The Voice in the Wilderness, Part 6

Thank you, Kristen. Let's pray together. Our most gracious Heavenly Father, today we thank you once again that you allow us this wonderful opportunity to gather together as a family in the study of the Word of the Lord. And pray that our hearts would be open, our eyes would be able to see the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. We pray in your name. Amen. Luke chapter 3 is where we're at this morning, Luke chapter 3. And as you're turning there I'm going to remind you that each of the four Gospels has at the end a commission that God gives to his men to go into all the world and preach the gospel.

You have it in Matthew 28, you have it in Mark 15, you have it in John chapter 20. You also have it in the book of Acts, the first chapter.

But at the end of Luke there is that that fifth element of going to all the world and preaching the gospel. Let me read to you what Jesus says to his men.

This is after his resurrection. This is before his ascension. And this is what he says in verse number 46. He said to them, thus it is written that the Christ, the Messiah, should suffer and rise again for the dead the third day.

And that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all the nations beginning from Jerusalem. Christ gives to us the very simple gospel message that is to be preached beginning in Jerusalem to all the nations of the world. That there is a Messiah and he is that Messiah. He came to suffer and to die and rise again. And that repentance for the remission of sins should be preached in his name. The essence of the gospel is the turning from something and trusting in someone.

That's the gospel. It's a turning from my sin to trust the Savior, the Messiah, for my life. It's the emptying of myself and the embracing of a Savior. And that in essence is the message that John the Baptist preached. It was a message of turning from your sin, the essence of repentance, and embracing the Messiah in order to obtain the forgiveness of sins. And it's Christ who does the turning of a man toward him in order that that man or woman would trust him for all things. So the essence of the gospel is repentance and faith and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was Charles Spurgeon who wrote these words in his book, All of Grace. He said, Repentance is the inseparable companion of faith. All the while that we walk by faith and not by sight, the tear of repentance glitters in the eye of faith. That is not true repentance, which does not come of faith in Jesus. And that is not true faith in Jesus, which is not tinctured with repentance. Faith and repentance, like Siamese twins, are vitally joined together. Faith and repentance are but two spokes in the same wheel, two handles of the same plow.

Repentance has been well described as a heart broken for sin and from sin, and it may equally well be spoken of as a turning and returning. It is a change of mind of the most thorough and radical sort. And it is attended with sorrow for the past and a resolve of amendment in the future. Repentance of sin and faith in divine pardon are the warp and wool of the fabric of real conversion. Spurgeon understood what John preached. That for a man to be saved, there is a repentance, a turning from my sin, in order to embrace the Messiah.

John's whole life was about that. His whole ministry, six months as it was, was all about preaching that gospel. That man would turn from his sin and embrace Jesus Christ as the Messiah. And John had a deep conviction about what he preached. John had a deep compulsion about how he delivered that message. Because he wanted people to realize that for the most part they had deceived themselves or had been deceived by Satan. John knew about the superficiality of religion during his day. He knew about the hypocrisy of the religion in his day.

And so when all these people from Jerusalem and in Judea and the surrounding area were the surrounding region were coming down to the river to be baptized, he was concerned that people so readily would make their journey down there without understanding what it is they were actually doing. He was concerned about that and thus we should be concerned about that. In fact, if you read through the New Testament, every gospel writer was concerned about that. Jesus himself was concerned about that. And so when he preached that sermon on the mount, that sermon there on the slopes of Galilee, he closed with these words.

He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles and then I will declare to them I never knew you depart from me you who practice lawlessness. Now think about that. Jesus preaching a sermon there on the slopes of Galilee helping people to understand there will be many people, not a few, there will be many of you who will say to me in that day, Lord, we did this in your name.

They had been deceived by Satan. You see, Satan wants people to think they are religious. He wants people to think they are right with God. He wants people to think that by the good things they do and the way they live their life that that will be enough to get them to heaven. That's why every religious cult, every false religion centers around the works. It's all about what I can do to get there and every false religion has no security about eternal life. There's only one that has security about eternal life and that's the one with Jesus Christ our Lord, the relationship one can have with him.

