John 1 - Jesus, the Promised Deliverer

These pulpit notes are provided unedited and will thus contain some grammatical or typographical errors.

Introduction

Thank you for joining us this morning, please turn in your Bibles to John 1, and Isaiah 40. We will begin in Isaiah 40.

The story of God’s chosen people in the Old Testament is a tragic tale. On the one hand, the Old Testament scriptures present the perfect character of the God of Heaven who is loving, and gracious; merciful and forgiving; covenant making, and covenant keeping. On the other hand, it places next to this revelation, in stark contrast, the nature of God’s chosen people. They are fickle, doubting, unfaithful and have a continual propensity to forsake God and either indulge their own fleshly passions through idolatry or fall into a lifeless, hypocritical form of true religion.

The continual rebellion of God’s people – the Jews, resulted in a climactic judgment in the Babylonian Captivity. Because they had given themselves it idolatry, and immorality and had forsaken their God, he allowed the Babylonian empire to destroy Jerusalem, and the temple, and to carry his people away into captivity.

Isaiah 40 was written to Judah, while they were in the midst of this captivity.

You can imagine the doubt and despair which would have plagued the Jews in Babylon. A seemingly unstoppable nation, Babylon, has crushed them, destroyed Jerusalem, and razed their temple to the ground.

They were carried away into this foreign land, against their will, and their own city was then repopulated by people who had no right, nor claim to it.

Immersed in a strange culture, and estranged from their homeland, with no end to the captivity in sight, some within Judah began to question God's compassion, and justice.

Isaiah 40:27 ¶ Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?

Now, make no mistake, Judah was not an innocent victim in all of this. They had been warned for decades to turn from their idols, and the immorality which accompanied their idolatry and to worship God alone, with a sincere heart. Yet, they continually refused.

Jeremiah in foretelling of the coming Babylonian captivity warned:

Jeremiah 25:3 "For twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken persistently to you, but you have not listened. 4 You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the LORD persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, 5 saying, 'Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. 6 Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.' 7 Yet you have not listened to me, declares the LORD, that you might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm.

Idolatrous, immoral, and unrepentant. That was the character of Judah. They had watched the Northern Kingdom of Israel suffer the fate of captivity when they were defeated by the Assyrians. Yet, they learned nothing from their fate. Instead, the followed right along in their rebellious footsteps.

The Lord said through Jeremiah the prophet:

Jeremiah 3:6 ¶ The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? 7 And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me,' but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD."

They learned nothing after having watched God's judgment through the Assyrians against their sister kingdom in the North. What then do you say about the apparent religious revivals and reforms that we see in Judah? The Lord says through Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 3:10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD."

So, Jerusalem is now destroyed, the temple is no more and Judah is captive in Babylon. A captivity orchestrated by the Lord in judgment against Judah's idolatrous rebellion.

It is as if the Lord is saying, "Since you have chosen to enslave yourself to your idols, I will enslave you to an idolatrous nation." An idolatrous and immoral nation is what you want? So, I will grant your wish and place you in the midst of an idolatrous, and immoral nation.

Now, when the prophets foretold of coming captivity, whether by the Assyrians or the Babylonians, they were always sure to state and restate that these godless nations were not operating of their volition alone. But, the God of heaven, the God of statecraft, was orchestrating world affairs to serve his purposes.

In this way, such judgments and trials did not represent an absence of God's powerful working, or a divine ignorance regarding the plight of his people. Instead, it was God himself working these events to accomplish exactly what he had purposed.

Like the rest of the prophets' messages to Israel, they refused to believe this. So, the lament of Isaiah 40:27 again:

Isaiah 40:27 ¶ Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?

Well, the 40th chapter of Isaiah is written to answer these laments.

Isaiah 40:1 ¶ Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

"Comfort, comfort" - Although we often think of the term to mean sort of a "there, there, everything will be OK", what is actually communicated is more inline with the original meaning of the term. com-fort - "come alongside and strengthen." Strengthen, strengthen my people, says your God.

So, this is a message of comfort, or strengthening. This is a message of hope and consolation.

Whereas prior to the Babylonian captivity, the Lord used the language of divorce and forsaking to describe his relationship with Judah, now he assures them that they are his people. And look in verse 2:

Isaiah 40:2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

This is a tender message of hope to God's people while they are in captivity. He is heralding the coming end to their turmoil.

Now, notice when God says the captivity is going to come to an end. He does not say the captivity will end because Judah has learned their lesson. He does not say that because they have repented of their sin, he will bring them back to their land. That's not it at all. Look how verse 2 continues:

"her iniquity is pardoned, she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins."

