Amen. Jeff, I'm glad Christmas is not canceled.
You have to admit, though, sometimes the Christmas season can make me a little bit of a curmudgeon.
There's a song that I particularly find a little draining.
It's on my Amy Grant Christmas album from 1987 or something.
Many of those of you who were born then, so you haven't been subjected to this.
One of the songs she sings is, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.
And I know it's supposed to be an uplifting song, make you happy as you're going to the mall shopping or doing whatever.
And I know there's a message of real joy at Christmas that these songs are supposed to be helping us take hold of.
But, gosh, sometimes it's just so saccharine and so glitzy and so light and tinsel.
And it seems to lack substance.
It feels like it promotes Christmas as the hallmark countdown to Christmas holiday season.
If you're not familiar with that, don't go there.
No, even there, like, there's hopefulness there.
Like, life can't turn out well.
But, you can't find love in your life.
But, the reality is that Christmas is, it just makes, leaves me feeling, having a hollow feeling.
Is this really what Christmas is about?
Is there anything more than this?
This leads us to our passage this morning.
We're continuing in our series on John the Baptist.
And it's going to be a good day to talk about John the Baptist because we're going to have a lot of baptisms in a few minutes.
And so, we're going to look at him.
And if you were here last week, we talked a little bit about John the Baptist, the person, and the context of his ministry.
That he was uniquely the last of the Old Testament prophets come to bridge into the New Testament by proclaiming that all the hopes and fears of the Old Testament people, God.
As they look forward to what God would do.
As they were longing and crying out for God to fulfill the promises of salvation and of restoration and of establishment of his kingdom.
John has come and said, I'm the last of the Old Testament prophets because what's going to come after me will be the fulfillment of all those things.
So, we looked at the context of who John the Baptist was last week.
And then this week, we're going to talk a little bit about the context of his message.
We're going to look at Luke chapter 3.
If you want to turn there, it's page 858 in your pew Bible.
Luke chapter 3.
We're going to be reading verses 1 through 18.
What we will see is that at the very core of John's message is this.
Get ready.
The Lord is coming.
This is a message that is both a warning and a message of hope.
And that's what we're going to see as we read this book together.
So, Luke chapter 3, verses 1 through 18.
Let's read that together.
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 Turia and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,
the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.
And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
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 path straight.
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 waves,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
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?
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.
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.
And the crowds asked him,
What then shall we do?
He answered them,
Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none,
and whoever has food is to do likewise.
Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him,
Teacher, what shall we do?
And he said to them,
Collect no more than you are authorized to do.
The soldiers also asked him,
And 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.
As the people were filled with expectation,
and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ,
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 with fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hands,
clear his brushing floor,
and gather the wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unfunchable fire.
So with many other exhortations,
he preached good news to the people.
Let's pray together.
Lord, we come before you this morning,
yearning that the message of Christmas would have greater significance to us,
because of your word.
Lord, I pray this morning as we look into this passage,
Lord, that you would speak to us.
Lord, that you would prepare our hearts to receive the message that you have for us this morning.
God, I pray that I might speak your words faithfully,
and that your Holy Spirit would apply your word to our minds and to our hearts this morning.
Lord, help us this morning to hear your word,
and to listen to you, and to recite you.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Get ready.
The Lord is coming.
It's interesting when you look at verse 18,
how Luke kind of wraps up this section.
He says that the Lord was preaching,
or John the Baptist was preaching good news,
but did it strike you as a message of good news as you listen?
When you look particularly at verses 7 through 14,
does this sound like good news to you?
John's message has a warning in it.
That we all need to hear this warning.
And at its core, the message is this.
You are not okay with God.
And He is coming to settle accounts with you.
Do you notice the images that he used?
He talked about a wrath that is to come.
He talked about an axe being laid at the root of a tree.
A tree that would be evaluated for its fruit,
and if found lacking,
if found unworthy,
it would be chopped down.
John begins his message of good news by saying,
there is a problem here.