But every false religion has no guarantee of the future, has no guarantee of eternal life. Why? Because it's all based on man and man's works and his deeds. And he has no guarantee that he's ever going to be good enough. And so Christ was concerned that there will be many people who say to me on that day, look, we did all this for you, Lord. There are a lot of people in churches today doing things for the Lord, so they think. So they think and maybe that's you today. I don't know. Maybe you're here today and you think that you're here and you think that you're saved and you think that the things you're doing are going to get you to heaven and you think that one day you're going to go to heaven, but in reality, you'll wake up in hell.

What a tragedy. And Christ was concerned about that. Paul would be concerned about it as well when he wrote to Titus when he said about false teachers. They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. There are many people who profess to know God, but in reality their lifestyle is a demonstration that they do not know God. Remember over in the book of Revelation, third chapter, the church of Sardis, Christ says, you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

That's many churches today. They have a name. They have a name up on the outside of the church. This is church of this or church of that. And Christ says, you've got a name that you're alive.

You've got people that are in your church, but in reality you're dead. There is no life there. You have people that exist in your building, but there is no life in the people who are in the building. And Christ would go on to say these words, wake up and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. Remember therefore what you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.

But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments and they will walk with me in white for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments and I will not erase his name from the book of life and I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. He who has ears to hear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. In fact, Christ closes every letter with the same phrase. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

Why? Because the churches are full of people who are deceived, who think they are on their way to heaven because they have done this or they've done that or they have walked an aisle, they've said a prayer, they've signed a card, they've done something that they believe saves them. But in reality they are not saved. And that's why Christ would say over in the book of of Matthew, the fifth chapter, 20th verse, Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Because their righteousness was one which was a self-righteousness. It came about because of human achievement. Christ says the righteousness you must have comes by divine accomplishment.

It comes through my work on Calvary's cross, not your work to get you into heaven. Simon Magus in Acts chapter 8 is a perfect example of someone who's deceived, who wanted to buy into the works of the spirit of God, who was baptized but truly wasn't born again. The Bible is filled with exhortations to people that say look, be on the alert, be careful, make sure you know you are truly born again. Make sure you have truly repented from your sin and turn to embrace the Messiah. And that's what John was concerned about.

And every preacher of the gospel is going to be concerned about the exact same thing. I'm, not sure you can be a preacher of the true gospel and stand before people week after week after week after week without saying them, Are you sure? Do you know for certain that if you die tonight, you spend eternity with Christ? How do you know that? What do you, what do you base that on? Do you know what the word of God says about eternal life?

Because so many people are very easily deceived. If I'm a parent, I'm concerned about my children. I'm concerned that my children are not deceived. Let me tell you something, growing up in a family like mine, where the word of God is emphasized and preached, it could very easily happen to one of my children that they are deceived into thinking they are saved when in reality they are not.

I'm concerned about that. So we question our children. We examine our children. We get them to reevaluate their lives in light of the word of God on a constant basis because we don't want them to think they're going to heaven. We want them to know they're going to heaven. Big difference. And as parents, you should be concerned about that with your children. Don't just think that one day your children said a prayer while they were in Sunday school and they were baptized in the church, therefore, at least they're going to go to heaven.

You don't know that. You know that. How? By understanding what has taken place in their life today. How many children do you know that were made a profession of faith in Sunday school, were baptized in their Sunday school church or the church where the Sunday school existed, have grown up and now have walked away from the Lord and are no longer walking with him at all? That means that what took place way back then wasn't really genuine. It wasn't really true. Because you see, when the spirit of God's within you, we talked about it, Ezekiel 36, 25, I will cause my spirit to dwell in you and cause you to walk in my ways.

