John, Pt. 16 | John 3:22-36

All right, if you would take your copy of the scriptures, we're going to be in the Gospel of John, chapter 3.

We will consider verses 22 through 30. The Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 22 to 30.

O God, maker of heaven and earth, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, please, in the name of Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come, use me this day to explain to your people the message by which the apostle whom

Jesus loved, John, has for us to understand.

Lord, please, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

So this is the 15th message in the Gospel of John, and our theme for this

Lord's Day is humility, right? It seems to go real good with what Josh presented with us earlier, right, especially when it comes to leadership.

So our theme is humility, and my proposition is this, the greatest need for ministers in ministry is to learn how to decrease, to fade in the back, right?

That's the greatest need, but it's also a great need among all congregations, right?

The layman, we need to learn how to decrease and how to magnify

Jesus, right? We're just coming off of the heels of him talking with Nicodemus, right? And he explained that if he be lifted up, speaking of him being hung on that cross, right, if we're to lift up anything, that is it.

It's the message of what Jesus Christ has done. We fade in the back, right?

A testimony is someone, like Paul Washer said, is someone who's standing downtown and looking up.

And as people walk by to see this weird man downtown looking up, they look to him, and then they look up to see what he's looking at.

Like, what is this guy looking at? That's what a testimony is. That's what a leadership is supposed to be, right?

We're supposed to be one who is at all times pointing to Christ. As you're looking at me, you're going to start to focus on what it is that I'm looking at.

Now, humility at any level, whether it's a pastor or someone who has just recently brought into the faith, humility at any level is difficult.

However, it is extremely difficult, it's extremely important for ministers.

So if you're in ministry, humility is extremely important. Today we're going to see

John the Baptist display this humility, and I hope to show by his example how important it is.

You see, before the ministry of Jesus, John the Baptist had the attention of the

Jews, right? He was who they saw in the wilderness. He had their attention.

And as he was in the wilderness preaching and baptizing many Jews, many

Jews were coming to hear him and to be baptized. I can just imagine him in the wilderness in this crowd of Jews.

We see him even address the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He's called them a den of snakes, you brood of vipers.

They're going out to see what's going on. There's so many Jews flocking to hear John the Baptist that it caught the attention of the

Sadducees and the Pharisees. I can imagine the Sanhedrin sending them out, go see what's going on in this wilderness.

Like he was popular. But as the popularity of Jesus began to spread,

John the Baptist began to experience less and less people coming to him. So this is where we are in our text.

Please look with me, beginning in verse 22. After these things,

Jesus and his disciples came to the land of Judea.

And there he was spending time with them and baptizing them.

And John also was baptizing in Enon and Salem, because there was much water there.

And people were coming and were being baptized, for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

Therefore, there arose a debate between John's disciples and the

Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him,

Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you bore witness, behold, he is baptized and all are coming to him.

John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.

You yourselves are my witnesses that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him.

He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.

So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's the word of God. And in our outline today, we're going to see the decrease of John the

Baptist. We have four points, a debate, a gift from heaven, an analogy, and the ministry.

So point number one, the debate. Point number two, a gift from heaven. Point number three,

I said analogy, I meant allegory. Point number three, an allegory. And point number four, the ministry.

So as we transition, there were certain things that John knew about himself.

And there were certain things that John didn't know about himself. For instance, he knew that he wasn't the

Christ. He knew that he wasn't the prophet, but he didn't know that he was

Elijah who was to come. We see this in chapter one of our gospel, verse 19 through 21.

So chapter one, beginning in verse 19, and this is the witness of John.

When the Jews sent him priests, remember I was talking earlier about he's out in the wilderness, and the priests, and the

Sadducees, and all these people were coming. So we see that this popularity is growing. He's being sent people.

So right here, it's priest and Levite from Jerusalem to ask, who are you? And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed,

I am not the Christ. And they asked, what then?

Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet?

And he answered, no. Now you can write these verses down if you want, because I will not be looking at them.

But Jesus, we've already looked at them. But Jesus made it very clear that John the

Baptist is the Elijah who was to come. We see this in Matthew 11, 11 through 15, as well as in Matthew 17, 9 through 13.

