The Forerunner – Part 3
Luke 3:1-20 (10-14)
November 19, 2017
As you know we are working through Luke’s gospel
And currently we are looking at the ministry of John the Baptist.
John is the forerunner for Jesus.
He is the one whom God sent before Jesus
TO PREPARE THE PEOPLE FOR HIS COMING.
According to Isaiah he is:
“The voice of one crying the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the LORD, Make His paths straight.”
According to Malachi he is:
Elijah the prophet who “will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that [Messiah] will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
John the Baptist came for one purpose
And that was to prepare the people for the arrival of Jesus.
I can’t stress enough how important his ministry was and is.
And yet, I also must admit that this type of ministry
Is rapidly disappearing in our culture today.
John’s message was about sin, judgment and the necessity of repentance
And yet we see increasingly today that people do not want that message
And so fewer and fewer churches are preaching it.
Many today try to skip the message of John
And instead try to bait people to a Jesus
Who can either make their miserable life better,
Or to a Jesus who is a great addition or “upgrade”
To their already comfortable life.
You know how it goes…
“Are you sick, hurting, or depressed? Do you have back pain, knee pain, joint pain, or is one leg longer than the other? Are you deaf, blind, dumb, bald, or otherwise impaired? Is life boring, hard, or unfulfilling? Do you need money, healing, happiness, companionship, or recognition? Well then friends let me tell you about Jesus. He heals, He restores, He makes life better at every turn. He cures cancer, heart disease, arthritis, water on the knee and general stupidity. He can give you a breakthrough, a deliverance, a rescue, an upgrade, a reboot and an absolute good feeling. Just come as you are, and take this Jesus and watch all your problems vanish away.”
• And of course the most corrupt offer this Jesus for a seed faith payment relative to how big you want the blessing to be.
• The more sly among us just want you to agree to come to their church, give to their offerings and pad their egos.
What you don’t hear mentioned much anymore is the message of John.
Which is a message of absolute and total self-denial and repentance.
Why is John’s message so important?
Because the Jesus those carnival barkers offer is not the real Jesus.
• The real Jesus will give you fulfillment and life abundant, but it does not come in the form of this world.
• The real Jesus will require you to lose everything to follow Him.
• Jesus tells you to say good-bye to your possessions, your comfort, your family, your reputation, and your safety. (Not come get more of it)
• In return He will give you Himself and His righteousness, which is required for entrance into eternal life.
• But obtaining the real Jesus is costly!
And the simple fact is this.
Because following Jesus is so costly, no one comes to Him
Unless they have come to understand the value of righteousness
And their lack of it.
People have to see their desperate and hopeless condition
Before they will just follow this Man
Who demands that they turn their back on the world.
You understand this.
I have yet to see a person just sign up for chemotherapy because they value the experience.
Agreeing to follow Jesus is an agreement to forsake this world
And NO ONE WILL DO THAT unless they realize that
Only in following Jesus can they have the hope of eternal life.
• Before a doctor can get a patient to take chemo, they first have to convince
them of their terrible condition.
• Before a sinner will follow Jesus, they must also be convinced of their terrible
condition.
IN THAT SENSE, JOHN IS THE BEARER OF BAD NEWS.
He did not come to save men, he came to condemn them.
(Or more accurately to reveal that they were already condemned)
John did that so when Jesus came by offering nothing but righteousness,
The people would value Him and follow Him.
That is the ministry of John and that is the ministry that Luke is showing us here in the 3rd chapter of his gospel.
Now we’ve been working through it for the last couple of weeks.
We’ve seen:
#1 JOHN’S CULTURE
Luke 3:1-2
We saw that John ministered in a day of Roman domination and Jewish exploitation.
• The Roman rulers of the day were corrupt and immoral.
• The Jewish leaders of the day were also corrupt and immoral.
It was a bad time to be a Jew.
#2 JOHN’S CALLING
Luke 3:3-6
In short, God sent John to preach
“a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
That is to say, John came revealing to people
That they were sinners in need of forgiveness
And that this forgiveness would only come through repentance.
He was that forerunner that Isaiah spoke of who would prepare the people for Jesus.
#3 JOHN’S CONFRONTATION
Luke 3:7-9
This we saw last week, where John confronted the people on every level.
He confronted:
• Their Sinful Nature – “brood of vipers”
• Their Superficial Motive – “who warned you to flee”
• Their Shallow Commitment – “bear fruits in keeping with repentance”
• Their Shaky Theology – “we have Abraham as our father”
• Their Sorry Discernment – “the axe is already laid at the root of the tree”
In short, John unequivocally revealed that
These people were in absolute total and imminent danger before God.