Let me tell you something. When the spirit of God resides within an individual, it causes them to walk in the ways of God. It doesn't cause you to walk away from God. It causes you to walk toward God and embrace God and follow God and want to serve God and want to honor God and want to honor his word and want to be in his word and love his word. So many people are deceived today. I don't want that to be you. I don't want it to be anybody in my family. I don't want it to be anybody that I come in contact with.

I constantly remind people day after day. Are you sure you're saved? Do you know the Lord? When someone comes to me for counseling, do you know you know the Lord? How do you know you know the Lord? Because everything we talk about in the counseling session is based on God's word. If you don't know the Lord, then the things we're going to talk about aren't going to help you. Because the spirit of God works in conjunction with the word of God. John the Baptist was concerned about that. And so he would say the same thing over and over and it's so easy for us just to say, well, you know, I was there when they said the prayer.

Is there a place where they say a prayer in the Bible where they got saved? I don't think so. But we say, well, I was there when they said the prayer. And you know, I was with them when they walked down the aisle at the crusade. I've been with lots of people when they walked down the aisle at the crusade. I've been with lots of people when they prayed only to find out that what they did wasn't truly genuine, wasn't truly a turning from sin to embrace the Messiah. And that's John's concern and that's the whole subject of his message.

That's why we spend time in Luke chapter 3. That's why we just don't read it, make a few comments about it, and brush over it. It is absolutely vital for you to know. It's absolutely vital for your friends to know. It's absolutely vital for your husband and wife to know. I don't know how many husbands and wives I talk to throughout the weeks and they tell me, I'm not sure my husband or my wife is saved. You need to know. You need to be able to explain to them what the Bible says without being afraid of turning them away to show them what exactly the truth of God's word says.

And that's why we have spent so much time looking at this confrontational message that John preaches because that's truly what it is. He confronts hypocrisy. He confronts religiosity and he confronts superficiality. Because he knows the works of Satan and he knows how Satan sets the mind and deceives the mind and causes people to think they're saved and causes people to think that they've done enough good things to make it that they're okay. And Satan deceives us. He's the angel of light. He deceives everybody he possibly can.

And we have to be aware of that. And we must ask and answer the questions. Have I truly repented of my sin? How do we know that? John makes it very clear. There's a reflection on personal sin. You're able to look at your life and know that you're a sinner.

That's why he talks about in verses four and five and six about digging down and bringing up the the deep things and the high lofty things bringing them down and making sure that the the rough road is made smooth. That's a whole aspect of a repentant heart that wants to deal with anything hidden, anything high, anything low, anything that would distract me from preparing a path for the Messiah to enter my life. Remember, repentance is not a work of man. It's a work of God. And when God does a work in a life, man wants to do those things.

See? So there's that reflection on personal sin. There is that recognition of eternal wrath. Of eternal wrath. And John preached about that. Who warned you to flee, you brood of vipers, from the wrath that come? He would talk about the winnowing fork is in his hand. We'll talk about that this morning. He talked about the judgment of God. And so anybody who repents of a sin recognizes that there is eternal wrath, that there is eternal judgment that's going to come. And the Jews knew about the eternal judgment that Messiah would bring when he arrived.

He also talked about how true repentance is about a rejection of any external ritual. Paul would say it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing of the Spirit of God that a man is born again. And John would say, listen, just because you're coming down to the river to dunk yourselves into the Jordan, that's not going to save you. But the Jews thought that it would. It'd be one more aspect that they could do to gain favor with God. And you must reject all external ritual.

And you must renounce all familial heritage. You're not born again because you're in the right family. And the Jews are really big on that. They're Jewish people. They're sons and daughters of Abraham. Of course, they're born again in their mind. But he says, no, don't come down here and talk about the fact that you're sons of Abraham. That means nothing to God. He can make these stones into his children if he wanted to. It's kind of a demeaning statement, but that's what he said. And then there's that revelation of a spiritual transformation.

