Let's take our Bibles and go to the Gospel of Luke in chapter 1. We're going to be going all through our Bibles today discussing, prepare ye the way. When I was preparing this sermon, I thought that that sounded familiar and I looked and I saw that a couple of years ago we had done a three-part series around this time of year on the work of John the Baptist. And this morning, I want to do more of a comparison between what John the Baptist has done and the opportunities that we have today to prepare people to put their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior. John the Baptist, he played an important role in the life of Jesus Christ. He was born six months before Jesus, and John was the one who would go before the Lord and herald his arrival. His work was humble yet crucial to the early work of Jesus Christ. He was considered publicly a wild man and confrontational. But John was on a mission to proclaim the king's arrival. Repentance was the call for Israel. If you have a study Bible you'll normally see between Malachi and Matthew there are a couple of pages that discuss a long period of prophetic silence. that had happened in Israel. And as a result of that, a couple hundred years, as a result of that people started to have a different understanding of these prophecies about the Messiah and what it was required to have proper righteousness or good standing with God. And the Pharisees played a large role in that. And John was telling the people of Israel, you need to repent. And so many times I hear people who try to add works to the gospel use John the Baptist's call to Israel for national repentance and apply it somehow to what we do today. John says very clearly in John chapter 3 you'll see what the standard is to have everlasting life. He makes it quite clear. It has nothing to do with changing your mind about the nation of Israel. It has everything to do with changing your mind about who Jesus Christ is. And John is the forerunner. He's the one that is waving the flag and running before the Lord, pointing back to him. He's the one who I want you to see. He's the one that I want you to hear. And you'll see as we study some of the aspects of John's life, he really did decrease. He saw himself less and less as the Lord continued to be magnified. There's an interesting thing you can study in John's Gospel. John, the author of John's Gospel is not John the Baptist, that's John the Apostle, or John the Beloved Apostle. But there's a statement that's made right before Jesus goes into Jerusalem, there were Greeks that were seeking Jesus, showing that the fame of his ministry was starting to go well outside of the nation of Israel. And that's where he says, you know, this is my time. It's my time to go to the cross, it's my time to be cut off. And then he comes back three days later. Repentance was the call for Israel who had long forgotten the signs and the prophets' words. Believers today can play a similar role during the Christmas season as we are ambassadors for the Lord. Like John prepared the way for Jesus, so must we prepare the way for those in our own sphere of influence to accept Jesus as their Savior. We do have communion planned today, so it'll be a little bit of a shorter study so that we can properly do communion. The really, the thrust of the message today is today's a day of salvation. Don't wait, don't delay. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be. He has risen, He has ascended, and He is coming back for all of those who have put their trust in Him. to be simple and clear and let you know without any reservation. That is the point of what we're studying today. It's a two-fold application to that. For those of you who are here this morning and you're not sure that you're going to heaven, you can get that assurance right now. You can simply change your mind from whatever you're trusting in to put you in a correct standing with God and simply believe on Jesus Christ alone. And the second part of that, those of us who have already believed, we have work to do. We are not to live a dormant Christian life, a stagnant Christian life. This is what I believe is the significance of Jesus spewing out the lukewarm. Water that has, you know, it's lukewarm, it's still, I mean that's where, you know, us Floridians, what does that breed? You know? And them things, we don't want them. And lukewarm water I think is a description of the Laodicean believers there in Revelation chapter 3 but it could very well be the church today because we got a lot of stuff. Got a lot of things that we might look to as securities or blessings from God but we're not doing anything for Him. Reminds me of the description of the Jewish people in Romans. They have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. Reminds me of what Jesus says that your lips speak of me but your heart is far from me. And the takeaway, the second application, and for those of us who have already believed, we have work to do in sharing the gospel and living according as God has said a child of the king should live. And that's not optional. A lot of people, I know when I grew up as a teenager I would be waiting for God's calling on my life. And it wasn't until I realized that the calling was already there, I just didn't know what it was, and when I found out what it was, I was reluctant to do it, right? We're all waiting for God to tell us something, and then we open up our Bibles, we see what He tells us, and because our old man in us is stubborn, desperately wicked, we try to find a way out of it. Well, that's for the missionary. Well, that's for the full-time Christian work. You know, that's not me. You be a light wherever you are. And we can see some things. I'm going to draw out three key points from John's ministry that I think are relevant for us today. First of all, he was a man prepared by God. Look there in Luke chapter 1 and verse 13. Gabriel declared John would be great in the sight of the Lord and spirit-filled from the womb. Luke chapter 1 and verse 13, this is on page 1071 or up on the screens here. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb." What a blessing it is in this time. That was not something that was common. What a blessing we have today. Ephesians 1.13 says, the moment that you believe, you receive the Holy Spirit. You know, over the past, I don't know, 25 or 30 years, Hollywood has really shown us what it's like to be a superhero. and how cool it is, right? You know Spider-Man, he could do that. I got sick one year around Christmas time and I had the worst fever dream ever. Number one, that in that dream I was Spider-Man. But I was Spider-Man in the desert. I couldn't use my powers. To this day, that is such a vivid dream. I woke up going, what in the world? I am sick. Like something's wrong. But Hollywood tries to portray, oh, you know, these super abilities, these genetic mutations and all that. What greater power than what God has said about those who believe on Him? You have the Holy Spirit. You are considered the temple of the living God. And not only that are we indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but by yieldedness and submission to the leading from God's Word, He can indwell us, or excuse me, not indwell us, He can fill us. We can literally be under the influence of the Spirit, not out of control in any way, but fully controlled to do what God desires for us to do. I want that kind of life. I don't want to have what the world describes as a superpower. I mean that's God dwelling in me. John was born with the Spirit on him because he was elected to a purpose. He was elected to a specific service. Verse 16, many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And we see that in Matthew chapter 3. We see the work that John was doing and how people were getting in line with him. We see in Acts chapter 19 how there were some who only knew of John's message but they didn't understand what Jesus had done. And so Paul further educates them. He's a forerunner, one who goes before. 17 is the crucial verse. He shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, which is Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And we ultimately see how the stubbornness of Israel overcame this purpose in the first half, because when Jesus gets to Jerusalem the second time, he looks out over Israel and he weeps for them. He says, how often I would have gathered you together, but ye would not. By the way, man has a free will. God in his sovereignty has given each one of us the ability to choose. but He holds us accountable to our choice. This is why when I share the gospel with somebody and they reject it, my prayer is that they would change their minds. Because they're not rejecting me or my message, they're rejecting God. There's this word that we're gonna see in John 3, record, that is used in 1 John chapter 5. The record, the official record that God has said, this is a legal statement, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. That's what he says about Jesus at his baptism. When Jesus appears in glory to the three in the inner circle on the Mount of Transfiguration, there's an addition, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. And then in 1 John it says, It's that simple. Yet how complicated is it today? I could show you you know, 30-second reel and clip after clip, podcast after podcast, but everybody making it so hard and so unique and so difficult to get to heaven when it really is. Do you believe what God has said about his son? Are you trusting in him or are you looking at Jesus, are you looking at what he has done and you say, no, he is not the way, he is not the truth, he is not the life. There are other ways to the Father. This is the danger we see in the ecumenical church. That's a big word. What that means is no form of doctrine, right? We're not gonna talk about salvation because that's divisive. We're not gonna talk about sin because that condemns people and we want people to feel happy. And you know, people that feel happy are more likely to get more money. It's usually how it goes. Where has that gotten the church today? You see what's happening in church today. It's hard to look at the church and actually think it's a church. It looks more and more like the world. We gotta preach the truth. There's form and doctrine. We've gotta preach what is said. And John was very confrontational in that work, we'll see later. But John's birth, like Christ, was divinely announced, and his entire life was designed for that purpose. Second thing I want you to see here is that he fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Isaiah chapter 40 in verse three. For time, we're not gonna turn there. It'll be up on the screens there for you. It says this, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. You're in Luke chapter one still. You see in verse 17 that he was to prepare a way. Malachi 3.1 in the Old Testament says, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight. Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. The position of Israeli people today that are living in Israel and are religious are that they are looking for this Messiah. He has already come. We believe that because of the prophecy that was fulfilled. John the Baptist went before and was saying these things. The significance of his water baptism was not for their salvation, but it was a public declaration that this message, this guy that this guy's pointing to, I'm going to go with him. That is exactly why he challenges the Pharisees. You generation of vipers, what a greeting, right? How to win friends and influence people, not on John's reading list. But he knew, I believe, because he had the Spirit on him, he could discern what these people were really there to do, what they were really there to scope out. Look at Matthew chapter three. That we will turn to, Matthew chapter three. Verses 1-3. If you have a Schofield Bible, it's on page 996. In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The call to change their mind is from their timing of the establishment of the kingdom. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. Now you just saw that in Isaiah 40 in verse 3, Malachi chapter 3 in verse 1, and John is repeating it here. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord and make his paths straight. The gospels directly identified John as that promised herald. Look at verse four. We can also see by the way he lived, which matched up exactly with what Gabriel said, his clothing and his diet, check this out. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, nice. That's not cashmere, folks. Go look that up, that's some rough stuff. And it's particularly, as a defense mechanism for the camel, it retains odor. Right? If someone gives you a sweater of camel hair, they don't like, they're trying to say something. Not only that, and a leather girdle about his loins and his meat was locust and wild honey. So likely he was real thin, because there's not a lot of good supplemental things that he's eating there. He likely would have been somebody that looked scary, that looked unwell, definitely unkept, definitely someone who was not a part of a regular cleaning schedule. And he's making these claims. Yet, listen to the significance of this. People are hearing and understanding what he's saying. I think that's the Spirit working through him. And no doubt, to a degree, people ended up trusting in Christ as their Savior because of the work of John the Baptist. Now, when that happened, we don't know. Certainly, I believe people put their faith in Christ before he died on the cross, absolutely. I wonder how many thousands after. Go, man, that guy, John. And remember, he was beheaded by Herod later on. That was a shock to the early Christian community, you could call it. Again, they weren't called Christians then, but that was a shock. It was almost as if it was a joke that Herod's wife asked for the head of John the Baptist and Herod made it happen. His life demonstrated prophetic consecration. Look in verses seven through 12. His simplicity of message rebuked Israel's spiritual complacency. He was a natural rebuke to the Pharisees and other religious teachers of his day, I believe, because he had the endowment of the Holy Spirit, and these religious leaders were only in their flesh. They were only telling things that kept them employed. Look at verses seven through 12. We skipped verses five through six that talked about what he was doing, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. What wrath to come? The wrath on all of those who die in unbelief, having never put their trust in Jesus Christ. There's wrath to come. John says, bring forth, therefore, fruits, meat for repentance. This is specific. Listen, this is not show me you're saved by your works. That's not what he's saying. These are teachers. The Pharisees and the Sadducees are two parts of the religious teaching group in Israel. The Pharisees were all forward facing. They're a first line of contact between the people and temple practice. The Sadducees were more scientific in their beliefs. They didn't believe in an afterlife. That's why they're Sadducee. I'm not being funny, that's how I got an A. I didn't get an A in life for Christ, I think I got a B. But that's in part why. You remember stuff like that. And it's funny, if you look at the questioning that happened from the Sadducees, when Jesus came into the temple, it was all about the afterlife. And it's like, bro, you don't even believe in that. I mean, obviously, and the scripture tells us they asked questions to try and trick him. What this is talking about is teachers, The fruit that I'm looking for, John says, is the things that you say, because I, John, I'm saying something different than you. You're saying that righteousness is attained by keeping certain parts of the law. Righteousness only comes by full adherence to the law. This man can do that and will do that. You cannot. You need him. It's the last thing a prideful person wants to hear is you need somebody else. And if we're all honest people here today, when you are told that you need to depend on somebody else, it's a part of our American culture to buck at that. Isn't it? I don't need anybody. It's a big part of the feminist movement today. I don't need no man. That's a big part of American culture. We don't need anybody. We're the greatest nation on the earth. This nation is in outright rebellion to the things that God has said. Can