The Voice in the Wilderness, Part 5

Let's pray together. Father, we are grateful that you have called us to follow you. I pray that if there be one among us today who does not understand that, that today through the preaching of your word they would come to grips with what it means to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We thank you Lord for the things that we've been studying in Luke's gospel and we thank you for the ministry of John the Baptist and how you used him in a great and mighty way to prepare the way of the Lord. And so as we receive instruction from your word this day, may we learn to live in the light of your glorious word.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to Luke chapter 3 as we continue our study of the voice in the wilderness.

Luke chapter 3. And as you're turning, I want to read to you about a man by the name of Douglas Webster who wrote a critique about the church growth movement in today's society. And he compares biblical preaching with user-friendly methods. And this is what he says. He says, biblical preaching was God-centered, sin-exposing, self-convicting, and life-challenging. The direct opposite of today's light and formal sermons that Christianize, self-help, and entertain better than they convict. There are so many illustrations in today's market-sensitive sermons that the hearer forgets the biblical truth that is being illustrated.

So many personal antidotes that the hearer knows the pastor better than she knows Christ. So many human interest stories that listening to the sermon is easier than reading the Sunday paper. So practical that there is hardly anything to practice. No wonder nominal Christians leave church feeling upbeat. Their self-esteem is safely intact. Their minds and hearts have been sparked and soothed with soundbite theology. Christian maxims and a few practical pointers dealing with self-esteem, kids, or work.

But the question remains, has the Word of God been effectively and faithfully proclaimed? Penetrating comfort zones and the veneer of self-satisfaction with the truth of Jesus Christ. He's right. The question comes, has God's Word been faithfully and truthfully proclaimed so that it penetrates the hearts and minds of men and women? John the Baptist was a man who was consumed with preaching the truth. And as you read the the gospel story, you realize that John only had one message. I can't imagine what it would be like to have only one message and to preach it every day all day for six months.

He must have been pretty good at it. I mean after all he didn't have to think of something new to say. It was the same old thing every single day. He had one main point that he always tried to get across and that is if you don't repent you're gonna die in your sins. If you don't embrace the Christ upon repentance, you will forever be damned. That was it. And I'm sure that John the Baptist would not be asked to speak in very many churches today. Because his message was a harsh message. It was a hard message.

It was difficult to digest. Because he preached against the shallow superficiality of the religion of his day. It's amazing that things haven't changed in 2,000 years. Because religion today is as shallow and as superficial now as it was then. And John knew that. And John somehow had to make sure that he had to confront people to make sure that there was a genuineness, a realness about their repentance. And there were a lot of people today who have walked aisles, who have signed cards, who have prayed prayers only to be shallow and superficial and not real nor genuine.

Maybe you're one of those people. I don't know. Maybe you're one of those people who has a a semblance of repentance. There's remorse and regret for my sin, but there hasn't been a true repentance from my sin, a true turning from my sin. And John the Baptist was concerned about that. I mean, Judaism is a is a religion of shallowness, of superficiality. And so he would confront that. And the only way to confront a superficial and shallow religion is to call people to a point of repentance. To call them to turn from their sin and embrace the Messiah.

That's the message of the gospel. That's the message, listen, of every true preacher of the gospel. If they don't preach repentance, they're not a true preacher of the gospel. And so we must make sure that the truth of the gospel is portrayed in such a way that people clearly understand what it means to turn from their sin. I mean, after all, it was the Apostle Paul who said in Acts 17, verse number 30, that God is commanding all men everywhere to what? To repent. It was Christ who said in Luke chapter 24, as he gave the commission to his disciples, as he sent them out into the world, that repentance for the remission of sins should be preached to all nations.

This has to be preached. Because if you don't preach it, people won't be born again. And it was the Apostles who kept preaching the same message of repentance. It was Christ who said in Matthew chapter 9, verse number 13, that he didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. It was Peter who said in 2 Peter 3, verse number 9, that God is calling all men, he's not wanting that any should perish, but that all should come to a point of repentance. That's what God is looking for. That man will somehow turn from his sin and trust the Messiah.

To turn from his sin and turn toward the Messiah. To embrace the Messiah, the one who will forgive him of his sins. And yet in so many ways, we want to gloss over the repentance issue. We don't want to address the repentance issue. And yet we need to know what the Bible says.

