"The Witness"

This has been automatically generated, and therefore may contain some unintended inaccuracies.

Leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, I am not the Messiah. They asked him, then who are you? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not.

Are you the prophet? He answered, no. Finally, they said, who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness. Make straight the way for the Lord. Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? I baptize with water, John replied, but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan where John was baptising. The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one I meant when I said, a man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel. Then John gave this testimony, I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.

And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that this is God's chosen one. The next day, John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, look, the lamb of God. When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

Great. Thank you, Robin, for reading that for us. As usual, please keep the passage open in front of you. So that's page one thousand and sixty three and one thousand and sixty four. And let's pray for God's help as we come to his word.

Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we thank you that Jesus came as light to a dark world. And we pray, please, now as we come to your words that you would shine your light into our hearts, that we would know you better, and that we would be changed by your word. Shape us, mold us, we pray, and help us to respond to you. Amen.

Well, John began his book with an avalanche of wonderful theology about Jesus. He certainly looked as people were leaving last week, like you'd been hit by an avalanche. There were some stunned faces as you left. Well, that's the way John begins. He just seems to throw at us, to drench us in in a shower of a wonderful theology.

You start right at the beginning, we're not gonna go back through the whole passage again, but chapter one verse one, have a look at it. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. We said this is all about Jesus, that he had always existed and that he is one who was with God and was God and we've spent time thinking about that. That is enough to get you thinking, pondering about Jesus, about who he is. We thought about how Jesus relates to the world, and then about Jesus, the word in the world, and how he revealed God's glory.

Amazing amount of truth just in those first 18 verses, and you might then think, well, John surely then goes to Jesus. We think, show us Jesus then. We want to meet Jesus. We wanna we wanna see what he does. Let's see this glory revealed, but that's not what he does.

First thing we then get is John the Baptist. Lots of people call him John the Baptist. He's referred to as John the Baptist elsewhere in the New Testament. Although, actually, in this passage, I think you could probably just call him John the witness because that's really what he's there for. He's a witness.

Now why does John the writer bring in John the witness or John the Baptist? Actually, all the New Testament, gospel writers do this. Every one of them, before you get into the ministry of Jesus, you read about John. Why did they go to him? Why does he have such a prominent place in all of the gospels?

Well, it's worth remembering why Jesus... Why John the writer wrote his gospel. Now we didn't go here last week, although it's a good place to go to, but would you, keep a hand in John chapter one and head to John chapter 20. John chapter 20, right at the end of the book. Actually, it will come up on the screen as well, but John chapter 20, it's good to turn there.

Right at the end of the book, John the writer tells us why he wrote the book and it's good to keep this in mind. John chapter 20 verse thirty and thirty one where it says, Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. Now that's important. John is saying, Jesus did a whole load more than I've been able to put in my book. There are load more signs, load more miracles that Jesus did, but I've picked these ones.

I've selected these for a particular purpose, and that purpose is, he says, these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of God. So he's got a particular purpose. He is not just writing a biography of Jesus, and he's not just giving you a history lesson. No. He wants to persuade you and me as we read this of something in particular.

He wants you to come away convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. He wants you to come to that conclusion, and therefore, he gives you evidence for it. So turn back to John one, and part of the evidence is to say, let me bring in a witness. Let me bring in John the witness, John the Baptist, because I don't want you just to take Jesus' word for it, although, obviously, Jesus' word is very important. We...

It's important that we see that Jesus does claim to be God. He does, and we will see that through the gospel, but of course, you don't just wanna take Jesus' word for it. Lots of people come up with outrageous claims about themselves. You don't necessarily trust them just because they say it. Muhammad Ali, who was, you know, famous boxer, he claimed, am the greatest.

Was he? Well, you're not just gonna take his word for it. I don't know about boxing, whether he was or wasn't, but you'd want to ask someone else, wouldn't you, and say, well, was he? Was he really that good? So too with Jesus.

John the writer is saying, don't just take Jesus' word for it. In fact, don't just take my word for it. Although he's given his evidence as well, he says, look, I saw Jesus. I saw his glory. We saw it, but now he says, no.