This is where Jesus makes it clear that John the Baptist is the Elijah who was to come, prophesied from the

Old Testament. And in Luke chapter 1, verses 16 through 19, an angel speaking to Zechariah about his future son,

John the Baptist, quotes from Malachi chapter 4, verses 5 and 6, about John the

Baptist being the fulfillment of the prophecy that we see in Malachi.

So we'll just look at the prophecy and understand that this angel was telling

Zechariah that he's the fulfillment, speaking of John the Baptist. And Jesus also clarifies that he is this fulfillment.

So the prophecy was, again, Malachi chapter 4, verses 5 and 6. So this is the last word given to the

Jews until John the Baptist. So from this moment that I'm about to read, till John the

Baptist appears in the wilderness, there's 400 years of silence. God had not spoken to his

Jewish people for 400 years. The last prophecy, Behold, I am going to send you

Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome day of Yahweh.

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.

Lest I come and strike the land, devoting it to destruction.

And we see that when John the Baptist came, the hearts of the people of the Jews did not turn. 70

AD comes, destruction falls upon Jerusalem.

So to our first point, a debate. This is taken from verses 22 through 26.

We'll begin reading verses 22 through 24. It begins by saying, after these things.

So after these things, it's speaking about the context of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus.

So after Jesus has this conversation with Nicodemus, this is what takes place next.

After these things, Jesus and his disciples came to the land of Judea.

And there he was spending time with them and baptizing. And John also was baptizing

Enon and Selim because there was much water there.

And the people were coming and being baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison.

First thing to notice is that John the Baptist and his disciples, as well as Jesus and his disciples, were baptizing in the same body of water.

Reason being, why is it that both groups are baptizing in the same body of water?

It's because there was much water there. That's the reason, right? Hence the Baptist's view of immersion, right?

If there was a Presbyterian here right now, I'd wink at him. Right? Why is it that they're gathered at this body of water?

It tells you because there's much water. The word baptism means to emerge, to dip, to wash, not to sprinkle or to pour.

That a person is to be put under the water. Also, I want to point out that that was my, you know, that was my fun point out.

Also, I want to point out that Jesus himself was not baptizing, but only his disciples were.

And we see this in chapter four. Look at chapter four, verses one through three.

Therefore, when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more than John, I mean more disciples than John, right here it says, although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were, he left

Judah, Judea, and went into the land of Galilee.

Also from chapter four, we understand that when Jesus heard of this commotion, right, the commotion that's taken place in chapter three, that Jesus heard of this commotion and he left, speaking about what takes place in verses 25 and 26.

The writer of this gospel, the disciple John, the one to whom

Jesus loved, as he says of himself, by pointing out that this happened before John the

Baptist was put into prison, this tells us that this is still early on in Jesus's ministry.

So Jesus's ministry lasted roughly around three and a half years. Their ministries would have overlapped anywhere from six months to a year.

There's no way to know for sure, but it was somewhere around six months to a year that their ministries would have overlapped.

The commotion, however, begins the debate that started over purification, as we see in verse 25.

Verse 25 says, Therefore, there arose a debate between John's disciples, notice it's not

Jesus's disciples, John's disciples and the Jews about purification.

So water baptism at this time was seen as a sign of purification, and it was a sign and symbol of being made clean.

While speaking with John's disciples, they were not speaking about Christian baptism.

So what they're speaking about here is not what we understand about Christian baptism, but only dealing with purification.

Christian baptism is not a sign that's pointing back to purification. Christian baptism is the sign of the gospel, right?

Jesus, when we're baptized, we are seen as the gospel message. We're buried with him in baptism and we're raised to the newness of life.

The sign, the information of our baptism, right? We've already went over this. The sign and information of our baptism is saying that when

Christ died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried. And when he rose,

I rose. That's what Christian baptism stands for. That's the information of Christian baptism.

We're purified because of what he'd done. Not because of what we've done, but because of what he's done.

Our being baptized is a sign. It points back to what he has done for us.

They, the Jews, would have seen baptism in two ways. The first way was a washing away the dirt from the body, which all

Jews partook in. Now, this baptism right here would have been mentioned earlier. It can also be seen as washing.

