 20 verse 26 28 but it shall not be so among you but whosoever
will be great among you let him be your minister and whosoever will be chief
among you let him be your servant even as the Son of Man came not to be
ministered on to but to minister to give his life or ransom for many say I want
to be great in this life then you better make yourself a minister you
better humble yourself today I would be I want to be great I want to be chief
you better be a servant that's what the Bible teaches that if you want to be
great you will humble yourself and not look great that's what the Bible teaches
if you want to be great you're gonna humble yourself you want God to really
look down at your life and say man so-and-so really loves the Lord be more
of a servant be more of a minister than other people that's what the Bible
teaches you know just choose to please other people rather than yourself don't
live your whole life just to care about yourself you know and quite honestly
when you serve God it does make you happy that's what Bible says if you know
these things happier you can do them yeah but what if you choose not to do
them you feel guilty haven't we had those times you go to bed at night and
you just feel guilty because you didn't read the Bible like you should have you
didn't do whatever like you should have you should have gone soul winning you
chose not to or whatever you chose to do something worldly whatever it is we all
struggle with these things right you don't feel very happy but you know what
does make you happy when you spend your day reading the Bible and going soul
winning and listening to preaching and working hard at your job many feel happy
at the end of the day don't you the secret to happiness you know the Dalai
Lama didn't get figured out that's the answer in life here happiness the secret
is serving God yeah happy especially as a believer you will not be happy if you
know what the truth is and you choose not to you're gonna be happy serving God
now when you first do it you might feel like man I'm always serving God but
honestly that's what is gonna make you happy that's the truth turn back to John
3 and so the first thing that John the Baptist was able to do where he's able
to make this famous statement the first thing he did was realize that everything
he had in life came from God the second thing is this he was a servant he
realized he was here to serve God but the third thing is just simply this that
he was a very dedicated Christian because once you start really living for
the Lord you're going to start caring about the heavenly things more than you
did before once you start going soul winning all of a sudden you start
caring about what this Bible teach even more so than before the more you serve
God the more you're gonna love him and he was a very zealous Christian notice
what it says in verse 31 he that cometh from above is above all he that is of
the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth he that cometh from heaven is above
all notice what it says in verse 34 for he who God hath sent God the Father sent
God the Son speaking the words of God for God giveth not the spirits by
measure unto him okay now think about if you're cooking okay and you have like a
measuring cup right you have a measuring cup to measure out certain amounts like
one quarter teaspoon what I don't know if you guys use teaspoon here I'm still
learning stuff but you know this amount of teaspoon this amount of sugar this
amount of this and that you're measuring certain amounts you don't want to get
too much sugar you don't want to get too little there's a certain amount I mean
if it says a quarter teaspoon of salt and you double it you've just destroyed
whatever you're making right there's a certain amount but you know what the
Bible says is when it comes to God the Father with God the Son he giveth not
the spirit by measure on him you know what that means the Holy Spirit was
completely poured out upon Jesus okay and see the more you live for God the
more of that spirit that's gonna be measured you understand that because
Jesus Christ was perfect so that he giveth not the spirit by measure on him
okay John the Baptist realized that now John the Baptist he definitely had the
Holy Spirit in his life as well when you look at his life I mean what did he
accomplish a lot turn to John 12 John 12
we're gonna close up here in John chapter 12 and it says in John chapter
12 starting verse 23 and Jesus answered them saying the hours come that the Son
of Man should be glorified verily verily I say unto you except a corn of wheat
fall into the ground and dieted by it alone but if it diet bringeth forth
much fruit now when you look at verse 25 you can look at your verse 23 then you
look at verse 24 you can be kind of confused like what is he talking about
why are you talking about a corn of wheat dying there's what it says in
verse 25 he that loved his life shall lose it and he that hate his life in
this world shall keep it on the life eternal now here it takes we look at
verse 25 and try to apply to salvation say well you know you got it if you want
to go to heaven you better hate your life right obviously we know hundreds of
verses that would disprove that but what the Bible is saying here in verses 24
