Welcome to the broadcast ministry of Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews, where we seek to glorify God by making Him known and guiding others towards their true purpose in life. No one is here by chance. God put us here for a reason. And the most important thing we can do is discover his plan for us and commit ourselves to it. Keep listening as we learn from the Bible how to live wisely in God's world, which is the first step towards finding your purpose.
Lord, if you will, take your Bibles and open up to John chapter 3. We're going to be looking at verses 22 through 36, and I've entitled this message, Who is Jesus? The largest podcast audience in the world as of 2025 is held by the Joe Rogan Experience, which attracts roughly 11 million listeners per episode. In the most recent episode, at least the one from about a week ago, Rogan opened up about his ongoing attendance at a Christian church. During a conversation with comedian Dave Smith, who I've never heard of.
Have you ever heard of Dave Smith, the comedian? I hadn't either. Anyway, Rogan, who has previously identified himself as an atheist. Has shown increasing curiosity about faith since the beginning of this year.
Now I want you to listen carefully. to what he said about the church he attends. about Christianity in general. And about Jesus and his conversation with this comedian. And I'm quoting him.
I enjoy attending this church. It's a bunch of people that are going to try to make their lives better. They're trying to be a better person. And the place that I go to, they read and analyze passages in the Bible. Welcome to church.
He goes on to say, I'm really interested in what these people are trying to say because I don't think it's nothing. There's a lot of like atheists and secular people that just like to dismiss Christianity as being foolish, it's fairy tales. I hear that amongst self-professed, intelligent people. Besides I don't know if that's true. He continued, I think there's more to it.
I think it's history. I think there's something to what they're saying. I don't think it's nothing. I think there's something to it, and there's a reason why it resonates with people. And Christianity, in particular, he says, is the most fascinating to me because.
There's this one person that everybody agrees existed, that somehow or another had the best plan for our for how human beings should interact with each other. and behave. and was the best example of it. And even Dodd. without protesting on the cross supposedly for our sins.
Like it's a fascinating story. What does it represent though? That's the real thing. What was that? Like what happened?
Who was Jesus Christ if it was a human being? What was that? Those are some great questions.
So here's a man who's beginning to hear some truth, perhaps for the first time in his life, about Jesus. And he's trying to figure it all out. But you can tell he's seeking, I believe, the Holy Spirit is wooing him. We need to all be praying for Joe Rogan that he would become a true follower of Jesus Christ. Because can you imagine the impact that he would have on 11 million listeners?
Every episode.
Now, the most important question that any person must answer during their lifetime. Yes. Who is Jesus? And I want you to understand that there's no middle ground. You either believe it or you don't.
And if you respond by saying, I don't care, Well, I'm not interesting. Then you've given your answer. You're either for Jesus Or you are against them.
So, what is your answer? Who is this man from Nazareth who appeared on the stage of history 2,000 years ago and was crucified between two common criminals? You must give an answer. And remember to choose not to answer. is an answer.
Tonight we're going to hear one last time. From John the Baptist, who from birth was filled with the Holy Spirit and ordained by God to be the forerunner of the Messiah. That is, from birth, he knew that his one role in life was to announce the appearance of the anointed one. That's what this word Messiah or Christ, Christ is the Greek, Messios is the Hebrew, and it means the anointed one. It's referring to the promised Savior who is to come from the seed of Abraham, from the line of Judah, and ascend to the throne of David and reign over it forever.
In Luke chapter 1. Turn there real quick. Luke chapter 1. Zachariah. John the Baptist's father prophesied over Hip hop.
Uh over John when he was just a newborn baby. And here's what, listen to what Zachariah says. I don't have time to read all of it, but it's very interesting. He's prophesying. Over his child.
He says in verse 76, And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High. For you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him. To give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God. Don't you love this? I'm going to read that again.
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him. Imagine he's holding his little baby boy. who the angel Gabriel told him you're to name him John. To give, you're to go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness, to guide our feet. into the path of peace.
And then in verse 8, it says, And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the desert until he appeared. publicly to Israel.
So tonight I want you to really think about this. We are privileged to hear the last declaration that John the Baptist makes about Jesus. This is the last thing we're going to hear from him. In John chapter 1, John the Baptist said, I am not the Christ, nor my Elijah or the prophet. I am the voice of one calling in the desert.
