Even the son of man which is in heaven and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness
Even so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believed within him should not perish
But I've eternal life for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believed in him should not perish
But I've everlasting life for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world
But that the world through him might be saved
He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already,
because he hath not believed in the only name, in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateeth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea and there he tarried with them and baptized
And John also was baptizing in Aonun in Aonun
Near to Salim 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 on to John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan,
to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizedeth, and all men come to him.
John answered and said, A man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven.
He yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but that I am sent for him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice, there is my joy, there is my joy, therefore is fulfilled.
He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all.
that he testified, and no man received with his testimony.
He that hath received his testimony hath said to his seal
that God is true.
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God,
for God giveth not the spirit but by measure unto him.
The Father loved the Son and hath given all things unto his hand.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life,
but the wrath of God by the on him. Let's pray.
Father God, we thank you, dear Lord, for this wonderful church you've given us.
We thank you for the King James Bible, dear Lord. We thank you for our pastor.
And we bless, uh, and we ask that you please bless him tonight as he preaches your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Okay, we are in John chapter 3 this evening, and quite frankly, I believe this is probably
one of the most powerful chapters.
in the entire Bible.
And John chapter three is such a pivotal chapter.
It's such an influential chapter.
Many unsafe people can quote from John chapter three.
Of course, we have the famous John 316
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
And it's essentially a chapter that really hones in
and explains the message of salvation
Probably the best, right?
It puts the cookie on the bottom shelf.
It's very elementary.
And it is a wonderful, lovely chapter.
And we're gonna go through it this evening.
Now we start off with the Bible character here,
Nicodemus, who is a ruler of the Jews.
And what this means is that he's obviously a Pharisee,
but he's possibly part of what the Bible refers to
as the council.
And the council simply means the Sanhedrin.
I'm sure you've heard that phrase before.
The Sanhedrin is referring to the council of Jews.
These were rulers who had a lot of influence
over the people, religious influence,
and even political influence.
So we have Nicodemus coming here.
And let me just give you my opinion regarding Nicodemus
in this particular story.
A lot of people debate the conjecture
of whether he was saved or not.
I would say that he possibly wasn't saved.
And the reason I say that he probably didn't get saved here is because of the fact that in the book of John,
when Jews or Pharisees get saved, the Bible seems to go out of its way to tell us that they got saved,
that they believed on the Lord, that they believed on Christ.
Here it seems as though he didn't because of the fact that the Bible doesn't explicitly say it,
and some of the teachings that Jesus Christ puts forth seems to indicate also
that Nicodemus is not understanding and he's rejecting the witness of Jesus Christ himself.
And we'll get into that in just a bit, but let's talk about Nicodemus coming to the light
but rejecting it. Verse number one says,
Verse number two says,
the same came to Jesus by night.
Now let me just start off by saying that Nicodemus
obviously understands and views Jesus Christ
as being a very influential person.
As we're gonna see, he knows that he's sent from God,
but I think that's where the book stops.
And
We see here that he might have some shame about himself.
He might be embarrassed to go to Jesus Christ.
In contrast to everyone else just coming to him during the day,
they're seeing him perform the miracles,
they're coming to him to hear his preaching.
Nicodemus is coming to him.
by night, showing us that possibly Nicodemus is a little embarrassed, he's a little ashamed,
he doesn't necessarily want the crowds and the people to know that he's going to Jesus Christ
to ask him doctrinal questions, because it's embarrassing to him, you know, he is a ruler,
he's a Pharisee. And let me just start off by saying that, you know, we as Christians should
never be like a Nicodemus who comes to Jesus or proclaims Jesus by night. In other words,
testimony of the Lord, right? That we are ashamed of his servants. We're ashamed to associate with
other believers. We're ashamed of our church. You're ashamed of me as your pastor. You're ashamed
of the Bible. We should be very open and come to these conclusions or, you know, essentially answer
people during the day, so to speak.
In other words, we're not ashamed.
We're saying, yeah, I'm a Christian.
I'm a Baptist.
Or aren't you like a new IFP Baptist?
Yeah, I am a new IFP, new independent fundamental Baptist.
I am King James only.
Oh, aren't you guys the people that believe
in the reparated doctrine?
Yes, I believe in the biblical doctrine.
of reprobation because that's what the Bible teaches.
You know, oh, you guys use the term soulning?
Absolutely, because that's the term that the Bible uses.
Let's not be like Nicodemus that, you know, we come by night.
We're very obscure.
We're hiding from others
because we're embarrassed of what others might think of us.
He says that the same came to Jesus by night
and said it to him, Rabbi,
we know that thou art a teacher come from God.
Now, we can conjecture that when he says we know, he's simply referring to himself or he's possibly talking about a consensus of Pharisees that actually hold to this testimony, right?
And obviously we know that in the book of John, the Bible talks about Pharisees believing on him, but not confessing him openly for fear of the Jews.
They didn't want to be cast out of the synagogues, so they were embarrassed and so, you know, they're essentially, you know, not necessarily proclaiming him out in the open.
that our teacher come from God.
He's like, we know that you're a preacher,
you're a prophet of the Lord,
and he gives the reason why.
He says, no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him.
Now, the only miracle we've seen so far
is the miracle of turning the water into wine, right?
I mean, that's the first miracle that we see.
And so, obviously, some of the Pharisees
and the Jews were present during that particular time,
and it's that miracle that convinced
Nicodemus that the Lord is from God and it's pretty interesting if you think about it because you know
Again, we don't know everything about Nicodemus. I conjecture that he probably wasn't saved. It's possible that he's not
But you know if we were to just kind of delve in and just kind of speculate certain things
He tasted of the heavenly gift so to speak because he was there to taste of the miracle of the wine
And yet we see here that in John chapter 3 in spite of the clear miracle that was presented to him
He clearly rejected it. Okay, so he comes to him and he says that he knows he's from God
He knows that he's of the Lord because he's performing these miracles verse number three
I like that Jesus Christ just just kind of cuts the nonsense and just gets straight to the point, right?
