JOHN 3 JOHN 3 WITH PASTOR JERRY2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: John 3 John 3 With Pastor Jerry

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. All right, so here we are in John chapter 3.

And we began the Gospel of John just a couple days ago. Now as we're working our way through the Bible in three years, we've gone through the first three Gospels and now get to be refreshed and encouraged by the Apostle John and his description of the life and the ministry of Jesus. And the Apostle John says,

really writes about, the majority of things he writes about is very different than the other Gospels. There's a few passages that exist, a few miracles, a few of the teachings of Jesus that are recorded in all of the four Gospels. But Luke...

and Mark and Matthew, we refer to those as the synoptic gospels. They're very similar and follow a similar timeframe, timeline, and hit a lot of the same highlights of the life and ministry of Jesus.

And John, he kind of wrote, well, he wrote his gospel a lot later than these other guys. And so he didn't try to recreate what had already been created, but he really kind of filled in some of the gaps and wrote about some of the different elements of the life and ministry of Jesus. And so there's a lot of refreshing and encouraging and great insight that we have here in the gospel of John that's not found anywhere else.

And here, as we are looking at John chapter three, we read the first half yesterday, and we're gonna jump into verse 22 and work our way through the end of the chapter this evening, looking at this passage. So let's go ahead and begin by reading the first few verses. John chapter three, starting in verse 22, it says this. "'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 Anon 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 is with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him.

John answered and said, And then verse 30. He must increase, but I must decrease.

Here we have this interaction between John the Baptist and his disciples in regards to the things that are happening with Jesus and his disciples. Now you might remember that John the Baptist came on the scene a few months before Jesus.

and he proclaimed that the kingdom of God was at hand. He called people to repentance, and he was baptizing people in the baptism of repentance, and that was people saying, yes, I repent, I turn from my sins to follow God and to look for his kingdom and to walk in his kingdom. And so he had this ministry that drew a lot of attention, and at the same time, it was a ministry that was

in preparation for the Messiah, the Savior, who would come. And Jesus comes on the scene and is baptized by John the Baptist. And in the earlier chapters of the Gospel of John, we see John's testimony about Jesus.

how he saw the dove or the spirit descend upon him as a dove. And it was the sign and the confirmation from the father that this was the son, this was the savior. And so he proclaimed Jesus to be that savior, the lamb of God that would take away the sins of the world.

Well, as we jump into chapter 3, in the previous verses, you have Jesus and his interaction with a man named Nicodemus. Very famous passage, which contains, of course, the most famous verse in all the Bible, John 3.16. And in that interaction, there's some important truths to consider. But

But now as we look at verse 22, it says, after these things, so after this interaction with Nicodemus and the ministry that was happening there in Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples, they went out of the city into the land of Judea. And so they're going more into the region around Jerusalem. And it says that Jesus remained there with them and baptized. Baptized.

Now, as we look at this passage, I think it's helpful to understand that this is very early in the life and the ministry of Jesus. This is happening after the baptism of Jesus, right?

but before John is imprisoned. And so I have on the screen here a look at the timeline of the ministry of Jesus and how that's recorded in each of the different gospels. And so again, you can see the similarities between Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And they cover a lot of the same accounts, a lot of the same timeframes.

But there is this one gap that none of the Gospels record except for John, and that is that ministry time in Judea early in the ministry of Jesus. And so this is happening in that portion, or in that segment, where he has been baptized. He went to the wilderness for 40 days and was tempted. He's come back from that and begun to preach the Gospel and announce that the Kingdom of God has arrived and is at hand.

And here we have this record of Jesus and his disciples there around the Jordan River, and people are coming, responding to the message and being baptized. Now it does point out in John chapter 4 that Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples baptized.

And so again, early in the ministry of Jesus, he had disciples, he had followers. It's not the 12 disciples that are named yet, that comes later on after John is imprisoned. But here he has disciples and followers and they're doing the work of ministry and baptizing the people that are following Jesus and coming to Jesus.

