WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.440 So, let's go back to Matthew 3. We started the Gospel of Matthew before the end of the 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:12.000 year because we looked at the truths of the incarnation leading up to Christmas. And so 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:18.320 now we're on Matthew 3. And we're going to look at that. It's quite a big chapter, but 00:00:18.320 --> 00:00:26.960 we'll just dip into that passage today. Very often in church, I'll talk about, and 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:31.800 if you're part of the church, you'll know that I say this a lot. There's a great difference 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:41.679 between knowing Jesus, or knowing about Jesus, and knowing Jesus in our hearts. A great difference. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:48.439 Intellectual knowledge, factual knowledge is one thing, but knowing Him in order to entrust 00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:54.020 our lives to Him is different altogether. Becoming someone in a relationship with Jesus 00:00:54.020 --> 00:01:02.320 is different from simply knowing about the historical character. And I think that difference 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:07.240 is something that I want to stress today when we're thinking about this passage. I hope 00:01:07.240 --> 00:01:12.040 it'll come out in the story as we read it, or as we go through it. The difference about 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:17.680 knowing something that's flat on the page and reading through that page, and letting 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:22.800 that truth come to life and the Spirit of God to bring it to life. Because actually, 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:29.159 when the actual story is, as we go into it, you'll find it's amazingly sensory. There's 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:37.399 a whole lot of things in this chapter that appeal to the senses of those who were initially 00:01:37.399 --> 00:01:43.120 part of the story, or the main characters in the story. It's not just a kind of theological, 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:50.759 it's not just a theological treatise in any way, or simply the retelling of a story. It 00:01:50.760 --> 00:02:00.320 is a hugely living experience as we go through it. And I hope you'll find that, sight, senses, 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:04.960 and everything else that goes with that. The first thing I want to mention about the passage 00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:13.599 is something that's not maybe immediately obvious, is silence. Silence speaks very loudly 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:23.879 in this chapter. Because this is the first time that God has spoken to His people for 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:28.639 four hundred years. So you've got the Old Testament that finishes with the minor prophets. 00:02:28.639 --> 00:02:32.639 And there's four hundred years before God sends any prophet, sends anyone to speak to 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:38.079 the people. There's silence, heavens are like brass. There's no sound whatsoever coming 00:02:38.079 --> 00:02:43.479 from heaven. And then all of a sudden in this chapter we've got John the prophet, the greatest 00:02:43.479 --> 00:02:49.439 of all the prophets, bringing a message, and indeed God Himself speaks at the end of the 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:57.439 chapter. So there's silence. But there's also another silence that we've moved from Jesus 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:05.839 being born to thirty years later. There's thirty years, well, twenty-nine years of silence. 00:03:05.839 --> 00:03:09.479 Maybe eighteen years of silence if you dip into one of the other gospels and learn about 00:03:09.479 --> 00:03:12.879 what happened to Him when He was in the temple and He was twelve years old. That's the only 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:17.519 thing that's spoken of in all of these years. Well, might we think these are the most important 00:03:17.519 --> 00:03:22.159 years sometimes, don't we? First to thirty? Ah, it's well gone for me, but for lots of 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:27.719 you guys, first to thirty, that's the big years. But nothing is mentioned, there's nothing 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:33.719 but silence here in Jesus' life. And I think that's interesting for us because silence, 00:03:33.719 --> 00:03:40.319 spiritually for us, is often such a big problem. We think God isn't listening to us. God isn't 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:45.079 interested in us. God's gone away on His holidays. He doesn't care. He isn't answering 00:03:45.079 --> 00:03:49.319 my prayers. He isn't hearing. My Christian life's rubbish. It's not what I expected 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:54.959 it to be. Why is there silence from heaven? I want to learn things, and there's things 00:03:54.959 --> 00:04:02.039 that are so mysterious that I don't understand, and that God doesn't seem to speak. Sometimes 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:08.519 it may be that we are far from Him in the sense that His Old Testament people really 00:04:08.520 --> 00:04:17.160 were over all these centuries. It may be that we have given place to someone or something 00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:22.960 else as number one in our lives, and we're not giving Him the honour that is due. And 00:04:22.960 --> 00:04:28.800 there may be silence because of that. We are far from Him, not the other way around. But 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:33.879 it also can be simply His transcendence, that He's revealed things to us. There's other 00:04:33.879 --> 00:04:37.360 things He's not going to reveal to us. There's some things He's never going to reveal to 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:44.480 us, and we simply are asked to trust Him during these times. And isn't that hugely significant? 