Now, shall we please open our Bibles to John's Gospel. John's Gospel Chapter Ten. And we're trying to pick up the threads where we left off. I think it was three weeks ago. John's Gospel Chapter Ten. We read from verse twenty-two. John ten twenty-two. And it was at Jerusalem. the feast of dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and he believed not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all. and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hands. I and my father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my father. For which of these works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not. but for blasphemy, and because thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, ye are gods. If he called them gods unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works, that he may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him, but he escaped out of their hand, and went away again beyond Jordan, unto the place where John at first baptized, And there he bowed. And many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle, but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there. May God bless the reading of his precious words. Shall we pray? Blessed God, our Father, we bow before thee now. And thank thee for this wonderful privilege of reading this precious book. We thank thee thou hast given us in our own hands, in our own mother tongue, the very words of God, the very words of heaven. We thank thee the book, the Bible, has been translated so that we can understand it and read it. And we thank thee we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to make known to us the understanding of this precious book. Oh God, as we open thy word now, we pray that the Holy Spirit might take the things of Christ and reveal them to our waiting hearts. We seek thy blessing in the precious name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. Now for some months when I have been speaking here, we have been studying somewhat in John's Gospel. And the last time we were talking about the Lord as the good shepherd. in the tenth chapter. We sought to show how the Lord said that he entered by the door into the sheepfold, and to trace the way in which he came to Israel. Israel was the sheepfold, and he came to Israel according to the prophecies about the Messiah, and according to the genealogy of Matthew chapter one, he came that way, the true way, into the Jewish sheepfold. He said there were others who'd come, but they didn't come the right way. They couldn't. Only one could come as Messiah. Only one could fulfill those wonderful scriptures about him. Others had come, but they came as thieves. They came to get money, to get some paying proposition out of God's people. And he said they were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not know. Then the wonderful verse that we dwelled on last time was verse sixteen. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. And we said that in verse sixteen he was referring to you and to me other sheep. Not the Jewish fold but Gentile. Other sheep. Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Of course the Lord Jesus came to the Jewish people. It says in verse eleven of chapter one of John, he came unto his own. And there the meaning of the word there is not exactly his own people. It's a plural, neuter word. In the Greek, he came to his own things, his own things. All the Jewish ritual and all the Jewish set up and the Jewish... arrangement, he came to that. But then the word changes when it says he came to his own. Then it changes when it says his own received him not. And there it changes to masculine words. Masculine, again a plural word, his own people. He came to his own thing, but his own people received him not. And so the Lord Jesus came according to the Jewish the prophecies concerning him. He fulfilled the law in every detail. He fulfilled all God's prophecies about him. And he came to the Jewish things legally and correctly. He came through the door into the sheepfold, but the sheep didn't want it. He came unto his own, and his own people received him not. But thank God for John one verse twelve, but as many as received him. To them gave he power, authority, title, or right to become children of God. And that's this verse sixteen. Are there sheep I have which are not of this fold? Them also I must bring. And we emphasized last time that little word must. Them also I must bring. For the Lord Jesus to say them also I must bring. That he might bring you and me, Gentiles, outside. He had to go to the place called Calvary. and lay down his life and shed his precious blood that he might bring up. And he said, I must bring them. And so constrained by that word must, he went on all the way to the place called Calvary. He says, I lay down my life for the sheep. And then he said, and them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, these outsiders, this other foe, Gentile. them also I must bring. And there shall be one. And we changed the word according to the Greek. He changed the word from the fold to the flock. It changes in that word. If you could read it in the Greek. He said, other sheep I have which are not of this fold I must bring. And they shall hear my voice. And there shall be one flock. One flock. No longer a fold with a barrier around it. But a flock. The Lord Jesus is in the midst and he draws us to himself. There's no barrier around us, no sectarian barrier. We're all one in Christ Jesus, one flock in Christ. Jews and Gentiles, as many as receive Him, they become children of God. And a new thing was being formed. We've often mentioned it from this platform. A new thing was being formed. They didn't know yet. They were learning later on. The Lord Jesus said, I will