Jesus was filled with the spirit without limit

JESUS WAS FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT WITHOUT LIMIT
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
John 3:34
New InternationalVersion
For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of
God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
New Living Translation
For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for
God gives him the Spirit without limit.
English StandardVersion
For he whom God has sent utters the words of God,
for he gives the Spirit without measure.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
Unmeasured Gifts
John 3:34

J.R. Thomson
If this passagedescribesthe fulness of spiritual gifts and powers bestowedby
God upon the Lord Jesus, then there is here implicit or explicit mention of the
Three Persons of the Trinity. Impossible though it is for the finite intellect
thoroughly to understand the statement, Christians receive it in faith, and
believe that the Father bestows the Spirit upon the Son, and that in unstinted
liberality.
I. A CONTRAST IS HERE IMPLIED BETWEENCHRIST AND THE
PROPHETS,
1. The immediate suggestionseems to be the language in which John the
Baptist acknowledgedthe superiority of the Messiah, whoseheraldand
forerunner he was appointed to be. John was inspired in such measure as was
requisite in order to the accomplishment of his mission. But the compass of his
revelation was limited, and, powerful as was his preaching, it was of necessity
human, and by its very aim one-sided. The inspiration of Christ was very
different; for his ministry was Divine and perfect, and needed qualifications
altogethertranscending those which sufficedfor his forerunner.
2. The same was the case with the earlier prophets of the older dispensation.
They could, indeed, truly preface their prophecies with the declaration, "The
Spirit of the Lord was upon me." But they were commissionedfor a purpose,
and they were inspired accordingly;and when they foretold the advent of the
Messiah, they foretold that that advent should be accompaniedby a Divine
effusion of blessing - a very flood of spiritual energy and life. And they, as well
as John, testified beforehand of the higher gifts of him who should come.
II. REASONS ARE APPARENT FOR THE BESTOWALOF THE SPIRIT
IN UNLIMITED MEASURE UPON THE CHRIST.
1. The Lord Jesus was, by virtue of his Divine nature, capable of receiving the
Spirit in a largerdegree than all who went before him, than all who followed
him.

2. The Father's approval and love of the Son were unlimited; for Christ did
always those things that pleasedthe Father, and the Father declaredhimself
to be wellpleasedwith him.
3. Inasmuch as the Father senthis Son upon a mission altogetherunique, one
requiring most peculiar qualifications, it was evidently necessarythat there
should be a corresponding impartation of spiritual power, that the work
might be not only performed, but performed in a manner wanting in no
respect. The greatestofall works neededthe greatestof all gifts.
III. THERE WERE PROOFS IN OUR LORD'S CHARACTER AND
MINISTRYTHAT HE POSSESSEDAN INEXHAUSTIBLE SUPPLY OF
THE SPIRIT OF GOD. The whole of the Gospels might be quoted in support
of this assertion. Upon Christ restedthe Spirit, as the Spirit of wisdom, of
power, and of love. His discourses, his mighty works, his demeanour under
suffering and wrong, his willing death, his glorious exaltation, - all evinced the
presence and indwelling of the immortal powerthat pervades and hallows to
highest ends the spiritual universe of God.
IV. THE UNIQUE OUTPOURING OF THE DIVINE SPIRIT UPON OUR
LORD ACCOUNTS FOR THE UNIQUE RESULTS WHICH FOLLOWED
HIS MISSION TO EARTH. Thus:
1. Christ's ministry was perfectly acceptable to the Father, who both
commissionedand qualified him to become the Mediator.
2. The perfect efficiencyof this wonderful ministry was thus secured.
3. The glorious results of Christ's coming into the world were thus accounted
for. Why did the Pentecostaleffusion, and the subsequent dispensation of the
Holy Ghost, follow the exaltation of the Mediator to the throne of dominion?
Evidently because in Christ the Spirit overflowedfrom himself to his people,
and to the race for whom he died; because he "receivedgifts for men."
Himself participating in unlimited supply in the graces ofthe Holy Spirit, he
became the glorious agent through whom copious blessings were conferred
upon the Church and upon the world. He received, not for himself merely, but
for us also. The gifts were unto him, but they were for us. - T.

Biblical Illustrator
He whom God hath sent speakeththe words of God.
John 3:34-36
The Mediator
A. Beith, D. D.
I. CHRIST'S EXCELLENCYIN HIS PROPHETICALOFFICE (ver. 34).
1. He is the sent of God. His mission is the measure of Divine love to the world.
God sent other messengers, the prophets, John, ministers; but as there is but
one sun in the firmament, though men have furnished themselves with many
derived lights, so there is but one messengerfrom God — one greatcentre of
illumination for the use of all who are beyond the limits of the
unapproachable light.
2. They are the words of God which He speaketh. The same is true of every
true minister, hut they are derived. Christ spoke the very oracles ofGod.
3. God giveth not the Spirit by measure to His Son. The prophets had the
Spirit to discharge their commissions, but under such limitations as were
necessaryto their limited capacities and occasions. Butthere was no such limit
in regard to Christ.
II. CHRIST'S DIGNITYAS THE APPOINTED SOURCE OF ALL GOOD
TO THE CHURCH (ver. 35). For the use of this language the Baptist had Old
Testamentwarrant.
1. The Father loveth the Son. He loves the world — some with a love of good
will, others with a love of delight, hut not even angels share such a love as this;
and indeed they and men are loved for and in the Son.

2. All things have been given into Christ's hands. If God so loved the world
that He gave His Son, He so loves the Son that He hath given Him all things —
all government, all the economyof redemption.
3. What obedience then is due to the Son! If God hath withheld nothing, shall
we?
III. THE SAFETY OF THE SOUL IS DEPENDENTON CHRIST (ver. 36).
1. Salvationis laid up in Christ as its fountain and dispensing author.
2. This salvationis to be soughtin Christ by faith.
3. No salvationwithout faith. Unbelief refuses Christ's testimony, declines all
personalalliance with Christ, opposes God's purpose, and is the fruit of an
evil heart.
4. The unbeliever shall not see life.
5. Upon the unbeliever the wrath of God abides.
(A. Beith, D. D.)
The Fatherloveth the Son
G. Hutcheson.
I. CHRIST'S RELATION TO THE FATHER AND TO MAN.
1. The excellencyof Christ above all other ambassadorsis that He is the Son
and they are but servants.
2. Christ is the objectof the Father's love in a peculiar way: as a Son, and not
a servant in respectof His Person;and as Mediator, He is pointed out as the
beloved Son in whom God will be found well pleased(Matthew 3:17); as He
who is beloved, and hath purchased love to others because ofHis death (John
10:17)(so willing was the Father to be reconciled), as He whose being beloved
answerethour being unworthy of love, and is a pledge of the Father's love to
us (John 17:23).

3. In carrying on the redemption of sinners, as the matter is accordedbetwixt
the Fatherand the Son, so the redeemedare not left to themselves, but are put
on Christ's hand, to purchase and be forthcoming for them; and all things are
concreditedto Him that may tend to their good. Under "all things" we are to
comprehend the electthemselves, togetherwith all the gills and graces of the
Spirit (ver. 34)needful for their conversionand salvation, which are not
entrusted to ourselves, but to Him who can keepus And them, and let them
out as we need; and a dominion over all things that may contribute to help or
hinder His people's happiness, that He may order them so as may be for their
good. And this power He hath as God with the Father, and as Man and
Mediator, by donation and gift from the Father(Matthew 11:27;Matthew
28:18). And thus the believer's happiness is firm, being transactedbetween
such parties, the Fatherbeing satisfiedin the Mediator, and they entrusted to
Him whose dearpurchase they are, and therefore He will not lose them, who
hath capacityto receive their furniture far above what they could hold, power
to maintain, wisdom to guide and dispense their allowance, dominion to curb
all enemies and opposition, and a commissionand charge to be answerable for
them. All which may invite us to be content that we be nothing, and that we
and all our furniture be in His hand.
(G. Hutcheson.)
All things in Christ's hand
The verse gives us the following teachings —
1. The Father is the Origin and Arranger of all things.
2. In His arrangements all things are put into the hands of His Son.
3. One reasonofthis is the love of the Father towards the Son.
4. Ere Christ came to men there had been a sublime transactionin which a
vast administration had been entrusted on the one hand and acceptedonthe
other. To confine ourselves to our point —

What things are put into the Redeemer's hand
C. Clemance, D. D.
? —
I. THE ACT OF CREATION. "All things were made by Him." Thus He is
clearly marked off from aught that is created. This factestablishes His
essentialequality with God and His official subordination to God.
II. REVELATION. Creationhad to do with all worlds; revelationwith this.
God indeed reveals Himself by His works, the laws of sociallife, the voice of
conscience. Butwe want a revelationfuller and clearer. Here it is: "He that
hath seenMe hath seenthe Father."
III. PROPITIATION. Where sin is, a revelation of God is not enough: but the
Revealersays, "No man comethunto the Fatherbut by Me." A serious state
of things when a man's way to his Fatheris blockedup save as a Mediator
clears it! Yet so it is; but He has put away sin by the sacrifice ofHimself.
IV. HEART CONQUEST. Apower is needed to make the mediation effective
manward. At the same moment that the herald says "Beholdthe Lamb of
God," He declares "This is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." The
bestowmentof the Spirit to convict, convert, and train the Church, is the
prerogative of Christ.
V. ADMINISTRATION. Whenwon over to Christ, men have to be governed
and sanctified. The subjects of the kingdom of grace have to be inspired with a
supreme desire to leaventhe world with righteousness. His holy inspiration is
begun and sustained by Christ. As He formed the kingdom of grace, so He
administers it.
VI. THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS. He who sent Peterto reap
the first-fruits will send forth His angels to reap the harvest.
(C. Clemance, D. D.)
What things

