The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 7: Humility

Episode Date: May 23, 2021

God is for you, it’s just not all about you. True life is found when you realize that you are not the center of the universe, but instead you center your life on Christ. Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Doing good. You're looking great if you got your Bibles. I hope you do. John chapter three as we continue in this series on the gospel of John. And today, we are talking about humility. Humility.

Now, here's the problem when you preach on humility, is that the people that need to hear it most are the people that least likely hear it. Anybody want to raise your hand and say, I don't really struggle with humility. Anybody want to be that guy? What a prideful thing to say. And here's what I mean.

Here's how it can creep in you on Thursday night. Gretchen text me at about 720 and says, how you feel it, how you feel like the message is going be, you know, you're ready? And I was like, I'm ready. I think it's going to be great. She said, what are you preaching on? Oh, yeah, humility. It's not good.

It creeps up in us all, man. And a part of the reason that I want to share this with you is because when the Jags win the Super Bowl this year, we just want to handle it in such a humble way. Amen? Praise God. All right. We have been humbled for years. Now we're going to be humble.

Praise God. That's what's happening here. So, if we pick it up in verse 22, we're just going to dive right in. The Bible says this, after this, and the this is Jesus has this conversation with Nicodemus. Remember Nicodemus shows up at night and he's got some questions for Jesus. And Jesus says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. And last weekend, 134 people put their faith in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior. Amen?

Praise God. And of those 134. 14 were at our prison campuses between Baker and Union. So, boys, welcome to the family. Praise God. And Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. And John, that's John the Baptist,

John also was baptizing in Adon near Salem, because water was plentiful there. By the way, the reason water's got to be plentiful is because baptism or baptized means to dip, dunk, or submerge, all right? And people were coming and being baptized, for John had not yet been put into prison. Now, I don't know where you were last weekend, but we had our own little baptism. Did anybody come to the baptism service at the beach last week? Praise God for that.

And let me tell you, not only was water plentiful, but the waves were plentiful. And just in case you weren't there, I'm just going to tell you a calmness and a peace of the Lord just transcended that place. And some of my favorite moments of just peace and tranquillity with Jesus, here's one, this is what it was like, okay? You can see how excited Michael Olson is. I don't even think I'm touching the guy.

I just threw him in. Save yourself, that's what I was doing. And we know the Spirit of God was there in this next picture. You can see you by the face and the guy getting baptized. He's fully being immersed in the Spirit of God. And then again, the word baptized,

comes from a Greek word baptizo, which means to dip, dunk, or submerge, and this is what we believe here. Check out this one. I promise we're in there somewhere. Now, here's the thing, man, 523 people went public with their fate. 523 people. And if you were one of those 523, I want to ask you to just, would you just please stand right where you are? Please stand up and stay standing. I want to see who you are. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Stay up, stay up, stay up.

Way to go. Way to go. Praise God. No, don't sit down. Get back up. You're right there. Get back up. I just said that man.

Hey, listen, man. The reason that we count is because every single person counts. I didn't say sit down. Get up. Get up. I'm serious, man. It takes a whole lot of people to pull that thing off. Staff and volunteers and all of you serve staff,

everybody from like fried chicken bread. to bus drivers and line leaders and everybody in between. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And to all the friends and the family that showed up to celebrate people. I met so many people on the beach that just said, our whole disciple group is here because somebody from our group is getting baptized. How cool is that? And to every single one of you that took a step of obedience to follow Jesus Christ

and go public with your faith and declare that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Way to go. Praise God. Praise God. Now you can be seated. Thank you. And even though more people showed up than ever,

and we baptized more people than ever, I... It's not about, like, the total number of people. That's not what it's about. But what totally matters is every single one of those individuals who put their faith in Christ. I got one of the greatest emails

that I've ever received in ministry this week. And I didn't get permission, but I prayed about it. I feel good about it. So I'm just going to read this, okay? Says Pastor Jobi, I just wanted to drop a quick note saying thank you. Thank you for being you and a great leader to a great group of God's helpers. I am older.

Grew up in Catholic Church. Attend weekly mass still along with 1122 on Thursdays. I am divorced and when the church I was attending found out I was not allowed to receive the sacraments which had great meaning to me and I was lost. I continued to attend services, pray for forgiveness. and I decided to get baptized at the beach to renew myself and surrender to help fill a void and such deep sadness. And when Sunday, May 16th came, I was so scared and nervous and excited, all of it running together. And when I came down from the bleachers at the school gym,

we do a service just for the folks getting baptized before they get baptized. When I came down from the bleachers at the school gym for the service and received the body and blood of Jesus, I was overcome with so much emotion, I could not hold it in. The love I felt was, I have no words to say. From that moment the anxiety left. A bit of excitement took over with anxiety of being alone on the beach. On the bus, I was alone. And a young man asked to sit in the seat next to me.

