00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer from Pastor Rod

00:28 A Humorous Encounter at the Airport

02:39 The Message: Accept No Substitutes for Jesus

04:07 John the Baptist's Testimony

06:14 Identifying Fake Saviors

09:16 Humility Before the Real Savior

13:49 Delighting in the Savior's Work

21:49 Conclusion and Prayer

What's up podcast listeners.

2

Hey, I just want to let you know,

before you listened to this podcast.

3

This didn't go so well, I

recorded it, but things went wonky

4

all throughout the recording.

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So it's not all there.

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But it's still worth listening

to even what is there.

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So you'll do yourself a favor by still

pursuing it and listening some of it.

8

You may not even notice

that some of it was cut out.

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So I hope you'll enjoy it.

10

Please forgive my recording problems.

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But what is here is toward

listening to give it a listen.

12

Here it comes.

13

Well, if everyone can turn in your

Bibles to John three, we're going to

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look at a couple of verses here tonight,

specifically verses 25 through 30.

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I'll give you all a

second to open up there.

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It's a really interesting experience

when someone comes up to you and

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says, you remind me of someone.

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That can either be a really good

thing or a really bad thing.

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A couple months ago, I was on a work trip

and I was coming home from Nashville.

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I was exhausted.

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I was ready to be done.

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I had a bunch of flight delays and I

was just tired of being in the airport.

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Um, and so I'm going in to check a bag

that I didn't think I would have to check.

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And I, I hand it to the lady

who's about to put it on the

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conveyor belt and she stopped me.

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She looked me in the face and was

like, you remind me of someone.

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You know, you look

exactly like Chris Pratt.

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And I was like, thanks?

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Like, which one?

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Like, am I, am I Star Lord or am I Andy?

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I feel like there's a

big difference, you know?

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There's a massive difference

about which is, okay, thanks boys.

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I appreciate the front row here.

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That's, that's the thing is,

you know, you, you never know.

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But, as I said, you look

just like Chris Pratt.

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Chris Pratt.

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It was a very odd experience, but

it would have been an even more odd

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experience if that lady would have gone

home that night to her family or to her

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friends and said, you guys will never

believe who I met at the airport today.

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I met Star Lord.

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I met Chris Pratt in person.

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I checked his bag.

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It was the best experience of my life.

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It would have been really odd

because I don't know if it's obvious.

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I am not Chris Pratt.

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I'm not even close.

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I feel like I'm like a

dollar store Chris Pratt.

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So if people were to look to me to

be Chris Pratt, to be this amazing,

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talented actor, or to be someone

that was super funny and just had

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a good time with everybody like Mr.

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Pratt, they would be super

disappointed because I'm not him.

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I'm, a cheap substitute.

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I'd be, I'd be a stand in.

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You see, when it comes to Jesus,

this is something that I want us to

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put a pin in and think about for the

duration of this message tonight.

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When it comes to Jesus,

accept no substitutes.

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When it comes to Jesus,

accept no substitutes.

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This thought is going to be super

evident in our passage, and it's going

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to govern everything that we talk about.

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All the points that I'm going to

make tonight, everything that you're

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going to see in the scriptures, is

going to lead you to the inevitable

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conclusion that when it comes to Jesus,

Do not accept a single substitute.

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Hopefully you're there

in your Bibles by now.

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We're going to be looking

at John 3, 25 through 30.

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So I'm going to read the passage and

then we'll dive into talking about it.

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It says, now a discussion arose between

some of John's disciples and a Jew

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over purification, and they came to

John and said to him, rabbi, he who

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is with you across the Jordan, to

whom you bore witness, look, he is

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baptizing and all are going to him.

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John answered.

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A person cannot receive even one thing

unless it has given him from heaven.

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You yourselves bear me witness that.

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I said, I am not a Christ, but

I have been sent before him.

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The one who has the bride is the bride

groom, the friend of the bride groom.

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So

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what we see as we get started in this

passage is you've got the disciples of

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John the Baptist who have been following

him for his ministry, coming up to John.

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And with this hint of envy, of

frustration that Jesus is getting

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so much attention, they're saying,

look, John, everyone's going to Jesus.

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What are you going to do about it?

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think one is getting

more of what you want.

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That's certainly a fake savior, saying,

to whatever degree I possibly can,

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then I'll feel good about myself.

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I'll have joy that lasts.

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That'll be good.

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Right?

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Like how much, how much

you're willing to work hard.

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That as long as, long as I work

crazy hard and I do all of the things

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that I wanna do, I'm just, I'm just

gonna grind, then I'll be happy.

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I'll earn literally everything.

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That's certainly a fake savior.

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Self-trust and self-love.

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These can be fake saviors too.

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The fact that you can say, I don't

really need anybody else if I got me.