Bp. Gregg.
I.LIGHT for your mind.
II.LIFE for your souls.
III.LOVE for your hearts.
IV.RIGHTEOUSNESSforyour nature.
V.ATONEMENT foryour sins.
VI.GRACE for strengthening.
VII.COMFORT forsorrow.
VIII.HEAVEN.
(Bp. Gregg.)
The Fatherloveth the Son
J. Trapp.
Therefore faith may have firm footing. God hath laid help upon one that is
mighty that our faith and hope may be in God.
(J. Trapp.)
He who has Christ has all things
King Porus, when Alexander askedhim, being then his prisoner, how he
would be used, answeredin one word, "Basilikeios,"that is, "Like a king."
Alexander againreplying, "Do you desire nothing else?""No,"saidhe, "all
things are in this one word, 'Like a king.'" Whereupon Alexander restored
him again. But this has not always been the happiness of kings and princes.
Yet, however, he that hath God hath all things, because Godis all things. Take
a pen, and write down riches, honours, preferments, they are but as so many

ciphers — they signify nothing; but write down God alone, and He will raise
them to thousands — hundreds of thousands. And then it is that a Christian is
truly happy, when he can find himself, and all things, in his God.
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(34) Forhe whom God hath sent.—Better, he whom Godsent. The acceptance
of the witness of things seenand heard is the attestationby the human spirit of
the truthfulness of God, for Jesus is as one sent from God to declare Him. It is
the divine image in man which recognisesdivinity. Every human faculty finds
its true work, and true satisfaction, andthe true object of its being, in Him;
and therefore the whole man knows that His words are true, and recognises
that He speaks the words of God. (Comp. 1John 5:10.)
For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.—The italics will show
that the words “unto Him” are added in our version; and it is probable that
the word “God,” whichhas been repeatedfrom the first clause ofthe verse,
should be also omitted here. We have then to read, “ForHe giveth not the
Spirit by measure;” or, possibly, “Forthe Spirit giveth not by measure.” If,
however, we remember that John the Baptist is the speaker, and that he had
seen“the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and coming upon Him” (see
Note on Matthew 3:16, and comp. such passagesas Luke 11:13, and in this
GospelJohn 14:16;John 15:26), we shall still interpret the words in the sense
which our version gives. The words “by measure,” in the sense of limitation,
are frequent in the classicalandrabbinical writings. The Rabbis seemto have
applied the phrase to prophets and teachers, saying that the Spirit dwelt in the
prophets only in a certain measure. Comp. 2Kings 2:9, where Elisha prays for
“a double portion,” or, more exactly, a portion of two—the portion of the
first-born son (Deuteronomy 21:17)—ofthe spirit of Elijah. The same thought
meets us in St. Paul (himself a pupil of Gamaliel), who speaks of“the self-

same Spirit dividing to every man severallyas He will” (see 1Corinthians
12:4-12). The opposite of this thought, then, is before us here. God gives in this
case notas in others. The Son who comethfrom above is above all. There is no
gift of prophet, or of teacher, which is not given to Him. He has the fulness of
the spiritual gifts which in part are given to men, and He speaks the very
words of God. It will be noted that John is still expounding to his disciples the
meaning of his own declaration, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
3:22-36 John was fully satisfiedwith the place and work assignedhim; but
Jesus came on a more important work. He also knew that Jesus would
increase in honour and influence, for of his government and peace there
would be no end, while he himself would be less followed. Johnknew that
Jesus came from heaven as the Son of God, while he was a sinful, mortal man,
who could only speak about the more plain subjects of religion. The words of
Jesus were the words of God; he had the Spirit, not by measure, as the
prophets, but in all fulness. Everlasting life could only be had by faith in Him,
and might be thus obtained; whereas allthose, who believe not in the Son of
God, cannotpartake of salvation, but the wrath of God for everrests upon
them.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Whom God hath sent - The Messiah.
Speakeththe words of God - The truth, or commands of God.
For God giveth not the Spirit - The Spirit of God. Though Jesus was Godas
well as man, yet, as Mediator, God anointed him, or endowedhim with the
influences of his Spirit, so as to be completely qualified for his great work.
By measure - Not in a small degree, but fully, completely. The prophets were
inspired on particular occasions to deliver specialmessages. The Messiahwas
continually filled with the Spirit of God. "The Spirit dwelt in him, not as a
vessel, but as in a fountain, as in a bottomless ocean(Henry).

Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
34. for Godgiveth not the Spirit by measure—Here, again, the sharpest
conceivable line of distinction is drawn betweenChrist and all human-
inspired teachers:"They have the Spirit in a limited degree;but God giveth
not [to Him] the Spirit by measure." It means the entire fulness of divine life
and divine power. The present tense "giveth," very aptly points out the
permanent communication of the Spirit by the Father to the Son, so that a
constantflow and reflow of living poweris to be understood (Compare Joh
1:15) [Olshausen].
Matthew Poole's Commentary
He whom God hath sent out of heaven, out of his bosom, not merely
authorizing him as a minister, as the prophets and as John were sent,
speakethnothing but the words of God. The prophets and the apostles were
sent of God in a sense, but not as Christ was sent; they sometimes spake the
words of God, when the Spirit of God came upon them; but they sometimes
spake their own words, as Nathandid to David, when he encouragedhis
thoughts to build a house to the Lord; and Paul, when he said, To the rest
speak I, not the Lord; but whatsoeverChrist spake was the words of God: for
God did not give out the Spirit to him sparingly, (as out of a measure), as he
doth to his ministers or saints, who have but their proportion of revelations
and graces,as was requisite for their offices to which they were called, and the
severalperiods of time that were gradually illuminated. But in him the fulness
of the Godheaddwelt bodily; he was anointed with the oil of gladness above
his fellows;he had the spring of all in himself, not the streams only.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
For he whom God hath sent,.... Still meaning Christ, who was sentin human
nature, in the likeness ofsinful flesh, in the fulness of time; to be the Saviour
of the world, of that which was lost, of the chief of sinners; and to preach the
glad tidings of the Gospel, which is more especiallyhere designed;and for
which he was abundantly qualified by the Spirit of God, with which he was
anointed:

speakeththe words of God; the words which God gave unto him; the
doctrines of grace;the word of truth; the word of faith; the word of
righteousness;the word of reconciliation;the words of salvationand eternal
life; the whole mind and will of God; and whateverhe spoke were as true as
the oracles of God, and were such.
For God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him, as he did to the prophets
of the Old Testament, and to the apostles of the New;and to the ordinary
ministers of the word, who have gifts differing one from another; to one is
given one gift of the Spirit; and to another, another gift, as the Spirit pleaseth;
and to everyone is given grace, orgifts of grace, according to the measure of
the gift of Christ, Ephesians 4:7. To which agrees whatthe Jews say(a) of the
Holy Spirit, and his gifts.
"Says R. Joden bar R. Simeon, even the waters which descendfrom above are
not given, but, "in measure".--Says R. Acha, even the Holy Spirit, which
dwells upon the prophets, does not dwell, but "in weight".''
But the Lord Jesus has every, gift of the Spirit, and the fulness of grace in
him: he is anointed with the oil of gladness, with the Holy Ghost above his
fellows;and has an immeasurable unction of the holy one; which, like the
precious oil poured on Aaron, descends from him to the members of his body.
(a) Vajikra Rabba, sect. 15. fol. 157. 3.
Geneva Study Bible
For he whom God hath sent speakeththe words of God: for God giveth not
the Spirit by measure unto him.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
John 3:34. The first γάρ serves to state the reasonfor the ἐσφράγισεν, ὅτι, etc.;
the second, forthe τὰ ῥήματα τ. θεοῦ λαλεῖ, so far, that is, as it would be
doubtful, if God gave the Spirit ἐκ μέτρου, whetherwhat God’s ambassador
spoke was a divine revelationor not; it might in this case be wholly or in part
the word of man

ὃν γὰρ ἀπέστ. ὁ θεός] not a generalstatement merely, appropriate to every
prophet, but, following John 3:31, to be takenmore preciselyas a definition of
a heavenly (ἄνωθεν, ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ)mission, and referring strictly to Jesus.
This the contextdemands. But the following οὐ γὰρἐκ μέτρου, κ.τ.λ., must be
takenas a generalstatement, because there is no αὐτῷ. Commentators would
quite arbitrarily supply αὐτῷ,[177]so as to render it, not by measure or
limitation, but without measure and in complete fulness, God gives the Holy
Spirit to Christ. This supplement, unsuitable in itself, should have been
excluded by the present δίδωσιν, because we must regardChrist as possessing
the Spirit long before. The meaning of this generalstatementis rather: “He
does not give the Spirit according to measure” (as if it consequently were out
of His power, or He were unwilling to give the Spirit beyond a certain
quantitative degree, determined by a definite measure);He proceeds herein
independently of any μέτρον, confined and limited by no restricting standard.
The way in which this is to be applied to Jesus thus becomes plain, viz. that
God must have endowedHim[178] when He sent Him from heaven (John
3:31), in keeping with His nature and destination, with the richest spiritual
gifts, namely, with the entire fulness of the Spirit (πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα, Colossians
1:19), more richly, therefore, than prophets or any others;—which He could
not have done had He been fettered by a measure in the giving of the
Spirit.[179]
ἐκ μέτρου]ἘΚ used of the rule. See Bernhardy, p. 230;comp. on 1
Corinthians 12:27. Finally, the οὐ γὰρ ἐκ μέτρου must not be regarded as
presenting a different view to John 3:32 (comp. Weiss, p. 269);for the Spirit
was in Christ the principle whereby He communicated (the λαλεῖν) to men
that which He had beheld with God. See on John 6:63-64;Acts 1:2.
[177]The subterfuge of Hengstenberg is no better: “we must supply, in the
case before us.” See also Lange.

