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Matches my shirt. There we go. Standing on the promises 364. Here we go. Sing it out. Standing on the promises of Christ my King. Through eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout and sing. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that cannot fail. When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail. By the living Word of God I shall prevail. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord. Bound to him eternally by love's strong cord. Overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. On the fourth. Standing on the promises I cannot fault. Listening every moment to the Spirit's call. Resting in my Savior as my all and all. Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. Great singing everybody. All right, Brother Neb you want to open us up in a word of prayer? Amen. Let's now turn over to 165. 165. We'll worship the King. 165. Here we go on the first. Oh, worship the King, all glorious above, and gratefully sing his wonderful love. Our shield and defender, the ancient of days, pavilion in splendor and girded with praise. Oh, tell of his might and sing of his grace, whose robe is the light, whose canopy's space. His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form, and dark is his path on the wings of the storm. Thy bountiful care what tongue can recite, it breathes in the air, it shines in the light, it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain, and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain. Frail children of dust and feeble as frail, in thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail. Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end, our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend. Amen. All right. Does anybody have an announcement, a bulletin, that we're going to go through? Because I print out a bunch of them on Sunday, and then they kind of get lost. We might have to start. This is June the 4th. Yes, yeah, but we're not having others to hand out to folks. I don't know. You know, Neb, did we collect any of these? So, yeah, we might have to put a bounty on these things after the Sunday. But I want to go over the announcements real quick. Today's June 4th. Not June 4th. This is the bullets from June 4th. Good night. Oh, boy. I've got a lot of them. All right. The verse of the week is Genesis 22 17, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thee, multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. We're in the Wednesday, 6 30 p.m. Service, Sure Foundation Baptist Church, Seattle. We have our service times are Sunday at 6 30 p.m. Though probably around July 1st, maybe a little bit sooner. Stay tuned for details. We're probably starting an hour early. So that'd be nice for people who have to drive and maybe even welcome an opportunity to fellowship afterward. We've got to get a bite to eat our early ending. Or when Pastor Thompson decides to preach on a Sunday, just a regular preaching time. So we had so many times. We have 11 to 1 on Saturday. Sundays we have 3 30 to about 4 30. And then we had so many from 5 to about 6 today. We got done really quickly. Do we have any salvation at all? Anybody? Oh, yeah. See that hand. So no, no salvation. That's okay. And a lot of people weren't home and some lot of people told us to go away. But we did have some people who said they were interested in visiting the church. Like, where are you guys? I don't know. We're just right down the road. I just tell them the Ukrainian community center. They're like, Oh yeah, I know where that is. So that's cool. So maybe we'll get some people come down and we'll see how that goes. So over here on the other page here, we have tithes and offerings so far at upcoming events. June 9th and 12th is the missions trip official grand opening of sure. Foundation Baptist church. Oh, that's coming up. Nice. And the ordination of brother Jim Weeb as evangelist. I'm excited about that. He's a really nice guy. June 18th is a father's day. And each dad in attendance will receive a neat gift. It's a surprise, but I know what it is here. I think you're gonna like it. It's neat. Handy, handy, dandy little device. Thank you way too much now. And there'll be a chance for a dessert and fellowship afterwards, but maybe pick up some, some cake and ice cream or something like that. Maybe, maybe some pizza. We'll feel the room. See how it, see how that goes. June 30th to through July 2nd is the Bible believers Baptist church in Yakima. Big weekend of the guest speaker Friday night at 7 PM. So winning on the reservation 11 AM to 2 PM meal and fellowship of the church building 3 PM. And then Sunday, 10 30 AM and 3 30 PM. Pastor Thompson will be preaching. So that ought to be awesome. And then July 20th through the 23rd, the seventh annual red hot preaching conference at Verde Baptist church in Sacramento, California. Always an awesome time. A lot of fellowship, a lot of real good, hard preaching. And you know, we need more of that as the, as the days. And pastor Anderson is preaching on 20th down in Vancouver. So if you're in the area, you want to make time to come down there. Yeah, go get it done. And, uh, August 3rd through the six of the Toronto soul winning trip on the back. We have a preaching schedule. So we had brother Sean and Josh. Oh, brother, Josh. Come on. Oh yeah. Brother, just come up the Sunday later, Alex Krunichuk and then brother Sean Conlon. All wonderful creatures, great men of God and friends of mine, good people. Um, just a notes about, uh, the building. Most of you guys are regular, so you already know this, but, uh, if you do need a mother or parent sort of parent baby room, we have the, the quote unquote extended hallway. It's the, the backpack room back there. It needs to be locked during operational hours, but if you need it for privacy concerns or parenting stuff, you can close it, but make sure it's locked back open. Uh, make sure the bathroom lights are off and the doors are open when not in use. You can also use the turn fan. The owner of the place encourages copious use of that. Uh, there's a large trash bag in the back of the hall for all your stuff that you brought in should not want to take out, try to keep the place looking cleaner than we brought that we came in. We don't need to go upstairs or on the stairs for any reason. That's just not our purview. So we just keep it in here. Please maintain positive control on your babies at all times, always supervise them. Uh, no running in the building, please, but there is a cool grass area over there for running around fellowship and stuff like that. And I think that's going to be all for announcements and we're going to have one more song and then we'll take the offering. So if you would, please turn to page 58 in your hymnals page 58. We're singing. He, the pearly gates will open page 58. All right. On the first, here we go. Love divine, so great and wondrous, deep in mighty pure sublime, coming from the heart of Jesus, just the same through test of time. He, the pearly gates will open so that I may enter in, for he purchased my perdemption and forgave me all my sin. Like a dove when haunted, frightened, as a wounded fawn was I broken hearted, yet he healed me. He will heed the sinner's cry. He, the pearly gates will open so that I may enter in, for he purchased my redemption and forgave me all my sin. On the third, love divine, so great and wondrous, all my sins he then forgave, I will sing his praise forever for his blood, his power to save. He, the pearly gates will open so that I may enter in, for he purchased my redemption and forgave me all my sin. On the last, in life's even tide at twilight, at his door I'll knock and wait, by the precious love of Jesus I shall enter heaven's gate. He, the pearly gates will open so that I may enter in, for he purchased my redemption and forgave me all my sin. All right, amen. At this time we'll receive the offering. Brother Neb, you want to bless the offering? You gonna take cover? All right, dear heavenly father, may you bless this offering, Lord, and pray that we continue to grow this church, Lord, and that more people will come, Lord, people from all over Seattle, Lord, and pray that we continue to be a blessing. And thank you, Lord. Thank you, Professor Thompson. Thank you. Excellent, thank you. If you would please turn to John chapter three. John chapter three, as we read the chapter aloud, John chapter three. The Bible reads in John chapter three, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto 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, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh. And whither it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, 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 believeth in him should not perish without eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish without everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, 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 name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth 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 they are wrought in God. 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 at Aenon near to Salem, because there was much water there, and they came and were baptized, for John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples, and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, 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, and what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal, that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into 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 abide upon him. