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.
Dear heavenly Father, how we do praise and thank Thee. Thou dost love us so much as to give Thy only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus, to us.
We do praise Thee that, in Him, Thou hast accepted us; and by Him, we have ready access to Thee.
As we gather together in Thy presence, our Father, we pray that Thy Spirit may be among us, exalting Thy only begotten Son.
We pray that Thy Word will become light to us, that Thou mayest have us for Thyself completely, because Thou alone art worthy.
In the name of our Lord Jesus, we ask. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have been gathering together for three days now. We are using John the Baptist as our springboard in order that we may ask three questions of ourselves.
By the grace of God, we hope we will get all the right answers—not just answers that are mentally correct, but answers that we may have in our hearts.
During the first evening, we asked the question: Who are you? This was the question that the Pharisees asked John the Baptist.
John the Baptist said, “I am not the Christ. I am not Elijah. I am not the prophet. But I am a voice in the wilderness, preparing the way of the Lord.”
Now, dear brothers and sisters, we need collectively to know who we are. We can only know who we are in the light of God. Only by the Word of God do we really know what we are—not what people say we are, not even what we think we are, but what God says we are.
What we are ordained to be in Christ is our state of life. We are a chosen race, out of every nation, every tongue, every tribe, and every people.
God has called us together unto His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus. We are a chosen race. We are a royal, kingly priesthood. We are a holy nation, a people for His own possession.
We are the body of Christ. We are the church of the living God. We are to declare the excellencies of the One who has delivered us out of darkness into His marvellous light.
That is what we are in the light of God. The thing is that we must walk in God’s light. That is what we really are.
Now, on the second evening, the people asked John the second question: “If you are not the Christ, and you are not Elijah, and you are not the prophet, why do you baptize people? On what right, or what authority, are you doing that?”
John answered, “I indeed baptize you with water, but there is One mightier than I, One who stands in your midst, but you do not know Him. I am not even worthy to unloose the latchet of His sandals.”
“I baptize you with water, but that is only a preparation. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
Now, brothers and sisters, after we know who we are, the next question is: Why do we gather in this way?
As God’s people, we must gather together. The Bible says, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name”—that is, in the name of the Lord Jesus—“there am I in the midst of them.”
This is what the church is: all the called-out ones gathering together unto the Lord Jesus.
Why do we gather in this way? We believe that God has not only His will for our individual lives. Individually, we need to seek to know God’s will, that we may live our lives worthy of His name.
But we do believe that the Bible also shows us God’s way for our gathering together. Therefore, we need to know why we gather in this way.
We should not take it merely as a tradition of the fathers. We should not say, “This is the way our fathers did it; therefore, we are just following their tradition.”
We come together on the Lord’s Day. We break bread together. We sing praises to the Lord. We come together to pray. We gather to read the Scriptures and to encourage one another.
Now, are these merely traditions to us? Or are all these revelations to us? Do we really see in our hearts the meaning of the things that we are doing?
Dear brothers and sisters, the reason why we gather in this way is because we believe in the headship of Christ.
We will not put ourselves under the head of any man, however spiritual that person may be, because no one is fit to be the head of the church. Only Christ is the Head of the church.
So we gather together under His authority. That is, we put ourselves under His authority and let Him rule and govern us in everything. We try to hold Him fast as the Head. That is to do His will.
We gather together because we believe in the body of Christ. The Head is one, so the body is one.
Therefore, we refuse to gather together on sectarian ground. We gather together on the ground of the oneness of the body of Christ. We receive all whom Christ has received, and we consider all those who believe in the Lord Jesus as our brothers and sisters.
They belong to us, and we belong to them. Our fellowship is the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ.
We believe that the church is a spiritual house, and we are a holy priesthood. Therefore, we need to be built up together organically, as members one of another, and as a priesthood we serve God together.
We believe that we are to be the bride of Christ. Therefore, as chaste virgins, we need to prepare ourselves, keep ourselves pure for our Lord, and be ready for His coming to receive us unto Himself.
This is why we are here. This is why we gather in this way.
Now this morning, we would like to ask the third question. Even though this question was not asked of John, this was what John was doing: What is our testimony?
For four hundred years, God was silent to His people. Then suddenly, a voice came out of the wilderness, proclaiming, “Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
That electrified the whole nation. Many people flocked to the wilderness to receive John’s baptism.