So every time that a Jew would enter into something, they had to wash themselves. We just saw this in chapter 2, talking about the wedding at Canaan, that Jesus was by a purification station, that there was these six water stone jars there for purification.

They would take these jars, fill them with water, and wash themselves with the water.

This is an idea of their purification that the Jews would have understood. The second would have been dealing with Gentile conversion, which would have been dumping a person into the water.

So the conversion would have been a Gentile converting into Judaism. They're not coming to John.

I mean, they're coming to John, and it had nothing to do with Gentile converts. John was not out there baptizing

Gentile converts to be Jews. He was baptizing Jews for repentance.

They were trying to understand John's baptism concerning cleansing. So his baptism concerning cleansing was that, okay, you're a

Jew, but guess what? You are sinful. You are filthy. The sacrificial system is not enough.

You need repentance. And that's what John's baptism represented. John's baptism was not a baptism of washing away of dirt, but of repentance.

You see this in Matthew 3, verse 11. He says, As for me,

John speaking, I baptize you, talking to the Jews, with water for repentance.

It was not Gentile converts, nor the removing of the dirt.

So in this debate between the Jews and John's disciples concerning purification, it had to do with the understanding of John's baptism.

John being the son of a priest. Zechariah was a priest baptizing for repentance, right?

You had this priest's son out there baptizing for repentance. In order for a

Jew at this time to repent, they would bring animal sacrifices. They would light fragrances. Someone would kill something for them in order to signify their repentance.

This right here was a forerunner of John clearing out the way, saying that these things are about to be no more.

When the commotion was being brought to John, they were trying to make John jealous of the ministry of Jesus Christ.

We see that in verse 26. And they, speaking of the

Jews, came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the

Jordan to whom you have bore witness, behold, he is baptizing, and all are coming to him.

You see this way that they're trying to make John jealous, right? They're trying to make

John look at Jesus different. They don't want John still kind of upholding who

Jesus is. They want John to see what he had, and to see that what he had is being taken away from him because the popularity of another.

And as we transition, here is where we see the humility of John displayed.

Point number two, a gift from heaven. Verse 27.

John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.

Now I could stop right there and just preach this message concerning the fine doctrine that we love of Reformed theology and Calvinism, right?

We can receive nothing unless it has been given to us from heaven. Now I could do that.

I could make perfect application to that. But John right here, he's pointing out something different.

First thing John points out is his position. That he is a prophet, and he has a message from God, and it has been given to him from God, right?

So the first thing to notice is John points out his position that was that he is as a prophet, he has come, he has a message, and this message is given to him by God.

So right here, clearly, he says that a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.

That all that he has received so far is because God has given it to him, and why he has received it is because he is speaking about what

God has given to him, and it's the message. Repentance, the message of repentance. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He had a message about the kingdom of heaven. The popularity of his ministry when he first started preaching was given to him by God, and all the people who were under his preaching and were getting baptized were given to him by God.

So too, the few people who were left under his preaching and who were getting baptized were given to him by God.

John saw that everything that he had, whether it was plenty or few, was a gift from God.

John was happy to receive what was being given to him by God for his ministry.

And again, we see that he makes sure to point out that he isn't the

Christ, right? I'm not the Christ. We see this in verse 28. He said, speaking to the

Jews, he said, you yourselves are my witnesses, meaning that they were gathered around as he was baptizing, as he was speaking to the people of the

Sanhedrin, sent the Pharisees and the Sadducees, when he said, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

They heard the message. He says, I baptize you with water into repentance, but he who is coming, who is mighty or not, whose sandals

I'm not worthy to untie, who's going to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire, that the willow and fork was in his hand, and he would thoroughly cleanse the thrashing floor and gather his wheat into the barn.

They heard this message. And right here, he's making sure that they knew this.

He says, you yourselves are my witness, that I said that I am not the

Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him. The statement points us back to John chapter 1.

Again, we'll begin to read verse 19 as we read earlier, but we'll catch 23 in the process.

No, no, excuse me. I've got 23, verse 20. Yeah, verse 23.

