Will you please turn to the Gospel according to John, chapter 3? We will begin with John 3:22-30.
After these things came Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judaea; and there He tarried with them, and baptized.
And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized.
For John was not yet cast into prison.
There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purifying.
And they came unto John, and said to him, Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to Him.
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven.
Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before Him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is made full.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
Shall we pray?
Lord, we do want to thank Thee that Thou hast allowed us to gather together unto Thy mighty name. We do praise and thank Thee, knowing that Thou art here with us. And now, Lord, do speak to our hearts. We give Thee all the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
In the past few sessions, we asked two questions: Who are we? And why do we exist? Now, this morning, we would like to ask the third question: What is our testimony?
What is our testimony? The emphasis is not on my testimony, although my testimony and our testimony actually are one. But our emphasis is on this: What is our testimony? We whom the Lord has called out of every nation, every tribe, every tongue, and every people; we who are gathered together unto His name—what is our testimony?
John the Baptist was sent by God. He was a voice in the wilderness, and when that voice was raised, he electrified the whole nation. People flocked to the wilderness to hear the voice from God.
He called them to repent: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand.” This is not a time to play around. This is the time of serious business. The kingdom of the heavens is coming. You need to be ready, and the only way to be ready is to repent.
The nation of Israel was called to repent, and then John practiced baptism with water as a symbol of their repentance. People came to him to be baptized, and he told them, “You need to produce fruit for your repentance.” It is not just going into water and being baptized. You need to produce fruit.
His message was powerful. People began to wonder whether he was the coming Messiah. They even asked him this question: “Are you the Christ?”
Now, brothers and sisters, success and popularity are great temptations. People’s hearts can be deceived by success and popularity. It may make a person forget who he is and begin to think that he is what people want him to be.
But thank God, John the Baptist did not lose his head. He knew very well, and he acknowledged and denied with humility, “I am not the Christ.” Not only that, but he said that he was not even worthy to unloose the thongs of the sandal of the One mightier than he, who was coming.
Then one day Jesus came and asked to be baptized. We usually think that the one who baptizes is greater than the one who is baptized. I wonder whether the enemy tried to tempt John and say, “Look, here comes Jesus to be baptized by you. How great you must be!”
But John was in the Spirit. When Jesus came to him, somehow he sensed in his spirit, “Here is One greater than I.” Now, of course, physically speaking, John and our Lord Jesus were cousins. Whether they had ever met or not, we do not know. But surely John knew about Jesus. Yet he sensed in Jesus a spiritual superiority.
So when Jesus came to be baptized by him, immediately he said, “No, I cannot baptize You. I need to be baptized by You. Before You, I am unclean. I need to be washed by You.”
And the Lord said, “Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” In other words, in the economy of God, at that certain moment God was calling His people to repentance. Those who repented were to be baptized by John in water. That was God’s way for that moment.
All who responded to the call of God came to John and received the baptism of repentance. But here was Christ Jesus. He was sinless. He knew no sin. He did not need to be baptized, and yet, because He was to be our substitute, He was to be made sin for us. Therefore, in the economy of God, to fulfil all righteousness, as representing sinful mankind, He had to be baptized.
He did not need baptism for Himself, but He was baptized for the nation of Israel and for the whole world. So after our Lord Jesus mentioned this, John was humble enough to baptize our Lord Jesus.
As John did so, his eyes were opened. In John 1, John said, “I knew Him not.” In other words, he did not really know who Jesus was. He knew that this was his cousin, and he sensed a moral superiority in Him, but he did not really know who He was.
The One who sent John to baptize told him, “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon Him, the same is He that baptizeth in the Holy Spirit.” And John said, “I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven; and it abode upon Him.” Therefore, he testified, “This is the Son of God.”
Instead of being tempted to think that he was greater than Jesus, John received more revelation of who Jesus was: the Son of God.
Jesus began to baptize people—though the Bible says that He Himself did not baptize, but His disciples did. John was also baptizing, because this was before John was put into prison. Many people came to the Lord Jesus to be baptized.
One day, the disciples of John had an argument with a Jew about purification. They came to John and said, “The One of whom you bore witness is now baptizing people, and they are all going to Him.”
