New Age Vs. The Gospel: Dependence, Submission and Stewardship

New Age Vs. The Gospel: Dependence, Submission and Stewardship

Well this morning I'd like to call your attention to John chapter 3, please. John chapter 3. And I want to begin the reading in verse 22, John chapter 3 beginning the reading in verse number 22.

After these things came Jesus and His disciples into the land of Judea and very tarried with them and baptized. And John also was baptizing and on near to Salem because there was much water there and they came and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came into John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan to whom thou bearest witnessed witness. Behold the same baptizeth and come to him. John answered and said, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and hearth him rejoice with greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.

And let's mark our Bibles to this passage. John chapter 3 this morning as our script for text as we continue in our series from last Sunday. Let's bow our heads together and acknowledge the Lord and prayer.

Father, we've already prayed for your blessing on this service and we pray that you would cause our hearts to be drawn together in as we lift up our hearts in worship today. We pray Lord that as we have read your word, that it would it would truly saturate our hearts and it would become the engrafted word. The things that we read may they not just be things that go in one a year and go out the other year, Lord, but may they lodge in our thinking is something, is it really is something how things of this world have a tendency to lodge in our thinking, but the word of God we pray that it would truly be our meditation. It would be our delight day and night that we would meditate on thy precepts and that we would talk of all thy wondrous works, that the things that we're thinking on would affect our, the things we're speaking, even one to another. Just bless us in that regard Lord, fill us with good things to share with others. Fill us with good thoughts that we might be able to, we might be able to communicate some of the things that we've gleaned from your word as we go throughout the week. We pray these blessing, blessings upon our each and every heart today for thy namesake and Jesus, now we ask, Amen.

As I have looked into, we started last week and I just want to preach a few messages along this theme. I spoke last night on the view of humanity in the new age and I want to look this morning as well at some aspects and contrast between the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the new age teachings because I believe it's very important that we understand those distinctions and that we understand more clearly and I believe as we, anytime we look at counterfeits we can understand and appreciate with greater depth what we have in God, what we have in Christ.

But we notice, as I have noticed, as I have looked at a number of videos, read a good bit of material regarding the new age, there's one thing that's very clear that there's really just two religions in the world. If you think about it that way, I mean we said the new age was an amalgamation of a number of things. It's sort of like a spiritual, someone put it a spiritual salad bar of things from Hinduism and Buddhism. There's even a mixing in sometimes of Christianity but it's so weakened, deluded and deception. It's not even whenever the word Christ is used, it's not talking about the Christ of the Bible that we know and I've noticed as I've looked through this that and I've heard the state before but I heard someone else make this statement, someone who, a lady and I can't remember her name that was saved out of the new age, she made the observation that there's two basic religions, there's due and there's done. She said I was doing, doing, doing, all my life, doing, doing, trying to attain salvation, trying to achieve it through enlightenment and awakening from the background that she was raised in and came to realize that there is one thing about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that stands out in contrast to so many religions.

I know when we were doing a study of ancient civilizations we were looking at even the works of ancient, Egypt religion. How many works you had to do to achieve the favor of certain gods and it's really no difference. Today we have deceptions out there but it's all something you have to do to attain God's favor somehow. There's only one way that you can receive God's favor and that's through faith and what he has done, what he has accomplished for you. Of course we know that faith produces works but it's not the works that save us in and of themselves. It is the faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ that is salvation. It is faith in the righteousness of God.

Now John makes the statement today and we're going to look into it a little bit more but he makes a statement that a man can receive nothing. A man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. What a powerful, what a powerful truth that is. The new age teaches that we must awaken to the divine within experience salvation through oneness with the universe. The gospel teaches that we must hear the good news. We must hear the invitation. We must hear the report. We must then what? We must believe, right? It is through the foolishness of preaching Paul says to the Corinthians that God has chosen to through the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel that men are to be saved. God has chosen this avenue and we are to simply believe on the Lord Jesus. What's a believe that God sent him to save us from our sins.