He says Jesus answered and sent him
Verily, verily I say unto thee accept the man be born again. He cannot see the kingdom of God
Now we don't really know what Nicodemus was going to ask, right? He didn't really cut to the chase
He was just kind of flattering a little bit.
He's just kind of, you know, lifting up Jesus Christ.
But Jesus obviously just cuts through it and says
what he has to do to be saved, okay?
And here we see Jesus essentially destroying
the Jewish notion of ethnic salvation.
Because he says, except you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.
He's not saying except you're a Jew, you can't see the Kingdom of God.
Except you're of Israel, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.
He specifically says that they have to be born again in order to see the Kingdom of God.
Directly relating salvation to being able to see God's Kingdom.
Not on this earth, per se, as the Jews would see it, but rather in heaven.
in the future and so he says they got to be born again. Now look at verse number four.
Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his
mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, very, very, I say unto thee, accept the man be born of
water and of the spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born to the flesh
is flesh and that which is born to the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, he must
Again, so we obviously know that throughout the Bible we see various ways that the Bible explains justification, salvation,
and this is probably one of the most elementary ways of explaining it, which is to be born again.
Now, there's a lot of misinterpretations of this particular verse.
A lot of false doctrine that people use this verse for.
And obviously, they're misusing it, they're twisting scripture.
Let me give you two wrong interpretations of this particular verse of being born of water, okay?
Because one is damnedable, the other one is not damnedable, but it's not correct, okay?
The first wrong interpretation of being born of water is that people will say that this means you have to be baptized in order to be saved, right?
Unless the man be born of water and of the spirit, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
They'll often say that being born of water means that you have to physically be baptized in order to be saved.
Now, the Roman Catholics use this verse for that.
But so do other so-called Christians that teach baptismal regeneration.
They'll often use this portion of scripture.
They'll twist it in order to teach that you have to be physically baptized in order to be saved.
Now, that obviously is an absolute absurd interpretation of salvation, of this particular verse,
because the Bible conclusively teaches that baptism cannot save you.
Why? Well, because of the fact that the Bible specifically says in Romans 116 that the Gospel is the power of God and his salvation
to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Furthermore, 1 Corinthians 15 defines for us what the Gospel is and that is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So, if we were to explain those two verses together, we would say that the Gospel means that you have to believe in the death,
in order to be saved.
Place your faith that the death of Jesus Christ
and his bodily resurrection, listen to this,
is sufficient to save you.
Why? Well, because of the fact that Christ's death paid for your sins past, present, and future and his resurrection the Bible says according to Romans chapter 4
He was raised again for our justification. Those are the elements that are needed to save us
Obviously including the fact that he was a perfect man without sin
But the gospel the good news is the fact that God is sending his son to be the perpetuation for our sins on the cross
And that he rose again the third day
So, if a person believes that, they can be saved, right?
Well, with that in mind, 1 Corinthians 1, the Apostle Paul says that Christ sent them
not to baptize but to preach the gospel.
So, he's clearly making a distinction between the act of baptism and the act of preaching
the gospel.
He's saying, I thank God that I baptized none of you, he says.
And of course, he ends up saying that Christ sent him to preach the gospel, obviously showing
us that the element of baptism is not included in the gospel, which is what's needed in
order to be saved.
Okay?
showing us that baptism cannot save you.
Furthermore, we have the example of the thief on the cross.
And a lot of heretical groups hate the thief on the cross.
I'll just be honest with you,
because it just completely destroys this notion of having to be baptized,
or do any works to be saved, right?
Why? Because when you're nailed on a cross, you can't really do anything.
other than place your faith on Jesus Christ, okay?
And people like to use him as an exception to the rule.
Well, that was under the Old Testament.
That was this.
Well, let me just tell you something right now.
John chapter three is under the Old Testament too, okay?
All the gospels are under the Old Testament
up until the death of Jesus Christ.
So when the thief on the cross believed, okay?
And by the way, he didn't repent of his sin either.
How can he repent of it?
He's literally dying because of his sin.
Right, I mean he's paying the consequence of his crime. He's being put to death for a sin
It's impossible for him to repent or turn from he can't move. How does he turn? He can't even move
Okay, you know the only thing that the Bible tells us is that he said remember me when thou come into thy kingdom
Lord remember me when thou come into thy kingdom
Which we would interpret based upon other scriptures to mean that he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ
He views Jesus Christ as being the way the truth of the life the only one that could save him right and we know
That he got saved because Jesus said today thou shall be with me in paradise. This is another way of saying that you're saved
Okay
And, you know, baptismal regeneration groups hate that story because of the fact that their doctrine completely falls apart.
because of the thief in the cross and you know I would surmise that the thief in the cross is probably still receiving rewards because of that
Right because we've used them so many times to debunk false doctrines
So even though he wasn't able to come down from the cross and do works thereafter
You know his example his story has been used countless times to reinforce the doctrine of salvation and justification
That it's not of works. Okay, and so when the Bible says here that you're born of water
It's it's not referring to baptism over generation
We see that various through various scriptures that the Bible does not teach that you have to be baptized in order to be saved
Bible is very clear about
Salvation coming through faith in Jesus Christ alone, but you know another wrong interpretation
Of this particular verse that people will use is that they'll say when it says born of water
It means that you're born by the word of God, okay?
And I've heard this various times and this is not heretical per se.
This isn't like damnedable heresy because of the fact that obviously we're born again,
you know, not of incorruptible seed, or not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
seed by the word of God as the Bible says, right?
So that's accurate.
The problem with that interpretation and imposing that upon John chapter 3 is the fact that
But here's the thing, though, is that being born of the Word of God and being born of the Holy Spirit are synonymous.
They're not distinctly different things.
You can't just be born of the Word of God and not be born of the Spirit.
You can't be born of the Spirit and not be born of the Word of God.
They work together to bring salvation unto you. Why? Because faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God and
once you believe in the word of God that's being preached unto you, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within you and in fact
He comes to regenerate you. Okay?