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:49.439 Trust Him when He is silent. Trust Him when there is no apparent voice from heaven for 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:59.400 us. But know that God's silence is always saying something. His seemingly unanswered prayers 00:04:59.400 --> 00:05:04.240 are never unanswered, but they are simply possibly not the answer we are looking for 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:09.759 or not expecting. So silence is quite loud in this passage actually as we think about 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:16.800 it. And there's two main characters in the unfolding drama of the chapter, John the 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:24.560 Baptist and Jesus. And these are really, you know, if you had it been played out, these 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:29.720 are the two main characters that really are part of the story. You've got John who's a 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:36.760 wild prophet. He's unconventional. He's burst onto the scene. He's living in the desert. 00:05:36.760 --> 00:05:44.000 He is striking both in how he lives, the kind of simplicity of his lifestyle, the clothes 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:48.400 that he's wearing, the food that he's eating, and the message that he brings. And people 00:05:48.400 --> 00:05:53.800 are kind of uneasy with John. Oh, they're attracted to him, but he's also kind of a 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:59.000 bit of a weird character for them. He's loved or he's loathed. But nonetheless, people are 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:09.279 flocking to hear him. Sometimes people like what he says. Sometimes they don't like what 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:13.879 he says as we see in this chapter. And I think that's what a lot of people think of Christians, 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:20.839 generally. Maybe not, well, maybe it is the clothes we wear sometimes. But I think sometimes 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:27.240 there's a like or a low that reality that we experience as Christians. We, how we live 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:31.960 and what we believe attracts some, but it repels others. We must be ready for that. We 00:06:31.960 --> 00:06:38.759 must recognize that as a reality for us. So you've got John there. And the great thing 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:44.840 about John is his message challenges the status quo of everyone who listens to him. And I 00:06:44.840 --> 00:06:50.199 hope that, I hope that's the case every time you come to God's word and also every time 00:06:50.199 --> 00:06:55.600 you come to church. It's not good if church is somewhere where you're really happy and 00:06:55.600 --> 00:06:59.320 comfortable all the time. I don't think, I don't think it should be miserable. I think 00:06:59.320 --> 00:07:03.040 we should be encouraging one another, certainly. But it should be a place where the status quo 00:07:03.040 --> 00:07:09.760 of my life and your life is being rattled and being considered. So you are convicted 00:07:09.760 --> 00:07:15.200 and convinced and challenged by the living word of God. And that the status quo of our 00:07:15.200 --> 00:07:22.480 lives is not a good place to be. We want to be pushed and pulled and cajoled and encouraged 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:29.400 and hugged and brought into a closer relationship with Jesus. So John and his message and the 00:07:29.400 --> 00:07:35.840 gospel is going to be like that for us sometime. But then we have Jesus in the story. And Jesus 00:07:35.840 --> 00:07:42.640 is being presented here as he comes in his public ministry as a king like no other. John 00:07:42.640 --> 00:07:47.600 says the kingdom of God is at hand. And basically this is the coming Messiah. This is the coming 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:54.000 king, poor Harry. He said a hard week, hasn't he, this week. The weight of expectation on 00:07:54.000 --> 00:08:02.400 Harry being a royal and being a royal with Meg and his wife and finding a role and significance 00:08:02.400 --> 00:08:06.240 in the modern world that it's really turned their life upside down. They don't know what 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:11.160 it takes, what it means and what's involved in it for them. I've got great sympathy for 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:17.120 that. But here is Jesus who knows exactly why he's come. Even at this point, he's the 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:24.600 king of kings. And he's a king like no other. And he has come for every single human being. 