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Doesn't matter.

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What anyone else might think,

whether good or bad, doesn't matter.

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No one else matters but me.

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If you put yourself above literally

everyone else, we all kind of understand

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that this is how we're hardwired.

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We see the world through our own eyes.

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Leaning into that is something that can be

like biting into that impossible burger.

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It's not ultimately satisfying being

good enough, being good enough.

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Certainly saying, well, I mean, I've come

on, like I'm a, I'm a pretty good person.

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All things considered.

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You know, I feel, come

on, I'm not that bad.

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Even better, I'm not as bad

as those other people, right?

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The lateral comparisons.

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You know, those people are,

those people are terrible.

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Over there, they got no teeth and

they're being silly all the time.

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They're disrupting class

and doing just weird stuff.

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Come on, I'm better than them.

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You compare yourself laterally and make

yourself feel better about who you are.

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So yeah, I feel good.

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Maybe having an excellent reputation.

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But what I, what I want to show you

as we tie it all together here, every

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single one of these points, these things

that can stand in as fake saviors, what

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they all have in common is that they

have self exaltation or self worship

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as your highest good, that your highest

good is to put yourself first and to put

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yourself above everyone, including God,

including your family, including your

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friends, that if you pursue yourself

as the highest good that you could

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possibly achieve, then you'll be happy.

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That's what all of these

fake saviors have in common.

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They say, I come first.

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It matters if I increase,

it matters if I do well.

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See what's hard about this is that's

exactly what, when we go back to

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the text, we're going to see that

John rails against self exaltation.

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John is going to say,

what are you guys doing?

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Come on, look back at the text with me.

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Let's, let's, let's look

at John's response here.

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Again, they say, Rabbi, he, who's with you

across the Jordan, whom you bore witness.

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Look, he's baptizing.

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All are going to him.

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Do you hear the envy in their voice.

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Do you hear their desire

to stay in the limelight?

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Do you hear their desire to exalt

themselves, sticking with this godly guy,

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who's bearing witness to God, that he's

a prophet, he's really well thought of.

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Do you hear them wanting their shine,

wanting their moment, wanting to stay as

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the best of the best, to be seen that way?

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But what does John say?

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Look again.

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I want to particularly focus on this last

verse, but I'll read a couple leading

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up to it as well, where he says, Look,

a person cannot receive even one thing

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unless it is given him from heaven.

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You yourselves bear me witness.

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I said, I am not the Christ.

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It's not me, but I have

been sent before him.

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The one who has the

bride is the bridegroom.

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The friend of the bridegroom who

stands and hears him rejoices

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greatly at the bridegroom's voice.

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Therefore.

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This joy of mine is complete.

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He must increase, but I must decrease.

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That's what John ends

with in this passage.

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That his followers say,

shouldn't you be increasing?

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Shouldn't you take your followers back?

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Shouldn't you be just the most hype

and cool dude in all the universe?

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And John says, you're talking

about me in comparison to Christ?

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No.

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He must increase, but I must decrease.

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You see, if we claim to trust Christ,

if we claim to follow Him and to be

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His disciple, but we're walking with

this arrogance and this pride of

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saying, well, I want to put myself in

the limelight and be the most popular

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and exalt myself above all else.

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And if your biggest concern is with

your own reputation, And your own

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worthiness, you're going to miss Christ.

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You're going to bite into one

of these cheap substitutes.

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You're going to miss the

forgiveness that he offers.

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If you don't say with John, he

must increase, but I must decrease.

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That's point number two.

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I want you to write it down this way.

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Humble yourself before the real savior,

humble yourself before the real savior.

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Again, we have the idea of, we know that

there are cheap substitutes out there.

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We know that.

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But in order to come to the real,

it has to be an act of humility.

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It's not something we can do with

a bunch of pride in our hearts.

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No one enters the kingdom

of God with a swagger.

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They enter with a limp.

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I hope that you get to have the

experience someday of being in

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a wedding other than your own.

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Because it is one of the most joyous and

fun occasions that you can be part of.

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Cause if you can be in that wedding party,

that inner circle, it is so much fun.

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Whether you're a groomsman

or, or a bridesmaid, it is

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an incredible amount of fun.

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And a couple months ago, I got to

be the best man for my best friend

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in California for his wedding.

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Now, the number one rule of what you

cannot do as a best man is make the

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wedding about yourself is make the wedding

about how great your speech is, how much

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fun you are to be around with everyone.

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The point as the best man is not

to exalt yourself, but to honor

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the couple who's being married.

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It's to point away from yourself

saying, yeah, I'm, I'm not the

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one who's getting married today.

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I'm not the bride, the bridegroom.

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I meant to point to the married

couple and say, hey, honor them,

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enjoy them, appreciate them,

shower them with affection.

