The Early Ministry of Christ (2)

Now tonight we're going to begin with Jesus in and around Jerusalem, in and around Jerusalem and I think we have a map of Jerusalem in Jesus' day and so let's take a look at this. Again, we encourage you to move toward the front so we can have more of a classroom setting who will be easier to see the slides as well. This is the area of Jerusalem. The walls are indicated by these dotted lines here. This is the temple area. We probably need a bigger picture of the temple when we get into the cleansing of the temple in just a moment. But if you can see this part of the building right here is the actual temple proper. That is the actual place where the sacrifices would be made and the holy of holies and the holy place would be and so forth. And then there were courts. This would be a court where Jews could be and then this outer court would be a place where Gentiles could be. Now it was important to realize that there was an outer court where Gentiles could observe the worship of Jews and actually pray in this outer court. It is that part that becomes very important when we get to the cleansing of the temple. John chapter 2 and verse 13 is where we start tonight. Remember that we're in a section of John that gives us the first four chapters of John gives us material that is not found in any of the other gospels. And so we have about an eight month period of our Lord's life, the very first things that happened in his ministry after the temptation that are not found in the other gospels. So this very good material here, material that we have to focus on in order to get a picture of what's happening in this early part of Jesus ministry. Verse 13 says, when it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts, he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle and scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves, he said, get these out of here. How dare you turn my father's house into a market. Now Jesus would do this again at the end of his ministry last week of his life. We'll find that he does this again. So it's twice in his ministry does this at the very beginning and at the very end. Now, why do you think Jesus drove these money changers and people who were selling animals? Why do you think you drove them out of the temple? Jesus said, why have you turned my father's house into a market? Now it's very important to understand that it was not wrong to sell animals. Nor was it wrong to exchange money. In fact, both were needed for the temple to operate properly. People came from all over the world to these feasts, to the Passover and other Jewish feasts. And obviously, if you're coming from Africa or Asia Minor or somewhere you're not going to necessarily bring your lamb with you or an ox or whatever with you, and you may have a currency that is not accepted in the temple. And so there was a need for people who sold animals for sacrifices. And there was also a need for people who exchanged money, who would take whatever you had and your nationality and exchange it into shekels and it would be paid there in the temple. So there's a need for this. There's nothing wrong with what these people were doing. The problem was they were doing it in the court of the Gentiles, the outer court of the temple, which had been really made a thoroughfare, a kind of a street going through the temple and a market where people would buy and sell animals and exchange money. And if you've ever seen on the news a marketplace in the Middle East, it's a very noisy place. It's a place where you bargain. You bargain for the best price. I mean, that's that way in Israel today. In the old city, in the markets, you still bargain for prices. I remember going into buy some souvenirs when I was in Jerusalem in 1984. And I had a friend of mine who had been a friend in seminary who was in Israel studying for a year. And I went in and just picked up something and took it up to the front. And he said, don't you don't pay what is, you know, the price is on there. You bargain with the guy. You know, I'm not used to that kind of thing. And so he told me what to do. And I went up and and you know said, I'll pay so many shackles for this. I forget what it was. And the guys started arguing and yelling at me and I'm thinking, what is going on here? We're going to get shot or stabbed or what? And Steve, my friend is just encouraging me to continue on. Go up a little bit. He'll come down a little bit. And finally the guy turns around and walks back. Like he's just forget you. And I said, OK, I'm not buy anything then. Well, he turns around and starts to bargain again. Finally, we found a happy medium. But it was a very noisy affair. That's the way things would have been in the temple. And so it was because a place that was supposed to be a place of prayer and a place where Gentiles could observe worship and even pray themselves. They were not able to do that in this den of a marketplace. And so Jesus recognizes that what is happening here is not what God intended. The temple courts to be. Now please, please do not use this passage to tell someone they can't sell their CDs in the lobby of a church, you know, when they're having a concert or something. This passage is often been used that way. And it simply is not applicable in that