How subtle is the enemy, through the disciples of John trying to instill something into the mind of John—a spirit of jealousy. “The One of whom you testified, He baptizes more people than you do.”
Thank God, John rose above it so gloriously. He said, “Unless it is given by God, no one receives anything. Did I not tell you openly that I am not the Christ?”
“It is the bridegroom who has the bride. I am the friend of the bridegroom, and when I hear His voice, my joy is fulfilled.”
You know, in the old days, not like today, marriages were usually arranged, and they had a go-between. According to Jewish custom, it was usually the friend of the bridegroom who did all the negotiations. The friend of the bridegroom represented the bridegroom’s family, went to the bride’s family, and made all the arrangements and negotiations until everything was settled.
Then came the day of marriage. When the friend of the bridegroom heard the voice of the bridegroom—in other words, when the bridegroom came to receive his bride—his joy was full. His mission was accomplished, and now he was ready to fade away.
So John said, “He must increase; I must decrease. I am just a voice.” Now the voice fades away, for the Person has come. He overcame the temptation of being jealous.
The greatest temptation of John the Baptist came after he was put into prison by King Herod. As he lingered in prison, he heard reports of what our Lord Jesus did—how He healed the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, made the lame walk, and even raised the dead. He heard all these reports about the Lord Jesus, and there he was, lingering in prison.
He sent his disciples to ask the Lord a question: “Art Thou He that cometh, or look we for another?”
Now, brothers and sisters, he who had received such revelation of the Lord Jesus—how could he ever question whether Jesus was the Coming One, or whether they should wait for another? Did John lose his vision? Lose his faith? I do not think so.
But why did John ask such a question? To me, I feel probably that even though John had received great revelation about our Lord Jesus, somehow he was still like the other Jewish people. He was still blinded by their traditional concept of the Messiah.
This happened not only to John the Baptist; it happened to the disciples of our Lord Jesus. The Jewish people were waiting for the Messiah to come, but their expectation was that the Messiah would overthrow the Roman yoke and make Israel the greatest of the nations. That was their concept of the Messiah.
John had done a good work in pioneering. He opened the way and prepared the way for the Lord, and he was faithful. Because of his faithfulness, he was put in prison. Here was the One of whom he testified, healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, and preaching the gospel to the poor. He was doing all these things.
But when would He restore the nation of Israel? How could He allow His forerunner to linger in prison and do nothing? What would be John’s place when Christ claimed the nation? Where would he be?
In other words, he began to wonder about himself. What would be his place in the restoration of the kingdom of Israel? So he sent his disciples to ask that question, just to stir up Christ to do something for him and for Christ Himself.
The answer of the Lord was, “Go and tell him what I am doing. Yes, that is what I am doing. You do not understand. Before anything physical can be recovered, there must be the restoration of the spiritual.”
There will be a calling out of every nation, every tribe, every tongue, and every people: a nation, a holy nation, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for God’s own possession—a church. You do not know that this is a mystery hidden throughout the ages. It had not been revealed.
“You are expecting the kingdom of God to come right now on earth. It will come, but before that there will be the gathering of God’s people as a holy nation, one people. Therefore, that is what I am doing.”
“Go to rest, and when the time comes, you can rise up and have your lot in the end of days.”
I believe that because of this, John was not offended. He was nearly offended by the Lord because the Lord did not do what he expected Him to do. But by the word of the Lord—“Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me”—John, I believe, with his revelation of the Lord Jesus, was willing to trust in Him without understanding what had happened.
Thank God, John resisted all temptations, and he rendered to the Lord a clear testimony.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes I wonder whether the revelation that we have received of our Lord Jesus ever exceeds what John received. The revelation and testimony of John the Baptist concerning our Lord Jesus is all-inclusive.
As a matter of fact, you will find that John often testified against himself in his testifying for the Lord. He said, “I am not. I am not Christ. I am not even Elijah,” though he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. Our Lord Jesus even said that if they received it, Elijah had come.
Yet John said, “No, I am not Elijah. I am not the prophet. I am lower than a slave. So far as the Lord is concerned, I am not worthy to loose the thongs of His sandals.”