We started talking. And when he found out that I was alone on the bus and would be at the beach, he introduced me to his family that were all. all there to be baptized along with his extended family that were there to watch. What a blessing that was. They stayed with me in the line up to the water. And as they went into the ocean, the young lady taking my name and number was talking to me. I expressed mixture of emotions.

And all she said was, can I hug you? I have never felt more loved in my life. In just those few hours from being dropped off at the school up until my submerge. my heart was exploding. When I walked out of the water, the family I met earlier were all there. They waited for me with open arms and hugs. I am and always will be very grateful for walking into your church. I am so blessed. Amen. That's why we do what we do. Now, I don't often preach off of emails, but just real quick, five things. She calls it your, it's not my church, it's our church, okay? It's his church, but we're all here together, so don't ever call it my church. You can say we go

church together, that's fine, I'm just saying my church. Number two, your divorce does not define you. Only Jesus gets to tell you who you are. And we are a movement for all people regardless of your marital status. Number three, in regards to the Lord's supper, it's his table. It's not my table. If you know him as Lord, then you are invited, not by anything that you have done. You were invited to his table through his finished work on the cross. Number four, in a year of relationships, I don't know who this young man on the bus is, but, brother, you preach one of the greatest sermons ever by displaying the gospel of Jesus Christ

and opening up your arms. And way to go family for doing that. And to the family that stuck around to celebrate this lady and to the line leader that did not try to say something dumb but just extended your arms as a hug. Way to go. Church of 1122. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. All right, back to John chapter 3.

baptizing, they're baptizing, and everybody's baptizing. In the Old Testament, they would baptize people. It was a symbol of purification. The priest would like take this bath in a thing called a mikva before they would go into the temple so that they would be externally clean. And then what the John the Baptist is taking that and he takes it a step further and he's doing a baptism of repentance. Anybody that's willing to turn away from themselves and turn towards the coming Messiah, they would go into the Jordan and then be baptized. And then Jesus takes the, up a notch even beyond that and says that what baptism is is an outward invisible symbol of not an external cleansing, but the fact that the blood of Christ has already cleansed us from the

inside, and that's all that's going on there. So Jesus is baptizing, or his people are, and John the Baptist is baptizing, and then verse 25, now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification. Which church, you got to pay attention here, man. oftentimes what can happen is an incredible move of God, and then right on the heels of it, some church people can get in some like denominational squabbles over to you. You're not doing it right. That's what's happening here.

They're taking their eyes off what matters most. And they came to John and they said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, look, he is baptizing and all are going to him. So John's disciples are like, hey boss, got a problem here. We're losing market share. I mean, things were going awesome. You were all crazy. Eak locusts and screaming at people and making fun of the Pharisees. People love it when you do that. And now you baptize that carpenter, Jesus, your cousin, and now our ministry is shrinking.

And look, his ministry's growing. What are we going to do? To which I'm thinking John the Baptist is like, hold on, man, how are you going to be jealous of Jesus' ministry? I mean, were you not paying attention when I said, I am not the Christ? Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the center of the world? You don't remember that part? Remember when I said, I can't even carry his gym bag? I can't even tie his sandals. Were you not paying attention? But I can tell you what we all have a propensity to do wrapped around the axle of our own ego is in one second, that every one of us has the ability to fall into what is called the comparison trap. And when you begin to get jealous of what others have, when you begin to compare yourself

with everybody else, it is a trap. It is a lose, lose proposition. And the reason it's a lose-lose proposition is because when we compare, we always compare what we know about ourselves to what we don't know about somebody else. They are comparing. their ministry that they know well, and what they don't know about Jesus is that he is the son of God. They are comparing themselves with the very move of God that they are there to support. Also, when we compare, we often compare our B-roll with everybody else's highlights. We compare our unfiltered life to everybody else's filtered life, and these things are killing us. I mean, get your phone, look at it, and say, you're a liar.

because it lies to you every day. And every study says that the more time you spend on social media, the more you will deal with things like anxiety, worry, and depression. Because we continuously, listen, man, your friend's vacation was not as good as their Instagram said it is. We've all been there before. The pictures are way better than the reality. You're screaming at your kids. You're yelling at each other.

But you can filter all that out, and it does not make it to the gram. comparison kills us every single time and not only that comparison is an affront against god when you compare yourself to somebody else essentially what you're saying is god you got it wrong you gave her too much and me not enough and it's always a lose lose proposition because comparison can only lead to pride or condemnation and neither of those is the native tongue of the Heavenly Father. And it's crazy. It's not just an individual thing.