way. If we have a speaker come and they're going to sell their books, please don't quote these verses to them. You know, it's just not the same thing. What happens in a lobby when someone is selling materials for the benefit of God's people is not at all what was happening in the temple. While this was a needed service, it was done in a place and in such a way that that distracted from the worship that was to be taking place. So that was the problem. So Jesus drives out these money changers. And verse 17 is disciples remembered that it is written, zeal for your house with will consume me. Psalm 69, a mishianic prophecy, prophecy of the Messiah. And the disciples are recognizing connecting points with the Old Testament and prophecies of Messiah. They connect with this one and recognize that Jesus is fulfilling this. So verse 18, then the Jews demanded him what miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do this. Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days. The Jews replied, it's taken 46 years to build this temple. And you're going to raise it up in three days, but the temple you had spoken of was his body. By the way, the temple was not yet finished. Herod the herod's would not finish this temple till about 30 years later, but it was it was a work in progress and it had been going on for 46 years up to this point. And so there are incredulous that Jesus said I could raise this temple back up in three days, thinking that he's talking of the building there and the grounds and all the buildings involved in that area. But he was talking about his body. Notice verse 22, very interesting post script that John adds after he was raised from the dead is disciples recalled what he had said, then they believe the scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken. Again, some of the connections the disciples didn't make till later, you know, one of them they're making now when they recognize the zeal of Christ for his father's house, but another connection they won't make till after the resurrection where Jesus was talking about his body after three days he would raise it up that temple and the disciples remembered that after the resurrection. There's there's actually a very subtle claim to deity on the part of Christ in verse 16 where Jesus says, how dare you turn my father's house into a market that that term my father's house. Jesus calls God my father. Jewish scholars, in fact, a man by the name of of Joachim Jeremiah, who was a rabbinical scholar studies the writings of the rabbis says that the rabbis never used this expression. They never used my father for God. There's not an expression that was used even by the religious teachers, the teachers of the Old Testament of the day never used that term my father. And so the Jews recognize this would be an unusual term and it would be a term that Jesus was claiming a special connection to God. In fact, a couple chapters later in chapter five he will say it again. He will say, my father works and I do the work that my father does and notice what happens there in in John 5 verse 18. For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to killing not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father making himself equal with God. They recognized that was a claim to deity. They recognized this was not a normal expression that a religious teacher uses. This is a claim to a special relationship with God. This is a claim to deity. And so Jesus makes that claim very early on in his ministry when he calls God my father and this is my father's house. Okay, any comments or questions about the cleansing of the temple? Some would be converts to Judaism, Jewish or Prasalites to Judaism. Some would just be interested in praying as they were in Jerusalem and so they would come to the Gentile court to pray. But there were Gentiles that would come into the temple precincts to worship. They could not go in to the actual temple proper. In fact there was a sign there that anyone who a Gentile who passes that sign could be killed. His life could be taken. That actual inscription has been recovered by archaeologists in the museum somewhere I don't remember where it is now. But yeah, very interesting interaction between Jew and Gentile even in the temple. And they probably did. Yes, they probably did. Money changers knowing the value of the exchange of money. And most of us when we go to a foreign country, we don't know necessarily the exchange rate or whether we're getting a good deal or not. Probably that some of that was happening. Later Jesus would say they were turning his father's house into a dinner for thieves, which would indicate that. It's noteworthy also that this is the first reference to Jesus' death and resurrection. And he himself states, tear this temple down. I'll raise it up in three days. His first state all availed reference. It is his first reference to his death and resurrection. Okay, any other questions about the cleansing of the temple? Okay, the last three verses of chapter two I want to put with chapter three because they form an amazing contrast. Chapter two verse 23. Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man for he knew what was in a man. Now the idea here is that there were many people who were believing in him because of the signs they saw, but Jesus did not believe in them literally. It's the same word that Jews, he did not entrust himself to them or did not believe them in them. In other words, he had no confidence in their kind of belief or the genuineness of their faith. They were simply believing in him in the sense that they loved what they saw and they think he must be a great miracle worker and they'd like to see more. And so they're going to follow him for that reason, but for no other and they Jesus does not entrust himself to them. He does not believe in them. In other words, he shows no confidence in their faith. It's a shallow insincere faith. This is a fickle crowd that will go back and forth in their support of Christ all through his ministry. In contrast to that, you have Nicodemus in chapter three. And so what Jesus does next after cleansing the temple is he has a private interview with Nicodemus on the subject of the new birth. This is one of the most fascinating encounters in Jesus ministry. Because here's a man who is a high ranking member of the Jewish council of the leadership in Israel, but who has a genuine interest in Jesus. And I believe the interest is genuine. Look at what verse one says. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, probably indicating he was a member of the Sanhedrin, the group of 70 Jewish leaders that ruled as in as far as the Romans would allow them to the day-to-day affairs of the Jews of the nation of Israel. So he's a part of that rule in council. It's a very high ranking member in Israel. Verse two, he came to Jesus at night. There's been a lot of speculation as to why he came to Jesus at night. Why do you think he came to Jesus at night? He might have been ashamed because of his position. He might have been ashamed. Could be. Might have been the only time there were other people around him. That could be as well. And it could be that this is the only time he would really be able to talk with Jesus in depth because of so many other people around him. That's possible. We don't really know. It could go either way. The Bible doesn't really tell us. But if you want to give Nicodemus a benefit of the doubt. And of course later on he does end up being a follower of Jesus. But now he's just exploring. He's just investigating. And so he may have done. It may have been some of both. It may have been. It's the only time I can catch him alone. But I'm not sure where I am with this Jesus yet. And so I don't want to stick my neck out. As far as the other Pharisees are concerned until I get a little better feel for this man. So it may have been a little bit of both. Vicki. I'm sorry. He may have. He may have felt like he could lose his position on the ruling council. You know later when Jesus is being tried Nicodemus will take up for him. And some of the other Pharisees turn on him. We'll see that later. I believe it's in John 19 where some of the Pharisees turn on him and say, are you a follower of his too? You know, and so he knew he would be risking ostracism at least if not an official blackballing of the Sanhedrin. Okay. So he comes to it at night and he says this in verse two, Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God for no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him. It's an interesting, interesting statement. He knows that you're from God. That's not a full blown statement of faith yet, but he knows that you're, he come from God because of these miraculous signs we see you doing. Now what Jesus does is he initiates a conversation, well Nicodemus has initiated a conversation. Jesus takes it where Nicodemus had no clue where he was going to take it. Jesus initiates a conversation about the new birth. And this is an amazing, amazing interview. Jesus, first of all, talks about the necessity of the new birth. Verse three. Jesus declared, I tell you the truth. No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. I mean Nicodemus just basically has said, you know, we know you're a teacher from God because of these miraculous signs. You wouldn't do this if God were not with him. And what Jesus says really seems to have no bearing with what Nicodemus said, but basically what he's doing is he's taking Nicodemus where Nicodemus needs to go. Nicodemus is coming with religious questions and Jesus says, that's not where it's at. You need to be born again. Now he gets right to the heart of the matter. Nobody can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. So the necessity of the new birth is emphasized by Jesus right off the bat. You must be born again to see the kingdom of God. Well, Nicodemus is non-plus. I mean, he's just, he just, what's going on here? So in verse four, he says, how can a man be born when he is old? Jesus has used the term born again. How can a man be born when he is old? Surely cannot enter a second time to his mother's room to be born. So Nicodemus is clueless. He doesn't have, he doesn't have an idea of what Jesus is talking about. And Jesus answers him in verse five, Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit. And that statement of Jesus has given rise to much confusion and debate about what did Jesus mean by this? What does he mean that you have to be born of water and of the spirit? There are four primary views as to what he means by that. What do