So beginning in 19 again, it says, And this is the witness of John the Baptist, when the

Jews sent the priests and the Levites to Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? So they're curious of who this man is.

And he confessed, and he did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they said to him, what then?

Are you Elijah? And he said, no, I am not. Are you a prophet? He answered, no.

Therefore he said to them, therefore they said to him, who are you so that we may give an answer to those who sent us?

What do you say about yourself? Here's the message about himself. Remember the little analogy

I gave earlier? You're supposed to be a man downtown looking up, and as people look at you, they look up.

Listen to his confession of who he is. I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the path of the

Lord, as the prophet Isaiah was saying. That's what he was doing. They were looking to him, and he was looking to God.

He was trying to get their attention off of him to look to God, and that's what's taking place in our chapter today.

He said, don't look at me. I'm not the Christ. Jesus is the Christ. And Isaiah is quoted from,

I mean, excuse me, verse 23 is quoted from Isaiah chapter 40, that he, speaking of John, is someone sent by God to prepare the way.

We also see this in verse 6. So John chapter 1, verse 6 says, there was a man having been sent from God.

Notice that. There was a man having been sent from God whose name was

John. John was sent from God. John was a gift from heaven.

John was a gift from heaven, one that would prepare the way. And I mentioned this before that he, it gives us the idea of him being a road worker, that he is to level the ground and move unnecessary objects out of the way.

Out of the way for what? For the message, ministry of Jesus Christ.

So this coming of John the Baptist was prophesied by two prophets,

Malachi and Elijah. So these people were looking for someone to come.

They're expecting Elijah. John doesn't know he's Elijah. John's father

Zachariah knew he was Elijah, thanks to the angel. And Jesus tells his disciples, yeah, he was

Elijah. Point number three. Well, again, as we transition to this point, he came to make ready the people of their final prophet, the prophet

Jesus Christ. Point number two, the allegory. So we'll just, the allegory is found in John chapter three, verse 29.

And here Jesus is going to give a picture that can be interpreted and reveal, a picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning.

Now all that is, is I just gave you the definition of an allegory. The definition of an allegory is a picture that can be interpreted with a hidden meaning.

So this is how we know right here, John's speaking allegorically of what he's doing.

He's giving us a picture that has a meaning, an interpretation that tells you what he's talking about.

Let's just read 29a first. Verse 29a.

He who has the bride is the bridegroom.

This analogy is a picture that John the Baptist has given to the crowds of, this crowd of Jews is a picture of a wedding.

Again, I mentioned this earlier. We saw a wedding in chapter two. If you remember, we already looked at the concept.

We already looked at the concept of a Jewish wedding. A Jewish wedding could last up to seven days. A man would basically betroth his wife and then he would have her to stay with her parents while he went home to build a house for her onto his father's existing house.

He would build a house onto his father's existing house. It was the idea that there can't be two men in one home.

How can you be the leader of your house if you're underneath your father who is the leader of his house?

At this time, the man, instead of leaving his father completely, he would build a house onto his father's existing house.

Then once he was done building the house, he would go and he would go back to his wife and he would have this marriage ceremony.

After the ceremony, he would bring his wife to be where he is.

This is the picture of a wedding and this picture of a wedding seems to be a recurrent theme that we see throughout the

Bible. First, we'll point out something we all should know from this chapter,

I mean not from this chapter, but from this book, John chapter 14. So if you would turn to John chapter 14, we'll look at verses 1 through 3.

Jesus speaking, John chapter 14, verses 1 through 3. Speaking to his disciples, he says,

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you.

For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you,

I will come again to receive you to myself. And where I am, there you may be also.

This is wedding language. This is Jesus telling them that he's going, just like the picture of a wedding, he's going to go to his father's house and prepare a place for them.

And once he's prepared the place, he will come back to receive them unto himself. Also in Isaiah chapter 54.

Isaiah chapter 54, we'll look at verses 5 through 8.

Isaiah 54, 5 through 8. The Lord's speaking, says this,

For your husband is your maker. Y 'all get that?

For your husband is your maker, whose name is

Yahweh of hosts. And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the

God of all the earth. For Yahweh has called you, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one whose youth, when she was rejected, says,

Your God, for a brief moment, I forsook you. But with great compassion,

I will gather you. In a flood of fury, I hid my face from you for a moment.