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, please be with us, and Pastor, please give him the words to speak, and give us the ears to hear. Please keep distractions to a minimum, and give the pastor your spirit, in Jesus' name we do pray, Amen. All right. Well, it's been actually a couple of weeks since I've been up here, and one was a scheduled thing, and then the other one was just me purely just completely losing all ability to function without taking a break for one day, but I still ended up working that day anyway. That conference really took it out of me, but anyway, I just appreciate everybody being here tonight. We've got a good crowd here tonight, and we're in John chapter three, and yeah, I'll just take one. Thank you. Appreciate that. So John chapter number three in verse number one. Of course, this is one of the most, if not the most famous chapter in the whole Bible, and so kind of approaching this, I was like, man, how am I gonna, you know, I feel like I'm inept to preach this as well as it should be, but I'll do my best, and obviously, many, many sermons have been preached out of John chapter number three. So, but the first point that I want to look at tonight is that you must be born again. You must be born again. This is the message that Jesus has for Nicodemus. Verse number one, it says, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. So he's a Pharisee, he's a ruler, and the same came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. So he's saying, you know, the first thing I want you to notice of that verse though, is that he comes by night. He doesn't want, why does he do that? Because he doesn't want other people, he doesn't want his friends to see him, and you know, he has genuine, I think he has genuine questions. I think that when he says we know thou art a teacher come from God, I think that's him saying, I know that. Because the other Pharisees don't like him, you know, and you'll see Nicodemus later on, he does do Jesus kindness, and I think that at some point they make sure he's not there when the council goes against him, but I'm just kind of drawing that up from memory. But anyway, so he's, you know, obviously he's calling him Rabbi, and you know, he's given him respect. You know, I think that he's being genuine here, and he, you know, he knows for sure that nobody can do the types of miracles that Jesus does, except God be with him. And they're going to see a lot, we're going to see a lot more miracles than what we've seen so far, but we saw that he turned water into wine, and that was his first miracle. That was the last time I was here and preached that. Verse number three, Jesus answered and said unto him, verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And that is a statement of fact right there. Unless you are born again, and people like to mock born again, oh, he's one of those born again Christians. Well, if you're not a born again Christian, then you're not going to heaven. So go ahead and mock all you want, but the fact remains is that Jesus says, you cannot see the kingdom of God. You're not saved unless you've been born again. Nicodemus says, say unto him, how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Now, Jesus is trying to give him a worldly picture to help him understand what salvation is, and he's obviously not saved. Nicodemus is not saved because, you know, he doesn't perceive, he doesn't understand what he's trying to tell him here. So, and here's the thing, the unsaved cannot understand spiritual things. And Jesus spoke in parables so that those people that could hear and receive it would receive it. And those that, you know, weren't intended for it to be, they couldn't understand it. So people always just were confused. Most of the people were confused by what Jesus was preaching, but there's few that could understand it. And sometimes even his own disciples were confused about what he was saying, because some of the things are deep spiritual things. Now let's turn to 1 Corinthians chapter, keep your finger here in John chapter three, but let's go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 14. And the Bible explains this fact that you cannot understand the Bible unless you are saved. Now, can you understand that Noah built an ark? Yes, you can. I'm not talking about just things that are basic things, but even things like that, people are like, oh yeah, I already get all the wood and, you know, explain how he put all the animals on the ark and all that stuff. Even the simple things that the Bible says, people mock at, people scoff at, people trip over that, people stumble over those things because they just don't believe in the power of God. So look at 1 Corinthians 2, 14, it says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. You have to have God's spirit in you to understand these things. The natural man, Nicodemus, did not understand the words of Christ because he is a natural man and doesn't, I mean, he's like, well, how can I be born again? You know, do I have to go back into my mother's womb and be born again? It's like, how can this happen when someone's old? You know, he just doesn't understand. So it's obvious that he's not saved. And you know, we need to be aware with people that come to us not to try to get too deep into doctrine. Look, Jesus has given him bottom shelf salvation stuff and this guy's supposed to be a master in Israel and doesn't understand. So I think as Christians, sometimes we make mistakes and think that people can understand more than they really can. And look, don't start showing them Pastor Anderson rant clips of going off on queers before they're saved because they're going to be like, ah, you know. It's, you know, and some people just don't like homos. It's just the way it is. But, you know, I don't think that that's the starting point that we should go to, right? So it is fun to watch those clips. I love them. But we got to understand that people, even in our family, like sometimes we'll think that someone can understand and perceive more than they really can. And then we get upset. Well, why are you having such a problem with me? Not wanting to have a TV on while my kids are over here or just, I mean, it can be the smallest things. What do you mean? You know, your parents will be like, what do you mean? They can't carve pumpkins on Halloween. Well, like, what are you talking about? And we think that they're going to understand those things when we explain them to them. And sometimes we just have to say, you know, that's just not what we're doing or whatever, but to sit there and go, mom, dad, it's witchcraft. It's, you know, they'll just be like, whoa, you know? So, and again, there's nothing wrong with being, you know, preaching righteousness and things like that. But for people that don't understand, it's just to, to go deep into doctrines. It's just not profitable. And the reason why I'm saying that is because when I first got saved, and I think maybe a lot of people might be like this also, other people is that you want everybody else in your family to get saved. You want all your friends to get saved. And then you're just like, ah, you know, preach all this stuff, trying to get through to them. But I'll just say this, that I probably did more damage doing that kind of stuff than I did good. And if I would have known as a mature Christian, what I, you know, as a, excuse me, as a new Christian, what I know now, I definitely wouldn't have gone the route that I did with some people. And that's all, that's all I'm saying. You know, if you want to reach your family, it's best to just try to give them the gospel. Don't try to teach them a bunch of spiritual things that they don't understand. Jesus tried to teach a simple thing to Nicodemus he didn't understand. So, and I do think that Christians fall into this trap of sometimes just expecting family members, expecting friends, expecting relatives to understand where we're coming from because they'll never be able to understand it. They'll just always think it's weird. They'll think you're too extreme and whatnot. Now let's go back to our text in John chapter number three. Now Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So now he's differentiating between the worldly and between the spiritual. So he's trying to help him understand, isn't he? And it's a fact that every person that's born has to be born of water and of blood. So it's funny, my wife was just talking about this the other night. And when, so I saw Remy born and it wasn't like, I mean, obviously it was, it was cool. Like I was a dad, like, you know, it was the greatest thing, one of the greatest days of my life, seeing my first born son born. It was awesome. I was excited. And then when Nia was born, she was actually going to be a Halloween baby, but my wife didn't even realize she was in labor. And, you know, long story short, we get there. She's like having contractions like every minute on the way up through the elevators. And I should have just got her a wheelchair. I don't know what I was thinking, but anyway, I was like, come on, honey. She's like, hold on. So we get up there and as Nia is being born, like I just wasn't expecting this, but like, I don't know what broke or what happened. I don't pretend to understand it all, but I know that blood and water kind of just shot out. And I was like, I wasn't expecting it. I was like, I was like, what's wrong? And my wife was like, what's wrong? And the nurse was just like, shut up. There was nothing wrong, but I just saw blood and water come out and I freaked out like I'd never seen that before. I didn't experience that the first time when Remy was born. So anyway, it's a fact that, and that's the point he's trying to make is that everybody is born through water and through the blood through a mother's womb. And it says, and that which is born of spirit is spirit. So he's differentiating the two things. One is a physical birth. One is a spiritual birth. Marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. So