It can be a group thing too, man. That even in the Bible, there is one ministry here that is comparing itself to another ministry. Now, if you don't think that happens in church, you must have just got saved at the beach baptism last week, okay? And so I just want to go on record. I need you to hear this, okay? That here at 1122, we are for every other ministry

and every other church that is on team Jesus. There are close-handed issues that make you a church or not, and then there's a ton of open-handed issues that we have just pre-decided. We're not squabbling over those things. We do have an enemy, and the enemy is not another ministry, not another pastor, not another church. That God's people need to be for one another.

We need to be complementing one another. We need to be lifting up one another, not competing against one another. And so I'm just here to tell you, man, when we launched the church of 1122, there were so many churches in our community that displayed this and came alongside us so that we could get off the ground and get going. The moment where it got out that we were planting 1122, Pastor Stovall Weems at Celebration Church, he called me and he said, I want to take you to lunch. And listen, man, he's, he, I mean, celebrations blowing and going, multi-site, multi-campus. I mean, it is, I understand now how busy he must have been, and yet he took time out of his schedule to sit down with me, and he gave me some of the greatest advice I'd ever have ever heard.

And he said, listen, you honor Beach, you honor Pastor Jerry in this season, and God will honor you in your season. The way you exit this season of ministry will determine how you walk into the next season of ministry. So you walk in this season with a spirit of gratitude, and I'm telling you, when you step into this, next season, then you will continue that season of gratitude. Man, I thank God for him taking the time to do that. And then when we were getting going, it was the day before we were supposed to open our San Pablo location, and we were not ready. We were not ready. And so we were just trying to get the place where people were going to see ready, and we were trying to get to all the chairs

put in, and so we had this workday, and we had a bunch of people show up, and then a church van pulled up. And I'm going to be honest, I got jealous immediately. I thought we don't even have one of those. We're not, we haven't. I wish we had a church, man. I don't have stuff like that. And so, and outsteps Pastor Spike Hogan and his and about 15 people from Chetts Creek Church. Chet's Creek is just like, basically like one street up right here from our San Pablo location. Instead of them like griping or complaining or whatever, they came and they served our church.

The senior pastor of that church was on his hands and knees and dusted every single one of our chairs before our opening service. praise God. And then if it wasn't for if it wasn't for Beat United Methodist Church now called Beach Church and Pastor Jerry Swett, there would be no 1122. They allowed us to grow up in their buildings and

launched us with love and support. Listen, listen. Church of 1122, we will not fall into the comparison trap. Okay? So if you want to say some terrible things about other churches and you just, I don't know, you pray about that, but that's not what we're going to do here. We're going to lift each other up and we are all going to be team Jesus. Amen. And so the boys come to

John. John. Hey, we've made a mistake. We're losing market share. What are we going to do? We need to do something again. Make fun of the Pharisees. Maybe we'll send out a Facebook ad or get one of those flashy signs, you know, free baptisms with John the baptizer. I don't know. We got to do something. What are we going to do? And look how John answers. John answered. A person, cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. I don't know if you're into memorizing scripture. Why don't you join me in memorizing this one? A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. James will say it this way. Every good and perfect gift is from above. And what John is saying basically is this. If you don't have it,

it's because God has not given it to you. That's right. If you don't have it, it's because God has not given it to you. And he's also saying, I think, that you cannot take or you cannot obtain what God hasn't given you. But the opposite of this is true too. And you cannot be kept from what God has for you. Ultimately, what John the Baptist is saying is this, hey man, do you trust God or not? Do you trust God with this ministry or not? And I'd ask you the same question.

and do you trust God? Like with that promotion, do you trust God that if God wants that for you, then it'll happen for you, and if he doesn't want it for you, it is still for your own good and for his glory. In your relationships, do you trust God? Are you begging God?

Oh, please let him call me back. I promise you, trust it from an old guy. Sometimes it is God's grace when he never calls back, okay? Trust me on this. When it comes to your finances and you're begging God to do something in your life, do you actually believe that a person cannot receive even one thing, even one dollar, even one penny

with that opportunity, whatever it is? You see, because we live on this continuum between putting our trust in Him and putting our trust in our circumstances, living for the kingdom of God or living for the kingdom of this world. And they are very, very different kingdoms. You see, because when we trust Him,

And when we really believe that a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given from him, given from heaven, you know what begins to happen? What begins to happen is we begin to live a life of gratitude. We begin to live a life of gratitude. But when we think that we deserve things, when we think that we are owed something, when we think that I deserve that raise, I deserve that job, I deserve to be married, then what begins to happen is we no longer live out of a heart of gratitude. We have a heart of entitlement.

Every single one of us live on a continuum between gratitude and entitlement. An entitlement says, I deserve. Gratitude understands, you know what you actually deserve? You deserve to go to hell. That's what we deserve. We deserve to go to hell.

Everything outside of hell is a bloodbalk grace give from God to us. Every breath we have, every relationship, Every smile across our face is a grace gift from God. I've got a pastor friend I know, and he's got this phrase in his house that he says, he's trying to teach his kids gratitude and not entitlement. And so they just say this all the time.