While they were receiving his baptism, John warned them very solemnly. Do not think that merely receiving baptism with water is enough. You need to produce fruits worthy of repentance.
Repentance is not just an emotional action. It has to be real. You have to produce fruits of repentance.
People listened to him. He was welcomed by the people at that time. As a matter of fact, he was greatly looked up to by the people.
You know, there is a great temptation when you are successful, when you are prosperous, when people begin to look up to you. That is a very dangerous time, because you are tempted to think bigger than you really are.
You see how people flock to you. You see how they listen to you. You think, “I must be someone great.” What a temptation that must be.
But John was not tempted. When people flocked to him, he told them very openly, “I am not the Christ, nor am I the prophet that Moses prophesied.”
“I am but a voice—only a voice. The voice will come and will vanish. Do not hold on to me, because I will vanish away. I am only a voice. I am nothing.”
But why was his voice important? It was to prepare the people to receive the One who was mightier than he, the One who was coming into their midst.
John was not tempted. He kept himself humble before God.
Then one day Jesus came to him and asked to be baptized by him. Now, that must have been a great temptation. If people came to be baptized by John, then suddenly the Baptizer was greater than the baptized.
But here Jesus came to him to be baptized. What a temptation that could have been. An evil thought could have come into the mind of John: “Oh, how great I am, that even Jesus came to be baptized by me.”
But John was not tempted. When he saw Jesus coming to him, he immediately sensed that there was greatness in that Man, Jesus.
Before that Man, Jesus, he felt that he was unclean. He needed to be baptized. So when Jesus asked him to baptize Him, John said, “Oh, no, no. I should be baptized by You.”
“You are so noble, so pure. You are the Lamb of God, pure and spotless. In Your presence, I am unclean. I need to be baptized by You.”
The Lord Jesus said, “Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.”
What does this mean? It means that, in the economy of God, God had determined that, at that moment, John the Baptist should come to proclaim, declare, and preach repentance, and that those who repented should be baptized with water.
That was God’s will for that moment, in order to prepare the people for the Messiah. That is the righteousness of God. All who repented and were baptized fulfilled God’s righteousness.
So Jesus said, “You baptize Me, that we may fulfil the righteousness of God.”
Now, Christ Jesus was pure. He had nothing of which to repent. But why did He need to be baptized? It is because, in the plan of God, He was to be the Lamb of God.
He was to take away the sin of the world. He would bear all our sins upon His own body, and He would die for our sake.
In other words, He personally needed no repentance, but He stood in our place and repented on our behalf. He was baptized in our stead. That is fulfilling the righteousness of God.
His baptism foreshadowed Calvary. As He entered into the water, He accepted the cross.
So, brothers and sisters, He told John the Baptist, “Let us fulfil the righteousness of God.” John obeyed Him.
As Jesus was baptized, while He was praying, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and abode upon Him.
John testified, “He that sent me to baptize told me beforehand: ‘Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and abiding upon Him, the same is He.’ This is the Son of God.”
Instead of yielding to temptation, John the Baptist received new revelation. He saw Jesus as the Son of God—not just a man, but the Son of God.
Jesus’ disciples were baptizing people, and John was still baptizing people. But all came to the Lord Jesus.
You find that the disciples of John were a little jealous. So they came to their master and said, “The One of whom you bore witness is also baptizing people, and all go to Him.”
What a temptation that must have been to John. Was John jealous because of this?
No. He said, “A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. I told you, I am not the Christ. I am only preparing His way.”
“It is the bridegroom who marries the bride. I am the friend of the bridegroom.”
In the old days, the friend of the bridegroom was the one who negotiated the marriage. He was the one who led the bride to the bridegroom. He did all these things for the bridegroom; he was not thinking of himself.
John said, “It is the bridegroom that marries the bride. When I hear the voice of the bridegroom, I rejoice with joy. Why? Because my mission was fulfilled.”
Now the bridegroom has the bride, and it is time for me to disappear. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” That is what it should be.
Thank God, John the Baptist overcame. But you find that more temptation came.
Very soon John the Baptist was put into prison by Herod. While he was lingering in prison, his disciples brought news to him concerning the One to whom he had borne witness.