[178]οὐ γὰρ μέτρα λόγοιο [or rather πνεύματος]φέρει λόγος.—Nonnus.
[179]Hitzig, in Hilgenfeld’s Zeitschr. 1859, p. 152 ff., taking the first half of
the verse as a generalstatement, applicable to every prophet, would read the
relative οὗ insteadof οὐ, “according to the measure, that is, in which He gives
the Spirit.” Considering the γάρ, this rendering is impossible.—Ewaldand
Brücknercome nearestto our interpretation. B. Crusius and Ebrard (on
Olshausen)erroneouslymake ὅν ἀπέστ. κ.τ.λ. the subjectof δίδωσιν(ὁ θιός is
spurious, see the critical notes);but this yields a thought neither true in itself,
nor in keeping with the context. Godetputs an antitheticalbut purely
imported emphasis upon δίδωσιν: to other messengers ofGodthe Spirit is not
given, but only lent by a “visite momentanée;” but when God gives the Spirit,
He does so without measure, and this took place on the first occasionatthe
baptism of Jesus. This is exegeticalpoetizing.
Expositor's Greek Testament
John 3:34. The reasonassignedfor the truth and trustworthiness of Christ’s
words is scarcelythe reasonwe expect: οὐ γὰρ… Πνεῦμα. John has told us
that Christ is to be believed because He testifies of what He hath seenand
heard: now, because the Spirit is given without measure to Him. The meaning
of the clause is contested. The omissionof ὁ θεός does not materially affect the
sense, forὁ θεός would naturally be supplied as the nominative to δίδωσι from
τοῦ θεοῦ of the preceding clause. There are four interpretations. (1)
Augustine, Calvin, Lücke, Alford, suppose the clause means that God, instead
of giving occasionaland limited supplies of the Spirit as had been given to the
prophets, gives to Christ the fulness of the Spirit. (2) Meyer thinks that the
primary reference is not to Christ but that the statementis general, that God
gives the Spirit freely and abundantly, and does thus dispense it to Christ. (3)
Westcott, following Cyril, makes Christ the subjectand understands the
clause as meaning that He proves His Messiahshipby giving the Spirit without
measure. (4) Godet makes τὸ πνεῦμα the subject, not the object, and supposes
the meaning to be that the Spirit gives to Christ the words of God without

measure. The words of John 3:35 seemto weighin favour of the rendering of
A.V[47]: “Godgiveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him”. The R.V[48]is
ambiguous. ἐκ μέτρου, out of a measure, or, by measure, that is, sparingly. So
ἐν μέτρῳ in Ezekiel4:11. Wetsteinquotes: “R. Achan dixit: etiam Spiritus S.
non habitavit super Prophetas nisi mensura quadam: quidam enim librum
unum, quidam duos vaticiniorum ediderunt”. The Spirit was given to Jesus
not in the restricted and occasionalmanner in which it had been given to the
O.T. prophets, but wholly, fully, constantly. It was by this Spirit His human
nature was enlightenedand guided to speak things divine; and this Spirit,
interposed as it were betweenthe Logos and the human nature of Christ, was
as little cumbrous in its operation or perceptible in consciousness as our
breath which is interposed betweenthe thinking mind and the words which
utter it.
[47] Authorised Version.
[48] RevisedVersion.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
34. whom God hath sent] Better, whom God sent, viz. Christ ‘who cometh
from above,’John 3:31.
God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him] ‘God’ is of doubtful
authority; ‘unto Him’ is not in the Greek. We must translate He giveth not the
Spirit by measure;or, the Spirit giveth not by measure. The former is better,
and ‘He’ probably means God; so that the only question is whether ‘unto
Him’ is rightly supplied or not. In translation it is best to omit the words,
although there is a direct reference to Jesus. ‘Notby measure giveth He the
Spirit,’ leastof all to Jesus, ‘for it pleased(the Father) that in Him the whole
plenitude (of Divinity) should have its permanent abode,’Colossians1:19.
Some take ‘He’ as meaning Christ, who gives the Spirit fully to His disciples.

Bengel's Gnomen
John 3:34. Ἀπέστειλεν) hath sent from Himself.—οὐ γὰρ ἐκ μέτρου, for not by
measure)The giving of the Spirit is one, and that, made to Christ; under
which we are contained, to whomsoevera measure is imparted, Ephesians 4:7,
“Unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of
Christ;” John 1:16, “Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
In order that we might be able to receive a measure, it was befitting that there
should be some one, who would take, and in the first instance receive [the
fulness of grace]without measure, being about [being thereby qualified] to
baptize all the others with the same Spirit: nay, even we shall hereafterhave it
without measure:1 Corinthians 13:10; 1 Corinthians 13:12, “When that
which is perfectis come, then that which is in part shall be done away;—Now
I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known.” Christopher
Cartwright: The Hebrews observe, the Spirit was given to the prophets in
measure;Even the Holy Spirit, say they, which rests on the prophets, does not
rest save in measure. Even the words of the law, which was given from above,
were not given, save in measure. Mellif. Hebr. on this passage.Further, since
Christ receivedthe Spirit without measure, he expresses the words of God
most perfectly.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 34. - The γὰρ shows that the former utterance is sustained. For he
whom God sent uttereth the words of God. The full, many-sided, abundant
expressionof the thought of God. He has been sent for this purpose. Some
take this clause to refer to all the ambassadorsofGod, and pre-eminently to
the "man (John 1:6) sent from God, whose name was John." But, on the ether
hand, observe that throughout the Gospel, ἀπόστελλω and πέμπω are used of
the "Lord from heaven" (ver. 17). Christ certainly is ἀπεσταλμένος as well as
ἐρχομένος, and this greatstatement, viz. that Christ speaks the words of God,
is a justification of the fact that, in accepting the witness of Christ to invisible
and eternalthings, and in the admission that he has been sentfrom heaven
chargedwith the words of God, every separate believerbecomes a seal, a
ratification, of the veracity of God. The clause that follows (seeing that "to

him" is unquestionably a gloss of translators, and is not found in any
manuscripts) may be translatedin three different ways.
(1) For God giveth not the Spirit by measure; for if ὁ Θεός is omitted, still the
same subject, "God," might be and is generally supplied, and the object,
supposedto be either Christ or any of his servants to whom in these days of
the baptism of the Spirit, the Holy Ghostis poured forth from an
inexhaustible treasure. Augustine and Calvin urged that it was said
concerning Christ; for we read in ver. 35 that "the Father hath given all
things into his hand;" but exclusively to limit the objectof δίδωσι to Christ is
more than the passagewilljustify.
(2) For he (the Messiah, sc.)giveth not the Spirit by measure; i.e. He is exalted
to pour forth from the heart of the Deity the Spirit of the Father and Son. This
is preferred by Westcott, and by those who see in the entire passagethe
reflections of the author of the Gospel(cf. John 15:26).
(3) For the Spirit giveth not by measure; the object (sc.)being "the words of
God," which he who is sent and is coming from heaven, and is above all, is
now lavishing upon the world. This translation (Godet) is in harmony with the
vision of John at the baptism, when the Holy Spirit after the manner of a dove
descendedand abode upon him. With an unmeasurable supply of spiritual
energy was the humanity of him who came (qua his Divine nature and
personality) from heaven enriched for his prophetic and Messianic functions
as the beloved Son of God on earth. I see no difficulty in this last
interpretation.
(a) The present tense is justified by the statement of the abiding of the Holy
Spirit upon Jesus, and the continuous operationof the gift in the "words of
God," which were flowing from his lips.

(b) The αὐτῷ is easily supplied in thought.
(c) The connectionis thus instituted with the thirty-fifth verse. Meyerand
Lange prefer a wider significance being given to the words, seeing in them a
broad reference to the affluence and measurelesscapacityof the gift of the
Spirit. Luthardt: "This is true of all God's messengers, but especiallyof him
of whom the Baptist speaks"(cf. 1 Corinthians 12:4-12). The Lord from
heaven receives allthe gifts of the Spirit.
Vincent's Word Studies
The words (τὰ ῥήματα)
Not words, nor individual words, but the words - the complete messageof
God. See on Luke 1:37.
God giveth
The best texts omit God. Rev., He giveth. Rev., also, rightly, omits the
italicized to Him. The personalobjectof the verb giveth is indefinite. Render,
He giveth not the Spirit by measure.
In order to conveythe full force of the terms giveth and by measure, it will be
necessaryto attempt an explanation of the generalscope and meaning of this
very difficult and much disputed passage. The starting point of the exposition
must be John 3:30, the Baptist's noble resignationof his own position, and
claims to Jesus:He must increase, but I must decrease.At this point the
Evangelist, as we have seen, takes up the discourse. The Baptist's declaration
that Jesus "must increase" - that He is a messengerofa transcendently higher
character, and with a far larger and more significantmessage thanhis own -
furnishes the Evangelistwith a text. He will show why Jesus "must increase."
He must increase becauseHe comes from above, and is therefore supreme
over all (John 3:31). This statement he repeats;defining from above (ἄνωθεν)
by out of heaven (ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ), and emphasizing it by contrastwith mere
earthly witness (ὁ ἐκ τῆς γῆς) whose words bear the stamp of his earthly

origin (ἐκ τῆς γῆς λαλεῖ). Being from heaven, He testifies of heavenly things,
as an eye-and ear-witness."WhatHe hath seenand heard, of that he beareth
witness." It is indeed true that men reject this testimony. "No man receiveth
His witness" (John3:32). None the less it is worthy of implicit credence as the
testimony of God himself. He that has receivedthat testimony has solemnly
attestedit as God's own witness;"hath sethis sealto this, that God is true."
To declare Jesus'testimony untrue is to declare God untrue (John 3:33). For
He whom God hath sent utters the whole divine message (the words of God,
John 3:34).
Thus far the reasoning is directed to the conclusionthat Jesus ought to
increase, andthat His messageoughtto be received. He is God's own
messengeroutof heaven, and speaks God's ownwords.
The common explanation of the succeeding clauseis that God bestows the
Spirit upon Jesus in His fullness, "not by measure."
But this is to repeatwhat has already been more than implied. It would seem
to be superfluous to sayof one who comes out of heaven, who is supreme over
all things, who bears witness of heavenly things which He has seenand heard,
and who reveals the whole message ofGodto men - that God bestows upon
Him the Spirit without measure.
Take up, then, the chain of thought from the first clause of John 3:34, and
follow it on another line. The MessengerofGod speaks the words of God, and
thus shows himself worthy of credence, and shows this further, by dispensing
the gift of the Spirit in full measure to His disciples. "He giveth not the Spirit
by measure." This interpretation adds a new link to the chain of thought; a
new reasonwhy Jesus should increase, and His testimony be received;the
reason, namely, that not only is He himself divinely endowed with the Spirit,
but that He proves it by dispensing the Spirit in full measure.
Thus John 3:35 follows in natural sequence. This dispensing powerwhich
attests His claims, is His through the gift of the divine Father's love. "The
Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand." This latter
phrase, into His hand, signifies not only possession, but the powerof disposal.
See Mark 9:31; Mark 14:41; Luke 23:46;Hebrews 10:31. God has given the

Son all things to administer according to His own pleasure and rule. These
two ideas of Christ's receptionand bestowmentof divine gifts are combined in
Matthew 11:27. "All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man
knoweththe Son but the Father, neither knowethany man the Father save the
Son, and He to whomsoeverthe Son may determine (βούληται) to reveal
Him."
Therefore John the Baptist must decrease, and Jesus must increase. A
measure of the Spirit was given to the Baptist, sufficient for his preparatory
work, but the Baptist himself saw the Spirit descending in a bodily form upon
the Sonof God, and heard the voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased." The Spirit is thus Christ's own. He dispenses, gives
it (δίδωσιν), in its fullness. Hence Jesus said, later, of the Spirit of truth, "He
shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All
things that the Fatherhath are mine; therefore saidI that He shall take of
mine and shall show it unto you" (John 16:14, John 16:15).
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BARCLAY
John goes on: we can believe what Jesus says, because onhim God poured out
the Spirit in full measure, keeping nothing back. Even the Jews themselves
said that the prophets received from Goda certainmeasure of the Spirit. The
full measure of the Spirit was reservedfor God's ownchosenone. Now, in
Hebrew thought the Spirit of God had two functions--first, the Spirit revealed
God's truth to men; and, second, the Spirit enabledmen to recognize and
understand that truth when it came to them. So to say that the Spirit was on
Jesus in the completestpossible way is to say that he perfectly knew and
perfectly understood the truth of God. To put that in another way--to listen to
Jesus is to listen to the very voice of God.