He sent him, you know, even the fact that he came if we're honest that there is one truth, it's either true that he's a good man and a great example and he was sent for that reason or that he came because we are helplessly lost in sin and we need a savior to redeem us and rescue us from that perishing in our sins. You can't have it both ways. He either came along as a spiritual guide to help us in our spiritual journey or he came to save us from our helpless stage. It's one of the others. It's not both. You can't hybridize. You can try to do that but you can't make both work together. It's a lot. It's a deception and that's what's happening a lot of times in the same they say now. All religions are basically the same. They're just manifold expressions of the same truth. It's just, you know, well, kind of like in the down East North Carolina, they have their culture and the mountains, they have their culture, you know, and the triangle area they have their culture. We're all just children of the same God. We're all just, you know, they try to that about religions. And for the greater part as we mentioned, most of the religions, well, really all the religions outside of Bible Christianity say you, when it comes to salvation, you have to do something. You have to do something. You have to do something. You've got to do something to have a favor with God.

Well, notice that we must believe and then Romans 10 9 says that it thou shalt confess with thy mouth for word Jesus. And what does it say? And shall believe in thy heart that God is what Jesus? If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the spiritual self-help guide Jesus? No, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, the Lord, what is the Lord? But the word and the great who tells us what to do. We don't see, we're not the Lord of our own life and we believe on the Lord Jesus, he becomes the master. He's now my Lord and Savior. He is now, I belong to Him. I belong to Him. It's not that He gave me, He handed me some kind of ticket, get out of hell, ticket, and that's all, and I'll just kind of do whatever I want. No, when I receive Jesus Christ, I receive the Lord Jesus. He is my master. Now, by faith, I've got to live in light of that. I have to live according to His Word not because I have to, but because He didn't just help me out a little bit. He saved me from the depths of my sin. He saved me from destruction and He sent me in the path of life. And now, my life is to praise the one who called me out of that darkness and brought me into His marvelous light.

You see, that's so different than I'm awakening to the light within. I'm awakening to the fact that I am part of the light. No, I had to awaken to the fact that I am helplessly lost in the darkness of sin and the only hope, not one of the hopes, the only hope that I have is the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only hope because He alone has done for me what I cannot do for myself. He alone has taken sin and borne it as my substitute, as my Savior to the cross of Calvary and has buried as the hymn says, my sins in the depths of the deepest sea as far as the east is from the west. So far as our sins removed from us, not because we did that, because He did that. He did it for us. And so it is very clear, I must confess with my mouth. If we confess Him before men, He will confess us before the Father. If we deny Him or we're ashamed of His words in this wicked and adulterous generation, He will also deny us. The confession is a direct is directly joined, we might say, at the hip to think. If I believe, I must confess. I believe, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that He alone can save me and has saved me my sin.

Christianity today is, the pastor of Peacock referred to it as a buffet or they view the Word of God as a buffet. Take what you want, leave what you don't want. I'll take that part. I like that. That sounds good. That's what the New Age even will do. It will take certain things about Christianity, even Gandhi quoted Jesus at times on things He liked, but He didn't quote other things. It didn't lie. Just take a little bit here. Take a little bit of that there. If God is at any point, a liar, or lying, then the whole thing is a lie. No. God is true. Whatever man be a liar, but God is true and His Word is true. His Word is true.

I watched the video of, there was this group of women, five women that professing Christians and five women that were New Age, and they were having this, they were asked the question, what this side would say something, that side would say something. I just listened to the sort of debate conversation that they were having over these questions. One thing stood out to me very clearly about that conversation. Of course, there was quite a variety even on the sides of what people had to say, but one thing that stood out very clearly, the New Age folks got quickly agitated with the Christian women because they said it sounds like I hear repression and submission in your speech. I hear that you sound like you're submitting to somebody. Who is that? It sounds like you're being submissive. We're, see, we're free and we have over here. We're free to love in and all, but you sound like you're submissive. And I thought, well, that's pretty good with something to do. We're submitting to the Lord. The Christian view is one of submission to the Lord Jesus Christ who along can save us from our sins. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot save ourselves.

The New Age says there's many ways to God. What do you even say? It's fine. In fact, there were two women on that side that said they went to some sort of church, but they didn't judge there. Everybody has their own kind of way. They have their own interpretation of it. Well, it's not really a church, it isn't. It's because the church belongs to the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is His church. And if that is a true Bible church, and it must submit to the head, Jesus Christ.