They told him how Jesus was preaching the kingdom of heaven, how He opened the eyes of the blind, healed the lame, and raised the dead—what miracles He was doing.
And John was there, lingering in prison. He began to wonder. So he sent his disciples to Jesus and asked, “Art Thou He that cometh, or look we for another?”
Now, brothers and sisters, had John’s faith failed him? He had given such a testimony to Jesus, and now he was asking, “Are You the Messiah, or are we to wait for another?”
I believe his faith had not failed. But he had a problem. Why? Because he was the forerunner of the Messiah, and he prepared the way for the Messiah.
Now the Messiah had come, and He was doing wonders. He could do anything He wanted to do. So John the Baptist was thinking, “This should be the time that the kingdom shall come.”
“If He establishes His kingdom, what will be my place in His kingdom? I have been faithful to Him, and He ought to do something for me. He has done all these things for other people. He could very well take me out of prison and probably make me His prime minister.”
“Why did He forget me?” John was trying, in a sense, to remind the Lord Jesus. He was trying to stir up the Lord Jesus to do something for him.
Brothers and sisters, remember one thing: John the Baptist was a Jew, and as a Jew he had a certain concept of the Messiah.
The Messiah was the One who would come in glory, establish His kingdom upon the earth, make the Jewish nation the first of the nations, overthrow the Roman Empire, and establish His own kingdom.
That was the concept of the Jewish people. Even Jesus’ disciples had the same concept. So John the Baptist had the same concept.
He thought that the kingdom of heaven was to be established upon the earth right then. He did not understand that it had to be spiritual first, and then there would be the public manifestation.
Between the establishing of the spiritual kingdom of heaven and the public manifestation of the kingdom of God upon the earth, there would be a mystery. There would be a period of time in which God would reveal His mystery—the mystery of the church.
This was unknown to the prophets of old, and it was unknown to John the Baptist. Of course, our Lord Jesus knew, but John did not know about it.
He thought it was time to re-establish the kingdom of Israel as the kingdom of God. But our Lord Jesus came to save the lost, to build up a spiritual house and a spiritual kingdom.
Then, at His second coming, He will establish His kingdom upon this earth. But John did not know about these things. No wonder he was puzzled.
He thought, “I have been so faithful to Jesus. Why did He not do anything for me?”
The Lord Jesus answered by telling the disciples of John, “Go and tell John what I have been doing. Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me.”
John was in danger of being offended by the Lord. “Why do You not do something for me? I have every right to expect that You should do something for me.”
“Other people may not have that right because they have not done anything for You, and yet You do all these things for them. I have prepared Your way. Do You not think You should do something for me?”
So the Lord said, “Blessed is he who is not offended by Me.” The Lord did nothing for John. He did not explain everything to him. But He said, in effect, “Do not be offended. I know what I am doing.”
“You will have your place. Go to rest until the end of the days, and then you will rise up and receive your reward. But just trust Me.”
I believe John accepted it. I believe John was not offended by the Lord, even though the Lord did nothing for him and did not explain to him.
John honoured the Lord as the Messiah, trusting Him even unto death.
You see that John the Baptist, after he was used by the Lord, was tempted all along his way. But thank God, he was faithful.
How he testified for the Lord! As a matter of fact, John the Baptist did not testify for himself. He testified against himself.
People thought that he was great. As a matter of fact, our Lord Jesus said he was great. There was no one born of women greater than John the Baptist. All the Law and the prophets ended in John.
He was the greatest of the prophets because he walked before the Lord and prepared His way. But what did John testify concerning himself?
He said, “I am not even fit to untie the thong of His sandal.”
In those days, they did not wear shoes like we do; they wore sandals. It was the work of a slave girl to unloose the thong of the sandals when someone came home.
John the Baptist said, “I am even lower than a slave girl.” How he testified against himself.
He said, “No, I am not the bridegroom. I am only a friend, and I will vanish, because it is the bridegroom who has the bride. He must increase.”
That is the testimony of John concerning himself.
What a testimony John gave concerning the Lord Jesus. The testimony he gave of the Lord Jesus was so full. He received such rich revelation from above that perhaps even today we cannot surpass him in his knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
What did he testify concerning the Lord Jesus? He testified that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Ever since the Garden of Eden, God prepared a lamb. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they discovered that they were naked.