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:31.480 A king who now we know has invisible rule and unlimited power, who's mysterious but also 00:08:31.480 --> 00:08:39.399 revealed. So we've got John and we've got Jesus. And Jesus will unpack a little bit about 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:45.919 what Jesus, who Jesus is and what is spoken about him here. He's going to be the way John 00:08:45.919 --> 00:08:52.120 says through the prophet Isaiah, the voice of one coming, crying in the wilderness, prepare 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:57.759 the way of the Lord and make his path straight. This was an Old Testament image where the 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:03.079 great kings, Solomon and David, when they went anywhere out of their palace, maybe they 00:09:03.079 --> 00:09:09.759 went to a different part of the country, then the highway would be prepared for them so that 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:15.360 their journey was comfortable. The rough places would be made plain. The rugged places smooth 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:20.720 so that this was the king coming. There would be a highway for the king, a way being prepared. 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:24.279 It's a bit like today where the queen thinks that everything in front of her smells of 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:28.960 fresh paint because there's always someone painting. Just in front of her. Everything's 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:34.320 fresh and new when the queen is coming. And when the queen is coming, people prepare the 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:39.639 way. It's not exactly the same but there's the same kind of idea. The barriers would 00:09:39.639 --> 00:09:46.080 be removed. The blockages would be taken away and the king's way would be made straight. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:57.759 And John is preparing the way for the way because Jesus is the way. And he is introducing 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:05.319 the kingdom of heaven. And Jesus went on to teach, of course, that the kingdom of heaven 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:14.920 was not a physical kingdom. It was primarily a change of rule in our heart. The kingdom 00:10:14.920 --> 00:10:21.240 of God, he says in Luke 17.20, is within you. So he is introducing himself as the king who 00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:25.720 rules, who judges, and who decides what's right and wrong, and who wants the Lordship 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:32.240 of our lives. And this king, who's like no other, he comes and John is preparing the 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:39.120 way for him. And here he gets baptized. John gets, Jesus gets baptized. This is part of 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:45.320 the preparation. This is part of the way that's being prepared. Can we look at that for a 00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:54.440 moment? There's a voice from heaven when Jesus is to get baptized. This is my beloved son 00:10:54.440 --> 00:11:00.139 and whom I'm well pleased. So not only has John spoken as a prophet and brings a message 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:05.559 from God, but God, we don't know who hears this. It's recorded for us, maybe it was only 00:11:05.559 --> 00:11:09.240 Jesus that heard it, maybe it was all the people around him, it was just Jesus and John. 00:11:09.240 --> 00:11:17.960 But we know that God spoke and spoke audibly to Jesus as he was baptized. Now think of 00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:23.840 these words, this is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased. This is my beloved 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:32.879 son. With him I am well pleased. Now that's either fake news or we take the whole package. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:41.519 And we accept that this is a trinitarian declaration of intent. The Father, the Holy 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:47.240 Spirit comes in the person of the dove, in the form of a dove and the son. And it's a 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:56.279 declaration of intent of what God has planned from heaven for humanity. This is my beloved 00:11:56.279 --> 00:12:09.639 son with whom I'm well pleased. It's a hugely significant statement. It's cosmic truth. 00:12:09.639 --> 00:12:16.399 If we take Jesus seriously and if we take ourselves seriously and if we take the message 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:23.480 of the Bible seriously, it's cosmic truth. And there's a consequence of God the Father 00:12:23.480 --> 00:12:29.879 saying to God the Son, this is my beloved son and I'm well pleased with him. We'll maybe 00:12:29.879 --> 00:12:35.039 unpack it a little bit. Because that's his verdict. That's the verdict from heaven to 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:43.199 earth. This divinely orchestrated and originated act of love where Jesus is lovingly sent, 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:50.360 the Holy Spirit in love descends and the Son in love is deemed to become the perfect substitute 00:12:50.360 --> 00:12:57.200 for grubby human beings like you and me. God is already well pleased with Jesus and his 00:12:57.200 --> 00:13:04.040 work. And that is the best news that there has ever, that's the best declaration that 00:13:04.040 --> 00:13:08.680 has ever been made. Because being pleased with Jesus, God the Father being pleased with 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:16.919 Jesus resounds through the centuries and includes all of Jesus' life and death and resurrection. 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:23.919 And if we grasp the consequences of that statement, then your life will never be the same again. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:28.199 You may be in a Christian for many years, but if we grasp the consequences of that of 00:13:28.199 --> 00:13:34.759 God, the Father being pleased with God the Son, it will transform our lives more than 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:41.279 it has done up to this point. So there's a voice from heaven and a verdict from heaven. 