But we notice that these in this text today, here we have a man under submission. We have a man in John the Baptist who wasn't just sort of charting his own journey and making up his own ministry as he went. And whatever I feel like today I'm going to do. No, he was a man whose entire ministry was in submission to the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, we might not only say submission, but he was dependent. He acknowledged his dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He acknowledged his submission to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he viewed his ministry as one of stewardship for which he would give accounts to the Lord. He was dependent, submitted, and understood the aspect of his stewardship. He wanted nothing more. John wanted nothing more than to be found faithful in the stewardship of that ministry which had been imparted and had been trusted to him.

So let's look back in the text here in John chapter 3. In John chapter 3, we notice in verse 23, it's telling us here that John was baptizing and on near to Salem because there came and were baptized. John, this is after John certainly has baptized the Lord Jesus. We haven't actually gotten to that point quite yet in our study that we've been going through on the gospels on Wednesday evenings. But in that study, we have already seen where Jesus was baptized. And came back to the Passover we've seen him there. And now we see in John chapter 3, this is after Nicodemus, he encounters Nicodemus there while he's in Jerusalem and he points him to salvation. We notice that he continues, John is continuing his baptizing ministry, but now there are some, there's some kind of dispute that arises, some kind of question that causes a stir regarding between the Jews and and John's disciples that we see that down in verse 25. There was a question about purifying. Some kind of question that arose about purifying.

And then we notice it says in verse 26, and they came into John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan to whom thou bear his witness behold the same baptize it and all men come to him. Well, maybe that's not the voice they said it in. Maybe they said it more like this. Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan to whom thou best witness behold the same baptize it and all men come to him now. What do you have to say about that Rabbi? What do you have to say about this? How do you feel about that? Certainly the thought could have been in their minds isn't he stealing your thunder? He's now baptizing where you're the one that were baptizing. Does that bother you? Does that concern you in any way?

And John answered and said, I think John's answer pretty much tells us here because a man can receive nothing except to be given them from heaven. I wouldn't even have this ministry if it wasn't for the fact that I had someone to point to it's the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember he said, I'm not even worthy to loosen, she latched. I'm not even worthy to baptize him and yet the baptism was part of the public entrance into his ministry that all righteousness might be fulfilled. We see that this, he viewed himself here as he says in down in verse 30, he must increase. This was John's view. The Lord Jesus must increase. I know he's Messiah. I must decrease.

You might say, well, I want to be remembered. I want to be remembered for something. I want to have you ever thought about what people remember me beyond my grandchildren. It's human desire to get some kind of recognition or some kind of notoriety. I want people to want people to at least see that I cared. People see that I did something that mattered in my life. See something, see that I was successful at something. We don't see that at all in John's words. It's almost as if he didn't care at all about himself here. He just cared about the Lord.

The one thing you notice about New Age is it draws a lot of attention to me, myself. It's very palatable and easily received because it's already in the vein of what people want anyway in their sin. In their sinful way. They want, we want naturally to pamper ourselves and to draw attention to ourselves and the New Age is very much in line with that. If you go into the self section of, we don't have Barnes & Noble books in me and Rocky Mountain. You go in there into the self-help section and you begin to thumb through the pages of those books. They are riddled with New Age thoughts. There's some books in there and I actually, I don't use AI for everything, but I use AI for this to ask the question. If I was to go into a local bookstore, I just wanted to see what I asked three different ones. If I go into a local bookstore and I pick up a book in the self-help section, how much of it will be influenced by New Age thinking and I got an answer somewhere between 30 and 50% of that would be New Age thought. Now I didn't actually go through and thumb through all the books myself. But what I'm saying is this is contrary to what John's preaching and his thinking was.

In fact, we notice here, it says he says in verse number 27, a man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. You bear, you yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ but that I am sent before him. I am sent before him. I am not him. I am not divine. I am not. There's not a spark of divinity within me. There's nothing in me that is equal with the Son of God. The Christ, the Son of God is unique. I'm just a pointer. I'm pointing to him. Aren't we all to do that? That is our purpose that our lives may glorify and show forth the praises of the One who has called us out of darkness. We didn't awaken ourselves. He called us. The gospel call came to us and we believed what the gospel says that you are lost and your sins and the only help and hope that you have is to turn to the turn at the call.

