Repent As Good News?

Amen. Jeff, I'm glad Christmas is not canceled.

You have to admit, though, sometimes the Christmas season can make me a little bit of a curmudgeon.

There's a song that I particularly find a little draining.

It's on my Amy Grant Christmas album from 1987 or something.

Many of those of you who were born then, so you haven't been subjected to this.

One of the songs she sings is, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

And I know it's supposed to be an uplifting song, make you happy as you're going to the mall shopping or doing whatever.

And I know there's a message of real joy at Christmas that these songs are supposed to be helping us take hold of.

But, gosh, sometimes it's just so saccharine and so glitzy and so light and tinsel.

And it seems to lack substance.

It feels like it promotes Christmas as the hallmark countdown to Christmas holiday season.

If you're not familiar with that, don't go there.

No, even there, like, there's hopefulness there.

Like, life can't turn out well.

But, you can't find love in your life.

But, the reality is that Christmas is, it just makes, leaves me feeling, having a hollow feeling.

Is this really what Christmas is about?

Is there anything more than this?

This leads us to our passage this morning.

We're continuing in our series on John the Baptist.

And it's going to be a good day to talk about John the Baptist because we're going to have a lot of baptisms in a few minutes.

And so, we're going to look at him.

And if you were here last week, we talked a little bit about John the Baptist, the person, and the context of his ministry.

That he was uniquely the last of the Old Testament prophets come to bridge into the New Testament by proclaiming that all the hopes and fears of the Old Testament people, God.

As they look forward to what God would do.

As they were longing and crying out for God to fulfill the promises of salvation and of restoration and of establishment of his kingdom.

John has come and said, I'm the last of the Old Testament prophets because what's going to come after me will be the fulfillment of all those things.

So, we looked at the context of who John the Baptist was last week.

And then this week, we're going to talk a little bit about the context of his message.

We're going to look at Luke chapter 3.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

If you want to turn there, it's page 858 in your pew Bible.

Luke chapter 3.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

We're going to be reading verses 1 through 18.

What we will see is that at the very core of John's message is this.

Get ready.

The Lord is coming.

This is a message that is both a warning and a message of hope.

And that's what we're going to see as we read this book together.

So, Luke chapter 3, verses 1 through 18.

Luke 3:1–18

Let's read that together.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, being governor of Judea,

and Herod, being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip, tetrarch of the region of Turia and Trachonitis,

and Lysanias, tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,

the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

the voice of one crying in the wilderness,

Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall become straight,

and the rough places shall become level waves,

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him,

You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruits in keeping with repentance,

and do not begin to say to yourselves,

We have Abraham as our father.

For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

And the crowds asked him,

What then shall we do?

He answered them,

Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none,

and whoever has food is to do likewise.

Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him,

Teacher, what shall we do?

And he said to them,

Collect no more than you are authorized to do.

The soldiers also asked him,

And what shall we do?

And he said to them,

Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation,

and be content with your wages.

As the people were filled with expectation,

and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ,

John answered them all,

saying,

I baptize you with water,

but he who is mightier than I is coming,

the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

His winnowing fork is in his hands,

clear his brushing floor,

and gather the wheat into his barn,

but the chaff he will burn with unfunchable fire.

So with many other exhortations,

he preached good news to the people.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we come before you this morning,

yearning that the message of Christmas would have greater significance to us,

because of your word.

Lord, I pray this morning as we look into this passage,

Lord, that you would speak to us.

Lord, that you would prepare our hearts to receive the message that you have for us this morning.

God, I pray that I might speak your words faithfully,

and that your Holy Spirit would apply your word to our minds and to our hearts this morning.

Lord, help us this morning to hear your word,

and to listen to you, and to recite you.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Get ready.

The Lord is coming.

It's interesting when you look at verse 18,

how Luke kind of wraps up this section.

He says that the Lord was preaching,

or John the Baptist was preaching good news,

but did it strike you as a message of good news as you listen?

