Trusting in the Plans of God (Gospel of John Part 12)
Text: John 3:22 – 36
Let’s go ahead and open up our Bibles to John chapter 3:22- 36… and while you’re turning there, let me just recap what we looked at last week in case you weren’t here, or in case you’ve forgotten. Last week we talked about Jesus’ message to Nicodemus… and to all of us as well… was that we need to be born again. We need to be born again because of the fact that we’re born into sin, and we’re condemned already… In order to do that, we must believe that Jesus is God’s one and only unique son who has come in the flesh, born of a virgin, and that He lived a sinless life. He lived a sinless life so that His obedience and righteousness could be credited to our account. We need to believe that He died on the cross, and by doing that He paid the price for our sins… and we need to believe that He was raised up from the dead on the third day – because that proves we have been justified before God. And then we talked about how sinners outside of Christ, actually love their sin, more than they love Jesus, and they’ll continue to love their sin until God does a work in their heart.
And that brings us to our text this morning. Like I said, it’s John 3:22 – 36 (READ).
So we see what’s happening here. Jesus and His disciples are baptizing people, and John the Baptist is baptizing people, and all of a sudden a Jew – we don’t know who he was, the Bible doesn’t tell us his name… but a Jew comes up to some of John’s disciples and gets into a discussion about purification… or at least, that’s how it originally started. And again; we don’t know exactly what was said in this discussion… but from the context we can tell that it had something to do with the fact that Jesus and His disciples were now baptizing more than John the Baptist was. So in a way; we can infer what the discussion was… it might have gone something like this:
“Hey if John’s baptism is for purification… then what is Jesus’ baptism about? Is Jesus’ baptism better, or is John’s? What’s the difference here?”
Again; we don’t know if this is how it went or not… but what we do know is that John’s disciples come to John and they say, “Hey teacher… you know that one Guy who was with you across the Jordan River... You know… the one you bore witness about? Well… He’s also baptizing people, and more people are going to Him than they are to you.”
And the lesson for us from this passage is found in how John replies to his disciples. Look at verses 27 – 30 (READ). So look at what John does here… “No one can receive anything unless it’s given to him from heaven.” Now that’s trust. That’s faith. That’s John saying, “God is in control here fella’s.” Basically John takes this opportunity to teach his disciples about the sovereignty of God, and how they should trust in that… and in God’s plan… and ultimately in God Himself. And I’ve given you all a hand out in your bulletins - of Scripture references that show God’s sovereignty for your own study. I hope you’ll look them over.
So John’s saying to his disciples… God’s in control, and because I know God is good, I trust Him completely, even if that means his own ministry fades into obscurity.
And then John reminds them that he’s not the Christ… he’s just the forerunner of Christ. He’s been saying that all along. And he’s saying to his disciples here… Not only do we need to trust in the sovereignty of God, and in the goodness of God… but we also need to realize that God doesn’t make mistakes when He gives us our calling. You see; John knows who he is… he knows his job. He knows what God has called him to do, and what God has called him to be, and he’s not trying to be something else. He’s content with what God has gifted him and equipped him and called him to do. Again… all of that comes from trusting in the providence of God. So many people are discontent now days… They’re just miserable… They think “Oh if I can just have that guy’s house, or that guy’s job, or that guy’s income, or that guy’s wife.” They always want to be someone else, rather than who God has created and gifted them to be. And our culture feeds that like no other culture in the world.
Advertisers spend billions of dollars on commercials that tell us, “You need a new car”, “You need a particular brand of clothes”, “You need this kind of body, and this kind of face, and this kind of hair”, “You need to drink this kind of coffee, and eat this kind of food.” And people live all kinds of made up lives and they post it on Facebook and Twitter. But they’re miserable, and discontent, and unhappy.
But not John… He knows who he is, and he knows what he’s been called to do. He’s not Christ, he’s just the forerunner. He’s not the groom… he’s just the groom’s friend. And it’s a great analogy that he uses here. John’s saying to his disciples, “Guy’s you’re focusing on minor, secondary things… but there’s only one thing that’s important.” Let’s stop and think about that for a minute… What’s the most important things in your life? What does your time, and your money, and your energy go towards? You know… there isn’t a single person in hell who’s saying, “I wish I had made more money.” Nobody in hell is saying, “I wish I had been more famous while I was still alive” Or, “I wish had made it more about myself.”
And it all ties back to what John has already said in verse 27, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.” In other words… if God is going to bless me, and if God’s going to bless my career and my life, and my marriage, and my family… then I don’t need to spend all my time focusing on how to climb the ladder of success… instead I need to focus on Jesus. I need to focus on knowing Him, and growing in Christ, and trust that God will take care of all that other stuff. So in the kingdom, the one who is the least, will be the greatest. The one who humbles himself like a little child will be exalted. And you don’t seek the wealth, fame, and power… instead you seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. It’s the complete opposite of the way the world does things. – John says it like this, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Now look with me down at verse 35 and you’ll see it even more clearly. Verse 35 says, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.” ALL THINGS! God has given all things into Jesus’ hand. That includes your life, your home, your family, your job, your finances, your health. And that’s taking us back to God’s sovereignty… and to be honest; this is where it becomes a real issue for a lot of people. This is a sticking point for folks because truth be told a lot of people don’t like the idea that all things are in Christ’s hands… and not only do a lot of people not like that idea, a lot of people don’t WANT all things to be in Christ’s hands. And that actually goes for Christians and non-Christians.
