THE THREE MUSTS OF JOHN 3

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: JOHN 3:1-36




INTRODUCTION:


  1. I suppose out of all the chapters in the Bible, my favorite is John 3. I have preached many times from this chapter. I have led many souls to Christ using this chapter.
  2. D.L. Moody used to preach this chapter many times. He said he defined his ministry by the "three R’s" – man’s ruin, Christ’s redemption, and the Spirit’s regeneration.
  3. There is another triplet here in chapter 3 – the three musts:
    1. YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN (3:7).
    2. EVEN SO MUST THE SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP (3:14).
    3. HE MUST INCREASE, BUT I MUST DECREASE (3:30).
  1. Don’t correct me and say there are 4 musts – I’m counting vs. 30 as one. If the Lord is going to increase in your life or in mine, then we must decrease. We will look at this as "one must."
  1. YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN (3:7).
    1. The great 19th century Baptist preacher from London, England, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, referred to regeneration as "the hinge of the gospel."
    2. The fact is that there are millions of people who claim to be Christian who have never been born again. To these lost souls, our Lord plainly says: "Ye must be born again" (3:7).
    3. He says, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (3:3).
    4. Of all the damnable errors invented by the devil and his demons, none is so bad as the false doctrine known as "baptismal regeneration," i.e. the teaching that sprinkling a little water on baby’s head makes him a Christian.
    5. According to this ridiculous theory, any wicked rascal – a drunkard, a pervert, an adulterer, a pornographer, a dope fiend, whatever – he is a child of God because he had some drops of water sprinkled on his brow when he was a baby.
    6. Wicked people, who are always looking for an excuse to throw some worldly party with plenty of beer and whiskey, go down to the local RC church or Anglican church or Methodist church and tell the unsaved priest or minister that they want to have what they call a "christening."
    7. Perhaps the priest or minister inquires and finds out the couple are not even married. Or they never attend church. Maybe they are on drugs. No problem, just pay the fee and you will have your child christened! So the priest or minister sprinkles the baby and than they go out and get drunk. Oftentimes the festivities will end in the wee hours of the morning, after a drunken brawl breaks out or the police arrive.
    8. May God deliver us from this sort of Christianity, which is certainly not true Christianity. Jesus said, "Ye must be born again" (3:7).
    9. Worldly people cannot understand the new birth. Liberal preachers and psychologists dismiss it. But some day they will be cast headfirst into hell because Jesus said, "Ye must be born again."
    10. I remember witnessing to an old friend one day and he was under conviction. But he went to a priest and the priest said he did not need to be born again. The priest contradicted our Lord Himself. How terrible!
  1. EVEN SO MUST THE SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP (3:14).
    1. Our Lord told Nicodemus that he had to be born again. And not just Nicodemus, but everyone – "Ye must be born again." But how can this new birth take place?
    2. It takes place because of the cross (3:14-16; cf. Numbers 21:5-9).
    3. Our Lord quoted this O.T. incident to illustrate how the new birth takes place. Men and women have been bitten by the viper of sin and are condemned for all eternity in hell. The serpent of brass is a picture and type of our Lord Jesus Himself.
    4. In the Bible, brass speaks of judgment. Our Lord was sinless and should never have been punished, but He took our place on the cross, and bore the judgment which we deserved.
    5. The pole represents the cross on which our Lord was lifted up. We are saved by looking to Him in faith. God did not tell them to take serpent medicine, or to kill all the serpents. He said: "Look and live. Look to Jesus now and live."
    6. Many people would not believe that God could save them in this manner. And so they perished in the wilderness. Likewise, today many people will not look to Jesus Christ for salvation. They would rather be saved some other way.
    7. But there is no other way.
    8. Again, please allow me to quote Spurgeon: "Ah, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved, it is Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. I cannot, myself, but admit, that at first sight the brazen serpent seems to be the most absurd invention, in itself, for curing those who were bitten…and yet I see in the brazen serpent, when I come to study it, the highest wisdom that even God Himself could develop. I grant you that the cross of Christ also does in its outward appearance seem to be the simplicity of simplicities…But when you come to study and understand the marvelous scheme of God’s justice vindicated, and man pardoned through the atoning blood of the cross, I say, that not even the mighty intellect of God could have conceived a wiser plan, than the wisdom of God displayed in Christ Jesus crucified."
    9. "Whosoever" (3:14-16) means anyone can look to Jesus Christ and be saved.
    10. Notice the many contrasts here:
    • it is either "perish" in hell or enjoy "everlasting life" in heaven (3:16).
    • It is either be "condemned" for your sin or be "saved" through faith in Christ (3:17).
    • You either "believe" and are "not condemned" or you "believeth not" and are "condemned already" (3:18).
    • You are either walking in the "light" or you are in "darkness" (3:19).
    • Men either "do evil" or "do truth" (3:19-21).
    1. There is no neutrality with the Gospel. One must make up his mind and decide for himself. He must either look to Jesus Christ and receive eternal life or he rejects Jesus Christ and spends eternity in the terrible horrors of eternal hellfire.
    2. You are either for Jesus or against Him, and not to be for Him is to be against Him. There are only two ways and only two destinies.
  1. HE MUST INCREASE, BUT I MUST DECREASE (3:30).
    1. I would like to draw your attention to John 3:22. As men and women heard the Gospel and were converted, they were baptized.
    2. There is no question but that the Bible teaches believers’ baptism. And there is no question but that the Bible teaches immersion (3:23 – "because there was much water there" (cf. Acts 8:36-39).
    3. But the Scripture I am heading towards is John 3:30. The entire ministry of John the Baptist is summarized in this verse. His ministry was geared towards pointing men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ.
    4. John the Baptist was a humble servant of Christ – "He must increase, but I must decrease" (3:30).
    5. One time a pastor introduced the famous missionary to China, J. Hudson Taylor to his congregation using many superlatives, especially "great." They were about to hear "the great Hudson Taylor" and so on. Hudson Taylor stepped up to the pulpit and said: "Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master."
    6. This reminds me of a time a pastor introduced a visiting preacher by saying, "There are many good preachers out there of great rank, but our speaker today is the rankest of them all!" Somehow that didn’t sound right.

CONCLUSION:

  1. Let’s look at these three "musts" one more time. The first "must" is the "must" of the sinner (3:7). The second is the "must" of the Saviour (3:14). And the third is the "must" of the servant (3:30). Are you a servant?
  2. Perhaps some people have felt that there was no place of service for them in our church. Now that we finally have our own building there is plenty to do!
  3. But you cannot become a servant of God until you get saved. Are you saved? Christ died for you on the cross.
  4. John 3:16 has been called "the Gospel in a nutshell." "For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not Perish, but have Everlasting Life."
  5. Your name is in John 3:16 also – "whosoever!"


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