you think Jesus meant? Okay, Vicki saying that she feels Jesus was indicating that you have to be born physically. That's the born of water because you are in water when you're in your mother's room. So you're born physically and then you have to be born spiritually also. And that is one of the four views and I think it's one of the ones that bears some close examination and may be right. And the reason for that is the context, many have taken that view because of the context. Nicodemus has just said, how can you go into your mother's room a second time? And so that he does seem to, Nicodemus obviously is understanding physical birth. He doesn't understand you can do that twice. And so Jesus is saying, well, you've got to be born of water and of the spirit. You not only have to be born physically but spiritually and then you contrast physical birth in verse six with spiritual birth. That's the reason why many have taken that to mean exactly that. I don't take that view, but it is a good one. It is a good one. And I think it may well be right. And I was reading a commentary today on Romans 11 in preparation for Sunday morning and written by one of the foremost New Testament scholars in the country Doug Mu. And he was talking about, I'm going to get to preaching when I was preaching Sunday. If I don't be careful here, he's talking about the statement, how insurigible are the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God. And he talked about how the older he gets, the more he realizes you have to take theological positions with a sense of humility that you may not be right. And he says, I made some statements and wrote some things in my early years that I was very dogmatic about. And now he said, you know, there are lots of good positions. So that's where I'm coming from. That may well be the proper view of this passage. I don't think so, but it may well be. It's a good one. What are some other views that people take of this to be born of water and of the spirit? That's another view that many take that the water represents the word of God and that Jesus is saying, you have to be born of like Paul said, the washing of water by the word in Ephesians 5. What's the problem with that view? I think there is a problem. I mean, certainly Paul teaches that that water represents the words, one of his figures of speech for the word. And we are born by the word and by the spirit. But what's the problem with that view? Yeah, Paul hadn't written that yet, right? That's Pauline theology. And to read that back into what Jesus is saying is improper interpretation of scripture. Now, there's nothing in the context here. Nothing that, nothing to indicate Jesus is using water as a symbol of the word of God like Paul will later on. Paul makes it very clear that he's using it as a symbol. Nothing to indicate that here. So really, people who take that view, although it is true from what Paul says, it's true that we're born of the spirit and the word to say that that's what Jesus was saying is probably reading Paul back into Jesus. So yeah, I think you're right, Joe. Okay, there are some people who think that a third view would be some people believe that this is talking about baptism, that you have to be born, you're born again by baptism and the spirit's giving of new life. And obviously, there's nothing in the context here. Nothing in what Jesus is saying that would indicate He's talking about baptism. And again, obviously, doctrineally, theologically, we know that would introduce works into the equation, something that we do to contribute to our salvation. So we would say, no, that's not what Jesus is saying. I think there is a fourth alternative that I would at least place equal to the view that Vicki has talked about. And that's that Jesus is just saying, well, yeah, you got to be born physically, but you have to be born spiritually too. I think another view that might be possible is that Jesus is referring to the Old Testament symbolism of water being used for cleansing, spiritual cleansing. When the Old Testament talks about the new birth, the new covenant, for instance, it uses terminology like cleansing, for instance, in Ezekiel 36. Let me just read a few verses there in Ezekiel 36, where Ezekiel is describing what new birth will be like for Israel. The new covenant that God will make with Israel, and it will come at the cross, He says, I will take you out of the nations, I will gather you from all countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove you from your heart, your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my loss. When Ezekiel was describing what salvation would be like under the new covenant, he used the same two symbols or the same two thoughts. I will sprinkle you with water, I will cleanse you with water, and I will put my spirit within you. So you have water in the spirit, cleansing, spiritual cleansing, and the new birth by the Holy Spirit. Remember a little later, a few verses down, Jesus will, when Nicodemus continues asking questions about this, Jesus will say, you are a teacher in Israel and you don't understand this? Ah, there is a clue. Jesus expected that Nicodemus's knowledge of the Old Testament, he would know what Jesus was talking about. So I believe what Jesus was talking about was he was just