Now, as I mentioned, John records some different things. Going back to the timeline briefly, as you look across the bottom there where you have the chapters of John spread out, you'll notice chapter 10 through the end of the book all are in those last couple months of the life of Jesus.

In fact, in John chapter 13, you have the night of the betrayal and everything that happens after that is just those final hours between...

the betrayal of Jesus and the crucifixion. And so there's so much that's happening there. Some famous passages like the vine passage in John chapter 15, all of that is taking place on that very day of his betrayal and then leading up to his crucifixion. So again, John really goes into detail to give us some insights into the life and ministry of Jesus that we wouldn't have otherwise.

So as Jesus is here baptizing, he's there around the Jordan. His disciples are baptizing those who are coming. And then it tells us in verse 23 that John the Baptist was also baptizing. And so it's kind of interesting. And I don't know if you ever pictured it that way, but there was a portion of time where the ministry of Jesus was

in the ministry of John the Baptist were happening at the same time concurrently. And so Jesus and his disciples are there baptizing. And here in a different place is John the Baptist and he's baptizing. And it says that people are coming to him and being baptized still. And it points out in verse 24, because he had not been put into prison yet.

Now, as these baptisms are happening, we don't have a clear understanding of where these specific locations are. This is a quick look at the land of Israel. And of course, you have the Sea of Galilee in the north and the Dead Sea in the south and then the Jordan River

which connects them and flows from the Sea of Galilee into the Dead Sea. And there are different portions upon the Jordan River where it's possible that John the Baptist or Jesus died

were baptizing, and it's possible they worked at different points throughout their ministries, and so it wasn't maybe just one location for the whole time that they were baptizing. But what's interesting about this particular verse is it's telling us that John was in a place called Anon near Salim, which isn't for sure understood where it is, but it's believed by most

archaeologists that it's not actually a location on the Jordan River, but it's actually a little bit west of the Jordan River, so more inland, a little bit towards the Mediterranean Sea at one of the pools or springs. And there are many of those throughout the land of Israel there.

And so it's possible they're not like, you know, sitting opposite each other across the river, you know, seeing each other, seeing the crowds on each other's side, but they're in, you know, two different locations, two different places, and this ministry is happening for both of them.

disciples continue to come to John the Baptist. He continues to preach repentance and continues to baptize. And here comes Jesus on the scene. He preaches and announces the kingdom of God, calls people to repentance, and people are coming to be baptized. And so that sets the stage for what's about to happen in verse 25. Verse 25 says, 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 is with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him. And so there's these two ministries happening at the same time. And as is kind of foreseeable and inevitable, now there is a dispute about these two ministries happening at the same time. It tells us here that there are some Jews who come to talk to John's disciples.

And so John had his core followers and these guys were with John. They were helping him with the ministry. They were following him. They were, you know, participating in the work. And some of the Jews who were coming began to talk to them about Jesus.

Now, baptism, the baptism of repentance, it was a natural progression into the conversation about purification for the Jews. There was a connection between baptism and purification and the washing of water and the washing away of sins. And so it's very possible that it is not necessarily like a separate subject, like you and I might think of it as we read through this, but they're talking about the ministry of John the Baptist and

And then as perhaps the disciples of John are seeking to encourage these Jews to be baptized, there's some pushback. There's some dispute about it. Well, why should we be baptized by you? Look, there's this other guy over here, Jesus, and he's got a bigger crowd following him. So

maybe we should go be baptized by him. His crowd, his following is bigger. And so now the disciples of John are a little bit concerned. It seems that they're disturbed by this news. And so they bring the message to John the Baptist. They say, Rabbi,

We have a serious situation going on here. There's a problem that we need to address. Remember that guy that you, you know, you talked all about him and you, you know, highlighted him, you pointed him out and said, behold the Lamb of God. This guy that you testified about, he's baptizing now.