You are not okay with God,
and He is coming.
And He is coming to judge.
Now, judgment is not something we particularly like in our culture today.
It's not something that we...
And part of it, there's a proper recognition that
when we as human beings take on the role of ultimate judge in the world,
we fail.
Because we are finite people,
and we are weak,
and we don't know all that we ought to.
And yet, it has made us squeamish about the idea
that there could be any judgment at all.
But instead, what we see in the Bible
is that judgment is actually inherent
in the overall message of the Bible,
and is key to the good news that it proclaims.
Let me explain that briefly.
First of all, we see John has taken up this role
as the last Old Testament prophet.
And as you may have this impression in your mind,
oh, the Old Testament prophets,
they were the ones who always preached judgment,
who always talked about how everyone was doing everything wrong,
and how God was going to come and bring destruction.
But interestingly,
if you look at the New Testament,
if you read Jesus' words carefully
and with your eyes open,
you will see that
John is in a part of a tradition
that does stretch back through the Old Testament,
but stretches ahead
into the very words and teaching of Jesus
and the teaching of the Apostle Paul,
the Bible speaks from beginning to end
that judgment is coming.
But it not only says that,
but it says that this judgment is good.
I'll explain that to you
because you may be surprised when I say that.
Judgment is good
because it means that people will not be loved.
Judgment is good
because it means that wrongdoing
will not be overlooked.
We all have deep in us
a sense of right and wrong,
a sense of justice.
We may argue until we,
as long as the day is,
about what is wrong and what is right,
but we all know
that there is a right and wrong.
And we all long
for evil to stop.
We all long
for wrongdoers
to face consequences,
to be punished,
or to be redeemed,
but not for it to be simply overlooked.
And the message of judgment
in the scriptures
is an important one
for us to recognize.
That it is not just there
consistently and conspicuously,
but it is actually
a good message for us.
And so John comes and he says,
there is a judgment coming.
And here's the thing,
if we're an oppressed people,
if we are on the receiving end
of wrongdoing or evil in the world,
we long for that, don't we?
We long for King Richard
to return from his travels to England
and cast out that nasty Prince John.
All of this is through Disney.
This is not history.
This is all through Disney.
Because that King Richard
will come back
and he will cast out Prince John
who's been taxing people to death
and putting people in prison
and oppressing the good citizens
of England.
When we're on that end
of evil,
we long for this judgment to come.
But John also sees
that there are some
who need to recognize
that you're actually
on the other side.
You are the one
who when God comes,
he will find you wanting.
He will find you
to be one
who is perpetrating
evil in the world.
He will find you
whose heart is not right
before God
and before your fellow
human beings.
This is what we see.
Look with me again
in the scriptures.
This is what we see
in verse 8 particularly.
John says,
bear fruit
of repentance.
That is,
look to your life
to see what kind
of things it bears.
And then he goes on
and this seems to be
the very heart
of his warning.
And interestingly,
when you look at the
parallel passage
in Matthew,
Matthew identifies
that he's particularly
saying these things
to the religious leaders,
the Pharisees
and the Sadducees.
But it seems that here,
Luke chooses not to do that
because it's a broader thing
that he's warning them of.
Jews in the first century
might have felt
very entitled.
I am a physical
descendant of Abraham.
I am a citizen
of the nation of Israel.
I am a regular partaker
in the worship
in the temple
and the offering
of sacrifices
as I ought to.
Therefore,
I must be okay with God.
And religious identity.
Know that you cannot
be good with God
simply through
those things.
Those formal,
external things
are never enough.
Your heritage
as a churchgoer,
your self-identity
as a good person
who does good things
to others,
these are not sufficient.
John says,
you need a life
that's transformed.
He even looks at,
when he talks to those
in verses 10 through 14,
he has a whole list of people.
He has a crowd
and he has tax collectors
who were hated collaborators
of the Roman oppressors
and he has soldiers
who were the means
by which this oppression
has been laid out.
And they come to him
and they say,
what do we have to do?