We talked about that. He said, bring forth fruit that demonstrates a true repentant spirit. There's a revelation of spiritual transformation. That is, there's something that's changed in my life. When a person is truly repentant, there is a revelation of a spiritual transformation. Something has changed. That's why the Bible says over in Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1, these words, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ.

You have been chosen, listen, to obey. Obey. Not disobey, but obey. So the supreme characteristic of the believer is not a life of disobedience, but a life of obedience. There are times where the obedient Christian disobeys, but the habit pattern of his life is the desire to obey his God. Why? Because we have been chosen by God to obey him. If we've been chosen by God to be saved, and we are, then if we're chosen, then we're chosen by God to obey him, we will. It's as simple as that. That's why Ephesians 2 10 talks about that we are his workmanship.

And we have been created in Christ Jesus unto good works. That is, the reason God saved us is that we might obey him and live a life that brings glory and honor to his name. Salvation comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. And when a man puts his faith in Christ alone for his salvation, God does a spiritual transformation to such an extent that he obeys God because we are the workmanship of God. That is what salvation is about. Salvation is not about letting you get through this life by the skin of your teeth in order that you might escape eternal hell.

Salvation is about a spiritual transformation where the life of God invades the life of man. And when the life of God invades the life of man, that man is changed. He is never the same again. That, my friend, is true biblical salvation. Anything other than that is a false salvation. It's not true. It's not genuine. Listen to what J.C. Ryle said. He said sanctification is the invariable result of the vital union with Christ which true faith gives to a Christian. He quotes John 15 5. He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit.

The branch which bears no fruit is no living branch of the vine. The union with Christ which produces no effect on heart and life is a mere formal union which is worthless before God. The faith which has not a sanctifying influence on the character is no better than the faith of devils. It is a dead faith because it is alone. It is not the gift of God. It is not the faith of God's elect. In short, where there is no sanctification of life, there is no real faith in Christ. True faith worketh by love.

It constrains a man to live unto the Lord from a deep sense of gratitude for redemption. It makes him feel that he can never do too much for him that died for him. Being much forgiven, he loves much. He whom the blood cleanses walks in the light. He who has real lively hope in Christ purifieth himself even as he is pure. Folks, that is the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God in the life of a man. And John, being the true forerunner to the Messiah, did not want people to be deceived. He wanted them to understand what true repentance is all about.

And that's why they asked, well, what is it we are to do? What is it you want us to do? If I'm a task gatherer, what does that mean for me? If I'm a soldier, what does that mean for me? If I'm just average Joe Schmoe out here, one of the multitude guys, what does that mean for me? And John would go through and explain. This is what it means. It's a practical living out of your faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And yet people can turn from all that and not be saved because they haven't embraced the Messiah.

And that's where the sixth element comes in. And that is this. There is a reception of a supernatural Messiah. And this really not only is the sixth point of repentance, but it's also the sixth point of our outline. Because you see, now we come to the point of clarification. John needs to clarify them who it is they need to embrace. Who it is they need to receive as Lord and Messiah of their lives. Let me tell you something.

It is imperative that you understand that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. And that you believe that He is the Messiah of Israel. That He is the seed of Abraham. And that He is the Redeemer of the Jewish people. It's imperative that you believe that. Because John 20, 31 tells us that many other signs did Jesus that are not recorded in this book. But these are written. That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that believing in His name, you might have life. These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

The Son of God. And that you might have life in His name. Listen to Isaiah chapter 59. Verse 21. Verse 20. And the Redeemer, Messiah, will come to Zion. And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob declares the Lord. The Redeemer, the Messiah, comes to Zion. One day He will return. Zechariah 9, 9 was the first fulfillment of that when He came on a donkey.

The second time He comes according to Romans 11, 25. That will be a second coming. He comes on a white horse. But He will come to Zion. And listen, He comes to all those who turn from their transgressions. And that's what John preached. You got to make the path ready. You got to prepare the heart. He had a ministry of preparation. He had a ministry of presentation. He had to first tell people this is how you prepare your heart so that when the Messiah is finally presented to you, you will embrace Him, receive Him unto yourself.

