Outline

I. The Complaint That Exposes a Jealous Heart

John’s disciples come stung and envious — Jesus is drawing the bigger crowds, and it feels like theft. The ache underneath is a human one: what happens to me when someone greater eclipses my work?

II. “He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease”

John refuses to grasp at his own significance, calling himself only the friend of the bridegroom. The offense dissolves the moment you see that a man can receive nothing except what heaven gives him.

III. The One From Above Towers Over the Ones From Dust

Jesus comes from where God is — indeed, from being God, the Creator — while all of us are formed of the ground and return to it. Every claim of human pride collapses in the face of this vast disparity between the potter and the clay.

IV. The Witness No One Should Reject — Yet Most Do

Jesus alone has seen God in fullness and testifies to the very mysteries angels long to glimpse. And the scandal is this: the greatest eyewitness who ever spoke is met with a shrug — “no one receives his testimony.”

V. Why His Word Outweighs Even the Faithful Preacher’s

Prophets, apostles, and believers can speak God’s word, but only fallibly, inconsistently, sometimes hypocritically. Jesus never stumbles, because He does not merely carry the Word — He is the Word made flesh.

VI. Gifts Without Measure — Poured Out on the Undeserving

Upon Jesus the Spirit rests without limit and all things are placed into His hand, and He reigns as our mediatorial King for the good of His people. The wonder is that He is pleased to share this abundance with creatures who once had nothing.

VII. No Fence-Sitters: Life or Wrath

Verse 36 draws the line the whole sermon has been sharpening — believe the Son and have everlasting life, or refuse Him and let the wrath of God abide on you. There is no lukewarm middle ground; the lukewarm are spat out.

VIII. The Cross Makes Faith the Only Wise Answer

The One from above humbled Himself to bear, in our place, the very wrath we deserved, so that reconciliation might be freely offered to undeserving sinners. Faith in this gospel is not merely a permitted response — it is by far the wisest one a dust-formed creature can make.

Bottom line:Jesus is greater than all — in origin, witness, and gift — so the only question left is whether you will bow in belief and live, or fold your arms and perish.

Scripture Reading

 John 3:22–36

Now please turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of John chapter 3. John chapter 3, and this morning we’re going to be looking particularly at verses 31 to 36, but I’ll begin reading from John chapter 3 at verse 22. So John chapter 3, verse 22, listen now to, once again, to the reading of God’s holy word.

After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized, for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him.

John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.

He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what he has seen and heard, that he testifies. And no one receives his testimony. He who has received his testimony has certified that God is true, for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

Opening Prayer

Let’s seek the Lord’s blessing on this, his holy word.

O Lord God in heaven, we do praise you and thank you, Father. That you are a good and awesome God. That you have revealed yourself to us through your word. And we pray, Lord, that as we come to this particular passage here this morning, that Your Spirit would truly be active in our midst to open our ears and hearts and our minds to hear, to receive the truth of Your Word that is here.

And we pray that as Your Word goes forth in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that it would truly find within each and every one of our hearts that rich, fertile soil that brings about great and abundant fruit, all for your glory. And so we ask now for your blessing upon your word. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Introduction

We’re here at the conclusion of John chapter three. We find, really, the culmination of the witness and the testimony of John the Baptist regarding Jesus Christ.

John’s disciples were offended, remember, and jealous, as we considered last time, because not only was Jesus, through the hands of his disciples, baptizing people as John had been baptizing, but they also noted that Jesus was now drawing larger crowds than John — and it seemed that this, again, was a great offense to them and they had become jealous. And so they took their petition to John.

But John reminds them of what they should have known from his previous testimony about Jesus. You see, John had testified:

• that he himself was not the Messiah, but he was merely the forerunner sent to prepare the way for the Messiah;
• that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and that John is just the herald of these things;
• reminding them again here in John 3, that the ministry of Jesus, surpassing his own ministry, was actually part of God’s plan all along — that John was sent to be the friend of the bridegroom, the one who announces the groom’s arrival and then leads the bride to the groom.

Well, now that Jesus the groom has come, John very humbly and yet boldly declares in verse 30, that he must increase, but I must decrease.

