Luke 3:1-20
I HAD BEEN BURDENED RECENTLY ABOUT WEDNESDAY NIGHTS.
GOD LED US TO OUR NEED FOR PRAYER
BUT THE NEXT DAY GOD SHOWED ME MORE
So this morning we’re going to examine this verse that God hit me with, And see the importance of repentance.
As we study there are 4 things I want you to see.
#1 THE PROPHECY OF REPENTANCE
John 3:1-6
As Luke sets the historical stage to the coming of John the Baptist,
He first sums up everything John was doing in verse 3.
“And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
When John arrived on the seen,
He was only concerned with one topic,
And that was turning people away from their sin.
We are told we aren’t allowed to even acknowledge that people need repentance, let alone tell them to do it.
But that was precisely what this greatest man born of woman did.
But this was not just John’s idea, this was a fulfillment of prophecy.
Isaiah 40:3-5 “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Isaiah spoke of a day when the salvation of God would come,
But He said something would proceed it.
There is one thing that always precedes salvation: REPENTANCE.
Therefore before we see Jesus enter the seen, we first see His herald.
And heralding is exactly what John the Baptist does.
“Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight”
And if you will make the path beautiful, then,
“all flesh will see the salvation of God.”
It was God’s plan that John come before Jesus.
Before salvation can take place, repentance must take place.
And it is the same today.
If you want God’s presence in your place…
If you want God’s power in your life…
If you want God’s salvation to flow through you…
THEN YOU MUST FIRST REPENT
The King is not going to accept the trashy condition as it is.
Hosea 14:2 “Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips.”
Ezekiel 18:31-32 “Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord GOD. “Therefore, repent and live.”
But the tragedy was that many in Israel never would.
Isaiah 22:12-14 “Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.” But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, “Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you Until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.”
Isaiah 30:15-17 “For thus the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,” Therefore you shall flee! “And we will ride on swift horses,” Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top And as a signal on a hill.”
All the judgments of Israel
Are directly proportional to their lack of repentance,
The reason is before salvation would come, repentance had to come.
You see God hates sin.
Psalms 5:4 “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.”
God is more than willing to save,
God is more than willing to bless with His presence,
But He will not show up in filthy surroundings.
Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, ‘ As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?”
So we see why John came before Jesus.
But there is more to learn in this text about repentance
Than just when it must occur.
So first we see the prophecy of repentance
#2 THE PERSONALITY OF REPENTANCE
Luke 3:7-9
Verses 4-6 reminded us that if repentance occurred then all flesh would see the salvation of God. “So he [John] began saying to the crowds who were going with him…”
He immediately begins calling the people to repentance.
But we learn here more than just the need to repent,
We learn about the nature of repentance.
We learn a little bit about how John wanted us to repent.
And in these three verses we see 3 attributes that John required.
1) SINCERITY (7)
“So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
Now isn’t that sweet.
John holds a church service, and at 10:30am all the people start coming into the auditorium and finding a seat, but before they can even get comfortable, the pastor makes his way around the room asking one question.
“What do you think you’re doing here?”
“I’m surprised a thug like you even knew what a church was.”
I bet you never read that tactic in a church growth book.
Sometimes we get our priorities out of wack.
WHAT WAS JOHN SENT TO DO?
“make ready the way of the Lord, makes His paths straight”
John was sent to get people to repent.
John was sent to point out what was unacceptable to God.
You will never find in any of your Bibles where John’s job
Was to get a nice sized crowd together for Jesus.
God did not tell him to go and gather people together.
God told him to point out the filth that was in the way.
I don’t know of a church in the world today
That would hire John the Baptist to be the preacher.
But beyond that, you can see an attribute of repentance that John is extremely concerned about, and that is SINCERITY
He didn’t just want people to come and get wet,
He wanted people to repent.
He did not want a outward show, he demanded repentance.
God expects the same things from you.
Joel 2:12-13 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments.” Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness And relenting of evil.”
Jeremiah 4:3-4 “For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD And remove the foreskins of your heart, Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Or else My wrath will go forth like fire And burn with none to quench it, Because of the evil of your deeds.”
Amos 5:21-25 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. “Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. “Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?”
We come and we sing songs about making me a servant.
And how much I want to worship God.
To make such statements without truly meaning it in your heart Means you are nothing but a brood of vipers.
And John wasn’t about to let snakes into his church.
He demanded sincerity.
2) STAMINA (8)
“Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”
He didn’t just want a time of decision.
He want a life of commitment.
“bear fruits in keeping with repentance”
Are you presently living in sin that you have repented of?
Then you didn’t repent.
Repentance is continuous and we can tell by the fruit.
“and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’”
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS?
It is a personal excuse for why you don’t need to repent.
The Jews had a nifty one.
We’re Abraham’s descendants and thus God can’t destroy us because He promised Abraham He wouldn’t.
Notice John’s response.
“for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”
God can make the stones become children to Abraham.