It's better in hell. Hey, dad, what's for breakfast? Serial. I don't want cereal. Well, it's better than hell. Dad, can I go out? No, you can't go out and need you to clean your room. It's not fair.

You know what's fair? Hell, it's better than hell, okay? There's a version of that. This is what John is saying. by our own sinfulness in light of a holy and just God, what we deserve is eternal condemnation, and yet what we get is an invitation to be in a right relationship with Him. You see, when we don't trust God, you know what happens?

It leads to coveting. When we put our faith in our circumstances instead of our Savior, it leads to coveting. We begin to look at everybody else's life and then think, oh, why don't I have that? Come on, we all do this, right? We all do this. I told you this before.

I went over to one of my friend's house one time, and big, beautiful, nice, I mean, it's a real nice house, right? And then I get back to my house. My house was totally fine before I went to that guy's house. It was totally fun. And then I walked back into my little house with my little, like, 18-foot ceilings. I was like, I can't even feel like I can't stand up all the way, man.

Y'all feel cramped in here like we live in a cave. I'm telling you. that's what happens when we begin to put our trust in our circumstances. But when we put our trust in our sovereign savior, you know what happens? Contentment. In fact, the Apostle Paul says this. By the way, he writes this from prison. He says, I have learned the secret of being content in every situation.

How'd you like to know that secret? No matter what your health status, contentment. no matter what your financial situation, contentment. No matter what the relational status is that you could breathe in and you could breathe out and you could legitimately say it is well with my soul. Man, how many of you have a friend that's got way more money than you, way nicer stuff than you, way more success than you, and the thing that they don't have is contentment because they don't have Christ. How much money would they pay for that?

That's what they're paying all that money for anyway. just doesn't work because contentment is only found in Christ. You know what, you know what happens when you really trust God that a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven? You get this thing called peace. Peace. Paul will say it this way, be anxious for nothing. Like that's a command in the Bible, which kind of makes me giggle. Paul's like, hey, you worried? I am. Stop. Okay, Paul. How do I do that? It's like trying to sleep. I think you're making it worse. What do you do? He says, be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication, bring all your requests to Him, to God. And the peace of God, which transcends understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

That when we put our trust in Him, there is a peace that we can have that doesn't even make sense in light of the circumstances. Like when the wheels fall off, when you get the phone call that you never expected to get, when your house floods, when whatever happens, and you're like, I don't know how I'm going to make it. And then you begin to trust God instead of trust your circumstances, you get this peace. And when people say, how are you making it? You go, I honestly don't know. I don't know. All I know is I'm putting my trust in my Savior and not my circumstances.

And there is like this peace that doesn't make sense that transcends understanding. Can you imagine if in every single relationship you walked into that relationship, understanding that a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from Evan. And instead of heaping a whole bunch of expectations on another human being, they can't give you what you're looking for anyway, you didn't have any of those expectations upon them. You understood that it was God and God alone that was going to meet your needs. You're looking for intimacy?

She can't give you the intimacy you're looking for, bro. Only he can. You're looking for security. He can't give you that security, darling. Only God can. Then you were able to not heat these expectations upon other people, but then and only then you're actually free to just love them the way Christ loves them. This is what John the Baptist is to say. You see, one of the things I want to encourage you to do, I do this, I don't know, a couple times a year, is I don't know where it came from, but years ago I just decided I'm going to make a gratitude list.

I challenge you to make a gratitude list. understanding that everything that you have, everything that you're thankful for, every blessing you have is a blood-bought grace gift from God. And what I would challenge you to do for however many years you have been alive, you should list that many things that you are grateful for. And some of them should be big, eternal, theological, significant things like your salvation. And other things should just be some little goofy stuff that you're into. Like, praise God, we live in the South and we get sweet tea, the nectar from heavens. You understand? Glory, I see some worship happening over there.

And the moment the enemy starts trying to trick you and drag you into that comparison trap, the moment you feel yourself drifting over here towards anxiety and covetousness and comparison and entitlement, then you bust out that gratitude list and you just thank God and you praise God that everything that you have is a bloodbought grace gift. this is what John the Baptist is saying. A person cannot receive even one thing unless it has given him from heaven. Verse 28, he says, you yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.

He's like, fellas, do you all not listen when I talk? I just told you, there's the Lamb of God. I'm just here to pave the way to him. He's saying that the point of my life is to point people to Jesus. And then he's going to give an illustration. It's kind of a parable. It's a very, very quick illustration. He says, the one who has the bride is the bridegroom.

The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. That's the illustration. Here's what he's saying. Imagine being at a wedding, okay? And when you go to a wedding, what's the point of the wedding? The point of the wedding is the people standing up there in the middle. That's why you're there. You are there to witness this covenant

between one man and one woman for one lifetime. That's why you got dressed up. That's why you ruined your whole Saturday. That's why you brought the toaster. That's why you did all the things. And there you are. Now, I have done a bazillion weddings, and I have seen some crazy stuff in weddings, okay?