Well, in our passage this morning, some scholars debate whether these verses are the continued message of John the Baptist or maybe they’re editorial comments by John the Apostle. I think I seem to lean toward these being the words of John the Baptist. But anyway, at any rate, whoever is speaking here, we find the truth of what John says in verse 30 really reverberating, even being strengthened, demonstrating how far greater Jesus is than not only John the Baptist, but also John and all the other apostles, greater than the Old Testament prophets, and greater than any preacher, teacher, or pastor today, even indeed greater than anyone in the human race.

Now John, either the Baptist or the Apostle, clearly establishes here how Jesus is greater in his origin, in his witness, and also in the gifts that he’s received from God the Father.

But friends, once the dust settles on this particular issue, there’s one critical point that remains. For John’s disciples, for the audience that the Apostle John is writing this to, wrote this to at first, and indeed for anyone who reads or hears these words. A response is required, even demanded. Indeed, there can be no fence-sitters about the matter of the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Either you obey and believe or you disobey and don’t believe. There’s no in between. Indeed, the difference between these responses is quite literally the difference between life and death. And so be ready to respond.

Jesus Is Greater in His Origin

John begins by testifying that Jesus is greater because not only is his calling greater, but his person and his origin are greater. Verse 31, He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

Now, the repetition here of above all is to emphasize the superiority of origin in distinction from one who is of the earth. That is, who has a mere earthly origin. And certainly we know that heavenly is greater than earthly. Indeed, it’s literally above the earth. The heavens are literally above the earth. We look up to the heavens. We don’t look down to the heavens. We look up.

But this superiority is far more than just superior in location. For when John testifies of one coming from above or from heaven, he’s referring to where God is. He’s referring to the heavenly dwelling place of God. Now, not that God is contained somewhere out in space, in some building or in some temple complex or some great kingdom throne room. Now we remember Solomon’s prayer of dedication when the temple was completed in 1 Kings 8 verse 27,

Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built.

Indeed, God is an infinite, eternal spirit. There is no way to contain such a being in space or in time. And so, one coming from above, then, is clearly coming from God, from the Creator of all things. And again, the Creator is greater than His creation, just like the potter is greater than the clay object that He forms.

Jesus Is from Above — Indeed, from God

And who is it that came from God? Jesus. Jesus is from above. Jesus is from heaven. Indeed, from God. John the Apostle established this again back in his prologue, that Jesus the Word was in the beginning with God, and He was God, and then He became flesh to dwell among us.

And even the baptizer testified earlier this same truth, referring to the time when he baptized Jesus. And he was recalling when he saw the Spirit descending upon him and the voice of the Father declaring from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And then John affirms these things. He has witnessed these things. And then in chapter 1, verse 34, he says, That was John’s, the Baptist’s, previous testimony.

God’s Son comes from where God is. Because He is God. Because He is one with the Father. And so as God the Son, Jesus is also, therefore, the Creator of all things. Again, the apostle has prepared us for this back in the prologue, saying of the word that had become flesh, that all things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made.

And so as God the Son and as the creator of all things, well then, of course, Jesus is then above all. He’s above all creation. He’s above all the earth. He’s above all the creatures. He’s above all mankind, including John the Baptist. Jesus is far greater than anyone on earth.

The Essential Kingship of Christ

Now, what John is getting at here is what’s often referred to as the essential kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is, by virtue of His being the eternal Son of God, same in substance, equal in power and glory with the Father and the Spirit, Jesus is above all, and that He reigns and rules as a King over all that He has created, because again, He is the Creator.

And it ought to be no surprise then that his ministry, that his earthly ministry, is far greater even over the important ministry of John the Baptist because of who he is and where he’s come from, Jesus is clearly greater.

The One from Above and the One from the Earth

But we have here sandwiched between this repetition of the one who is from above or from heaven is above all. We have in between this repeated truth, John inserts the reality of his own origin and his own being.

John, like all mankind, is of the earth, earthly. Indeed, he’s quite literally of the earth, as God used the substance of the earth to create mankind on the sixth day of creation, Genesis 2.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

So again, the one who is from above, from where God is, who is God, who is the creator, is far above the one who is from the earth, who is of the substance of the earth, who is a creature created from the earth.

Now this vast disparity between the creator and the creation, even mankind, is seen in how the Lord describes the curse of death that came upon mankind because of Adam’s sin and rebellion in the garden. In Genesis 3, the Lord says to Adam,

in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.