Yes, brothers and sisters, if we want to testify of the Lord, we must testify against ourselves. This is the way to exalt Him. He must increase; I must decrease. He is the Bridegroom; I am only the friend of the bridegroom. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit; I only baptize with water. I am nothing. I am just a voice.
When the voice has passed away, what is left is the message, not the voice.
John testified of the Lord as the Lamb of God. After our Lord Jesus was baptized, He was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted. After forty days, He was tempted in every aspect, and He overcame. He came back in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In John 1, after He came out of the wilderness, He came back to John. As He came to John, John looked at Him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world!”
From the Garden of Eden, through the centuries, the fathers, the patriarchs, and the nation of Israel offered countless lambs. But here is the Lamb of God, the only Lamb that God had prepared to take away the sin of the whole world. That is John’s testimony of our Lord Jesus.
John testified that this Jesus is the Son of God. “I saw the Holy Spirit descending and abiding upon Him. This is the Son of God.”
Brothers and sisters, people in the past had no idea that the Messiah is the Son of God. They had no idea that the Lamb is the Son of God. But John received revelation to see that the Lamb of God is none other than God’s only Son, because He is the only One qualified to take away the sin of the world.
John testified that He is the Christ; He is the Messiah. So far as His Person is concerned, He is the Son of the living God. So far as His work, mission, and ministry are concerned, He is the Christ, the Anointed One of God, sent by God to complete the work of redemption. He alone is able to do that.
John testified of our Lord Jesus as the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit. He is the only One who can baptize us with the Holy Spirit and join us into one body. Through that body, He continues to do and to teach even to this time.
He is the Bridegroom. He came to this world to seek for His bride, but He could not find His bride. Just like Adam in the Garden of Eden: when God brought all the animals, great and small, before him, Adam named them, but he could not find his counterpart.
The same thing happened to our Lord Jesus. He came to this earth to find His bride. Nowhere could He find His bride. Sinners everywhere, rebels everywhere, but no one who answered to Him—to His life and to His character.
God had to put Him to death. Adam was put to sleep and received a painless operation. Out of his side God took something and constructed a woman—bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, his likeness, his counterpart. When Adam woke up and God led her to him, he looked at Eve and immediately said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” They were joined into one.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus came as the Bridegroom looking for His bride. Nowhere could He find His bride. So God crushed Him on Calvary’s cross. Because of sin, it was a painful death. Out of His side came blood and water, and God used that to create His church—His likeness, His counterpart.
What a testimony, a complete testimony John has rendered of our Lord Jesus.
Now, brothers and sisters, what is our testimony? We who are redeemed of the Lord; we who are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, the body of Christ, a new man, a holy habitation of God—what is our testimony?
Do we testify of ourselves? Paul said, “I preach Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I do not preach myself.” Brothers and sisters, we are here as His people to set forth all the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.
In the eternal purpose of God, He has raised up His church so that through His church the principalities and authorities in the heavenlies may be made known the manifold wisdom of God.
We are here not to testify for ourselves. We are here to testify of the One who has redeemed us, who has baptized us, and who has gathered us unto Himself.
We do not preach church. We preach Christ. Sometimes we have to give teaching concerning the church, but the church is not our message. The church is not our centre. Our message is Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
We present Christ to the world, not ourselves. It is a serious error to put the church above Christ.
Here is the One of whom we testify. The testimony of Jesus is our testimony. The church does not have her own testimony, just as the church does not have her own teaching.
The Roman church says, “The church teaches.” That is heresy. The church has no teaching—only the teaching of Jesus Christ.
The early church persevered and continued in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles. But remember: the teaching of the apostles is the teaching of Christ. The Lord taught them, and they taught what they had received from Him.
The Apostle Paul said, “I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received.” There is only one teaching. There are many apostles, but one teaching. Paul does not have his own teaching. James does not have his own teaching.
People think that the teaching of Paul and the teaching of James contradict each other. If you receive Romans, you reject James; if you receive James, you reject Romans. Even Martin Luther, who claimed that Galatians was his wife and used Galatians as his sword for the Reformation, said when he read James that it was “a letter of straw.”
