In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the passion of John the Baptist to lead people to follow Jesus. John's objective was not to have followers of himself, but to point people to Jesus. Two disciples of John heard him speak about Jesus being the Lamb of God and they decided to follow Jesus. The preacher also mentions the importance of prayer in the work of serving the Lord, especially for missionaries.

I was indeed interested to hear the comments about Florida weather. I got here yesterday afternoon after having come very rapidly, driven very rapidly from the north, and just as a little bit of advice, if any of you have plans to go north, don't go. The weather up there has been, I can't think of a good word in English, in French we would say épouvantable, which means just awful. In fact, I have just been thanking the Lord because I made a trip between Pittsburgh and Breezewood on the Pennsylvania Turnpike after an evening meeting at Friendship Avenue Chapel there in Pittsburgh, and ran into snowstorms up in the mountains, an experience that I've never had just exactly the same way, in which the whole turnpike seemed to have been given over to trucks. There seemed to be very few passenger cars, but trucks in great abundance, and these trucks were hurtling along through this snowstorm and throwing up the combined salt and dirt and snow against the windshield. And I suddenly became aware of the fact that my windshield wiper was not taking off the accumulation, and there was one moment there when I cried out, it must have been to the Lord, I can't see. In front of me there was just nothing but a sort of a white blur, and I found myself off the road in the snowdrift on the side going along about 45 miles an hour with a truck bearing down behind me, the light shining in great brilliance behind. It's quite an experience, and again, it was one of those times when one is not afraid because one is trusting the Lord. I believe that some ministering spirits were working overtime at that moment, because I got back on the road, the truck seemed to have reduced its speed sufficiently to let me get back on, and there was a little aperture in the windshield so that I could see the road sufficiently to get on and stop further along where I could make a clearing of the windshield. Well, the weather up there is not very good, and we can just be happy even though it may be a little dull and a little cold. It's so much better than it is up north. One more thing I'd like to mention, and this is really not very important. It's a very good announcement we have here. Our program is very, very fine, and we're right in the middle of it, and I'd just like to make a slight correction. I do this because I'm now getting some letters here addressed to William Dean. There is actually an S on the end of my name. It's singular that my name is in the plural, just to clear up any uncertainty in that connection. Of course, all that is before me to pass on to you from the Lord in this week is going to be in connection with missionary work. We have seen the multitudes, and our hearts are moved with compassion on them, knowing that salvation is possible only through the Lord Jesus Christ. We feel, too, the sense of urgency in the expectancy of the soon coming of our Lord Jesus. Our time is a limited time, and we do go out with a sense of urgency in the proclamation of the gospel, and in what measure we can communicate that urgency to you that you fellowship in whatever way God enables you to do, we will feel that he has blessed his work. I was speaking about a friend whom I know only through his writings, Robert C. Chaplin of many years ago, who said as he was along in his 96th year of life that the Lord had laid on him a tremendous burden in his work as a burden of prayer, and he had his day worked out so that in his budget he had much time to wait upon the Lord. I tell you, those of us who serve the Lord out on the mission field are conscious not only of the need of prayer, but conscious of the great power of prayer, and it is a tremendous encouragement to our hearts to know that God's people are interceding on our behalf as we serve him out yonder on the mission field. And we do trust that in the course of this week, information will be communicated to you not only concerning the Congo and concerning Taiwan, but through Dr. Harlow's ministry and report, and in a general way concerning that wider field which is the world and the servants in those various parts of the vineyard of the Lord. Now, it's on my heart today to speak to you about one who was a witness, a faithful witness, and yet I hesitate to use that word since it's used concerning our Lord Jesus in the Revelation, for he is the faithful witness. I understand when that magazine in England was first started, The Witness, I understand that it was called The Faithful Witness, and later the word faithful was dropped from the name of the magazine. Not that they didn't seek to be faithful to God's word in the ministry contained in that magazine, but they realized that after all said and done, there is only one who can really be called the faithful witness. But I want to talk to you a little bit, by way of an introduction that will apply itself, I trust, to our own hearts, a little bit concerning John, John the Baptizer. And, you know, as I think of John back yonder in the desert, and I think of him and his food, I'm perhaps less inclined to sympathize with him than some of you, because out on the mission field, some of the things that John was eating we have come to enjoy. For example, locusts we have come to enjoy on the mission field. They don't come very often. Perhaps every seven years we get these hordes of locusts that come down, and the Africans go out, all work is suspended, and as the locusts come down and settle for the night and eat up every living thing, every green thing that is there, the Africans are working, filling gunny sacks and filling all sorts of baskets that they have, and