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:49.000 Then there's a declaration from Jesus himself because he regards his baptism as something 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:56.439 that had to be done. John comes to him and says, what? Me baptize you? Surely not. Surely 00:13:56.439 --> 00:14:01.799 it should be the other way around. Jesus answers it, let it be so now for thus it is fitting, 00:14:01.799 --> 00:14:10.159 it's proper for us to fulfill all righteousness. It was a proper thing for Jesus to do because 00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:17.839 he was fulfilling the righteous demands of God's laws of love to be baptized. What do 00:14:17.839 --> 00:14:22.879 I mean by that? He didn't need cleansed, did he? Baptism was all about cleansing and repentance. 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:27.000 He didn't need to repent, did he? John the Baptist was talking about repent for the 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:30.799 kingdom of God is at hand. He didn't need to repent. He didn't need to turn round. He 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:36.000 didn't need cleansing. John said as much, you don't need baptize, it's me that needs 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:42.039 baptize by you. And the father verified it. Didn't he when he said that I'm well pleased 00:14:42.039 --> 00:14:48.839 with you? He didn't need cleansed, he didn't need baptize. Why was Jesus then being baptized? 00:14:48.839 --> 00:14:56.159 Because he's standing in our place. He's been baptized as a representative of broken, 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:06.480 fallen and unclean humanity so that he can offer his standing with God to us so that 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:16.279 we can be well pleasing to the Father. This is why he's such an unusual king, such a radical 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:22.799 king because he has come not to receive glory but he's come to be banished and he's come 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:30.959 to experience poverty and he's come to receive the... take on him the wrath of God for our 00:15:30.959 --> 00:15:40.639 sins. So there's a forward element to this early baptismal act that speaks of God's solution 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:45.559 to everything that's wrong with my heart and your heart. Everything that's wrong with 00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:53.039 us desperately fractured and ruptured world. It says if we surrender to Jesus Christ and 00:15:53.039 --> 00:16:01.599 to His salvation, His righteousness and the pleasure that God finds in Him becomes ours 00:16:01.599 --> 00:16:08.199 as He takes our wrath, the wrath due to us and the sin that separates us from the living 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:17.840 God. Now, Jesus' baptism was misunderstood. It's still misunderstood and many people have 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:24.080 different things to say about it but that's the reality of truth and it's also the reality 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:31.160 of Jesus. He's often open to misunderstanding and it's significant for us always to be praying 00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:39.120 for light and to seek to worship Him as He reveals Himself as God and as Savior. 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:44.319 Now just before we come to the last point, I just have a quick sidebar here about the 00:16:44.319 --> 00:16:50.519 visual aspect of the story which is steeped in Old Testament drama and we sometimes forget 00:16:50.519 --> 00:16:56.199 that. We need to remember Jesus is an Old Testament believer and so is John and they 00:16:56.200 --> 00:17:01.360 brought up knowing the Old Testament back to front and the history and the drama and 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:07.200 the events and the truth of the Old Testament and so this event of Matthew 3 would have 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:12.400 had huge significance for them as it was played out. Things that we kind of maybe don't think 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:18.440 about too much, the whole fact that it's around the River Jordan and around water would have 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:25.319 been greatly significant because Jesus was to offer Himself as living water and the river 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:30.279 of life. Jeremiah 17 which we were looking at the living water which the roots are to 00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:37.079 be directed towards but there's also the waters of judgment, the waters of judgment of Noah's 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:45.240 day which were really significant in Old Testament terms and linked then to the dove. So we've 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:50.839 got a dove that is Old Testament symbolism from the time of Noah speaking of new life 00:17:50.839 --> 00:17:59.000 and peace through theality of justice met and salvation offered, a recreation pointing 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:05.919 to what Christ was to achieve, going to plunge into the waters of God's judgment who's going 00:18:05.919 --> 00:18:13.559 to be redeemed, resurrected as the Savior, the fulfillment of lots of types and images 00:18:13.559 --> 00:18:19.119 and prophecies, the desert. John coming out of the desert, desert, big, big images for 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:24.799 the Old Testament person, a barrenness of not being in the land of flowing with milk 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:31.159 and honey but being separated