Judah has been punished for their sin and rebellion, and the judgment has been fully meted out. D.A. Carson says of this passage that the idea of "receiving double for all her sins" does not mean that they received twice as much punishment as sin they committed, but instead he says it paints a picture of a folding, or a doubling of a cloth. When you fold a cloth, double its sides, and create a mirror image. The idea being, they have received judgment perfectly corresponding to their sin.

God is now announcing the coming end of this judgment and the eventual return of the exiles to Jerusalem.  You might ask, why wouldn't God just pour out his unmitigated wrath and be done with Israel altogether?

Because the Lord is a covenant-keeping God, and these are the descendants of David, to whom he promised in the Davidic Covenant:

Psalm 89:28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. 29 I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. 30 If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, 31 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, 32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, 33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. 34 I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. 35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. 36 His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me.

So, God in his covenant-love and faithfulness is still working with Israel. They remain his people, although they continually break covenant with him and provoke him to jealousy by worshipping other Gods and by living like all the nations around them, instead of like his peculiar, holy people. They may be an unfaithful, covenant-breaking people, but he remains a faithful, covenant-keeping God.

So, God does not forsake his people, but disciplines them, seeking to bring them to repentance. He applies the pressure of judgment in order to purge them of their sin and rebellion. This judgment through captivity should now be enough. His people should now return to him and worship him in sincerity. So, he promises a deliverance.

Isaiah 40:3 ¶ A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

A voice cries out, "prepare the way of the LORD." The idea is that of a King riding to the rescue in order to liberate. A cry is made to the people, prepare the way! Straighten the path! In other words, get ready! Prepare yourself! God himself is coming to you, as if on a highway, and he will come in all his glory, to deliver you from your captivity!

This we know the Lord initially accomplishes by sending Cyrus the King of Persia to defeat Babylon and to issue a decree allowing God's people to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild it.

What a salvation! What a deliverance! God's people rebelled, the Lord judged them, they are now delivered by God's sovereign hand! All would now think that Judah would return to the Lord with their whole hearts, having learned their lesson through captivity and deliverance.

And, when Judah returned from captivity after 70 years, it appeared for a time as if God's discipline did work. They rebuilt the temple, and the city, and reinstituted the sacrificial system and the feasts. It looked like God's people have had a genuine change of heart.

However, we soon learn that like in the days of Josiah, "Judah did not return to [God] with her whole heart, but in pretense."

We know this because the Old Testament ends on a bleak, low note. The prophet Malachi addresses a later generation of Jews in the now-rebuilt Jerusalem. It seems that although Israel was in their land, and although they had rebuilt the temple and reinstituted orthodox worship, their hearts were still far from the Lord.

• Chapter 1 sees God's people questioning God's love; we see that the priesthood has become corrupt, offering unacceptable sacrifices to God. The priests see the sacrifical system as a burden, and only go through the motions, offering deficient offerings.

• In chapter 2 we learn that while the priests are weeping over the altar, accusing God of injustice in not accepting their sacrifices, they have corrupted his design for marriage, freely divorcing and remarrying.

• They further accuse God of being unjust by saying "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them." Or by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"

• God then warns them that all justice will be executed at a time in the future, and Israel themselves may find themselves on the wrong side of that judgment.

• Whereas they are upset that God is not judging their enemies the Lord says that he will come in judgment against them for practicing sorcery, for committing adultery, for lying, for oppressing the needed, and for refusing to fear him.

Suffice it to say, the Jewish people, though free from Babylon for many years, proved that the actual source of their captivity was not to be found in the power of a foreign nation, but within their own hearts.

They were perpetually drawn away to sin, lust, idolatry and rebellion. Tender instruction, covenant promises, harsh rebuke, prophetic warning, even physical captivity would not divest them of their ultimate enemy - their own sinfulness.

So, the Old Testament ends with Israel having proven the point, through failure, that if they were to be genuine worshippers of God, they would need to be delivered from the captivity of their own sinfulness and inability. This of course, seems like a hopeless endeavour. The Lord however, ends the Old Testament, not simply on the low note of Israel’s continuing rebellion, but with a promise:

Malachi 4:5-6   "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.  6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction."

Things are looking bleak, but I will make this promise. A prophet is coming who will turn the hearts of my people to such a degree that it will cause me to withhold my wrath against their sin.

In the ensuing years between Malachi and the opening of the New Testament, Israel's religious character remained largely unchanged. They would experience peaks of spiritual revival, but would ultimately descend again into the out and out sin, or into patterns of lifeless, hypocritical, pretentious religion.

When the New Testament opens this is the state in which we find Israel. Yes, there is a faithful remnant of genuine worshippers of God, as their always had been, but institutionally, their religion was corrupt. Although they prided themselves on being God's holy people, their hypocrisy, prejudice, injustice, legalism, and love-less worship betrayed the fact that they were still idolators at heart. They remained captive to their own sinfulness, and remained in need of a deliverer.