Let's go to someone else. Go to John the witness, John the Baptist. What's his testimony? And as it were, we are therefore in the courtroom. We're in the courtroom to...

And we are the jury to sort of give our verdict. What do we think about Jesus? What conclusion will you come to about him? John wants you to come to the conclusion that Jesus is the son of God. Well, let's see the evidence, and part of that is John the witness.

And therefore, in this courtroom setting, with John the witness coming forward to the witness stand, we're gonna think about... We're gonna see three things that John the witness says about Jesus. See, I think it would be wrong for us to come away from this sermon just primarily thinking about John the Baptist. I've listened to a few sermons on this passage, and it's interesting. I'm not saying that they're totally wrong to do so, but they...

You can come away with, you know, five points about John the Baptist, five things we can learn from John the Baptist. I think if John the Baptist were to meet me afterwards, after I preach a sermon like that, I think he might be annoyed at me. I think he'd be disappointed. I think he would say, now come on. My job was to be a witness to Jesus, so I don't want you to come away thinking about me.

I want you to come away thinking about him. And so we're gonna see three statements from this witness, from John the witness. Three things he says about Jesus that are in our passage, and the first one is this, John says, I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, make straight the way for the Lord. That's our first statement from the witness. It comes in verse 23, but we need to see the build up to it.

John has clearly been making a stir, John the witness, has been making a stir. He's been out, obviously, the other side of the Jordan River, and he has been baptizing people, and people have been crowding out to go to see him. It's been the thing to do, to go and see John and what he's up to, and therefore it's understandable that the religious hierarchy decide we need to go and check this guy out. Is he right? Is he good?

Who is he? And so they go out and they ask him exactly that, verse 19, they ask who he was. Verse 20, he says, it says, he didn't fail to confess, but confessed freely, I am not the Messiah. That's who he's not. There was clearly expectation at the time that the Messiah would come, someone promised by the Old Testament, the the Christ, the Messiah would arrive, and John says, that's not me.

And they then say to him, what about Elijah? Are you Elijah? We think, why would why would anyone be asking that? Well, at the end of the Old Testament, right at the end, the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, there is this prophecy. It says, see, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes, and so there was this expectation that Elijah would come before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

So understandably, people say... Coming to John are saying, so is that you? Are you Elijah? He says, no, which is slightly confusing for us because in Matthew's gospel, Jesus says he was. What's going on there?

Well, Jesus says in Matthew 11, if you are willing to accept it, he, John the Baptist, is the Elijah who was to come. So John's not lying. He's not saying, you know, in that he wasn't actually physically, biologically Elijah come, but Jesus seems to be saying he fulfills that role. He is the Elijah figure, and maybe it's just that, well, Jesus knew better about John's ministry than even John does. Jesus says, yeah.

Yeah. He was. Well, John says, no. That that's not me, and then everyone says, okay. What about the prophet?

Are you the prophet? Again, another Old Testament figure. Book of Deuteronomy, Moses promised the people of Israel that there would come one who would be a prophet like him, and therefore people are expecting this prophet figure like Moses to come along. So they say, is that you, John? He says, no.

And understandably, these religious leaders are now starting to get a little bit fed up. They're going through this list of people, and he's saying no, and they think, tell us then, who are you? We need a name to take back. We can't just keep going through everyone that there is and you saying, no. Why don't we do it the other way around?

Why don't you tell us who you actually are? And so he says, verse 23, John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness. Make straight the way for the Lord. He says, that's who I am. I'm the voice.

That's all I am. I'm a voice. Therefore, don't pay attention to me. Pay attention to the message that I speak. And he quotes from Isaiah 40, and again, actually, it is worth turning to Isaiah 40, page 725 in your Bibles.

Keep your hand in John one, too late, seven two five, Isaiah 40, wonderful chapter of the Bible. I mean, they're all good. Isaiah 40 verse three. This is where he's quoting from. A voice of one calling in the wilderness.

Sorry. A voice of one calling. In the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low.