saying, you have to be spiritually cleansed and you have to be born by the Spirit. I am talking about the new covenant birth, Nicodemus. You should know about this. You should know about this from Ezekiel 36. You should know about this from Zachariah 12 and 13, where the Bible says that I will open a fountain of cleansing for Israel and their sins will be forgiven and cleansed. You should know about this, Nicodemus. You are an Old Testament scholar. So I really believe that is what Jesus meant. He is just using water as symbolic of spiritual cleansing under the new covenant that would be instituted at the cross. And nobody can come into the kingdom of God unless they are spiritually cleansed and the Holy Spirit comes to give them salvation. I think that is what Jesus was talking about when he talks about the means of the new birth. It is a spiritual cleansing accomplished by the Holy Spirit. However, Nicodemus is talking about physical birth and Jesus contrasts physical birth and spiritual birth in verse 6. So that view could be true as well. Look also what Jesus says about the logic of the new birth. So you have the necessity of the new birth in verse 3. You have the means of the new birth in verses 4 and 5. You have the logic of it in verse 6. Flash gives birth to flesh but the spirit gives birth to spirit. In other words, there is such a thing as a physical birth but that is not what I am talking about Nicodemus. I am not talking about physical birth. I am talking about spiritual birth that is done by the Holy Spirit. And then he talks about the mystery of the new birth. And there are some things that are mysterious about the new birth. Verse 7. You should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases. You hear it sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the spirit. There are some things about new birth that you just really can't explain. The moving of the Holy Spirit in people's hearts is there is a bit of mystery to that. And we shouldn't try to make it exactly the same for everybody. And everybody gets saved by grace through faith in Christ and through Christ's death on the cross. Everybody gets saved the same way. But everybody's experience of how the Holy Spirit brings them to that point of salvation is not the same. And so Jesus is talking about the fact that the Holy Spirit moves in mysterious ways to bring new birth to people. And it is not always the same with everybody. Sometimes you can't, you know, it is like the wind. You don't know exactly what is happening where it is coming from. You can't see it but you know that it is happening. You see the evidence of it and that is the way new birth is. Nicodemus asked the question, how can this be, verse 9? And that is where Jesus says in verse 10, your Israel's teacher and you do not understand these things. I tell you the truth. We speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen. But still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe. In other words, I try to use earthly illustration, symbols to help you understand. How then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? Okay, so there is a bit of mystery about this. Obviously it is difficult to really put your finger on the moving of the Spirit in new birth. But you can see the evidence of it. You know, if you ever, you remember when you came to know Christ as your Savior? Your experience may have been very different than mine. I was eight years old. I made a decision to trust Christ as my Savior. I did not feel anything. I did not see anything. But there was a definite moving of the Spirit in my heart. I could not have explained it to you. At eight years old, all I knew was that I needed Jesus as my Savior and someone had explained the gospel to me and I was lost. And I needed to be forgiven of my sin and be made right with God and I accepted Jesus. And it was that simple. I did not understand all that was happening at the time. The ways of the Spirit and drawing between Himself and all of that. And maybe your experience is totally different. Maybe you were like pilgrim and pilgrim's progress and you just felt that weight roll off your back and you were shouting and rejoicing and crying. Maybe it is very emotional for you. The way of the Spirit with everyone is not the same. But the result is the same. The evidence is the same. And that is new life, new birth. You have a new direction, a new chain, a change in your life where you have a new hunger for spiritual things, for the Bible and to see people saved and those kinds of things. The evidence is there. So Jesus says there is a bit of mystery about it. But then He talks about the method of new birth. Verse 14, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert so the Son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life and in the most familiar verse in the Bible. John 3.16. And He goes on through really verse 21 describing this means of the new birth that it comes through the sacrifice of Christ. God gave His Son who would be lifted up just like Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness so that those who look at Him and believe in Him and trust Him will be saved and have eternal life. That is the method of the new birth. That is how it comes about. Okay. Fascinating conversation. Jesus and Nicodemus. Any