they're filling them with these locusts, and this provides food for them for many a day, because they dry them and then prepare them as they need them. We personally prefer, to the locusts, we prefer the green grasshoppers, because they come every year, and they're very similar to the locusts, but are more tender. They don't have quite the hard crust that the locust has, and so when these come and the word is passed around, you'll hear the Africans all over the area. They're passing the word that the green grasshoppers, the manyunyu, as they call them, the manyunyu have come down on the hills, and then you'll hear the people going up on the hills, and they take long pieces of grass, blades of grass, and they thread these living grasshoppers onto this piece of grass, and so eventually they'll have this long string of living grasshoppers with their feet moving and their wings moving as well, and they carry these home. And our children used to have an agreement with some of these Africans that as they passed our path, they would each one give them one of those grasshoppers as a little toll, as I say, as they said, passing our area. But actually, we have grown to like these green grasshoppers when they're divested of their wings and their legs. They are delicious, something like toasted almonds, if you like toasted almonds. And then when it comes to wild honey, I have quite a few friends amongst the pygmies. As you know, I had the privilege of opening the station of Lolwa out in the forest in 1930, when I was out there alone and we started cutting down the trees and starting the station of Lolwa. So I have many pygmies among, many friends among the pygmies. And although we're not at Lolwa, that's carried on more by Mr. and Mrs. Spees and their colleagues there, many of the pygmies come out of the forest once in a while with a present to them, and oftentimes their present is wild honey. And the wild honey, of course, hasn't had the advantages of a separator in its preparation, and so you'll have a lot of these larvae that are floating in the honey that have to be strained out. It's a bit strong, the forest honey, and yet very enjoyable. But as we've thought of John living yonder in the desert and having as his food locusts and wild honey, we thought oftentimes, well, that wasn't so bad after all, because it was something, it is something that is enjoyable. Both of those things are enjoyable when you get to know them and to like them. I want to read a little bit about John in the first chapter of Luke. First of all, concerning the prophecy as to his birth, this is the first chapter of Luke, and you'll remember how Zacharias, his father, was executing the priest's office in verse 8, and his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord, and the multitude were praying out there. There appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense, and when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. Verse 13, But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth, for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord. And that's really the place to be great, not in the sight of men, because more important is to be great in the sight of the Lord. And shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And then Zacharias, of course, objected because of his great age, and the angel said, I'm Gabriel, and I stand in the presence of God. I'm sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings. Then the angel told him that he would be dumb and not able to speak until the child was born. And as you read on in the story, you realize that Elizabeth expected this child, and in verse 57 we have the story of the child's birth. Luke 157. Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered, and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how that the Lord had showed great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her. And then the time to circumcise the child on the eighth day came about, and they called him Zacharias after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so. He shall be called John. And they said, There's none of thy kindred that's called by this name. And they made signs to his father how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, a slate, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marveled all, and his mouth was opened immediately, his tongue loose, and he spake and praised God. And then the people were amazed, and they said, What manner, verse 66, of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. And then Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit of God, prophesied and addresses the child particularly in verse 76, Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his way, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring," and this is the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the source of light, this is the lightbringer, "...the dayspring from on high hath visited us." Yes, it was only a visit. He came to do that work which his father had given him to do, and having done it, he returned once again into glory. "...whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel." John was there, denied many of the comforts of life, many of the advantages that others would have. He was there in the desert, and there he grew in fellowship with God. He was a man, as we read in John, chapter one, a man sent from God with a message. His was not to seek something for himself, he was not a self-seeker. Not for him was the soft clothing of those who live in kings' houses, but he was there, as you know, clothed in camel's hair with a leather girdle, and his food was locusts and wild honey. We have this in the book of Mark. And the character of his ministry, we can say that John's ministry was a ministry of preparation for the coming of the Lord. He brought to Israel a consciousness of their sinfulness, and his baptism was a baptism for the remission of sin. That is, a baptism which prepared them for the coming of the