They are made of the same basic substance – dirt.
We are good at letting ourselves off the hook.
We are good at finding reasons why I don’t have to repent.
If you aren’t committed to repentance, then you haven’t repented.
Hosea 6:1-6 “Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him. “So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.” What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early. Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; And the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth. For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Psalms 78:34-37 “When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God; And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.”
Isaiah 58:3-5 “’Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers. “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?”
Sincerity, stamina
3) SPEED (9)
“Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
We are talking here about urgency
Since every tree that does not “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” will be “cut down and thrown into the fire”
You need to repent, but there is something you should know.
“the axe is already laid at the root of the trees”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Luke 13:6-9 “And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'”
Judgment is so close, the axe is already at the root of the tree,
And at any minute He could take a swing at you.
Jonathon Edwards, (“Sinners in the hands of an angry God”)
“The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it.
The point is repentance is urgent. It needs to be done right now.
You are taking the chance of pushing the owner of the vineyard over the edge.
Hebrews 3:7-13 “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'” Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
John was only concerned that people repent
And do it with sincerity, stamina, and speed.
Prophecy of, personality of
#3 THE PRECISION OF REPENTANCE
Luke 3:10-14
When John came asking for repentance
The people didn’t just say, “OK” and leave.
Notice what they did.
“Then what shall we do?”
God is not looking for some generic, all sins included prayer.
“and forgive us where we’ve failed you.”
“and forgive us for our many sins”
THAT IS NOT REPENTANCE.
First off, repentance is an ACTION.
“BEAR FRUITS in keeping with repentance”
“what shall we DO?”
There is nothing wrong with asking for forgiveness.
But it is not repentance.
Repentance means to change your action, and IT MUST BE SPECIFIC.
Simply saying, “I’m sorry for all the bad things I’ve done”
WILL NOT CUT IT
And that is exactly what John tells them.
He tells the crowd to have COMPASSION
(11) “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise”
Luke 6:30-36 “Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
He tells the tax collectors to watch their COLLECTION
(13) “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to”
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
He tells the soldiers to have CONTENTMENT
(14) “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”
1 Timothy 6:8-10 “If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
I don’t think it is by any coincidence that he first hits their pocketbook. Jesus Himself said it was the key to their heart.
“where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
But I do want you to know that John got specific
With everyone about their sins.
(18) “So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.”
John didn’t just preach on money. John told every person what they needed to change, including the ruler of the day.
Everyone needed repentance and repentance was specific.
If greed is your problem then listen to what John said and quit loving money.
If it is a sexual sin
1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.”
Maybe your speech is your sin
Ephesians 5:3-5 “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
God does not want a blanket prayer for forgiveness from you, God wants you to first ask, “What should I do?”
And then He wants you to do it.
Acts 3:19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”
God expects you to turn around and go the other direction.
If you love money, STOP
If you are living in sexual sin, STOP
If you are gossiping, or cursing, or lying, STOP
If you aren’t obeying God, DO IT
Repentance is a specific action to correct a sinful action.
Prophecy of – Personality of – Precision of
#4 THE PURPOSE OF REPENTANCE
Luke 3:15-17
Now this crowd is so cut to the heart about John’s message,
That they assume he must be the Messiah.
John sets them straight, but tells them they had better get ready for Him.
And notice that John here drives the point home.
(16) “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
I’m not Him, and I don’t have any power.
But you had better get ready for Him because He is more holy than me.
You don’t have to be afraid of me. You don’t have to do what I say.
I can’t do a thing to you.
But there is One coming that can do something
And you had better get ready for Him.
“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”
NOW WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Well the Holy Spirit baptism is obvious. That is salvation.
(6) “and all flesh will see the salvation of God.”
John 7:37-39 “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
BUT IF YOU WON’T REPENT
He has a baptism for you as well. “fire”
Now many think this is what happened at Pentecost, but those were “tongues as of fire”
The context of John’s message shows us what fire represents.
(9) “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”
(17) “His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
When John talks about fire, he is talking about judgment.
Jesus will either baptize you with salvation,
Or He will baptize you with judgment.
WHAT DETERMINES WHICH ONE YOU RECEIVE?
Repentance.
Acts 2:37-38 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ” Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 3:19-21 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”
Acts 17:30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,”
I wasn’t going to preach here this morning, but God wanted this.
That means our church is in need of repentance.
If we do, we can expect the blessings of God, and the presence of His Spirit.
If we don’t, we can expect the judgment of God, and the absence of His Spirit.
Jeremiah 15:6-7 “You who have forsaken Me,” declares the LORD, “You keep going backward. So I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am tired of relenting! “I will winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; They did not repent of their ways.”
Psalms 7:12-16 “If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts. Behold, he travails with wickedness, And he conceives mischief and brings forth falsehood. He has dug a pit and hollowed it out, And has fallen into the hole which he made. His mischief will return upon his own head, And his violence will descend upon his own pate.”
