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[0:00] Back in the Gospel of John, Gospel of John chapter one, we're slowly moving through this, that's okay.

[0:16] Last week we covered just a few verses talking about John the Baptist's witness of Christ and we've already gone over the beginning of this chapter, John talking about Christ and he introduces us to John the Baptist, talking about John the Apostle doing these things.

[0:43] And then we kind of go back to Christ, and then we go back to John. Last week we finished up with verse 18, really and truly, we didn't finish up with that.

[0:54] I clashed with just a few minutes left before the bell was going to ding for 11 o'clock service. So I'd like to pick back up in verse 18 again and finish that off.

[1:10] We truly didn't finish that. But to do that we need to read verse 17 as well. So John chapter one began verse 17, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

[1:26] Verse 18, no man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. So to go back, kind of tag on to what we talked about last week, we talked about how some people will read this verse and say, well no man hath seen God at any time, how does the Bible say that Moses saw him face to face?

[1:55] How does it talk about some of the elders of Israel seeing God? Here's God standing here, we haven't gotten to it yet in John chapter one, but here's God standing at the Jordan River with dozens, maybe hundreds of people with their eyes upon him, God being in the form of Jesus Christ and the 12 Apostles and everyone that saw him do miracles.

[2:17] How can the Bible say no man hath seen God at any time? And we talked about that last week and how atheists and contenders of the Bible will use that verse against the Bible.

[2:30] But folks, you can't disprove the Bible, it's impossible to disprove the Bible. There have been people who try, I used to try to disprove the Bible. And it's an impossible thing to do, there are no contradictions within the Scriptures.

[2:44] So to get into this, we read verse 17 again, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And then we look at the last part of verse 18, it says, the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

[3:03] Now we know that Jesus Christ was and is God manifest in the flesh. When he was born here and he was placed in that manger in Bethlehem, all of us know what we refer to as the Christmas account.

[3:17] He was just as much God then as he was when he was crucified upon the cross. He was just as much God in the womb of Mary as he was when he was crucified on the cross.

[3:29] And he is just as much God now sitting at the right hand of the Father as he was when he walked this earth. He is God, he was God, and he always will be God.

[3:40] But this here says, the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him, meaning that Jesus Christ, when he came here, he declared God and he showed God in his fullness.

[3:56] God had never been seen in his fullness, and we talked about that a little bit last week when Moses asked God if he could see him, if he could see his glory, and God put him in the cleft of the rock and as he walked by, Moses saw his hinder parts.

[4:14] We talked about how Moses had indeed seen God and seen the glory of God. But folks, you cannot tell the character of a person or the personality of a person from their backside.

[4:26] You cannot tell a whole lot about a person from their backside and that is all that Moses saw. When the elders saw the glory of God, that is all they saw was the glory, but they did not see the rest of them.

[4:38] They did not see the fullness of God. But Jesus Christ came here to declare and to show the world the fullness of God. The Bible says in the book of Colossians in him, dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead, speaking of Jesus Christ.

[4:53] So Jesus Christ came to declare that fullness of God, to declare not only the mercy and the grace that came by Jesus Christ in verse 17 here, but to live out the law that Moses gave.

[5:08] Moses and the law were just one side of God. That was one side of the coin with God, but the flip side and praise God for the flip side of that coin was grace and truth and mercy and forgiveness.

[5:22] And life eternal. This was the other side of that coin. So Jesus Christ, when he came, the only begotten son of the Father, which the Bible here says in verse 18, was in the bosom of the Father, the Bible declaring the two separate persons of the triune God, or two of the separate persons of the triune God.

[5:46] Jesus Christ being in the bosom of the Father, the Father couldn't be in his own bosom. The Son couldn't be in his own bosom, but the Son was in the bosom of the Father talking about the closeness of Jesus Christ and his relationship to the Father.

[6:03] And we can read all throughout the Gospels about how close Jesus Christ was with the Father in his earthly ministry here. We read about how he would get up early in the morning, he would disappear, go off by himself praying.

[6:17] We read about how after miracles he would disappear up into the mountains and he would pray. He had a close relationship with the Father the entire time that he was here on this earth.

