Christ Must Become Greater, I Must Become Less (John 3:22-36)

That was a reverberating praise. Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. I pray that this blessing will be upon all of us worshiping here and the families worshiping at home. The title of today’s sermon is, “Christ Must Become Greater, I Must Become Less.” The scripture passage we read today speaks about John the Baptist who was very active before Jesus Christ came to earth.

John the Baptist baptized many disciples and taught the Word of God, and one day, Jesus Christ comes to earth. Before that point, john the Baptist had been the central figure, but now that Jesus Christ is here, everyone is flocking to Jesus. Then, a follower, a disciple of John, comes to John saying, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, and everyone is going to him.”

This is the standard of John’s disciple who received teaching from John. How did John respond? “Man cannot do that work unless he receives it from heaven.” So John didn’t rebuke his disciples saying, You ignorant fool,” but he taught him saying, “A person can only receive only what is given them from heaven,” and he uses the analogy of a bridegroom at a wedding, how the friend of a bridegroom waits for him at the wedding. The friends of the bridegroom are only attending the wedding because of their friend who is getting married, and when the bridegroom shows up, the friends are so happy. In the same way, John the Baptist was only fulfilling his role until the moment Jesus Christ came. Now that the main figure has already come, how overjoyed must he be?

That is why John told his disciples in verse 30, and it’s our title, “He must become greater; I must become less.” Jesus Christ Himself testified about John the Baptist, that, “Out of all the humans who are born [of woman], there is none who is greater than John.” John the Baptist is actually 6 months older than Jesus; however, when John the Baptist and Jesus were still in the womb, John recognized Jesus’ spirit and kicked and rejoiced while in the womb. That means that, if the Holy Spirit of God works upon someone, even if they are in the womb, they can be an enormous leader. That is up to God, so the state of the parent is very important, because depending on the spiritual state of the parent, the child who is being born can be worked upon by the Holy Spirit or can become a complete devil child.

Main
1. The One Who Comes from Above
Today, John the Baptist is explaining about who Jesus Christ is. Verse 31 says, “He has come from above, and the One who is from above is above all.” The fact that he is above all means that he was created to be above all, as spoken about in John 1:3. John the Baptist confessed that, “Even though Jesus is the same human form as we are, and he is 6 months younger than I am, he is actually above all.”

1) Jesus Christ
In John 1:3, it is testified that “Jesus Christ is the one who created the entire universe, and He is the God who is the Word. God created the entire universe with His Word. There’s no need to move His hands because when God speaks, it is fulfilled, and if God’s Word enters into you, then you will change.

No amount of education, politics, or intellect will be able to change the world; only when the Word of God comes upon the world will the world change.

What is God doing even now? God the Father is working through the Word even at this very moment because God is alive right now. We do not believe in the God of yesterday; we believe in the God who is working today, at this time, right now with His Word. God the Son is carrying out the work of salvation even today, right now, and God the Spirit is working upon our prayers and power. It is always today for God.

We talk about yesterday, but God is always talking about today, right now, this moment. There is no past, present, or future for God; it is always today because the God who worked upon Joseph is the same God who is working upon us today. How does God work? He works through the Word, he works through the work of salvation, and He’s working through the Holy Spirit right now. That is worship. Then, when you stake your life on this Triune God, it means you are staking your life on worship. That is the person who will not only have the power from God to be victorious over the world, but to simply overcome the world.

John 1:4 says that Jesus Christ is life and light. If the life of Jesus Christ goes into the individual, then they will be revived. This appears to us as the light, so all the darkness that caused us temptation and deceit is now revealed. I hope that this will be a time of worship where all the aspects of your life which were once in lies and Satan’s darkness will be revealed by the light and life of Jesus Christ.

2) Testimony
Verse 32 says, “He testifies and speaks of the things He has heard from God in heaven,” that’s what it means that, he who has seen Jesus has seen God, because the words that Jesus Christ spoke are the words of the Father God. Why did the Jews not believe in this, though? Because they never believed in God from the beginning, but from the beginning, they used God as a tool for their own motives. If they truly believed in the real God, then all the allusions and prophecies they saw in the Old Testament would make sense when they saw Jesus. All the prophecies were merely a sketch of the person who is to come, and then the real person has come before them.