he reiterates the same fact again. He must be born again. And then he kind of, you know, he used in verse eight can kind of be a complicated verse, I guess, because it's kind of hard to pin down exactly what he means here, but I'll try to do my best here. It says the wind bloweth where it listeth. So the wind blows where it blows. We don't really know all the, I mean, obviously you've got scientific data that tells you why the East wind blows and things like that now. But, you know, I mean, they didn't have anchorman back then and you know, the meteorologist necessarily. So, but it says, and thou hearest the sound thereof. So you can hear wind blowing, right? But cannot, or but can't tell whence it cometh. Where did it come from? You don't know it just came, right? And whither it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the spirit. So that kind of seems like, you know, it's kind of an interesting thing to say there. But I think what he means by this, and this is just my personal opinion, is that he means you can't see salvation happen. When we go to the door and we see someone saved, how do you explain that to people that don't understand these things? Like you could say, well, you know, cause like the unbelievers, the people that hate our kinds of church they call it soul winning. Or even other churches, they talk about soul winning. They hate that word. You know why? Cause they don't win souls. That's why they hate that word. But how do you explain to someone when someone gets saved? I mean, you can say, well, yeah, I preach the words and sometimes you can explain it, but you don't even know, really. It just, you know, the word of God, you know, they hear the word of God, they receive the word of God, they believe the word of God. Something in them, it's hard to explain, but you see the eyes, Chico. It's something in the eyes, you see a change in them. You can tell like they're on track, they're on board, but even that is like, that's not a proof. Like, oh, I thought they changed or whatever. It's just something that happens when you believe, you know, we don't see it happen. We don't see the spirit descend on them like a dove. There's not a button that pops on their forehead that says saved. There's, you know, we don't really understand how, fully understand how it happens or how it works. We just know what the Bible says it takes to work, which is you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So you can't see salvation happen, but a lot of people in here have seen people get saved. And it's like, I mean, do we know a hundred percent sure when someone does or not? I'm sure there's people that are gonna be in heaven where like, I thought that person didn't even, I didn't even count that person because it was so sketchy. But then there's people that's like, yeah, they got every point. It was like blow hanging fruit. And then they really didn't believe. All we know is what God tells us to do and what we have to do. And we'll just let God figure that stuff out. We just know what our job is to preach the gospel, to help them understand, to bring that, you know, we're kind of, we're kind of like the delivery people, right? We're like, come on, you can do it, honey. You can do it. Just believe the Bible. You know, I mean, I, and that spirit, you're helping, you're like the, what do you call it? A midwife or something. If you're a guy, I don't know what they call that. But anyway, I'm not saying guys are midwives, right? I'm just saying, you know, we're helping bring this birth forward, right? But what, how, how do you, you can't stop a birth from happening, right? When the baby's coming, the baby's coming. There's nothing you can do to stop that. When they're in travail and you're like, push! You know, you're telling them to push. You're trying to do all the things you can as a coach to help them, but they have to push that baby out, right? And so, I mean, I guess, so salvation is like kind of, it's like being born again, you know? And we don't really understand how everything, how the bones form in the womb and all that kind of stuff. God does that. God brings forth that child. The Bible says that God is the one that allows people to get, you know, pregnant in the first place, you know? So, you know, how do you explain being born again? You can't really explain it, but what you can do is you just know it happens. You know the wind blows, you feel the wind blow, you hear the wind blow, but you don't really understand exactly everything and how it all works. But we just know that if you call upon the Lord Jesus and ask him to save you, that the Holy Spirit comes inside of you and is the down payment or the earnest of your salvation. And so shall we ever be saved or always, once saved, always saved. So now John chapter 3 verse 9 says, Nicodemus answered and said unto him, how can these things be? He's like, not saved still. How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, art thou a master of Israel? And no, it's not these things. So now he's kind of getting on to them because, you know, he's supposed to be someone that knows the Bible really well. He's a leader of the people. He's a ruler of the Jews. And if anybody should understand how to be saved, shouldn't it be the leadership of a church? But he doesn't. He's like, Jesus is like, art thou a master of Israel? And no, it's not these things. I mean, he's kind of giving them the business here a little bit. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness. So he's saying, I tell you, we tell you what we see. We tell you the word of God and you don't receive our witness because all of his friends don't believe the truth. And they, and really a lot of them are reprobate devils. Now, I don't think all the Pharisees were, but I think the majority of them were. So, but I don't believe that Nicodemus was obviously a reprobate. I don't think that Jesus would even talk to him if he wasn't. He was a reprobate. Jesus wouldn't even tell him this stuff. It's like, why waste your time? Why cast your pearls before the swine? But it says, if I have told you, verse 12, if I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And so he's basically saying, you just don't get it. You know, you don't understand. Jesus tried to help him understand, but it didn't help, did it? And look at verse 13, it says, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man, which is in heaven. This is also kind of like a, what do you mean, Jesus? Like it's kind of a hard saying, but I believe it's talking about that no man has physically ever ascended into heaven except for Jesus. But had he ascended into heaven yet in this verse? No, he hasn't. But see, he's speaking as if time doesn't mean anything to him. And you know why? Because it doesn't. Because in reality, at the same time, he really is in heaven. And how do we wrap our minds around that? Well, you know, because Jesus was slain from the foundation of the earth, right? But we know when he was slain in John chapter 19. So there was a pointed time, but I think that that time just matters to us. It helps us to understand things because when there's, the Bible says at some point, there is going to be no more time. It's like eternity. We don't, we won't even really fully understand that either because it's just like, there's going to be no more time. We can just throw our watches out. We can throw the clocks off the wall and it's always going to be daylight. So it's never going to be dark. And so that's just kind of the way it is. But he says, so he says, no man hath to send it up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. So we know that Jesus did come down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven. So he's speaking about something that hasn't happened yet as if it has happened. He's speaking of something that he did do already. And then he's also speaking about his current position and what's he saying his current position is in heaven. How do you explain that? I mean, it's just because he is God. He's everywhere. Time means nothing to him. And you know, for him to say that just really proves to me even more that he is God. I mean, why would he say that if that wasn't true? So, you know, and I personally believe that, you know, obviously there's people believe different things about space and going up to the moon and all that stuff. I personally just don't believe in the moon landing stuff. That's just my personal opinion. Okay, so don't shoot me or take me aside and say, I watched that on black and white TV or whatever, whatever. I mean, I just, I don't think that the technology was quite where it is now. And we can't even get anything up in space hardly. We can't get people up there. So, and you know, what's his name? Elon Musk, his stuff keeps blowing up or whatever. But I know people say, well, we go in space, but I don't know. It's just the Van Allen radiation belts and you know, just basic science kind of maybe disproves that a little bit. But I believe that Jesus Christ is the only one that can physically go to heaven. Yeah. And just like, I mean, cause we know he ascends up into heaven in Acts chapter one. Right. And he goes up on his own. Well, it sounds like. So I just don't think personally, now obviously there's different, I know what you're going to say. There's different heavens, Pastor Thompson. I understand that. But do you think that anybody, any man could ever build a spaceship that would go up to the heaven? Nope. No, the heaven that God lives in? No way. And Jesus specifically said that no man has ever done it. No man ever is going to except for the man that was standing right there saying that he's already in heaven. So anyway, I don't want to get too much into the weeds on that kind of stuff. But it says also, so that's the first thing he kind of says that's interesting. But the second thing