This is the role that the Holy Spirit plays within the life of a person once they believe on Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us this is in Titus 3.5,
not by works of righteousness, which we have done,
but according to his mercy, he saved us
by the washing and regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, not of baptism, of the Holy Ghost.
So essentially teaching us that when you got saved
and when I got saved, when we believed on Christ,
in the spirit realm, in the supernatural realm,
the unseen realm,
You know, the Holy Spirit came and he revived your dead spirit.
Okay, he regenerated your dead spirit. Your spirit that was once dead in its trespasses and sin was quickened together
That word quickened means be brought back to life by the Holy Spirit of God
Okay, so the Holy Spirit came regenerated your dead spirit. You have that new man dwelling within you
So now you have the new man, but you also have the Holy Spirit of God
permanently
Dealt within you from here on out
Okay, so when it says born of water because you know I've even heard fundamental back to say this
They say well when it says born of water know the spirit born of water means that they're born of the incorruptible seed
And obviously you can see where they get that from
Because of the fact that water in the bible often pictures is a symbolic representation of the word of god, right?
We see that in Ephesians chapter 5 and various other places in the Bible that
compares the word of God as being water that satiates the soul, however in this
particular instance it's not referring to the word of God. Being born of water
literally is referring to a baby going through his mother's womb,
cervix, matrix, in order to be born because they're literally surrounded by water.
Okay, when a woman is about to give birth one of the first things that they say is my water broke
Okay, because the child currently my daughter currently Lillian Jane is surrounded by water right now
So once she is born she comes out of that water. Okay, she's born of water
She comes forth from that water that liquid that's within the womb
You understand?
And that's an indication that she is a living person, right?
She's being born of water.
I know this is really deep stuff here.
But this is important because people will, you know,
they will talk to you about this
and they'll claim that this is teaching baptismal regeneration
when literally it's referring to being physically born.
So being born again by the word of God
and by the spirit are synonymous.
You can't have one without the other.
They work in conjunction one with another
for the salvation of man.
Jesus says to be born of water in response to Nicodemus' understanding of entering in
through his mother's womb a second time to be born again.
So that's how we know he's referring to a physical birth because Jesus is responding
to Nicodemus' misunderstanding of the birth.
Which is why Jesus reiterates in verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
So when he says to be born of water, that synonymous with verse 6 that says that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
In other words, that which is carnal, that which is physical, is born of the carnal, is born of the physical.
That's what it means to be born of water.
Okay?
And then he says, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Giving us two different distinct births.
One is a physical one, and one is a spiritual.
And here's the best way to interpret this verse or define, describe this verse.
And I've heard this, I got this from...
my old church, and I'm sure it's been around for a long time,
they'll often say when it comes to salvation,
if you're born once, you die twice.
But if you die twice, or I'm sorry,
if you're born twice, you die once.
And what that means is that if you're born once,
meaning you're born of water,
that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
But you're never born again spiritually then you will die twice how well you'll die physically and go to hell
But you'll die spiritually also in the second hell known as a lake of fire
Okay, so you essentially experience two deaths
If you're only physically born once but you're never spiritually born again
Whereas if you're born twice meaning that you're born of the water that which is born of the flesh is flesh
You're physically born, but you're also born of the spirit meaning you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ
You only suffer one death
You physically die
But you live forever more because you believed on the Lord and quite frankly you just never die again because you shall return
You know at the resurrection
That's a great way to describe it
Born once, die twice, born twice, die once, okay?
And so this is an important doctrine here
and it's great that the Lord,
and you know, when you read John chapter three,
it's just like, oh, I know what this means.
It means that I have to be born into the family of God.
And this is actually first stated in John chapter 1 verse 12, if you remember, right?
But as many as received him to them gave him power to become the sons of God,
even unto them to believe in his name.
How do you become a son of God by being born again?
Okay.
And of course, we can go through all the different verses in the Bible that describe us spiritually as being children of wrath, children of disobedience, right?
Walking according to the course of this world, according to the spirit of disobedience, so that when we believe on Christ, we're now born into God's family, okay?
We're born again. Powerful stuff here. I love this verse. I love this passage.
Look at verse number nine.
It's pretty simple, and in fact, I'm sure my five-year-old just understood what I just explained.
Yeah, Nicodemus, don't get it, though.
Verse 9 says Nicodemus answered and sentenced him.
How can these things be?
So first, he's just like, how am I supposed to be born again?
Am I supposed to go into my mother's womb again and be born again?
And then Jesus Christ had to break it down for him,
explaining to him in very elementary form.
Now, the only way you would not understand this, okay,
is if you're rejecting this.
So I don't think, you know, again, I'm conjecturing here, but based upon the chapter, I'm conjecturing here that Nicodemus didn't want to understand.
Because anybody who wants the truth will come to the saving knowledge of the truth.
If you really want, you know, the truth, you'll come to the light. You're not going to reject the light.
And this is a very simple concept here. Salvation is very simple, and Jesus Christ made it even more simple with this illustration here.
And in fact salvation is so simple that a child could believe it
as long as you have the faith of a child, right?
But yet Nicodemus can't understand it.
So he's just like, how can these things be?
And I love this answer in verse number 10.
Jesus answered and said to him,
Art thou a master of Israel?
And knowest thou these things?
So he just slams them with this statement.
He's like you're supposed to be a master
You got your divinity degree. You got your bachelors. You got your master in divinity. You're a master of Israel
You're the one who's you're a ruler of the Jews part of the council
You're supposed to know the word of God and yet you don't know these things
But look folks it was true 2,000 years ago, and it's still true today
Just because someone has a degree in divinity, in the Bible, in whatever religious studies doesn't mean they even know about the simplicity of salvation.
And I'm sure you've seen that before.
There's people online with all types of degrees
and they have great swelling words of vanity.
They're able to wax eloquent,
tell you all the historical, archeological discoveries
and all the cultural relevance of how it was to live
in a Jewish culture of that day.
And they know the Hebrew, they know the Greek,
but goodness sake, they can't even tell you how to be saved.