And that is John's message. And this is what he says in terms of clarification as to who the Messiah is in verse number 15 of Luke chapter 3. Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John as to whether he might be the Christ, John answered and said to them, All 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. And he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

He said there's one coming who's mightier than me. I'm just a man, but there's coming a supernatural man. I can dunk you in the river. But he will deliver you unto retribution. I can do what I'm doing. But there's only one who can baptize you with the Spirit and with fire. And the Jews would know who that was. See, remember we told you so many times when you read the Bible, you got to read with a Jewish mind, not a Gentile mind. You got to know what the writers were saying to the people they wrote to.

And these were Jewish people and they would, that's why there's no explanation given in Luke chapter 3 about the one who would come who's mightier than John. He would baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. There's no explanation about that. There doesn't need to be an explanation about that because the Jews knew about that. They understood it. They could grasp it. They could get a hold of it. And John says, look, I'm John. I'm not worthy to do anything. I'm not even worthy to bow down, to stoop low, and to tie the thong of a sandal.

I'm just a man. But the one who's coming after me, he is the coming one. That's a phrase from Isaiah chapter 40. It's a phrase of the Messiah, the coming one. The expected one is also a phrase. Remember over in Luke chapter 7? Listen to this. Luke 7, verse number 18. And the disciples of John reported to him about all these things. That is, John's in prison now.

And his disciples, John's disciples, are reporting to him what's taking place with the Messiah. And summoning two of the disciples, John sent them to the Lord saying, are you the expected one? See, that's the name of the Messiah. These people were in a state of expectation. And they were wondering in their minds, is John the Messiah? Is John the Christ? And John wants to clarify in their minds. I'm not him. I'm the forerunner. But I am not the Messiah. I'm the one here to prepare the way for the Messiah, because the one coming after me is so much mightier than I.

Because he can do what I can't do. He can do the supernatural. I can only do the natural. If you read on in Luke chapter 7, they say, are you the expected one or do we look for someone else? Here's John. He's in prison. He says, go and see if this Jesus is the expected one. Is he the Messiah? Go find out whether or not we should be looking for somebody else. Because if he's the Messiah, why is it I'm still in prison? It says this. And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, are you the expected one or are you the Messiah?

Or do we look for somebody else? At that very time, he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits. And he granted sight to men who were blind, to many who were blind. And he answered and said to them, go and report to John that you have what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me. You go back and tell John that I am the fulfillment of all the things in the Old Testament as set forth in Isaiah chapter 61.

I am the Messiah. And if you believe in me and not stumble over me, you'll be blessed. See he was the Messiah. But John even questioned his own mind. Because where is the day of vengeance? Where is the one who will redeem Israel? See John didn't have the full picture either. We do because we have the completed New Testament. But John didn't have the entire picture. He just knew that he was the forerunner. He knew Messiah was coming and they had to embrace this one who was mightier than he. And this is the one who will baptize you with the Spirit and with fire.

Now folks, that's important because all Jews knew about the coming of Messiah is that when he came there'd be a baptism of the Spirit. That's what Ezekiel 36 is about. That's what Jeremiah 31 is about. About the new covenant. They associated new covenant with the coming of the Spirit of God. And how the Spirit of God would indwell a man and cause that man to walk in him. Remember the Abrahamic covenant? The Abrahamic covenant dealt with the seed, okay, would be the Messiah, and the soil, the land in which was Israel's.

The Davidic covenant dealt with a sovereign, the king who would come. The Mosaic covenant dealt with the standard that could not be kept because it was the law of God. So you know that there's a seed that's going to come, you know the soil is going to be yours, you know the sovereign is going to arrive, but there's a standard you got to keep and you can't make it. You can't make it. You can't keep the standard. So that's where the new covenant comes in because the new covenant is about the Spirit who allows you to want to meet the standard.