Although He is in the shape of a human being, He is the One True God who has seen and heard and only testifies what He has heard from the Father God. There’s no need for us to ask to see God, because when the Word of God comes into us, and we have heard the Word of God, then we have seen Him. Verse 34 says, “The One Whom God sends, speaks His Words.” Jesus Christ is the One whom God has sent, and as evidence of that, He speaks the Word that God has spoken, and if it is true that we have also been sent to this world for God, then we will also speak of God’s Word.

3) Gives the Spirit and Authority
“For God gives His spirit to these people without limit.” Jesus Christ was God himself but He came in the form of a 100% human being, and the fact that He was a human being means that he’s the same as us.

He is a perfect, complete person Who is not able to do some of the things that God can do as spirit. Jesus did things that were only possible by the working of the Holy Spirit, and likewise, for the people who have been sent by God, God will pour His unlimited Holy Spirit upon them as well. You and I are the ambassadors of God who have been sent by Christ and commissioned by Christ. Those people who know that will never be discouraged or say that life is hard or not worth living.

Verse 35 says that, the Father God has placed everything into Jesus’ hands. You guys may think, “Why did God the Father have to give anything to the Son? Aren’t they one and the same God? Don’t they both have the same things?” That’s because person doesn’t know one thing. God has come in the same form as us, as a human being.

Because you don’t acknowledge the fact that God the Son is in the human form, you think, “Why do they have to give back and forth between God the Father and God the Son? Does it mean that God the Son is less than God the Father?” He is in a human form on earth. He was born as a human being as a Nazarene, a town full of low class people. He was a human being, but God the Father has given all authority to this human being.

We are the same. Because the One who has all authority on heaven and on earth is with whom? The one who goes out into the world. We’re all the same people, but the ones who are with God and have been anointed by oil from God and go out into the world are different. I hope that you will not waste your life searching the fields that don’t have any answers, but restore your whole life through the Word of God.

Who are we? The authority of Jesus Christ is with me. Then we have been called as the ambassadors of Jesus Christ who wield the authority over all things. That’s why if you have the standards of the world, you will never be able to overcome the world. Even though we were born of this world, we need to have the standards of heaven in order to lead and conquer and rule and subdue over the world with heavenly standards.

2. The One Who Is from the Earth
Because verse 31 says, “The One who is of earth belongs to the earth.”

1) Belongings to the Earth (John 3:31)
What does it mean to be from the earth? All human beings who are born of human beings are of the earth, but Jesus Christ, I’m sorry to say this, is human, but He is from heaven. If you are from this earth, it means that you are part of Romans 3:23, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The fact that you have sinned means that there is no method of salvation for you.

What does it mean that it will not work out for you? If you have sinned, what does that mean? Does it mean that you can’t study, you can’t make money, you can’t be attractive? What does it mean? It means you can never meet God, and you can never restore the original blessing that God has given to us. We will never be able to restore the original blessing God has given to us, to rule and subdue over this earth on His behalf.

However, there are some people try to rule and subdue this earth without even believing in God. They all try so hard and then they all fail. They try to challenge themselves to build the Tower of Babel, and they all fail. Age by age, the superpower nations of the world are challenging to conquer the world but they all fail, and these individuals come as these renowned leaders, but they all die in such pitiful ways. God is giving us evidence through these nations that only God is the true God.

What should you learn from all the history of mankind? You need to reach the conclusion that God is the only way. God is telling us through the history of mankind that any individual or nation centered on humans is destined to fall. What does the Bible testify? The Bible testifies that anyone who belongs to God and enjoys the power of God will overcome and rule the world with the authority that comes from heaven, so the people who are of this earth will never be able to overcome the ruler of the kingdom of the air, and no matter how good looking they are, they are under the control of Satan. No matter how much money they have, they have to live their lives in a lie, deceived by Satan.

How can you overcome your mental illnesses, depression, and panic disorders? How do you overcome material suffering? All you have to do is love God more.