[6:29] So that's what that line is referring to when it says the only begotten son who was in the bosom of the Father. But Jesus Christ says he hath declared him, Christ has declared him.

[6:41] God had never been completely and fully declared or shown to humankind until Jesus Christ did so. And that's why you all have heard me say so many times over that Jesus Christ is the final word from God.

[6:58] He's it, he's all we've got. Jesus Christ is all that we have. He is the final word, he is the final say so from God. That's why the book of Hebrews chapter 1 says God who at sundry times and in diverse manners has spoken unto us by his prophets and in visions and in dreams and all these other things that we read about.

[7:17] Hasn't these final days spoken to us by his son Jesus Christ? He is the final word from God and Jesus Christ declared that. That is the whole reason that he came. Yes, he came to suffer. Yes, he came to die and be a sacrifice for you and I.

[7:35] Yes, he came to destroy the works of darkness and destroy the works of the devil. We read about that in 1 John for those of you that were here when we went through that. Yes, he came to do that.

[7:46] But he came to show the human grace God Almighty and that he did and he did that fully. Now, all this being said verse 18 wraps up the introduction to the Gospel of John.

[8:02] That's the final verse in the intro and I said we've gone through a lot of stuff in the past three or four Sundays through the Gospel of John just in these 18 verses.

[8:14] But now we begin the actual Gospel account of the Gospel of John and I told you all when we first began this study that the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are very much different from the Gospel of John.

[8:30] Not only in their construction and some parts what they actually record but just in the spiritual aspect that John writes it in.

[8:42] And that's why I invite everyone in particular new converts, if you're going to start reading the Bible, begin with the Gospel of John because it's the most easily comprehensible, most easily understood book in all of Scripture.

[9:00] So with all that being said, we'll begin at verse 19 in the first chapter of the Gospel of John says, And this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?

[9:12] And he confessed and denied not, but confessed I am not the Christ. And they asked him what then? Art thou a lies? And he saith I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.

[9:26] Then said they unto him, Who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. Sayest thou of thyself and we'll stop reading right there and back up to verse 19 again.

[9:37] And this is the record of John, speaking of John the Baptist. When the record of John the Baptist, I'm sorry, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?

[9:52] So it talks about these Jews, these priests, these Levites, and there was a company of them that were sent to John out there on the wilderness as he was preaching.

[10:04] And as he was preaching repentance, as he was baptizing people, we'll get to that here in just a little while. But this company of people was sent to ask him, Who was he? This man was causing quite a stir out there in the wilderness where he was.

[10:20] There were people flocking to him by the dozens, maybe the hundreds, maybe even the thousands, we're not sure. But there were people coming from all around to hear this man, John the Baptist, preach and see what he had to say.

[10:33] And it says that they come to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. So my personal opinion was there was some divine revelation to John that these people thought that he could possibly be the Christ.

[10:53] And this is his first response to them. He says that he confessed and he denied, but he didn't deny anything, but he confessed that he was not the Christ.

[11:05] He was not the one that was promised. He was not Messiah. And this would do good for a lot of Christians nowadays, and particularly a lot of preachers to read this and to really comprehend it, that they are not Messiah and that they are not Christ.

[11:24] They are to preach Christ. But unfortunately, there's a lot of preachers and pastors that are placed upon pedestals at the same level, if not above the level of Jesus Christ. And folks, if John the Baptist didn't do that, nor feel like he had any right to do so, then no preacher on this planet that has been is or ever will be has any right to do so either.

[11:48] We don't have power to say we are not the promised Messiah. The promised Messiah was being heralded by John the Baptist here. And he was being introduced to the world by John the Baptist. Now, keep in mind that Jesus Christ had lived about 30 years at this point, but his ministry really had not started. His ministry hadn't begun yet. We read in John chapter two when we get to it about the first miracle that Jesus Christ performed, at least that's recorded in the Gospel of John, we'll say, but the first miracle that's recorded in that gospel is the turning of the water into wine.

[12:26] We read about that in the next chapter. That was the beginning as far as John's Gospel account goes. That was the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. Now, keep in mind the man Jesus Christ had lived for 30 years at this point, and John the Baptist was just now heralding and calling out and announcing that the Messiah had indeed come.

