20th February 2026

20th February 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 3:22–36 focus 31-36)


Message (Alan Burke)


Consequences, we all know there are consequences for our actions. When we are wee, we begin to discover we can’t just do what we want to do; there are some things that we can get away with when we are six that we can’t get away with when we are 16 or 66. Like if a child bites and kicks another child at six in primary school, the school will deal with it, speak to the parents, help the children realise you can’t do this. When a 16-year-old bites and kicks another 16-year-old, there will be suspension, possibly expulsion, and the police involved. If you try at 66 to kick and bite someone, you might get away with it if the family think you’re doting, but if you do it to the wrong person, you could end up with a custodial sentence. We know that there are consequences; it doesn’t mean we like them. In this life, we want those whom we perceive as bad people to face the consequences for their actions; we want them to get their just deserts, but when it comes to God finally making people face the consequences for their actions, lots of people do not like the sound of it. Here, John, as he speaks to his disciples, he explains why he must decrease and Christ must increase, and he speaks of the life he gives to those who believe and what is faced by those who reject him. 


Why must John decrease and Christ must increase? It is because of who the Christ is and who John is. Jesus is the one who comes from above and above all, and John is from the earth and belongs to the earth; he speaks as one from the earth. Jesus is the one from above, he is God incarnate, who was with God and was God from the beginning, and John is from the earth. He called people to repentance and baptised them in water, but he could not bring new birth; his baptism was a forerunner to the baptism of the Holy Spirit that comes from God himself. John knows that the one who has come from above, who will bring us new birth, the one in whom we become the children of God. He is the one God has sent; he speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. It is through Jesus Christ that we can have eternal life, that we can stand forgiven, that we can be delivered from the wrath that is due to us, so that we might be part of the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is the one that John was merely preparing the way for, the one that there is none greater than among man. 


Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, for those who have repented of their sin, our saviour has lavished his love upon us; he died for our salvation, and he will come again to receive us unto himself; we will be joined with him for all eternity. This belief is not simply a belief in the historic Jesus, who lived and died; it is a belief that reorientates our entire life. Again, whosoever believes, this is not a universal salvation; Jesus came for a particular people; all who will believe in him, the scriptures do not teach universalism regarding salvation; not everyone will be saved. For he also warns all those who do not receive him, they are those who reject him, that they will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. What we deserve is nothing but the wrath of God for our sin; we have offended a holy God; he cannot look on our sin, but for whoever believes in the Son, there is eternal life. Believed in the Son for salvation comes through him alone.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q103 What do we pray for in the third petition?
A. In the third petition, which is, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” we pray, that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.
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