But, brothers and sisters, the apostles do not have their own teachings. If they do, it is heresy. They taught what the Lord had taught them. So it is the teaching, not the teachings—only one teaching, the teaching of Jesus Christ.
The apostles do not have their own fellowships. What is the fellowship of the apostles? It is not, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas.” No, they do not have their own fellowship.
Their fellowship is with the Father and with His Son. They report what they have received to us, that we may have fellowship with them. We are called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
In the breaking of bread, why is it so important that we gather together? Because we are in communion with His blood and with His body, and we are in fellowship with one another as one body, one bread. We pray together with one accord, in union with our Head.
Brothers and sisters, the church does not have its own testimony. The church does not draw people to herself; she points people to Christ. This is why we are here. We exist for His testimony.
In Revelation 1:17-18, our Lord Jesus said:
Fear not; I am the first and the last,
And the Living One;
And I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore,
And I have the keys of death and of Hades.
This is the testimony of Jesus. First, it is God’s unchangeable, eternal will that His Son shall have the first place in all things—first place in your life, first place in my life, first place in everything.
That is the will of God: the preeminence of Christ, the first place of Christ. This is our testimony. Are we faithful to our testimony? Do we allow Him to be the first—not only individually in our lives, but corporately? Is He the first?
He said, “I am the first, and I am the last.” Does everything go back to Him? Does everything end up in Him? He is the sum of all things. That is the will of God.
The whole universe is dissipated, disintegrated, falling apart. It has lost its centre and lost its purpose. The whole universe is entering into vanity and corruption.
Yet it is the will of God, and it is by Christ Jesus, that all things one day will be summed up together, find their centre, return to their centre, and be joined together in Christ Jesus. He is the last.
He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the One who spells out the mind of God. He is the beginning and the end. Everything originates from Him, and everything finds its home back in Him.
Now, brothers and sisters, is this real to us? Is this our testimony? Do we begin with Him, or do we start something by ourselves? Does everything go back to Him?
That is our testimony, because it is the will of God that the church is the body of Christ, the fullness of Him who filleth all in all. It is God’s will that His Son be all and in all.
He is the Living One, the fountain of life. You cannot arrive anywhere else but in Him. But thank God, He became dead.
The eternal Son came to this earth. Life entered into death, robbed death of its power, came out in resurrection power, and holds in His hand the keys of death and Hades.
He is the victorious One. He is the Heir of all things. He is the Lamb in the midst of the throne, executing the will of God concerning this universe. He is coming back to take the world. Yes, He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is our testimony. We do acknowledge that our vision of Christ is small and limited. We do acknowledge that even in what we have seen of Him, we have not been fully faithful to Him. But, brothers and sisters, we have a Christ whom we testify to the world. He is our testimony.
Because of the greatness of the testimony, it is a conflict of the ages. The Apostle John was on the island of Patmos because of the testimony of Jesus and the word of God. Wherever there is the testimony of Jesus, there is bound to be conflict.
The enemy is jealous. The enemy hates the testimony of Jesus because he knows that it means his end. So he will use all kinds of ways to tempt, to deceive, to attack, and to try to destroy the testimony of Jesus.
The Old Testament is a lesson to us. God raised up the nation of Israel and committed His testimony to that nation. Of all the nations of the world, Israel was the only nation that knew God. They were there as a testimony vessel of God’s testimony on this earth.
But how they failed. During the Babylonian captivity, God was no longer addressed as the God of the heavens and the earth. He was addressed as the God of heaven. Had God retreated back to heaven? There was no testimony of God on earth.
Brothers and sisters, this is our burden. This is our cry before God: Where is the testimony of Jesus today? The church is supposed to be the vessel of the testimony of Jesus, the lampstand from which the light shall shine. But, brothers and sisters, has the lampstand been removed?
If we are not true to the testimony, then the word of our testimony is powerless. They overcame the accuser because of the blood of the Lamb, because of the word of their testimony, and because they loved not their life even unto death.
O Lord, may we be true to the testimony of Jesus, not only individually, but together.
We are always tempted because of the greatness of His mercy. Sometimes I wonder: out of billions of people, why? Why, God, did You lay Your eyes on me? Why, even before the foundation of the world, did You choose Your children in Christ Jesus? Why should grace come upon me?