we speak openly and honestly? And just so you know, I'm not running for any kind of office. And it's scary what this nation calls godly. It's really secular humanism. John is saying, I know you guys don't understand what I'm saying. You need to come to a change of mind and start getting in line with what I'm saying. And think not to say within yourselves, it's a little mind reading going on, I think, we have Abraham to our father. What is that a claim to? Well, I'm ethnically born into this. That's some of the biggest motivational belief systems today within Israel. We are the children of God. When they are a part of the nation, but in order to be a child of God, you have to accept Jesus Christ. And that's the claim today. Well, we have these things because of our ethnicity. But look what is said to them here. For I say unto you that God is able to raise up these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. So it's not about what you are born into, it's about who you believe on. That's the significance. And then he gives an illustration. And now also is the axe laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with that water into repentance. But he that cometh after me is mightier than I. Who is he talking about? J-E-S-U-S. whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." And the Pentecostals have really swung and missed at this verse. Because they say, we want the baptism of fire. No, you don't. You don't. I know that's funny, but I want to be serious. You do not want the baptism of fire. These are not comparisons. These are contrasts. Baptism of the Holy Spirit is something that was promised and is talked about later in John 7 that would come on those who believe and that happened at the day of Pentecost. From that point forward until I believe the rapture happens, everybody who puts their trust in Jesus Christ receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The baptism of fire is demonstrated by the judgment in verse 12, whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor. Jay read in Isaiah 40 where he was talking about I'm gonna give you a threshing whip with teeth, and you're gonna disintegrate the mountains? Jesus is using an agricultural illustration here. The one who has the fan is the servant who comes in after the wheat has been beaten against the ground with like a whip, and it separates the wheat from the chaff. By the way, go look up a picture of a strand of wheat up against chaff. It is indiscernible. especially to us, who are not farming later on this afternoon. The only difference is when you cast one up, the wheat falls down quicker because it's of substance and weight, and the chaff will literally, it's like a bubble, it just, it goes away. The threshing floor is the separation between those who have trusted and accepted the Messiah and those who have rejected the Messiah, and the fan is the time, all right, chaff is going out, we're burning it up. That's the baptism of fire. So any Pentecostal asks you if you've received the baptism of fire, you say, no, and I don't want it. This is not to mock the Pentecostals, but I want you to see how easy it is to take things out of context to justify a viewpoint. In context here, this is Pharisees, get right with what God has said. The God you serve, you're calling him a liar. It's exactly what it's talked about in John chapter eight. They said, you're not even 50 years old. Now, you saw Abraham? Ego emi is what he says in the Greek. I am. And they understood that perfectly. They picked up these things called stones and they went to go kill him. They understood. I and my father are one in John 10 30. They understood. They sought to kill him then too. Whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his weed into the garner and will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So that's the contrast there. That's our guy, J.B., John the Baptist. I mean, he's speaking truth to power. No doubt, the people there are going, whoa. You know who he's talking to? I mean, these are the people, the Pharisees, that are the most faithful. They're the most consistent. They bring the perfect sacrifices. Their clothes are even designed to make them stick out And John's talking to him this way? He must be saying something. Here's a takeaway from this first point here. If we wanna prepare the way for Jesus in our homes, workplaces, and communities, we gotta let the Lord prepare us. Let him do his perfect work in you. That requires you to say, not my will, but thine. That's a hard thing to do. Why? Because you got P-R-I-D-E. And look, I'm not looking only at you. Here, I'll turn around. I'm talking to me too. Trust me. I want you to look at some New Testament passages here. Hold tight in Matthew and go to 1 Peter 1. A vessel must be cleansed before it can carry water. We do this in our homes. You have somebody coming over, right? You trust that dishwasher. You go to open up the dishwasher and you look at it and you got the soap scum. Sometimes I wanna take the dish, I wanna take it back to Publix with my receipt and say, this does not look like the glass on the picture. There's no shine coming off of this, you know what I'm saying? We wouldn't give, we would not give somebody who's coming into our home a drink of water from a dirty glass. And if you got kids, you definitely know how you can have everything look great on the outside, but you take a peek on the inside and there's fuzz in there. It wasn't clean properly. That's an illustration