John and Jesus - Luke 3:15-18 - June 19, 2022

 Luke 3.15-18 John and Jesus

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter three. Today we are going to look at verses 15-18, that’s page 858 in the pew Bibles. Today we are going to continue to examine the remarkable character of John the Baptist and how he stands as a model for preachers.

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.

Let’s pray.

A few weeks ago we talked about John the Baptist and the strength of his one point sermon: Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. This, I think, is a model for all preachers to follow. Keep it to one point.

John gave a couple other types of examples for preachers to follow as well. 

Alistair Begg said, and I’m paraphrasing, “It’s hard for preachers to preach on preaching because the people listening might say, ‘Why don’t you follow your own advice?’”

Believe me, I share his conviction.

The people who were coming out to the wilderness to hear John preach and maybe be baptized by him knew that he was not just another ordinary guy. Apart from the weird way that he dressed and his wilderness diet of locusts and wild honey, his message was powerful. It was full of conviction and authority. 

People weren’t used to that at this time, they were used to the same old same old teaching of the Pharisees that was devoid of life and power because it did not offer neither life nor power. But along comes this hippy in the hills who spoke the Word of God and crowds were gathering to hear him preach and be baptized by him. He was extremely effective and popular.

And because he was an effective and popular preacher the people started to do what people tend to do to effective and popular preachers, they started to idolize him, to think that he was more than he was.

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ,

The Apostle John, in his Gospel, said:

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

John the Baptist was not the Light, he was not the Messiah, but people being people started to think that he was more than he really was. Instead of a witness to the Light that was coming, they started to think that he might just be that light himself.

This is honestly the struggle for preachers. When a preacher is effective people start to make more of him than he really is. The temptation that preachers face is to think maybe they’re right.

John did not submit to this temptation and therefore gives another example for all preachers to emulate, he took the focus off himself and pointed people to Jesus.

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

Again from the Apostle John’s Gospel,

19 And this is the testimony of John [the Baptist], 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.” 21 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?” 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.”

John exercised humility and deference, he pointed away from himself to Jesus, saying that His power, His rank, and His baptism were all greater than his own.

The hardest thing that preachers face, at least in my view as a preacher, is accolades.

No good preacher preaches just to say something, good preachers preach because there is something to say. The messenger is nothing, the message is everything! 

THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT ANY PREACHER COULD RECEIVE IS FOR THOSE WHO LISTEN TO HEAR AND OBEY THE WORD OF GOD.

John told the people, “I’m just baptizing you with water, the One you want is still on His way! He is mightier than I could ever be, I’m not even worthy to unbuckle His Berkenstocks!

Even the slaves that were tasked with washing the feet of guests weren’t required to actually untie the sandals of the people’s feet that they were to wash, even that was too menial a task for a slave. But John said that he wasn’t even worthy to do that!

Again from John chapter one and verse 15:

15 (John [the Baptist] bore witness about [Jesus], and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)

John said in Luke 3 and verse 16, “I baptize you with water… But He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

John recognized and pointed out to his hearers that even his baptism was less than that of Jesus. Messiah Jesus’ baptism can accomplish what John’s baptism was powerless to produce.

JP Lange wrote, “[Jesus] will, so to speak, wholly immerse you in the Holy Ghost, and in the fire. The baptism of the Spirit, which produces renewal, is contrasted with the baptism of water, which can only represent it. The baptism of fire is appointed for the unconverted, as that of the Holy Spirit is for believers. As Simeon had announced that Christ was set for the fall of some and the rising of others, so does John here describe Him as coming with a twofold baptism. Some are renovated by His baptism, others are buried in the fiery baptism of final judgment.”

John testified that Jesus’ rank, His power, and His baptism were all greater than his own, he pointed away from himself to Jesus, the constant task of preachers.

But deference and humility are not the only John had to say in our text, he didn’t JUST point away from himself, he pointed to Jesus, and what did He say about Him?

First, and I touched on it already, Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Warren Wiersbe wrote, “It is unfortunate that the term “baptism of the Spirit” has been divorced from its original New Testament meaning. God has spoken to us in Spirit-given words which we must not confuse. The baptism of the Spirit occurs at conversion when the Spirit enters the believing sinner, gives him new life, and makes his body the temple of God. All believers have experienced this once-for-all baptism [as seen in 1 Cor. 12:13]. Nowhere does the Scripture command us to seek this baptism, because we have already experienced it and it need not be repeated.

John Calvin also wrote, “To men has been committed nothing more than the administration of an outward and visible sign: the reality dwells with Christ alone.”

The baptism of the Spirit which produces renewal, being born again, happens at the point of faith in Jesus Christ. When we baptize a new believer it merely an outward representation of this, already happened, inward occurrence.

The second baptism John mentions is the baptism of fire.

I used to think that this was a kind of refining fire for the believer, but after examining the context here it is actually something quite different. As I already quoted from JP Lange, “The baptism of fire is appointed for the unconverted, as that of the Holy Spirit is for believers. As Simeon had announced that Christ was set for the fall of some and the rising of others, so does John here describe Him as coming with a twofold baptism. Some are renovated by His baptism, others are buried in the fiery baptism of final judgment.”

John the Baptist said in verse 17, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

This is a picture of the practice of separating wheat from chaff. Individual kernels of wheat are surrounded in this light and fluffy, useless stuff called chaff. And after treading out the grain on the threshing floor, where an ox would walk around on top of the wheat in order to separate the two, the farmers would take their winnowing fork and throw it all up in the air, and the kernels of wheat which were heavier would fall straight down and the light and fluffy chaff would blow off to one side in the breeze.

The useless chaff would be burned up and the kernels of wheat would be gathered into the barn.

This is the picture of the coming judgment of Christ. This is the bad news.

In this picture, the kernels of wheat are all those who put their trust in Jesus. The chaff are all those that reject Him. There is no third option.

The question that every person must answer is: am I wheat or am I chaff?

Have I trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sin and received the Holy Spirit, or have I rejected Him, am I rejecting Him and stand waiting for the baptism of fire that is eternal judgment?

There is no third option. I beg you… please… trust in Jesus.

With John I say to you: repent of your sin, Jesus is coming soon!

Amen.

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.