Once More:Why Believe in Jesus? (John3:31-36)
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July 21, 2013
I’ve been grieved lately to hear of severalyoung adults who formerly were a
part of this church, who professedfaith in Christ and in some cases servedin
this church, but now do not go to any church. I’ve heard that some of them
have renounced their faith in Christ. One of them that I recently had lunch
with now claims to be an atheist.
What a tragedy! Why does it happen? The reasons are probably as varied as
the individuals who fall away. Behind it all is the enemy of our souls, who
prowls about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8; Luke
8:12). Sometimes the person believed in Jesus for superficialreasons:he
hoped that Jesus would give easyrelief from some problem, but it didn’t
happen. In the parable of the sower, Jesus toldabout those who believed and
found sudden joy, but they didn’t have roots, so that when the hot sun of trials
came out, they wilted and died. Others, He said, seem to grow for a while, but
the thorns of worries and riches and the pleasures ofthis life chokedthem out
(Luke 8:13-14).
I think that there are also two common problems behind those who make a
professionof faith and then fall away. First, they have a shallow
understanding of their true moral guilt before the holy God. They don’t

understand that as sinners they are under His wrath and that their good deeds
will not erase or ease His judgment againsttheir sins. So they don’t see their
desperate needfor salvation. Second, they don’t understand who Jesus is and
what He did for them on the cross. As I’ve often said, the entire Christian
faith rests on the correctanswerto Jesus’question(Matt. 16:15), “Who do
you saythat I am?” If you get that question right, everything else is
secondary. If Jesus is who the Bible proclaims Him to be, then you must
believe in Him as your Savior and Lord or you will face judgment. Either
Christ died for your sins and is risen from the dead or not. If He is not who He
claimed to be, then you’re wasting your time being a Christian (1 Cor. 15:13-
19).
John is clearabout why he wrote his Gospel(20:31):“so that you may believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, you may have life
in His name.” I titled an earliermessage fromJohn 1:15-18, “Why You
Should Believe in Jesus.” In our text, John hits it once more (and it won’t be
the lasttime!): Why believe in Jesus?
BecauseJesus is God’s Son from heavenwho testifies to God’s truth, your
eternal destiny hinges on believing in Him.
As I said last time, these verses expound on the first half of John the Baptist’s
motto, “He must increase.”Although some Bible scholars think that verses 31-
36 continue the words of John the Baptist, I’m inclined to side with those who
argue that they are the words of John the apostle. The original text did not
have quotation marks. As we saw earlierin this chapter, probably Jesus’
words end at 3:15 and John’s comments follow in 3:16-21.
A couple of things point us in this direction here. First, the Christology(view
of Christ) seems to be more in line with later, more developedunderstanding
than with that which John the Baptist would have had. Also, these verses are
clearly Trinitarian. It would be highly unusual for a Jew like John the Baptist
at this point in history to have had such well-defined views.
But, whether these are the words of John the Baptist or John the apostle, they
are equally inspired by God, given for our spiritual profit. John makes four
main points to show why we should believe in Jesus:

1. Jesus has a heavenly origin and is above all (3:31).
John 3:31: “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is
from the earth and speaks ofthe earth. He who comes from heavenis above
all.”
John seems to be commenting on Jesus’words to Nicodemus (3:11-13):
“Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak ofwhat we know and testify of what we
have seen, and you do not acceptour testimony. If I told you earthly things
and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No
one has ascendedinto heaven, but He who descendedfrom heaven:the Son of
Man.”
John is repeating the point that Jesus’existence did not begin when He was
born to the virgin Mary. The eternal Word became flesh and dwelt among us
(John 1:14). Jesus came to this earth from heaven, where He dwelt eternally
with the Father. Through the virgin birth Jesus took on human flesh so that
He could bear the penalty for our sins. But now He is againexalted on high,
“above all,” a point that John repeats twice for emphasis (some manuscripts
omit the secondrepetition, but it is probably original).
John is not the only apostle to affirm that Jesus is now above all. In Ephesians
1:20-22a, Paulsays that after Godraised Jesus from the dead, He seatedHim
“at His right hand in the heavenly places, farabove all rule and authority and
powerand dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but
also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet ….”
The apostle Peteraffirms (1 Pet. 3:22) that Jesus “is at the right hand of God,
having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been
subjectedto Him.” And, the author of Hebrews spends the entire first chapter
of that letter asserting that Jesus, the Creatorof all things, is overall the
angels.
In our text (3:31) John contrasts Jesus with John the Baptist, “who is of the
earth, is from the earth and speaks ofthe earth.” He is not nullifying the
testimony of John, but rather pointing out its limitations by contrasting it with
the superior testimony of Jesus. While John the Baptist was a faithful witness
of all that God entrusted to him, he was nonetheless human. He only had a

limited understanding of the things of God, as all humans do to one extent or
another. But Jesus dwelt eternally with the Father (17:5). BecauseJesus came
to earth from heaven and is now back in heaven, exaltedabove all others, we
must believe everything that He has told us about God and heavenly things.
2. Jesus has a heavenly message(3:32-34).
John 3:32-34:“What He has seenand heard, of that He testifies;and no one
receives His testimony. He who has receivedHis testimony has sethis sealto
this, that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God;
for He gives the Spirit without measure.” Johnaffirms three things in these
verses:
A. Jesus’testimony regarding heavenly matters is true because it is eyewitness
testimony (3:32a).
John 3:32a: “WhatHe has seenand heard, of that He testifies ….” We hear
stories these days of people who supposedly went to heaven, came back, and
wrote a book about it. A lot of what they write contradicts what the Bible says
about heaven, but people buy their books and receive it as true because the
authors claim to have eyewitness testimony. It’s interesting that none of the
people in the Bible who were raised from the dead wrote books or setup
speaking tours to tell everyone what they saw up there! The apostle Paulhad
a vision of heaven(some think it may have been when he was stoned and left
for dead), but he only spoke about it hesitantly 14 years after it happened (2
Cor. 12:1-10). And he adds that because ofthe surpassing greatnessofthat
revelation, God gave him a thorn in the flesh to keephim humble. Paul missed
a huge opportunity to cashin with a best-selling story about what heaven is
like!
But John’s point in our text is that Jesus cantestify truthfully about heaven
because He is telling us what He has seenand heard. He wasn’tspeculating or
philosophizing about heaven. He was speaking the very words of God, telling
us what the Father is like and how we canhave eternal life. His witness is
reliable and certain.

This isn’t the only time that John asserts this. In John 7:16, Jesus said, “My
teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” In John 8:28, He said, “When you
lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on
My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Fathertaught Me.” In John
14:10, after telling Philip that if he has seenJesus, he has seenthe Father,
Jesus adds, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Fatheris in
Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the
Father abiding in Me does His works.”
D. A. Carson(The GospelAccording to John [Eerdmans/Apol-los], p. 213)
sums it up: “Jesus so completelysays and does all that God says and does, and
only what God says and does … that to believe Jesus is to believe God.” The
converse is also true: To rejectJesus’testimony about God is to reject God
(see John 12:44-50). Evenworse, to reject God’s testimony about Jesus is to
call God a liar (1 John 5:10): “The one who believes in the Son of God has the
testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar,
because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning
His Son.” So it’s a very serious matter to setaside Jesus’testimony as
recordedin the Bible!
B. You can’t judge the truthfulness of Jesus’testimony by taking a poll
(3:32b-33).
John 3:32b-33: “and no one receives His testimony. He who has receivedHis
testimony has set his sealto this, that God is true.” Obviously, in context, the
first half of that statementis a generalization, because the secondhalf
indicates that some do receive Jesus’testimony. It’s similar to what we saw in
1:11-12:“He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive
Him. But as many as receivedHim, to them He gave the right to become
children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” The generalresponse
to Jesus when He came to this earth was rejection. John 3:19, “Menloved
darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” But, by God’s
grace alone, there have always been some who have responded by believing.
These affirm (“settheir sealto this”) “that God is true.”