Make straight the way for the Lord. See, John was so humble. that he didn't even identify who he was by name. Or by his position. He just said, I'm a voice.
of one calling out in the desert. And John 129, he says, Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
So he makes that declaration about Jesus. Then in verse 34, he declares, I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God. See, he's making these declarations so that we can answer this question: who is Jesus?
Well, we know he's the Lamb of God, He's the Son of God. And this brings us to John chapter 3, verses 22 through 36. And in these verses, we're going to see that John makes some additional declarations about who Jesus is.
So pick up with me in verse 22. After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside.
Well, he spent some time with them and baptized.
Now John also was baptizing at Anon near Salem because there was plenty of water and people were constantly coming to be baptized. And then in parentheses, this was before John was put in prison. And he was later what? Beheaded. An argument developed between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing.
So they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, the one you testified about, Look, he is baptizing. And everyone is going to him. That's what I've been told about J.D. Greer. Russ, look, everybody's leaving you and going to J.D.
Greer. That's for my buddy Bill Cocker right there. That has nothing to do with this message. Yeah. Anyway, more on that later.
All right, to this, John replied: A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, I am not the Messiah. But in sin ahead of him.
Now I'm going to stop right here. In these verses, we learn about a growing concern. Quite frankly, it was a spiritual problem on the part of John's disciples. John. was the man.
His disciples loved him. Up to this point, John had baptized all of them.
So naturally, they were loyal to him. He was their leader. He was their rabbi. They looked up to him. They wanted to remain with him.
Moreover, John was the talk of the town. Everyone came out into the desert to witness this strange character, this man who wore clothing made out of camel's hair, who ate locusts and wild honey, and he called the religious leaders a brood of vipers. You've got to love John the Baptist. He spoke with power. Courage and authority.
They'd never heard anybody speak like this. And this is what brought everybody out to hear this man. People came from Jerusalem and from the whole region of the Jordan River because everyone wanted to hear this great orator. It reminds me of when Billy Graham used to hold these crusades, and everybody in the city would come to hear him because he spoke with authority like no other man they'd heard. But now A new man.
appeared on the scene. John had even pointed to this new man and called him the Son of God.
So, what did he mean by this that he's the Son of God? Why was everyone leaving John to go and hear? what this new man had to say. And to make matters worse, Jesus' disciples were baptizing more people than John's disciples were.
So What was the problem? with John's disciples. They were Envious. and jealous. And to be honest, John himself was probably tempted to be envious as well.
See, this is the normal human reaction when someone is doing better than we are. Correct? Haven't you all felt that way sometime? Look no further than many preachers and evangelists and Christian leaders today. One ministry or church thrives while another struggles, and this can lead to jealousy.
And the Lord hates this.
So, all of us, including myself, who are in ministry, we need to guard ourselves against this temptation. And to be honest, I have to guard my own heart. Because I can tell you. And I still have to guard it. I'm just being honest with you.
I'd like to see this place full of 1,200 men. But that's, you know, God's got to do that.
So, God convicted me many years ago when I used to compare myself to other preachers like J.D. Greer, even though I don't think he's that good. And I'm just joking. And to other ministries. And I have to die to that.
Can you understand that? It's hard to get self out of the way. Why? Because look at us. You know, we want to be honored, don't we, by other men?
We want to be liked by the people. We want to be popular. But you can't be popular with men and be popular with God. And so that's why All of us, like Grant gets up here and says this, a lot of men say this: Lord, help me to decrease.
So that you may increase because we all have to get our egos out of the way. And it's a big problem, just being honest.
So all of us need to look. At how John the Baptist dealt with this. Look at what he says in verse 27. A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. A man can receive only what is given from him.
what is given him from heaven. What do you mean by this?
Well, God is the giver of all gifts. Anything that is good in our lives. comes directly from God. and we can take no credit for it. If you scored 1500 on the SAT, All that intellect comes from who?
God. You know, a lot of people think that um This just came out of the blue, okay?
So I don't know where I'm going with this, but be careful. A lot of people think that people that grew up in East North Carolina are not that smart. particularly if you live in like redneck towns like Bethel.