God gave us the gospel because He loves us so that we can love Him, sand if you place all your importance on the gospel, then you will end up conquering and ruling over others. Why are there so many mental illnesses in America? Why is the number of drug-addicted patients exponentially increasing? Our culture is strong, our science and academic advancement are strong, but even now, there are riots all over the country. No matter how strong the country may be, they cannot stop that. It is only possible when the love of God, Jesus Christ, goes into their midst.

There are a lot of people out there who have a lot of money but are still homeless on the streets, and they take the money they receive and use it for drugs. There’s even a family of politicians who are out on the streets and homeless, even though they have a home in Hollywood. They have a lot of money, why don’t they go home? They prefer a life of laying down in the streets, not doing anything, getting money from passers-by, and getting drugs with it. I pray that the grace of loving God and loving Christ will be upon all of your family and individual problems.

People try to get healing through transcendental meditation but it’s not true healing because there is nothing about God. There may not be anything bad about meditation, but is there anything stronger than God? Continue doing transcendental meditation, and you’ll only continue to get mental illnesses. Is it really true healing if it’s not healing stemming from your heart? The individual who is emphasizing and promoting transcendental meditation cannot escape from mental illnesses themselves.

Outside of America, they keep hitting you with transcendental meditation and New Age ideologies, saying, “You don’t need God, you yourself can be God, people are God,” and this is the age where churches continue to close down. What do you think God wants? Satan is completely controlling people all over America with such an incredible strategy. And he is completely infiltrating all of our minds with New Age ideology through culture, movies, books and he is working so strategically, and now he’s sweeping through the entire nation saying, “You don’t need religion, you can do it with transcendental meditation.”

Because America is purportedly the strongest nation, people flock to it, and churches themselves are moving toward loving money and people more than loving God, and the churches are fighting amongst themselves because people are asserting their own thoughts instead of God’s words. As a result, churches are closing down and individuals and families are crumbling. That is why America only has hope if these individuals and families turn back to loving God and be of heaven.

2) Those Who Receive the Testimony
Verse 33, “The man who has accepted the testimony of Christ, has certified that God is truthful.” If you listen to and accept he words that Jesus Christ speaks, you are certifying that God is truth. Ephesians 1:13 says, “This is like the Holy Spirit leaving a seal on the person.” For anyone who acknowledges Jesus Christ’s words and accepts it must believe it is true, and therefore, the Holy Spirit enters them and seals them with salvation.

Because God has given you the gospel and you accept that Jesus Christ is true, the Holy Spirit is living within you, giving you the seal of salvation. Verse 36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” This isn’t something we should just pass over, we have eternal life. It means that we have been changed into someone who can live eternally with God, then no matter what kind of attack you face, it doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t matter what kind of tribulation your family falls into.

Because you have eternal life being with the eternal God who has created everything, and you have the right to communicate with Him freely, nothing is a problem. The moment you accepted Jesus Christ, the spirit of life came into you, and now you are a person who can continuously communicate with God. You need to understand and enjoy the prayer that the Bible speaks about properly.

The prayer that the Bible talks about is not at the level of asking God for things. Even nonbelievers who are at a very elevated state of thinking will never try to take things from people; they always give. So, God is eternal and we are now also eternal, and so our prayers are not about requesting, but it’s about communicating. I hope that everyone here who is worshipping here today, because you have the Spirit of God within you, I pray that you will always communicate with this eternal God always.

If you try to talk to and advise other people, they’re at the level of the world, too. If you try to get wisdom from reading books, those books are from the level of the world as well. The authors of the books themselves do not have answers of life, so what kind of help do you think you’re going to get from reading a book? You may try to get answers and wisdom from philosophers, and they say such nice words, but they themselves did not reach the answer and they wasted their life. That is why God has given us the Holy Spirit of Life to live in us eternally so that we can communicate.

But you never tell that to God. Those people will blab to other people and be scarred by other people, or they’ll feel betrayed and hurt, “I told this person in confidence and that person blabbed to other people.” Why would you even tell that person to begin with? You may say, “I made a promise not to tell,” but if that’s advantageous to him, he will blab. There is no such thing as a secret in this world. Everyone is at the level of this world, so secrets will get out.