is that he is in heaven, which I kind of already covered. But so, you know, here's another thing. So how do you explain Jesus? You know, we teach the people that Jesus went to hell for three days and three nights. But then people go, what about the thief on the cross? When he asked, you know, he said, and then Jesus said, that will today, that will be with me in paradise. And so, but like if you take this verse, then is it possible that he was with him in paradise at the same time that he was in, his soul was in hell? Absolutely is God. So, you know, you might think with God, all things are possible. All right. So it shouldn't be such a big deal to people. We, you know, we know both things are true. We know he said that to the thief on the cross. But do you think God stopped being in heaven? No, God did not stop being in heaven, but did God die? Yes, he did. So how do you explain that? Well, it's a Trinity. That's how you explain it. But anyway, look at verse, Ephesians chapter two, verse four. Ephesians chapter two, verse four. Let's skip over there for a second here. Ephesians chapter two, verse four. See, we're actually, our current position is here in Renton, Washington or Seattle, whichever one you want to call it. The addresses are weird here. But we're also currently also seated in heavenly places. Look what the Bible says. Ephesians two, verse four says, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ. By grace he are saved and hath raised us up together and made us to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Has that happened yet in your life? Did Jesus raise you up? But according to this, he's already made us to sit together. It's already a fact. It's already going to happen. You know, one day we're going to be there and it's just, you know, but right now it's already a promise. So we know it's going to happen. And so to God, it's just like we're already there because his promises are always going to be true. And so there's nothing that can change our destiny. Once we have been quickened together with Christ by grace, are you saved? Then, you know, it's as like right now, even though he hasn't come back yet, it's as if we were already there. So when it says in verse seven, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. Now go ahead and turn to Daniel chapter seven also. So the other thing that I noticed in this verse is that Jesus Christ refers to himself as the son of man. And he's already done it once before. I believe in chapter one or two. I can't remember which one it was, but he's already said, I think it was might've been chapter one, but it says the other. So the other thing is that he refers to himself as the son of man. And this is the name that he uses about himself more than any other name, because the Messiah has different names. Yeah. You know, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The great, you know, the great I am. Emmanuel. Emmanuel. I mean, God with us. You know, the, the, let's see, Jesus of Nazareth. I mean, there's, there's lots of titles that he's called, but the, his favorite one is the son of man. You know, the Bible does say that, you know, that he's not ashamed to call us brethren. He's not ashamed to call us brethren. But I think it's interesting in the word son of man is in the Bible a lot of times. Like it's like almost 300 times or something like that. But in the, in the, in the book of Ezekiel, it says it the most, but I think that he's taking, he's obviously taking it from Daniel chapter seven. And this is a messianic, you know, passage right here. It says in Daniel 7 13, I saw the nights in the night and visions and behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven. Who's that talking about? Jesus Christ, right? And came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. So this is obviously a passage talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and how it says one like the son of man. And, and, and doesn't the, so, I mean, so that's a term that Jesus uses and, and, and get this 80 times. He refers to himself as the son of man. So 32 times in the book of Matthew, he refers to himself as a son of man, 14 times in the book of Mark, 26 times in the book of Luke and 10 times in the book of John. This is one of those 10 times. So I just think that's really, you know, interesting that he would refer to himself more as the son of man than any other thing. So, and I think that just goes to show that he is not ashamed to call us brethren. He loves us. We are his brother, but he's also our God. So why he loves us so much, I mean, I don't really understand that, but I just know that he does. Let's look back at our text in John chapter three verse 14. It says, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. So now he's taking a picture of something that, that Nicodemus does know. He does under, you know, they claim to believe in Moses and follow Moses. So of course, Jesus is going to use something to help him understand something in the Old Testament. I think this is, this is like his third attempt to try to bring this guy around. But it says Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. And of course we know that Jesus Christ gets crucified. So that's a picture of Christ being, you know, and it's a snake. It's a brass snake on top of a pole, but it's still, it does picture Jesus. And this is why Jesus uses that as an example. But the picture is Christ being lifted up on the cross. And what does this, you know, if you think of the serpent, the snake, it's Satan, right? You know, if you, and in the book of Numbers, if there's a story about it, we'll go to that. But it's a picture of sin, you know, basically because Satan is the one that fell. And he was the one that, you know, he kind of caused sin to happen in this world by beguiling Eve and, you know, obviously she got her husband to eat. And that's why we're in the state we're in now. So look at second Corinthians chapter five, verse 21. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 21. And the Bible uses this term of him being made to be sin for us. Look what it says, for he hath made him to be sin for us. Talking about Jesus. He wasn't a sinner, but he became sin on the cross. And the Bible says curses every man that hangeth from a tree. So when he hung on that tree on the cross, he became a curse for us. And it says he became sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so let's also turn over to Numbers chapter 21, verse four. Numbers chapter 21, verse number four. And we have this story of when Moses actually made this brazen serpent, when he actually put it on a pole. And, and so Jesus referring back to this story in the book of Numbers, which this Pharisee should know that at least. But, you know, maybe he's just saying, well, I'm going to give this, try to give this guy a little bit of insight. He doesn't understand, you know, just a regular, you know, the birth, the new birth. He doesn't, you know, he doesn't understand the things that I'm saying. So maybe I'll just hit him with some Moses and tell, explain to him that that's a picture of what is going to happen to me. Numbers 21, four says, and they journeyed from Mount Hor, by the way of the, of the Red Sea to come past the land of Edom. And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. So the way was very hard. And the people spake against God and against Moses. This is kind of a common theme in the books of Moses. Wherefore have you brought us up out of the land of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water. And our soul loathes this white bread. So that white bread is the manna that he's talking about. The manna is what is, you know, that's supposed to represent Jesus. That's supposed to represent the word of God. And so their soul, you know, loathes, you know, when you really hate something or you're just really just, you know, is there a food that you just have an aversion to that you can think of that you just, ugh, just can't stand to eat this one thing? I'm sure everybody, what's an example of something you hate? Broccoli. See, I knew he wasn't saved. No, I'm just joking. I'm kidding. Oh, that's probably, you got his salvation back. All right. Well, Tyler, is there something you just cooked mushrooms? Okay. And they also kind of give you gas too, right? Anybody else have anything that they, that they specifically hate? Beets. Yeah. See, my wife likes beets. She likes pickled beets. But anyway, so, you know, basically the children of Israel were at this point where the free bread that God is giving them every single morning that tastes like fresh oil. It tastes like honey, sweet to the taste. It's like a sweet light bread. And, you know, it's like, I always think it's like, you know, Texas Roadhouse's little, you know, have you ever eaten there before? Oh man, their bread's good. But anyway, so, but they loathe this. And so what are they saying? Like in a picture, they're saying they loathe Christ, right? So, but think about this, you know, what's really interesting, what this made me think of this light bread is that Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. And so lightness, as far as he goes, he's just saying his burden is easy. There's no burden on us to be saved. We're just, we're saved by grace. And you know, our, his, his yoke is light. So like the yoke when we're working together with him, you know, we don't have to work for our salvation. It's a light load. He bore the whole load for us. He did the hard work for us. So, you know, people want to work their way to heaven and, you know, they have, you know, they think that they have to, um, you know, like these, you know, to me, this is a picture of people wanting to have something different than what God gave them. God's the one that gave the plan of salvation. God is the one that decided what it was going to