that Jesus uses too. Y'all look good on the outside, but you're dirty on the inside. Look at this beautiful statement here in 1 Peter 1, verse 23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. By the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. When you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, you are born of an incorruptible seed. I'm here before you now in my flesh as a result of a corruptible birth. This is going away. My flesh, one day, if the Lord doesn't come back in my time, I'll die and I'll rot in the ground and that's it. Absent from this body present with the Lord, amen? And one day I'll get a new resurrected body according to the teachings of the New Testament. But I only get that because I'm born again. Those of you who are here today, you got that right now. We forgot. And we let, you know, marketing deals and all that tell us how our joy should be, right? Well, I got this TV for a great deal. You're gonna be doing the same thing next year, probably. For all flesh is as grass. This is an illustration. and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. So imagine a field with nice grass, nice flowers, it looks well-maintained. Folks, if you've ever laid sod in your house, you know how long that's gonna last. It's here today, gone tomorrow. It's cyclical, it's designed that way. God has designed it that way. But this is a comparison to man and the glory of man, the vanity of man. The grass withereth. The flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. And if you're born again because of what the word says, then you're not going to fade away. Your story's not over when you die. Your story is gonna go on forever, and it's gonna have one title, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He gets the praise, honor, and glory. Hallelujah, as the hymn writer says. Hallelujah, what a savior we have in Jesus. Look at chapter two, verses five through six. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture And this is a direct quote from Isaiah 28. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect, that means chosen to a purpose, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Verse nine. Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people. That don't mean you're weird. It's as a people for a possession that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. That's how we should be living. A reflection of who we are. This is why when somebody comes to me and they struggle with assurance, it is not because they are unsaved, it is because some false teacher and false doctrine has robbed them of the knowledge of who they really are. That's the problem. Can you imagine if I went down to St. Joe's every day, talking to the hospital there, saying, I need proof that I was born back in 1990 here? I would be staying in the hospital, but not in that area. Right? That would be an issue. You wanna see that I'm here? I'm here, you know? If the word of God says you believe you have everlasting life, then folks, you have everlasting life. I don't care what modern theology says today. Look what the modern theology said about Jesus. A blasphemer, worthy of death. Who you want, Barabbas or Jesus? Give us the convicted murderer. We will kill the man who you, Pilate, say there's nothing wrong with him. Even Herod and Pilate's friendship was kindled over the fact that they said Jesus has, he's done nothing wrong. Pilate's wife, I've had night terrors about this man. When given to the people, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. And the world did, right there. Up from the grave he arose. Ah, that's a nice truth, tooth. Look in verse 10. Which in time past were not a people, but now the people of God. Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Sometimes, folks, we let the circumstances of life dirty the cup. And we look in and we're like, oh. There's no joy, everything is bleh. No, no, this is who, you're still able to be used by God. But if we're not careful, we rob ourselves of who we really are. Second point here is John pointed people directly to Christ. We got a lot to cover here, so let's take a look in John chapter three, please. The Gospel of John chapter three, he pointed people to Christ. There's an illustration here, an illustration that I think we would understand today. It's a common illustration between the bridegroom and the bridegroom's friend. The bride is there, the bridegroom is happy, he's enjoying the fellowship with his bride, and the friend looks on and he's going, You ever been to weddings like that, a close people, and you see how God has brought two people together and it's a good thing as he designed it to be? Boy, the stuff that's being said about marriage today. The reason why marriage isn't working today is because there's no God in the homes. That's why. I know how to love and care for my wife because of how God has loved and cared for me. You say, where's the parenting manual? Where's the section? You just keep doing what it says and you'll figure it out. Ye yourselves, this is John 3, 28, ye yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, that's a title, the Messiah, but 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 is fulfilled." Verse 30, he must increase but I must decrease. In John chapter 1 verses 19 through 27, which we're not going to look at for time. John, he completely refuses titles. Who do they say you are? Are you Elijah? No. Are you the Christ? No. Are you Isaiah? No, but I come in the spirit of him. Y'all, I'm pointing you to him. Isn't it funny how we have those same similarities in life? We can look at something that's accurate, that's proven, and yet we still doubt it, right? We see that when you're looking to park for an event. It says parking here, and something within us men goes, I think there's something ahead better. Right, I'm just gonna go a little bit further. And then you're done. At that point it's like, whew, all done. Look at John chapter one in verses 29 through 34. He clearly identified Jesus as the Lamb of God. John chapter one, starting there in verse number 29. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Jesus in the operation of the Lamb. What is the significance there? The perfect spotless blood sacrifice. Any Jewish person in John's time would understand what is meant there. They needed that lamb every single day of atonement. They needed it. Just because it was a picture all the way back to what? Their captivity in Egypt, the 10th plague. Whoever has the blood on the doorpost of a lamb of this quality, the angel of death will pass over. This is he of whom, verse 30, I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. Which is an ironic statement again, right? Why is that important? Old JB's six months older than Jesus Christ. How was he before him? He's God. 31, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest, he should be made known to Israel, therefore I come baptizing with water. And John bare record saying, I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God." That is the pinnacle of John's ministry. Look back in John chapter 3 because we see that he taught clearly that eternal life is only through belief in Jesus Christ. After we have that illustration of he must increase, but I must decrease, John goes through and gives another lengthy example, but he concludes here in verse 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. That is so important that the Bible describes life there as everlasting. How long does it last? Forever, by definition. And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, ho, ho, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Call back now to Matthew 3, whose fan is in his hand. That's the judgment. When a person dies today and they have not put their trust in Jesus Christ, they are in conscious torment until. The great white throne judgment which is described in Revelation where the sea and death and hell and all that will give up their debt and they'll stand before the Lord and give an account. Every person who is at that judgment will be tossed into the lake of fire of which is prepared for the devil and his angels. You say, well, I want to skip that. I don't want to be there for that belief. Look at what this verse says. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life. His work of baptism was to prepare people for Jesus. He then showed them how their faith in him alone would give them everlasting life. This was the missing piece for the believers of John's baptism only in Acts chapter 19. So what's the application here? Go to 2 Corinthians chapter five. 2 Corinthians chapter five. We must also prepare the way when our conversations, attitudes, relationships clearly point to Jesus, not to us and our opinions, but to the Lamb of God. That's why I get a little bit of an icky feeling right now with this merging between conservatism and Christianity. It just bothers me, guys. It bothers me because I think sometimes we start thinking that we believe the way we believe because it's how we vote. No. I believe what I believe because this is what the Bible says. And there's a lot in each party that goes against what God says is truth. That's why I want to be known as a child of God first and then all that other stuff after, you know? 2 Corinthians 5, 17 through 21. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, that's the one who has trusted in him, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. You have a new option. You have a new choice now, a new birth. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself, that means removed, that which is in the way, us to himself by Jesus Christ. How could God remove, here, look up here with this, you know, the illustration with sin. This is you and me, this is God. How is this removed? Look at what the verse says. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. This was removed by Christ. Not by you coming to church today, not by you giving your money to the refresher. This was removed by the finished work of Jesus Christ. And hallelujah for that work being finished, amen? And have given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Whoa, whoa, whoa, what does that mean? You have a ministry to introduce other people to that reconciliation. to witness that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing, putting to their trespasses unto them, and have committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. If you signed up on the third Sunday, no, no, that is who you are. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he, God, hath made him, Jesus, to be sin for us, sinners, who knew no sin, Christ had no sin of himself, that we, the unrighteous, might be made the righteousness of God in him, Jesus Christ. I'll repeat what the hymn writer said. Hallelujah, what a savior. And finally, John's faithfulness encourages us to herald Christ today. Go back to Matthew chapter 11, if you will, please. We're coming up on our communion slot, so I wanna move quickly through these last few verses here. He stayed faithful even when he was discouraged. In prison, John had some doubt. I believe the Lord encouraged him. Look at Matthew chapter 11, verses two through three. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, are thou he that should come or do we look for another? Jesus responded with assurance of what John already knew. Look in verse 4. Some great encouragement. Look at what is said. That is calling John to remember the prophets that he studied which spoke of Christ. When people doubt their salvation today, I point them back to what God's Word says. Not my opinion of it, not, well don't worry, you're a Protestant, so X, Y, no. Well don't worry, you're in free grace, so you know, no. Who shall lay anything against God's elect? Who shall condemn? It's God that justifies. It's Christ that died and was buried and rose again and intercedes. How do I know I'm saved? Jesus Christ is risen again. That's how I know I'm saved. I have put my trust in him. Jesus honored John's ministry. Look in verse 11. Verily I say unto you, among them are born of women here hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. His work was important. And believers must also be faithful and herald Jesus Christ today. Let's look at these verses quickly, please. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. In a discussion, I believe, which is supposed to be comforting about the timing of the Lord's return, we see these sobering reminders. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, starting in verse number 6. Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep shall sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober. " Folks, if our head is loose and we got bobblehead syndrome, tossed to and fro by everyone in the doctrine, you gotta screw that down tight. That's not how a child of God should live. We are of the day. Well, I don't feel like it. It doesn't change what God said. Look at 1 Peter 3, 16. It always amazes me how fast time goes. Doesn't it? 1 Peter 3, 16. Now this is in the middle of a larger discussion, but there's something to be drawn out here. 1 Peter 3.16, having a good conscience that, whereas they, the world, speak evil of you as of evildoers, they're speaking of the things that they would see in themselves because that's who they are, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. This is in the middle of a discussion on how the peculiar people, the stones and the spiritual house, how we should live. If the world comes against you and calls it hate and calls it a lack of love and calls it wrong and God says it's right, you still do what's right. But what's happening with a lot of Christians today is we're running under, you know, churches that are weak. Remember I talked about ecumenical stuff? Carnal believers love those churches because they're never convicted. Odds are there's somebody in the live chat right now talking about how it's too much, blah, blah, blah. Okay, that's fine. God's Word says it. I'm going to preach it lovingly and then to the best of my ability with the Holy Spirit empowering me and enabling me, I'm going to do what the Word says. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. This is the last passage we'll look at before we transition over into the communion part of the service. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 17 through 18. Psalm page 1212. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. You know how sobering that is for Bible teachers? It's not about your eloquence, pastor. It's not about your ability to speak. It's about Christ and the cross. That's why when ministries like this do what we do, we're called half-baked, you know? Well, they're really good at the gospel, but the Christian life, not so much. Really? The gospel is Christian life, hello? Without it, you don't have Christian life. Matter of fact, you got a lot of Christian life today that's gonna go, Lord, Lord, have we not? And the Lord's gonna say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. Sobering. Why? They did all the works, they didn't do the will of the Father. What's the will of the Father? To believe on the one he had sent, that's Jesus Christ. You take Matthew 7 and you correlate it with John 6 and you see the significance of faith alone in Christ alone. It's not just a doctrinal position that because I'm free grace, that's what God says is the standard for right position in him. Verse 18, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God." Would you look up here for a moment? Close your Bibles, please. The power of the gospel is in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And if you're here this morning and you have yet to put your trust in Him. You are separated from God right now. And if you were to die in the next few seconds here without changing your mind, you would end up separated from Him in hell. I know that's strong preaching. I know that for some of us who are worried about where we're gonna go when we die, that can be alarming. But there is good news there. Jesus Christ took your place. He didn't go and suffer in hell for you. He shed His blood. He offered up His body. When Jesus was on the cross, before He died, He said, it is finished. It was all done in that moment. Sometimes we think to ourselves, well, what if I sin? What if I sin in the future? Are those sins paid? How many of your sins were future when Christ died on the cross? All of them. Look up here, I want