One time I saw a guy and his best man was his dog, straight up. All right, I'm doing the premarital. He's like, I got one request. My best man's the dog. I was like, ah, I'm not really into that. and he's like, it's going to be fine. So he talked me into it. And I get to the wedding, and then sure enough,

and the dog was also the ring bearer. So we all come walking in, and then the guy's like, and then it was a Dalmatian, so it looked like he had a tux on him, so that was kind of neat. And then he walks down the aisle, turns around, and sits right next to the groomsman and never move.

He was the best behaved person in the whole wedding party, okay? It's unbelievable. I've never seen anybody take a header and go down, although I pray for it every time. I really do. I want one, just once, man. You know what I mean?

I want to tell you somebody get the wobbles and just poop. And I too, like, before we walk out, I asked the groom, hey man, are you nervous? And he's always like, oh, not really. And I'm like, you should be. This is a big deal. And then I look at the groomsman and I say, lock your knees, hold your breath, let's hope for the best. That's what I do every single time. So I've seen some stuff.

But you know what? I've never seen. Can you imagine being at a wedding? And as the wedding party is filling in, and then here comes the bride, can you imagine if one of the groomsmen, the friend of the groom began to make his way over to the bride and begin to flirt with the bride.

Can you imagine if he walked up up, he's like, hey girl, look at you in white. I know I'm kind of dressed up too. What you're doing later? Maybe you could dance or toast or something. All right, if you saw that, would you think that groomsman is a friend of the groom

or a competitor of the groom? This is what John the Baptist is saying. The point of being a groomer is you do whatever it takes to facilitate the covenant, the relationship between the groom and the bride. And John the Baptist is saying, this is why I exist. I exist to help facilitate the covenant between the groom who is Jesus and he is here and his bride, which is the church. And God forgive me if I do anything to draw any attention away from that. which, by the way, the crazy thing about this illustration is that, listen, church, if you flirt with the bride, she will pay attention to you. In other words, you get in your disciple group and you start making it about you, people will pay attention to you.

And when we do that, we are not being a friend of Jesus. We are being a competitor of Jesus. That's why, by the way, I just want to make absolutely clear. here at 1122. There is one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. And it ain't 1122. Thank God we've got the dumbest church's name and the history of church.

Thank God for that, okay? And so if you walk out of this place and you're talking about the sermon and not the Savior, then you miss the point because the point is Jesus. And if you ever walk out of this place and you're talking about the music and not the Messiah, then you have missed the point

because here the point is Jesus. It ain't about me. It certainly is not about me. The point of my life is to point people to Jesus. It is not about our church. It's not about our buildings. It's not about the programs. It's not about anything like that.

There is one name. His name is Jesus, and everything we do needs to point to Jesus. And Jesus is jealous for his bride. He loves his bride, and his bride is the church. Which, by the way, if you're one of these people, and you're like, I love Jesus, but I'm not into church. I got bad news for you. Guess who's not into that? Jesus.

Can you imagine? Can you imagine if you're like, you'm a buddy, man, I love you, you my bro. Her, nah, not into her. If you said that to me about my wife, Pastor Jobie, you're a man. Your wife, I don't like her. Guess what? Well, I don't like you. That's how this works here, okay? Because the two have become one. We're like a team. You don't get just me, you get us. And so, now I'm not saying you've got to love this bride. You've got to love this church, this local expression. Praise God, there's all kind of different churches and all kind of different places. doing all kind of different styles of worship and all of that pointing to the same Savior,

his name is Jesus. And one of the best ways that you can be a friend of the groom is that you can serve the bride. One of the best ways that you can be a friend of the groom, like John the Baptist is saying, the point of my life is the point people to Jesus, one of the ways that you can help facilitate the groom and God's people being joined together in covenant

is that you can serve. the bride, that you can serve right here at your local church, no matter what campus you go to, whether it's in kids ministry, your student ministry, or you can be on the welcome team, or at St. John, you can be on the setup, tear-down team, that you would say I'm willing to do whatever it takes, to give of my time, give of my effort, to give of my energy, so that I can help facilitate people, all people discovering and deeping a relationship with Jesus. And if you're interested in that, text the word serve to 44, 1122. text the word serve to 44 1122 and then you're going to get a text right back and you click a link

and it's just going to walk you through here is what it looks like for you to take a step of obedience to serve the bride and again man there's some stuff like working the door here at church or cleaning up this place all that kind of stuff and if you're like no i'm not really into that i'm more of an outdoorsy guy there's all kind of ways that you could serve at the retreat center and then also from that from that same text it's not just serving here on the weekends there's all kind of ways that you you could serve the bride at all of our campuses and all over our city. And so if that's you, please text the word serve to 44, 1122.