If you talk bad about someone, then those words will always go back to that person so that they will hear it. So, do not tell your thoughts and inner feelings to people, but tell it to eternal God who lives within you. Even if you talk to God about incorrect things, God will change you to be correct. People have so much pride so they will never tell it to God, but that is actually them being deceived and controlled by Satan to not go to God.

The people who have certified the Word will follow the Word. John 8:31 says, “If you hold to My teachings,” however, in John 3:36 it says, “Those who do not hold onto the words of the Son will not see eternal life.” In fact, they are living an eternal death. It means they are dead before God, and they will never be able to see the true Truth, and that’s why life is so confusing.

Last week, I told you that the church that God loves must speak His Words. If you do not speak of the gospel, you will speak useless words. If you combine all the words that someone speaks from when they’re born until they die, they’re all useless words. They’ve never once spoken words of Truth; they have lived their lives for useless things, and they live their life of lies, and then they go to heaven.

3) Those Who Aren’t Obedient to the Testimony
In John 3:19, “Those who do not love the light love the darkness.” Loving the darkness means you love lies. John 8:44, “Your father the devil is the father of lies.” He lies, telling you to hope in life, and they are living their lives deceived thinking that money is everything. There is a family of politicians in Korea where two sons are fighting over the inheritance because all that Satan has planted is the ideology of money-centeredness. The father may as well have won the Nobel Prize himself, but his sons are fighting over the inheritance. That’s simply the result of people living their lives. It doesn’t matter what kind of fancy things you’ve done with your political greatness, but all you’ve left is a terrible life for your kids. So no matter how diligently and high-class someone lives, their standards are still of the earth.

3. Glory to Only the Triune God

Just as Jesus Christ was sent by God to earth, we, too, have been sent out by Jesus Christ into the world.

1) I Am Sent Out (Matthew 28:19, Romans 10:15)
In Matthew 28:19 where He says, “Go.” Romans 10:15 says, “How can they preach unless they are sent?” Aren’t you only able to preach the words of God because God has sent you? We’re not going into our office to work, but we’re being sent by God to fulfill our mission in our field, and for those who are obeying their mission from God, God will pour His Word upon them.

For people like that, when they face a problem, they look for God’s word. People who are of the Earth, when they face a problem, they will go deeper into the problem; however, we will not solve the problem with the things of earth; we will solve the problem with the things of God. When you go out into the world and face a circumstance or problem, ask what the Word of God is saying about it. That is someone who believes in God and is evidence as one whom God has sent.

Even if there are hundreds of disasters before Jesus Christ’s second coming, those who are sent by God will receive God’s grace and Word and He will work through them in the Spirit. Those who have been sent by God go out with the authority of God. These people do not care if their position in the world is high or low. People who are of the earth and at the level of the earth say, “I’m so ashamed, my position is so low, I can’t even speak,” or if they get promoted and their position is higher, they misunderstand, thinking they earned it themselves. However, the people whose authority is from Christ have their position already set.

2) Christ’s Ambassador (1 Peter 2:9)
Even if they have the smallest position on earth, they know they have the real position of being the royal priesthood, the ones who will declare His wonderful light and recognize that as their position. People of the earth will say, “Your position is high,” or Your position is low,” but people like Joseph will realize that their position isn’t the issue. These people will not be worried about the job they have in the world because they have the spiritual position of Christ. They have been called as kings who will destroy the darkness in the world, the priests who destroys the problems of sin and the prophets who allow people to God. They will use whatever job they’ve been given as a heavenly job given to them by God, and they will use it to fulfill the spiritual roles of Christ. That’s the only way that the devil will flee and not be able to budge.

If you do not have that kind of mindset but you’re trying to cast out the devil, he will come back, because in your ideology of work, Satan as already hooked himself onto you and will follow you around. No matter how young a child may be, they must know the position and roles of Christ, and whenever they proclaim the roles of Christ, the forces of darkness break down. It’s something that presidents cannot do, and doctors cannot do this; politicians and teachers can never do this; it is a role that only people who have the position of Christ can do, because the things of Christ come from heaven, and only the things of heaven can save this world.