The rough ground shall become level, the rugged places are plain, and the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all the people will see it for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. So this is a prophecy. Isaiah saying, a voice of one in the wilderness, which is where John the witness, John the Baptist was. He says, prepare the way for the Lord. Get ready.

The Lord is coming. And to get ready, in Isaiah, he says there needs to be a whole load of road works to be done, a whole load of road improvement works, but not just like ones we might see around here or elsewhere. I mean, if you... The roads around here are pretty good. I know we complain about potholes in all kinds of places, but they're not bad compared to some other countries.

Maybe you've been to other countries where the roads are pretty bad. I've been to Africa to Tanzania and there the roads are pretty awful. You got to be really careful as you drive around and then suddenly you get to a bit of road where it's beautifully tarmac. You talk to people and you go, why is that bit of road so much better? And you find the answer is because the president has been around this way.

Okay. When the president goes, the roads get better. Well, Isaiah is saying that God is coming and there needs to be road improvements, but not on that scale, on a much bigger scale. This is changing the whole geography of the place. Mountains down, valleys up, prepare the way.

The Lord is coming, he says. And he says, verse five, and the glory of the Lord will be revealed. The voice prepares the way for the Lord and the Lord's glory to be revealed. And then you come back to John, if you've got your hand there, come back to John 1063. Do you remember last week?

John said, when the word came, when the word was made flesh, Verse 14, so a little bit before our passage, verse 14 of chapter one, the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son who came from the father full of grace and truth. And now John the Baptist, John the witness is saying, I am the voice. The voice in the wilderness saying, prepare the way for the Lord. And in the context of Isaiah, you're expecting the glory of the Lord to come along.

John is saying, get ready. God is coming. And we'll see that in the person of Jesus. Now, again, we need to just see the magnitude of this claim that God, the maker of all, came to us in the person of Jesus. Now we began to think about this last week, but this is, of course, hugely significant.

It makes a massive difference to us. Many today, younger people in particular, Edmund and I were talking about this. It's helpful for me having Edmund around someone younger, who knows what younger people think as well which is great. But we were saying... He was...

And he was saying his experience in student ministry as well, that younger people are very open to spiritual things or more open to spiritual things than they used to be. There is a shift and maybe you've noticed this, maybe not just younger people, but there is a shift in our culture that people are more open to spiritual things. But it's not specific to Christianity that they want to explore. People wanted to have a sort of pick and mix kind of view of spirituality. They'll take a bit of this and a bit of that.

They'll sort of have gemstones for the for the for the powers that maybe they have and and maybe get involved in a bit of astrology here and and get a bit of bit of Buddhism, maybe a bit of this, a bit of that, and put it together as a kind of, well, I'll just pick the bits I want. I'll have a kind of self made spirituality, the kind of thing that I want, such that I was hearing others saying that actually Christians can... We can feel like we're the unspiritual ones now. It wasn't that long ago. Christians were viewed as being the weird ones because we believed in things like God and and that Jesus is God and Jesus rose from the dead and that kind of thing.

We're we're the weird ones, but now it seems, with this sort of growth of people that, you know, wanting to experience spiritual things, that we're viewed as the unspiritual ones because we don't go along with things like crystals and seances and this kind of thing that people want to dabble in. We're viewed as the boring ones. What difference does this make? What does difference does John chapter one make in that? Well, it is that God has revealed himself.

Real spirituality is not about me just deciding, you well, I'll take a bit of this and a bit of that, and I'll take a bit of the other. Actually, big thing is that God has come to us. Therefore, spiritual things are real. There is a God out there. There is something bigger than this universe.

That is true, but it's not for us to guess what he's like. He's come to us. In the person of Jesus, we can know what God is like, and Jesus tells us what is good and what is bad, what God is like, what he's not like, and therefore spirituality is not a case of us just picking the bits that we like. It's not like, imagine a kid in the in the kitchen who decide, you know, young child decides, I'm gonna... I've seen mom do this, dad, sorry, don't wanna be sexist.

Mom or dad do this before they go into the kitchen, they make wonderful food. I'm gonna go, I'll do the same thing. They just go in the kitchen. You can imagine them going, oh, I'll just take whatever I like, the bits that I like. I'll be getting chocolate, and we'll take a bit of, you know, some cereal, and we'll take a bit of this, and we'll take a bit of that, and all that looks colorful.