But with everlasting kindness, I will have compassion. Loving kindness, excuse me.

With everlasting loving kindness, I will have compassion on you. Says Yahweh, your

Redeemer. It begins to kind of separate Yahweh, the maker, from the Redeemer. And right here at the end, we see that the

Yahweh is the Redeemer. Right, bringing us into having this

New Covenant, New Testament understanding of who Jesus is. The Redeemer of Israel is

Yahweh. Jeremiah chapter 31, verses 31 through 32.

Jeremiah 31, 31 through 32. Again, a declaration from God.

Behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant which I cut with their fathers in the days when

I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. It's not like that covenant.

My covenant which they broke. But I was a husband to them, declares

Yahweh. Also in Hosea chapter two, verse 19.

Hosea chapter two, verse 19. I will betroth you to me forever.

Let's read that again. I will betroth you to me forever. Indeed, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in loving kindness and in compassion.

Revelation chapter 21, verse two. Revelation chapter 21, verse two.

And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

Second Corinthians chapter 11, verse two. Second Corinthians chapter 11, verse two.

For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I betroth you to one husband so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Last one, Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five, beginning in verse 22.

Husbands, I mean, excuse me, wives, wives be subjected to your own husbands as to the

Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church.

He himself being the savior of the body. But as the church is subjected to Christ, so also wives ought to be to their husband in everything.

Husbands, love your wife just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the word, washing of the water of the word, that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or rankle or in such things.

But that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought to also love their own wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his own wife loves himself for no one has ever hated his own flesh but nourished it and cherished it just as Christ also does the church because we are members of the body.

For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined together to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

This mystery is great, but I am speaking in reference to Christ and the church.

Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love their own wife, his own wife, even as himself.

And the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

The mystery that we see here taking place in Ephesians is given to us in an allegory, a picture of a husband and his wife.

And Paul is telling us that this picture is Christ and the church. In short, this is what it means.

I don't have time to break down this big old passage, but in short, if I was to give it a sentence, a summation, in short, it means that the wife and the husband are one flesh.

Christ is our bridegroom. The church is his body.

We are joined together with Christ as one flesh and Christ cares for his body.

Christ cares for his body. That if you are in Christ, you are the bride and Christ Jesus is your bridegroom.

John chapter 3 verse 29 again, we'll walk through it.

But beginning in A, he who has the bride is the bridegroom.

John is calling himself the friend of the bridegroom. This could be a modern day term for best man.

Whenever you get married, you have a best man. John is saying that that's what he is. He is not the bridegroom.

He is the best man. The best man is to be there to support the bridegroom.

He does not, listen, he does not stand in the place of the bridegroom, right? If the bridegroom was to be partaking in the wedding, let's say he gets lightheaded and faints, the best man doesn't step up and take his place and marry the bride.

Like that's not what happens, right? If anything, he catches the bride, the bridegroom, puts a little water on his head, fans him, tells him it's going to be okay to proceed.

Right? He doesn't stand in place of the bridegroom. To restate what

I said earlier, what I said earlier is in his humility, he understands his position.

John understands what he was sent for and he is grateful for all that God has given him.

And he rejoices in what God the Father has given to God the

Son, which is the bride, the church. John understands that the church is not his, the church is not his bride, the

Christ is the bridegroom and the church belongs to him. That all these people that are going to him, it's because he is the bridegroom and they are the bride.

So point number four, the ministry. We'll read this along with the full picture of the allegory that's given.

So beginning in verse 29 and 30, he who has the bride is the bridegroom.

But the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because the bridegroom's voice.

So this is my joy. So this my joy has been made full. He must increase.

I must decrease. The allegory was pointing to him being the mess man who does not take position, but he stands back and rejoices at what

God is doing for the Christ. John the Baptist tells this group of Jews who were looking for a debate, who is causing commotion that ultimately his ministry is to be one that fades in the background and for the coming

Messiah and his ministry to flourish. To John, there's nothing to be jealous of.

He has completed his job. He has prepared the way of the Lord, right? He has made straight the path.