And there's this idea here, it seems like the disciples of John feel threatened, right? It's like they're trying to steal our ministry. They're baptizing. We're the baptizers. In fact, John, you're called John the Baptist, right? They shouldn't be baptizing. You're John the Baptist. That's not Jesus the Baptist. That's Jesus Christ, right? So he shouldn't be baptizing. They shouldn't be baptizing. And it seems that there is this threat

threat that they perceive, this problem that they see in this situation. And so they go and tell John because, well, this needs to be resolved. It needs to be dealt with. But John responds, and you got to love the way that he responds and really the heart and the mindset that he has and his understanding of the work of God and the plan of God. In verse 27,

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. John says in response to this, hey, aren't you threatened? You know, don't you have a concern? Don't you think it's a problem for this guy to be over there baptizing? He says, you know, nothing can be received unless it's been given from heaven. It's God who gives ministry.

It's God who gives these kinds of opportunities. And you guys bear witness. You remember, I announced I am not the Christ. There is a Messiah and it's appropriate for the Messiah's ministry, well, to get attention. And you bear witness, he tells his disciples. You remember, I said, here's my job. My job is to announce the one who is to come.

I like what G. Campbell Morgan says about this. He says, the whole history of John the Baptist is characterized by a rugged splendor, but nowhere does his greatness stand out more conspicuously than in the scene recorded here. There was no touch of jealousy, no latent sorrow in his heart. He really wasn't bothered by this situation. He understood his role. He was grateful and joyful to be part of it.

of the work of announcing the Messiah, and he wasn't trying to hold on to, you know, what that ministry became at its peak. He didn't try to, like, all right, we reached the peak now. Let's keep it going, you know. Let's maintain that. Let's hold on to that. He goes on in verse 29 to give a good illustration for us to consider. He says, he who has the bride is the bridegroom.

John says you need to think about it like a wedding. Think about the bride and the groom. And they're the focus of the wedding.

Oftentimes when performing a wedding, in preparation for it really, at the rehearsal, there's usually, you know, some kind of exhortation that I'll give to the wedding party and, hey everybody, you know, let's remember what this day is all about, right? It's not your day, it's their day, and kind of put the attention back on the bride and groom.

Because there can be a tendency to, you know, make everything about you when it takes away from the joy of the bride and groom on that wedding day. Well, John says, okay, so think about that. Here's a bride, here's a groom. He says, think about the friend of the bridegroom. Now, the friend of the bridegroom, for them in the Jewish culture, that would be similar to what we would call a best man today. Okay?

only it would be a little bit different because in their culture, it was really the groom who put the wedding together. He's the one who put the things together, put the feast together, planned the schedule, set the date. That was all part of the groom. And so the friend of the groom,

would have this huge responsibility in kind of overseeing that and managing that and taking care of those details. And so the friend of the groom would be alongside of the groom and working hard to bring together this wedding celebration. And so John the Baptist says, the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.

When he hears the bridegroom come, now again, it's a little bit different than our wedding picture where the groom is standing up in the front of the room and the bride comes walking down. No, in their culture, the bride would be at home, she would be getting ready, but the groom would come and pick her up. And so when the bridegroom hears the voice of the groom,

Not the bridegroom. When the friend of the groom hears the voice of the groom, the best man hears the voice and he rejoices. All right, he's here. Now it's time for these two to be united together in marriage. And so he pictures himself, John the Baptist does, as this friend of the bridegroom. He says, look, I'm Jesus's best man. And my job was to get him connected to the bride.

And I've done that. And so in the same way as a best man will rejoice and celebrate when that is fulfilled, that's, well, that's the role that I have now. I rejoice and celebrate. I have connected Jesus with the people of Israel. And so there is this fulfillment of the ministry that I have been given. And so he concludes in verse 30, he must increase, but I must decrease.

He must increase. That's what's proper, right? It would be improper for a best man in the middle of the ceremony to say, I do, right? The minister says, you know, do you take this woman to have and to hold? And the best man says, I do. You know, no, no, you're the best man. You're not the groom. Like that's not proper. Like you're not to have the bride. That's not your place. That's not your role. No, in the wedding on that day, no, the groom must increase.