be. And when people loathe that, they will do something else. Like I was talking to a Muslim guy tonight and, you know, we, they believe that Jesus was a prophet and he was one of the prophets, but he's not the savior. And so what did he, what did he talk about, brother Josh? How he, all the works that he does, how good of a person you have to be. It's like some people would just rather work their way to heaven, even though that you can't do that, then actually just take that light bread that Jesus said, here, just eat this bread, drink this water, you know, walk through this door and they want to make it really hard to be saved. But, and even in the story, we'll move on here. Verse six, it says, and the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and much people of Israel died. And, you know, I think this is just a picture of the fact that we're going to die someday. And, you know, if you are bit by this, you know, by sin, any sin that we do, you're going to die and maybe you're not, might not die immediately, but you're going to die someday. And, and so these fiery serpents, I heard pastor Anderson preach a sermon where he said, cause I always think fiery, like they're on fire or something. And the Bible does talk about fire, fiery flying serpents, but I don't know that that's what it's talking about, but he kind of came up with, well, he just thinks that they're really like snakes that are really aggressive. Like they're fiery, like trying to just, you know, they're just, cause some snakes, you know, they're really poisonous, but they avoid humans, but some snakes like kind of go out of their ways, like those black mamas, have you ever seen those? And some of these, you know, some of these snakes are pretty aggressive, but I feel like that that's probably a really good interpretation of it, that these fiery snakes were just like, just all over people, biting them. So, and you know, we must realize that that cure for that sinful condition or that snake bite that we all have is that you're going to die and you're going to go to hell. And so God told Moses a way for the people to be cured from this disease. Verse seven, therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned. Don't you have to acknowledge that you've sinned to be saved? We have sinned for we have spoken against the Lord and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. So he was an intercessor. You know, that's where he pictures Christ, right? As an intercessor praying for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it shall live. So what did he do? He made something really easy for them to do, to be cured from a snake bite. Most people, you know, they say, well, you have to suck the poison out or whatever. You have to cut it open and suck the poison out or give him anti-venom. But I don't think anti-venom was invented back then. So he just made it really simple. Look at that pole with the snake on it and you'll live. So verse nine says, And Moses made a serpent of brass, which obviously represents judgment, and put it upon a pole. And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. So, so, and really, I think that Jesus is using this story for Nicodemus to help us understand that God made it easy for them to be cured from that. Like that was a physical thing, which represented a spiritual problem. Everybody that gets bit is everybody, because everybody sins. And that picture is helping us to understand that, you know, when he said, make the pole, put the snake on it, all you have to do is look at it. He made it easy for them to recover from that. And he made it easy for salvation also. So look at verse 15. So we're going to get into the most famous passages in all the Bible here. And, you know, obviously the most famous passages in this chapter. Chapter is a great chapter. But, you know, we don't have to look at a snake on a pole to get saved today. We just have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So he made it easy for us to, he made it easy for us to recover from this problem that we have called sin. And so that brings me to point number two, that belief alone saves us. Belief alone saves us. But let me read verse 15 in John 3. It says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Real simple verse. Really straightforward. It doesn't say anything about repenting of your sins, does it? It doesn't say that you have to live a good life afterwards or anything, does it? It just says that, and he's going to be really clear in the rest of this chapter to help us understand this. And that's why this is so crazy for me. That people, you know, there was even a guy that we talked to tonight that like, you know, he said, you know, he said that he believed you have to do works. But then after we started telling stuff, then he's like, well, I believe in Jesus with all my heart. But that's not what he said at first. He believed that you had to keep the 10 commandments and live a good life. And then Josh is like, well, you know, can I just show you? It'll take maybe 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes to just show you so that you can understand and know for sure. He's like, oh no, I don't got time. It's just like, what? Like we just showed you that you're not saved and we want to explain to you how to be saved. It's really easy. And then you just don't want to hear it. Like, and he even said like, it'll take, it'll be the, it'll be 10 or 15 minutes out of your whole life. I mean, think about that. Your whole life to know you're saved and you're not going to give that 15, 10, 15 minutes up. To me, that is mind boggling. It's craziness. I just don't understand. And that kind of stuff happens all the time, doesn't it? Like, no, I don't know whether I'm 100% sure. And then you give them the verse. These things have I written unto you to believe on the name of the son of God. You may know you have eternal life. Can I show you on, I got milk in the fridge, you know, I just, you know, I need to make sure it stays cool or whatever, but whatever excuse, you know, the cats behind the microwave. I got, you know, I'm sorry, I got dogs. I got cats or whatever else they're excused. I got, you know, food on the stove. Well, you know, I mean, a lot of people have excuses to not get saved, but turn the stove off. Like, your food is not more important, you know. You know, that's what they were. They were mad about the light bread because they wanted food instead. They wanted the food that they wanted. And they want this, people want the salvation that they want. But the salvation they want is never going to happen when they try to go through some other avenue besides Christ alone. It's not about keeping the 10 commandments and all that other stuff. And it's about believing. It says that whosoever, that means anyone, believeth in him, should not perish. That means go to hell, but have eternal life. So, you don't have to look at the snake to be saved. You have to look at, you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, which is easy. It's easy. And verse 16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So, here he is again. He's saying God loves everybody. God, He loved everybody enough to where He sent His Son at the right time to be the propitiation for our sins, to be the covering for our sins, to be the blood, to be the perfect sacrifice for us, to live the life that we can't live. And all you have to do, according to verse 16, is that you have to believe on the name of the only begotten Son, that's Jesus Christ. And once you do that, you will never perish, but you'll have everlasting life. Verse 15 says you have eternal life. That means a life that never ends. And it's funny, like people, I mean, I think we were, I just, I'm talking about souling because it's just fresh in my mind, but I think Josh was saying that you were saying your wife was talking to a Catholic lady or something, right? And she said, you know, I believe everything you said. Everything you said is true, but I just, I just can't believe that it's everlasting. She's like, I think that then she, is that what she said? I can't believe that it's everlasting. It's like, that's what it says. What do you mean? You believe everything, but you don't believe what it actually says? How's that possible? Because people just want to believe what they want to believe. And they want to make a God in their own image. They want a Jesus that they can put on their dashboard that bobbles its head back and forth. They want a Jesus that's on there that, you know, I got Jesus. He's on this, this necklace I'm wearing right now. Splayed out with long hair and a little trickle of blood. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. He's not on that cross anymore. He's off that cross and he's risen and he's in heaven right now. And all you have to do to be saved is believe in him. I think that these verses are the most powerful verses in the whole sowing presentation. In my opinion. I believe, so I always take people after Romans 5, 8. I take them right here to John 3, 16. I just show them what the Bible says. And then I just kind of just like keep nailing that point in the whole time I'm giving the gospel. I just try to chop that, that tree of works down. Obviously, you know, you get your Nicodemuses. The people that think that they're saved that really aren't. And then that's the hard part is convincing someone that already thinks that they're saved. That they're already been going to church their whole life. They've been baptized, catechized and homogenized and whatever else they have to do. But, you know, they just, to get them to admit that they, you changed their mind is a very difficult thing. But listen, you know, if they won't admit that, it doesn't mean that they didn't change their mind. Just means that they're too prideful to admit that they changed. So that's what makes soul winning hard sometimes is that, you know, we don't want to pray with someone that hasn't changed their mind and believe the truth. But then, you know, if they say they believe it, but then they just won't, you know. So sometimes soul winning can be difficult because of things like that. But look at verse 17 says, For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. The first time Jesus Christ came was to save the world. The first time was not to condemn the world. But people will use verses like this and be like, see, he didn't come to condemn the world. But, you know, wait a, hold on a second. He's coming back in a vesture dipped in blood. It's red and red, you know, is a power color. You know, when I really want to preach a hot sermon, I'll put a red tie on, you know, the blue Trump suit. But red, you know, is a power, is a power color. And Jesus is coming back in a power outfit. And he's going to be, you know, his eyes are a flame of fire. He's not going to be the nice sweet little lamb that he was when he came before, because everybody already had their chance. But anyway, so look at verse 18. It says, he that believeth on him is not condemned. So if someone's believed, what are they not? Not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already. So anybody that believes not, what are they already? They're already condemned. They're already going to hell. They're just, you know, just a footstep away from dropping and going to hell. And look, people can get killed easier than they realize. And especially now, I mean, just how many stone drivers there are out there. I mean, how do you control what somebody else does that's out of their mind? I mean, just driving up here, I feel like I just got mad. You know, Josh had to hear me whine about things, but he does the same thing. So we're kind of on the same team there. Well, just these people like, get out of the left lane, bozo! What's wrong with you? Don't you know how to drive? But then there's the people that are just like, you know, they're on their phone. They're going like 40. I don't, I see why there's such bad traffic here. But anyway, sorry, that was a timeout. That was a TV timeout. But anyway, so it says, he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. So why don't people go to heaven? Because they have not believed. That's why. That's what the Bible teaches. You know, and he that believeth is not condemned. It's real simple. Two different types of people in this world. Those that believe and those that don't. The ones that don't believe, they're going to hell. Verse 19, and this is the condemnation that light is coming to the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Some people will never get saved because they love their evil deeds. There's some other people that like to use the cover of night to do all kinds of other things. But it's a way to sneak around and to hide. But some people will just never get saved because they love darkness more. Jesus is light. When we come to someone's door, we're like, Jesus, they're like, ah, you know. And most of the time, they'll even shut you down before you get a chance to talk. Because they just don't want that light to expose what they really are and who they really are. And they don't want to be honest with themselves and just say, hey, you know, I am trusted in my own words. I'm not saved. But most people will believe that Muslim today, he's a good person. And that's why he's going to heaven. And you know, and I said, well, how do you know for sure that you're even going to go to heaven? He's like, I don't. It's like, well, what a terrible way to live your life. What a terrible religion that is. You know, we're, you know, modeled after a pedophile, by the way. Muhammad is a pedophile. And so, you know, but I'm not going to say that to someone when I'm not soul wanting, unless they make me mad. But unless they want to go, you know, if they want to really drop the truth bombs, then I'll drop it on them. But I'm going to them to try to get them saved. So I'm kind of like on a peace mission. Even though I hate that religion, I love that person. I want them to be saved. Jesus loves that person. I want them to be saved. So did I give them a lot of chances to kind of, you know, kind of listen to what I was saying? Yeah. But then ultimately I just like, okay, this is pointless. So anyway, so it's because men love darkness rather than light. And just kind of a, just a little, a little hint here about some of the Greek, you know, people like to say, you know, this agape love or whatever. And I just have always thought of this verse because I went to the lexicon and looked at all the times the agape is used in the New Testament. And so I was just looking at some of the verses and the word agape love or whatever is, is used in that verse that men agape darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. So that just totally destroys their whole go back to the Greek agape garbage. Because agape love is supposed to be what kind of love? Godly love. The law, you know, the unconditional godly love that God has for mankind. So, so that's what, so, but they don't want, they don't want to talk about that, do they? They don't want to talk about how men agape darkness rather than light. But anyway, I'll go back, I'll go more into that later at a different chapter. But anyway, verse 20 says, for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. See, they love their sin, so they hate the light. Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Why don't people want to come to light? Because they don't want people that don't want to be accountable for what they do. And that's what reproof is. And all you have to do is be in a church for five minutes that's preaching the Bible. And you're going to feel that immediately. You're going to feel, hey, I'm not doing this right. I'm doing this wrong. Hey, I didn't realize this. Maybe I should change that. And that's a reproof from, from God. I don't even have to tell you. I can just read verses to save people up here and they're going to be like, oh, dang, that stings. That's rough. And I mean, I was preaching a sermon in Yakima one time and one of the church members. I mean, I just was ripping face, right? I was ripping face on ruck when I, I think is what it was. And I was ripping face on how they were trying to overthrow that church. And I didn't even preach about long hair or women wearing dresses or men wearing, you know, how, how we should dress and all that stuff. And one of the church members come up to me right after the sermon. He goes, he goes, that was a great sermon. He said, I'm going to go get a haircut and get a, buy a new suit tomorrow. I'm not even kidding. I was like, I didn't even say that. So why did he think that? Because the word of God is powerful. And, you know, if, if, if the Bible, you know, maybe he just already knew that, but yet he was lax in his own, you know, how he was living his life or whatever and realized, Hey, I need to go back for what I was like before and get a haircut, get a real job. No, I'm just kidding. Get a haircut and get a suit. You know, not that you have to have a suit to be holy or something. I'm not saying that, but I just thought it was really funny because, you know, people don't like to be reproved. People, you know, have you ever had someone freak out at the door when you said that some sin that they were doing was wicked? I mean, and obviously I try not to do, to delve into those things, but if you say something accidentally that they're doing, people will freak out on you. So anyway, so essentially people won't get saved because they love darkness. Darkness hates light. Darkness doesn't mix with light and they don't want their sin to be exposed. So they avoid that light. They avoid it like the plague. They don't want to hear what you have to say because they don't, they want to stay in their sin. And you know, sometimes I feel like, man, if that person would have just listened, they probably would have got saved, but they just don't even want, they don't want to hear it because they want to dwell in darkness. Look at John 3 21. It says, but he that do a truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that there are wrought in God. So people that are truth, people that are seeking truth, they will come to the light. They want the reproof. They want to understand how to be saved. They want to understand how to live a godly life, but it's like millions of people are groping in darkness. Like the song says, you know, trying to figure out what the word of God is and they're waiting for someone to come. That one person that we're out trying to reach that day and we don't know who they are, but that's why we shouldn't fiddle around and mess around too long with false prophets because someone else that probably wants to get saved. It's a waste. So look at John. So the third point is, is that John the Baptist exalts Christ. So the rest of the chapter, we're going to kind of hear, we're going to see how, how humble John the Baptist is because John the Baptist has a great ministry. He's the man right before Jesus comes. But see, John already knows what he is. He knows he's just the forerunner. He's just the precursor. He's the one that's kind of, he's kind of like, you know, when you have like a concert or something, you have like a pretty good band come out or whatever. And I'm not, you know, I'm just saying it's the truth. Okay. You'll have someone that warms everybody up and they're not the showcase. They're the opening act. But then the main event comes out and then that's, but they were warming you up for that. So that's what John was to Jesus. But John was a great man of God. He was the Baptist. I mean, that's a cool last name. That's a cool middle and last name. John the Baptist. I like that. But