So If you come to Bethel and go out in the country about eight miles toward Little Washington, there's a little place called Wider Station. About eight families lived there. And one of the guys lived there, his name was Lenny Heath. He would die if he knew I was talking about him. Lenny Heath scored 1490 on the SAT.
He missed one question on the Um You got the verbal, the verbal. And so he took it again to see if he could score 1500. Do you know he got turned down? MRT.
So I went to Carolina, double-majored in math and computer science. Anyway, I don't know why I mentioned that, but there are a lot of smart people all over the world. Again, that has nothing to do with this sermon. Yeah. I was not one of them.
All right. If you're wealthy. No matter how smart you think you are, all of your wealth comes from who? God. See, if you're wealthy, it's because God gave you the ability with your mind and maybe your personality to go out and make money.
But God gave it all to you. If you are a great teacher or preacher or whatever you are, the abilities you have is God-given. We can take credit for nothing, not even the air we breathe. Everybody take a breath. Uh Do you know how many times you do that a day in a 24-hour period?
Anybody know? Huh? Who said somebody was in my group? Vic? He was in my He was at the leaders' meeting at lunchtime today.
About 20,000 times a day. That's seven, how many times a year, Vic? That's what I thought. 7,600,000 times a year. You take a breath.
Do you ever thank God for that? Did you know that Jesus said that among those born of women there is no one greater than John? Why did he say this? Because of John's humility. John recognized that everything he possessed was a gift from God.
The spirit he was given at birth came from God. The animal skins that he wore and the locusts that he ate in the desert all came from God. His ability to speak with power and authority all came from God. Charles Spurgeon, who was the greatest preacher of all time, had this powerful voice. Voice, so did.
George Whitfield, they said that George Whitfield, when he would preach in Washington, D.C., 20,000 people, the guy in the back row could hear him. I need a microphone to carry my voice. John knew that he could take no credit for all the crowds that came to hear him. And I'm sure Billy Graham would have said the same thing. And when someone else came along more gifted than John, he could rejoice because ultimately it brought more glory to who?
To God. John knew that he was from The earth And that Jesus was from where? Heaven. Therefore, he was not only content. But he rejoiced that everyone was now turning to Jesus.
who he knew was the Son of God. And he knew he was the giver of life. See, John was content to let his light burn out so that the light Jesus offered. to the world. We shine more brightly.
Now let me ask you a question. I've confessed my sins. Are you living for the glory of God? or for the glory of yourself. Are you willing to let the spotlight shine on someone else and not shine on you?
Do you wake up in the morning complaining about where you are in life? Are you constantly comparing yourself to others? If you compare yourself to others, you will never be content. Ever. When we have this type of attitude, we're overlooking all the gifts that God has given to us.
We're saying, God, I'm not satisfied with what I have. Why don't I have what He has? Why am I not as successful as He is? We all need to learn from John the Baptist. And we need to all rejoice when others succeed.
We need to be content with what we have. This is where we all will listen. This is so interesting. This is where you have true freedom. When you don't think about yourself.
Jealousy and envy makes you feel horrible. But if you Put others first. If you die to self, If you live for the glory of God and not your own. You're set free from this rat race where this competition and envy and Jealousy. And this is how you will find joy and peace and contentment.
In his commentary on John, Kent Hughes writes: John could tolerate being outstripped by another because he knew that God does not make mistakes. I've seen this truth, he writes, literally revolutionize people as they see that God has sovereignly created them with the gifts and abilities they have. They're set free. Do you want to be set free from envy and jealousy? Then learn from John the Baptist.
In your heart, say this, I must decrease. that he might increase.
Now, let's see what else John says about Jesus. Look at verse 29. The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine and it is now complete.
He must become greater than I must become less. The one who comes from above is above all. The one who's from the earth belongs to the earth. Who is he talking about there? Himself.
Jesus is from heaven Hey, I'm but from Dirt is what John the Baptist was saying. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He, that is Jesus, testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. Own him.
Now, listen, in these six verses, John makes three declarations about Jesus. And here's the first one: Jesus is the bridegroom. And his church. Is the bride.