A number of years ago, there was a man by the name of Walter Chantry, and he wrote a book about the gospel. Is it authentic or synthetic? This is what he says. Our ears have grown accustomed to hearing men told to accept Jesus as your personal Savior. A form of words which is not found in Scripture. It has become an empty phrase. These may be precious words to the Christian personal Savior, but they are wholly inadequate to instruct a sinner in the way to eternal life. They wholly ignore an essential element of the gospel, namely repentance.

And that necessary ingredient of gospel preaching is swiftly fading from evangelical pulpits, though the New Testament is filled with it. Paul confronted the intellectuals of Morris Hill by preaching, God now commands all men everywhere to repent, Acts 17 30. This was no optional note on the apostolic trumpet. It was the melody, the theme of their instructions to sinners. Merely to talk about accepting a personal Savior eliminates this crucial imperative. We need to call people to a point of repentance.

It was A.W. Tozoo who said these words. He says the formula, quote, except Christ has become a panacea of universal application, and I believe it has been fatal to many. The trouble is that the whole phrase, except Christ attitude, is likely to be wrong. It shows Christ appealing to us rather than us to him. It makes him stand hat in hand awaiting our verdict on him instead of our kneeling and with troubled hearts awaiting his verdict on us. It may even permit us to accept Christ by an impulse of mind or emotions painlessly at no loss to our ego and no inconvenience to our usual way of life.

For this ineffectual manner of dealing with a vital matter, we might imagine some parallels as if, for instance, Israel and Egypt had accepted the blood of the Passover but continued to live in bondage. Or the prodigal son had accepted his father's forgiveness and stayed on among the swine in the far country. Is it not plain that if accepting Christ is to mean anything, there must be moral action that accords with it. In other words, there must be repentance that comes with it. The bottom line is this.

John had one theme. Jesus had one theme. The apostles had one theme. The gospel preaches one message. Repent and turn to the Messiah. That is the gospel. And that's what John came preaching. That was the emphasis of his message. Because he knew that all these people coming down to be baptized in the Jordan were not truly coming because they wanted to turn from their sin and embrace the Messiah. You have to applaud John. I mean he wasn't into numbers. He wasn't into gathering a whole bunch of people around him so that he would look good in the Jerusalem Post when it came out each and every week.

Look at John down in the Jordan River baptizing thousands of people and look how many many are turning from their sin to follow the Messiah.

He wasn't interested in that. He wasn't interested in genuineness. He was interested in people understanding exactly what it is they are doing. He was interested in one thing and one thing only, that Jesus Christ be lifted up, that Jesus Christ be glorified no matter what anybody else would think of what he said. That is so important. My wife was sharing yesterday with the ladies during the fall gathering about a phone call I received yesterday from the chairman of our little league out in Rancho Cucamonga calling because they had received complaints about my prayers for opening and closing services each and every year.

And he was saying to me that we received this letter and some other complaints. We're a little concerned about that what you say in your prayers is so along the lines of your denomination that you don't embrace other religions. So we're asking would you consider being just a little bit more religiously tolerant in your prayers? And I said, you know, I appreciate you asking that but that's never going to happen. I'm really sorry because my prayers are not about what people think. My prayers are about what God thinks.

And my prayers are directed toward him, for him, for his glory, for his honor. And that's the way I'm always going to pray. I'm really sorry. So if you don't want me to pray, that's okay, I understand. But I'm not going to change my prayers because you get a few complaints from people in little league. It's all about doing what honors God. John the Baptist was a man who didn't care about what other people thought about his message because it was the truth. And he wanted people to understand that they needed to prepare their hearts because Messiah was right on his heels.

And so his message was one of preparation as well as presentation. He would prepare the people to receive the Messiah and then he would present the Messiah to him when he arrived on the scene. What a great opportunity John the Baptist had. And so he begins by helping us to understand, Luke does, by helping us to understand the message of John the Baptist. And you need to understand his message. Listen, you need to understand John's message if you want to be effective in your evangelistic message.

You need to understand what he says if you want to honor God in your presentation of the gospel. Because he helps you understand how to prepare the heart for the reception of the Messiah. And what he does is he gives us six elements of repentance to help you understand what it means to receive Jesus Christ into your heart because you have repented of your sins and are willing to embrace him as the master of your life. And we covered it last week, but I want to review them and then move on with you this week.