He has done what he was supposed to do. He has done what God has sent him to do. And this is making straight the path.

That's all he was told to do. How does he make straight the path? By preaching repentance. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

He must increase, but I must decrease. Now, if you remember my proposition, my proposition is that the greatest need for ministers and ministries is to learn how to decrease.

The gospel writer John has given to us the greatest example of humiliation by showing to us the story of John the

Baptist. A lot of times in preaching, when someone asks me about preaching, like how to go about it, in preaching, there's three steps really.

You tell them what you're going to say, you say it, and then you remind them what you said.

Right? That's basically what it is, like with preaching. You tell them what you're going to say.

You say what you told them you were going to say, and at the end, you remind them of what you said.

Well, right now, I'm going to remind you of what I just said, that through the commotion,

John knew his position, and he used an allegory of a wedding to show where he stood in ministry.

And it's behind, beside the braggarty. He's not the braggarty.

That's humility. That's humility. That's where we need to be. Now, I've been told that John only said these things because he knew his ministry was about to end, but I don't buy that for a minute.

I don't buy that for a minute. John knew where he stood in light of the light. He knew where he stood in light of the light coming into the world.

This text is the great reminder. It is the great reminder, but it is a great reminder to myself to know my place, for you as well to know your place.

For us, whether we are a minister or not, to know our place in the world.

We are the bride. Jesus is the bridegroom. Jesus loved us and gave himself for us, and we are to submit to him.

And with that, please turn your attention to Romans 5.

Romans 5. He says, therefore, verse 1, therefore, talking about the faith of Abraham, right?

Abraham was a part of this bride. Abraham believed God and was counted as righteous.

He says, therefore, since that's true of Abraham, guess what is true of you? Therefore, have it been justified by faith.

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is speaking about the bride.

Haven't been justified by faith. He's speaking to believers. He's speaking to the bride.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we are made right with God by faith.

We have peace with God by faith. The call of John the

Baptist was to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus started his ministry.

It was repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Our repentance was to turn to him in faith, was to trust

God through Jesus Christ. And if you have trusted God through Jesus Christ, you have stood in that line that was going to Jesus.

And you are the bride. The bride was coming to him. Therefore, have it been justified by faith. We have peace.

The wrath of God no longer abides on us. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Look at verse six. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

For one would hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man, someone would dare to even die.

But God demonstrated his own love toward us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more than having been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him.

How are we saved from the wrath of God? Through Jesus Christ. If while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Salvation is through the work of Jesus Christ. How does one become a part of the body? How does one become the bride?

By faith alone in what God has done to justify the wicked. Christ Jesus died for our sins.

This is how the union is met. By faith alone in him. So the question is, is are you reconciled to God?

Have you been justified by the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf?

Right? Are you reconciled to God? Are you justified? Are you a part of the bride because of the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf?

Has he built this house for you and come back to receive you unto himself? Do you have peace with God through faith in his son?

Or does the wrath of God remain upon you? That's the question for everyone. Right?

We can be reconciled to God because of what Christ Jesus has done by faith alone in what Christ has done.

Or the wrath of God remains upon you. Those are the only two options. I hope for the first.

I'm available to anyone who wants to talk. Pastor Cal, our deacon

Josh, let's pray. Oh God, please, in Jesus' name, please

Lord, grant me the humility and my ministry as John the

Baptist had in his. Help me to be one that stands by the bridegroom who stands downtown with his head looking up into the sky.

And as people walk by, they glance at me only to see what it is that I'm looking at.

Would help us to be your faithful servants to you. Not because to gain any kind of access to you,

Lord, but for the reason of being faithful because of what you have done.

Our great love in which we love you with, Lord, is weak. And it can only be strengthened through faith,

Lord. So please give us faith, Lord, as we live this life, Lord, that you have called us to live, to trust you so that we can love you,

Lord, the way that you deserve to be loved. Well, right now we come to our portion of the service where we are about to partake in the supper, the meal that you've handed down for us to remember you,

Lord. And we ask God that through this, you will conform us to the image of your son.

Lord, conform us as we sit under your word, conform us as we fellowship, conform us as we pray, also conform us as we partake in this meal.