Even if you have a small salesman job, if you see your job as simply a salesperson, it will be a problem. If you see yourself as merely a salesperson, you will simply be dragged around by Satan. “I am the ambassador of Christ, fulfilling the roles of Christ, and this small position I have as a salesperson is simply my tool for that.” Even if you are unemployed, you’re not playing, but you’re simply doing the three roles of the Christ.

3) Church
What kind of people must gather in the church? The people who have staked their lives on the Word of God. If you do not stake your life on the Word of God, then you’ll stake your life on crazy things. If the words of people get rooted in your heart, then you’ll have to make crazy decisions, “Do I hate them? Do I love them? Do I put my hope in them or not?” I’m saying, do not put your hope in life on useless things. You’ll stake your life on useless things like money if you do not stake your life on the gospel. People stake their lives on their pride, they don’t care about people speaking of the Word of God, but if someone says something against them, then their pride and ego is hurt. You and I must become the ones who stake their lives on the service to the church, who stake our lives upon the Word of God, and evangelism.

The gathering of the church must be a gathering of people who have the proper idea of finances. If you understand finances at the level of the earth, you cannot enjoy the blessing of finances from heaven. In Malachi 3, God speaks about offering and tithing, and it is what God is saying about your finances. God says, “Do not rob what is God’s,” and the Israelites reply, “When have we ever stolen from God?” Verse 9 says, “The whole nation is cursed because you are robbing me,” because in Malachi 1, the Israelites were bringing animals who were diseased, bruised, or stolen from other families to offer to God, and that is mind-boggling.

Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. ‘Test me in this,’ says the LORD almighty, ‘and see if I Will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” Verse 11, “’I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” We diligently farm and do agriculture, but all the pests eat our crops, and that is what God says He will block.

What does this mean? I’m telling you not to run your finances by the level of the world. You need to run your finances based on the Word of God based on the heavenly standards of God. The “you” stuck on a worldly level must die on the cross, and the “you” on a heavenly level must arise in order for God to work. God prepares your finances for the temple and God will work, so God is telling you, “Do not be mistaken. There’s no need for you to be stressed because this isn’t something you’re doing to begin with; I do it. I’m blessing you so that you can do this work. Why do you keep lying to yourself and place your standards on other things?’

With the standards of the earth that you have, you will never be able to overcome your business nor the ideologies of people. The church must be a gathering of people who have a mission from God and want to relay that mission to the world. God gives you His mission through His Word. As a church moves, it doesn’t just move; God gives them a mission to move the church.

You raise the remnants through Remnant Internships. Raise them up. I look at a lot of American churches where it’s a gathering of a lot of elderly people, but there are no people in the next generation there. It’s very good for proclaiming the Word, but what are you going to do in ten years? They only care about their own grace and salvation; they don’t care about the next generation. God is working today, preparing for the future. So you must raise up the next generation. That is God’s will. Because God doesn’t only look at today; He’s working and preparing us for today, looking to the future, and that is why we must raise our future generation. Businesspeople, use your business to provide internship for the remnants.

David Abrams teaches students. No matter what circumstance or ability you have, you use that to serve the remnants any way you can. You correct tem and teach them the Word of God, and tell them your own experiences so that they will not make the same mistakes.

Matthew 5:13-14 says that we have been called as the salt and light of the earth. If the light loses its light, the world becomes dark; if the salt loses saltiness, the world loses all preservation. Not only will you be cast out as useless salt, but you’ll be trampled upon by men. Do not be a light that is trampled on, but be a light that shines and be salt that preserves the world in ruins.
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Conclusion
1. My Master Is Christ Who Became the Life within Me
As a conclusion, Christ must become greater and I must become less.

2. Through the One Who Receives Answers of the Word
   Anything that is of myself and of this earth must go away, and the world of God from heaven must come upon me.
   
3. Let It Be a Week of Giving Glory to God, Who Saves the World with His Word, with My Life
   I pray that this week, you will save this world through the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Message Prayer
Let us pray all together holding onto the Word that God has given us this week.