Happens all the time and you know why because of the fact that unsaved people love to hear unsaved people teach the Bible
That's a fact
Unsaved people love to listen to unsaved people
Expound the word of God. I'm just telling you that for it's a fact and unsaved people love to teach the Bible
Understanding neither what they say nor where they affirm
And so they need all this head knowledge, all this historical evidence, all this archaeological evidence
to make up for the fact that they can't really truly understand the Word of God.
Who gave this guy his masters?
Who gave Nicodemus his degree?
How in the world did he even become a master of Israel if bro don't even understand how to be saved?
which is the most simplest message and doctrine to know in the Bible.
And look, folks, salvation is not a new message of the New Testament.
The term believe has been used all the way back in the Old Testament.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Okay.
People were saved in the Old Testament.
Men began to call upon the name of the Lord in Genesis chapter 4.
The message of salvation has permeated the nation of Israel for thousands of years.
And look, folks, not just prophets were preaching salvation, kings were preaching salvation.
Everyone was preaching salvation. Why? Because it's the simplest message.
It's the easiest message to preach and to believe.
But yeah, you got this guy who's a master.
This guy is a religious authority in the nation of Israel yet
He did not even understand the simple doctrine of justification
And I'm telling you right now social media has permeated with people just like this
Hundreds and hundreds millions of followers millions of likes millions of comments and they just but they're not even saved oh
They can talk to you about all the the Jewish culture and you know what the Hebrew says here and that and the other
But if you ask them plainly, can you lose your salvation? I don't know can you?
That's possible. I don't think you can but maybe you can you're not saved
You and look folks if someone's not saved they have nothing to offer you
Zero to offer you. I don't care how much Bible they claim to know
I don't care if they memorized all the facts of the cultural context of the first century AD
They don't know any Bible why because the natural man received it's not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
That's it unto him. They're spiritually discerned. They can't understand the Bible and if they can't understand you do we see Jesus Christ?
Just going through an entire
historical
dissertation with Nicodemus after this no
After he explains salvation, and we're gonna see some more explanation of salvation, then he just moves on.
Why? Because if you can't get beyond salvation, you can't understand anything else.
Look, I have a ton of people that follow me, they agree with me about the Jews,
but let me just tell you right now, the vast majority of them are not saved.
And look, it doesn't take much to see the stuff about the Jews.
You know what I mean? It just takes like two brain cells to rub together.
You know a little a little Bible on what the what the Bible says about Jews a little historical context about Jews
And most people can understand it
But you know if you're right on the Jews, but you're wrong on salvation you're splitting out wide open doesn't matter
That's a fact and you can claim to be the Israel of God all you want
You can claim to be the elect all you want
You know, you could be right on the Jews and even right on your interpretation of what the Bible says who the real true Jews are
But if you're not saved, it doesn't apply to you bud
You're splitting hell wide open
Salvation is the most important thing you know they used to say back in the old
IFB if you're wrong on baptism you're wrong on everything else and I understood
what they meant by that but the accurate statement should be if you're
wrong on salvation you're wrong on everything else and you might be right
on certain things but you've completely discredited yourself
If you can't even get the simple message of salvation down Nicodemus,
how can these things be?
How are you a master?
I got a better question for you.
How are you a master of Israel and you don't understand this?
And look, I mean, I think you would agree with me that when Jesus Christ is dealing with Pharisees,
he deals with them in parables.
And he does it intentionally so they don't understand.
So he's being pretty gracious with Nicodemus, who's a ruler.
He's just like he must be born again to enter into the kingdom of God and then he asks a stupid question
And he's just like well that which is born of water though that which is born to the flesh is flesh
That which is born to the spirit of spirit marvel not that I say until you must be born again
And he's like well, how can these things be just like?
How are you a master you don't understand these things and
Again, it's not that the message is too difficult. It's not even that Jesus Christ is being you know, too overly complicated with the message of salvation
It's very simple
And in fact, other Pharisees believed and they got saved.
Nicodemus is just rejecting the truth.
And let me just explain something to you.
When you've clearly explained something to someone,
a biblical doctrine, of course in context,
let's just say salvation, and people are just like,
I just don't understand how that is.
Sometimes it's true, they are blinded, that does happen.
But many times it's because they don't want to believe it.
That's a fact.
You know and I preached about this
I don't remember what was like two weeks ago about Mary having children other children other than Jesus Christ
Which is a biblical doctrine
And this came about because there was this there is this
There's this Catholic guy. He's like a big guy on X and he's just like you know, Mary never had any children
other than Jesus Christ
Right, so he got a lot of backlash from Christians who you know and by the way again
You don't even have to be safe to know that Jesus had brothers and sisters
But he says you know Jesus didn't have any brothers and sisters, right?
And you know he got a lot of backlash and people are like how are you sending the Bible literally says and names his brothers
It says he has sisters, you know James the Lord's brother
And he got so much backlash that he ended up responding. He said wow, I didn't know people even believe this
Right, he's how do you know people believe that that Jesus had brothers and sisters?
You know, that's crazy that people even I've always believed that he didn't have brothers and sisters
It's crazy people then why'd you make that post you idiot? Oh?
So it's you just never is just never heard it before well all of a sudden you just want to say
Jesus never had any brothers. Well, why even make the statement if everyone already believes that
I'll tell you why because you're lying
Your rage baiting is what you're doing
Because you know for a fact that the Bible teaches and that Christians by and large
Believe that Jesus had brothers and sisters. What's the problem? The guy I'll tell you what it is
It's not that he can't understand the truth because let me just say this any Catholic
Do you've talked to and I've talked to we've shown them the verses regarding?
Jesus had brother and sisters and they rejected you're just like what in the world? How can you not?