And he says,
you have to change
the way you live.
You have to change
how you wield your power,
whether it be
your material belongings,
your position
in government,
or the raw physical power
of a soldier.
You may no longer
use these things
to oppress,
but you must use them
righteously
and to serve others.
And the warning
is that being religious
does not save us.
Being good
does not save us.
We need something else.
We need a change of heart
and we need a change
of character.
Friends,
this is bad news for us
potentially as well.
You may be sitting here
this morning
because going to church
is something
you've grown up with.
It's the right thing to do.
As one of the great
70s theologians,
Keith Green,
that was a joke.
If you don't know him,
he's a popular singer.
But going to church
doesn't make you Christian
any more than going to McDonald's
makes you a hamburger.
attendance does not produce
what church
is meant
to produce.
Simply being here,
simply doing those,
going through the motions
is not enough
for us.
And even our
good enough,
whether we're not,
maybe we're not churchgoers,
but we're here this morning
because our friend
is being baptized.
baptized,
even your good enough
by whatever standard
you have
is not going
to be enough.
John the Baptist says
what you need
is a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness
of sins.
That's what it says
in verse 3.
That was the core
of his message.
A baptism
is a picture
of cleansing.
You need to be
cleansed of something
that right now
you are
dirty with.
And that dirt
is sin.
And that sin
is all the ways
in which we fail
to honor
and glorify God.
Tyler,
thank you for your prayer
this morning.
That was a beautiful expression
of our understanding
of sin
and how our selfishness
and our rejection
of God
and our desire
to glorify ourselves
and the ways
that in so many
petty ways
we hurt others
and exalt ourselves.
all the various ways
in which we
deny God
in our lives
and put ourselves
at the center.
All of these
are expressions
of sin.
For the religious people
it was putting
their religious performance
and identity
before God
in the middle
of their lives.
And John says
you must turn
from these things.
The warning
comes with an exhortation
to repent.
And repentance
means to change
your mind.
It means to change
your mind
about something.
What I used to think
was most important.
What I used to think
was most central.
What I used to think
would make me okay
with God
and has failed.
What I used to think
would give me
a good life
but will put me
at odds with God.
I have to turn
from those things.
I need to abandon
the belief
that those things
are right and good
and what God
wants for me
and I must turn
to something else.
This is what
biblical repentance is.
It is seeing things
the way God sees it
and seeing what is wrong
and what is evil
and what is sinful
and agreeing
that those things
are not good
and turning from them
to something else.
And that something else
is not simply
a right understanding
of God
intellectually.
Not simply
an uptick
in our morality
for this week
or this month
but it's the forgiveness
of our sins.
Friends,
this is the
good news
that John
wants to bring.
Though there is
a great warning
and though the king
is going to come
and there will be
a reckoning
but there is
a place to turn
not only turn from
but there is a place
to turn to
and when we turn
to him
there is hope
for us.
Because many people
flocked from Jerusalem.
They were leaving
behind the temple.
They were leaving
behind the city
where God was
meant to dwell
with his people.
They knew
that it was empty
and they were
looking for
something more.
And they wondered,
John, are you the one?
Are you the one
who's going to bring
the fulfillment
of all the promises?
John says,
no, it's not me.
There's one coming
after me.
One who is so much
greater than I
that I am even
unworthy
to untie
his sandals.
And remember,
untying his sandals
is not an act
of honor
or a display
of great respect.
It was a work
of a servant.
It was a dirty work.
It was taking off
the shoes
after you've lived,
after you've walked
around
the dusty,
dirty,
and I mean
stinky dirty,
streets
of Palestine.
It was not an honor
to untie their shoes.
It was drudge work.
And John says,
I'm not even worthy
to do that
because of the greatness
of the one
who comes
after me.
He is coming.
He is going to be
the one
that when you see him
you will see
the salvation
of God
mentioned in verse 6.