He says, I do. He goes forward into the marriage. John says, that's the same with me. I've done my job. I've fulfilled my role. And so now he needs to carry it on and his ministry must increase and I must decrease. Why? Well, because of this illustration, but also because of who Jesus is. 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. It's uncertain here as you work your way through verses 31 through 36 if this is John the Apostle continuing to record the words of John the Baptist.

It's possible that John the Baptist continued to speak all the way through verse 36. It's also possible that John the Baptist's message ended in verse 30, and then John the Apostle, I know all these Johns get confusing, but John the Apostle then added on to an explanation of what John was saying here in verses 31 through 36. But the good news is, it's possible that John the Baptist

whether it was John the Baptist or John the Apostle who said it, it's inspired by the Holy Spirit. So it is the Word of God. And so here he says, he who comes from above is above all. And so here we need to understand that Jesus did not begin to exist the moment that he was conceived like the rest of us. He is from above. He's always existed in eternity with the Father and

And so there is this unity between God the Son and humanity, and Jesus put on humanity, he came from above. And so it speaks of his deity, it speaks to the fact that he has always existed, and that he is above all because he has come from above earth. Yeah, he's come from above, so he's above all. And then in contrast, he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth.

And that's us. We're from the earth. And we don't have the same insight. We don't have the same knowledge. We don't have the same ministry as Jesus because we're from the earth. And we have not come from above. We're looking to go above because of the ministry of Jesus. But our ministry, our role will never be anything close to that that Jesus was. And that's what John is saying. He says, I must decrease. He must increase. He's from above.

That's the rightful thing to happen because of who he is. He says, he who comes from heaven is above all. Jesus is more important than everyone else. Now, John also testified similarly in John chapter one. It says, John bore witness of him and cried out saying, this is he of whom I said, he who comes after me is preferred before me because he was before me.

The one who comes after me, that is the ministry of Jesus began after the ministry of John the Baptist. So Jesus came after John as far as onto the scene there in Israel. But even though he came after, he's preferred before. He's more important because he was before me. Now, John the Baptist is actually six months older than Jesus. But John the Baptist says Jesus was before me because he's from above.

Because he existed before he was born, before he was conceived. He existed eternally in heaven with the Father. Verse 32. 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. And so he goes on to say that

The ministry of Jesus is a ministry of truth. He who has seen and heard, that he testifies. He testifies the truth, the reality, because he knows he's seen and heard the reality. Again, because he comes from above. You and I, including John the Baptist in that group, we have a limited perception of

a limited experience, a limited exposure. We can't see into the spiritual realm. We can't see, you know, beyond our time frame or our lifetime or even beyond our field of vision, right? There's so much that we don't know and are blind to. But Jesus in his ministry is much different than that. He testifies of what he has seen and heard. And so he has a much more powerful testimony.

a much more real and true testimony. But the irony is that no one receives his testimony. It's not common to receive his testimony. It's not the common thing to do. There are those who receive, so he's not saying no one in the sense that it's not possible, but just generally speaking, people are not receiving the testimony of Jesus. There are those who do, he says in verse 33,

And those who receive the testimony of Jesus certify that God is true. They agree. Yes, God is true. Jesus is from God, from the Father, declaring the message of the Father, declaring the truth about God. And when you believe Jesus, when you receive Jesus, you're agreeing with God that what God says is true. He says, because the one that God sent speaks the words of God. That's what Jesus does. He speaks the words of God.

He fully and accurately and completely represents the Father like no one has before him or after him. He says, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. Now, just to help us think through this a little bit, I was thinking about the authors of the Bible. We have, you know, this incredible book that contains 66 books.

written by all of these different men that were men, that didn't come from above. It was written by men like you and I, and yet they were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Paul talks about the scriptures being inspired of God in 2 Corinthians 3. The apostle Peter refers to the writings of the apostle Paul and refers to them as the scriptures or just like the rest of the scriptures. And so we see that inspiration of God and not getting into all of the doctrine about the Bible, but just reflecting on the reality that here are these regular men who,

Writing down the very words of God by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And yet, not everything that these guys said or wrote was inspired by God to the degree that it was the very words of God. Now, the things that we have in our Bibles that they wrote, we would look at these and understand these are the words of God.