from God, a lack of fruitfulness, isolation and danger, 00:18:31.159 --> 00:18:37.879 wandering in the desert and out of this comes a message of hope and returning and salvation 00:18:37.879 --> 00:18:44.959 and vital to see these images in our own understanding as well, of desert times, of 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:50.680 drought, times of drought we needn't be afraid as we are connected to the living God because 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:56.360 we find from Him is our source of fruitfulness. The darkest experiences can come the light 00:18:56.360 --> 00:19:02.440 of life. And then the character of John himself linking with Elijah, everyone would have made 00:19:02.440 --> 00:19:08.840 that connection, the clothes, the food, the message, the prophecies all linking in, dress, 00:19:08.839 --> 00:19:15.919 code and diet. That would have been powerful for Jesus. And then Jesus himself as the focus 00:19:15.919 --> 00:19:23.799 of prophecy, the Lord, the Messiah who was coming into the flesh, who surely be plunged 00:19:23.799 --> 00:19:29.519 into these waters himself in baptism to rise to face the desert himself, went into the 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:37.839 desert for 40 days of temptation with the sound of divine words echoing in his ears. 00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:46.720 It's kind of a sensory overload this passage. Meh, we sit in 21st century Edinburgh, doesn't 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:53.959 seem like that, does it? But I think it would be bursting with energy and with sensory reality. 00:19:53.959 --> 00:19:59.759 And I do think that in our tradition especially we've kind of underplayed that whole element 00:19:59.759 --> 00:20:08.839 of sensory reality to our faith and the reality of being saved, body and soul. We're very 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:15.000 intellectual, we're very cerebral. Nothing wrong with being cerebral unless you're not 00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:20.839 like me. But it's both, isn't it? It's both and. Yes, it's a renewing of our mind of course, 00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:25.359 but a renewing of our mind that changes all that we are in our physicality and our being 00:20:25.359 --> 00:20:32.119 in our pleasures and our joys and the things that, how God speaks to us and how real He 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:38.959 is to us. The sensory reality of belonging to God, often we are limiting Him to a tiny 00:20:38.959 --> 00:20:46.799 corner of our brains that we dust down on a Sunday morning for an hour and then we leave 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:52.879 Him for the rest of our sensual week without Him. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:58.880 So let's finish with the dynamic spiritual message that comes through this passage from 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:04.280 the message of John that's linked to the message of Jesus and to the gospel and to our lives 00:21:04.280 --> 00:21:12.800 therefore. The first, you don't want to hear. The first is that there's a judgment day. 00:21:12.800 --> 00:21:17.800 But verse 7, when He saw, this is John, many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, he's coming 00:21:17.800 --> 00:21:20.920 to His baptism, He said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the 00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:27.720 wrath to come. Nobody wants to hear that. Nice bright Sunday morning. No one wants to hear 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:33.560 about the wrath to come. But everyone wants justice to be done, don't they? We all want 00:21:33.560 --> 00:21:39.200 justice. Nobody wants wrath, but we all want justice. We all hope somewhere down the line 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:43.680 that all the wrongs will be put right. We just don't want ourselves to be part of the 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:49.920 wrongs. Everyone else, we want to be made right with us, but we don't want to be part 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:57.080 of the guilty. And that's, we want that day of reckoning on our own terms, and that's 00:21:57.080 --> 00:22:05.680 a challenge, isn't it? Because the cross, the wrath to come is initially the work of 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:12.840 God in the cross, that His wrath is poured out on His Son as the great judge of all 00:22:12.839 --> 00:22:20.720 judging, internally as it were sins, because it's the only way that we can live. The outpouring 00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:30.679 of divine wrath on the divine Son. So the cross is saying the wrath is real, and the 00:22:30.679 --> 00:22:36.279 judgment of God, in all its perfection and justice, remember, we have a wrong understanding 00:22:36.279 --> 00:22:43.119 of wrath and anger and stuff that make it very capricious, it's not like that at all. 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:52.599 But the just judgment of God is either on Jesus or it remains on us. That's the stark 00:22:52.599 --> 00:22:59.879 reality of the message of what John is saying about the work of Jesus, and it's either 00:22:59.879 --> 00:23:05.240 real and sensory and true, or we just ditch it. And if we ditch that, let's ditch the 00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:11.000 rest of it all and just be moralists, because that's all that's left really. And that's 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:17.920 okay if you want that. But don't pretend, well it's not okay, but at least it's honest. 