and 25 that if a corn of wheat does not die it's going to abide alone okay by a
corn of wheat by an apple seed dying it could end up producing more apples okay
if we want to produce apples or fruit in our lives we've got to die to sell
that's what the Bible said see I want to produce I want to get a lot of people
saying my life you better really humble yourself right kill off all your
personal ambitions that's the secret died is up otherwise you're gonna abide
alone right the people that choose to love their life they never convert
anyone to the Lord yeah which is the vast amount of people if we want to
convert a lot of people if we don't want to abide alone guess what we need to do
we need to die to ourselves we need to kill off the old man every single day
it's a daily battle daily you put off the old man and you put on the new man
now here's the thing that happens in the morning when you wake up let's say for
example you know you go bet you go to bed at night you're thinking about the
Bible you're excited you have to realize that when the new day starts you're
standing still and you got to get your momentum going forward up that mountain
and if you don't start it off right it's gonna just slide back down that's the
truth and so every single day we have to kill the old man and put on the new man
and say I'm not gonna please the flesh I'm gonna do what God says and you know
what here's the thing if our goal in life is honestly to get as many people
saved as we possibly can you have to realize every time that you don't turn
on that worldly music every time you don't watch that movie you don't watch
TV every time you choose to dress appropriately every time you choose to
read the Bible that will affect more people getting sick yes you're not going
so any in that particular time but the more you die to self the more the
spirits on you the more you're excited to go so winning the more you will get
people say right you have to realize that even if you're not so winning by
choosing to read the Bible in the morning that is affecting whether or
not people go to heaven or hell now look I get it that if my whole life honestly
and I want to live for the Lord but you know when I first got saved it's
honestly I didn't really want to live for the Lord that much it's not like I
wanted to quit watching the movies when I first got saved I still wanted to
watch the same movies I watched and I started going so winning and I realized
I remember distinctly I was going so winning one time and there's somebody I
preached the gospel to that didn't get saved and this thought came over my head
like what if I was just living for God a little bit more would that person have
gotten saved the people that get a lot of people save are people that are
actually living for the Lord and you want people that live a really worldly life and
they're not gonna be that successful and that thought came into my mind what if I
was just a little bit more righteous would that person be on their way to
heaven that's that's a that's a sad thought to think but the truth is the
more we kill off the old man the more the spirits gonna be honest the more
we're gonna be fired up to go so winning the more effect that will be when we are
out so winning the more people will get sick and when you realize that you know
what if my goal is to get people say which that was my goal when I first got
saved I didn't want to see people go to hell I realized you know what I can't
walk in the old man and still get a lot of people say you must make a choice if
you want to get a lot of people say you must choose to walk in the new man died
himself as much as possible here's the great thing when you choose to die to
self God's happy he'll help kill off the old man for you he wants to kill off
your old desires when you choose to get rid of the old man God's gonna be happy
he's gonna help you with that it's not like God's gonna be fighting against
you know God wants you to get rid of the old man he wants you to love you
wants you to read the Bible it's going to help you out verse 26 if any man
served me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant me if any
man served me him will my father honor what a powerful verse you think about
John the Baptist in his life why was he the greatest man who ever lived well the
reason why three things we looked at is that he realized everything he gets
comes from God you realize we're here to serve God and you and he just chose
to walk in the spirit walk in the new man and it caused drastic change in our
lives and also when we look at this room you know if we look ten years down the
road who knows what's gonna happen all of our lives you know obviously we just
got to focus on ourselves but you know honestly you could change a lot in the
next ten years and I know you change you everyone here's changed a lot in the
last couple years but in ten years you can be much different person and that's
the goal especially young guys say man I want to be preaching one day
you know what you can become that preacher but you must choose to kill
off the old man every single day it's a daily battle and John the Baptist I
don't think I'll ever meet John the Baptist but you know what what a great
example to strive to be like let's go to work for your Heavenly Father thanks for
allowing us to be here in your