So, this is a great illustration that John uses. What do we learn from this illustration?
So important here. To belong to the true church. You must be in Christ. That is, Jesus must be in you. And you must be in him.
Men, this is the most important truth in all of Scripture. This unity with Christ. To belong to the true and eternal church and to become part of the bride of Christ, you must be united to Jesus by faith. The greatest union in the world is the union between God and man. The union between you and God.
In Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, he uses the phrase, in Christ or in him, more than 30 times. Why does he use this phrase so often? Because so it's so important. Because it has to do with your eternal destiny. Here's what he writes.
In Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. And you also were included. In Christ. When? when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
Having believed, having believed what? The gospel, you are marked where? In him with a seal. The promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession. Boy, there's so much in there.
What he said is that When you hear the gospel and you believe it and you surrender your life to Jesus, God takes His Holy Spirit. And he seals you. Like earnest money. Which means you belong to him. Yeah.
And he's coming for you again one day. Paul reaffirms this in 2 Corinthians 1. 21 and 22, where he writes, Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
So if you've got the Holy Spirit in you, It's a guarantee of what is to come.
Some of you may know Tom Henderson. Who knows Tom Henderson? who's good friends with.
Okay. This church, he wired this church. He's a genius. He's got every engineering degree that you can have. He's wired jets, he's wired boats, he can fix air conditioning, he can fix cars, and he he used to be IBM's troubleshooter.
He'd go all over the world back in the, I think, 80s and 90s and 2000s. Anytime they had a problem, wherever it was, they would send Tom to go fix it.
Well, he happens to do my internet service in my building, so he's been over there.
Well, you know, the doctors, he had prostate cancer. And the doctors told him. That he's not advertising this, but it's okay. He told me I could. They gave him three months to live back in January.
And he's still living. He was in my office. Yesterday he's helping me on moving off, he's helping wire. But the reason I mention this He has this incredible peace. Joy.
And he's been using this peace and joy to explain to non-believers. why he has such joy and peace. And you know why? Because he's sealed by the Holy Spirit. And he has this guarantee from God that the moment he takes his last breath, he wakes up in heaven.
Do you have that same kind of joy and peace? We talked about this in our lesson. You can know that you have eternal life, correct? 1 John 5:13, John says, I write these things to you who believe in the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. Do you have this assurance, ma'am?
Romans 6:5, Paul writes, If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. It is our union with Christ, men. that saves us and guarantees us a home in heaven. And here's the good news of the gospel. When a man is united to Christ by faith, he becomes part of the one true invisible church.
He belongs to Christ as his bride, and he has an invitation to the coming wedding supper of the Lamb. Do you know there's going to be a great celebration one day in heaven? Turn with me to Revelation chapter 19. I love this passage. It's about the wedding supper of the Lamb.
John is on the island of Patmos, and the Lord gives him a vision of the future coming wedding supper that I think will take place down here on earth, man, on a restored earth. Jesus is going to return. We're going to have this great celebration. I don't know how long it's going to last, maybe forever. Look at what he writes.
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters, and like loud peels of thunder shouting, Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her.
to her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous deeds of the saints. Then, and by the way, that's not about earning your salvation. These are the works that follow your salvation, and you're rewarded for those. Then the angel said to me, Write.
Talking about John. Not John the Baptist, but John the Apostle. John, write, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. And he added, These are the true words of God. Have you ever been to a football game?
This has happened to me several times over at Keenan Statement. And you leave early. And as you're walking away, you hear about 60,000 crazy fans going wild, shouting. It's like the roar of rushing waters. And you know you just what?
Miss something great, you know, like a touchdown like yours. I remember one time I was at the Duke Carolina game. When we were down by 16 or 17 points with 30 seconds to go to Duke, and no three-point line. And Walter Davis, and I got up and left. with about a minute to go.
This game's over with. I walk across campus and get back to the Phi Gam fraternity, which I was a member of, and everybody is shouting. Like joyfully. What do y'all shout about? We just beat Duke.
No, we didn't. I left that gang. Can you believe that? I've never gotten over it.
Well, this is the sound of rejoicing. That John hears taking place up in heaven at this wedding supper of the Lamb. Guys, do you want to miss that? I don't. Do you know what we're going to eat and drink there?