It's not that they can't understand it is that there being a Nicodemus about it
It's just that they don't want to understand it
It's not that it's going over their head. They're not even letting it near the proximity of their head
They're just completely rejecting the truth. Okay, so don't get frustrated with people all the time
One year just I just don't understand how these people can't see it
This guy is just he just he just can't believe no, it's because he's rejecting the truth
He's being a Nicodemus about the whole situation
Okay
Master of Israel knows not these things. Yeah, because you know the natural man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God
Okay, look at verse number 11
Verily, verily, I say unto thee we speak that we do know and
Testify that we have seen and this is the part that I the reason I believe that
Nicodemus did not get saved it says and ye receive not our witness
So he's like I know what I'm talking about right I testify of that which I have seen
And he's saying in Yee, and not just referring to Nicodemus, but anybody who agrees with Nicodemus, you're not receiving the witness of God.
Because if they don't, if he's not believing in Jesus, he's not believing what Jesus is saying, what does the Bible say that he's saying of Jesus, that Jesus is a what, a liar?
Because Jesus Christ is witnessing of this truth, and Nicodemus is like, well, how can these things be?
Because they are Nicodemus. That's why. It's true.
So when he says,
ye receive not our witness,
this is probably an indication that Nicodemus
rejected the Gospel.
Verse 12 says,
if I have told you earthly things,
now what earthly things is he talking about?
The physical birth of a human being.
Okay?
And ye believe not?
How shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?
It's like, how can you get to second base
if you can't even get past first base?
You can't even understand the elementary things of salvation. Why am I going to explain to you and times Bible prophecy?
right
You can't understand justification
Salvation by grace to faith and Jesus Christ alone
How are you going to understand any other doctrine that is a heavenly doctrine?
If you can't even get the earthly doctrine that is using the illustration of a physical birth very simple, right?
He says in verse 13
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven.
Now there's two things I want to say about this verse, because this seems a little tricky, right?
Verse 13 says that no man hath ascended up to heaven.
Now there are people who believe in the false doctrine of soul sleep.
which is a false doctrine and it's a teaching that essentially states that
when a believer dies their soul does not go directly to heaven it actually
stays it's encapsulated within the corpse sleeping within the body until
Jesus Christ returns so they essentially assert that no one's in heaven right now
there's no believer in heaven right now because everyone is sleeping inside of
their carcass
Now the obviously that is just retarded
Because people have been dead for thousands of years and the carcasses no longer exist
Everyone understand that there's something called decomposition and
Some people that even have the privilege of being buried some people were burned
Some people were eaten
So where is that soul? Where is that soul sleeping?
Okay, secondly souls don't sleep
Okay, it's just common sense really
But they believe you know and they'll often use passages
About people dying and how the Bible describes them as being asleep, you know Jesus Christ set of Lazarus in
John chapter 11 we're gonna cover that in the weeks to come that
He was asleep, and then he said plainly that he was dead, okay, but the reason he's saying he's asleep
It's because dead people look like they're asleep
They have their eyes closed. Okay
And in fact, I feel like God intentionally makes a corpse look a certain way to help us to realize that the real person is not even there anymore.
Because every person when they die, they look like a shell, like the person is not there.
And it's true, the actual person who, you know, the soul of that individual is no longer there, they've gone one way or the other, right?
conclusively teaches that when a person dies, they do go to heaven if they're saved, of course.
You know, they go to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord.
And of course, the Apostle Paul also described his desire to be with Christ, which is far better.
But even if we didn't have those verses, the Old Testament records people going to heaven.
I mean, Elijah went up to heaven in chariots of fire.
Right? He went to heaven VIP.
There's no sleeping involved
Enoch the Bible says was not for God took him Hebrews 11 says that he was translated that he should not see death
So he's currently in heaven
The Bible talks about in Job chapter 1 that the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and
Satan came also among them who are the sons of God believers
Are currently in heaven
Anybody who's ever died being a believer
is in heaven right now, they're not sleeping in their carcass.
Now, aside from the other verses that they twist to say,
oh, when it says sleep, that's proof right there that they're asleep
in their carcass that doesn't even exist anymore,
they'll often use this verse to also reinforce that teaching
that says, and no man hath ascended up to heaven.
So let's say, oh, even Jesus said that no one
has ascended, has gone to heaven as stated by Jesus.
But this isn't what Jesus Christ is talking about,
and I'm going to prove it to you based upon the context.
Because what is Jesus actually saying according to verse 13?
He's saying that no man has ascended up to heaven
and returned in order to bear witness of these things.
The only legitimate witness that people have on this earth
is the witness of Jesus Christ who was in heaven
and came down to earth.
This is why he says no man have to send it up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven even the Son of man
Which is in heaven. He's essentially lending veracity to his witness to his testimony as noted by the fact that he was in heaven
He came down from heaven
He is on earth and he's witnessing of the things that are heavenly
Whereas every single person who ascended up to heaven by death never came back, right up until this point
Because of course we have instances after this where Jesus Christ is resurrecting the dead and
I do believe that the people he brings back to life are saved people, okay?
But up until this point he's saying no man had to send it up to heaven
meaning that
There isn't any person who can actually witness of the heavenly things because no one's coming back from heaven. They're staying there
from here on out. Okay, that's what it's referring to here. Look at verse 14.
He says, And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of
Man be lifted up that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And of course this is a call back to Numbers 21 verse 9 where the children of Israel are
rebelling against the Lord and they are doing what they do best in disobeying God.
And they cry out to God, God commands Moses to make a brazen serpent, okay?
And if they simply look upon the serpent, they'll be healed.
They'll be delivered from the venom, so to speak, of the serpent.
And of course, the serpent there, the serpents are a picture of Satan, it's a picture of sin.
And the brazen serpent is a picture of Jesus Christ because the Bible tells us that he had made him to be sin, who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
So he says here that just as Moses lifted up that brazen serpent who later was called Nahush-Tan,
Even so, the Son of Man must be lifted up on the cross, is what he's referring to, so that when people believe on him, they may be delivered from that steam, right?
From that venom of sin, the wages of sin, so forth.
And so it says, so whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
If you look at verse 16, probably the most famous verse in the Bible,
obviously we know the verses were not placed there originally.
This was later added in order to help us study and to reference.
But it's a great place to put it at.
Verse 16 says,
Now what is he saying here?
Well first, we're going to look at the fact that we're looking at God's love for the world, right?