When you look particularly at verses 7 through 14,

does this sound like good news to you?

John's message has a warning in it.

That we all need to hear this warning.

And at its core, the message is this.

You are not okay with God.

And He is coming to settle accounts with you.

Do you notice the images that he used?

He talked about a wrath that is to come.

He talked about an axe being laid at the root of a tree.

A tree that would be evaluated for its fruit,

and if found lacking,

if found unworthy,

it would be chopped down.

John begins his message of good news by saying,

there is a problem here.

You are not okay with God,

and He is coming.

And He is coming to judge.

Now, judgment is not something we particularly like in our culture today.

It's not something that we...

And part of it, there's a proper recognition that

when we as human beings take on the role of ultimate judge in the world,

we fail.

Because we are finite people,

and we are weak,

and we don't know all that we ought to.

And yet, it has made us squeamish about the idea

that there could be any judgment at all.

But instead, what we see in the Bible

is that judgment is actually inherent

in the overall message of the Bible,

and is key to the good news that it proclaims.

Let me explain that briefly.

First of all, we see John has taken up this role

as the last Old Testament prophet.

And as you may have this impression in your mind,

oh, the Old Testament prophets,

they were the ones who always preached judgment,

who always talked about how everyone was doing everything wrong,

and how God was going to come and bring destruction.

But interestingly,

if you look at the New Testament,

if you read Jesus' words carefully

and with your eyes open,

you will see that

John is in a part of a tradition

that does stretch back through the Old Testament,

but stretches ahead

into the very words and teaching of Jesus

and the teaching of the Apostle Paul,

the Bible speaks from beginning to end

that judgment is coming.

But it not only says that,

but it says that this judgment is good.

I'll explain that to you

because you may be surprised when I say that.

Judgment is good

because it means that people will not be loved.

Judgment is good

because it means that wrongdoing

will not be overlooked.

We all have deep in us

a sense of right and wrong,

a sense of justice.

We may argue until we,

as long as the day is,

about what is wrong and what is right,

but we all know

that there is a right and wrong.

And we all long

for evil to stop.

We all long

for wrongdoers

to face consequences,

to be punished,

or to be redeemed,

but not for it to be simply overlooked.

And the message of judgment

in the scriptures

is an important one

for us to recognize.

That it is not just there

consistently and conspicuously,

but it is actually

a good message for us.

And so John comes and he says,

there is a judgment coming.

And here's the thing,

if we're an oppressed people,

if we are on the receiving end

of wrongdoing or evil in the world,

we long for that, don't we?

We long for King Richard

to return from his travels to England

and cast out that nasty Prince John.

All of this is through Disney.

This is not history.

This is all through Disney.

Because that King Richard

will come back

and he will cast out Prince John

who's been taxing people to death

and putting people in prison

and oppressing the good citizens

of England.

When we're on that end

of evil,

we long for this judgment to come.

But John also sees

that there are some

who need to recognize

that you're actually

on the other side.

You are the one

who when God comes,

he will find you wanting.

He will find you

to be one

who is perpetrating

evil in the world.

He will find you

whose heart is not right

before God

and before your fellow

human beings.

This is what we see.

Look with me again

in the scriptures.

This is what we see

in verse 8 particularly.

John says,

bear fruit

of repentance.

That is,

look to your life

to see what kind

of things it bears.

And then he goes on

and this seems to be

the very heart

of his warning.

And interestingly,

when you look at the

parallel passage

in Matthew,

Matthew identifies

that he's particularly

saying these things

to the religious leaders,

the Pharisees

and the Sadducees.

But it seems that here,

Luke chooses not to do that

because it's a broader thing

that he's warning them of.

Jews in the first century

might have felt

very entitled.

I am a physical

descendant of Abraham.

I am a citizen

of the nation of Israel.

I am a regular partaker

in the worship

in the temple

and the offering

of sacrifices

as I ought to.

Therefore,

I must be okay with God.