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They're the ones who

deserve our honor today.

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I mean, think about the text of

what's happening in our verses.

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We have the disciples of John saying,

why is everyone given honor to Jesus?

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Why is everybody doing that?

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And John's like, You guys aren't

the ones, you guys, the bride

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has, the bridegroom has the bride.

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I'm not the Christ.

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I'm not the one who's getting

married, so to speak, in this analogy.

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I'm the bridegroom.

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Or I'm not the bridegroom.

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I'm the best man.

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There we go.

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That's what he's saying.

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Sorry.

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He's saying I'm pointing to them.

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I'm pointing to Jesus.

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I'm pointing to his

relationship with his church.

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I'm not here to get all the shine.

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John gets all the shine.

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That Christ's glorification is necessary.

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He gets that, but the followers think that

they still need to stay in the limelight.

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They don't think that they

should be fading out of it.

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And I think that's just one of the

most important things to understand

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on this point, where we're humbling

ourselves before the real Savior because

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we understand that God opposes the

proud and gives grace to the humble.

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That you either get salvation

at the cross or not at all.

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That this life is not about you

putting yourself up and saying, Yeah,

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I mean, I guess God's got to increase,

but my reputation matters more.

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I'm at this wedding feast, but I

got to make it about me, even though

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I'm not the one getting married.

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Again, this, this humility that

John displays is so critical

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for the Christian life.

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And it has to be our mantra, this one of

humbling ourself before the real savior.

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So what does true humility even look like?

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It's something that's important

to know about, but what does it

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look like in the biblical sense?

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I think first true humility

starts with confession.

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It starts with a confession

that saying, I am a sinner.

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I need a savior.

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There is nothing more humble and basic

than being able to say this and mean it.

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This is the foundation of

what we're talking about.

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This is who I am.

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I'm not the top dog.

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I'm not the coolest

thing since sliced bread.

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And I need a savior.

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I can't do it on my own.

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I need a real savior.

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I need someone that's

really gonna make change.

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Not someone that's gonna, you know,

wet my appetite and, you know,

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be able to, you know, not really

worry about the real savior stuff.

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It's like, at least I got a

little bit here, you know?

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And after this confession,

true humility requires a

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It's actually complete.

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It's full satisfaction.

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See, this joy is complete

because the joy is in Christ.

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It's in who He is and it's in

what He does for His church.

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So I want us to write this down

this way, for point number three.

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If we're thinking about not having to

humble ourselves through gritted teeth

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and through anger, point number three,

delight in the Savior and His work.

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Delight in the Savior and His work.

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I am a pretty massive Christmas fan.

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Which, like, most people are.

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So I know that's not that interesting, but

I mean, the The tree is up in my house.

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It's decorated.

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There's All the decor is out.

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Basically, as soon as it turned November,

it was like, Alright, are we doing this?

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Like, we're gonna make this happen.

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It'll probably up through March.

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You never know.

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But That's the thing is with,

with Christmas, it's a time that's

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characterized by joy, right?

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Most people are going through the

holiday season and they're singing all

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the songs about having, having joy in

their hearts and all of this great stuff.

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But there's a reason that we can't sing.

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Well, I mean, I guess you

can, but you're crazy.

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You can't sing Christmas songs

in July when it's super hot out.

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It's not the, it's not the season for it.

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So no matter how excited you get

about Christmas, no matter how

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much this season of joy brings

you, it doesn't end up lasting.

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There's no element of completion.

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You can't say, well, my joy is complete

because it's Christmas because as

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soon as it's not Christmas, your

joy is not really complete anymore.

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You see, your joy is only as

stable as the object of your joy.

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If your joy is grounded in your, in your

circumstances in terms of what's happening

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here around you immediately, you're

going to be tempted to bite into these

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impossible saviors to say, yeah, I'll,

I'll, I'll accept the cheap substitutes,

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but the mind shattering truth of the

gospel is that when we talk about saying

283

he must increase, but I must decrease.

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The truth of the gospel is that

before you even had an idea of what

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that could possibly mean, Christ

was decreased on your behalf.

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You'll go here later.

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I don't have time for it right

now, but just write it down.

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Philippians 2, 5 through 8.

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The idea that though Christ is very God of

very God, He's the Son, He empties Himself

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and takes on the form of a servant.

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In a certain sense, this is

the ultimate humiliation.

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This is the ultimate act of humility.

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That before we are in any sense

called to humble ourselves

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before Christ, He moved first.

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He was the one who humbled Himself.

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He was the one who came to us in

our weakness and in our frailness.

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And He took on flesh.

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And so in a certain

sense, Christ did that.

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He didn't come for the increase

of your own personal glory.

300

He didn't come so you could be the

best of the best, but He did come

301

for the increase of your good.