[12:52] So keep that in mind while we read all of this. He confessed and denied not the confessed, I'm not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Art thou a lives? They say, are you Elijah? Why would they have asked something like this? It was common Jewish thought that Elijah was going to come because of some certain Old Testament scriptures that are there.

[13:16] But folks, when you read about Elijah coming in the Old Testament, Elijah comes before the great and dreadful day of the Lord. That's when Elijah is supposed to make another appearance here.

[13:28] So and I've heard people teach and preach that John the Baptist was indeed the Elijah that was promised from the Old Testament. Folks, this was not the great and dreadful day that we read about in the book of Malachi. This was a wonderful day. This was daylight itself shining upon this Jewish nation.

[13:46] Now, remember, John the Baptist was a Jew himself. He was born of a priest. It was a miracle that he would even exist at this point because Elizabeth, his mother, was barren.

[13:59] So it took an act of God in order for him to even be born. You remember all these things about John the Baptist as we're reading through this? John the Baptist keeps a very humble attitude, a very humble demeanor about himself.

[14:15] He's being questioned by these higher ups, by this band of people that were sent by the Pharisees, probably by the Sanhedrin Council to see exactly who this guy was.

[14:26] Remember, we just read, they're saying, who are you? Are you Elijah? Are you Elijah? No, I'm not Elijah. Let's keep reading. They asked him, what then? Aren't you Elijah? And he said, I'm not. Aren't you that prophet? And he answered, no.

[14:41] So we covered Elijah. Who is that prophet that we're talking about here? God promised a prophet to the Jews in the book of Deuteronomy. He promised he was going to raise up a prophet, one of their brethren, somebody of the Jewish race, someone just like them, that would come to them and harrow good news that he was not that prophet.

[15:04] Who was that prophet? That was Jesus Christ that God was promising there in the book of Deuteronomy. And this is once again John the Baptist saying, I'm not the Christ. I'm not the Messiah. I'm not that one.

[15:19] Then they said unto him, Who art thou that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? So who are you that we might give an answer to those that sent us?

[15:30] So once again, this was a lower band of priests and Levites and probably scribes and people that held some importance, but not as important as the Pharisees thought themselves to be.

[15:45] And once again, this was more than likely, Scripture doesn't say it, but it was more than likely the Sanhedrin Council themselves that had sent to inquire about who this man was that all these people were flocking to in the wilderness.

[15:59] But we'll go on and read here. He says, He said, I am the voice of one crying into wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet, Asaiz, which will be Isaiah.

[16:12] And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto him, Why baptize the style then, if thou be not that Christ, Noralize neither that prophet.

[16:24] John answered them saying, I baptize with water, But there standeth one among you whom you know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, Who shoo let you die not worthy to unloose.

[16:37] These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan where John was baptizing. Back to verse 22 again. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

[16:49] Won't you pay attention to how that's worded, because it's worded just as it is in the Old Testament. I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. I'm the one crying in the wilderness.

[17:01] I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. And this again speaks of John's humility. This was a grand opportunity for John the Baptist to receive the worship of men and to receive the acceptance of men.

[17:18] Now something else I want you to pay attention to that's part of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Martin, Luke, but not part of the gospel of John. Now we're here to read about the raiment that John was wearing. We don't read about his clothing made out of camel hair.

[17:34] We don't read about how he was eating of the honey and things along those lines. We don't read anything about that, which also spoke of the humility of John.

[17:45] This is again the difference between the gospel of John and the other three gospels that we have, or a difference I should say that we have between all those gospels. Here John is just simply declaring, I am no one special. However, I'm here to tell you of the one that's special.

[18:05] I'm here to tell you of Messiah, of the cross, of the cross whom you all are here asking if I am he. This is the things that John the Baptist has clarified. He says, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

[18:19] Once again, this is another thing that preachers in particular need to take to heart, that they are simply a voice. And you can actually go back to the very first verse of John chapter one in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God.

[18:35] Remember we talked about that pretty much at length about Christ, was and is and never will be the word of God. Not the voice. He was the voice while he was here. John was the voice announcing, announcing that God was indeed among his people.

[18:53] God was here to tabernacle among his people. We read that a week or two back that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And that word dwelt is the same as tabernacle among the people. He wanted to live amongst his people.