Created from the dust, you are currently dust, and you will return to the dust. And so we see here any claims of superiority of any man, any pride or arrogance of man expressed in the face of God is nothing but foolishness. We are of the earth, earthly, we are dust.

And not only this, but as a creature created by God, we are truly beholden to our Creator to sustain us and to provide us with all things that we need, including life itself. And so here, John is really reaffirming, albeit much more strongly, what he said back in verse 27, that a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. And so he’s saying that all that John has, his ministry, his disciples and followers, even his very life is given to him from God the Creator, even from the Word of God become flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. John gets his life from Jesus.

And so then to be offended, and this becomes his point, to be offended that Jesus’ ministry is greater and far surpassing John’s, is nothing but foolishness, because Jesus is far greater. And not only is he from heaven, from God, but he is God. He is the creator. And so Jesus is greater by virtue of his being and his origin.

Jesus Is Greater in His Witness

But John moves now from origins to witness, declaring that Jesus, the one from above, has a greater witness than John. Verse 32 he says, and what he has seen and heard that he testifies. So, Jesus’ witness is greater because of what he has seen and heard.

Now, to understand this, we must first step back and consider, well, what was it that Jesus has seen and heard as the eternal Son of God who came from above, who came from heaven, who came from God? Well, Jesus as the eternal Son of God is the only one who has seen God in all His fullness. Again, the Apostle reminds us of this in John 1, verse 18.

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

He is able to declare Him because He is the only one who has seen Him. No man, not the Apostle or the Baptizer. No one has seen God in the fullness of His glory. None except Jesus, the Son.

But there are other things, and so that alone makes Jesus’ witness and testimony far greater. But there are other things that the Son has seen and heard, and of which he testifies, and which are then greater. He’s seen and heard all the glorious mysteries of the eternal Godhead. Think about that. All the things that we would long to know. Things like:

• the wisdom of God’s eternal purpose and decree;
• the how and why of how God designed all creation;
• the true wonders of all his creative acts;
• the timing and the purpose of really the magnificent displays of God’s power and might — why does he do this at this time, but not at this time;
• the full comprehension of all of God’s glorious attributes and all the intricacies of how all these different attributes seamlessly work together to accomplish his perfect plan and purpose;
• and of course, what even angels long to see: the wonders of God’s salvation of his people and is planned through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All these things and more. Jesus, as the eternal son of God, has seen and heard firsthand as an eyewitness. And these are the things that he’s come to testify to mankind.

The Astonishing Rejection — “No One Receives His Testimony”

And yet this is what makes the rejection of Jesus so astonishing. As John says here, verse 32, this is what he’s come to testify, what he’s seen and heard, but no one receives his testimony. What? No one. This is shocking. And it really causes to wonder at the foolishness of humanity.

Now, the baptizer may have expected this for himself and his own testimony that people would reject it. And indeed, there were many who did. But rejecting the one whose testimony is far greater is just nonsensical. He who’s seen and heard all these marvelous things in the heavenly realm, he has come to testify of them. And yet his testimony is rejected by many. Why is it rejected? Ultimately, it’s rejected because they’re of the earth, earthly, and they’re too tied to the dust from which they came, rather than being connected to the Creator who created them.

Those Who Do Receive — “God Is True”

Now, certainly, not everyone rejected his testimony. In verse 33, that he who has received his testimony has certified that God is true. And so obviously there are some who have received it and accepted it. A few things to note here.

First, there are those who have received and accepted it. And so that when John said earlier that no one receives his testimony, that’s not universal or all-inclusive, but it’s simply a way to draw out, again, the foolishness of this rejection, because all should actually want to know and to hear and receive these things, but not everyone does. Indeed, the majority don’t. And again, this we’ll see is to their own peril.

Secondly, the one who receives has certified that God is true. Now, this ought not to be understood as though the truth of God needs to be certified by man, by any man. It doesn’t. We know that God’s truth stands alone. God’s truth is always true because God Himself is true.

This is the problem with that Christian saying. I maybe haven’t heard it so often. It was common a couple of years ago, but Christian will say, you know, well,

God said it, I believe it, that settles it.