Far too long they had lived in their apathy and in their spiritual blindness
Totally unaware of just how angry God was.
God had grown weary of their empty words
And because of their fruitless lives the axe was laid at the root of the tree
And God was ready to judge them.
THAT WAS JOHN’S CONFRONTATION.
NOW…
If you were willing to take John’s message to heart
Then there is REALLY ONLY ONE RESPONSE.
In fact, the response of this crowd seems to be THE UNIVERSAL RESPONSE of those who have come face to face with their sin and the judgment they deserve.
The response can be seen in 4 words:
“What shall we do?”
You’ll see it asked 3 times here in Luke’s gospel.
By the crowds, by the tax collectors, and by the soldiers; they all ask the same question.
But it’s not just here that this question is mentioned.
Do you remember Pentecost?
After Peter preached that the people were responsible for having killed God’s Messiah?
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.”
The revealed fact is that
Those who come to a full understanding of their sinfulness and the reality of their judgment understand that there is no longer anything to say.
• They were not interested in making excuses…
• They were not interested in arguing about the punishment…
• They were not interested in denying the charges…
They time for talk had passed, and in full submission they simply ask,
“What shall we do?”
Now, you may immediately recognize that while John and Peter answer very similarly, they do answer a little different.
It is true that both tell the people to repent and to be baptized,
But while John will give specific behaviors that must change,
Peter simply tells people to believe in Jesus.
I think it’s important for you to understand why their message is different.
JOHN PREACHED BEFORE JESUS AND PETER PREACHED AFTER HIM.
• Before Christ, all a person was required to do was to humble themselves
before God and demonstrate their contrite and repentant heart through
their change in behavior.
• However, after the cross and the redemptive work of Christ, Peter could point
people to the forgiveness which only comes through faith in Christ.
That is why their message is different.
It is also worth noting that as we sit today,
John’s message is NECESSARY BUT INCOMPLETE in regard to salvation.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
Acts 19:1-7 “It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were in all about twelve men.”
Even the people who were the most faithful followers of John
Still needed faith in Christ to be saved.
Even though they had responded correctly to John,
They still were not saved.
They had to place their faith in Christ and fully submit to Him.
And if Jesus had already arrived on the scene by Luke 3
That is exactly what John would have preached as well.
But Jesus has not yet shown up
So all John can do is push them to a genuine brokenness and contrition
Which will prepare them for Jesus who will soon arrive.
So I just want to make sure you understand what we are studying here.
• FOR THEIR DAY, John’s message is complete.
• FOR OUR DAY, John’s message is still absolutely essential, but it is
incomplete until that message includes the necessity of faith in Jesus.
AND TO BE FAIR TO JOHN,
In a short while His message will include that very invitation.
John 1:29-37 “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! “This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ “I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. “I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ “I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.” Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.”
So John will get there, he’s just not there yet, because he has yet to see Jesus.
So, I simply want your theology to be accurate.
• What we are learning from John this morning IS NOT how to be saved.
• What we are learning from John IS what true contrition or repentance looks like.
And this true repentance is necessary for salvation.
So you need to hear what John is saying,
And you need to let what John is saying drive you to Jesus.
Well, now that we’ve clarified that a little bit,
Let’s look at this 4th reality of John the Baptist’s ministry.
John’s Culture, John’s Calling, John’s Confrontation
#4 JOHN’S COMMAND
Luke 3:10-14
When you read that as a whole
There are a couple of things that should immediately stand out to you.
FIRST, as we mentioned, all of these people understood that repentance required a change of behavior.
They did not ask, “What do you want us to say?”
They asked “What shall we do?”
They knew the time for empty promises and shallow remorse had passed.
They knew God demanded a life change.
REPENTANCE REQUIRES ACTION
SECOND, it is obvious to us is that to every group John referenced the exact same sin, which was greed.
• You have the crowds who horded their possessions
• You have the tax collectors who cheated people out of money
• You have the soldiers who were brutal and discontent
But when you strip them all down, they all come from the same root sin
WHICH IS GREED OR LOVE OF THIS WORLD.
That is the root sin that John addresses with every single person.
These people loved the world and John sees that
As the main issue that is keeping them at odds with God.
Incidentally, no other gospel writer hits love of the world or greed as much as Luke does.
While Luke will hit some of the same stories as Matthew and Mark like:
• The weedy soil that was choked by the love of the world
• The Rich Young Ruler
• The widow who gave all she had (Mark)
• Not storing up treasure in heaven
Luke will also include stories that no one else mentions at all, like:
• Zaccheus who left his wealth
• The foolish farmer who built bigger barns to hoard all he had
• The wise manager who used money for eternal reward
• The rich man in Hades who enjoyed all his good in this life
In think probably most telling about Luke
Is the way he delivers the beatitudes.