It's in Isaiah 25. says that we will eat. Aged meats. in the finest of wines. How do we know all this is true?
Because there is only one person who has ever come from heaven. His name is Jesus, and he speaks the words of God which are true, and he testifies about what he has seen and heard.
So, John informs us that Jesus is the bridegroom, and secondly, informs us that Jesus came from heaven. Look at verses 31 and 32. The one who comes from above is above all. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.
So many people around the world reject Jesus as the only way to heaven, and you know what they do? They try to make their own way. This is why there's so many religions in the world. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Atheism, Judaism, Taoism, Zen, secular humanism, churchism, and the list gives only known and own. All of these religions have one thing in common.
You know what they are saying? The way you get to heaven is through good works. You must earn your way to heaven. That's what they all say. Churchism is not true Christianity.
Christianity says this. For it is by grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. You cannot earn your way to heaven. Eternal life.
is offered to you as a gift. which you must receive, and you receive it by believing in him. In this world of religious confusion, Jesus stands up against all the religious religious Of the world, all the false religions of the world, and he says. I am the way. I am the truth.
I am the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. I heard a lady on a podcast today say that that's why Charlotte Kirk was. Uh martyred. Because he stood up on college campus and said, Jesus is the only way.
And it offends people. People push back. By the way, Acts 4:13 says, Salvation is found in no one else, for there's no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. People push back against it. They say that Christianity is too exclusive for me.
Well, guess what? Christianity is not exclusive. When Jesus hung on the cross like this, he was saying, Come to me, all who will. Look unto me and be ye saved, all you ends of the earth, all the ends of the earth, for there's only one God. And he's that God.
Romans 10:13 says, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be what? Saved.
Now here's my simple way of looking at it. as a Bethelite. Yeah. Jesus is the only one that came from heaven, okay?
Well, he must be the only one that knows his way back to heaven.
So I think I'm going to follow him. That's what we need to do. Follow the one who came from heaven. He's the one who testifies about what he has seen and heard. We have to believe it.
If you want to end up in heaven, The moment you die, you must be united to Christ, belong to His church, be part of His bride, and say that what that old hymn says: I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. Have you made that decision? I'm following Jesus.
And I'm not turning back. Jesus is the bridegroom. Jesus came from heaven, and finally Jesus has been given everything. Look at verses 34 and 35. For the one, I'm almost done.
For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves his Son and has placed everything in his hands. God the Father has given everything to God the Son. Jesus controls everything, He created everything, He owns everything, and He controls everything. Colossians 1.
15 through 20 says it all about Jesus. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn. That means the preeminent one over all creation. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he's the head of the church. He's the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven. by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.
What does everything include? I'm a simple man. Everything. The entire universe belongs to Jesus. He is all power, all rule, all authority, all truth, all wisdom.
He is the coming king of kings and lord of lords, and he will reign one day on a newly restored earth forever. And listen. Those who belong to him. who've been united with him by faith. We become, according to Romans 8, co-heirs with him to everything that he is heir to.
Moreover, the Bible says that we shall reign with him. Did you know that? There are so many benefits that accrue to us as God's children that they're countless. But I have to end tonight with a warning. Look at verse 36.
Who believes in the Son has eternal life. But whoever rejects the Son will not see life. for God's wrath remains on him. I said this two weeks ago. The only way to avoid the wrath of God is to come to Jesus by faith.
and surrender your life to him. And in that moment, Jesus will give you the gift of eternal life. And the promise that you belong to him as part of his bride. And one day you will see Jesus face to face at the wedding supper of the Lamb. But you've got to respond to the invitation.
He's inviting you. to the wedding of the s the s of the the wedding supper of the lamb. How you going to RSVP? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
Thank you for your word. Lord, thank you for bringing these men out on a dark, dreary night when they could have stayed at home and veggie out by from the television. Bless them for being here. bring more men back with him. Help us to share the light that we have within us with a lost and dark world.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Russ Andrews. This broadcast is made possible because of the prayers and financial gifts of listeners like you. If you want to learn more about our ministry or support us as we reach others with God-centered Bible teaching, please visit us at findingpurpose.net.