But they also wrote many other letters, many other documents that we don't have any longer, that aren't preserved, aren't contained in the Bibles that we have today. They taught many messages that weren't recorded or, you know, podcasted or anything like that. And so they spoke by the inspiration of God today.

But they didn't always, in every case, speak the very words of God without fail because, well, like the rest of us, they were men who failed. And so Jesus here stands in contrast to that. Again, verse 34, he whom God has sent speaks the words of God. You see, if another letter from the Apostle Paul surfaced, we wouldn't just blindly accept that as, well, it must be inspired because it's from the Apostle Paul.

But if there was a word from Jesus, that could be proven that it was from Jesus. But any word that Jesus said, written, verbal, he spoke the words of the Father. And so we would know, we would recognize, we would be able to understand these are the very words of God. And so Jesus here was filled with the Spirit.

He's from above. Now, again, all of this points back to this is why his ministry must increase. And John the Baptist says, my ministry must decrease because he's from above. He speaks the very words of God. He is an accurate and full representation of the father. Verse 35, 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. The father loves the son. Interesting to consider, right? John 3, 16, for God so loved the world, right? And so we see the father loves the world. The father loves you so much that he sent his only begotten son.

And yet here we're also reminded the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. And so there is the unity of the triunity, right? The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, they are all equal, they are one, and yet there is interaction between them and relationship between them that is incredibly difficult for us to begin to fathom. But the Father loves the Son and he has entrusted all things into his hand.

so that it all revolves around Jesus. He who believes in the Son receives everlasting life. And everything that the Father has given and desires to give, all of the blessings, it all comes through the person of Jesus. Remember, later on, Jesus is going to say, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. But then in contrast, he who does not believe the Son receives

shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Here we get another clear gospel in a succinct verse here in the gospel of John. This happens throughout the gospel of John. Some really powerful truths about Jesus and about salvation that are given to us through the apostle John here in his gospel. And so here's the clear choice. Believe the son or don't believe the son.

Believe Jesus or don't believe Jesus. If you believe Jesus, you have everlasting life. And if you refuse to believe Jesus, he says, you don't have life. You will not see life. The wrath of God abides on you. And so this is why the ministry of Jesus must increase and the ministry of John the Baptist and Paul,

if you extend that beyond the ministry of everyone else, must decrease. It must be Jesus who is promoted. It must be Jesus who is glorified because he has the words, the very words of God. And believing in him is what provides everlasting life. Not, you know, attending church or following a ministry or doing some good deeds, but it's the relationship with the Son that determines everlasting life.

And so some powerful truths here found in the Gospel of John chapter 3. Now, as we do on Wednesday nights, we want to take some time to consider a little bit more in detail some of the application of this passage. And so we have the paces that we work through on Wednesday nights, which walk us through some things to help us consider the passage, and

starting with the letter P, we have the promises to believe. And we should consider if there's some promises that we need to grasp hold of in this passage or attributes of God to consider and to chew on and to think about and understand God to a greater degree. Are there some commands to obey, some examples to follow or examples to avoid? And is there some sin to confess? And so I want to give you a few moments to read through the passage again.

and think about these things. And we'll come back and walk through them a little bit. Now, I don't have a video panel tonight. We didn't have enough people to participate in that. But I do have some things that I'd like to share.

as far as application and walking through some of these things and some important things for us to consider and evaluate as we seek to take the Word of God and apply it to our lives. But before I share the things that are on my heart for that, I want to give you an opportunity to hear from the Lord as well. And so I'm going to give you about a few minutes to look over the passage to work through these things, and then I'll come back in just a little bit and

walk through together some of the things that the Lord is speaking to us through this passage. So Lord, we pray that you'd bless this time in your word. We pray that you would lead by your spirit, highlight the things that need to be highlighted. Take these things, Lord, and really allow the word to penetrate our hearts in a way that it impacts the way that we think, the way that we live. Lord, the decisions that we make, may we be different as a result of our time with you tonight. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. All right. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.