We began by helping you understand that this message that he gave was a confrontational message because it was a message about repentance. And we told you that the first element of repentance is very simple.

It's this. It is the recognition of personal and actual sin. The recognition of personal and actual sin, or let me say, a reflection on personal and actual sin.

That is, I reflect on my life and I realize that I'm a sinner. That's why he said that there, prepare the way, the quote from Isaiah chapter 40, that there's a voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, right? That everything down in the ravines needs to be brought up. Everything on the mountains needs to be brought down. That the rough road needs to be made smooth and the crooked things need to be made straight. It's an analogy of preparing the heart and it reflects on actual and personal sin.

That man truly is a sinner, that man truly is separated from God and that he needs to recognize that he is far from God, that he truly is a sinner. Listen, if you're here today and you don't think you're a sinner, but you think you're kind of good enough, you haven't repented of your sins. Because someone who has truly repented of his sins knows the state of his unworthiness, knows the state of his inner soul. He knows that it's separated from God because he is or she is a sinner. And that's why the Bible says in Romans chapter 3 that there is nothing good in man, nothing at all.

And yet the Bible says in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 21 verse number 2, Every man's way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.

You know a lot of times we think that we're right, that we're okay on the inside, but in reality we're not right, we're far from God. Proverbs chapter 30 verse number 12 says, There is a kind or a generation who is pure in their own eyes, yet is not washed from his filthiness. There is a generation of people who think that they're right before God, that they are pure in their own eyes, but have yet to be washed on the inside from their filthiness. And John knows, listen, if you don't reflect on personal sin, if you don't realize that you are a sinner, you will never turn and follow the Messiah.

So there's a reflection on personal and actual sin. And then number 2, there's a recognition of eternal wrath. There's a recognition of eternal wrath. There is a payment for my sin, for the wages of sin is death, right? And so there's a payment for my sin, and John was a preacher of eternal wrath. That's why he would say that the ax is already laid at the tree, and any tree that doesn't bring forth fruit will be chopped down and will be burned. He goes on to say in Luke chapter 3 verse number 17, that the Messiah will baptize with Holy Spirit and fire, and 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.

John was a preacher of wrath. And the Jews knew about the wrath of God, because if you go back and you read the Old Testament, they knew about the coming of the Messiah and the day of the Lord, and the coming of the wrath of God upon the people who didn't follow him, so they knew about that. And John would just echo what the prophets of old had already stated. And if you're going to be an effective preacher of the gospel, you must preach that unless you repent of your sin, you will be eternally damned.

Why? Because God has made it very clear in his word. And that's why God spent so much time preaching on hell. It wasn't about preaching on heaven and what heaven was going to be like. It was about preaching on hell, because he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He doesn't want people to burn in hell. Reminded of the words of Leslie Woodson, who wrote a book entitled Hell and Salvation, who said these words, Throughout the examination of the concept of hell in the evangelistic mission of the church, we have been impressed by several things.

First is this, the scarcity of recent or contemporary writing and preaching on the subject. During the first 1800 years of the Christian era, the church was almost obsessed with the joys of heaven and the horrors of hell.

Since that time, interest has waned until following World War II. Hardly anything of serious consequence has been undertaken in the field. One is fortunate to find a paragraph or even a sentence in a theological work or printed sermon which relates directly to the subject of hell. The investigator is doubly blessed if he discovers a whole chapter or even several pages in any kind of writing. With rare exception, the churchgoer can attend worship for years without hearing a word about hell. Now, the scarcity of materials gives us our first clue that the subject of hell is taboo in many quarters and ignored in others.

When was the last time you heard a sermon on hell in your church? When was the last time the preacher told people they would burn in hell unless they turned from their sin? John the Baptist, that's what he said every single day. And that's why he said, you brood of vipers, you herd, you sons of poisonous snakes, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Because they knew that there was wrath coming. And John says, you're like snakes, you're like sons of Satan, you slither around, you run down to the water, to jump into the water thinking that if you get into the water, you'll be free from the wrath to come.

Who told you that? John says, I didn't tell you that. I didn't tell you that. I didn't say that if you came down here and you got baptized, you'd be absent from any kind of eternal condemnation. I never said that. So who told you that? That leads us to our third point.

And that is, not only was there a reflection on personal and actual sin and a recognition of eternal wrath, but number three, there was a rejection of external ritual.