And so, the boys come up to John the Baptist. Hey boss, something's, you know, something's not going good. All our people are going over there. And John the Baptist is like, right, right. The reason we exist is to point people to Jesus, and then he says these words, therefore. The therefore he's talking about is because people are leaving what we're doing and they are following Jesus.

Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. Nobody in the West talks this way. This joy of mine is now complete. John the Baptist is saying, my joy is found in other people coming to Christ, not people gathering around me. He's saying my joy is not found in my temporary circumstances, my joy is found in the eternal Christ.

There's a big old difference between joy and happiness. And look, I'm not anti-happy. Happy is better than unhappy. Happy is just so temporary because happiness is based on your happenings. Come on, do you not know this? We all know this, right? If you're a sports fan, you know it.

Happy, and then they make the field go unhappy. Beach people. You know this. Go to the beach, there were your family and friends, happy. Everything's great. You're like, cool, we live at the beach. This is the best thing ever. And then the idiots from Ohio show up, feed the seagulls, there goes happy, all right?

There is a greater pursuit than happiness, and it is the pursuit of Jesus. And in Jesus, we find joy. Because when you are the center of your own universe, it is impossible to experience the life God has for you. Because when you are the center of your own universe, then all of the cosmos has to line up perfectly for you. to experience happy. Everybody's got to treat you right. You've got to always get a good park spot. The light always has to be green. It can't rain. The weather has to be perfect. It's an impossible pursuit, and what you will do is you will wear yourself out trying to manage all the circumstances in pursuit of this feeling called happiness. But when you begin to

understand that the point of your life is to point to Jesus and that the world does not revolve around you, but you revolve around the sun, Jesus Christ, then you are free to find your joy in him and not be shackled down by the circumstances of your life. This is what John the Baptist is saying. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. And then he says a really, really famous line that inspired a surf brand, this really cool t-shirt, you know. Verse 30, he must increase, but I must decrease. Everybody loves that verse. I just don't know. if we believe it. He must increase. I must decrease. Do we believe that? Because what we really think is this, Jesus, you must increase. I think every Christian understands that. We're pro-Jesus

increase. But what we think is, and as you're increasing, can you just kind of increase me with you? Because we're really into us. I'm telling you, did you know, check this out. Here's how I know this to be true. There are 90 million selfies downloaded a day in our country. 90 million, I must increase and I must increase. 90 million every day. We, our generation, invented the selfie. That's what we have. In fact, how about this? There is a new category of death called death by selfie that has now exceeded death by shark. Do you know what death by selfie is? Every year there are people

that, for the sake of their own glory, they're like at the Grand Canyon on the edge trying to get that perfect picture and then, now listen, I don't often side with Darwin, but occasionally, I'm telling you.

I'm telling you. And I've said this before, but just as a reminder, and if you're a grown man and you're unfamiliar with a selfie and you want to know how to take one, here's how you take a selfie, okay so you hold your phone like this and then you bring it down just a little bit then a little bit

lower and then you lay it down because you're a grown man and you shouldn't take selfies all right so he must increase I must decrease now listen here's a definition of humility that I love and I've used it a million times I have I think I heard Rick warner somebody really smart like that say it one time and I've said it a lot and oftentimes people define humility this way that humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less I just think John the Baptist is like Nope. Because he says he must increase and I must decrease. I think what John the Baptist is saying is,

humility is just thinking of yourself in light of who Christ is. That's what humility is. And I think what he's saying here is a couple of things. One is I think he is saying that as I continuously follow Jesus, I want more of him and less of me. I want less flesh and I want more spirit. And continuously, I want the Word of God and the Spirit of God like a hammer and chisel

to just chisel out of me anything in my life that doesn't look like Jesus. He must increase, I must decrease. Look, man, sometimes online, I don't know if you know this, some people online aren't very nice. And there'll be some posts about, we baptized 523 people,

and somebody would be like, I hate Joey Martin. want to call, I want to just, I don't respond, I don't, I'm trying to be mature, but I just want to go, me too. I hate that guy so much. There's so, you don't even know. You just hate the one that you see filtered life. And this is the best version of me all week. You got, you have no idea what is to live with him with all his crazy sinful thoughts and all the flesh that rises up. Oh my gosh, I cannot wait for the day where I, where the flesh, every piece of flesh of Jobb. Martin is crucified with Christ and none of that lives anymore.

And in my glorify state, I am full of the spirit and I have been transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. I think that's what he means. And I also think this is what he means. That when you get to the cross and you continuously are sanctified by the word of God and the spirit of God in you through the blood of Jesus, then the more you know about you in light of the gospel, your view of you decreases and decreases and decreases and decreases. And you begin to realize, oh my gosh, I don't just struggle with lying. The problem is I'm a liar.