You will remember Matthew talking about being poor in spirit or hungering and thirsting for righteousness. That is to say Matthew took those beatitudes on a spiritual note.
But listen to how Luke records them:
Luke 6:20-26 “And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”
From Luke’s perspective there is a definite link between
A person’s commitment to Christ and their love of the world.
When you read Luke’s gospel it becomes very clear that
• He understood that it was impossible for a person to love Christ and love this world at the same time.
• He saw that it was impossible for a person to follow Christ and follow this world at the same time.
And so it is not surprising that Luke also records this sermon from John.
It fit EXACTLY THE POINT that Luke will make throughout his gospel.
So let’s look at what John has to say
To these who are in such danger before God.
There are three commands
1) SHOW COMPASSION (10-11)
“And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”
These people knew they were in danger before God
And they wanted to know what they could do about it.
John wasted no time in confronting their greed by revealing that
They had hoarded the things of this world
To the exclusion of offering compassion to those in need.
• They had brothers and sisters who did not have a coat in the winter…
• They had brothers and sisters who did not have food…
• Meanwhile they had more than they needed and still did not share it.
Their love of the world had grown greater
Than their love for their neighbor.
And I think you understand how “out of whack” that is,
Since loving your neighbor is the second greatest commandment.
These people didn’t love their neighbor, these people loved their stuff.
These people loved the world.
And we are reminded that a person who hoards their possessions
Even while their brothers and sisters in Christ are in need
Is so out of place that it is impossible to consider them a Christian.
Listen to John the apostle:
1 John 3:13-18 “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
Listen to James
James 2:14-17 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”
• John says that a person who hoards their stuff to the hurt of another cannot
claim to have the love of Christ in their life.
• James says a person who does that cannot claim to have true saving faith.
This is a serious issue.
In contrast Jesus said:
Luke 6:27-35 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. “Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. “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.”
God is generous. It’s hard to claim to be like God if we aren’t as well.
Those who refuse to be generous reveal that they love the world more than God.
They demonstrate that the love of Christ is not in them
And that their faith in Him is weak and worthless and even dead faith.
You could even go so far as Matthew 25
Where Jesus spoke of the judgment and you may recall that He promised to put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left and then He will say to those on His left “Depart from Me because when I was hungry you didn’t feed Me and when I was naked you didn’t clothe Me and when I was sick and in prison you didn’t visit Me.”
And when the people asked when this occurred Jesus answered, “When you didn’t do it to the least of these, you didn’t do it to Me”
It’s not that we save ourselves through benevolent works,
But those who refuse to be generous
Clearly demonstrate that they do not love God.
So when the crowds want to know what to do to avoid God’s wrath
John is matter of fact and says that they had better stop hoarding the world and had better stop helping the poor.
So first John says: Show Compassion
2) STOP CORRUPTION (12-13)
“And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”
And of course you are familiar with tax collectors.
(But since Rebecca is a tax collector I like to really emphasize it)
Tax Collectors in Jesus day where the lowest of the low.
They were scum of the scum.
In fact, tax collectors weren’t even allowed to testify as a witness in court
Because they were considered totally dishonest.
First off a tax collector had decided to go to work for the very Roman arm that was in power over the Jews.
• Most Jews wanted liberation from Rome, these tax collectors had gone to work for them.
But the worst part was that tax collectors had authority to really tax you for whatever they wanted as much as they wanted and they had the strong arm of the Roman centurion to back them up.
• They could tax you for going, tax you for coming, tax you for buying, tax you for selling, tax you for owning, tax you for working, tax you for giving, and tax you for receiving.
• And once they paid Rome all that Rome required they were free to keep the rest and as such had grown quite rich off of the back of the Jews.
It was the perfect scenario of extortion.
They could satisfy their greed to the fullest extent.
And so when they become aware of their guilt before God
And want to know what they should do, John again answers directly.
“Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”
• John did not rebuke them for working for Rome.
• John did not call them traitors for having a secular job.
• But John was clear that cheating the people was a sign of greed and thus had to go.
JOHN IS NOT THE ONLY ONE TO REBUKE SUCH EXTORTION.
Listen to Jesus talk to the Pharisees:
Matthew 15:4-6 “For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.”
They actually withheld what their parents deserved under the banner of having “consecrated it to God” Of course God never saw that money either.