A rejection of external ritual because the Jews wanted to be baptized to add one more ritualistic aspect to their religion. One more thing to do. If they could just get into the water, they'd be free from the wrath to come. But that's not what it was about. Their repentance was the repentance known only to Jewish proselytes, Gentiles who wanted to convert to Judaism, who wanted to understand what it meant to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Gentiles were the ones who went down to the water and came back up again.

Gentiles were the ones who said, you know what? We're not sons of the covenant. We do not know the God of the Jewish father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We don't know that God and we are far from that God and we are renouncing our pagan ways to follow the God of the Jews. And John is saying, when you come down here and you go down to the water, you have to renounce all your rituals. You have to say that we are truly, even though we are quote, part of the family of God or part of the chosen nation of God and Israelite, a Jew, our family heritage means nothing.

And all the rituals we do means nothing. There's a rejection of every external ritual. That means there is nothing you can do on the outside that will gain you entrance into heaven. There is nothing that you can do. There is nothing that you can say that will cause God to accept you. Why? Because all of our righteousness is as filthy rags. Everything we do on the outside will never gain approval with God. And John is saying, look, very clearly, you've got to reject all that external ritual. You've got to turn away from that.

You've got to fall on your face before God and beg Him for mercy. Plead with Him that He might bestow grace upon you that by faith you might believe in who the Messiah is. In doing that, you are turning from your sin. And so there is a rejection of external ritual. And there is a renunciation of familial heritage. A renunciation of familial heritage. That is, just because you are born into a Jewish family, it didn't mean that you were born again, that you were saved. John said to them in Luke 3, don't come down here and say and give the excuse, we are sons of Abraham.

Don't come down here and give me the line that you are part of the heritage of Abraham. That's not going to cut it with God. And yet so many Jews believe that just because they are born Jews, they are going to heaven because they are sons of Abraham. And Paul would say, those who are true sons of Abraham are the ones who follow Abraham's faith. And these Jews weren't willing to follow the faith of their father Abraham. That's why Paul said in Romans 2, he is a Jew who is one, not outwardly, but one who is a Jew inwardly.

There has been the circumcision of the heart. There has been the cleansing of the soul on the inside. That is a true Jew. That's a true follower of God. That's a true son of Abraham. So there needs to be that renunciation of familial heritage. Remember Luke chapter 16? The rich man and Lazarus will get there in a couple of years, Luke chapter 16. And there is a rich man who is in hell. And Lazarus who is in Abraham's bosom. And the rich man says to father Abraham. See Christ was showing these people, there is a Jew in hell.

There is a Jew in hell. Because he didn't believe what Lazarus who was a poor man believed. Over in Luke chapter 13. He had the same illustration about Jews who will find themselves in hell because they did not turn from their sin. So Christ would confront the family heritage thing. He would confront the fact that these people thought that they would go to heaven just because they were a part of the right family, part of the right nation, just because of their Jewish heritage. But there is a fifth element.

And that is repentance is a revelation of a spiritual transformation. A revelation of a spiritual transformation. That is why John says you got to bear fruit. That evidences that you truly have a repentant spirit. Why? Because the axe is laid at the tree. And it is about to be wielded. And when it does the Lord will chop down every tree that does not bear fruit. Over in Acts chapter 26. It was the apostle Paul who said these words. To King Agrippa. Acts chapter 26. Verse number 19. Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea and even to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

You see, every preacher of the gospel compels man to bring forth fruit that is appropriate with repentance. People say, yes, I love God. Yes, I love Jesus. Well, let me tell you something.

If you love God, if you love Jesus, it is evidence in your life. It is clearly seen in your life. If you say you love the Lord, then there should be no question that you love him because you demonstrate that love on a regular basis. And that's what it means to bear forth fruit. Remember, John is preaching and calling people to repentance. It isn't like you go through step one, then you go through step two, then you go through step three, all these things to repent. No, it's all one in the same. It's all a part of the regenerating process.

Remember, when God calls a man to himself, God causes a man to repent. That's why in Acts 5.31, Acts 11.18, and 2.25, it says in those three verses that God causes man to repent. You see, this is not a work that you do. This is not something you go through. I go through step one, that I reflect on my personal sin. I go then to step two, and I recognize that there is eternal judgment because of my sin, and then I go to step three, and I come to realize that I must renounce everything that I've done on the earth.