And when it says here, for God's soul of the world,
this isn't like, I love you so much.
That's how most people read it.
When it says for God's soul of the world,
this is like, God so loved you, you know?
He loved you so much.
When it says for God's soul of the world,
the proper interpretation of this phrase
is that he loved the world in this manner.
So loved the world means in this manner
is how he loved the world, okay?
that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever believed in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
So God's love for the world was expressed in this manner
by giving his son Jesus Christ, all right?
Now this is important because of the fact that
this is what I would consider to be
the entry level to God's love, okay?
Because everyone has access to this love.
I mean, it's already been provided for
this manner of love
that God loved the world in was expressed through Jesus Christ.
But if you don't get through that first entry level of love, you can't experience any other love other than that.
Okay, and let me say this again. This is entry-level love though.
Because according to the Bible, the Bible says, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us
that we should be called the sons of God.
So there's a love that we experience as God's people that the world does not know about.
We've experienced the love of God through Jesus Christ because God commended this love toward us and that while we were at sin
It's Christ died for us. Oh, but there's other
Forms of love that God expresses to us after salvation and one of them is that we are called the sons of God
God is our Heavenly Father. We are the children of God, you know, the world has no idea what that love is about
They will never know unless they go through the entry level of love they God expressed through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
But folks, don't forget this, think upon this, ruminate upon this truth, meditate upon the fact that you, if you're saved, are called a child of God.
And that is God's great expression of love towards you, because whom the Lord loveth, he chaseneth.
He takes care of you, he provides for you, he protects you, he comforts you.
That is a manner of love that the world has no idea about.
Now they can say they know about it.
They can say, oh, I know God loves me because he does this, that, and the other.
Yeah, but let me just tell you this is that God is good to the just as well as the unjust.
Amen.
You know, God is just so good that, you know, people just think like, oh, man, God's pleased
with me or something because he's just blessing me.
No, you're just receiving the residual blessings of just God's goodness.
He sends rain on the just as well as the unjust not because he loves the unjust, but because just God is just good
Okay, you know the the the wicked person on the world who's able to breathe every single day
It's just because God is just good
It's not it's not because of anything that that wicked person has done any good that that person has done because there's none righteous
No, not one
Whereas we ex we actually experience a higher level of love that the world knows nothing about
And let me just say this, if a person rejects the love of God,
people can get to a point, this side of eternity, where God doesn't love them anymore.
The Bible talks about that in the book of Hosea, where he specifically tells people,
I will love thee no more.
So this verse 16 love does have a deadline.
You know, you better redeem it fast before it's too late.
This love is only available to you. You know where this coupon applies
You could only redeem it at certain stores in that certain store is through the Lord Jesus Christ
And so you know the the the reprobate the sodomite the child molester
Verse 16 no longer applies to them
the mass murderer
psychopath
reprobate
Hater of God worker of iniquity God doesn't love that person
Whoa, whoa, whoa, the Bible says for God so loved the world, you know, God loves that.
Yeah, he loved that person at one point and in fact, he expressed that love already 2,000 years ago.
But their rejection of that love causes God not to love them anymore,
meaning that love through Jesus Christ is no longer available to them.
And look, it's just it's common sense people in hell are not loved of God, okay?
You know, people were in hell and just like burning for all of eternity like oh man God loves me so much. Look at how much I'm you know
It's so hot and you know, there's it's hatred
It's complete wrath upon them
Furthermore, you know, there's so there's there's that entry level love
That we experienced to Jesus Christ all of us experienced that love when we first got saved. It's like man. God loves me
He sent the son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for me like he is offering me salvation, you know
God so, he loved me in this manner.
But then you realize, oh man, you know, behold a manner of love, the Father episode upon us that we should be called the sons of God.
He's providing for me, he's blessing me, he is chastising me, right?
He's protecting me, but then the Bible also talks about the love of Christ that passeth all knowledge.
He says, you know, the ye being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints
What is the breadth length depth and height and to know the love of Christ that passeth all knowledge?
So there's even an experience of love that sometimes Christians don't even get to know about why because they don't read the Bible
They don't serve God. They're never stepping out in faith. They're never praying and communing with God
You know, I don't know about you, but I want to spend the rest of my life
searching the breath, the length, depth, and height
and to know the love of Christ, even if I never reach the end of that love
since this past is all knowledge.
I want to get as far as possible, right?
I want to get as deep as possible.
I want to know the love of Christ as much as I possibly can this side of eternity.
I've already known the love of Christ, the love of God through Christ.
That happened 18 years ago.
I got saved 18 years ago, July 22nd, 2007.
Oh, I know the manner of love that God had bestowed upon me
that I'm a son of God, but you know what?
I'm at the breath, length, depth.
I'm trying to get way out there
in the ocean of God's love, so to speak.
Experiencing the love of God through him answering my prayers.
Experiencing the love of God as we co-labor together
to win people to Christ.
You know, that's a love that people don't ever experience.
There's Christians in this world that will never experience the love of God and how God uses them to see other people saved.
To do a work of Christ.
There's Christians out there that will never experience that.
But you know what? Have you experienced praying to get someone saved and then they get saved?
That's a wonderful love right there.
or just praying for just the most basic of things
and getting that prayer answer
because you know that your heavenly father's listening to you,
that's the love that passeth all knowledge.
So there is like tears of love.
And I don't know about you,
I don't wanna just stay at the entry level of love.
I wanna move beyond that.
You know what?
You should move beyond that too.
You should experience the love of Christ
that constrains us.
It keeps you in church.
that keeps you reading the Word of God,
that makes you compassionate towards others,
that gets your prayers answered,
that makes you serve the Lord Jesus Christ
all the days of your life.
That's a different love
that a lot of Christians don't know about.
It's the love that's beyond even the love of a woman,
It's the love for our God, our Savior, he is the Lord.