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:23.200 And let's be honest, it's either a radical transformation of our lives, it's either that 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:27.799 recognition that the state of school gets really knocked on its head when we're Christians, 00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:31.839 every day, every time we come to Him. You know, I don't care if we've been Christians 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:36.000 for a long time, it should be the same. It should be this, there should be this reality 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:42.439 and this munis and this freshness every time we come to God, that He disrupts our state 00:23:42.439 --> 00:23:48.039 as co, and our contentment sometimes with a different contentment. So it's a judgment 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:54.759 day and therefore the second message, this dynamic spiritual message here is the importance 00:23:54.759 --> 00:24:01.199 of coming back to God. That's what He begins with, repent for the kingdom of heaven is 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:06.840 at hand. It's a, Thomas mentioned it last Sunday night about repentance, it's a radical 00:24:06.840 --> 00:24:16.000 changing of our minds, which therefore involves our lives. You know, and I guess sometimes 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:20.200 I think what we think in Christian, that was John the Baptist, that's an Old Testament 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:25.880 message and then Jesus comes and it's a message of love. Okay, that's fine. But it's both 00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:31.640 and, isn't it? Repent is the first recorded words of John, it's the first recorded words 00:24:31.640 --> 00:24:39.040 of public words in ministry of Jesus, it's the first recorded words of the disciples, 00:24:39.040 --> 00:24:44.000 I've got all the references for that, I'll not give you them just now. It's the first 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:47.840 reported words of Jesus to the disciples after the resurrection, it's the first message 00:24:47.840 --> 00:24:53.480 of the Diapentecost sermon. So it remains significant important when things come first 00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:59.120 in the Bible, it usually means they're significant and important, kind of an important concept. 00:24:59.120 --> 00:25:03.680 Because He wants us to be turning towards home, that's what repentance is, it's turning 00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:09.680 towards our maker, it's turning towards our redeemer, it's turning towards the one who 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:16.759 gives us life, reconciled to God. And everything then comes from that, a mindset that involves 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:23.599 our life and our deeds. And John's frustration with the religious people of the day was that 00:25:23.599 --> 00:25:30.160 they didn't have fruit in bearing with repentance. And interestingly, in Luke 3, he talks, they 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:38.680 ask him about what that fruit is. And he talks about generosity and integrity and contentment. 00:25:38.680 --> 00:25:44.160 Content with what we have, a generosity because of grace and an integrity because we have 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:49.160 been honest with the living God. The fruit of repentance is these things, great stuff 00:25:49.160 --> 00:25:59.880 from John, great sermon that. John's, not mine. And so we see that mere religion will 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:06.759 never cut it, don't we? Verse 9, and you presume to say, we have Abraham as our father? He 00:26:06.759 --> 00:26:13.400 says, look, God can raise up these stones here to be sons of Abraham. So basically they 00:26:13.400 --> 00:26:20.240 were trusting in their background, their religiosity, their privileges as religious 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:27.400 believers. And he says, mere religion will never cut it. We need, and mere intellectual 00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:33.040 knowledge will never cut it. We need a change of heart and life. And that can only come 00:26:33.040 --> 00:26:39.880 from crying out to the living God, recognizing our deep need and the humble trust and following 00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:47.280 Jesus. And that will ruin your life. I'm telling you, it will ruin your life. It will ruin at 00:26:47.280 --> 00:26:56.000 least your self-made plans and the comfort and the ease of living apart from God. But 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:03.080 it's a great ruination. It's a ruination that builds and gives life and hope. And therefore 00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:12.919 we need John's baptism. Not just the baptism of repentance that John was preparing, but 00:27:12.919 --> 00:27:21.480 the baptism of Jesus, which John spoke about, was saying, he will baptize you. In verse 11, 00:27:21.480 --> 00:27:27.879 he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. When a fork is in his hand and he will 00:27:27.879 --> 00:27:31.559 clear the threshing floor and gather his feet into the burn, but the chaff, he will burn 00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:38.480 with unquenchable fire. He's not just talking about the sacrament here. He's pointing to 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:45.919 what the sacrament symbolizes, the actual cleansing work of Jesus Christ in our hearts. 