[19:07] And John here saying, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. The word, I mean think about it in your own life, in your personal life. You think of words before you ever speak. You think of words before they ever exit your mouth, or your tongue ever, or before they ever roll out off of your tongue.

[19:28] But the words begin up here. So the word was there before the voice was. They come along those lines. The voice is from John. But the word was there from the very beginning.

[19:42] And the words that John was speaking were about Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord. And he as said, the prophet is psalis.

[19:55] And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto him, Why baptize the style then, if thou be not that Christ.

[20:06] Noralize neither that prophet. Saying, Why are you baptizing these people in the water? Why was he baptizing them? Just for curiosity. Anybody know why he was baptizing them?

[20:19] Baptism is a thing that was actually began by the Jews. It was began. You don't really read about it in the Old Testament. You don't read about baptizing into faith or to, you know, as we see it as New Testament Christians, baptizing in some symbolism as the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

[20:44] But Jews were baptized and particularly Priscilla Jews, those that came, the Gentiles that wanted to convert to the Jewish faith. They were baptized into the Jewish faith and they were baptized in water. They were submerged in water.

[21:00] And this was a sign that they had renounced their gods, however many gods that they had being Gentiles. Most, if not all, the Gentiles were very polytheistic worshiping many gods. But this was a sign that they renounced their gods and were adopting the Jewish faith.

[21:19] They said, Why are you baptizing them? Who are you? What they were asking was, Who gave you this authority? You haven't been to any of the rabbinic colleges. You haven't been to seminary. You haven't passed through the council, you know, the Pharisees, nor the Sadducees, nor any of the Scrab, nor any of the Levites, and the priests certainly have not given you any kind of authority whatsoever to be out here doing what you were doing.

[21:45] That's what these people were saying to John the Baptist, saying, Who are you and why are you out here baptizing? And he says, or it goes on to say, If you are not that Christ, you are not alive and you are not that prophet.

[22:01] John answered them saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom you know not. And this is one of the saddest verses in all of John chapter one. He says, There's one standing among you whom you know not.

[22:16] God is here and you don't know him. The very God of the Old Testament, the God that was promised, the God that's been promised for hundreds upon hundreds of years, that you've been waiting for. He's standing among you and you know him not. And churches nowadays are full of people like that.

[22:35] They're full of people who hear the gospel preach Sunday after Sunday and midweek after midweek and revival after revival. And yet they know Christ not. They don't know him. They know all of him. These people here knew of Christ.

[22:51] These people were much more well versed in the Old Testament scriptures than I'll ever dream of being or anyone else for that matter. They should have recognized Christ, but they didn't. That's what makes this the saddest verse of John chapter one.

[23:09] He says, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom you know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me whose shoe let's you die not worthy to unloose.

[23:22] So John, once again, all these people had come to John. They come flocking from miles around to John to see what he was preaching, to hear what he was preaching and to be baptized of him. They says, the one whom I am preaching, the one whom I know and you don't, the one who is here among you and you know him not. It is he whose shoe let's you die unworthy to unloose.

[23:50] Once again, John showing his humility. Again, this was a perfect opportunity for John to get fanged, get fortune, get clout, get audience and all these other things, but John does not seize upon that.

[24:07] John realizes his role in the plan that Almighty God has. Y'all remember the Gospel account of Luke when Elizabeth walked into the same room that Elizabeth was in?

[24:22] And John leaped in Elizabeth's womb because the presence of God had entered the room in Mary's womb. And here's John the Baptist in Elizabeth's womb, but he leaped and recognized that even as a child in the womb of his mother, he recognized that the Lord was in the room. But this was the plan from the very get-go of things of God, that Elizabeth would carry the forerunner of Jesus Christ and that Mary would carry Jesus Christ himself to be born into this world.

[24:55] And John, once again, both of these men would have been about 30 years old, give or take at this time. And John would have known all his life, John the Baptist would have realized all his life, what his ultimate goal was, what his ultimate purpose was, and that was to herald the coming of Jesus Christ.

[25:17] And we spoke about it last week, how in the Gospels that Jesus Christ says himself that there had never been a man born among women that was greater than John the Baptist. And it's not because of his looks and it wasn't because of his prestige.