Then, suddenly, after hundreds of years of silence on the prophetic scene, a prophet arose. His name was John the Baptist. This John was the fulfillment of the promise with which the Lord ended the Old Testament scriptures.

In announcing the birth of John the Baptist to John’s father Zechariah, the angel Gabriel quoted the very last verses of the last book of the Old Testament.

Luke 1:16-17   And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God,  17 and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."

When Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father was overcome by the Holy Spirit and prophesied over his newborn son, he said:

Luke 1:76-79   And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,  77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins,  78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high  79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

It is this John the Baptist, the promised prophet of the Most High, who would go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation in the forgiveness of sins, that we meet in our passage this morning.

John 1:14-20   And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  15 ¶ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'")  16 And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.  19 ¶ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"  20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."

John the Apostle, presents to us John the Baptist as the first witness to the identity of Jesus, and the proof that Jesus is the Christ.

You can imagine the speculation which swirled around John the Baptist as he dwelt in the wilderness, baptizing disciples, preaching to crowds. Some thought he himself was the Messiah. John however was quick to reject such a notion and clearly confessed that he was not the Christ. Instead, he was one who came to reveal the Christ.

Now, I’d like you to look at verse 21-22, where we see just how John the Baptist identifies himself:

John 1:21-23   And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."  22 So they said to him, "Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"

John states emphatically that he is not Elijah (whom the Jews were expecting as prophesied); he was not the Prophet (whom Moses prophesied would come), and he certainly was not the Christ. So, who was he? Look at John’s own self-identification and his own understanding of his ministry in verse 23.

23 He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said."

To identify himself and to characterize his ministry, John the Baptist reaches back to the passage we began with. He quotes Isaiah 40:3.

Isaiah 40:3   ¶ A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

But wait a second! Wasn’t the deliverance promised in Isaiah brought about when the Lord brought his people back from Babylon? That was the original context, right? It was written to men and women who were captive in Babylon. The voice in Isaiah was a voice declaring the arrival of divine deliverance from captivity. That voice was announcing that God himself was coming to deliver his people from what appeared to be a hopeless captivity.

Yes, it was fulfilled in God’s deliverance of his people from the Babylonian captivity. But here we learn something about prophecy. In Old Testament prophecy there are often both near and far fulfillments. There is that fulfillment which the original audience could anticipate and experience, and a far fulfillment which they may not have quite grasped. That is the case with Isaiah 40.

Although the Lord fulfilled the promise of deliverance from Babylonian captivity, there was a sense in which this promise was not fully satisfied until the coming of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.

In some way, according to John, he is the final fulfillment of the promise of that voice coming to cry out. He is the voice preparing the way of the LORD. He is the voice calling men and women to prepare the way for their God.

So, then what are the implications of this?

• If John is the voice crying in the wilderness, then those to whom he preaches, must be captive and in need of a deliverer.

• If John is the voice crying in the wilderness, then he is preparing the way for God himself to arrive on the scene as that deliverer.
  
  
• If John is the voice crying in the wilderness, then it is incumbent upon his hearers to in some way prepare themselves for God's arrival and his promised deliverance.

• If John is the voice crying in the wilderness, then God's glory will be put on display when he comes to deliver.

Let’s explore each of these.

• If John is the voice crying in the wilderness, then those to whom he preaches, must be captive and in need of a deliverer.

Was John's audience in captivity? Well, in a sense they were captive to the Romans. In fact, they had had a string of captivities after their Babylonian exile. The Persians, the Greeks, and now the Romans. But that is not the captivity which John is declaring here. John is exposing the fact that all men within earshot of his preaching were captive to sin.

We know this because of the way in which John encouraged the people to prepare the way for their deliverer.

Matthew 3:1 ¶ In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'"

The pathway which needs to be made straight is the pathway into the heart. Repent! he says. The people remain captive to their own sinfulness, just as they were in Josiah's day, and in the day of their captivity, and in Malachi's day. All men were and are captive to sin.

Jesus would later have this exchange with the Jews:

John 8:31 ¶ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 33 They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?" 34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

You want to know why John the Baptist's message was so controversial? Because he declared that all men, including (and perhaps especially) the religious elites were slaves. Slaves to sin, and in need of a deliverer. He was there to announce that this deliverer was coming, and that to prepare for his coming, men must repent of their sin.

That by the way, covers the second implication that we mentioned:

• If John is the voice crying in the wilderness, then it is incumbent upon his hearers to in some way prepare themselves for God's arrival and his promised deliverance.