Brother Bergman in his recent Bass Bites was his last week or this past week or the one before, he alluded to how he used that illustration of repentance. I've used the illustration before that if he was to call someone and they turn around and come back to him when they call. That's a 180 degree turn. I am now when I have turned from my own way, every one of us had gone astray. Everyone had turned to his own ways and the Lord laid on him the niquity of us all. When we turn at the call of the gospel, what are we doing? We are, we're going in his way now. This way doesn't belong to us. It belongs to him. This way is Christ. And now as I walk, I walk by faith in Christ. I walk by faith in Christ and I'm not Christ, but I'm walking in Christ. John is saying, I am just, my ministry is, is to point to him. It's the call of men to turn to him, not to me. It's not about me. It's about pointing to Christ. I am sent before him to prepare the way so that men may see him and turn to him.

And so he says he that have the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, it's me, John says, which standeth, standeth and hearth him rejoice as greatly because of the bridegrooms voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. What was John's joy? Well, the joy that he got was in pointing to Christ and pointing men to Christ so that men might see him and not John. He did not, he was not overjoyed that men would pay attention to his ministry. He was overjoyed that men would see the bridegroom.

I was reminded of quote by Andrew Murray. He said, the chief mark of counterfeit holiness is, it's lack of humility. He says, every seeker after holiness needs to be on his guard, lest unconsciously what has begun in the spirit be perfected in the flesh and pride creeps in where its presence is least expected. John practically showed us what holiness is here. He showed us that holiness just is not even thinking about me. It's thinking about talking about pointing to Christ. My mind is on the Lord. He is my Lord. He is my master. I confess him with my mouth.

From the moment we confess the Lord Jesus and believe on him in our heart, our life now is to be one of confession of him. Confession of him to confess him before men, to confess him in a world that may reject him to those that may not receive the confession, but that doesn't matter. No, husband, his entire life, ministry, building an arc, confessing God and confessing the righteousness that comes by faith and men though they didn't receive it. He kept on confessing, didn't he? That's holiness. That's what holiness looks like. Holiness is not painting an image that we want people to see of ourselves through pride. Holiness is just doing the will of God in the new life that we have now in Christ in our thinking, in our words, interactions. John is saying I'm nothing that God has given me a life and he must increase.

The hymn writer wasn't at Charles Wesley that said faults and full of sin, I am, thou artful of truth and grace. There's nothing good in me, but thou artful of truth and grace. See the distinction here between the new age, thinking and the scriptures in the Bible. I find that God is both creator and savior. In the Bible I find, I find that little story. Remember, have you ever heard the story about the boat twice remember that story? I think I shared it once or twice before. The story basically in so many words it says a little boy had a boat and the boat got lost. He had made the boat himself and the boat became lost and later on after seeking after it and trying to find that boat he found it that it had sold in a second hand store and it was there to be purchased and he went and bought that little boat that he had made with his own hands from the store. He bought it back. So we could say it's a boat twice on and that story, that little simple child's children's story illustrates in some part of what God is to us. He created us. He created, we're not divine that he created us. We're not God. We don't have a spark of divinity within but we were made in his image because we saw recently. We were creating God's image. We were created as we saw recently with an eternal soul. We have reason. We have no basic right and wrong. We have a conscience. We can choose. We have the ability to imagine and create and then and end in sin. We have used that ability actually to work against God. We've used that ability. We've used that that reasoning and that creative capacity to create our own idolatrous image of who God is but He calls one and all, turn, come into me and John's message was, repent and believe, the repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand and to believe on the Lord.

Well, he was sent before Christ to prepare the way. He was sent to point men to Christ and to point men to the fact that they could not save themselves. You cannot save yourself. What did he say? John 1.29. The next day John, seeeth Jesus coming unto him and sayeth. What does he say? Behold, the Lamb of God which takeeth away the sin of the world. There's not any other way. He is the Lamb. And he alone can take away the sin of the world. John John knew this personally. He also said, I cannot. He also said that his life is not his own. John admitted, my life is not mine. It belongs to him when his disciples come to him with John. We heard that you know, Jews are talking this question of rose and Jesus is baptizing. You baptize him. What are your thoughts about that? Well, John says I, everything I have came from God in the first place. Everything I have, I'm not my own. And as a Christian today, I cannot walk as I ought to walk unless I fully acknowledge in everything that it's not mine. I am not mine. I belong to him.