Lord, the Savior. He came to preach Christ. The ministry of John the Baptist centered around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you remember the effect of his ministry. As he stood there beside Jordan, as we have, of course, in the first chapter of John, we might just turn to that, if you will, John chapter one, to think a little bit about the character of his ministry and the effect of his ministry. John chapter one, verse six, there was a man sent from God, his name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness for the light, of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. The Lord Jesus is the light of the world. He said, He that cometh unto me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The Lord Jesus, the light of the world. John bear witness of him. John was the messenger who was foretold by Malachi, the messenger who should come before and prepare the way of the Lord, making straight the way for the Lord to come. His ministry concerned the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and his ministry brought the conviction of sin to Israel. The Lord Jesus came unto his own, and his own received him not, but to as many as received him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And there was John, and the effect of his ministry was that men turned to the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, as a missionary out in Africa, or as a witness in this land, speaking to people in motels, in railroad trains, in airplanes, oh, I would have that as my objective, that I might be a witness who would constantly be speaking of the Lord Jesus and pointing men to Christ. Now remember, when the Lord Jesus came in verse 29, John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And then later, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, you remember, and verse 36 we read, Looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. This was the passion of John the baptizer, that men might follow the Lord Jesus Christ. It was this that absorbed his heart. Things of the earth seemed unimportant, seemed very secondary, seemed unworthy of such a message, such a mission as was that of John. To turn men's eyes to the Lord Jesus, this was his objective. And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, and two disciples, his disciples, disciples who had been following him. And certainly it's gratifying to have followers, but his desire was that they might be followers of the Lord Jesus, although on the mission field we might know that constantly, not to have followers of us, but that we should be simply signposts pointing them to the Lord Jesus Christ. And those two disciples heard him speak, Behold the Lamb of God, and they heard him speak, and they saw the Lord Jesus, and they followed Jesus. And this was the beginning of a chain reaction. Andrew was one of those two, and he went and found Peter, his brother Simon Peter, and brought him to the Lord Jesus. He findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We found the Messiah which is being interpreted, the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. Yes, this was the object of John's ministry, and this should be the object of each believer in the Lord Jesus, each one who would be a witness for him in this day of declension and departure from the things of God. The effect of such witness being to turn men to the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might see him as the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world, and to take away their sin indeed, as he bore our sin in his own body on the tree. John knew no compromise. This is the day of great compromise, a day of moral compromise, a day of compromise in spiritual things. John knew no compromise. He went into the house of Herod. Herod had taken his brother Philip's wife, and John went and told him it was unlawful for him to have her. No fear, because he had the message from the Lord, and he went in and thundered against Herod himself, and of course Herodias was angry. You remember the story as we have it in Mark 5. Remember how Herod made this feast, had this birthday party, and he had this great number there that Herod, who himself placed great value on John, he knew that he was a holy man and a just. He considered him a prophet, and I was amazed to read just this morning he heard him, and he did many things, and heard him gladly. Herod desired to hear him, although he feared him, and put him in prison for his brother Philip's wife, Herodias, with whom he was living in immorality. John came in and pointed this to him, and condemned him for it, and so he was put in prison. You remember the story how the daughter of Herodias shamelessly danced before the assembled multitude there in the presence of Herod, and how when he and his foolish thought offered her anything her heart would desire, and she went to her mother. Her mother said, ask for the head of John the baptizer, and much against Herod's own desire, he sent and had him beheaded in the prison, and presently the jailer brought the head of John on a plate, and gave it to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. A witness who was faithful to death for the righteousness of God, for the truth of God, one whose delight was to point men to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was faithful to death. This comes very close to our own hearts, because out in the Congo we have seen some whom we knew and loved, whom we knew intimately, who have in these last few years laid down their lives for the sake of the Lord Jesus, faithful in their testimony for Christ. Even in faith of the assassin's bullets, you know that of the 31 Protestant missionaries and children who were killed in the Congo since 1960. Over 20 of those were personal friends of ours. These were friends who came into our homes, whom we loved, friends who knew the intimacy of the family fellowship in our home as they traveled back and forth. We had them often, we worked