That's sort of, washing up liquid. We'll add a bit of that, and we'll some bleach in there maybe as well and you go, actually, no, you can't do that. You can't just take pick and mix because some of those things are not good for you. What you need is mom or dad to come in and reveal, to say, actually, this is the way that you make something like. This is safe.

This is good. That is not safe. God has come to us, revealed himself to us, and has... And we need to be careful that not all those spirituality things are safe. They are not good.

In fact, the only safe way is to come to Jesus. There is revelation. Has come to us. We can know him. So first statement from the witness, I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness.

Make straight the way for the Lord. The Lord is coming. Glory of the Lord to be revealed. Second statement, look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is...

If John is on the witness stand, this is his second big statement. Look, the lamb of God. Now again, we need to see the buildup. John has denied being the Christ. He said who he is.

He's the voice, and now the Pharisees, verse 24, who've been sent, they're probably a subsection of the group who came to him, now they quiz him to say, well, then why are you baptizing? Understandable to ask. They say, if you're not any of these big names, why are you baptizing? Why are you getting people wet? Why are you giving people a wash in the Jordan River?

Now baptism wasn't unheard of. It it it was a thing that that that could happen. It would be administered sometimes to people who wanted to... Who weren't part of Israel, weren't Israelites, but wanted to become part of God's people, in in Israel. They could join and sometimes there would be a baptism as part of that to come into being in God's people.

But what's different here is that John seems to have gone out to the Jordan and be saying, look, this is not just for those who want to come into Israel, but this is for everyone even if you're already in Israel. You need to be washed. You need to be made clean. And so the Pharisees are asking, why are you doing this? And his answer again is to point to Jesus.

He's brilliant at it. He points away from himself to Jesus every time. Verse 26, he says, I baptize with water, which just even that just seems to be saying, look, all I'm doing is getting people wet. That's all I'm doing. That's not the real thing.

It's not really achieving anything. But he says, verse 26, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie. He's saying there's someone great coming, someone really great. He says, I'm not even worthy to untie his sandals.

We need to know that in those days, untying sandals was a demeaning job. It was considered the lowest of jobs, such that if you had a slave, you weren't even allowed to... In Israel, you weren't... And you had a Jewish slave, you weren't to make them take people's sandals off. It was for the very lowest slave, and John is saying, I'm not even worthy to untie his sandals.

He's that great. And, just skip ahead a little bit. The next day, John sees Jesus and says, look, there he is. And we'll come back to verse 29 in a moment. Verse 30, he says, this is the one I said, a man who has come after me has surpassed me because he was before me.

I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel. There's the answer to the question, by the way. The question was, why are you baptizing? John says, here's the reason, end of verse 31, so that he might be revealed, so that Jesus might be revealed. That's the point.

That's why I'm baptizing. And right in the middle of that, you've got this testimony of John pointing to Jesus and saying, verse 29, look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That seems to be the center of his testimony there, isn't it? Here's the witness statement. Look at him, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Now what does that mean? There are a number of Old Testament passages that this could be referring to, several of them, I mean, difficult and and it seems like each commentary that you go to says, I think it's probably this passage he's got in mind or this one or this one, and you kind of you put them together, you go, well, I don't know which one it is, and the answer is it could well be several of them together that that John the writer, John the Baptist as well has in mind when he says, look the lamb of God. So it could be from Genesis when Abraham takes Isaac up the mountain, having been told by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, He takes Isaac up the mountain and in the end, he doesn't sacrifice Isaac, but God provides a ram for him, a substitute for his son to sacrifice in his place. Maybe that's what is in mind here by John the Baptist, could be. Or it could be, another one, it could be is the Passover lamb.

If you know Israel, when they were slaves in Egypt, were rescued by God. God sent the angel of death through the land to kill all the firstborn sons, but told the Israelites, instead of that happening, you sacrifice a lamb and you'll be safe. Your firstborn sons will be safe because you put the blood on the doorposts. You'll be safe when the angel of death comes through the land. Again, a lamb substitute sacrifice.