It’s interesting to contrastJohn’s statement in 3:32, that “no one receives His
testimony,” with the report of John the Baptist’s disciples (3:26) that “all are
coming to Him.” Jesus had a large popular following because He healed
people and they found His teaching fascinating. They enjoyed His stories.
They liked the fact that He spoke with authority, not like the scribes and
Pharisees (Matt. 7:29). But, the same fickle crowd that shouted “Hosanna” on
Palm Sunday on Friday shouted, “Crucify Him!” Their views about Jesus
changedwith the popular tide of opinion.
The point for us is: the reasonwe should put our trust in Jesus is because we
have come to the firm conclusion, basedon the apostolic witness, thatGod is
true and that Jesus spoke the words of God. He is who He claimed to be. He is
the Christ, the Son of God, sent from heavento redeemus from our sins. By
setting your sealto this, John means that you fix in your mind and heart that
Jesus is the promised Redeemer, your personalSaviorand Lord. Even if all
others forsake Him, you will be faithful even unto death.
The truth is, it’s easyto ride on the coattails of your parents’ faith or your
friends’ faith or of popular opinion. Perhaps you went to an evangelistic
meeting and all of your friends went forward at the altar call as the
congregationsang an emotionalhymn and the preacherpled for everyone to
come forward. Under a flurry of emotion, you went forward. You felt great
about it at the time and even shed tears of joy as the counselorsharedwith
you that you now have eternal life and that it can’t be takenfrom you.
But, then a few weeks ormonths later, the glow faded. Stubborn problems
reared their ugly head. Rather than answering your prayers for deliverance,
things got worse than they were before you went forward. Meanwhile, a lot of
your friends who are not religious are saying, “I told you it wouldn’t work!”
An atheistic professorgave a lecture ridiculing Christianity. If your faith rests
on popular opinion, it will crumble in time.
I grew up in a Christian home and made a professionof faith at a young age.
But I remember that when I got to college, Irealized that there are a lot of
other options out there on what to believe. As I thought it through, I realized

that if my faith was going to endure, it had to be my faith, not my parents’
faith and not my friends’ faith. It had to be basedon the truth about Jesus.
C. Jesus’testimony regarding heavenly matters is true because Godsent Jesus
and gave Him a full measure of the Holy Spirit (3:34).
John 3:34: “ForHe whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives
the Spirit without measure.” The truth that God sentJesus to this earth is
repeatedabout 39 times in John’s Gospel, which affirms His deity and His
heavenly origin (Ed Blum, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, ed. by John F.
Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck [Victor Books], 2:283). It also underscores Jesus’
authority, which John emphasizes in the next verse (3:35).
“ForHe gives the Spirit without measure” explains why Jesus spoke the
words of God: During Jesus’earthly ministry, God the Father gave Him the
full measure of the Holy Spirit (Isa. 11:2; 42:1; 61:1; Luke 4:18). As John the
Baptist testified (John 1:32), “I have seenthe Spirit descending as a dove out
of heaven, and He remained upon Him.” This brings out the full humanity of
Jesus. As a man, He had to rely constantly on the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit
of truth (John 14:17;15:26), which enabled Him to speak the true words of
God. In this, He modeled for us how we are to live in dependence on God’s
Spirit.
There are two applications for us in this verse. First, while only Jesus could
infallibly speak the very words of God, every pastorand Bible teachershould
strive to be faithful to the Word of God. My aim in every sermon is that when
I’m done, you should be able to look at the biblical text and understand what
it means and how it applies to your life. This means that sometimes I have to
teachsome difficult truths (as I will do in a moment when we get to the
subject of God’s wrath in 3:36). If I waterdown or dodge the difficult truths,
as many pastors do, I am not being faithful to God. And if you sit for very
long under a pastor who waters down the Word, you won’t be faithful to God.
Second, while Jesus is unique in having the complete fullness of God’s Spirit,
we all should repeatedly ask God for more and more of the fullness of the
Spirit. Early in my Christian life, I was taught that I could claim the filling of
the Holy Spirit by faith. The implication was that either the Spirit fully

controlled my life or I was in control. But the reality is, we grow in our
capacityto be filled with the Spirit and in this lifetime, we never will
experience the complete fullness of the Spirit that Jesus experienced. While
the fruit of the Spirit canbe evident in our lives, there is always room for
more love, more joy, more peace, more patience, more kindness, more
goodness,more faithfulness, more gentleness, andmore self-control(Gal.
5:22-23). Thus I need constantlyto entreatGod for more fullness of His Spirit.
Thus, Jesus has a heavenly origin and a heavenly message.
3. Jesus has heavenly authority (3:35).
John 3:35: “The Father loves the Sonand has given all things into His hand.”
The love betweenthe Father, the Son, and the Spirit is eternal and perfect. At
Jesus’baptism, the Spirit descendedon Him and the Father proclaimed
(Matt. 3:17), “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” Because
the Fatherloves the Son, He has given all things into His hand. Jesus affirmed
(Matt. 11:27), “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no
one knows the Son exceptthe Father;nor does anyone know the Fatherexcept
the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to revealHim.” Just before He
ascendedinto heaven, as He gave the GreatCommission, He again affirmed
(Matt. 28:18), “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
That’s an astounding claim! If any mere man said such things, we would
know that he was crazy. But Jesus couldmake such a claim with full
credibility, because ofwho He is. This means that as we proclaim the gospel,
we can appeal to Jesus to open blind eyes and reveal the truth to those who
are lost. He alone has the sovereignauthority to fulfill His Word with power.
Finally,
4. Therefore, your eternal destiny hinges on believing in Jesus (3:36).
John 3:36: “He who believes in the Sonhas eternal life; but he who does not
obey the Sonwill not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” There are
two and only two options: Believe in Jesus and have eternal life; or, do not
obey Jesus and be under God’s perpetual wrath. Both options are present
realities that extend into eternity. Right now, you either have eternallife or

you are under God’s wrath. Whatever state you are in when you die continues
forever after you die (Matt. 25:46).
You might expect that John would say that whoeverbelieves in Christ has
eternal life, but the one who doesn’tbelieve is under God’s judgment. But
instead, he uses a different word, saying, “he who does not obey the Sonwill
not see life.” He does this for two reasons. First, not to believe in Jesus is to
disobey God, who calls on all to repent and believe. Second, genuine saving
faith is obedient faith, whereas false faith claims to believe, but denies that
claim by disobedience (Matt. 7:21; Luke 6:46; Titus 1:16; James 2:18-24;1
John 2:3). Of course, none of us canobey Godperfectly, but the overall
direction of our lives should be that of obedience to Christ.
This is the only mention of God’s wrath in John’s Gospel, but it’s a frequent
theme in his Revelation(6:16-17;11:18; 14:10;16:19; 19:15). God’s wrath is
His settled, holy hatred and opposition to all sin. All sin must be punished, or
God would not be holy and just. As JonathanEdwards arguedso forcefully in
“The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners” (The Works of Jonathan
Edwards [Banner of Truth], 1:669), sin againstan infinitely holy God is
infinitely heinous and thus worthy of infinite punishment. Those who refuse to
believe in Christ are presently under the curse of sin and death. If they die
unbelieving, they will experience the fullness of God’s wrath throughout
eternity. Thus our eternal destiny hinges on believing in Christ or disobeying
Him.
Conclusion
I am greatlyconcernedthat all of you believe in Jesus for the right reasons:
BecauseHe has a heavenly origin—He came from above and is above all;
because He has a heavenly message—He testifies ofthe Father; and, because
He has heavenly authority—the Father has given all things into His hand.
Becauseofwho Jesus is, your eternal destiny hinges on believing in Him.
I close with this quote from J. C. Ryle (Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
[Baker], 3:172), which sums up why we should believe in Jesus:“We can
never make too much of Christ…. We can never have too high thoughts about
Christ, can never love Him too much, trust Him too implicitly, lay too much

weight upon Him, and speak too highly in His praise. He is worthy of all the
honor that we cangive Him. He will be all in heaven. Let us see to it, that He
is all in our hearts on earth.”
Application Questions
Have you known people who professedfaith in Christ and later fell away?
What were the causes oftheir spiritual failure?
Why is it important to base our faith in Christ on who He is and not just on
what He cando for us?
How can we know that the apostles faithfully reported the life and words of
Jesus? How would you answersomeone who claimedthat they just made up
the story?
As difficult as the doctrine is, why must we believe in God’s wrath? Consider
Leon Morris’ words (The GospelAccording to John [Eerdmans], p. 250):
“Unless we are savedfrom real peril there is no meaning in salvation.”
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2013,All Rights Reserved.
Dr. S. Lewis Johnsonprovides commentary on John the Baptist's specific
testimony of Jesus'origin.
SLJ Institute > Gospelof John > He That Cometh From Above
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[Message]Forthe Scripture reading today we are turning to John chapter3
verse 31 through verse 36. And while you are finding the passage letme
remind you of the general context. The Apostle John is writing of an incident
that concerns Johnthe Baptistand his disciples that one of the Pharisees
perhaps, but at leastone of the Jewishmen had engagedin a little bit of
disputation with some of John’s disciples about purifying. And in the course
of the discussionthey had referred to the fact that many of the people who
had been following John the Baptist were now following this new man, Jesus
of Nazareth. And John’s disciples were a little upset by the fact that
everybody seemedto be following this new teacherof the word, and so they
came to John and said, “Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jordan to
whom thou bearestwitness, behold the same baptizeth and all men come to
him.”
Well that’s the occasionfor John the Baptist to engage in a discussionof who
he is and then also of who this one to whom he testifiedis. He points out that
he’s not the Messiah, he’s not the bridegroom, but he’s the friend of the
bridegroom. And he stands and hears the bridegroom and rejoices greatly
because ofthe bridegroom’s voice. And in effecthe says the thing that is
causing you concernis the thing that really causesme to rejoice. “This my joy

therefore is fulfilled, he must increase but I must decrease.” So in the
preceding verses, he in effecthas pointed out how he must decrease. He’s
simply a witness;he’s simply the friend of the bridegroom. He’s not the
Messiah, he’s not the groom.
Well now in the remaining verses of the sectionhe turns to a more positive
considerationof the one to whom he has witnessed. And so after speaking of
himself in verse 27 through verse 30, he speaks ofhim, our Lord in verse 31
through verse 36,
He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and
speakethofthe earth: he that comethfrom heaven is above all. And what he
hath seenand heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
He that hath receivedhis testimony hath set to his sealthat God is true.”
Now by the way, that secondstatementis an illustration of the factthat the
first statementis not to be understood in starkly literal fashion. No man
receivethhis testimony, because ofcourse he goes onto say, “He that hath
receivedhis testimony hath setto his sealthat God is true.” So what he means
is that the generalresponse ofmen to the testimony of God is to refuse to
receive it. Later on the Lord Jesus himself speaks aboutthe testimony that
comes from the spirit and says which the world cannot receive. So the general
attitude of the world toward the testimony of God is rejectionof it, but there
are some who do receive. Verse 34, “Forhe whom God hath sent speakeththe
words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.” That
statementmay be understood in severaldifferent ways, it may be translated
differently. It may be even translatedin this way, “Forthe Spirit doth not give
by measure.” It also may refer to the work of the Son. It may refer to the
work of the Father. It may refer to the work of the Spirit, but I think that the
Authorized Version has caughtthe force of this, “ForGod giveth not the
Spirit by measure unto him.” In other words, the Lord has a full measure of
the Holy Spirit. “The Fatherloveth the Son, and hath given all things into his
hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

