The Fruit of Repentance - Luke 3:7-14 - June 12, 2022

 Luke 3.7-14 The Fruit of Repentance

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter three. Today we are going to look at verses 7-14 and that’s on page 858 in the pew Bibles.

Last week we looked a little bit at the remarkable character John the Baptist and his one point sermon: repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Today we are going to drill down a little bit on the practical nature of that one point sermon and examine what it means to bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

So, let’s look at our text and then dive in.

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 

10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

Let’s pray.

So here we see in our text John preaching his message of repentance to an audience that is made up of two types of people. 

In verses 7-9 he is preaching to the religious people which we examined last week, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the religious leaders from Jerusalem that came to find out what this guy in the camel outfit was talking about out here in the wilderness.

Today I’d like to look at the second type of people who came out to hear John preach, first we saw the religious people, counting on their outward religion to keep them safe from God’s wrath, and now, we see the repentant people, the people who were genuinely interested in doing what was really necessary to avoid God’s wrath, anxious inquirers after salvation.

There is a third category of the members of John’s audience which is the morbidly curious in Herod but we will talk about him later. Today we’ll look at the repentant and John’s message to them.

Have you ever heard the expression, “easy believism?” I don’t know who coined the phrase but easy believism is the idea that following Jesus has no cost, that all one has to do is believe that Jesus is real, that he died on the cross for our sins, and change absolutely nothing about their lives.

This was not the message that John preached. This is not the message that Jesus preached either.

In fact, Jesus said, as recorded in all three synoptic Gospels, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

Easy believism denies the idea of repentance, the idea that we should actually turn away from our sinful ways and follow the Lord. It’s especially prevalent today that following Jesus is merely a spiritual thing and has no real relevance to our moral codes or behaviors.

Anyone who subscribes to this kind of thinking is ignorant of the Scriptures and is ignorant of repentance. This kind of thinking is idolatry, making a god in an image that is more suitable to us and less offensive than the reality of the God of the Bible and His Son Jesus.

John’s message and John’s lifestyle was that of biblical morality, he was calling people to holy living in preparation for Jesus.

To the religious he said don’t count on your heritage, your connection to Abraham, your empty religious rituals, instead bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

John Calvin wrote, “Repentance is an inward renewal of the man, which manifests itself in the outward life, as a tree produces its fruit.”

And the reality of what that might look like was the question of the second type of people who came to listen to John preach, the repentant. Luke records this group asking three times, “what should we do?” And though on the surface the answer to each question looks different, if you peel it back a little, you’ll see that his answer is the same to each one. Look at verse 10…

10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

To the repentant his message was simple: sacrifice your selfishness. This is what denying yourself and taking up your cross daily looks like.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the Law was in Matthew 22:37-39 His response was simple:

37 …“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

That second commandment, what James calls the royal law, love your neighbor as yourself is the fruit of repentance.

John says when the crowd asked, “What then shall we do?” “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”

James 2:15-16 says, and I think I read this last week, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things need for the body, what good is that?”

The Golden Rule used to be posted in every classroom in America, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” You know who said that? Jesus! If only we would all live by that rule!

That’s exactly what John was saying, don’t be selfish with your stuff, instead, love your neighbor, if you have an extra coat and they don’t have one, if you have extra food and they are lacking, love them by sharing with them. Don’t be selfish against your neighbor, love them instead.

The tax collectors and soldiers were faced with a similar conviction, we want to bear fruits in keeping with repentance, “what do we do?”

Every occupation is faced with its own set of temptations for those who would follow Jesus. 

For the tax collectors it was inflating the tax rates. The government tells the tax collectors to collect five percent, but the tax collectors tell the people that they have to pay six percent and pocket the difference. 

Everybody knew that they did it but they were powerless to do anything about it. The Romans didn’t care if the tax collectors cheated their own people just as long as Rome got their share.

John’s message to the tax collectors: Don’t cheat your neighbors, love them instead. Zacceus, the wee little man that climbed up in the Sycamore tree was a great example of a tax collector that repented when he met the Lord Jesus and gave back to everyone he cheated. Don’t cheat your neighbors, love them instead.

The soldiers, whether they were Roman soldiers or Jewish soldiers we don’t know, but these were men in positions of power and authority over the people who used their position, and fear, and threats of violence, and false accusations to extort money from their neighbors.