I don't just struggle with coveting. The problem is that at my very heart and core, my heart is an idol-making factory. And I think the whole world revolves around me. I am a wretched, wretched, crooked, and depraved sinner. Like, I thought I was a pretty good guy when I gave myself. to the Lord. And now the more I know about me, the more I realize there is no thing good in me that I am a wretched, wretched, crooked and depraved sinner. And then simultaneously, the more you begin to know about the Lord, the more your perspective of his glory and his righteousness and his holiness increases and increases and increases. And as our understanding of his glory and his majesty gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger,

and our own realization of our sinfulness goes lower and lower and lower than the gap between us and the Almighty, Holy, and just God gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and then we say, what a wretched man am I? Who could save a man like me? And then the only thing that can bridge that chasm between our sin and his perfection

is the cross of Jesus Christ. And as our understanding of him increases and our knowledge of us, then the gospel gets bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger in our life. This is why when I tell you I can't get over to the gospel, that's what I'm talking about. And when I think of God, his son not sparing, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. I can't get over it.

I think this is what John the Baptist is saying, that we have won the last. lottery if we know Jesus is our Savior. And anything beyond that is just gravy. He must increase, I must decrease. And then he's going to close it this way. This is why this matters so much. This is why serving the bride matters so much. This is why understanding who Christ is and who you are matters so much. He says this, he who comes from above is above all. That's Jesus. And he who is of the earth, belongs to the earth, and speaks in an earthly way. That's John the Baptist, that's me, that's you. He who comes from heaven is above all. He says this, there is a kingdom where Jesus is on the throne, and there is the culture that we live in. And these are two very, very,

very distinct cultures. And John the Baptist is saying essentially, and what citizenship do you belong to? Are you a citizen of his kingdom? Are you a citizen of this culture? Because they are fundamentally different. He says in this culture, it is a pursuit of happiness that is found in stuff and the status

and in sensuality, and it will never be enough. In this culture, the mantra is, you must increase. You must increase. You must increase. What about everybody else? Don't care about them.

You must increase. And then in the kingdom of heaven, joy is found in humbling ourselves before Jesus, that we know that he must increase and we must decrease because he is more than enough. And John the Baptist is saying, this is why this matters so much. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. John the Baptist is saying, Jesus has seen it all. He was there at creation. He was there at the fall. He is the incarnation. He has seen it all the way to the end. And whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. When it says set this seal, I've shared this with you before.

You watch like Braveheart or Vikings or one of those kind of movies, and the king writes a letter and then rolls it up and puts that little piece of wax on it and then takes his signet ring, his seal, and then goes, and that, like, that's from the king. What John the Baptist is saying is this, is that when you receive Christ for eternal life, then God has set his seal upon you. And just like when a husband and a wife would get married and the two become one and they have like a family crest or a family seal that cannot be undone,

that when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, that salvation or your identity is not achieved, it is received. And then you are joined together in this forever family, in this covenant with God, and the seal is set upon you that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure. He gives the spirit without measure

that God would lavish his love upon his children. And the way he lavishes his love, he demonstrated it at the cross once and for all, and then he lavishes it upon us by filling us with his very spirit. You want to be filled with the spirit? It's not God who is the one holding back. When I think about this, when I read the words giving without measure, I'm just going to tell you, I think of my grandma Mert.

She has been with the, she's going to be with the Lord, but when she would feed us, she would give without measure. Anybody got a good, godly Southern Grandma like that? Like she didn't ask you if you wanted more. As she's just putting it on your plate, she would kind of ask you when to stop. One time, about six or seven years ago, I had a dare with my brother Russ. I'm like, all right, bro, this is what we're going to do. When we go to Merck's house for dinner, you can't say no. You just, whatever she offers you, you're not allowed to say no.

And then the last one sitting at the table wins. My head almost exploded. Okay, you understand? I came two Thanksgiving dinner with sweatpants on that day, and I won, all right? That's what it's like. Oh, what manner of love the Father has lavish upon us that we would be called children of God. And he gives the spirit without measured. then it gets real trinitarian the father loves the son and has given all things into his hand

whoever believes in the sun has eternal life this is the gospel whoever believes that word believe it's the great word pastuo it means to trust it means i'm not just going to lean on it a little bit but but i believe i trust that when jesus christ died on the cross when he pushed up on his nail pierce feet and he said these words it is finished and then three days later he resurrected from grave. Anyone that trust, when he did that, somehow that counted for me, then you receive eternal life. Eternal life is not achieved. It's not if you do good things, then maybe you get to go to heaven. No, no, no, it is received. Whoever believes in the sun has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the son, and the obedience of the sun here is that Jesus is going to say, believe in me.