When I, from the moment I confess the Lord Jesus Christ, I was saying at least with my mouth, not that it may be I fully even comprehended everything now that I see now, but I, I recognize that I'm not my own. I must, he must save me. I cannot do it in my own way. It must be his way. I cannot come to God. John, John will tell us in chapter 6, verse 44. I cannot come to God. However, whenever I please, I must come to him as he says here in John 6, verse 44, no man can come to me. Jesus says, except the Father, draw him right. The man can come to me except the Father which has sent me, draw him. Well, as John was speaking, God was drawing. As John was speaking, God was working through the foolishness of preaching. Wasn't he? It doesn't mean you can't get saved at home. It doesn't mean that God can't work in your heart at home in your own Bible study in your family devotion time that you can't, God can't work in a conversation throughout the week, but it is the Word of God. It is that I find even after I preach, I stand up here and I preach a message. I find the Holy Spirit keeps on preaching that message to me. It keeps coming back to me. It keeps coming back to me. He will not let me forget about it on Monday. And if I transgress and something I've said on Sunday, he's got to even just end the thought. Nope. That is wrong. Thank God for that. My thinking is wrong is something. My words were wrong. My actions were wrong. The foolishness of preaching is going to echo back in my ears by the Holy Spirit.

John recognized, I'm a steward of all that God has entrusted to my care. I can't receive anything that hasn't been given to me, but I'm a steward of this. And I will give an account to God for what I've done with this ministry. The only way I can faithfully execute the duties he's given to me is he must increase. I must decrease. He must increase. This is totally opposite. As I thought about that video, I mentioned the conversation between these Christian women, these new age women. You can see the spirit there. It's my way. I want to do what I want to do and the new age thought facilitates that. It makes it empower me. John's ministry was not a ministry of self-empowerment. It was a ministry of humility, submission. And yet there's a liberty that comes because the Lord will never do us wrong. The Lord Jesus Christ will only lead us in a way that's good for us. It may even at times hurt. It may even at times be painful to follow him. There will be a cross to bear. There will be decisions and choices we make that cost us. And yet there's freedom. There's love as we love him. Then we can rightly even love the brethren. What does it say by this? We know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. There's a liberty there in following him. No, he didn't say he didn't say it was going to be easy. He said it's a narrow way, didn't he? He said it's a difficult way at times. And yet it is a way of peace, the peace that only comes from God.

Well, may God help us to be like John the Baptist in our thinking. Something the new age knows, nothing of is what we said today. It knows nothing of submission to God. Self-expression is what it knows. It knows nothing of dependence upon God and his word because it depends on the changing whims of whatever comes up and out of this deceitful brave heart. And it knows nothing of a stewardship and accountability to God as Christians. We will give an answer. As John lived in light of the accountability that he would have to God for his ministry, not what people thought of him, not how popular he was, but what he had done with committed to him. May we likewise have that humility we see in John. May we have that spirit that we see in John that we may think rightly of our Lord.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for these moments we've had in your Word today. And thank you for the fact that no matter what we may accomplish in this life, we're still in profitable servants. This is not some to be some made up self-deprecation. This is truth. There really is nothing good in us. There is, we're our heart is deceitful among all things. It is desperately wicked. The only good that's in us is because of what the grace of God has done for us. It's something Lord that you took like the little boy who took the time to go to that store and buy that boat back is something that you even take time with fallen humanity. It's something that you take time to look upon us and consider us and and and be long suffering to us. We account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation. Something that you would do that for us. May we be, may our spirits vision be so chained on the crucified one that that we lose sight of any and all of ourselves like John did and that we would truly be able to say from the very deepest desires of our hearts Lord that I must decrease, but he must increase. I have received nothing from my set. There's nothing good of myself, but I everything I received, I've received from heaven. Bless us now as we conclude this service and Jesus name. Amen.