anyway, look at verse 22, it says, 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 an anon near to Salem because there was much water there and they came and were baptized. Now, when it says Jesus and his disciples went to baptize or that he baptized, he wasn't actually baptizing people and it explains that later on. But, but why were they baptizing in a place that had a lot of water? Well, because you have to put people underneath the water. If it was a place that was like a trickle, you could just fill up, you know, those things that they used to throw holy water or they pour water on baby's heads or whatever. Couldn't you just go like, like to a trickle and fill that up and you're baptized in the name of the father. That's because baptism is dunking someone underwater. That's what it means to plunge, to dunk. So that's why they had to be in a place that had a lot of water. And it says, for John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of the John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan to whom thou barest witness, behold, he the same baptizeth and all men come to him. And I don't know if this is a, if he's just like being jealous for John or being envious for John. But when Pete, when Joshua did that with Moses, he said that he wanted all God's people to prophesy. So that's kind of, it's kind of a, you know, sometimes we want to be loyal to our guy, the guy that we like or whatever, but that's really not how John operated. And, you know, I don't know if this guy is intentionally trying to get John upset. I don't think maybe he, maybe he's not, but he's basically just kind of telling him, it's kind of like the same thing with Moses and Joshua. Joshua's, you know, and he's like, you know, Lord, my Lord, Moses forbid them. And it's like, no, not going to forbid them. They're going to, they're, they're doing the same thing. And I want the, I want everybody to preach. So anyway, it says, uh, in verse 26 or verse 27, John answered and said, a man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me record 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, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. So if you've ever been like the best man at a wedding or something, you've been at a wedding and you're happy for those other people. You're happy for that bride and that bridegroom. And the bride is the, you know, is, is Christ, you know, or the bride is the bride of Christ, which would be people that are saved. So that's the picture anyway. And Jesus is the head of the church and he's the savior of the body and where he is the head of the church. Right? So, but it says that he rejoiceth greatly because the bridegroom's voice, this my joy therefore is fulfilled. So he's like, I'm happy that this is happening. And look what he says in verse 30, he must increase, but I must decrease. So John realizes what his mission is. His mission was to come and be the opening band. Okay. His mission was to become, you know, the second funniest comic or whatever. His mission was to become, you know, to, to come and just tell people about Jesus, get people saved, baptize them, preach, rip face against Herod, rip face against the Pharisees when they come. That's what Baptist do. But you know what all Baptists have to do? We have to realize that Jesus Christ must increase people. We're only going to be able to do so much. And if you're trying to do things without the power of Jesus Christ in your life, then you're just going to fail. If you're doing everything in the flesh, you're going to fail. But Jesus is the one that has to increase and we have to be humble and realize that Jesus is the one that is actually saving people. Yes. The Bible says that when we go out, you know, Paul said all that I might save some. And I agree with that. We're co-laborers with God. We are God's husbandry and whatnot. We help with the work, but the saving is done by God himself. So, and we all, we realize that. So, but people always like to say stuff about that too, don't they? Oh, you saying you're getting people saved. You didn't get anybody saved. It's like, well, I don't know. The Bible kind of does say that we did, but whatever we understand what they mean, but they're just being, they don't want, you know, where you're taking credit for what God did. It's like, no, we're not so stupid. That's just because they don't get anybody saved. That's why they act like that. So any chance to throw shade or kick sand in our face, they'll do that. Right. So, but anyway, um, it says he must increase, but I must decrease. And I really believe that this just shows how humble of a man that John is. And he's not about himself. He's not trying to make the kingdom about him. He came to proclaim Jesus, their cousins, by the way. And, you know, preachers, you know, sometimes preachers get weird about stuff like this. Like you'll see people get jealous of pastor Anderson or pastor Jimenez. And, and, and then they'll, they'll pretend to be friends with them and then they'll turn around and stab them in the back later because they got their following, you know, basically built by somebody else. They kind of stepped into these ready-made churches that were already listening to his sermons and, and, and listening, you know, probably got saved out of his ministry somehow or pastor manager or just any of these guys. But then they just, they want to take a following for themselves. And then they, they want to be the hot shot. They want to be the big shot. They want to be number one. So when they, when they're not that, then they get upset and then they stab them in the back and, and, and tell other people that, you know, Hey, follow me instead or whatever. And, you know, that works for some people, but you know, it's just, it's unfortunate. It's weird. It's like, why, why envy someone? I shouldn't be thankful that we have a great preacher like pastor Anderson. Shouldn't it be thankful that we have a great preacher like pastor Jimenez and pastor Shelley and pastor Mejia and all these other guys. They're, they're great preachers. But for, for us to get jealous of each other and who's following who, it's like, who cares? We just want to win people to Christ. And, and, and, and that's what it should be about is being humble and not being some kind of weirdo that just wants to build your own kingdom. And you want to be the, the, the king of the new IFB or whatever. It's just, it's strange. So anyway, um, let's skip down to verse 31. It says he that cometh from above is above all. That's another way of saying he's God, right? He that is of the earth is earthy and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all. Did Jesus come down from heaven? Yep. What's John saying by the, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? He's above all and what he has seen and heard that he testifieth and no man receiveth his testimony for, for that hath received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true for he whom God has sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him. So what does that mean? Well, that means that when Jesus was baptized, that in the, in the Holy Spirit, like a dove came and rested upon him. And he, he talks multiple times. You'll see him talk multiple times throughout the book of John, how that God is, the father is in him and he's in the father. And the Holy Spirit is in him and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. But when God gives the Holy Spirit to man, now, obviously we could be filled with the spirit, but we're not gonna be filled with the spirit like Jesus was. See, he was filled without measure. He was constantly, there was never like a time when, you know, the tank, the tank was getting low or something and he had to stop off and get some more Holy Spirit. He was filled with the spirit. He was given the spirit without measure. That means he had an endless supply. He had an endless tank. And so, you know, you think about Jesus in the book of Mark, how it kind of pictures him as this servant and how was he able to just keep on serving when everybody else was tired and mad? Well, he had the fullness of the Holy Spirit and that just, you know, and so I believe that most prophets and men of God have a measure of God's spirit. Think about Elijah. He had a big measure of the spirit of God. He was able to do multiple miracles and he was a great preacher, you know, he killed the prophets of Baal. He was a great man of God. He was, you know, when the Bible talks about the law and the prophets, I believe it's taught, you know, that the main two people that most people think of are Moses and Elijah. Moses was a great prophet and the bringer in of the Old Covenant and then Elijah, you know, even though Elijah did twice as much as he did, had more of a measure of, he had a double portion of the spirit, didn't he? So that means that must be true. But God just kind of gives the measure of the spirit however he wants to do that and when it comes to Jesus, he was without measure. So that's what that means. In Colossians chapter 2, 9, I won't have you turn there, but Colossians 2, 9 says, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I mean, what does that mean? He's completely filled with the father, filled with the spirit. He's the son. He's the fullness of the Godhead in his body, in his human body, right? So now let's turn back to John chapter 3 to 35 and look at the last two verses here. It says, the father loveth the son and hath given all things into his hand. Now you'll notice this isn't Jesus's words here. This is John still just magnifying the name of Christ, magnifying Jesus and he understands that the father, so here's a funny thing. He understands that there's a father and a son. He understands that there's a spirit, doesn't he? Because he said he didn't feel, what was the last one? Yeah, he