It's not that. It's that when God calls a man, all those things happen like that. It's part of the regeneration process. When God regenerates a man, he calls him to turn from his sin toward the Messiah. What John was doing is that he was calling people to prepare for the coming of Messiah. That's why Messiah was right on the heels of John the Baptist. That's why it was a six-month ministry. He was calling people to recognize that they were sinners, that they were bound for judgment, they had to renounce and reject everything they did on the outside, and show that they were truly turning to the Messiah, so that when He showed up, they would embrace Him.

The problem is that when He showed up, they didn't embrace Him because they didn't want that Messiah. We'll see why in a moment. But there's a revelation of spiritual transformation. There's something that's seen in the life of an individual. And that's why John says you've got to bring forth the fruit. That's why we read to you last week Ezekiel 36, when God says that in the new covenant, I will put My Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in My ways.

You see, the reason we walk in the ways of God is because God moves us to do so. God works in our lives and causes us to love Him, to follow Him, to serve Him, to adore Him, because in and of ourselves we would not do that. But when God saves a man, God transforms his soul. And because of what God has done, you see, remember what Romans 2, 4 says? It's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance, right? It's the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance. Why is that? Because when a man recognizes that he's a sinner, he's separated from God, there's nothing he can do to save himself, and God at His wonderful mercy provided a way of salvation through His death on the cross, man says, thank you, God, for your goodness to me, thank you, Lord, for what you've done to me, and embraces Him.

It's the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance. That's why it's so important that you show a man how sinful he is, how far he is from God, that he might embrace God in all of His goodness and praise Him for what He's done. And yet, so many times people will say, well, I love the Lord. I love the Lord. But they don't evidence the fact that they love the Lord. You see, God will judge us according to our deeds. Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2 says it this way, verse 4, or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

Verse 5, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteousness, or the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his, what? Deeds. Every man will be judged according to his deeds. To those who by perseverance, in doing good, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. But to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.

There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek.

But glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God.

See, every man, every person in this room will be judged according to their deeds. The believer is judged because his deeds are done out of the love of God. The unbeliever will be judged because he does his deeds in order to gain the love of God. But all of that is insufficiency. Because he thinks, the unbeliever does, that because he does all these good deeds, that God will accept him. But the Bible says he cannot obey the truth.

Why can't he obey the truth? Because the truth does not reside in him. The believer has the truth in him. The believer wants to do the truth. The believer desires to obey the truth. The believer desires to please God, because at the death of his soul, he wants to bring glory and honor to God. So he seeks to do that. You see, works are not the means of salvation, but works are the manifestation of a saved heart. Big difference there, isn't there? If I'm trusting in my works to save me, I'll never be saved.

But if I'm truly saved, there will be a clear manifestation of my life, so that others will know, without question, I've been born again. Without question. That's very evident in the New Testament. All you've got to do is read the life of Zacchaeus, who was a Jew, who needed salvation, and couldn't trust his family heritage, and couldn't trust his works. But boy, when he was saved, because salvation came to his house, it was evidenced immediately in his life. They would give back all that he stole, plus more, because there was a changed heart.

And that's why the people came, and they said to John, in Luke chapter 3, Well, if we're to bear forth fruit, so that the tree is not cut down, how do we know what that is? What does that look like? What do we do, was the cry, and this is where we left off last week. So it's been a 40-minute introduction to where we left off last week. And, you know, I know some of you might get a little upset with me, because I spend so much time doing that, but let me tell you something, folks.

This is so crucial. Because you know what? I don't want anybody in our church, Christ's community, thinking that they've repented, but truly haven't. See? I don't want people leaving here, or listening to a tape, or listening one day on a radio, thinking, Wow, man, I guess I haven't repented of my sin. I want them to look at it and say, You know what?

I need to examine my life in light of the Scripture. And so the people say, What do we do? What do we do? How do we show you that we're saved? Because if you love God, listen, did you know Leviticus 19? Right? You've got to love the Lord your God with all your heart, right? And your neighbor as yourself. Well, how do you know you love God? You love your neighbor as yourself. The love of God is manifested in your life in such a way that others see it. That's why Christ said in John 13, 34 and 35, All men will know that you're mine, because you have, what?