Well, that saying makes it appear as though God’s truth needs our approval in order for it to be true. Friends, God’s truth is true whether we believe it or not. God said it, that settles it, that’s the reality.

Certifying here then simply means to acknowledge it for what it is, truth. And so the implication then is that every time a person is saved and comes to faith in Christ, his testimony is affirmed, that is God’s testimony is affirmed for what it is. Truth from the God who is true. The witness and testimony of Jesus Christ is greater because it reveals that God is true.

Why His Word Outweighs Even the Faithful Preacher’s

Now, this is all well and good. But what does this mean, then, for the witness of John the Baptist? The very witness that’s been highlighted here, the witness of John and the other apostles, of whom John declared back in chapter 1, verse 14, that we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. That was the testimony of the apostles.

And then what about the witness and the testimony of the Old Testament prophets? Or even of faithful pastors and teachers today? Indeed, what about the witness of all believers who faithfully strive to live out and declare the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Isn’t what’s said about Jesus’ witness and testimony true for our witness and testimony?

In fact, we could read verse 34, for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, and we can actually apply that to all of these situations because it’s true. All of these are those whom God has sent:

• John — John 1 verse 6, there was a man sent from God whose name was John.
• The apostles — the very word apostle literally means one sent. And with the usage in the New Testament being those men bearing this title were sent by Jesus particularly to bear witness of his life, ministry, death, and resurrection.
• The prophets — and we know that God repeatedly sent the prophets of the Old Testament to declare his truth to the people.
• The church, even us — and what does Jesus do with the Great Commission? He sends out his church, even us, to go into all the world and proclaim the good news of salvation in him.

And so all these are sent from God, just like Jesus. With the same message, with the same gospel of salvation, with the same word of God. So why then is Jesus’ testimony, why is his testimony greater? What’s the difference?

Well, the key difference is that Jesus is the word of God who’s become flesh. It’s who he is. So that whenever Jesus speaks, he is always speaking the word of God. Furthermore, Jesus speaks of what he himself again has seen and heard in the heavenly realms, things which we’ve never seen.

And yet we bear witness to them, not because we’ve seen them, but we bear witness to them by faith. The evidence of things hoped for are the things not seen. We bear witness to them by faith because they’ve been revealed to us, not because we’ve actually seen them. They’re truth, it’s truth revealed to us.

And so yes, the baptized or the apostles, the prophets, and even we ourselves, we can speak the word of God, but we’re limited to only what has been revealed to us. Jesus as the eternal Son of God, He knows all the wisdom and the mysteries of the Godhead. And therefore, what He’s seen and heard and what He declares is greater than the witness we bear, which again is limited to only the truth revealed by the Spirit through His Word.

So here, greater doesn’t necessarily mean completely different, but rather it implies something not only far beyond our capacity to know and understand as creatures, but also its greater impurity and consistency with God’s actual truth.

Our Witness Falters — His Never Does

So think about it. Now our witness, when we share the gospel with somebody, we can speak the truth. And what we say is true. But, and that’s certainly what we ought to strive for. But do you always speak God’s word? No, we don’t always speak God’s word. We often speak of mundane, earthly things. Sometimes these are things of necessity and importance and truth that ought to be spoken, but many times, of course, they’re not.

In fact, there are times when we can even speak contrary to God’s Word. Hence, we have in Scripture all the charges and commands to control the tongue by forsaking lying, slander, gossip, and foolish talk. You see, if we always spoke the Word of God, well, we wouldn’t need those commands.

But we’re just fallible human beings. And if we’re honest with ourselves, one of the things that we know for certain is that our own witness in both our words and in how we live our lives and our actions is at best inconsistent and oftentimes hypocritical in comparison to the truth that God has revealed. We can even speak falsehood even when we believe we’re speaking the truth because we speak out of ignorance or a lack of knowledge or limits to our understanding.

But friends, Jesus never had this problem. He always perfectly and consistently spoke the Word of God because He is the Word of God come in the flesh. Therefore, His witness is always going to be greater.

Jesus Is Greater in His Gifts

Finally, we see here that the gifts Jesus has received from the Heavenly Father are greater than the gifts that we receive. The second part of verse 34 and 35, For God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.

Well, there are two particular gifts here, one specific and the other more general.