[25:33] It was because he was born to announce the coming of Jesus Christ. And you might say the coming of Jesus Christ was announced several times, many times over in the Old Testament, and it was.

[25:47] But here's John the Baptist, first cousin of Jesus Christ, announcing he is here, he's coming, he's here, he's here in the flag.

[25:59] My goodness, one of the announcements, that's why Jesus Christ said that there was no greater born among women than John the Baptist. But he it is who coming after me is preferred before me.

[26:11] I spoke about this briefly last week that this is quite a statement to be made in this time. It would be an even bigger statement to be made in our time now.

[26:24] But his coming after John the Baptist, speaking of after the birth, John the Baptist being older than Jesus Christ, that would make John the Baptist an elder to Jesus Christ.

[26:38] So this was a huge statement because elders were held in very high regard at this time. He says he it is who coming after me is preferred before me, who should let you die, not worthy to unloose.

[26:52] These things were done in Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where John was baptized. This seems to be an insignificant little insertion here by John the Apostle into his gospel.

[27:05] I've looked into this and you all may have looked into this in your own studies and in your own time. But he says he says we're done in Bethabara beyond Jordan. There's another area that's referred to as beyond Jordan, which is called Bethany.

[27:20] Is that what John the Apostle is referring to here? Very well could be. I'm not going to say for absolute certain that it is. But if you go back even further into the Old Testament in the book of Judges chapter 7, you read about a place called Bethabara.

[27:38] One little age missing out of it, but you read about other places the same way they're referring to the same places, but there's a slightly different spelling of them, just like when you read about Bethlehem Judah.

[27:52] You're reading about the city of Bethlehem, regardless of how much they add to it. It's still Bethlehem that they're reading about. But he says these things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan where John was baptized.

[28:09] So this tells us where John was doing this baptizing, where he was doing his preaching at, which was in the wilderness. But where exactly is this Bethabara that we're talking about?

[28:20] Could be Bethany, could be Bethbara. Bethbara in the Old Testament was a little bit further south and to the west than Bethany was, but regardless of any of that, what's significant about it?

[28:34] It was right there at the Jordan River. The Jordan River is not just, it's not like one of our rivers around here. The Jordan River is much longer than our forks of the host and around here that we have.

[28:49] And to me, the Holston River is an enormous stream. But my goodness, y'all, any of y'all ever traveled around, you see places like the Ohio River?

[29:00] You see things like the Mississippi River? We got a little creek around here as compared with those. But the Jordan River flows much further and much wider than anything that we comprehend here in our little neck of the woods.

[29:20] And it could have been either one of these places, it could have been Bethany or the Bethbara that we talked about in the Book of Judges. But either way, there's a significance there. There's a significance because this was a crossing point.

[29:34] It was a crossing point into the Promised Land. It was a crossing, and the Jordan River, if y'all remember from the account of Joshua, when they come to enter into the Promised Land, God parted the Jordan River for them.

[29:51] Just as he parted the Red Sea for Moses and for the Israelites. It was a crossing point, but there's something else significant about this. This was in the wilderness, and this wilderness speaks of the very state that mainly Israel was in.

[30:10] Remember John was writing to a mainly Jewish audience when he wrote this, when he initially wrote his gospel. Now, granted, it's been passed on to us, and it's been purposely passed on to us.

[30:22] I'm not saying it landed on us, Gentiles, lapsed by accident by any means. But he was writing to mainly a Jewish audience when he wrote this. This, very blatantly and very bluntly, explains the state that Israel was in.

[30:39] They were barren. It was a wilderness. There was nothing going on. He was out in the wilderness preaching, folks. Why wasn't he at the temple? Why wasn't he outside the temple preaching?

[30:51] Why wasn't he in the middle of Jerusalem preaching? Why was that? Because Judaism was nothing more than an empty hole. There was nothing to it. It had become nothing more than a center of religiosity to these people.

[31:06] God was not there, but God was coming, or God was here, and John the Baptist was about to announce his presence here.

[31:18] So whether it was Bethany or not, I'm not going to tell you that for certain. You can get out your own maps and you can draw your own conclusions with that. I wasn't there when this was written, so I don't know for sure.