He is going to be
the one
who's going to come
and bring a greater
baptism
than I do
because the baptism
that I do
is water
and it's going
to clean your skin
but the baptism
that he's going
to bring
is going to be
done with the Holy Spirit
and it's going
to clean your soul
and it's going
to be able
to change your heart
and it's going
to be able
to transform
your life.
A turning
to this one
who comes
after me
will be turning
to
what you've
really always
longed for.
And in fact
it's not just
you turning
to him
but it's him
coming for you.
Did you see it
in verses
16 and 17
which John
is talking
about
this one
who's coming
after him.
Verse 17
is such a powerful
verse.
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 the unquenchable
fire.
This is a picture
from if you've
never seen
a threshing floor
it's basically
this platform
that the harvested
grain would be
poured out upon
and the grain
had an inner
meat of it
that was good
and an outer husk
that was hard
and dry
and inedible
and in order
to separate them out
the threshers
would take a shovel
and throw it
up in the air
and the wind
would blow
the hard
chaff
that was inedible
away
and the good
grain would
fall back
to the
to the floor
and then it
would be gathered
up
and it was
how grain
was harvested
and gathered
and part of
what John
is saying
is that
when Jesus
comes
he will gather
his own
there is wheat
and he will
gather it
there is also
chaff
there are those
who are going
through the motions
there are those
who are trusting
in themselves
there are those
who are doing
all these things
and they will
be blown away
and they will
find themselves
on the wrong
side of judgment
how does
Jesus do this
how do we know
what Jesus
is going to do
what is it
what is John
saying
well he doesn't
say here
but Luke knows
Luke wrote the
gospel to say
read the rest
of the story
read all the way
through chapter 24
for that matter
read the whole
other book
book of Acts
and I'm going
to write
about how this
will change
the world
and change
your life
but Luke
as he lays
out this
he says
this Jesus
that John
is proclaiming
he will come
and live
the perfect
life that we
ought to
but can't
he will offer
himself in our
place
taking upon
himself
the wrath
of God
against our
sin
he will be
cut off
the axe
will be laid
to his
root
he will be
cut off
from God
the father
so that we
won't be
cut off
from God
he will take
the judgment
upon himself
as he dies
on the cross
on Good
Friday
but he will
rise again
as well
he will rise
victorious over
sin and death
and the grave
and he is able
then to be a
savior who
offers to all
who believe
and trust in him
not in their
religious actions
not in their
goodness
but who trust
in him
alone
he comes
to them
as their
savior
and he offers
them
a new
life
and that
new life
is characterized
by repentance
and turning
from sin
and taking
hold of
this new
life that God
has given us
it transforms
our hearts
and enables
us to be
those who
love and
serve others
the way God
has called
us to
so Jesus
comes
Jesus
comes as a
savior
and as a
judge
and the
question that
John the
Baptist put
to his
hearers
is the
question
that I
want to
leave you
with today
are you
ready
are you
ready for
Christmas
are you
ready for
this Jesus
to come
he will
come
and to
all who
turn to
him in
repentance
and faith
who know
the depth
of their
sin
he will
welcome
but to
those of
us who
want to
stand
obstinately
outside
who want
to trust
in ourselves
and make
our own
way
and be
our own
God
he will
come
as a
judge
do you
hear the
warning
and do you
hear the
hope
this is
what
Christmas
is about
let's
pray
together
Jesus
we love
you
and we
thank you
for
this season
where we
remember the
incredible gift
of your
incarnation
that you
came
to be
our savior
by identifying
with us
and dying
for us
Lord I
pray this
morning
that as we
walk through
this season
that you
will help
us
Lord that
you will
help us
to consider
the significance
and the
depth of
what we
celebrate
when we
celebrate
Christmas
and Lord I
pray for
many this
morning
I pray
that the
joy
of the
hope of
salvation
in Christ
would fill
our hearts
that we
would turn
from the
empty
things
of this
world
from the
empty
religiosity
and the
empty
works
that we
would turn
to him
and find
hope
we pray
these things
in Jesus
name
amen