May the Lord bless this reading of his word. The text for today is John
chapter 3 verse 31, through verse 36, “He that Cometh from Above.” Never
let it be said I should add that those who believe in the grace of God do not
take all of the texts of the Bible as the Scriptures are written, we do. It’s that
we contend that others who do not believe in the grace ofGod cannot really
believe all of the texts of Scripture as they are to be understood.
Well with that little word of encouragementwho kept quiet, we will turn now
to John chapter verse 31 through verse 36. Some of you look a little puzzled,
well that’s alright. [Laughter] Ask your husband afterwards, Paul said so,
“He that comethfrom above,” John 3 verse 31 through verse 36. This passage,
a much overlookedone, I think in the Gospelof John is a marvelous
expressionof the supreme dignity of the Son of God and the place that he
must have in our lives.
Some years ago I read a book written by a well known British Bible teacher
J.T. Morrisonin which he describes his experiences as he made a trip around
the world. He said that his ship put in one day at Calumbo for a day for coal
and supplies and that they were all glad to go ashore because they had been on
the boat for three weeks boxedin with no place much to go. And so they went
out in Calumbo and enjoyed the sights in the city and came back that evening.
When they came back they were sharing some of their experiences, andone of
the ladies said that she had been to a Buddhist temple that day and on the
walls of the temple were paintings depicting scenes from the life of Buddha.
And they had all been explained by the priest who was in charge ofthe
temple. And in the course of her conversationwith other members of the boat
she said, “They were so much like what we read about Christ that I’ve come
to the conclusionthat there is no real difference betweenBuddha and Christ,
and if these people believe in Buddha, that’s all that is required.
And Mr. Morrison saidthat he was piqued by what she said, and so he said to
her, “Well if all of that is true, will you believe in Buddha as well, if there is no
difference betweenthe Buddha and Christ?” And she said, “Wellno, I come
from the West, and so I believe in Christ, but I don’t see any difference
betweenthem.” In those pictures depicting Buddha,” Mr. Morrison said, “did
you see any picture of Buddha dying on a cross forsinners.” And she said,

“No, I didn’t see any picture like that.” And he said, “If that’s so then Buddha
can hardly be like Christ. Did you see any picture in which he was pictured as
not only dying upon a cross for sinners but being buried and then being raised
from the dead?” And she said, “No, I didn’t see any picture like that either.”
And he said, “Wellthen, Buddha is not like Christ, because the thing that
marks out Jesus Christ is that he died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
he was buried and he rose againthe third day according to the Scriptures.”
And finally he said I was very glad that she herselfsaw that that was not true,
that there was a distinct difference betweenthe Buddha and Christ, there is
all the difference in the world. Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father sent
who is above all. He’s the one who comes from Heaven, who is above all.
I also read a story of a little girl who was in a family whose mother was a
believer and whose father was an atheist. And her mother had had permission
to let the child go to Sunday schooland so she had been to Sunday school. But
she was still just a little girl and she contracteda disease andwas on her death
bed. And the little girl saidto her father who was standing around the bed,
she said, “Daddy I’m dying, whose religionshall I have, yours or mothers?”
And the atheist father is saidto have hung his head and then to have said
shamefacedly, “Ithink you’d better have mothers.” The real truth about
atheism as Dr. Tory used to sayis,
“Menhope by the denial of God’s existence to shield themselves from the
discomfort of God’s acknowledgedpresence.The faith that really helps in the
time of need is not atheism or agnosticism. Theyhave nothing to say to us
when we die, but that which is of help to us which encouragesus which
strengthens us which aids us in the experiences oflife that are the ultimate
experiences is the Christian faith, the faith concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
who died and who rose again.”
Well, John is giving an expositionin this sectionof the greatnessofthe Son of
God. He is in a sense, expounding what it means when he says, “He must
increase.”Why of course he should increase, because he’s the one who comes
from above. And in verse 31 and verse 32 of John chapter 3, we have the
supernal testimony of the Son.

A characterof the Son is twice over said to be representedby the expression,
“He that comethfrom above.” Notice whatJohn says, “He that comethfrom
above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speakethofthe earth:
(evidently a reference to John himself,) he that cometh from heaven is above
all.” That’s John’s testimony to the characterofthe Lord Jesus, he is above
all. And he says it twice In order to stress the fact that he is absolutely
preeminent.
Now that is the testimony of the whole of the New Testament. Take the
Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 9 in verses 1 through 5, as the apostle unfolds
the disobedience ofthe nation Israel which gives him such heaviness and such
continual sorrow in his heart, and especiallywhen one considers he says, the
advantages they’ve had.
“Theyare Israelites;to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the
covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
and the fathers belong to them, and of whom as concerning the flesh the
Messiahcame, who is over all, God blessedfor ever.”
So the Apostle Paul affirms that he is God over all blessedforever. In
Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 20 through 23, the apostle also says concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. In these words, that he is above all,
“Which he wrought in Christ, (he says)when he raisedhim from the dead,
and sethim at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all
principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come”
And the Apostle Peter to give one more instance of one of the apostles. In 1
Peterchapter 3 and verse 22 speaking of Jesus Christ, he says, “Who is gone
into heavenand is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and
powers being made subject to him.” So Peter says he’s in heaven and the
angels and authorities there are subjectto him. Paul says, “All things have
been put under the son.” He says he’s “Godblessedforever.” And John the
Baptist says, “He that cometh from above is above all.”

Now what is rather striking about this is that John the Baptist, and I rather
disagree with some take these to be the words of John the Apostle, there is no
ultimately different doctrinal sense, but what is significantabout this is that
John was a goodJewishman. And being a goodJewishman, he knew the
greattext of Judaism, “HearO Israelthe Lord our God is one Lord.” And yet
in spite of the fact that he regardedthe God of the Old Testamentas being the
one true God, he is able to sayconcerning the Lord Jesus Christ, “He that
cometh from above is above all.” He that cometh from Heaven is above all, the
one whom God has sent, as he explains in the following context. So, here is
John who recited the Shema Israelwhich testifies to the unity of God, finding
no difficulty and contradiction what so ever with that doctrine of the unity of
God in affirming also the supremacy and deity of the secondperson of the
Trinity. In other words, in the thought of John the Baptistand in the thought
of the apostles, there is no denial of the unity of God when we affirm the tri-
unity of the persons in the one Godhead, so that we believe as Christians in
one God who subsists in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Now, John the Baptist speaking of himself I think says, “He that is of the earth
is earthly and speakethofthe earth.” John, he says of himself is terrestrial,
but Jesus is celestial. He comes from heaven. Now furthermore, his testimony
is different from the testimony of others, because it is absolutelytruthful.
Listen to what he says in the 32nd verse, “And what he hath seenand heard,
that he testifies and no man receivethhis testimony.” In other words,
everything that he says is true because he tells what he has seenand heard.
And he may speak of heavenly things for he has seenthose heavenly things.
The things that have to do with the true God he has seenand heard, his
testimony is certain.
When he says that what he has seenand heard he testifies to, he’s simply
using an expressionto stress the certainty of his teaching. In other words, the
teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ is not set forth as a hypothesis about which
we may have discussion, he is giving us truth. “Whathe hath seenand heard
that he testifieth and no man receiveth his testimony.” It is the characterof
men because oftheir sin to refuse the testimony that the Sonof God gives.
And even though the apostles and our Lord our eye witnesses ofthe great

truths to which they testify, men do not respond to them. Their hearts are
wicked.
Now John talks about that reception of the testimony in verse 33, 34 and 35,
reminding us of the verses in the first chapter, “He came unto his own and his
own receivedhim not but as many as receivedhim, to them gave he powerto
become the children of God even to them that believe on his name. So he says
here, “He that hath receivedhis testimony hath set to his sealthat God is
true.”
Now what he means by that is simply this, that the personwho receives the
testimony by the reception of that testimony attests the veracity of God. As
Moffat translates it, “Certifies to the truth of God.” “He that hath receivedhis
testimony hath set his sealto this that God is true.” That means by the way, if
you have receivedthe Lord Jesus Christ as your ownpersonal savior, you too
have testified to the veracity of God in his word. If we do not receive the
testimony, we in effectas John will say in his first epistle are calling God a
liar.
Why should we believe in the veracity of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the
word of God and of the testimony of God to spiritual truth? Well in the 34th
verse, he says, “Forhe whom Godhath sent speakeththe words of God.” The
Son speaks the words of God. Now that I think is very, very significant, and
I’m going to ask you if you will to turn over to the 8th chapterand the 26th
verse. For the Lord Jesus here reiterates what John says there. John has said
now, “He whom God has sent speakeththe words of God.” Listen to our
Lords comment in the 8th chapter in the 26th verse, “ForI have many things
to say and to judge of you, but he that sentme is true and I speak to the world
those things which I have heard of him.”
Now, I would say that as a preacherof the word of God, that should be the
aim of a preacherof the word of God. “I speak to the world those things
which I have heard of him,” the Lord Jesus Christ said. We do not have any
right whatsoeverofgoing through the Bible and picking out things that we
think you are able to hear and understand, we are ambassadors forGod and
we are responsible to convey his message to you. What kind of a preacheris it

who goes through the word of God and makes selection ofthe parts of the
Bible affirming that some of these are worthy to be preachedand some are
not. What kind of position do we take when we do something like that? We in
effectsay that the Holy Spirit has let slip something that would be harmful to
the church. Our responsibility is to preachall of the word of God. It is the
word of God. Our Lord said that he spoke to the world those things that he
has heard of him. If there are doctrines in the word of God that we know are
offensive, we are not to pass by them because they are offensive. One of the
greatestservicesthe word of God cando is to come to you as an offensive
word so that you will getall stirred up and finally think about a few spiritual
things and ultimately perhaps come to the conclusionthe word of God is right,
and the problem lies with you.
The other day I gota call from a theologicalin another theologicalseminary
up north. Sorry it was from up north instead of from south, but nevertheless,
it was. He’s a southerner attending a seminary up north. He said, “Dr.
Johnson, I just had a conversationwith anotherman who graduated from a
theologicalseminarythat’s sound just a few years ago, as a matter of fact Dr.
Johnson, he attended Believers Chapelquite a bit.” He said, “I askedhim
something about the factthat he was in church in which the gospelof the
grace ofGod was not too prominent and doctrines such as the doctrine of
electionand others were not very popular in that church. I askedhim how he
could do that when he told me that he believed those things.” He said, “Well I
avoid the chapters or the books that might specialize in those things.” So he
preaches only certain books ofthe Bible. My friend who knew enough about
the bible to know that those truths are found everywhere in the Bible, he said,
“Wellhow can you do that? They are found everywhere in the Bible.” So
almost in every chapter you’re going to have to deal with the question of the
sovereigntyof God’s grace. And he said, “Well when I come to those passages
in the expositionof specific texts, I just don’t say much about them.” And he
said, “You know, Dr. Johnson, he sounded very apologetic to me over the
phone, as if he might be a bit unhappy.”
Well of course I hope he’s very unhappy, I hope he’s so unhappy that he will
come to realize that our responsibility is to preach God’s word. It’s not to give
what we think is suitable for the saints and avoid the other things that God