When they asked John what they should do he told them, stop extorting and blackmailing people, be content with your wages. Don’t squeeze your neighbors, love them instead.

What shall we do? Exercise generosity instead of selfishness, honesty instead of cheating, and contentment instead of extortion.

John Calvin wrote, “Let the necessity of our brethren affect us powerfully, and let the bounty of God, which is in our hands, stimulate us to acts of kindness and generosity.”

John called the people to repentance, to a change of mind, which is evidenced in a change of behavior. The change of our ways is the evidence of the change of our minds.

As Alistair Begg said, “Be different! So different that people say, ‘something happened to this chap!’ I’d rather see a gospel than hear one any day!”

So what’s our takeaway? 

Be different. Don’t live a life marked by selfishness, and pride, and bad language, and drunkenness, and dishonesty, turn away from your selfish ways and live a life marked by love, love for the Lord and for our neighbors. 

Let us truly do unto others as we would have them do unto us, let us deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Jesus. 

That’s exactly the example He left for us, he denied Himself and took up His cross, our cross, and died in our place. Not so we could spend the rest of our days in selfishness and pride, but so that we could truly be different through faith in Him and with the help of the Holy Spirit.

To Him be glory in the church both now and forevermore.

Amen.

The Remarkable John the Baptist - Luke 3:1-9 - June 5, 2022

 Luke 3:1-9 The Remarkable John the Baptist

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter three, page 858 in the pew Bibles.

This morning we are going to look at the remarkable character John the Baptist. He had a remarkable birth, which we looked at in Luke chapter one, he lived a remarkable lifestyle, got a remarkable endorsement from Jesus Himself, and he preached a remarkable message.

If you think that sounds like a set up for a four point message… you’re wrong. Let’s look at the text.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, 

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ” 

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Let’s pray

You may or may not remember what Luke’s intent was in writing this Gospel. We talked about it when we began this study in chapter one. Luke’s intent was TO give Theophilus certainty about the things that he had been taught about the life and ministry of Jesus BY collecting accounts from eyewitnesses AND BY writing an orderly account.

The first few verses give a great example of some of the details that Luke researched in order to set the historical context of the timing of the ministry of john the Baptist as well as the ministry of Jesus Himself.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

What might not be as obvious is that Luke is also pointing out the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the coming of Messiah from Genesis 49:10:

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

The scepter, the symbol of the rule of a king, had certainly departed from Judah and had been taken by the Romans and placed in the hands of the governors and tetrarchs that they appointed.

It also showed how corrupted the nation of Israel had become as they had two High Priests instead of one as the Law instructs. The Romans actually deposed the first High Priest, Annas, and appointed his son in law Caiaphas. That’s not at all how it was supposed to work.

From all those details we learn that John the Baptist was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry and it was right around the year 29 AD.

There have been a great number of remarkable preachers throughout history, but I think John the Baptist is one of my favorites. 

He had a remarkable birth story which we covered in Luke chapter one. He lived a remarkable lifestyle, living in the wilderness, dressing in a camel’s hair cloak and leather belt like Elijah did, eating locusts and wild honey. He got a remarkable endorsement from Jesus Himself in Matthew 11. He said, “Among those born of women no one greater has arisen than John the Baptist.” He was a remarkable preacher, crowds came from all of Judea and Jerusalem to the Jordan River to hear him preach and be baptized by him. He had a remarkable calling as it says in verse four, “The voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord…”

But what I find the most remarkable about John the Baptist, and why he is among my favorite preachers, he preached a one point sermon: Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

Verses one and two lay out the timing of a very important moment for John the Baptist, when all these guys were ruling Judea, and these guys were serving as High Priests, blah, blah, blah… 

The Word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

The Word of God is what gave John purpose, the Word of God is what gave John’s voice significance, it was the Word of God that gave John his message, his one point sermon, as it says in Matthew 3:2, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

John the Baptist was God’s man, with God’s Word, at God’s time, in God’s place.

In fact, John the Baptist did pretty much the opposite of what successful preachers say to do in order to be successful preachers! Wear a nice suit, build a big building with plenty of parking and a gym in sight of the highway, craft an inspiring message with lots of cool graphics with an awesome band…

Let’s look at the sub points of his one point sermon and see just how far he veered off that path.