The Gift of the Spirit — Without Measure

The specific gift is the Holy Spirit, which we’re told here is not given to Christ by measure. That is, it’s not given as a small portion. It’s given in great abundance. It’s given without limit.

Now, this marks a great difference between Jesus and the Old Testament prophets and saints. Now, we know that the Holy Spirit has always been active and was clearly present even in the Old Testament, but the activity of the Spirit differed and that it came upon a person for a particular time or purpose. And so, for example, it came upon a person so that they could declare God’s word, to prophesy of things to come, or in the case of some others, I think about some of the judges, that the Spirit came upon them to give them great strength and courage in order to fulfill a particular task. But then, after the prophecy was done, or the task was completed, the Spirit departed. It didn’t dwell constantly with men.

But with Jesus, things were very different. The prophet Isaiah prophesies of Christ saying in Isaiah 11, verse 2,

the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord.

Note that the spirit would rest, would remain upon him and not depart. And again, John the Baptist testified of this very thing happening to Jesus at His baptism. Back in chapter 1, verse 32,

I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.

The Spirit came upon Him and remained. It never left. But it’s not just that the Spirit descended on Jesus and remained, but He was also poured out upon Christ in fullness and great abundance without measure. And this is a fullness that demonstrates full union and communion, because Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are one, even as they are with God the Father. And the Holy Spirit dwells with Christ in all his fullness, which is why then Jesus comes baptizing with the Holy Spirit and is able later to send the Holy Spirit as a comfort to believers.

What This Means for Us as Believers

And what about us as those believers? Well, first, we understand that we are actually in a much better position than our Old Testament counterparts. Because now the Spirit of Christ truly does dwell in us and remains with us. And again, this is according to the promise that Jesus made to the disciples before his death, and then again after his resurrection, that he will always be with us.

And the Spirit is the gift that we receive at our conversion, when our hearts are made new and we’re born again. And there’s a sense there where we have the fullness of the Spirit even when we at first believe, in the sense that we never have more and we never have less of the Spirit from what we first receive.

Now, it’s true that there are times when our sense of the Spirit’s presence with us can be muted. It can be muted by our sin. And yet, even though it’s muted, the reality is that His Spirit is always with us. It never, ever departs. And so that’s why when we confess our sins and have our sins forgiven by the grace of God, that we once again can sense the presence of the Spirit, even as David sings about in Psalm 51.

But the key difference, again, between us and Jesus is ultimately the capacity. Paul declares in Ephesians 4,

but to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

And so we receive a measure of the Spirit from Christ as a gift. But again, for us, that measure is going to be far beyond what we could possibly imagine. It’s a fullness. It fills us to overflowing who once had nothing. And so we don’t even really notice that there’s a difference between us and what we have and what Jesus has because a little measure of the Spirit for us is so full and overflowing because we’re just finite creatures. But friends, this measure doesn’t compare with the infinite fullness that Christ possesses as the eternal Son of God, who is one with both the Father and the Spirit. And so the Spirit given to Christ is far greater than the gift of the Spirit we have graciously received from Him.

The Gift of All Things — Christ’s Mediatorial Kingship

But Christ has also received not just the Spirit, but we’re also told here all things from the Heavenly Father. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. And again, all things includes all things.

Now, we already consider that all things already belong to Jesus as the eternal Son of God, as part of his essential kingship. So that even at this time, Jesus has power and authority from God to work great miracles, signs and wonders, to halt the wind and to calm the sea, and even has the authority to forgive sins.

But when Jesus, the Word of God, became flesh, and when he came in the form of a bondservant, He left behind much of His power and glory so that He could, as one who was 100% God, but also as one who was 100% man, so that He could accomplish our salvation, so that He could then even humble Himself and submit Himself to the painful and shameful death on the cross for our sins. And because of Christ’s perfect obedience to the Father’s will in these things, after His resurrection, Jesus declared in Matthew 28, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

So all that was his before the incarnation is now returned to him in all its fullness. But with, again, the key difference being that he now reigns not just as king, essentially, that is because of his nature as the divine son. But he now reigns as our mediatorial king. Because of his work as the only mediator between God and man, that he now reigns as king over all creation. And it’s not just for his glory, although that is the chief end for which he reigns, but he also reigns, as Paul tells us at the end of Ephesians 1, he especially reigns and works out all things for the good of his people, the church.