Love one toward another. Everybody's going to know you're a child of mine, not because you go to the right church, or the right synagogue, or because you dress the right way. It's because you have love one toward another. And that's why the Bible says, in 1 John 3, verses 17 and 18, about how does the love of God dwell in us when we see a brother in need and do not seek to meet that need?

Because the love of God is manifested through our lives because we love our brethren. That's why James said in James 1, verse number 27, True religion and undefiled before the Father is this, that you visit the widows and orphans and their affliction and keep oneself unspotted from the world. True religion and undefiled before our Father who is in heaven The fact that you have a true repentance, that you truly turn from your sin is what? That you visit those, that you take care of those who are in need, you meet the needs of people who have needs, and you keep yourself unspotted from the world.

There is no staying from the world in your life. You seek to refrain from it. That's how you know you have a true religion. That's how you know you've truly been born again. And that's on the heels of a whole text in James 1 about not being heroes of the word, but doers only. James says, I don't want you just to come and audit church. You ever audit a class in college? You go to school, you sit there, you listen, but you don't have to do any of the work. It's called auditing class. People come and they audit church.

They come and they sit and listen, but they do nothing about what they've heard. And James says, don't just be a hearer of the word, but a doer as well. You can't be just merely a hearer. You have to, first of all, be a hearer, right?

Because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So you first of all must be a hearer, but you can't be merely a hearer.

You've got to be a doer as well. You've got to put into practice the things that you learn. If you've truly repented of your sin, and you hear what God says about how you should live, you say, Lord, that's what I want to do.

Help me to do that. So you're not a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer. That's why James says this is true religion. This is pure religion. You keep yourself in spite of the world. And those who have needs, you meet those needs. So these people come and they say, what do we do? Now we can get to the text. Luke chapter 3. Oh boy, here we go. And the multitude, verse 10, and the multitudes were questioning Him saying, then what shall we do? Verse 11, and He would answer and stated that, now this is what He would normally say.

Remember, the verbs in this section are indicative of what John was saying on a daily basis. This was not a one-time sermon. This was what He said all day, every day for six months. You brood of vipers, you sons of boys of the snakes, who warned you to flee for the wrath to come? Don't be coming down here and saying to me, listen, hey, you know, we're children of Abraham. He goes, I don't want to hear it. Don't want to hear it. That's fruit. That's indicative that you have truly repented of your sin.

Why? Because judgment is at hand. The Messiah is coming and He will judge you for your sin. And they say, well, what do we do? How do we know that we truly repented? What do we do now? And John would say simply this, let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none. Let him who has no food do likewise. He said this to the multitudes. If you got two tunics, you only need how many? One, right? So if you got two, you only need one. The one you don't need, give to somebody who has a need. Simple as that.

If you truly have repented of your sin, because you love God, you're going to love your fellow man and you're going to help your fellow man out. It's just the practicalness of His message. It wasn't some deep theological message that would cause people to wonder, gee, what do I got to do to bring forth fruit? Fruit is just nothing but my attitude and my actions and what I do. My attitude toward God and others and my action toward others because of my attitude toward God. That's what fruit is. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, gentleness, kindness.

You know, Genesis, I mean, Galatians chapter 5. It's a fruit of attitude. And that results in action. And John says very simply, listen, if you got this and you see somebody in need, help meet the need. There's a desire to help someone else. That's why John says, let us not love in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth. We got to show it, right? We got to demonstrate it. So John would say that and then some tax gatherers, verse 12, also came to be baptized. That's good, right? Tax gatherers were hated by everybody.

Hated by the Romans, hated by the Jews. Nobody liked tax gatherers. Tax gatherers didn't even like themselves. They had no friends. They were isolated, but they had lots of money. They had lots of money because they would steal from people. They would impose taxes on people and make them pay. And the tax gatherers were coming down to be baptized. And they said to him, teacher, what shall we do? How do we do it? What does repentance look like in our lives? He said to them, collect no more than what you have been ordered to.

Stop stealing. Live a life of integrity. Live a life of purity. Don't take from people what's not yours. Don't do that. Very simple practical application. Some soldiers were questioning him saying, what about us? What shall we do? He said to them, do not take money from anyone by force or accuse anyone falsely and be content with your wages. Don't show force. Don't be brutal. Don't mishandle people. Handle them properly. Be content with your wages. You see, because a Jewish soldier wasn't paid very much, it very easily for them not to be content with their salary.