has said because if the Holy Spirit has revealedthose things they are the
subject of our investigationand study and meditation. I do not suggestthat
there is not some time when certain truths may not be more acceptable for
certain saints at a particular time. That’s not the point. But everything in the
Scriptures is to be unfolded to the saints of God for they are God’s words. We
do not have the right to go through the word of God and pick the things that
we like and then castaside the things that we don’t like, what are we doing?
We are then preaching not the word of God, we are preaching our word.
Jesus saidin the 12th chapter of this same gospel, “He that rejectethme and
receivethnot my words hath one that judgeth him and the word that I have
spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. Then in the 49th verse of this
12th chapter he says, “ForI have not spokenof myself but the Father who
sent me, he gave me commandment what I should say and what I should
speak.
Now that is the pattern for us, we are to give what we are given to proclaim.
And we are given the word of God to proclaim. And we are to give it and we
should remember that the people who listen to us are one day going to be
judged by that very word of God. And every teacherof the word of God,
every little Sunday schoolteacherteaching those little children from those
who are teaching the big children like you, everyone should be teaching the
word of God, and not picking and choosing in it. So, John says, “He whom
God hath sent speakeththe words of God.” And so we are to respond to hi,
accordingly. And he adds the words, “For God giveth not the spirit by
measure unto him.
Now, what is meant by that? Well probably what is meant by it is that the
Father has conveyed to the Son a full measure of the Holy Spirit for the
carrying out of his Messianic task, forthe enduement with power from the
Spirit was in the Old Testament, that which the Messiahwas to be given in
order to carry out his ministry in the Holy Spirit.
Now I think it’s rather striking that in the rabbinical writings, reference is
made to the fact that the Spirit was not given without measure to the
prophets. The Holy Spirit which abides on the prophets does not abide except
by measure so the rabbinic writing said. In other words, the prophets of the

Old Testamentdo not have the fullest measure of the Holy Spirit. But the
Lord Jesus Christ is one to whom God has given the Spirit without measure.
Further, another reasonwhy we should take the words of God as truly the
words of God is given in the 35th verse, “Forthe Father loveth the Sonand
hath given all things into his hand. In other words, the Son is the one into
whom the Father into who’s hands he has given everything.
Now this is a sentiment that is expressedin other places in the New Testament
and perhaps the most outstanding place is Matthew chapter 11 and verse 27
and you’ll recognize immediately that eventhe wording is similar to the
Gospelof John. In fact, this has been calledby some scholars back in the
nineteenth century “a bolt from the Johannine blue.” Well really it was called
by Von Heizer, the German scholar, “A thunder bolt from the Johannine
sky,” I just gave you the American translation of that, “A bolt from the
Johannine blue.” Listen to Matthew 11:27, “And all things are delivered unto
me by my Father and no man knoweththe Son but the Father. Neither
knowethany man the Father exceptthe Son and he to whomsoeverthe Son
wills to reveal him.” So everything has been delivered into my hands by my
Father, no man knows the Sonexcept the Father. No one can fully know the
Son exceptthe Father, for we possessthe same nature. “Neitherknowethany
man exceptthe Son and he to whosoeverthe Son wills to reveal him.” So only
the Fatherknows the Son and only I know the Fatherand to whom I will to
revealhim. In other words, the sovereignpossessorofthe knowledge ofGod is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And only the individual to whom he reveals the Father
comes to know the Father.
“No man cancome to me except the Father which has sent me draw him,” he
will sayin the 6th chapter. If you don’t like to truth like that, don’t come
when we getto that chapter. [Laughter] Don’t come when we getto the 8th
chapter, don’t come when we getto the 12th chapter, in fact, you better resign
from the Gospelof John right now. You see what we have here is teaching on
the sovereigndetermination of the knowledge ofGod resting with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Unpalatable truth? Well maybe so, but it’s the truth of God. He
is one who speaks God’s words. And our responsibility is to proclaim what he
has said. All things have been given into his hands because the Fatherloves

him. And it is our responsibility to pay attention to what our Lord Jesus
Christ has said in the word of God. And for preachers, it’s your responsibility
to preach him.
Now frankly, I find the greatestencouragementin this, do you know why?
Well because the Father loves the Son, the sovereignlove of God the Fatheris
directed toward the Son. Second, he’s given everything into the Son’s hands,
the Sonhas plenipotentiary power, all poweris given to him, and also the Son
determines the knowledge ofthe Father, and he’s given me the knowledge of
the Father. And because he’s given me the knowledge ofthe Father, because
he’s the one into whose hands everything has been committed, I therefore can
trust him in all of the experiences oflife.
Now I find that encouraging in the utmost. In the experiences oflife, we need
someone in whom we can trust, and here we have one who has had all things
committed into his hands. He’s the Sonof God whom the Fatherloves; he
alone knows the Father and those to whom he reveals the Father. And because
he is the sovereignLord, my times are in his hands. I don’t find that bad
preaching, bad doctrine, I don’t find that something that terrifies an
individual. I find that something that is most encouraging. Idon’t know why
anyone would want to go through the Bible and avoid truths like that. What
kind of Bible do we have but a mutilated Bible if we avoid such truth? And
how much weakerthe saints would be if they didn’t have an opportunity to be
strengthenedby truth like this.
“The Father loveth the Son and has committed all things into his hand.” You
know if this is John the Baptist’s word than I find something else in this that’s
very encouraging. Those menhad come to John and said, “Look, he and his
company are baptizing over there and everybody is going after him.” You
might think John would have a little touch of envy, a little touch of jealousy,
we preachers have been known to have a bit. The fact of the matter is, we
preachers are probably the most jealous, envious body of people as a whole
that you would ever find. We’re also goodactors, you don’t see it too often,
but nevertheless it’s there. But John in effectsays, look I don’t grieve over
that, I’m not the bridegroom, I’m the friend of the bridegroom. I’m not the
Messiah, he’s the Messiah. Canyou not see that in the historical situation, if

these are the words of John the Baptistit’s a most magnificent expressionof
self abnegation? And what a beautiful example it is of how we ought to be
when others are blessedperhaps a bit more than we are, when our time of
service is over.
Well the logicalconclusionfollows in verse 36. He says, “He that believeth on
the Sonhath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Now notice that in this greatpromise,
for the believer, life is promised. “He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life.” I find that rather remarkable, “He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life.” H.A. Ironside, the famous Bible expositorfrom the
Moody Church in Chicago ofa generationago, saidthat in one of his books
said that a friend of his preachedon this text, John 3:36. And at the close of
the meeting as preachers sometimes do in smallerplaces, he went down to the
door to greetthe friends. A lady who was troubled about her soul came by the
door and the preacher lookedather and said, “Well how is it with you
tonight? How is your soul, have you been born again? Are you saved?”
She said, “I don’t know sir, I hope so.”
He said, “Welllet me go over that text with you again, it says he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. Do you believe in the Son?”
She said, “Oh yes, I do sir, I believe in Jesus Christ.”
“Welldo you have everlasting life?”
She said, “I hope so.”
He said, “Welllet’s look at the verse again; he that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life. Do you believe in the Son?”
She said, “Yes I do.”
“Do you have everlasting life?”
“I certainly hope so.” [Laughter]
“Wellread it again.”

And so they went through the same thing againand finally he said to her,
“You know when you were a little girl they spell very differently from what
they did when I was a boy.
She lookedat him and said, “Whatdo you mean, I’m not so much older than
you.”
He said, “Wellevidently when you were a girl H-A-T-H spelledhope. When I
was a little boy, H-A-T-H spelled hath.
She said, “Oh! I see it! He that believeth on the Sonhath everlasting life.”
“Yes that’s right.”
He that believeth on the Sonhath everlasting life. That’s the term by which
the gospelcomes to us, hath life upon believing. Now it’s true there are some
who have misunderstood what is meant by believing. But this is what the Bible
says, “He that believeth on the Son hath life.” Now personallyI like that, I
believe on the Son. I have life. I’ve a long way to go in sanctificationbut I have
life because Ibelieve in the Son.
Roland Hill used to say, “H-A-T-H, that’s spells got it!” [Laughter] Well,
that’s right, spells got it. Now he says, but for the disobeyer, “he that believeth
not,” This word that’s used here is not the common word to believe not,
apisteo, but the word to disobey, Apatheo. So that “He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life, he that disobeyeth the Son shall not see life but the
wrath of God abideth on him.” In other words, obedience is the obedience of
faith. When a man does not believe he’s in disobedience. So if you should be
sitting in the audience and you have not yet come to believe in Christ, you’re
not in a condition of neutrality, you’re disobedient to God. That is why he
adds and the wrath of God abideth on him.
Now the reasonfor that is very simple as John says later in his epistle, and I’m
sure that the apostle would have understood the meaning of John the Baptist
to be that here, he says in the 5th chapter of his first epistle these words, verse
10, “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, he that
believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record
that God gave his son.” So when we fail to receive the word given concerning