Personally, I believe that God clothed man with glory. You may accept it or reject it, but I believe man was created and clothed with glory.
It was not a physical dress; it was glory. But the glory disappeared, and they were naked.
Adam and Eve took fig leaves and wove them together to cover their nakedness. Especially when God came, they knew they were naked and were not fit to stand before Him.
So God clothed them with the skins of animals. Now, if you want leather and fur, you have to kill an animal.
This shows us that God killed an innocent animal in order to clothe fallen man. Evidently, it was a sheep that was killed.
Through the history of mankind, there have been sacrifices. What is the meaning of sacrifice? The innocent for the sinner.
Countless numbers of lambs, goats, and cattle were sacrificed, but all these were types and shadows. They did not take sin away.
In Old Testament times, they offered sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, that their sins might be atoned for. But their sins were only covered for a year; they were never washed away.
Their sins were only covered. So the next year they had to have the Day of Atonement again. Under the Law, nothing was complete and perfect.
But here you find that one day the Lamb of God finally came. All those countless sacrifices were but shadows and types.
The Lamb of God—God prepared a Lamb for the whole world to take away the sin of the world.
John’s testimony was, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” This is the One in whom you must believe, that your sins might be forgiven.
John also testified that this Man is different from every other man because He is the Son of God. It is the Son of God who came to be a man.
You look at Him: He is a man, no different outwardly from you and me. But in Him is God. He is Emmanuel—God with us.
This is the testimony of John concerning the Lord Jesus.
More than that, John said that He is the Baptizer in the Holy Spirit. He is not only the One who takes away our sin, the One who saves us; He is also the One who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit.
In one Spirit, we become one body. We are members one of another, and we are one body under one Head, Christ.
When the body grows into maturity, the Head takes care of the body. He nourishes it and cherishes it. He loves it so much. He sanctifies it and purifies it.
Then one day that body will grow into maturity, and behold, the Bridegroom will receive us as His bride. It will be an eternal union.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the testimony of John concerning our Lord. It is a complete testimony.
Now, what is our testimony? The apostle Paul said, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord.”
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the testimony of the church? The testimony of the church is the testimony of Jesus.
The church does not testify of herself. The church testifies of the Lord Jesus.
Now, it is true that the church is very precious in the sight of God. We need to know what the church is. We need to be instructed concerning it.
But, dear brothers and sisters, we do not preach the church. We preach Christ Jesus.
If you preach the church, you get the cross. If you preach the cross, you get the church. Remember these words.
If the church is to become a reality, then the cross must be working in us. If you preach the cross, it will result in the building up of the church.
But even so, we do not preach ourselves. We do not preach the church. We teach the church, but we do not preach it. We preach only Jesus Christ.
We know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Do not exalt the church above Christ.
The church should be kept in the background. Christ is always in the foreground.
You remember the vision John saw on the island of Patmos. There were seven churches in Asia, but he saw One standing in their midst.
In other words, the seven lampstands were in the background, and One like unto a Son of Man was in the foreground.
Always exalt the Lord Jesus. Always teach the Lord Jesus. Do not preach ourselves, and do not preach the church.
If we go ahead of the Head, we will have a headless body. If we exalt the body, we will result in a headless body. And a headless body is a corpse.
It is a terrible thing. Let it be buried.
Oh, brothers and sisters, what is our testimony? Our testimony should be against ourselves.
John the Baptist was asked, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am nothing. I am a voice. I am lower than a slave girl. I am not the principal man. I am only the friend of the bride.”
“Christ must increase, but I must decrease.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, what is our testimony? Our testimony is the testimony of Jesus.
Turn to Revelation 1. What did the Lord Jesus say concerning Himself? Here John the apostle was on the island of Patmos.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, 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.
What does our Lord Jesus say concerning Himself? This is the testimony of Jesus.
He says, “I am the first and I am the last.”
Christ must have the first place. He must have the first place in your life. He must have the first place in the church. And He will have the first place in the whole creation.
This is the eternal will of God: that He shall have the pre-eminence in all things.
He is the last. He is the end. Everything consummates in Him. He has the last word, and He is the One to be worshipped and adored.
He is the Living One. He is life. He is eternal life. Thank God, we believe in the Living One.
But He became dead. Why? For our sake. But He was raised from the dead, and He is living for evermore.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is our testimony. We believe in a living Christ.