[31:31] But it could be either one of those two places that we're talking about. But think about what we just said, though, when you're pondering on this scripture, as far as the Jordan River being a crossing point for the Israelites.

[31:49] That being a release, that being a deliverance for them into a promise of God. Did they ever completely and fully inherit the promises of God to get as far as the promised land goes?

[32:05] Physically, yes. God got them to the land that he told them that he was going to get them to. But folks, it never did flow with milk and honey for them. And why was that? It was because of their own unbelief.

[32:19] It was because of their own unbelief in the Word of God. And that's exactly what John is heralding here. Remember, he said, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

[32:30] And what is he heralding? He's heralding the Word of God. These Jews, just like us Gentiles, must believe in the Word of God and the promises of God.

[32:41] And the promise of God in this scripture is that if we confess Jesus Christ with our mouth and we believe in our heart, that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's one of many promises that we have in the scripture.

[32:54] But folks, that's what it takes. It takes confession. It takes belief. And it takes repentance. But if we have those things, God will save our souls.

[33:05] God will save us. Let's read just a little bit. The next day, John said, Jesus coming unto him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

[33:20] This is he of whom I said, after me comeeth a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel.

[33:32] And therefore I am come baptizing with water. So the next day, the same day, the next day, John said, Jesus coming unto him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.

[33:46] And this is John's herald, not behold Messiah, not behold the cross, not behold the one that's able to feed thousands, not behold the one that's able to perform miracles.

[34:04] Folks, the greatest miracle is that he is able to take away the sin of the world. And this is how John the Baptist announced Jesus Christ and announced that God was indeed among his people.

[34:18] Remember, we read just a few verses ago that there was one that was among them and they knew him not. And this is John saying, this is the one whom I was talking to you about.

[34:29] And this is he, this is the one that's able to forgive your sins. He says, this is he of whom I said after me comeeth a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel.

[34:45] Therefore I am come baptizing with water. He says he should be made manifest to Israel, he should be made known to Israel. Like I said, this was written mainly to Jews, it was written mainly about Jews and the state of Israel as a nation at this time.

[35:03] All these things, yes, but fast forward on to the Gentile church. Jesus Christ said himself, he said, I have sheep of another fold. Folks, that's us. That's me. That's us Gentiles.

[35:15] That's us that don't have Jewish, that's us that don't have the descendants of, or Jewish descendants in our ancestry.

[35:26] We said, I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. He said, this is what I know of Christ, he's got to be made manifest to Israel, he's got to be made known and this is he and he is here and he is able and he takes away the sin of the world.

[35:41] He says, therefore, and because of this in other words, what John the Baptist is saying here, therefore I am come baptizing with water. This is the reason because the Lamb of God is here, which take away the sin of the world.

[35:57] Therefore, I come baptizing with water and some people will take this scripture and they'll flip it upside down and stretch it and turn it diagonal and all kinds of other directions and say, see, you've got to have water.

[36:10] You've got to have water for salvation. John here basically says that, that behold the Lamb of God was taken away and the sin of the world, therefore came on baptizing with water, got to be dunked in water.

[36:22] Folks, I refuse to take a part of creation, which is water, and dilute the blood of Jesus Christ with it. Jesus Christ shed his blood that we could have life and have it more abundantly.

[36:37] Jesus Christ died and suffered and bled that we could be forgiven of our sins. Nothing to do with water. Is baptism a good thing? Absolutely.

[36:48] Baptism is a wonderful thing as far as doing what the scripture says yes.

[36:59] As far as the symbolic symbolism of the death of the burial and the resurrection saying, I've been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lived in me.

[37:12] These are wonderful things, yes. Baptism is not essential to salvation. I'm promising that I was saved in February. I didn't get baptized until September and you'll never convince me that I died in those months between salvation and baptism that I would have ended up in hell.

[37:34] There's no way. I know what I got and I know when I got it and I know who gave it to me. Praise God. But he said, therefore I came to baptism with water because of this.

[37:45] He came baptized because of this. He was wanting others to relate to what he was saying, others to believe what he was saying. This is the reason I came to baptism with water and we'll stop right there.

[37:57] We've got about five minutes for the day. Anybody got any questions or comments on any of that? Alright, God bless you all. God bless you.