Jesus also confronted the Pharisees:
Mark 12:38-40 “In His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”
They actually devoured widow’s houses.
Like those corrupt landlords you see in many western movies.
You get into financial trouble and they are happy to bail you out with a loan, just put up your home as collateral, and when you can’t back the loan, I get your house.
Or listen to James:
James 5:1-6 “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you.”
Withholding pay from their workers, taking bribes against the innocent.
John is talking about people who sacrifice their morals to gain money.
• So should we talk about cheating on your taxes?
• Should we talk about gambling or lottery tickets?
• Should we talk about squabbling with siblings over inheritance?
• Should we talk about lying to get a promotion?
• Should we talk about cheating the company on the time clock?
Oh I know you can defend all of that as recreation or just fun,
But what you can’t deny is that
There is not one single God honoring motive behind it.
• I’ve met a lot of people who cheated on their taxes but I never met anyone who did it because they thought it glorified God.
• I’ve met a lot of people who gamble or buy lottery tickets but I never met anyone who did it because they thought it glorified God.
• I’ve met a lot of people who take bribes or cheat the company out of time but never met anyone who did it for the glory of God.
MY POINT?
There is only one possible motive behind all of those actions
AND THAT MOTIVE IS GREED.
People do those things so that they can get more of the world
Even if they have to be immoral to accomplish it.
And John calls the tax collectors on this very thing.
YOU HAD BETTER LEAVE THE GREED ASIDE.
Show Compassion, Stop Corruption
3) SEEK CONTENTMENT (14)
“Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”
Now granted you can see in these soldiers hints of many problems.
Most likely these were not Roman soldiers here, but probably Jewish soldiers,
Like the temple police who had been sent by the Pharisees.
And with the weight of the military arm behind them they had learned that
They could get away with all sorts of things in order to gain more money.
They could take money by force
They could make false accusations
Certainly they did the latter in Jesus’ trial.
We’ve all heard of the proverbial jail in Mexico
That arrests you until you give up your watch or your car, etc.
The point is that those with power
Prey upon those who are weaker and they do it all for money.
And the ROOT ISSUE according to John is DISCONTENTMENT.
That is to say, they didn’t think their job paid them enough so they were willing to do something immoral or dishonest to compensate.
And that opens up a whole new can of worms.
What do you do when you feel like your company undervalues you?
• Do you steal from the company?
• Do you take privileges that aren’t yours to take?
Certainly ministers aren’t exempt
In our day of exploitation and using God to pad their own pockets.
They were not content with what God had provided
And therefore they did something immoral to compensate.
That is a real problem.
James 4:1-4 “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
• Do you hear him there talking about wrong motives?
• Do you hear him speak of greed and selfish desires?
This was in essence what Jesus was getting at in Matthew 6
In the Sermon on the Mount when He first warned the crowd about being GREEDY (storing up treasure on earth instead of heaven)
And then warned the crowd about WORRYING (consumed with not having enough)
Both demonstrated a lack of contentment with what God had provided.
If you want to SUMMARIZE John’s sermon here it is actually quite easy.
John wanted this entire crowd to realize that
They valued the world more than they valued righteousness.
Because these people would sacrifice righteousness to gain the world.
They would forsake compassion,
They would forsake integrity,
They would forsake contentment
If they could just get a little more of the world.
And the question is which of those would you forsake to gain the world?
Now wait a minute preacher! I admit that I have some of those problems, but they don’t keep me from following Jesus.
Let me just ask you then, “Are you sure you’re following Jesus?”
Listen to Jesus:
Luke 9:57-62 “As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Did you catch what Jesus said?
• If you want to follow Me, then you should know I’m homeless. I don’t possess the world and you won’t either.
• If you want to follow Me, leave your inheritance behind.
• If you want to follow Me, then do so without worldly approval.
Jesus was about to ask people to forsake the world.
Anyone remember the Rich Young Ruler?
(Jesus told him to sell it all)
Jesus was about to ask people to forsake the world,
And John knows that so long as they love the world
They will never follow Jesus.
The only reason a person will follow Jesus
Is if they want righteousness more than anything else,
Because Jesus doesn’t offer anything else.
John is trying to get rid of all those weeds
So that nothing distracts people from Jesus when He calls.
Now it is true that we are on the other side of the cross.
We now understand that forgiveness comes from trusting in Christ.
Forgiveness comes when we submit our lives to Christ.
BUT YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THAT
IN ORDER TO FOLLOW CHRIST YOU CANNOT LOVE THE WORLD.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
So the call of John is simple.
You need to walk away from your greed so that you can walk after Jesus
Because you cannot seek both at the same time.