build my church. That was a new thing. Previous to that, there were two divisions in the world, the Jew, the Gentile. But after the day of Pentecost, there are three divisions in the world, the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God. And you and I were either born a Jew or born a Gentile. Most of us were born Gentiles, I said. But when we are born again, the moment we accept the Lord Jesus as our Savior, he takes us out of that fold, the Jewish fold, and out of the Gentile fold, and he puts us into this flock, which is his church. I will build my church. The Jew, the Gentile, two flocks, and the church of God, two folds, and the church of God, a flock. And so he brings us into the church when we accept him. And by one spirit we've all been baptized into one body. So if you this morning are a true born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're in this new thing called his church. This flock he's talking about. But the vital question is, are you in? That's the thing. The vital question is, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? I think I can hear someone saying, of course, how could it be otherwise? I went to Sunday school, I was brought up, I've always believed in him. Well, I heard a man say the other day, I always believed in Abraham Lincoln. It didn't do me much good. And you can believe about the Lord Jesus as a historical figure, you know. There's no doubt about the fact that Jesus of Nazareth lives. There's no doubt about the fact that he was cruelly murdered and crucified outside the city wall at Jerusalem. That's history. That doesn't save you. But even that doesn't save you. What saves you is when you believe that he died for you. When you believe that you're a sinner. And that when he went to the place called Calvary, he shed his precious blood and met... the claims of God's throne and bore the punishment of your sin and mine at the place called Calvary. And there I believe on him as the great Savior, the one who gave his life. And so he says, I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. Therefore does my father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man takes it from me. I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father, and there was a division among them because of these things. Now, you know, this division obtains today. You can't talk about eternal life, and you can't talk about the Lord laying down his life for sinners until there's a division. I like the way the meeting ends. I don't know if I like it, but I look upon it as a typical case. In the twenty-eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, you look at a moment the twenty-eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Verse twenty-three, Paul is now a prisoner in Rome. Verse twenty-three of Acts twenty-eight. And when they had appointed him a day, they came unto him into his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus. both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning to evening. He had no New Testament. He wrote most of the New Testament. He had none. But he had to work with the Old Testament. And the Old Testament is divided into the law. Well, there's three divisions. The Lord gave us the divisions. The law and the prophets and the psalm. But here he takes the law and the prophets And out of those Old Testament Hebrew scriptures, he expounds to them from morning till evening about Jesus and proves to them Jesus is the Messiah. Now what was the result of this meeting which lasted from morning till evening? And this is the result every time we preach the gospel. Let me read it to you. Verse twenty four. And some believe the things that were spoken and some believe not. there was a division among the people because of him. Some believe, and some believe not. And when we close this meeting today, and we go out, this is how we're going to end. There will be a division because of him. Some believe, and some believe not. John three thirty-six says this. He that believeth on the Son have everlasting life. Some believe. and they get everlasting life by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God. And some believe not. Let me finish the verse. John three, verse thirty-six. He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life. Oh, what a solemn, solemn word. If you go out of this chapel today, not believing in the Lord Jesus as your Savior, This is what the Bible says about you. And the Lord Jesus said this. He that believeth not the Son shall not see life. Ah, you say now, wait a minute. I went to Sunday school from a child. I do the best I can. I'm a member of a church. I give alms. I give my money. It doesn't say one word about that in the Scripture, not in this sense. He that believeth... hath everlasting life. He that believe it not shall not see life. And you can give all your life and do all your life. But if you don't believe on the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, you will never see life. That's eternal life. The blackness of darkness forever. That's what the Scripture teaches. And that's the importance of these wonderful words. The Lord Jesus is telling them that he's a good shepherd. He's going to lay down his life for the sheep. And those who believe in him are going to have everlasting life. And here it says there was a division again among the Jews because of his saying. And as I say again, this is how every meeting ends with a division. Some believe and some believe not. When Paul preached on Mars Hill in Athens, and when he came to the question of resurrection, they said, oh, this is the last thing. resurrection, they listened all the ways that he came to the resurrection, and then they laughed at him. And the meeting ended. And this is how it ended. It says, Acts seventeen, let me get it correctly. Many, many a time have I read this scripture sitting on the very spot at Mars Hill in Athens where Paul preached? And it says, verse thirty-eight, thirty-four, of Acts seventeen. How be it certain men clave unto him and believe, no, verse thirty-two, thirty-two. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. Now that's how some meetings end. Some people laugh at it. They mocked. They say, nonsense. We don't believe this. All right, they don't believe. That's what we say. The meeting ends and they're not believing. And then some said, we'll hear thee again on this matter. They procrastinated. They said, well, not today, tomorrow, or some other time. I've got things to do. I don't want to be saved today. Let's put it off. The fact is they didn't believe, and here's the division. Some believed, some believed not. But look on, verse thirty-four. How be it certain men crave unto him and believe? And among them was Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris and others with them. So even at Athens, amidst all that wisdom and knowledge of the Athenians, some believe, but some believe not. And that's how our meeting is going to end this morning when we get to the end of the meeting. There was a division among the people because of him. Now let's go to our verse today. Verse twenty-two. We covered a little this last time. It was at Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication, and it was winter. significant language it was winter. Winter. The harvest is past, the summer is gone. Said Jeremiah in the eighth chapter, and we're not saved, it was winter. The Lord Jesus came down, as we've been seeing in our studies, as the eternal word of God, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, says John, and now for three and a half years he's been laboring and working amongst these Jewish people. That was summertime for them. Wonderful chance to be saved. The Lord Jesus said in the fourth chapter, the harvest is ripe. The harvest is ripe. Chance to be saved. But the months have passed by and they have rejected him and rejected him and rejected him. And now it's winter. And this is the last winter. You remember he was crucified around about Easter time, which is springtime. But this was winter. And the last winter in his life down here on earth, it was winter time. It was in Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication. This Feast of Dedication is not one of the seven Feast of Jehovah in the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus. It's not there. This is something that had been added by the Jews in later years. After they came out of captivity and they built the new temple, You remember? Then they had a... They went through difficult days, not recorded in our Bible. Days of the Maccabees and under that terrible man, Antiochus, who polluted the temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar in the temple. That was the way he polluted the temple. The Jews hate, of course, you know pork. He sacrificed a pig in the temple, and then they had a day of cleansing, and they cleansed the temple after all that filth. And to commemorate that, they had a feast of dedication, and that's what this feast was, something that they had made afterwards. It's not in the seven feasts of Jehovah in the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus, the feast of dedication. But the Lord went there, and He walked, verse twenty-three, in the temple in Solomon's port. Now Solomon's porch was a kind of an outbuilding. He wasn't right inside the temple in his father's house. He was walking outside. He'd been rejected. And he's walking outside in Solomon's porch. Now the Jews came around about him and said, How long dost thou make us doubt? If thou be Christ, tell us plainly. Now he, in John's Gospel, he had already performed six miracles. You remember John tells us why he wrote his Gospel. He says many other miracles are signs. That is, in John's Gospel the word is signs, and it is in the Greek signs. Many other miracles truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book in John's Gospel. But these are written. John selected seven miracles. The changing of the water into wine, chapter two. The healing of the nobleman's son, chapter four, the walking on the water, chapter six, the feeding of the five thousand first, and then the walking on the water, and the giving sight to the blind man. But the seventh one, the final one, is in chapter eleven. That would be our next subject, God willing, when he raised Lazarus from the dead. And John says these miracles are selected. What for? that he might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing he might have life through his name. That's why he wrote them. That's why the Lord performed them. And they had seen all these miracles to prove that he was the Son of God. And now they come and say, Don't deceive us any longer. Tell us, are thou the Son of God? Are you the Messiah? Well, what answer could he give them? He'd performed these great miracles to prove that he was the Son of God. And so he says, verse twenty-five, I told you, and he believed not, the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. The works that I, the miracles I perform, that's why I'm doing them, to prove to you I am the Son of God. They bear witness of me. but ye believe not. That's the crux of the whole matter, you see, all the way through. He that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life, he that believeth not the sun shall not see life. Ye believe not. That's the secret. Ye are not of my sheep, as I told you, what solemn word. Here the Lord was looking right on. He's taking that John three, verse thirty-six. I quoted, he believeth not, shall not see life. And he's telling