didn't, God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him. So here you have John speaking about the spirit, the father and the son. He understands the trinity and guess what? His verse is super clear in 1 John 5, 7, for there are three that bear record in heaven, the father, the word and the holy spirit and these three are one. So that's how the fullness of the whole of the Godhead can be in Jesus bodily. But anyway, so John understands these things and he says he's given all things into his hand. Now look at verse 36. This is a very powerful verse here, verse 36. And it says he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life. What does hath mean? Has. If you believe on the son. And so this is like the kind of coup de gras to any kind of work salvation. I mean it's already been, Jesus has already kind of annihilated work salvation, propped up eternal security. But you know he says he that believeth, and this is John saying this, he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life. So John understands this truth too, doesn't he? And he that believeth not the son shall not see life. They're dead in sin. They cannot be, you know, they can be saved but if they don't believe they won't be saved. But you know John, the book of John, believe is the main, if you want to get a theme in the book of John, it's belief. It's belief. It's faith. And it says but the wrath of God abideth on him. So every person that we go out to preach the gospel to that's not saved, they already are condemned, they already have the wrath of God upon them. And so it's super important as soul owners that we go out and we preach a really clear message. Because this chapter is pretty clear about what salvation is, isn't it? This chapter is very clear about what everlasting life is. And it's not repenting of your sins. It's not making Jesus the Lord of your life. It's not about keeping the commandments or the golden rule. It's not, you know, it's not a balance between good and evil. Your good works have to outweigh your bad works or whatever or your bad sins. It's easy to be saved. Jesus lays it out for us. John hammers it home here. It says, well, and think about this. People accuse us of this and I'm just going to kind of end on this little mini rant here. People say you guys preach easy believe-ism. And they act like that's some kind of bad thing or something. Well, you know what? Yes, I do believe and I preach easy believe-ism because that's what the Bible says. The Bible teaches easy believe-ism. Whosoever believeth. Whosoever believeth. Whosoever believeth. That's what the Bible said multiple times in this chapter. It didn't say whosoever repented. Whosoever keeps by golden rules. Whosoever obeys the commandments. It didn't say any of that. And so here's, you know, I hate work salvation with a passion. And when I, you know, I don't know if me going soloing out today and not getting anybody or the drivers of the city or just the false religious beliefs in this place. And how many people, you know, had a false impression of what salvation is. You know why they have that false impression? Because they went to some stupid church that didn't preach the truth about how to be saved. And they're confused. And some of those people that we talked to today are going to die and go to hell unless they believe because the only way they could be saved is if they say, you know what? I'm done trying to work it out myself. I'm done trying to get there on my own. I'm done trying to, you know, have a buddy system with me and Jesus. We're both climbing together or something. I'm done with all that. I have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that is how I am going to be saved. That's what the Bible teaches. You know what? It is like taking a drink of crystal clear delicious water. You know, He is the water of life. Next chapter, we're going to, you know, He's going to talk about this well of water springing up into everlasting life. And here's the thing. The gospel is clear. The gospel is refreshing. The gospel gives you relief of your sins. But you know what people like to do? They like to throw dirt cloths into that clear crystal glass of salvation. They like to just add works to it. Well, you have to make Him the Lord of your life or He's not, or He's not your Savior. But you know what? You know, I guess Lot, when did Lot make Him the Lord of his life? When he was in the, you know, the last time we see Lot, he's doing some weird stuff in a tunnel with or in a cave with his daughters. But the Bible says he was a just man. He was a righteous man. And you're like, how do you, where do we see that? When he's offering his virgin daughters to the Sodomites? I mean, where do we see the greatness of Lot? That's because there is no greatness in us. It's because he was saved because he believed. It's not about how we live our life and all these other things. But I'll, you know, I'll tell you what. I'll wear easy believe-ism as a badge of honor on me. And anybody that says that is like, yeah, say it all day long. But you know what I want you to do? Keep your stinking work salvation out of our clear crystal glass of salvation. That water of life. Get your scummy pond scum feet out of our water. Quit trying to preach this false salvation. Quit trying to add works of salvation. And it really just angers me even when Baptist preachers do it. It's like, you know, you can't ever really get a real gauge on what they believe. Well, yeah, it's just faith alone. Yeah, it's by grace through faith. Our church is called Amazing Grace. It's like, but you have to repent of your sins. What? Is that what the Bible says? Is that what Jesus said to Nicodemus? You must repent of all your sins. So when Baptist preachers, you know, is that what John said? John the Baptist? No, he said if you believe on him, you'll have everlasting life. You're not condemned anymore. So what should a true Baptist be preaching? A true Baptist should be preaching what Jesus Christ said in here. You must be born again. That's all by believing. That's all by faith. It's everlasting life. You can't lose it. You don't have to have evidence of salvation to prove you're saved. The Bible doesn't say that. Then explain a lot to me. Show him where his evidence of salvation was. Was it when he left Abraham because his cowboys were fighting with Abraham's cowboys? Is that when that he chose what he saw that it was better than the land? And he was like, I'm going to take the best choice. Covetous. He wanted the best of everything. And when he ended, he ends up in Sodom, you know, with a bunch of fags. It's like, what in the world? Where's the evidence of salvation there? We wouldn't even know he was saved if the Bible didn't say it in the book of Peter. Right? We wouldn't even know that just man. So look, it's easy to be saved. Easy believism. If anybody ever says that to you, just be like, yeah, that's what I believe. Who cares? What do you believe in? Hard repentism? You believe, you know, you believe that's what they believe. They believe, they believe that you have to just crawl on the crushed glass or, or come down the soulless trail and bow down before me at the altar. It's like, that's not, where's the Bible say that? Where in the Bible do you see people coming down to an altar and getting saved? You just don't see it. And so look, there's just so much junk out there. Let's boil it down to the ease. Let's boil it down to the easy believism because that's what Jesus taught. That's what the Bible teaches all throughout it. And it's either all faith or nothing. It's either believe or you're condemned. You're done. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the scripture and for this very powerful chapter. And Lord, for the crystal clear salvation that you provide for anybody that would believe. I pray you'd help us when we go out. So wanting to remember that these people are headed for hell and that Lord, um, we would do our best to present a crystal clear gospel presentation to them and Lord, that we would love people when we come to their door and we wouldn't think ill of them, but whatever religion they are, whatever problems they have, Lord, that we would just look past that and show them the love of Christ. Jesus name we pray. Amen. Alrighty. For our last song this evening, we're going to take our hymnals and turn to number 18, please. Take the name of Jesus with you. All right, here we go on the first. Sing it out. Take the name of Jesus with you, child of sorrow and of woe. It will joy and comfort give you, take it then where you go. O precious name, O how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven, Precious name, O how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven, Take the name of Jesus ever, As a shield from every snare. If temptations round you gather, Breathe that holy name in prayer. Precious name, O how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven, Precious name, O how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven, O the precious name of Jesus, How it thrills our souls with joy, When his loving arms receive us, And his songs our tongues employ, O his name, O how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven, Precious name, O how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven, At the name of Jesus bowing, Falling, claw straight at his feet. King of kings and heaven will crown him, When our journey is complete. Precious name, O how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven, Precious name, O how sweet. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. Amen. Great singing. Thanks everyone for coming out this evening. Hope to see you on Sunday. Right? Amen. Yeah. So, uh, brother James, can you close with a word of prayer, please? Lord God, we just thank you for the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.