Yes, He died for us, but He was raised from the dead. He is seated at the right hand of God, waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool.
We worship a living Christ. We serve a living Christ. Because He lives, we also live. He lives in us.
Oh, brothers and sisters, He lives in us. As He lives, so shall we live. That is Christianity.
He says, “I have the keys of death and of Hades.” Death has lost its power. He now holds the keys of death and of Hades.
Hades is the place where the unbelieving dead will be. But our Lord Jesus has the keys of death and Hades.
The Lord Jesus said, “I will build My church upon this rock; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Why? Because our Lord holds the keys.
This is our testimony: the testimony of the church is, Jesus is Lord.
He is Lord of all. Today we submit ourselves to His lordship, and one day the whole creation will be subjected to Him.
One day, when He comes back, He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Every knee will bow to Him, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
It is our testimony. What a glorious testimony. The church is the vessel of that testimony.
Now, are we testifying of our Lord Jesus? How we are tempted.
When we are a little blessed by the Lord, we become proud of ourselves. We think that we are better than other people.
Oh, brothers and sisters, how easily we are tempted. God blesses us, and we think we are bigger than what we really are.
Instead of being humbled by the blessing of God, the blessing of God should humble us. God has blessed us in Christ.
Who are we that we should be ordained to be sons of God? This should humble us.
How deceitful it is when we receive a little blessing from the Lord and begin to lift up ourselves instead of lifting up Christ. That will be our downfall.
Brothers and sisters, this is our only safety: God gives grace to the humble, and He resists the proud.
Is it because we follow the Lord that we feel we are the only people? Are we jealous?
You remember John, one day, came to our Lord Jesus and said, “We saw someone casting out demons in Your name, but he does not follow with us.”
“How dare he do all this without being one of us? We forbade him.”
How easy it is for us to be jealous. Because we follow the Lord, we think that we are the only people.
But God is great. Wherever God finds something that He can bless, He will bless. In spite of us, He will bless.
Do not be jealous. Rejoice in the Lord, because he who is not against you is for you.
Are you tempted to be offended by the Lord? Look at other Christians. They love the world, and yet they are very successful. They are very prosperous. They seem to have no trials.
Yet you want to follow the Lord. Because you love the Lord, you cannot love the world. Not only that, you have many trials and many sufferings.
Maybe in your early Christian days, when you had a problem, you prayed and immediately you were delivered.
But now you have followed the Lord for thirty years, and you love the Lord even more than thirty years ago. Yet when you are in trouble and cry to the Lord, He is silent.
You wonder what has happened. Are you somehow offended by the Lord?
Oh, brothers and sisters, only the spiritual have the opportunity to be offended by the Lord. If you are not spiritual, you will not be offended by the Lord. You do not even have that privilege.
But if you are spiritual and really love the Lord, there will be times when you feel that the Lord has forsaken you. He has forgotten you. He does everything for everybody except you.
Can you take it?
I have met many brothers and sisters who loved the Lord and gave their lives to the Lord for thirty years, forty years—the best years of their lives.
Then suddenly they discovered that they had been deceived by men. They said, “Why did the Lord not tell us at the beginning? Why did He not warn us and allow us to waste thirty or forty years of our best years?”
“I loved the Lord. I did it for the Lord. And it turned out that it was not the Lord.”
Do not be offended. The Lord knows what He is doing. Go to rest, and you will receive your reward at the end of the days.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, who are you? May the Lord have mercy upon us, that as a people we may know who we are.
By the grace of God, may we be what we are.
Do you know why we gather in this way? Do you have a revelation of the way of the church?
May God have mercy upon us. And what is our testimony? Is our testimony ourselves?
“See how we grow. See how prosperous we are. See our bigger and bigger buildings. See how we are richer and richer.”
We are nothing.
If you follow the Lord, the road is narrow. It is the way of the cross, but it leads to glory.
Are you willing to walk in this way? Only in this way can you testify that Jesus is truly Lord.
He is our Lord, and He will be the Lord of all. May He have mercy upon us.
Dear heavenly Father, we ask Thee to do the work and accomplish it.
Make us what Thou hast ordained us to be. Show us Thy way.
We pray that we may truly be that corporate vessel of the testimony of our Lord Jesus.
May Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.