to share with you this illustration. This hand represents you and me. This represents sin. I put this on top of my hand because the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God loves us, but He hates our sin. And folks, He's a holy and righteous God. This is separating us from Him. We need reconciliation. We need somebody to remove these things that is in the way. And God loves us, but this sin separates us from Him. The wages of sin is death. Eternal separation from God and a literal fire-burning hill. There's no amount of reformed living. There's no amount of change. If you're convicted today and the response is, well, I'm going to live better, I think that's admirable, but it's not going to pay for your sin. The Bible says we're saved by grace. Not of works lest any man should boast. See if I could change my life through right living and I would earn salvation, Christ died in vain. Galatians 3.21 teaches that. For if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain. He died for a purpose because He had to. Otherwise we'd be dead in our sins. Forever unreconciled. This hand represents Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. We talked about, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. It's exactly what was accomplished on Calvary. For God so loved the world, that's you and me, that he gave his only begotten Son, that's Jesus Christ, that whosoever believeth in him, not turns, reforms, commits, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Pastor, it's too easy. Pastor, it can't be that simple. Pastor, I don't deserve it. That's grace. We don't deserve that. You know what we deserve? Separation. But God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. How can you know that you're going to heaven? How can this sin, which is in the way, be reconciled this morning? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe means to trust, to rely upon, just like you sat down in that pew, fully expecting it to hold you up. So rest in the Lord Jesus Christ today. Put your trust in Him, that He is the only begotten Son of God. whose death, burial, and resurrection is the only covering for your sin. In that moment, God justifies you. He declares you righteous. You are now positionally in the family of God. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And now you have eternal security. You now have the wonderful opportunity and responsibility to introduce this to somebody else. I'm doing what I'm doing today because somebody got in my life and told me I was headed to hell when Jesus paid my price. Would you bow your head and close your eyes, please? Nobody looking around. I'm going to ask the gentlemen who are administering communion if they would head to the back. Don't let that disturb you. They're going to be getting ready here for communion. before we partake in communion which is a reminder for those who have already trusted in Christ of the sacrifice that He has made. If you're here this morning and you just got it, you just understood, man I thought I had to be a certain way to get to Heaven. I thought that I had to do a bunch of things and live a good life, or maybe you just thought I wasn't as bad as what I thought would be required for people who would go to Hell. but you see that you have fallen short. but that Jesus paid your price. If you have put your trust in Him this morning, the Bible says you are saved forevermore. You have everlasting life because you believed on the Son. I'd like to pray for you. In a moment I'm gonna ask you if you lift your hand up and just raise your hand to let me know that you've trusted in Christ. No one's gonna come down the aisle and pull you aside or anything like that. It's just an opportunity for me to pray for you. And it's an encouragement also for those of us here who have already trusted in Christ, because we prayed for you. And God brought you here. Raising your hand doesn't save you if you choose not to raise your hand but you trust in Christ, you still have the promises of God. There's no scripture that says unless you raise your hand. I would like to pray for you. So if there's anyone here this morning that would just by an uplifted hand say, Pastor, pray for me. I just trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I know I'm going to heaven. Praise God, brother. I see you, and I praise the Lord for you. Anyone else before we close? What a good day it is. Raising your hand doesn't save you. It just tells me that it made sense for someone today. Anyone else? Let's pray for the one that is just trusted in Jesus Christ. Is it a good day? Amen, it's a good day. Lord, we thank you for the one by an uplifted hand that says they have put their trust in Jesus Christ, that he's the only begotten Son of God, that his death, burial, and resurrection is the only proper covering for their sin. They have believed on him. Father, we know that he is now your child. He is positionally in Christ. What you have prepared for him, I don't know. But I know that this ministry can minister to him, strengthen him, encourage him. He has the Holy Spirit. I pray that he would be in the word diligently. And Father, now as we turn our attention to communion and we think about the significance of your body that was bruised, your blood that was shed, Let that be a sobering reminder when we want to sin, when we want to throw a tantrum like a child and demand our way. Let us remember the cost for our sin. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.