with them, we preached with them, we loved them, over 20 of them with their children, and they're in the presence of the Lord. I'm impressed, as I remember when I saw years ago on the letterhead of the China Inland Mission. It had a picture of an ox, and the ox was the servant, you know, and on either side there were insignia. One was a plow, and the other was an altar, and here was the ox in the middle with a plow on one side and the altar on the other, and underneath was the caption, ready for either. The servant of the Lord, ready to be fastened to a plow and to go on day after day doing the hard job, and perhaps the thankless job as far as man is concerned, pulling the plow in the work of the Lord. Or should the Lord desire it, there's the altar. There are many who have laid down their lives for the sake of the Lord Jesus on the mission fields of the world, faithful unto death. John was a witness like that. And the Lord's evaluation of John was, in the fifth chapter of John, he was a burning and a shining light. And the Lord said concerning him in Matthew 11, among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. And he spoke of him as Elias in the eleventh chapter of Matthew. He said that Elias truly had come. Elias, in the eleventh chapter, the Lord said concerning him, if ye will receive it. This is Elias which was for to come. But in the seventeenth chapter, we have an explanation of that. The seventeenth chapter, it's in the spirit and power of Elias in Matthew 17, verse 11. Elias truly shall first come and restore all things, but I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. He came in the spirit and power of Elias to bring conviction of sin and to point men to the one who can give the forgiveness of sin, the only one who can bring forgiveness and salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was more than a prophet. The Lord said, He's my messenger. John's estimation of the Lord Jesus we have in several places. We might look again in the first chapter of John concerning John's estimation of the Lord Jesus. This is John's gospel, chapter one, in verse fifteen. This is what John said of the Lord Jesus. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. Of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And then in verse twenty-seven, he it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it I am not worthy to unloose. And then elsewhere, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. He said, I indeed baptize you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. This he said to those who heard him at that time. And then in verse thirty, this is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, because he was before me. And they asked him, Who art thou? Verse twenty, he said, I'm not the Christ. He acknowledged that he was not the Christ, and then they said, Are you Elias? And he said, No, not Elias. Are you that prophet? And he said, No. Then they said to him, Who art thou? We may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? And he said, I'm a voice. All I'm doing is telling of the Lord Jesus. I'm a voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as saith the prophet Isaiah. I'm not worthy, mightier than I. I baptize with water, he with the Holy Ghost. And John rejoiced when those disciples came from behind him and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. What joy it was to John to have those disciples, Andrew and the others, go and follow. And then we read of Nathanael, of Philip finding Nathanael and bringing him to the Lord Jesus, a chain reaction of testimony for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, he was the friend of the bridegroom we have in chapter three, to which please turn. John 3, 28. John 3, 28. Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I'm not the Christ, but I'm sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth, heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. And now the verse that I bring to you this morning as my text. John said, He must increase, but I must decrease. I wonder what the Lord Jesus means to each one of us day by day. In our lives lived in this land with many of the conveniences and many of the things which distract us from the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who went out early in the morning when Israel was in the desert gathered daily manna, each man according to his eating, and the Lord Jesus in all his fullness is available for each one of us. We know him, but I've come to learn that it's possible to increase one's capacity for the appropriation of the Lord Jesus and all the wondrous facets of his person. We are so inclined to live lives that are given up to self that the ego occupies a large part of our beings, and the Lord Jesus has his part, but a part that is relegated to a corner, if you like. John said, He must increase, but I must decrease. And that means knowing the Lord in a fuller sense, having the Lord brought into a greater place in each of our lives day by day as we ourselves become less and he becomes more, as our hearts are filled with the loveliness of his person, and as we rejoice in the wonder of his being and fellowship with the risen Lord Jesus day by day, and then be willing to withdraw, be willing to be less for the sake of the Lord Jesus, that he may be more. He must increase, but I must decrease. A good motto, don't you think, for each of our lives? And if we have this motto, we'll come to understand better the mind of Christ with respect to others, because oftentimes we are so egocentric, and we have little consideration for those who know not the Lord Jesus around us, and farther afield, and to distant lands. Sometimes we ourselves are too important, and the Lord Jesus hasn't the place that he should have, and our consideration for the needs of others is not all that it might be. In the book of Philippians, in the second chapter, Paul writes, Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not on every man, look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And then those wonderful verses that have to do with the Lord Jesus, who counted not that equality which he had with God, that external evidence of his majesty and glory as something to be grasped at and retained at all costs, but was willing to empty himself and take upon him the form of a servant, and be made in the likeness of men, and then being found in fashion as a man to humble himself and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. As my Father hath sent me into the world, even so send I you into the world. With that same spirit of self-abnegation, he emptied himself. Oh, the wonder of the condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ in going to Calvary's cross to dine for us. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. With respect to those who know not the Lord Jesus Christ, those who perish in their sins because they know him not, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. He, as the good Samaritan, came where we were in our need and helplessness, the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men. And so we go out into the world, and we go out to distant lands, and the Lord has taught us something of the spirit of withdrawal. That is, the spirit of pulling back and letting the other man go ahead. You know, we have had the great joy in the northeastern part of Congo, we've had the great joy of seeing many local churches formed of African believers. And in those early days, when this was our great desire, which as we had this as our objective before us of someday seeing the African believers on their own before the Lord, in those early days we were very quick to speak and to take the dominant place and to be big in the eyes of the people. And we found that this was not the way. And Dr. Harlow, who's coming later this week, and was a colleague of mine for five years out there in Africa, and I remember one time Ed said to me, he said, Bill, he said, I don't think we should do anything that we can get an African to do. Now that sounds like a lazy man's remark, but if you know Ed Harlow, he hasn't anything as such as laziness in his makeup. His point was one that we thoroughly agreed with, and that is this, that we should teach the African the word of God, that we should teach him crafts and skills of one kind or another, and then as soon as he's able to do it, let him do it and withdraw and let him take the responsibility before God. And this has worked wonderfully. The Holy Spirit of God has graciously blessed in exercising the hearts of the African Christians. There have been evidences of development of spiritual gift, and there are now 39 local churches in the area in which we're working, assemblies of believers all through that area that are truly autonomous and indigenous, but we had to learn something about the art of withdrawal, that is, of pulling back. In a meeting when there would be a lag and a silence, the tendency would be, well, do something, and of course we knew the answer, and we knew more of the scriptures by fire than those African brethren, and it took a discipline. The discipline of silence to be quiet and just wait, wait patiently until one of those African brethren would get up enough courage to say what is already on his heart, and then we rejoiced because he said it, and now we sit at the feet of some of those African brethren and drink in the word of God, the ministry fresh right from the throne of God, but we had to learn something about the mind of Christ. We had to learn what it was to let the Lord increase and to let our African brethren increase, and not to bother, not to worry if somebody else got credit for something that we had all set up. That didn't matter at all, but it's not an easy thing. This is something one learns in fellowship with the Lord Jesus. One learns to withdraw and let the other one go ahead, and this taught us the error of paternalism on the mission field, that is, of being the father and doing everything for them and paying for them and closing them and housing them and doing everything that we could in order that they might stay close to us as good Christians. We found that that didn't really work, either. We had to cast them on the Lord and instruct them from God's word, and we ourselves withdraw. And this came as a possibility in our lives because we learned from being in the presence of the Lord, we learned the lesson that John the Baptizer expressed there, he must increase and I must decrease. Oh yes, the Lord would have us know this, each one. You have your own life, you have your own circumstances and the problems that are peculiar to yourself, but there should be in each of our lives an increased place for the Lord Jesus Christ and a reduced place for our ego, that we should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for us and rose again. We might know what it is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul could say, for me to live is Christ, and he could say, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Well, that's John. John cared little about the things of this world. He gave himself with complete dedication to the task of preaching righteousness, the task of glorifying God, of speaking against sin, bringing men and women, because he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God, bringing men and women under conviction of sin, then pointing them to the Lord Jesus Christ. It should be the first task of each believer, and the secret of it, I believe with all the sincerity of my heart, is just this. He must increase, but I must decrease. Yes, John was called a burning light. Armie Carmichael, in one of her poems, spoke about making me thy fuel. Let us burn for the Lord, that he may be glorified. He was a burning and a shining light, in witness for the Lord Jesus, with less of self and more of Christ, giving him priority, giving him time in our lives, spending time with him, and in all things he might have the preeminent.