Maybe that's what he's got in mind. On the other hand, maybe it's just the temple sacrifices, so in the temple in Jerusalem, they were to make sacrifices and they were told that there are sacrifices to be made for sin, that you kill an animal to take the sin of the people. Maybe that's what's in mind. No, it could be. It's difficult actually to know which one John the Baptist is talking about because sometimes lambs are mentioned, but taking of sin is not, and sometimes taking of sin is mentioned, but lambs aren't or not exclusively lambs.

Well, I think they come together actually in Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. And again, I'm gonna ask if you would just turn there with me. So page seven four two. Page seven forty two on the left hand side of the page there And I'm gonna read verses six to eight.

We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people, he was punished. And the the context of Isaiah, what you have here is a figure called the servant. God's people have been facing God's judgment for their sin. You think, how can that possibly be dealt with?

And then there is this figure called the servant. And in Isaiah 53, we see he is likened to a lamb going to the slaughter. He is punished and he is killed for the sin, for the iniquity of God's people. And here, I think, is where the two come together. You've got a lamb and you've got the taking of sin.

And so I think this... That John the Baptist is is referring here, probably referring elsewhere as well, That he's saying, look, Jesus, he is this lamb, the lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world. Do turn back to John. John is saying, Jesus is that lamb. Now, again, this is very important.

We know from before that God is coming. That's what John has said. He said, look the... He said... Sorry.

He's the voice saying, prepare the way for the Lord. So the Lord is coming, but when the Lord comes and the glory is revealed, what is the Lord actually going to do amongst his people? What's he gonna do there? And we find out from this, he is going to be the lamb who takes away sin, which must mean our sin needs to be dealt with. John's baptism was actually saying to everyone, you need to be made clean.

Whether you're part of Israel or not, you need to be made clean from all your wrongdoing, from your evil thoughts, your unkind words, your selfish actions, and that's true for you and me as well. We need to be made clean. You know, John John's baptism was a bit like, you know, you see sometimes cars which are very dirty and someone has written in the dirt, clean me. But you... Well, probably, yeah, that's imaginative.

But if it's your car, you do feel a bit bad at that point. Yeah. No. We do really need to clean the car. John, it's like John is saying of everyone's eyes, like he's writing in them, clean me.

For you and for me to say, we need to be made clean. Our sin is on us. And he points at Jesus and says, look, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. That is people from any nation, any people can come to Jesus, the lamb, and he can take their sin and die in our place, sacrificed, suffering for you and me so that we can be made clean. Real spirituality, you see, is not where I look at all those different things and say, I'll pick a bit of that.

I like a bit of that because it it... It's me saying, well, I think I'm okay. I could just do with a bit of improvement. I could just do with a bit of this and a bit of that, and yet, actually, the Bible says, no. God is coming to us.

You need to be ready for that, and by the way, you are not ready. You need to be made clean. Clean me is written all over you. But when God came, he came to be the lamb who would suffer and die for you so that you could be made clean. Here's John's testimony.

His baptism was to point to the lamb, and here he is. He says that's why I baptize. One last statement from our witness is this, the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. He points to Jesus and he says, he's the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now as we come into this last section of, of our passage, which is, really verse 32 to 37.

I think there's another underlying question. We'd had a couple of questions. One is, John, who are you? And then why do you baptize? And now I think there's another little question, which is in the background, which is not explicitly said, which is, John, how do you know it's Jesus?

How do you know he is the one who's the lamb of God? How do you know he's not the person next to him? Did did Jesus stand out? Was he super intelligent? Was he taller than everyone?

How did you know it's him? Verse 32, then John gave this testimony, I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him, and I myself did not know him, But the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that this is God's chosen one. It's interesting, isn't it? John's saying, I myself didn't know him.

I I didn't know it was him. He didn't stand out. He wasn't, you know, it wasn't, you know, everyone was going, well, I wonder who this is gonna be. I think it's you, glowing white, big halo. No.