questions about it? Comments about Jesus with Nicodemus. I'm trying to say that Nicodemus is a very nice thing to say. Yeah. You're right on all counts. I believe. I believe he was rebuking Nicodemus. That rebuke your Israel's teacher and you mean to tell him you don't understand these things. I think there was a bit of a rebuke there. But he was also teaching him. He was also directing. I think his comments to Nicodemus as a representative of the Pharisees. And in fact, the whole Jewish system of teaching which had twisted the Old Testament and missed the core of it, missed the heart of it. And so that's why he says in verse 11, for instance, I tell you the truth. We speak what we know. We test. But still you people do not accept our testimony. He's using Nicodemus really as a representative of all the Jewish leaders and teachers who are not receiving Christ. Yeah. He is. And he's teaching him too. He's giving him information. So the heading in your Bible is correct. He's teaching Nicodemus. He's taking an Old Testament scholar and rewiring him in his knowledge of the Old Testament and what it really means. Okay. Other questions about the interaction with Nicodemus. Yes, Dan? I don't think. Yeah. I think my take on Nicodemus's question is not that he was gullible or stupid that he was really mocking Christ or saying you're suggesting something that's impossible. I think he was really. I think it was sincere and coming to Christ first of all. And I think Christ caught him off guard with the whole thing of born again. And I think he was struggling to try to understand that concept born again. How does that happen? Surely you're not talking about being born again. I think he's struggling maybe thinking out loud. That's my. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he wasn't mocking Christ here. But again, I'm not. I wouldn't die for that. I wouldn't even start a new denomination on that. Okay. The other question is about Nicodemus. You like Nicodemus? Okay. I'm glad you do. He ends up being a good man and a follower of Christ in the end. I have to say this. I never can think of this passage. I'm thinking of two of my cousins three, three or four of my cousins actually in the family. They heard me preach one time. They visited here and they heard me preach. And I was preaching on John three. I was preaching on Nicodemus. And they had a cat named Nicodemus. And they sat there and laughed through the whole sermon thinking of their cat. You know what that has to do with our lesson tonight. I have no clue. All right. Let's take a look at the next event in the life of Jesus in his early ministry. And that is Jesus and John in Judea. Let's take a look at the map again and make sure we understand where we are. Jesus has been in Jerusalem. Where is Jerusalem right there? Okay. Cleansing of the temple. Interview with Nicodemus. And then he's going to be out in the Judean wilderness. The Bible talks about at some place where John is baptizing. So it may have been close to the Jordan River or it may have been somewhere down in here. All those not much water down here. So it may well have been over near the Jordan River. But verse 22, after this Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside where he spent some time with them and baptized. Now if you'll skip down to chapter four verse two, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized but his disciples. So Jesus was not actually doing the baptizing but his disciples were. But verse 23 says John also was baptizing at a non near. And on near Salim because there was plenty of water people were constantly coming to be baptized. There are those who have said that we know John was a Baptist because he baptized in a place where there was a lot of water. So we know he had baptized by immersion, right? Okay. John was not a Baptist. He was the baptizer but that's why the name John the Baptist. Okay. They're baptizing and someone comes to Jesus to start or to John rather to start an argument. Verse 24, this is before John was put in prison. Verse 25, an argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. So people love to pick theological arguments even back in the first century. Verse 26, they came to John, this is John's disciples, came to him and said, Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, the one you testified about, well he's baptizing and everyone is going to him. I mean, can't you just hear that? You know, hear the pivitianist. Is that a word in their voice? Hear the sarcasm in their voice? Maybe the concern in their voice? We don't like this. Everybody's going over to him. And John's answer is classic. In fact, I think this maybe more than any other passage opens up the heart of John to show the man of God he really was. Verse 27, to this John replied, a man can receive only what is given him from heaven. That is one of the most profound statements in scripture. A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You know, if I could learn that better, if we could all learn that better, we would all be more deeply content with whatever gifts God's given us and we would never try to be anyone else. What John is saying there is I'm doing what God has called me to do. It's not what God's called him to do and he'll go on to say much more about Jesus. But