Jesus Christ, we not simply are disobedient, but we also make God out to be a
liar, because we have not acceptedhis testimony. So, to be savedis to accept
the testimony of God concerning Christ.
What is the testimony of God concerning Christ? That he’s the secondperson
of the Trinity who came to earth, took to himself and additional nature, went
about doing goodmanifesting his capacityto be the sacrifice for sinners, went
to the cross, hung there on the cross under the judgment of God crying out,
“My God my God, why hast Thou forsakenme?” Completedthe work of
atonement, was placed in the grave, rose again on the third day and is at the
right hand of the Father, that’s the testimony of God concerning Christ. To
believe the testimony of God concerning Christ, the record that he has given
concerning him is to possesseverlasting life. So, “ye that believeth not the Son
shall not see life.” This also indicates that faith and conduct are necessarily
linked, because whena man does not believe, he disobeys. When a man
believes, he obeys. Faith is the obedience of faith.
Now the laststatement that he makes here is one that modern man finds very
uncongenial, “And the wrath of God abideth on him.” I would imagine that
this is the most uncongenial concepts that twentieth century man finds in the
bible. “The wrath of God,” not shall abide on them incidentally, but abides
now upon those who have not believed in Christ. Various devices are adopted
in order to softenthis, it cannot be done. If we softenthis, if we deny what is
statedhere, that the wrath of God abides on unbelievers, the first place we
would have a mutilated Bible because we would find that in the Bible that
there are literally hundreds of places, I think thousands, thousands of places
where the Bible speaks ofthe wrath of God poured out upon the disobedient.
So if we sought to excise this from the word of God we would have a mutilated
Bible to start with.
And then secondly, if we abandon the idea of the wrath of God, we are left
with a god who is not ready to actagainstmoral evil. In other words, we
would ultimately have an immoral god. And furthermore, we would not have
any sense ofthe peril from which we are to be saved. And thus the idea of
salvationhas no significance whatsoeverif there is no peril involved in the
refusal of the gospel. And that’s why when the gospelis preachedtoday there

is so little response, they do not have any idea of the peril which they face,
men without Christ. But our Lord and the apostles and John the Baptist
affirm that the wrath of God abides on unbelievers.
I’d like for you to notice the three-fold aspectof John’s testimony. This is the
conclusionof John the Baptist’s testimony for the large part. He had first of
all said, “Beholdthe Lamb of God which taketh awaythe sin of the world.”
That of course is a text to the effect that Jesus Christis the sin bearer. I wish I
had time to go over to the Book of Galatians in order to lay stress upon the
fact that Jesus Christis the sin bearer. There in that passageremember Paul
says, “Christhath redeemed us from the curse of the law having come to be a
curse for us.” You know there are three little prepositions in that chapter that
are very significant. Those who have not believed in Christ abide under the
curse, a little preposition under. Everybody under the curse, conceding ofthe
curse as a mighty judgment that is to fall upon men, so that we are all under
that curse. The wrath of God abides overus.
There’s an old story which illustrates this I think about Dionysius of Syracuse,
a Greek tyrant. He had a servant by the name of Damocles,he was a courtier
and he kept talking all the time about how kings were happy and how kings
were fortunate and how kings were blessedand how nice it was to be a king.
Until finally Dionysius decided that Damocles neededa lesson, so he invited
him to a big banquet. And he said, furthermore, when you come, you’re going
to have a very high place at the banquet. So the banquet night came and he
was ushered to the king’s chair or throne at the head of the table. And he was
told to sit there, and then he lookedup and he was horrified to see that there
was a greatheavy sharp sword hanging right above his head literally by a
thread. That’s why we speak of “A sword of Damocles.” It’s a figure of speech
for impending judgment. Well everyone without Jesus Christis under the
curse, abides under the wrath of God. So here we are under the wrath of God.
But Paul says Christ has redeemedus out from the curse by becoming a curse.
Now the Greek prepositionis rather significant, it really means literally over
us. So here we are under the judgment, but Jesus Christ has come in over us
by being made a curse for us so that the judgment falls upon him and we are
delivered out from the curse of the law. A little lessonin substitutionary
atonement in three simple prepositions, under, over and out from. So when

John says, “Beholdthe Lamb of God who takethawaythe sin of the world,”
he’s talking about that.
Now the term of salvationis simply “believe.” Oras the Old Testamentsays,
“Kiss the Son lestyou perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.”
What is faith? “Faithis believing God and asking no questions” the little boy
said. That’s not far from being the precise truth.
May I close by telling you a story that is a true story of the preaching of
Dwight L. Moody? And I hope you realize that when I tell this story because it
hinges on the nature of the will, that we’re not affirming the freedom of the
will, but we are affirming the necessityofan actionby human will. We believe
that a man must make a decisionof his will in his salvation. We just affirmed
that a man of himself cannotmake that decision, “No man can come to me
exceptthe Father which hath sent me draw him.” But thank God the father
draws people to him.
This is an eye witness accountof the preaching of Moody when he and Mr.
Sankeywere in London in the last century. Among the most remarkable
scenes this man said that he ever witnessedwas one in EastLondon during the
visit of those two beloved and honored men of God. It was in the year of
eighteeneighty-three and eighteeneighty-four. The hall was pitched in the
centerof a dense working population in the city of London. There were
literally hundreds of thousands of workers in that area. It was also an area in
which there had been a greatdeal of stress onatheism at the time Charles
Bradlaugh, the champion of atheism was at his zenith and on hearing of the
fact that this meeting was arrangedon a Monday night and specificallysaidto
be for atheists, skeptics andfree thinkers of all shades, the atheists who had a
lot of clubs in London decided that they would go that Monday night and hear
Mr. Moody.
They did, five thousand men marched into the giant hall in London to hear
Mr. Moody preach. In fact, they occupiedmost of the seats. And the saints of
God and others who were not associatedwith the atheistic clubs had to stand
around largelyon the outskirts to listen while Mr. Moodypreached. And the
platform was filled with the preachers and Mr. Moody. Well Mr. Moodystood

up and askedthe men to choose their favorite hymns. Well that provokeda
loud laugh, for atheists don’t have any song and they don’t have any hymns to
sing. And then Mr. Moodyultimately gotto preaching.
He took as his text the greatpassagefrom Deuteronomychapter 32, “Their
rock is not as our rock, our enemies themselves being judges.” Their rock is
not as our rock, the enemies themselves being judges.” Mosessays, “Theirgod
is not like our God and they themselves testify to it.” Well he started
preaching and as he finished he said, “We’re going to rise and sing Only Trust
Him.” So, they rose on their feet and he said also, “Thosethat want to leave
can leave, but we’re going to have some inquiries afterward.” He said he
expectedthe vast majority to leave. Everybody remained in their place. And
when they sat down he said; “Now I’m going to explain four words, receive,
believe, trust, take.” And he said a broad grin pervaded the faces of all who
were there. He spoke a few words about receive and then he made the appeal.
He said, “Who will receive him, just say I will.” And from the men standing
around the edge of the hall came some fifty people, not those who were the
atheistic clubs, but the people who had not been able to get a seat, aboutfifty
men came forward. Notone from the mass came. One man growled, “I can’t.”
To which Mr. Moody replied, “You’ve spokenthe truth my man, glad you
spoke, listenand you’ll be able to sayI can before we’re through.
Then he explained the word, believe, and he made his secondappeal, “Who
will sayI will believe him?” Again, some responded from the fringe of the
crowd‘til one big fellow, a leading club man shouted out, “I won’t!” Well Mr.
Moody was overcome, burst into brokentearful words, half sobs, says, “It’s I
will or I won’t for every man in this hall tonight.”
And then suddenly he turned the whole attention to the story of the prodigal
son, explained the prodigal son story and then commented upon the factthat
finally the prodigal son, “I will return and go to my father.” He said, “The
battle is on the will and only there. And when the young man said I will arise
the battle was won for he had yielded his will and on that point hangs every
thing tonight, men you have your champion there in the middle of the hall, the
man who said I won’t. I want every man here who believes that man is right to
follow him and rise and say I won’t.”

He said there was perfect silence in the auditorium. Everybody held their
breath and finally Mr. Moody burst out and said, “I thank God no man says I
won’t, now who says I will?” And he said in an instant five hundred men came
out of that crowdsaying, “I will, I will!” And he said that was the breaking
point of the clubs in London.
So we sayto you this morning, who will believe in Jesus Christ? You cannot of
yourself, but you can appealto Godfor mercy. May God help you to appeal to
God. Cry out to him. Ask him to save you, bring you to Christ who died for
sinners.
[Prayer] Father, we are so grateful to Thee for the word of God. We
acknowledge he is above all. The Father loveth the SonJohn said, but we love
him too. We thank Thee for what he has done. And oh God if there are some
in this auditorium who have not come to him, oh give them grace to say …
JOHN MACARTHUR
Now, we’re going back to John 3 and we’re going to be looking at verses 22 to
36 which we began lastweek…whichwe beganlastweek. We keyedthis
passagewith verse 30 where John the Baptist, who is the speaker, I believe,
through this whole sectionsays, “He must increase, but I must decrease,”and
that’s kind of been the title we’ve used for these two messages, last week and
this week. This is about Christ increasing and the minister decreasing. This is
about fading recognitionof the preacherand the increasing glory of Jesus
Christ. It’s a very important axiom, a very important maxim for ministry, He
must increase, but I must decrease.
And I told you last time, that those words basicallyestablishedthe first law of
ministry…the first law of ministry is humility. I must decrease, Christmust
increase. He is to be exalted, I am to be diminished. In fact, if you kind of go a
little deeper into the original language, whatit says is that one, literally, that

one being referred to Christ in this passage, is of necessityto be enlarged. Me,
on the other hand, I must be diminished. And that is exactlywhat John the
Baptist is saying and that is the first law for all who serve in ministry. The
decreasing ofthe minister and the increasing of Christ. This is consistentwith
what Petersays in 1 Peter, “Humble yourselves, be clothed with humility,” as
he’s writing to shepherds and ministers.
And the greatestmodel of this, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christin
Philippians 2 who though eternally equal with God, thought it not something
to hold on to but humbled Himself, took on the form of a slave and became
obedient. In a sense, obviously, He hid His own glory for the glory of the
Father. He was the ultimate model of a humble minister. We mentioned last
time that as the church apostatized, as the church defects, as it falls into false
doctrine as becomes more heretical, Christ is diminished and the ministers are
elevated. And you can see a perfectillustration of the Roman Catholic
Church. We talked about that last week in particular because everybody in
the world was paying attention to the Pope and the cardinals and where
Christ is diminished, the ministers are elevated. Where Christ is exalted, the
ministers are diminished and they’re lost. They’re like stars, we said, who
shine in the darkness only until the sun rises and then they fade completely
out of view. But Roman Catholics aren’t the only ones who elevate ministers
and diminish Christ. There are many evangelicalchurches where the focus is
inordinately on the minister, on the preacherand the pastor and there are
many cases where that’s the way the pastors want it. They see themselves as
the ones to draw attention to. But where there is true ministry, in the Spirit,
Christ will be all in all, Christ will fill all, Christ will be the blazing sun and
the ministers will be diminished.
People who elevate themselves in ministry are graceless. And who wants to be
a graceless minister? Why do I say that? BecauseJames 4 records that God
gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud. God gives grace to the
humble, but rejects the proud. I don’t have any desire in my life to be a
graceless minister. The path of humility, the path of exalting Christ is the only
path that any faithful minister would desire to pursue.

Jesus was filled with the spirit without limit

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