I do not deserve it. It is pure grace.
And then, brothers and sisters, in our time, why? Why did the Lord open my eyes to see His purpose? Why did the Lord allow me to see Christ? Why does He attract me? Why does He constrain me? Why does He show me this way? Why?
I am no better than anybody else. I am worse. God knows.
Many, many who love the Lord have not received the revelation that we see. Many are still in darkness. Why is it that God has shown us Christ, shown us the church, and shown us the way of Christ? Why does He call us to follow Him in this way?
Sometimes we may be tempted to be proud of the grace, mercy, and truth that we have received. It may come to our mind that it is because we are special. We are the elite. We know more than other people.
Pride comes before a fall. Wherever there is pride, it will be followed by falling.
Brothers and sisters, I have seen many who received much grace from God, much truth from God, used by God and raised up by God. But somehow pride entered: “We are the people.” Sure enough, the hand of the Lord came down.
Brothers and sisters, may He deliver us from being proud. There is nothing we can be proud of. It is all of grace.
Maybe it is because we are a people who need more grace that He gives us more grace. That should humble us instead of exalting us.
Dare we look down upon our brothers and sisters who do not have the same light as we have? They are faithful to the light that God has given them, but we have not been faithful to the light that God has given us. We are worse.
God have mercy upon us. The hand of God was heavy upon us in China because we became proud of ourselves.
May the Lord keep us humble. The more grace we receive, the humbler we should become, and we should be faithful to the grace that He has given us.
Are we tempted to be jealous?
One day John, the beloved disciple, the disciple of love, came to the Lord Jesus and said, “We saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.”
And the Lord said, “Do not forbid him: for he that is not against you is for you.”
Brothers and sisters, does jealousy ever come into our minds? Do we think that God is just with us and not with anybody else? If they do not follow the Lord with us, then they have no right to cast out demons. But unfortunately, demons are cast out.
We think that God’s blessing should be only with us. But thank God, God blesses wherever He can bless. Are you jealous?
God’s blessing does not mean His approval. People may think that because God blesses, He must approve of it. No. Our Lord Jesus said that one day people will come to Him and say, “In Thy name did we cast out demons,” and demons were cast out. Yet the Lord will say, “I never knew you.”
Thank God, He is so great. If He can find anything that He can bless, He will bless it. We should thank the Lord for what the Lord is doing outside of us. He is greater than we are. Thank God for that.
But we need to be faithful to what the Lord has shown us.
Are we tempted to be offended by the Lord? For His sake, we forsake everything. We give Him the best of our lives. We serve Him faithfully. We follow Him closely. We deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.
But look what happens to us. Other Christians may love the world, and they can prosper, while we suffer. Why? Should He not treat us better than what we receive? What do we get? We leave everything for Him—suffering, persecution, want, sickness. Are we offended?
How many of God’s people, how many who love God and gave themselves to Him, one day abandon it. Some go back to the world. Some become discouraged. They wonder, “Is it worthwhile to love the Lord, to follow Him?”
Brothers and sisters, are we offended? This is a narrow way, a way that is covered with blood. Are you willing to press on?
When people come into our midst, are they attracted by the building? Are they attracted by the programs? Are they attracted by the singing? Are they attracted by the way we worship? Are they attracted by good teaching? Are they attracted by friendly people?
When people come into our midst, what do they see? Do they see us? Or do they say, “The Lord is in your midst,” and fall down and worship Him?
Brothers and sisters, if our gathering together does not give people the impression, when they come, that they say, “I see—the Lord is here,” then we fail. We fail in our testimony.
We do not want people to admire our building. We do not want people to be attracted to our way of worship or singing. We do not want people merely to be touched by our teaching.
Brothers and sisters, our desire is: “The Lord is there.” This is our testimony. May the Lord help.
Shall we pray?
Heavenly Father, how canst Thou trust us—so feeble, so changeable, so unfaithful? How canst Thou entrust the testimony of Jesus to us?
Oh, we do thank Thee for Thy faithfulness. Lord, may Thy faith lift us up, that we may go on bearing Thy testimony until Thy coming. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.