It's a love that would be willing to just lay down our lives for the cause of Christ
That's the love that passeth all knowledge and
So, you know, we're thankful for John 3 16, but we're all John 3 16 already as far as I know
Let's move on right and you know a lot of churches all they want to talk about is the John 3 16 love
That's all they preach about on Sunday mornings
No, my friends. I want to preach about Ephesians chapter 4
Ephesians chapter 3 love
the passeth all knowledge, the love that motivates us to serve God,
the love that is cultivated when we read the word of God on a daily basis,
where God comforts our soul through hardships and trials,
where he enables us, where he emboldens us,
where he uses us in a great way, that's a great love there.
There's another verse I was thinking about.
I have loved them with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness will I draw them."
That's another love where you experience the love of God that you feel tempted to go back.
You feel the temptation, you feel the pull from the world, but the love of Christ constrains
you, it keeps you where you need to be.
Let's move on here.
Look at verse 17.
He says, for God sent not a sentence to the world to condemn the world, but that the world
Now people also misinterpret this verse and I'll have to say you shouldn't judge
Because Jesus didn't judge he didn't come to condemn the world genius. It's because the world was already condemned
It's already condemned
How do you know he says the verse 18 he that believe it on him is not condemned but he that believe it's not it's condemned already
Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God folks when we go out there and preach the gospel
We're just telling people of the judgment that's already on them
We're just telling him about the condemnation that they're already in
And so he's saying here, you know, obviously Jesus Christ came the first time in the first century
Not to condemn the world because the world was already condemned
He came to save the world via his death and resurrection. Okay
Verse 19 says and this is the condemnation the light is coming to the world and men love darkness
Rather than light because their deeds were evil
Still in context of Nicodemus, in my opinion.
He's remaining in darkness.
What is darkness?
Not understanding.
Obscurity in his understanding.
Why is he remaining there?
Well, the Bible says because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil,
hateeth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproofed.
And this is why anybody who claims to be a truth-er
but does not get saved, they're not a real truth-er.
They actually hate the light.
I don't care how much knowledge you have of the Jews.
If you don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
If you don't place your faith in Him exclusively for salvation,
you're in darkness.
Amen.
You love evil.
Your deeds are evil.
You hate at the lights.
That's what the Bible says.
Amen.
Why? Because, you know, oh,
you like this corner of the truth,
but Jesus Christ is the truth though.
And after seeking the truth, it brings you to the foot of the cross, you reject that message,
God labels you as being a hater of the light.
God operates in absolutes.
Verse 21 says,
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.
And so the people who actually love the truth, love the light, light is synonymous with truth, they want to be exposed.
That's the person that says I am a sinner
That's the person who says I do deserve hell. I cannot save myself
I'm bearing witness to the truth that Jesus Christ is the only thing that can save me not sacraments
Not works not baptism. I'll give you this example, you know on Tuesday we went out. We're out zoning and
The first person to mean my son were witnessing to
He's a Hispanic guy and and he was a Catholic
And, you know, he seemed a little reluctant at first, but, you know, after a while he kind of warmed up and he let me give him the gospel and finally he just, he agreed, he's like, oh yeah, he basically said like, this is the truth, this is the light, right?
And almost seeing as though he was coming to the light.
So after I told him everything and I said, you know, do you believe this? He said yes
I said great, you know, do you believe you can lose your salvation? No, I don't I don't believe you can lose now
So if that's what the Bible says, I said great
So I said, you know, and I showed him Romans 10 9 through 10 and I said I'd like to pray with you
So you can tell God what you already believe in your heart and he was a little reluctant at first
He's like, I don't know, you know, I just said well, why wouldn't you you know?
If this is all true, and what the Bible is saying is true, and God's commanding you to ask Him for salvation,
why wouldn't you do it if this is what you really believe?
And He said, okay, I'll pray. I said, all right, great.
So we're praying, and I just said, you know, the regular prayer, Lord, I recognize I'm a sinner.
I deserve hell. He repeated that.
I believe that Jesus Christ is down at the cross to pay for my sins.
I believe that Jesus Christ is, you know, all in Spanish.
And He resurrected on the third day, and He resurrected on the third day.
And I said, I placed my faith exclusively upon Jesus Christ, and He began to laugh.
He laughed, he laughed.
And I've never had someone laugh like that.
And I kind of open my eyes, he's like, yeah, see that?
Nah, I'm not going to do that.
Because I believe in the Virgin Mary.
I don't believe in Jesus Christ exclusively for salvation.
I believe in the Virgin Mary.
And I said, so are you rejecting what the Bible says about salvation because it doesn't say you have to place your faith in Mary?
And he's like I hold to my traditions. I said, okay, so you you believe your traditions over the Bible
He said yes, I said, all right, do we know it and in my mind I thought to myself like I had this thought like
Catholics are actually the worst idolaters in the world
You know, we think like Hindus are like the worst, but Hindus don't trust in idols to be saved. They just worship idols.
Catholics depend on those idols to be saved as
proven by this guy
who mocked
salvation, who acted like a Nicodemus who was interested in the truth,
But when the truth finally came he could even confess that he believed on Jesus Christ exclusive your first salvation
Because he has such a deep-rooted belief that he needed to believe in Mary as well to be saved
And you know what when I first started talking to him I said, you know, he's I gotta go to work
I said well on your way to work. You could just die
So I think you want to listen to me this is an important message
And I thought to myself man. I hope this guy didn't die on his way to work
Because it's very possible that could have definitely happened
Because folks he laughed and I don't think God takes that lightly
For God so loved the world ha ha and just laughs at it. Oh, man. God is not mocked
God is not mocked point that I'm making here is people who actually love the truth will come to the truth in humility and
Accept the truth now luckily the next door. It was another Catholic lady
And the funny thing about this one, this particular lady, is that, you know, I said,
you go to church, she's like, oh yeah, I go to church, and what church do you go to?
And she named the church.
I was like, is that a Christian church?
She's like, no, it's a Catholic.
And I was like, well, there you go, right?
Even the Catholics don't think call themselves Christian.
It's like, no, it's not a Christian church, it's a Catholic church.
She's like, yeah, you're right.
You got it right.
Look at verse 22.
We're almost done.
