John 3:14-30

“And just as Moses in the desert lifted up the brass replica of a venomous snake on a pole for all the people to see and be healed, so the Son of Man is ready to be lifted up, so that those who truly believe in him will not perish but be given eternal life. For here is the way God loved the world—he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. “God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it! So now there is no longer any condemnation for those who believe in him, but the unbeliever already lives under condemnation because they do not believe in the name of the only Son of God. And here is the basis for their judgment: The Light of God has now come into the world, but the people loved darkness more than the Light, because they want the darkness to conceal their evil. So the wicked hate the Light and try to hide from it, for the Light fully exposes their lives. But those who love the truth will come into the Light, for the Light will reveal that it was God who produced their fruitful works.” Then Jesus and his disciples left for a length of time into the Judean countryside where they baptized the people. At this time John was still baptizing people at Aenon, near Salim, where there was plenty of water, and the people kept coming for John to baptize them. (This was before John was thrown into prison.) An argument started between John’s disciples and a particular Jewish man about baptism. So they went to John and asked him, “Teacher, are you aware that the One you told us about at the crossing place—he’s now baptizing crowds larger than yours. People are flocking to him!” John answered them, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless God bestows it. You’ve heard me tell you that I am not the Messiah, but certainly I am the messenger sent ahead of him. He is the Bridegroom, and the bride belongs to him. I am the friend of the Bridegroom who stands nearby and listens with great joy to the Bridegroom’s voice. Because of his words, my joy is complete and overflows! It is necessary for him to increase and for me to decrease.