00:27:45.919 --> 00:27:54.039 And that's the work of the Holy Spirit in us and the fire of cleansing that He brings 00:27:54.039 --> 00:28:00.519 to us, that recognition of God's verdict and our need for the Holy Spirit. So that immediately 00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:06.799 reminds us that Christianity is not just a kind of religious option. It's not just a 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:13.519 way of life. It's a movement from death to life. It's a supernatural work of God that 00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:20.519 we need. We can make it on our own. He needs to save us and we need to cry out to Him for 00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:26.920 salvation because He says we're dead and He only can bring from death life. There's an 00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:34.480 uncleanness, a guilt and a stain. And this life is shadowy. It's sensory and it's great. 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:41.000 I love the senses. I was at a fantastic music concert last night and it was quite worship... 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:46.880 The guys who are with me might not agree, but I found it quite worshipful just because 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:56.400 of the gifts that we enjoy and the senses that are overwhelmed by the beauty of music. 00:28:56.400 --> 00:29:04.759 I have no idea where I was going with that. Yeah, because ultimately even these things 00:29:04.759 --> 00:29:11.680 are just shadows pointing to the reality that's found in Christ, the reality of His redeeming 00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:20.000 and redeeming of all things so that even the beautiful things we enjoy now are only a shadow 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:26.599 of the beauty that we can't even imagine He has prepared for those who love Him in this 00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:37.559 life and in the life to come. You are so loved and He is so willing. You are so loved and 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:46.960 He is so willing. May it be that we mimic Him this year as Christians in the generosity 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:54.160 and in the integrity and in the contentment we have and that we are encouragers. I really 00:29:54.160 --> 00:30:05.360 want to stress that intentional encouragement. Loneliness, isolation, battles, spiritual depression, 00:30:05.360 --> 00:30:13.519 physical depression, circumstantial difficulties, battles, doubts, fears, we all have them at 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:18.960 different levels. But let's not come into St. Columbus week after week as islands and 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:23.559 let's not come thinking no one else understands what I'm going through and I have no time 00:30:23.559 --> 00:30:28.879 for them or not let's look, come into St. Columbus in our city groups or in our communities 00:30:28.879 --> 00:30:36.759 and criticise and condemn and find fault. But let's be encouragers as the day approaches. 00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:41.879 Now, there are some words that I wanted to finish with in John chapter 5. I'm not sure 00:30:41.880 --> 00:30:50.680 if the AV team got that or not. Oh, you did. Brilliant. So Jesus later on in recording one 00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:56.160 of the other Gospels, I want to give the last word to Him. Of course, truly, truly, verily, 00:30:56.160 --> 00:31:01.520 verily, absolutely, truly. When He said that, He wanted to stress the emphasis on how important 00:31:01.520 --> 00:31:08.120 it was. I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life. 00:31:08.119 --> 00:31:14.879 He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life. That's kind of where we 00:31:14.879 --> 00:31:21.039 are with the Gospel. That's what it is and that's what Jesus was being prepared for in 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:27.399 baptism. I really hope that it may be something that utterly and radically changes your life 00:31:27.399 --> 00:31:32.319 today if you're not a Christian and even if you are a Christian to remember the significance 00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:39.159 and the love and the grace of Jesus. Let's pray. Father God, help us to know and understand 00:31:39.159 --> 00:31:46.960 who you are. Forgive us when we treat you like some insignificant bit player in the world 00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:53.279 or in our lives, or when we grumble without at least grumbling to you. Forgive us when 00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:59.519 we grumble away from you. Forgive us for not taking our questions to you. Forgive us when 00:31:59.519 --> 00:32:05.879 we assume that your silence means something other than what it may be. May we ask for 00:32:05.879 --> 00:32:11.559 why the silence is important in our lives and what it means. And above all, help us 00:32:11.559 --> 00:32:18.960 to understand the amazing purpose and sovereign plan of God revealed right through the Old 00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:23.639 Testament, right through all of what happened with water and with doves and with deserts 00:32:23.640 --> 00:32:30.440 and with kings and with prophets. All pointing towards the coming of Jesus, this moment when 00:32:30.440 --> 00:32:38.280 God would say, this is my beloved Son whom I love, well pleased with Him. And may we 00:32:38.280 --> 00:32:46.600 know that that peace and that relationship of love is and can be ours through trusting 00:32:46.600 --> 00:32:51.320 in what Jesus has done on our behalf as He took the estrangement and the darkness and 00:32:51.319 --> 00:32:57.919 the separation of God on the cross. We ask that you would transform our day and our week 00:32:57.919 --> 00:33:02.439 and our lives in the light of that all the time. It's a miracle. And we need a miracle 00:33:02.440 --> 00:33:22.279 because it seems impossible to do. Amen.