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea, and there he tarried with them and baptized.
And John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salem, because there was much water there and they came and were baptized.
By the way, verse 23 is a proof text that people were not sprinkled for salvation,
as noted by the fact that they had to go to this particular area that had much water.
Well, you don't need much water if you're sprinkling.
You do need much water if you're being immersed in the water, okay?
Look at verse 24, it says,
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 to John and sent him to Rabbi.
He that was with thee, be on Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizedeth.
And all men come to him.
John answered and said,
A man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven.
Ye yourselves bear witness, 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 heareth him,
rejoiceeth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
He must increase, but I must decrease."
Now what does this show us?
It shows us that John the Baptist had no issue
Being like less important than Jesus Christ
You know people are going to Jesus to get baptized and they're like oh man. Hey, he's taking he's taking so many people
It's like who cares I must decrease and he must increase. I'm like the best man
Right. He says the friend of the bridegroom. He's referring to what we would say today in modern terms the best man
And you know what John the Baptist was the best
In fact, Jesus says he's the greatest of them born among women.
And why is that?
Because he was willing to just be in the shadows and because he was in the shadows, Jesus Christ
ended up exalt.
I mean, folks, the Creator was just like, that's the man right there.
He's the greatest.
To have your Savior save that of you, I mean, play second fiddle.
Who cares?
It doesn't matter. He thinks you're the greatest.
But obviously John the Baptist had a great attitude about this.
He knew he didn't have to be in the limelight.
He knew he didn't have to be the most important person.
He knew he didn't have to be recognized.
He knew he didn't have to be honored.
He just had to rejoice in the fact that people were coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And the result of that is that Jesus Christ ended up exalting him anyways.
Magnifying him before the people because of his humility. Powerful.
He says in verse 31,
He that cometh from above is above all.
He that is of the earth is earthly
and speaketh of the earth.
He that cometh from heaven is above all.
He's saying here, you know,
I'm important because I'm preaching the word of God
but I'm from the earth.
All I know is the earth.
This man is from heaven.
He's more preeminent.
He's far more important.
He possesses the shulacha
which I'm not worthy to enluce.
He is decreasing himself.
And look folks, hey men, if you want to be honored,
if you want recognition, decrease.
Now don't give this fake decreasing either.
Oh, I'm just, who am I?
Decrease as in just be humble.
Don't boast of a false gift.
Let another man praise thee and not thine own lips.
And if no one ever praises you, that's okay because God recognizes your work and he will render to every man according to his deeds.
If you never get a pat on the back, no one ever tells you thank you and I'm sure in this church people will tell you thank you and honor you
and render, you know, due honor to every person who does a good job.
But if that never happens, decrease!
and may that be an opportunity,
take that as an opportunity to say,
Lord, that you may be glorified,
that I may decrease and you may increase.
And we're done here.
Looking for 32.
And what he had seen and heard that he testified that no man received it this testimony,
of course, it's prophetic over the fact that most people in Israel are going to reject Jesus Christ,
that he comes to his own, his own receives him not.
He that had to receive this testimony has said to his seal that God is true.
Echoing what 1 John 5.9 tells us, right?
The fact that if we believe the witness of God,
we're essentially saying that what God is saying of his son is true regarding salvation.
Verse 34 says for he whom God has sent speak at the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him
Referring to the fact that you know we as sinful human beings we can have a measure of the spirit because we still have the corruptible flesh
Whereas Jesus Christ because he's perfect, you know, he had the fullness of the spirit dwelling on him
Okay, he wasn't given the spirit by measure
Verse 35 the father love at the son and has given him all things into his hand
And I love this verse, this verse I consistently quote in Spanish and English when I'm preaching the Gospel.
He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, he that obeyeth not the sun, no, he that believeth not the sun.
That's why it's important for you to get a King James Bible, amen. Modern versions change that.
He that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And a couple weeks ago I preached the Gospel to these two girls.
And, you know, I was given this verse, and I literally told one of the girls her name is Summer.
I said, the Bible says, he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life.
He that believeth not the sun shall not see life.
But the wrath of God hath the body done him.
Can you explain what that means?
And she was like, if you believe in Jesus, you're going to heaven.
If you don't, you're going to hell.
I said, you got it.
It's pretty simple, but here we are, Nicodemus though.
How can these things be?
Well, don't believe and you'll find out.
You know, John chapter three is very pivotal chapter
because it has some of the most, you know,
just powerful passages and verses
when it comes to salvation is very simplistic,
very elementary, very, it seems redundant,
but it's because of the fact that it's important.
So he's hidden it from different angles
as far as how to be saved, right?
What's the message this evening? The message is simply this is first and foremost. Let's experience the love of God through Christ
But let's move on from that love and to a deeper love
That's given to those who are sons of God, but also let's be like John the Baptist, right?
Who decreased he was humble. He wasn't afraid of losing his followers to Jesus Christ because that was his purpose anyways
You know, if you never get credit for bringing people to church or for getting people saved you will one day
And God sees what you're doing.
He keeps the receipts.
He keeps all the invoices.
He knows exactly what you've done.
So if no one ever thanks you, no one ever recognizes
what you do behind closed doors,
what you do when no one else is watching,
and you're living righteously,
you're winning souls to Christ,
you're bringing people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,
and no one ever recognizes that.
Don't worry, people are recognizing it.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ, the most important person who is.
And so let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for John chapter 3. What a beautiful, powerful, and impactful chapter, Lord.
Help us, Lord, as your people, to recognize the love of God that passes all knowledge,
and help us to bring people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through the love of God,
through the sacrifice of Christ. Help us to go out there and talk about the love of God that He has for the lost.
the virtues of John the Baptist that we would also be humble and decrease Lord and recognize that not
everyone's going to thank us, not everyone's even going to recognize the things that we do for you
Lord, but you see it and you honor us because of it and I pray Lord that you bless us as we go on
our way. Give us a great bonfire tomorrow as we fellowship and a great weekend to follow. We love
you. We thank you. Pray the things in Jesus' name. Amen.