Now it’s obvious why non-Christians don’t… we already read it previously in John. They love darkness rather than light, they love their sin more than the Savior who can deliver them from it. They don’t want all things to be in Christ’s hands because they don’t want Christ. It’s pretty easy to explain why the non-Christian doesn’t like this idea. But there are some Christians who get hung up on this as well… and it boils down to a misunderstanding… or a lack of understanding of God’s love and goodness. Let me try to explain that. If you believe that God is good… in other words, if you believe that God is morally upright, and morally perfect, then the fact that He’s sovereign isn’t an issue. Because I know He’s good. And people say, “Well what if I lose my job? Is God sovereign over that?” And the Bible’s answer to that is – YES. God’s not responsible for you losing your job, but He could’ve prevented that from happening. And what if you get sick? Is God sovereign over that? YES AGAIN! Again, God could prevent you from getting sick, and He can heal you when you are. And people say, “Well how is that good?” I don’t always know… but I know what the Bible says. It says that God is totally and completely good, and also that He is totally and completely sovereign over all things. And so when I do get sick I know that somehow, someway, God is working that together for my good. I can’t always see the reasons why, or how, but I trust Him. I trust that He is working it for good.
And the fact that God is sovereign over all things gives me a great deal of comfort and peace, and hope, and joy. The fact that all things are in Jesus’ hands is extremely comforting to me. Because that means it’s not in the hands of some weak, unreliable, unpredictable, fickle deity.
And it’s not in my hands either. Instead it’s in the hands of Jesus – the One who died for me… It’s in the hands of the One who went to the cross and bore my sin. It’s in the hands of the One who conquered sin and death.
I take confidence in knowing that if I faithfully preach His Word, and share the Gospel, that He will not let it return void, but that His Word will accomplish what He intends it to. I take comfort in knowing that the God I’m praying to can change hearts, and change minds, and change behavior, and heal the sick, and bless us, and help us, and deliver us. In-fact; if God weren’t sovereign, then prayer would be a waste of time. Think about it… would you ever pray a prayer like this: “God please save my friend – if they let you.” Would you pray that prayer? It’d be unbiblical if you did.
And I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, that might be why we see less and less prayer in churches… because people struggle and doubt the absolute sovereignty of God. We never pray that way, “God please fix this… change this… help out… if You can.” That’s not the qualifier we put on it… Instead we say, “God fix this – IF YOU WILL.”
John the Baptist trusted in the Lord. He trusted in God’s sovereignty, and He trusted in God’s goodness… and so if that meant it was God’s will for his ministry to decline, John was perfectly fine with that. In-fact; he’s more than fine. He says, “My joy is complete.” So John was like Job in the Old Testament. Job gets hammered… he loses his kids, he loses his livestock, he loses his wealth, and he loses his heath, and you know what Job says? He says, “We receive blessing from the Lord, and shall we not receive calamity? The Lord gives and the Lord takes away – BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD.” How could Job say that? Because he trusted in God’s sovereignty and in God’s goodness.
Here’s my point Church – you have to trust that God has a plan… even when you can’t see it… even when it seems like things are really bad. The greatest evil ever committed was used by God to bring about the greatest good ever done to humanity. What was it? It was the crucifixion of Jesus. Evil, wicked men, put the sinless Son of God to death on the cross, and God used that wicked act to bring about salvation for all who believe. They meant it for evil, but God used it for good.
CLOSING
Handout for John Part 12
THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
God is sovereign over the entire universe: Psalms 103:19; Rom 8:28; Eph 1:11
God is sovereign over all of nature: Psalms 135:6-7; Mt 5:45; 6:25-30
God is sovereign over angels: Psalms 103:20-21
God is sovereign over nations: Psalms 47:7-9; Dan 2:20-21; 4:34-35
God is sovereign over human beings: 1 Sam 2:6-7; Gal 1:15-16
God is sovereign over animals: Psalms 104:21-30; 1 Ki 17:4-6
God is sovereign over "accidents": Proverbs 16:33; Jon 1:7; Mt 10:29
God is sovereign over free acts of men: Ex 3:21; 12:25-36; Ezra 7:27
God is sovereign over sinful acts of men (Not causing sin, but sovereign over it) 2 Sam 24:1; Gen 45:5; 50:20
God is sovereign over Satan: Job 1:8, 12, 2:6; Luke 22:31-32; John 13:27