And so indeed, the gifts that Jesus received are far greater. And yet, and this is really the great wonder of it all — he’s received these great gifts, and yet out of his abounding grace and mercy, he is so very pleased to pour out those gifts upon us and share them with us — sharing the Holy Spirit, which brings new and everlasting life and sharing the many blessings and benefits of his mediatorial rule over all the creation. The gifts that Jesus receives are greater. But praise God, he is pleased to share them with us in great abundance.

No Fence-Sitters: Life or Wrath

So Jesus truly is greater than all. But here’s the final critical piece we need to consider. Verse 36. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. And he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

Friends, how will you respond to these things? And again, remember, there can be no fence sitters when confronted with the reality of the greatness of Jesus Christ. In Revelation, we see that those who are lukewarm, the Lord just spits them out. There’s no fence sitters.

The Warning to Unbelief

First, we note the warning, the warning that is here to those who would respond with unbelief. Those who don’t believe the Son, who don’t believe His witness and testimony, who don’t believe His surpassing greatness, and don’t believe of who He is and what He’s done and accomplished for undeserving sinners.

Those who reject Him and don’t believe shall not see life. That is, they shall not see nor enter the glorious wonders of eternal life in the kingdom of God ushered in when Christ returns at the end of the age. And not only will they not see life, and will they not see and enter this kingdom, but instead of the blessedness of the Holy Spirit resting and abiding upon Him for all eternity, the blessedness of the Holy Spirit is going to be replaced with the wrath of God. God’s just and holy wrath will abide on him, will rest on him, will dwell and remain on him for all eternity.

Friends, this is a possible response for sure. But it is a most foolish and a most destructive response.

The Cross Makes Faith the Only Wise Answer

But there’s another possible response to these things. A response that’s only made possible because of what Jesus has actually done for sinners. That he who was from above, full of the glory and splendor of the eternal Godhead, humbled himself and came in the likeness of sinful flesh. And after being tempted and tried in all ways that we are yet without sin, He offered Himself up on the cross as the once-for-all perfect sacrifice for sinners.

And on the cross, that just and holy wrath and curse of God rested upon Him until the point when He succumbed to death, but not for His own sins. For our sins, He endured the wrath of God in our place. He endured what we justly deserve so that we might have in Him the forgiveness of sins and peace and reconciliation with God, our Creator.

This, beloved, is the glory of the gospel that is freely offered to undeserving sinners. And it’s this response of faith to this gospel offer that leads to everlasting life in the fullness of the glory of the triune God, where there’s joy and goodness far beyond measure for all eternity.

Beloved of God, this is the wisest response by far. Respond in faith then. To the glory of God alone.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray.

O Lord God in heaven, we do praise you and thank you for this very important reminder of how great and awesome you are. You are a great God and that your son Jesus is great. He’s greater than all. That he who was with you in the beginning, who was the eternal son of God, came that we might have life. He endured much. He suffered much. All the misery, the sin, the afflictions of this life have to offer. He endured on our behalf. And yet he remained true and righteous to your purpose, to your plan, to your law, so that he might bring us life, and that his witness to these things is far greater. And that the gifts that he gives are certainly greater, that you have given him are greater. And yet how humbled we are to consider that he so graciously shares those wonderful gifts that you have given with us.

Father, we praise you and thank you for these things, for this reminder. And we know that this is a challenge set before us and that you do call each and every one of us to respond. And may we pray, we pray, Lord, that each one here would respond in faith. To this call of the gospel. They would see everlasting life, that they would see the eternal, glorious kingdom yet to come.

And that during this time that we have until Christ returns at the end of the age to usher all these things in, that you would find us faithful. That because our Savior was a great witness, that we also would be a great witness to these truths and that we would strive to faithfully proclaim the gospel to those around us, that you would even lead us, that you would be pleased to lead us to those who are open and ready to hear your truth. We pray, Lord, that you would not lead us to those that are that were called not to cast our pearls before swine. Keep us away from the swine. Lead us to your sheep who are still yet lost, but are in need of being found. And that we would be a bold witness to them, all to the praise of your glorious name.

And we do pray that especially that you would work these truths in each and every one of our own hearts, drawing us all closer to yourself, all to the praise of your glorious name. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.