John's saying it wasn't like that. I didn't know him. John needed a revelation from God to say, the one you see where the holy spirit will descend on him and remain on him, that will be the one. And John testifies. He says that...

I mean, it's very law court like actually, isn't it? Verse 34, I have seen, I testify that this is God's chosen one. I saw the spirit descend on him, remain on him. I saw that. Take my word for it.

I saw it. Are you gonna take his word for it? Are you gonna listen to John? Maybe you've heard other people. I had I had another preacher say this.

It struck me. They said, you know, when it comes to the miracles of Jesus, sometimes you talk to people and they say, oh, no. I don't believe it happened. You're gonna take that person's word for it? Someone who wasn't there.

It was two thousand years ago, 2,000 miles away, someone who wasn't there. You're gonna say, yeah. I'll go with what they say. Are you gonna go with John the Baptist, John the witness who was there, who saw it happen, whose eyewitness testimony was I saw the spirit descend. I saw it come down on him.

Whose witness testimony are you gonna take? Wise to go with the eyewitness. But more than that, John the witness says, actually, there's a bit more to it than that, isn't it? It's not just that the spirit came down and go, okay, it's him. He's the one.

It says, verse 33, halfway through the verse, this is what God had said to him, the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Not just identifying Jesus, he's saying this is what he can do. He can baptize with the Holy Spirit. Now what does that mean? Again, it's an Old Testament reference.

I won't make you look it up this time but it goes back to Ezekiel 36. You can look it up in your own time and verses 25 to 26. And again, it's about being made clean. That's what this is about. That's what this baptism of the Holy Spirit is about here.

I think it's about being made properly clean. So verse, from Ezekiel, this is what Ezekiel says, God saying, I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

So again, the context there in Ezekiel, and what he's saying there is that God will clean his people, properly clean them, sprinkle them, make them clean from their impurities and from their idols, and he's saying he will put his spirit in them. If we all have a clean me written on our hearts, John the Baptist, John the Witness is saying, Jesus is the one who can baptize you with the Holy Spirit, who can make you really clean, wash you completely, and that means remove every bit of sin, make you properly clean. It's more than water can do. One little application there is don't rely on your water baptism. That's not the thing that gets you clean, whether you're baptized as a baby or as an adult.

Actually, that water baptism doesn't in and of itself get rid of your sin, does it? No. What those baptisms point to is to say, have you come to the one baptism points to? Have you come to Jesus who can baptize you with the Holy Spirit and make you really clean? And there's a connection here between the work of the spirit and the work of Jesus as well, isn't there?

What's the primary work of the spirit? I think here it is to take the work of Jesus and apply it to hearts. Jesus is the lamb of God who at the cross took the sin of the world. The Holy Spirit can take that work, what does it... What Jesus did, and can apply it to your heart.

He's like, he can paint it on your heart or wash your heart with it and make you clean. He can take what Jesus did and apply it to you and me. The work of the spirit, primarily in John, not exclusively, but is to take us to Jesus and his sacrifice for us. Jesus, the lamb of God, the spirit, can wash you clean. Notice also it's Jesus who can baptize with the Holy Spirit.

He is the one who does it. So, again, we need to ask, have you recognized your sin, your need of being washed clean, and have you come to Jesus asking him to wash you, to take what he did at the cross as the lamb of God, and to wash you clean by the Holy Spirit? Have you asked for that? If you haven't, what's stopping you? Real spirituality must be seen in seeing that God came to us, that we need to be ready for it, that we're not ready until we've been made clean, then we've got a clean me written on our hearts, and the only person who can do it is Jesus, the lamb of God who can wash us by the spirit.

So I'm gonna lead us in a prayer, which is particularly, appropriate for those who maybe today want to say, yeah, I need to come to Jesus to be washed clean for what he came to do. And we just lead us in a prayer. Do bow your heads if you'd like to join in with it. Do so silently in your heart. Heavenly father, we thank you that Jesus came to us, that he lived among us, revealed his glory.

We thank you that he is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Thank you that he died in our place so we could be forgiven. And we ask, Jesus, that you would take the work you did at the cross and apply it to our hearts. Wash us by your holy spirit, we pray. Amen.