And that's the whole picture of salvation in the Old Testament as it anticipates the coming of Messiah in what he will bring. And so they knew that with the coming of Messiah would come the Spirit of God. They knew Isaiah chapter 11, Isaiah 42, Isaiah 11, 1 and 2, Isaiah 42, 1, Isaiah 61, 1. All of it dealt with the Spirit of God resting on and dwelling on the Messiah. That's why, listen, that's why when Christ was baptized the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove. And everybody saw that.

Everybody saw because it was a confirmation of his Messiahship. They knew Isaiah 11, Isaiah 42, Isaiah 61. They knew that when Messiah came the Spirit of God would rest upon him. And so there was a visible evidence where the Spirit of God would descend upon the Messiah at his baptism to fulfill the prophecy of the Old Testament. So they knew about the Spirit. And they knew the prophecy of Joel chapter 2. They knew what Joel had said. Joel 2 28 and it will come about after this that I will pour out my spirit on all mankind.

And your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions. And even on the male and female servants I will pour out my spirit in those days. They knew that when Messiah came there would be an outpouring of the Spirit of God. So they knew that. That's why there's no explanation in Luke 3 about what the mightier one would do when it came to baptizing you in the Holy Spirit and with fire. Because they knew what the Old Testament said about there would be a great outpouring of the Spirit of God upon man, that the Messiah would have the Spirit of God upon him.

Okay. And then it says, not only will He baptize you with the Spirit, some of you will be baptized with fire. See there's that balance in His preaching about the blessing and the burning. The two aspects of ministry in the gospel presentation. There's a blessing to those who embrace Him and there is burning for those who reject Him. It's very clear. And so John says, this one will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And the Jews knew about the fire of retribution. All you got to do is go back to Isaiah 29 verse number 1, Ezekiel 31 verse number 9, I'm sorry, Isaiah 31 verse number 9, Ezekiel 38, 22, Amos 7 verse number 4, Zephaniah 1 verse number 18, Daniel 7 verse number 10.

They knew that fire was associated with judgment and retribution. They knew that. That's why John, when the disciples were walking, James and John were walking with Christ, and there were some people who rejected the Messiah, who wouldn't let the Messiah go through one of their cities, what did James and John say? Should we now call fire down from heaven and consume them and burn them? That's important, isn't it? They understood fire with the judgment of God. They associated it too. Or you can read about it over in Luke chapter 17 verse number 49 with Sodom and Gomorrah, over in Revelation 19 verse number 11, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 7.

It's Paul who says this about the coming of Messiah and the retribution that would come upon his arrival. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 7 says this. It says, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. See, they knew that. Listen to what Christ says in Luke chapter 12.

This is quite a statement. Luke 12 verse number 49. I have come to cast fire upon the earth and how I wish it were already kindled. Wow. Christ says, I've come to judge and I wish now was the time.

It wasn't the time, was it? See, this is the grace of God. They knew that when Messiah arrived, there would be a baptism of spirit and a baptism of fire. Those who were believers in the Messiah and embraced him would be blessed because he'd be filled with the spirit of God and those who would reject him would be burned forever. They knew that. Christ says, boy, I wish now was the time of judgment.

I wish the fire was already kindled. But when it came the first time, it came to bless man. Came to offer man a solution to a sin. Came to show man the way of salvation. And for 2000 years, that same gospel had been preached so people would understand the patience and longsuffering of God that they might embrace the Messiah as the true savior of the soul. But one day he's coming. One day he's going to return. And Revelation 1911 says that there'll be fire in his eyes because everything he sees, he sees through the ultimate eye of justice and judgment.

And when he comes the second time, he will judge the earth. Very important. And so, Luke does give an illustration or an analogy about how that's going to happen. Verse number 17, and his winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the weed into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquestionable fire. So here again illustrates how it is this whole process is going to happen. How does he divide those who will embrace him and those who will reject him?