them, you're right outside. You're not of my sheep. You're not saved. You're not in the fold at all. You're not in the flock. It might have been in the Jewish fold, but they weren't in the sloth he's talking about. You're not of my sheep. You don't belong to me. Very solemn words, you know. And if you believe not, you don't belong to him. That's what it says. You believe not because you're not of my sheep. And if there's one here this morning, young or old, not believing in the Lord Jesus for salvation, he says, you're not of my sheep. Now, he's previously said them all, so I must bring. There's a deep yearning and a love in his heart to bring you and to bring you in this morning into the flock. He wants to bring you in. But up to the moment, you're not of his sheep. Oh, I remember as a boy, when I learned this, how my young heart was worried. God saved me when I was ten, but I went through agony before that because I was not in. I knew I wasn't in. I heard all this. I sat by my parents. I'd love to see the children with their parents. And I sat from early days at the Lord's table by my parents' sides and saw everything that went on. But there came a moment when God saved me and brought me in. But I was outside. I knew it. I knew it. And there is some here this morning. And you know where you stand. You know whether you're saved or not. You know whether you've accepted the Lord Jesus. You know whether you can look back at some moment in your life. I can look to the very moment and say, that's where God saved me. That very moment. I remember when the light came, and I saw that he that believeth on the Son, that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him in that moment, God saved me. Can you remember that moment in your life? Ye believe not, he said. And therefore you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father that gave them unto me is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand. Here's the sheep in the Lord's hand, and the Lord's hand in the Father's hand. This is eternal security. This is what we call eternal security. They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I and my Father are one. And now the Lord Jesus makes his claim to deity. He is the eternal Son of God here on earth. And they're asking him, are you the Son of God? And he says plainly, I and my Father are one. What a claim to deity. What did they do immediately? What's the immediate answer to him saying, I and my Father are one? Look at it. Then the Jews took up stones to stone him. That's the answer. They're saying, tell us, tell us, if you're the Son of God, tell us plainly. He told them plainly. What did they do? They got stones to stone. That's the answer. You see, and really there is a sense in which they were justified. It's hard to say this, but there's a sense in which they were justified. Anyone who came claiming to be the Messiah, and he wasn't the Messiah, he had to be stoned to death. And that's why they picked up stones. They didn't think he was the Messiah. Despite of all he'd done, of all he'd said, of all the miracles, they still didn't believe him. So they picked up stones to stone him, and finally they crucified him. And he says to them, now why then are you going to stone me? Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not. We are stoning you for doing miracles. That's wonderful. But this is why we're going to stone you. For a good work we stone thee not. But for blasphemy. But for blasphemy. And because that thou... Being a man, makest thyself God. That was the crime that the Lord committed in their eyes. Thou being a man, makest thyself God. And when they took him to Pilate, and they crucified him, that was the thing they had against him. Thou being a man, makest thyself God. But he was God. He was the eternal Son of God, but they couldn't see it. Their eyes were blinded. And here's the whole secret of everything. He that believes in the Son. When we believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, that's the moment we get salvation. And they couldn't see it. So she said, let's get rid of him. Now let's go down to... Verse thirty-six, Say ye of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. If he do not the works of my Father, if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works that he may know and believe, that the Father is in me and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him. He's still claiming that he's the eternal Son of God. And he said, if you won't believe my words, then believe my works. My works prove. And you know, in the fifth chapter, remember when we were in the fifth chapter, how he emphasized that? In the fifth chapter, he says in verse... Thirty, I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me. I bear witness of myself. My witness is not, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There's another that bears witness of me, he was referring to God. And then he says in verse thirty-six, but I have a greater witness. He said, John the Baptist bear witness of me. We'll read this, because we'll come to it in a moment. He sent unto John, and he bear witness unto the two. But I receive not testimony from men. For these things I say, that he might be saved. John was a burning and a shining light, and for a while you were happy to be in his light. But he says, verse thirty-six. I have greater witness than that of John, for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness that the Father has sent me. His works prove that God has sent him. So he said, though you don't believe my words, believe my works. You see, what we're emphasizing this morning is this fact, and we've been talking about it in all our studies in John's gospel. that God sent His Son, the eternal Word, to dwell among men. And