And so they would force other people to give them goods and to give them money. And John says, you know what? Don't do that. Be content with what you have. Be content. See, all John does is say, look, it's just a simple way of life. No longer do you live a selfish life. You live a selfless life, a sacrificial kind of life, a self-denying kind of life. That's why Christ said, if any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. You see, salvation is about self-denial.

You've got to learn to deny yourself. Deny the things that you want. Deny your covetous attitude, your covetous spirit. Deny the selfish pleasures and give them to God and follow Him. Serve Him. And that's what all John was saying. Some practical aspects. There needs to be a revelation of a spiritual transformation. Something has taken place in your life because when God causes His Spirit to reside in you, He causes you to walk after Him. And if you're going to walk after Christ, you're going to follow Christ, you're going to be like Him, you're going to live the kind of life He lived.

That is, you're going to live a selfless, sacrificial kind of life. You're not going to live a self-indulgent, sinful life. Simple as that. But there's more. There's more. There's one more. Because you can do all those things and not be saved. You can do all that and not be saved. Why? Because you need to turn from your sin and embrace Christ the Messiah. So there needs to be a reception. Of a supernatural Messiah. A reception of a supernatural Messiah. Now I know my time is gone, but just give me just a few more minutes and I'll just introduce this point to you for next week, okay?

And I promise not to review as much next week as I did this week. But there's a reception of a supernatural Messiah. Listen to this, verse 15. This is where I really wanted to get to today anyway. So I've got to read it just to get to this point. Verse 15, now while the people were in a state of expectation, stop right there, they're in a state of expectation, why? Because they are expecting the Messiah to come. Over in Luke 7, the Messiah is called the Expected One. So the people are in a state of expectation.

They are expecting Messiah to come. Why? Because John is a forerunner to Messiah. He is preparing people to receive the Messiah. And so they know he's coming and they are in a state of expectation. It says this, and all were wondering in their hearts about John as to whether he might be the Christ or be the Messiah. Maybe John's the Messiah. And so, it says in verse 16, John answered and said to them, Oh, as for me, I baptize you with water, but one is coming who is mightier than I and I am not fit to untie the thong of a sandals.

He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire. Now, this becomes very important. Because what he is doing is giving to them the identity of the Messiah. Because they know that in the Old Testament when Messiah came, when God would come to earth, there would be one who would come in judgment. And so what he is doing is paving the way to help them understand that the Messiah is God in the flesh. One who is coming that is mightier than I. Listen, you can come down to the river and I can dunk you into the water.

But let me tell you something. There is one coming who is mightier than me who is not going to be dunking you in the water. He is going to be baptizing you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. That is supernatural. I can't do that. I can only do that which is natural. And the one who is coming after me is so much more mightier than I, is so way beyond me because of the supernatural aspect of his ministry. He will bestow upon you the Spirit of God or you will be burned in the fire, one of the two, and only God can damn a soul.

Only God can. And so what he was doing was paving the way for them to receive a supernatural Messiah. That is, to receive God in the flesh. You see, that's why it's important for you to understand that repentance is turning from my sin to trust a Savior, to trust the Messiah, to embrace Him, to realize there is only one who can save me from my sin, and that's God Himself, Christ in the flesh. There is only one who can transform my life, and that's the God of the universe. Listen, no one can take a dead, dark, depraved soul and transform it into a lively, vibrant, energetic individual who wants to give glory to God except God Himself.

That's it. Only God can do that. And Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, is that Messiah. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day and the opportunity you've given us to study your Word. You are so good to us, Lord. Thank you for the Word of God that opens our hearts and minds to the truth. And I pray, Lord, that all of us would be open to what we've heard today because it is the Word of God. And we ask, Lord, that for anyone here today who does not know you as Lord and Savior, who has not turned from the error of their way to turn from their sin to embrace the Messiah, may this be that day.

May they understand that the one who followed John was mightier than him because he was supernatural. He was the only dream of doing because John was just the forerunner. Jesus was the Messiah. And the Messiah is the one who could save our souls. And we ask, Lord, that you'd save the unsaved this morning. And pray, God, that you'd revolutionize and transform their hearts that they would want to follow and honor Jesus Christ as Lord. We pray in your name. Amen.