Shall not see life. This is important. It's not popular, but it's important, but the wrath of God remains on him. That in our current state, apart from Jesus Christ, the wrath of God remains on us. Why? Because God is holy. God is just. And he is a perfectly just judge. And for God to just overlook sin, it would be unjust. Can you imagine if somebody did something absolutely awful to your child? They arrested him, they had video of it, and then you're standing before the judge one day. and the judge looks at him and says, you know what, nobody's perfect, don't worry about it. You would say, you were an unjust judge.

You were unfit for that title. Well, the king of the universe is a perfect, holy, just judge. And because of that, all sin must be paid for. All sin must be paid for. Because of God's justice, all sin must be paid for. Because of God's mercy, he delays the payment.

This is how people in the Old Testament are saved under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It's also how every single one of us made it to church today. Because if the requirement for your sin, if God immediately required payment, the wages of sin is death. Ain't none of us making it this far. And a part of the reason for many of you, he has delayed the payment by his mercy is so that you would be here right now to hear this very gospel message. Because he knew this was the day he was going to soften your heart and open your eyes. because of his justice all sin must be paid for because of his mercy he delays the payment and because of God's grace he makes the payment on your behalf this is what John is telling us

that all sin will be paid for and you have one of two options either you can make the payment and you can self-atone in the Bible the word atonement means payment and you can make the payment and when we sin against an almighty perfect everlasting God it requires an eternal and you can sign up for that. You can. And by not making a decision by default, that's what you're choosing. Or what John is talking about here is that you could take a substitute payment, that you could believe, you could trust that when Christ died on the cross, that somehow that counted even for me. And when you do that, the Bible says that you receive eternal life. Here's the point. as I understand it of all these verses.

So man, God is for you. It's just not all about you. God is for you. Anybody that dies for you is for you. It's just not all about you. And true life is found when you realize that you were not the center of the universe, but instead you center your life on Christ.

And just imagine. Imagine the freedom found there. Imagine the freedom when your circumstances do not determine your life anymore, but the sovereign savior does. Imagine the freedom in relationships when you don't heap expectations on all kinds of people because you understand that everything you're looking for, it can only be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Imagine the freedom when you realize once and for all, when you put your faith in Jesus, you receive eternal life,

and you don't have to try to achieve it by your good works anymore. Imagine the freedom when you realize you're not the center of the universe. And so you can just exhale and serve the one who is. So let me ask you, have you ever received? Have you ever believed? Because the reality is we will all be humbled. Every single one of us will be humble. And the most humble thing you can do this side of heaven

is bow your need of Jesus and surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If you choose not to, I promise you will bow. It just won't be your choice anymore. But he has given us the opportunity right now, right now, to surrender our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and receive eternal life. And I want to give you the opportunity to do that. I know we've been doing this a lot lately, but I just believe that God's not finished with us yet. And so if you are ready to admit it, I'm a sinner in need of a Savior, that I believe in Christ out on the cross.

Somehow that counted for me. In this moment, you want to confess him as Lord. I want to give you the opportunity to do that. Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And if you were ready to humble yourself before the Lord and believe that when Christ died on the cross and to receive that eternal life, the forgiveness of sin, the imputed righteousness of Christ, the adoption into his family, and the right to be called a child of God.

If that's you, in this moment right now, would you just lift your hand? Would you say, Father, here I am. I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Lifted high and say, Father, here I am. God, we praise you. We praise you. We praise you. a good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything because you love us first.

God, we thank you for your son, Jesus Christ. God, we thank you. Did He did not come just to teach us lessons about how to get along better, but he came to live a perfectly righteous life to die in our place and to put death to death when he resurrected from the grave. And God, I thank you and I praise you that he goes to prepare a place for us. And if he didn't, he wouldn't have told us that. And one day he comes back to take us home with him. and Lord, I thank you that even this day there is salvation in your house. Lord, I thank you for the men, the women, the students, this very day

that humbled their selves before you and have surrendered their life to Jesus. And, Father, for all of us who have been walking with you for a while, would you just remind us, remind us that no one thing unless it is given to us from you. Help us to be peaceful. help us to be grateful, help us to learn the secret of being content in every situation. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Church, would you please stand as we respond? We know that the gospel demands a response. We respond by bringing our ties and our offerings, our first and our best. And for many people, it's an incredible act of humility to begin to understand that everything we have is his. And we are just bringing back a portion of what he has blessed. us with back to him as an act of worship. And we respond by praying. And oftentimes it is, it takes an incredible step of humility for you to step out of E.I. Or if you're in the middle, cross all those people to make it down here, to kneel before God and say, God, I need your help. I can't do this on my own.

And we respond by singing. And we're going to sing this song called Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. And when we see that, what we're saying is we need to get our eyes off of ourselves and fix our eyes on him. Because when we do all of the things that compete for our attention in this world, they grow strangely dim. And so, as a response to what God has done for us at the cross, let us sing and let us bring and let us pray. Let's respond.