we've been seeing how men would react to the coming of the Son of God. You remember there was a long period, we called a period of consideration, right through to the end of the fourth chapter, when men were considering Him. They weren't fighting Him, just considering Him. And during that period, many believed. You read in the first chapter, I think there's seven people believed in the first chapter and accepted Him. And then at Cana of Galilee, his disciples believed on him. And then the woman at the well, and Nicodemus, there are all these people in that period when they were considering him. And then there was that period of controversy when they were arguing with him. And then there was a period of conflict. We're getting near the end of the period of conflict now, when they're fighting him. And the thing is getting darker, and it's winter, as I said now. The period of his short stay of three and a half years working among them is coming to an end. It's winter time. He's going to be crucified in springtime. It's winter. And he's emphasizing still the fact that he is the Son of God. That's why he came to prove that he was the Son of God. And they won't believe it. And they sought again to take him, but he escaped out of their hands. And now to me this is a very solemn moment in the life of the Lord. As I said, we have been studying now for some months in this book, and we trace the footsteps of the Son of God and the reactions of men towards him. And the net is drawing in tighter, and darkness is coming, and it's colder and darker in wintertime now. It's not long to go. And the Lord Jesus now withdraws himself. They've had their chance. He's done these mighty works. He's revealed himself. And they won't have him. Because they're not his sheep. Look at verse forty. Verse thirty nine. He escaped out of their hands. Verse forty. and went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John had first baptized and daily abode. Turn back with me for a moment to the twelfth chapter of Exodus. There's a very sweet thought here, I think. Exodus chapter twelve. Don't forget that it was down there at Jordan. Now he escaped and he went down to Jordan where John baptized. Do you remember what happened down there at Jordan? Do you remember it was down there when John saw him coming? He said, Behold the Lamb of God, which bears away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God. He's going back to that very place where he started, where it was first said he was the Lamb of God. John's business was to be the forerunner of the Messiah, to be the forerunner of the Son of God. and to introduce the Son of God to Israel. And he was going to introduce him as a king, you know. He was coming to clear the threshing floor and clean up everything and burn up the chaff, you know. Coming to destroy, instead of a kingdom. But somewhere along the line, I'm not sure where John learned some wonderful lessons. And when the great day came for John to say, now here's the king, He didn't say that at all. He said, here's the Lamb of God. And he introduced the Son of God to Israel. Behold the Lamb of God. That was down there where John baptized. That's where he's going. Now let's go over to Exodus chapter twelve a moment and read a little bit about the Lamb. Exodus chapter twelve verse two. This month should be unto you the beginning of months. It should be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying in the tenth day of this month, they should take to them every man and lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. Now here the house the lamb was selected. Here the lamb was selected. May I suggest that down there by the banks of the river Jordan, when John said, behold the lamb of God, the lamb was selected. He was pointed out, this is the Lamb. This is God's true Passover Lamb. There he is. Behold the Lamb of God. Now what happened to him? Listen. And if the household be too little for the Lamb, let him take his neighbor next unto his house, take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating to make your account for the Lamb. Your lamb should be without mail, without... the male of the first year, you shall take it from the sheep and the goats. Verse six, this is what I'm getting to, verse six. And you shall keep it up until the fourth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall sell it and shall kill it in the evening. Now when the lamb was selected, then the lamb was set apart and kept, secluded, kept. until the fourteenth day of the month, and then in the evening, he was killed. Might I suggest, I told you it's wintertime, I told you the three and a half years of his testimony are nearly over. I told you it's a little while from wintertime to springtime when he's going to be crucified. Might I suggest that this is the answer. You shall keep your land separated, keep him up until the fourteenth day of the month. And God took his lamb, the lamb of God, and he separated. They were going to slay him earlier. But that wasn't God's plan. God had a plan. God had a day with Israel. It was the fourteenth day of the month at even. God had a day, a certain day at even when his son was murdered. But what did he do? He kept him up. Why did he keep him? This is where he kept him. He went away again beyond Jordan. into a place where John at first baptized and there he abode. There's the Lamb of God kept away in seclusion, waiting for that day soon to come when he had come out of conclusion. And at even time, on the appointed day, he's going to be slain at the place called Calvary. This is the Lamb of God. This is the pattern. This is the plan that God had ordained for him. always doing the Father's will. He came to men who argued about Him. He came to men who argued with Him. He came to men who