he's saying a man can only can only do. He can only live out. He can only minister. He can only receive what God has given him. And there are so many people in life, even in ministry who are trying to be somebody else who are trying to develop the gifts of this person or that person and wish they could be doing what that person is doing. God only gives us only expects us to use what he's given us and what we receive. And John is placing himself purely in the center of God's giftedness and will for him and saying listen, you got to understand I'm not supposed to be him. I'm not supposed to be doing what he's doing. I'm supposed to be doing what God's given me to do. And you know, there are times in my life when I need a good dose of remembering that I'm not supposed to be like going to blank. Whoever I'm not supposed to have their kind of ministry do that what I'm supposed to do what God's given me to do and all of us are that way. He says, you yourself can testify that I said I'm not the Christ, but I'm sent ahead of him. And then this wonderful analogy verse 29, the bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine. And it is now complete. You see what John is saying? He's saying, I'm the best man. I'm not the groom. I'm not even the bride. I'm the best man. I'm the friend of the bridegroom. I know who I am. I know who God made me to be. I know what he sent me to do. And I'm not the Messiah. I'm not the Lamb of God. I'm not the one who's supposed to be growing in popularity now. I'm supposed to be fading off the scene. I know what God has for me. You know, at a wedding, if the best man steals the show, you ought to be kicked out of the place. You know, he's not supposed to be the center of attention. I've seen some best man who try to become the center of attention. I've seen some other people in wedding that try to become the center of attention. The preacher is not even the center of attention in a wedding. I've seen some preacher try to be the center of attention. The bride and the groom are the center of attention. And that's what John is saying here. I know my place. And my place is not to be the center of attention. My place is to point to the one who is the center of attention. And that's the bridegroom. That's Jesus. And he's going to start calling out his bride. He's going to start winning people to himself. I'm just, man, my joy is complete. If I can be a part of the party, if I can be there and point people and say, there's the groom. There he is right there. You know, my joy is complete. If I can do that. What John says about himself is and should be at the core of everybody's understanding of ministry. And that is that we're not the center of attention. Jesus is and Jesus' work of getting his bride is. And so that's why Jesus can say, or John can say in verse 30, he must become greater. I must become less. It's time for him to grow in people's awareness of who he is and people flocking to him. That's what God designed. I know my role. I'm the friend of the bridegroom. I'm to serve him. I'm to help him. I'm to point people to him. People are going to start going to him away from me. That's the way it's supposed to be. I'm not here to gather a crowd. I'm not here to get my own deal where people are surrounding me. It's not about me, John is saying. Wow. You know, he's one of the most challenging characters. I believe in all the scriptures to all of us who live for Christ and serve him in his perception of his role and what God had for him to do. He goes on to talk about this through verse 36. He talks about he's the one from the earth. Jesus is the one from heaven. And the one who comes from heaven is above all. And God has sent him and speaks his word through him. He's pointing to the sun. He's pointing to Christ, not himself. And that's all of us are supposed to do in whatever ministry God gives us. So this is a wonderful interaction between John and his disciples. He's supposed to be baptizing more people than me. That's what it's supposed to be. What a man. Okay, our time is up. But before we go, any quick question about this interaction between John and his disciples. All right, let's pray. Father, we're grateful to you that you've given us a little bit of insight into this man, John. And also our course, our savior and his cleansing of the temple and his interview with Nicodemus. But Lord, we are so challenged by John's awareness and clear picture of who he was. Being comfortable with what you'd given him to do and not not trying to be center of attention. And the one to whom everybody would look realizing that he's he's here to point to Jesus. Lord, I pray that you would help help me to do that better and help all of us who call ourselves Christ followers to do that better. To really be a follower of you, the point people to you. And Lord, I thank you that you've given us each something to do and a place and a part in your work. Help us to realize we can only do what we receive from you. And we're not to take other people's gifts and ministries. We're going to do what you've given us and help us to be content with that. Never content with our spiritual growth and our closeness to you, but content to be who you've made us to be and do what you have a force to do. Thank you again, Lord. And Jesus, name me, man.