The winnowing fork was that big, huge spatula where they would take the grain and it'd be on this huge, what they call a threshing floor, a huge stone. And all that grain would be placed next to that, on that threshing floor, and they would take that spatula and they would throw it up in the air, and all the chaff by the wind would be blown away, and the grain would drop to the threshing floor. And that grain would be gathered together and put into a barn, but the chaff will be gathered together and be burned.

And that's exactly the whole parable about the wheat and the tares. And so he gives it an analogy, an illustration that these two are together, but God separates them, and that wind blows away the chaff to be burned. Just to say, look, there's going to be some of you who will be burned and some of you who will be blessed. The question is, if your repentance is not genuine, you'll be burned. If it is, you'll be blessed. Now, the question is, is your repentance genuine? See, the Jews knew that when Messiah came, this is what He would do.

Do you know that? Do you know that when Messiah arrives, this is what's going to happen? And the question is, do we know for certain that we have genuinely repented of our sins? Let me tell you something.

The Bible says very clearly that those who are religious people, who think they're going to go to heaven, who think they're good people, that they've done enough to earn interest in the heaven, that those people, their fiery judgment will be worse than the most wretched, vile sinner who ever lived.

Did you know that? God's greatest condemnation comes against the hypocrite, comes against the people who are, quote, religious, comes against the people who think they're on their way to glory. Think about this. The Lord said these words to Capernaum. I love going to Capernaum when we go to Israel. Capernaum is a fascinating place. It's a great place archaeologically, but it's a great place to understand condemnation. Why? Capernaum was the place where Jesus basically had His hub of His ministry in the Galilee.

It was basically His home there in Galilee. That's where He resided the most. That's where Peter's home was. And yet Christ said in Matthew 11, verse number 24, I believe it is, that it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment. For Sodom and Gomorrah than for you, Capernaum. That's a harsh statement. See, Capernaum never, never out, had a, had a lashing out against the Messiah, never really came out against Him, never wanted to throw Him off a cliff, never wanted to speak against Him. They didn't do that.

They just heard Him, but they never accepted Him for who He was. They were religious people. They were in their mind good people. I mean, after all, it was the home where Jesus made His residency. This is a great thing. But Christ saved His strictest condemnation for people like that. You think you're religious, you think things are good. But I want to let you know, in the day of judgment, Sodom and Gomorrah, that immoral, vile, wretched city, and those who dwelt there will have an easier judgment than you, because you knew the truth, and you rejected the truth.

You knew the truth and decided that your way was better than God's way. And therefore, your judgment will be worse than the most wretched, vile sinners who ever existed on the earth. Wow, that's an amazing statement. So God says, Christ Community Church is a great place to come.

But if you're not saved, and you come regularly, this is the worst place for you to ever be, because you're without excuse. You know the truth. If you don't embrace it, you reject it. And the judgment for your life will be worse than those who live vile, wretched, evil, sinful, lustful, corrupt lives. And so that's why it's important for you to examine your life. Have I truly repented of my sin? That's why we've spent so much time here, because you need to know what the Bible says about genuine repentance.

But after the clarification comes the contention, because every true preacher of the gospel will face a war. A war. Because the next few verses, verses 18, 19, and 20, guess where John goes? Goes to prison, never to return again. Because what he said offended people, especially Herod the Tetrarch. He was offended, greatly offended, because John confronted his sinful behavior. Herod didn't like it, and John was beheaded. It's a fabulous story. It's the Bible. But that's what happens when a man decides that he's going to preach the truth and confront sin.

Better to lose your head and preach the gospel than keep your head and compromise the gospel. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day and all that you've done. And I do pray for every man and woman in this room that there would be no deception in their hearts and lives, that they would know for certain that Jesus Christ truly is their king, their ruler, their master, the one that they have turned to and embraced, that they might experience salvation to the fullest. We thank you for the Word of God.

Thank you for John the Baptist, John the baptizer. He feared no man. He only feared his God. He preached with passion and conviction. Pray that we'd be like that, Lord, never compromising the truth of your holy Word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.