fought with Him. He came to men who would not believe in Him. And God says, you have your day. The harvest is past. The summer is ended. It's wintertime now. I'm taking my son from you now. You won't get another chance. And you'll notice, apart from the twelfth chapter, when he comes in and triumphs into Jerusalem, Apart from that, there's no more chance. The next time they see him, he's standing before Pilate, and Pilate says, Behold your King. And all the remaining part here now is what I'm going to call when we come to it, the period of conference, when along with his own, Israel, he's up in the upper room talking. And so Israel have had their day. They rejected him. And the Lamb of God retires. Now the Son of God retires. He went a way of gain beyond Jordan into the place where John had first baptized, and there he abode. And there's some two or three months to go by now, and there he abode, not revealing himself to them at all. There you go. What memories the Son of God must have had? And he went down by the river Jordan, and he remembered that day when he came to John the Baptist, and John said, I indeed have need to be baptized as thee and comest thou to me. And the Lord said, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it cometh us to fulfill all righteousness. And there down by the River Jordan, when John dipped him into the river and baptized him, what was he doing that for? Baptism is a type of death. When we had a baptism last Sunday here in the lake, what are we baptized for? We're looking back to Calvary where we died with Christ. But the Lord's not doing that. When the Lord was baptized, he's looking on to Calvary. He's looking on to that moment when he'll hang upon the cross as the Lamb of God and bear our sins in his own body on the tree. And so he said to John, you suffer it to be so-known. John baptized him. And the Lord goes back, goes back to that moment when he's fully, oh, he always decided to do the Father's will. Way, way back in eternity in Psalm forty, he said, Lo, I come to do thy will. No question about that. But there was a moment there in his baptism when he declared his intention to do God's will. And that meant death. That's what baptism means. That meant death. It meant I'm going to the place called Calvary. And the Lord goes back to the place where he made that great decision. Down there, where John baptized, And many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle. Now that's true. If you read the life of John the Baptist, he didn't perform any miracles. But John said some wonderful things. John did no miracle. But all things that John spake about this man were true. See, John said of the Lord Jesus, he is the Lamb of God. That was true. And then down in the, let me see, that's verse twenty nine about verse John said, I saw and believed that this is the Son of God. First chapter. He's the Lamb of God. He's the Son of God. John did no miracle. But all things that John said about this Lord Jesus Christ, about the Son of God, they were true. He's the Lamb of God. He's the Son of God. And when you get over into the third chapter, he says he's the bridegroom. And that's true too. The Lord Jesus is the bridegroom of his church. All things did John speak about the Lord's truth. And down there, some resorted to him, and look at the wonderful ending of this verse, this chapter. We've got to end there, verse forty-two. And I do hope that we will end just like they ended. Look, verse forty-two. And many believed on him there. Many believed on him there. Who, if we could end that, we are meeting this way. If there's someone here just out of Christ, not yet saved, and we could say here at Park of the Palms in Park of the Palms Chapel, the last verse of John said, Many believed on him there. Why don't you believe on him this morning? Why not accept him here, right here, and say, Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I believe you've died for me. I accept you as my personal Savior. And you'll come into your heart. He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. He's knocking at your heart's door. If any man hear my voice and open the door, you know the Lord is no gate-crasher. You'll never come in if you don't invite him. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man open the door, I'll come in, but you've got to open the door. When the Lord Jesus went to Emmaus with those two disciples and they got to their house, have you ever noticed the words? It says he made as if he would have gone a little further. He didn't push his way in. He wasn't a gate crusher. And they constrained him to come in. That's where you stand this morning. Constrain him to come in. Say to the Lord Jesus, come into my life, come into my heart. I receive you as my Savior. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And thou shalt be saved. Many believe on him. There, shall we pray. Blessed God, our Father, we bow before thee to praise thy holy name, that thou didst give the very best gift of heaven thy beloved Son. He had no need to leave those eternal glories up there. The need was our need. We were dead in trespasses and sin. And he looked down upon us, back in a way, back in eternity, and saw us, and set his love upon us, and said, Lo, I come. And we thank thee he came, and he came through the Jewish fold, and he came the right way, according to the Scriptures. And he was misunderstood. He came to his own, his own received him not. But, oh, how we pray thy name. As many as receive him, to them he gives power to become children of God. help some this morning just in simple faith to receive him so that it might be said on this seventeenth day of june nineteen seventy three and many believed on him there we seek thy parting blessing and i'll save his name amen