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

I can say that all the books on preaching don’t tell you to start your sermons off by calling those who came to hear you a bunch of snakes.

The picture John paints here is a bunch of snakes slithering out of a field that has been set on fire. He was addressing the religious leaders here, the Pharisees and the Sadducees , not everybody that came to hear him.

But by working backwards we can see one of John’s sub points: there is wrath coming and you should flee from it.

The wrath he mentions is the wrath of God for sin. We live in a day and age where the world wants to redefine sin, or eliminate the word sin from its collective vocabulary, but in the church we have made the fatal mistake of shrinking the effects of sin to mere feelings of guilt. When I sin I feel bad, when I sin I hurt God’s feelings, so I apologize to God and move on.

The truth is, when we sin, we earn God’s wrath, and God’s wrath means destruction, fiery annihilation.

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” What we earn by sinning is eternal death…

But… it goes on to say, “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

John’s instruction is to repent, to literally turn away, 180 degrees, from our sin. And to live like we have turned away from our sin is John’s second sub point in verse 8.

 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. 

What does that look like, to bear fruits in keeping with repentance?

What comes to my mind is James 2:14-26.

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

True saving faith is faith that is proved by behavior, it bears fruit in keeping with repentance.

Donald Miller wrote, “What I believe isn’t what I say I believe, what I believe is what I do.”

John goes on to say,

And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

The Pharisees and the Sadducees thought and taught that they had no need of salvation because they were descended from Abraham, this heresy is still taught today. Personal, actual, living, fruitful faith in Messiah Jesus is what is required.

John the Baptist’s message was simple: Messiah is coming, repent.

John’s baptism looked forward to the work of Christ, a baptism of repentance so that people’s hearts would be ready to receive Him and follow Him. When believers are baptized now, it’s a baptism looking back to the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross.

John’s work was to prepare people for the arrival of Jesus and trust in Him and His work, our work is to do the same, tell people of the finished work of Jesus and help them trust in Him.

If you have never trusted Jesus or repented of your sins, I would encourage you to do that while we pray, and if you have trusted in Jesus and repented of your sins and have never been baptized, you can come talk to me after the service and we can arrange that.

Amen.

About My Father's Business - Luke 2:41-52 - May 29, 2022

 

Luke 2:41-52 About My Father’s Business

Good morning! Welcome back! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter two. We are going to look at verses 41-52, and that’s on page 858 in the pew Bibles.

This little passage is the only record in Scripture of Jesus’ childhood, and though it seems a bit obscure, there is a lot for us to learn from this account. Ideas that are theological, practical, and symbolical… 

Sounds a bit like a three point sermon…

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Let’s pray.

Now you’ll remember that Luke put together this orderly account after following all these things closely in order that the recipients of his Gospel account would have certainty about the things that they had been taught. In Luke’s investigation of the life and ministry of Jesus he would have interviewed eye witnesses to Jesus’ life, one of whom was most likely Mary herself.

It’s interesting to me that this is the only account of Jesus’ childhood that the Holy Spirit prompted Luke to include in his Gospel even though there are lots of false Gospels published even today that tell fairy tales about Jesus as a kid. One even includes Jesus’ solution to a board that was cut too short in Joseph’s woodshop. Joseph says, “This board is too short.” And Jesus says, “No problem,” and stretches the board to the right length. As a woodworker, I can say, that would be really handy. Either way, it’s fantasy, Luke’s record is the truth. Even though the glimpse is brief, it’s powerful.

The first layer of this account is theological. Did you know that you are all theologians? Theology is simply the study of God: Theo=God, ology=the study of. You don’t even need to have your doctorate for it, we can all be theologians!

The theological layer of this account deals with the humanity of Jesus. I don’t think most Christians struggle with the divinity of Jesus, the fact that he is fully God, I think a lot of us do struggle with His humanity, the fact that he is a man in every way except for sin.

Jesus was not always fully man, He took on flesh and dwelt among us, as it says in John chapter one. He had to be fully man to take our sins upon Himself on the cross in order to pay the penalty for our sin, but because He is fully God He could not stay dead, God raised Him up.

But here in our text we see the boy Jesus, fully God and fully man.

The next layer of this account is practical.

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.

It was only required of the men to go to Jerusalem for Passover, the women and children, the blind and the lame were not required to go. Women and children were allowed to go but they were not required.