How were men to "make straight in the desert a highway for our God?" They were to repent of their sins, and be baptized in obedience to God and in anticipation of his deliverance.

Next, what did we say?

• If John is the voice crying in the wilderness, then he is preparing the way for God himself to arrive on the scene as that deliverer.

Isaiah 40:3 ¶ A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Clearly the LORD (Yahweh) himself is the deliverer. God himself was coming to free men from their captivity to sin.

This is made even more clear in the subsequent verses in Isaiah 40. Look, starting in verse 9.

Isaiah 40:9 ¶ Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!" 10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

The voice cries, "Behold your God!" He is coming with a mighty hand to judge and to reward. The day of reckoning has arrived. So, get your hearts right!

He is coming with a might! But look how else Isaiah highlights the character of God the deliverer in verses 11 and 12:

Isaiah 40:11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. 12 ¶ Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

The mighty God, who is coming to deliver from the captivity of sin, is first a tender shepherd who will gather his lambs in his arms. Next, he is the all-powerful creator who has measured out the waters, and weighed out the mountains.

The point is that he is so mighty that he can accomplish any deliverance, and so tender that he will do so with loving compassion. That is the divine deliverer who John the Baptist is announcing.

He is the mighty God, while also the prince of peace. He is powerful enough to make the worlds, yet compassionate enough to tenderly gather his people like lambs. He will violently stamp out sin, death and Satan, while safely cradling his people in his comforting arms.

Back to John:

John 1:23 He said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said." 24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26 John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 ¶ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel."

Isaiah, in announcing the deliverer: "Behold your God!"; John the Baptist in announcing the deliverer: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

Jesus is God in the flesh, the mighty creator, the tender shepherd, and the promised deliverer.  When Jesus arrived on the scene, it was God himself coming to deliverer his people from captivity - the captivity of their sin.

This, he would accomplish, according to John the Baptist, by offering himself as a sacrificial lamb, in order to take away the sin of the world! (By the way, this is the exact point that Isaiah would take up and make a few chapters later in Isaiah 53).

CONCLUSION?

John the Baptist understood the nature of his ministry. He was not Elijah, though he came in the spirit and power of Elijah; he was not the Prophet promised by Moses; and he was not the Messiah. So, the Pharisees questioned, if he wasn’t Elijah, or the Prophet, or the Christ, why was he baptizing? He answered:

John 1:26-27   John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know,  27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."

In John’s eyes, he was simply an unworthy servant. He was simply a witness and a forerunner. He was a herald sent to God’s perpetually rebellious people, to cry out that God himself had come to save men from their sins.

In that way, he was the final fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of the voice crying in the wilderness. He was the final voice, declaring the arrival of the final deliverance. A deliverance from the true captor of man – man’s own sinfulness.

With John's message came not only the announcement of a deliverer but implied in his announcement, was the declaration that all men were sinners and in need of that deliverance. He came to shatter the notion that any were free from the need for salvation.

Matthew 3:5-12   Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,  6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.  7 ¶ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.  9 And do not presume 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.  10 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.  11 "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

The time of judgment has come. Everyone must now choose what they will do in the face of the coming deliverer. Jesus, God in the flesh, has arrived. He is the mighty God, and "his reward is with him, and his recompense before him," so get your hearts ready to receive him!

So now, you and I are in an extremely privileged position this morning. From our vantage point, we can look across the entire span of redemptive history. We can look back at Adam and Eve’s failure in the Garden; we can see how the ravages of sin spread across creation; we can see mankind’s propensity to become enslaved to sin; we can see how even those privileged with covenant promises and divine revelation also succumb to the captivity of sin; we can look across the span of history and see that the natural human condition requires a deliverer.

We can also look back and see how the Lord himself provided that deliverer in the person of Jesus Christ.

If you are a Christian this morning, thank the Lord that he is by nature a God who is merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness and that he himself provided a deliverance from your captivity to sin. He sent his Son, the tender shepherd, the mighty God to scoop you up into his arms while defeating the enemies of your soul.

If you are not yet a Christian this morning, understand your condition. You, like the rest of mankind, are captive to your own sin. You are captive to the power of your sin, and are culpable to pay the penalty due your sin. But, take comfort, because God himself has provided the means of deliverance from the captivity of your sin. Jesus, the lamb of God, gave himself as a substitute in your place. He died to pay the penalty due your sin, and has satisfied God’s wrath against you.

Free and full salvation is available to you this morning if you will trust the one whom God has provided as your deliverer. Pray to God, ask his forgiveness for your sin, and express the fact that you are trusting Jesus and Jesus alone as your saviour and Lord.

When you express such faith in Jesus, you prove that you are one of his sheep, and he says:

John 10:27-30   My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.  30 I and the Father are one."