302

He did come so that ultimately, through

Him being decreased and the work that

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He does for the church, that you can be

increased, that you can have eternal life,

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that you can have joy that is complete.

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Let's just look at a couple

reasons why you should delight

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in Christ because of this.

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I know I've already started on this, but

there's so much that we can say here.

308

And this is really the turning

point in the Christian life, where

309

you go from gritting your teeth,

thinking about this God, to trusting

310

in Him and delighting in Him.

311

So why should you trust in Christ?

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Number one, He is the

image of the invisible God.

313

He's the image of the invisible God.

314

Amen.

315

Amen.

316

He's the disclosure of all that God is.

317

He's the one who shows what God is

and who He is, what He's really like.

318

And that is super important for us, to

know that this God is not twiddling His

319

thumbs out in the cosmos while we're

just sitting here hoping that things

320

go well for us, but that He broke

into space and time for your good.

321

You should also delight in Christ

because He's fully God and fully man.

322

He's the only one qualified to

be the mediator for our sins.

323

The only one who can go between us and

God and have any sense of satisfaction

324

because of our sins.

325

This is really good news that God

would take on flesh like this.

326

Again, Philippians just mentioned it.

327

You should also delight in Christ

because He's gentle and lowly,

328

because He's gentle and lowly.

329

He's not.

330

A tyrant, he's not someone that

if you knock on his door, he

331

says, go away, get out of my face.

332

Don't come near me, you sinner.

333

He says, come to me, all you

who are weary and heavy laden.

334

If you have any burden in any sense,

come to me and I will give you rest.

335

Take my yoke.

336

It's easy.

337

It's burden is light.

338

But the freedom that's found in

Christ because He is gentle and

339

lowly is something that is worth

delighting in and being excited about.

340

Christ also tells the truth.

341

I mean, I wasn't going to go write down

every single truly, truly statement

342

in the Bible, but you get the point.

343

Like when He's saying truly,

truly, He's telling it how it is.

344

He's not telling you, hey, you

know, uh, you might think that

345

you're in your sins, but like,

you're actually cool to stay there.

346

He's also not telling

you, Hey, you know what?

347

You should, You can just expect

to have your best life now.

348

Nothing bad is ever

going to happen to you.

349

You can manifest all the things

that you would ever want, And I

350

will just give you all this stuff

like a divine vending machine.

351

It'll be great.

352

No, He tells it how it is.

353

That when you read the Scriptures,

And you, you understand these words

354

from Him, You know that what He's

saying about your life is truthful.

355

That His Word is not going

to fail you in any way.

356

We should also delight in Christ

because He atones for sin.

357

Because Christ atones for sin.

358

Because He is the only one

who is able to make sufficient

359

payment on the debt that we owe.

360

And that He did.

361

He was willing to do that.

362

Finally, we should delight in Christ

because He prays for His people.

363

Because He prays for His people that

Christ doesn't just save you and

364

then leave you and say, Good luck.

365

But as a Christian, you know that even

in your deepest, darkest moments, you

366

know that the one whom you can call

upon at any time is praying for you.

367

He's prayed for you, that

your faith may not fail.

368

Even if your prayers and strivings

may feel super weak at times, you know

369

that the prayers of your Savior are

strong and that they're effective.

370

All of these reasons, and so many more,

are things that move the needle for us.

371

As a Christian, it goes from gritting

your teeth to delighting in this

372

God, to where to be humble is no

longer a chore, but it's a blessing.

373

It's the vehicle through which you get

this complete joy because you experience

374

all of these benefits and you trust

in Christ who is all of this and more.

375

You see, when you delight in

Christ, the one who's given from

376

above, you get that lasting joy.

377

And you reap the benefits

of union with Him.

378

But you cannot get the joy that

we're talking about until you

379

reject all Christ's substitutes.

380

All of the impossible

Jesuses that are out there.

381

And you finally confess, He must

increase, but I must decrease.

382

So, with that being said, when it

comes to Christ, accept no substitutes.

383

Pray with me, please.

384

Our Father in heaven, thank

you for your word, which is so

385

effective and so useful to us.

386

We know that it does not fail

us in any way, but that you have

387

given it, that we may know the

truth, that we may know you, God.

388

And so I pray that.

389

You would help us in our small

groups tonight to recognize the, the

390

substitutes and the idols that cling

so closely to us, that sound the best,

391

the things that we're more willing

and more desirous to, to trust in you.

392

And I pray that you would give us

the, the strength and all of the

393

courage to, to shun those things

and to totally reject them, God.

394

And I pray that we would be humble.

395

We will be people that are marked

by the confession that you, Lord,

396

must increase, but we must decrease.

397

Pray this all in Jesus name, Amen.