This very well could have been Mary’s recollection of these events told to Luke.

When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to custom. 

Stop there. Who’s custom?

The Law required Joseph and Jesus to go to Jerusalem for the feast, it doesn’t say that they went up to Jerusalem according to the Law, but according to custom. Who’s custom?

It was their family’s custom. Joseph and Mary made it their family custom for all of them to go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. Joseph and Mary were teaching their child the way He should go in hopes that when He was old He would not depart from it.

I think the Holy Spirit prompted Luke to include this account to remind us of the strength of the family when it comes to our faith, to the strength of family customs and traditions in supporting our faith. To me that’s intensely practical.

But there’s also this bad parenting moment included in this account, after all, you can’t win them all.

43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

Now before we get too down on Mary and Joseph for leaving their baby behind in a car seat we have to remember a few things. First, what Luke calls, “the group,” in verse 44 is most likely most of their village. This would have been their family, friends, and neighbors all walking together. It was also traditional for the women and children to go first in the group and for the men and older boys to follow. Jesus, being twelve, could have fit in either group. Joseph most likely thought He was with Mary, and vice versa. “He’s got to be here somewhere!”

But at the end of the first day’s journey they tried to find him and realized that He wasn’t with them or with anybody they knew and decided to go back to Jerusalem to search for Him. They traveled back to Jerusalem the next day and found Him in the Temple on the third day sitting amongst the teachers.

Sometimes the strongest lessons we can learn are when we learn what not to do. Keep an eye on your kids! Even though this might not have been the best example, establishing family faith customs is a great example. Even what Jesus was doing when they found Him is a great example, sitting with the teachers, listening to them and asking questions.

It was not typical for a twelve year old to be sitting with this group in the Temple courts, but as we all know, Jesus was not a typical twelve year old. But he did give us an example of seeking wisdom from teachers.

By twelve years old Jesus would have been taught the Law and the prophets, He would have had vast amounts of the Old Testament memorized because that was their tradition. But he still sought out this group of teachers of the Law to listen and ask questions of them. 

There is an example there for us to follow. 

We don’t have to go to Jerusalem, we don’t have to go anywhere, with one click, one tap, teachers of the Word of God are available to us. However there is strength in gathering in person, listening to the teaching of God’s Word and asking questions.

Mary and Joseph were less than impressed as you can imagine but this wasn’t an act of rebellion on Jesus’ part, otherwise He would have violated the fifth commandment. Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem intentionally in order to teach us.

46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Jesus grew and developed like any other boy only without the hindrance of sin. He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. But His answer to Mary… I find myself in the same spot as Mary and Joseph, in verse 50, “they did not understand the saying that He spoke to them.”

Why were you looking for me?! Maybe because you’re twelve and we haven’t known where you were for three days?! I still don’t understand that. 

But Mary gives us a great example of what to do with sayings of Jesus that we don’t understand: She treasured up all these things in her heart. She pondered these events and the things Jesus said, she thought about them and what they might mean, she didn’t brush them off as insignificant, she held onto them like treasure in her heart.

But Jesus went with them back down to Nazareth, He submitted to them as He should, and gave all kids everywhere an example to follow and He grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.

The last layer of this account is spiritual. We are faced with the theological in Jesus being both fully God and fully man, with the practical of sitting with the teachers to learn, not to mention keeping track of your children, but there is also a spiritual lesson here as well.

So often we seek Jesus the same way His parents did, just assuming that he is just floating along with our expectations and our choices about life, when in truth He is doing exactly what His first recorded words in Luke’s Gospel say, literally, I must be about my Father’s business.

In verse 48, Mary tells Jesus that she and Joseph had been seeking Him in great distress, great sorrow, and in doing so gave us another great example: When we find ourselves in a place where Jesus is not, we have the choice to sorrow and sit, or sorrow and seek. Mary and Joseph decided to seek in their sorrow and found Jesus about His Father’s business.

Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us, He promised us that, but there are plenty of times when we don’t feel like He’s there or can’t see Him at work, or can’t hear His voice.

We’ve all heard Jeremiah 29:11 that says, “for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord…”

But Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

Some twenty years later on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, in John 6:35-40, Jesus explained what He meant by being about His Father’s business:

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Amen.