And religious identity.

Know that you cannot

be good with God

simply through

those things.

Those formal,

external things

are never enough.

Your heritage

as a churchgoer,

your self-identity

as a good person

who does good things

to others,

these are not sufficient.

John says,

you need a life

that's transformed.

He even looks at,

when he talks to those

in verses 10 through 14,

he has a whole list of people.

He has a crowd

and he has tax collectors

who were hated collaborators

of the Roman oppressors

and he has soldiers

who were the means

by which this oppression

has been laid out.

And they come to him

and they say,

what do we have to do?

And he says,

you have to change

the way you live.

You have to change

how you wield your power,

whether it be

your material belongings,

your position

in government,

or the raw physical power

of a soldier.

You may no longer

use these things

to oppress,

but you must use them

righteously

and to serve others.

And the warning

is that being religious

does not save us.

Being good

does not save us.

We need something else.

We need a change of heart

and we need a change

of character.

Friends,

this is bad news for us

potentially as well.

You may be sitting here

this morning

because going to church

is something

you've grown up with.

It's the right thing to do.

As one of the great

70s theologians,

Keith Green,

that was a joke.

If you don't know him,

he's a popular singer.

But going to church

doesn't make you Christian

any more than going to McDonald's

makes you a hamburger.

attendance does not produce

what church

is meant

to produce.

Simply being here,

simply doing those,

going through the motions

is not enough

for us.

And even our

good enough,

whether we're not,

maybe we're not churchgoers,

but we're here this morning

because our friend

is being baptized.

baptized,

even your good enough

by whatever standard

you have

is not going

to be enough.

John the Baptist says

what you need

is a baptism of repentance

for the forgiveness

of sins.

That's what it says

in verse 3.

That was the core

of his message.

A baptism

is a picture

of cleansing.

You need to be

cleansed of something

that right now

you are

dirty with.

And that dirt

is sin.

And that sin

is all the ways

in which we fail

to honor

and glorify God.

Tyler,

thank you for your prayer

this morning.

That was a beautiful expression

of our understanding

of sin

and how our selfishness

and our rejection

of God

and our desire

to glorify ourselves

and the ways

that in so many

petty ways

we hurt others

and exalt ourselves.

all the various ways

in which we

deny God

in our lives

and put ourselves

at the center.

All of these

are expressions

of sin.

For the religious people

it was putting

their religious performance

and identity

before God

in the middle

of their lives.

And John says

you must turn

from these things.

The warning

comes with an exhortation

to repent.

And repentance

means to change

your mind.

It means to change

your mind

about something.

What I used to think

was most important.

What I used to think

was most central.

What I used to think

would make me okay

with God

and has failed.

What I used to think

would give me

a good life

but will put me

at odds with God.

I have to turn

from those things.

I need to abandon

the belief

that those things

are right and good

and what God

wants for me

and I must turn

to something else.

This is what

biblical repentance is.

It is seeing things

the way God sees it

and seeing what is wrong

and what is evil

and what is sinful

and agreeing

that those things

are not good

and turning from them

to something else.

And that something else

is not simply

a right understanding

of God

intellectually.

Not simply

an uptick

in our morality

for this week

or this month

but it's the forgiveness

of our sins.

Friends,

this is the

good news

that John

wants to bring.

Though there is

a great warning

and though the king

is going to come

and there will be

a reckoning

but there is

a place to turn

not only turn from

but there is a place

to turn to

and when we turn

to him

there is hope

for us.

Because many people

flocked from Jerusalem.

They were leaving

behind the temple.

They were leaving

behind the city

where God was

meant to dwell

with his people.

They knew

that it was empty

and they were

looking for

something more.

And they wondered,

John, are you the one?

Are you the one

who's going to bring

the fulfillment

of all the promises?

John says,

no, it's not me.

There's one coming

after me.

One who is so much

greater than I

that I am even

unworthy

to untie

his sandals.

And remember,

untying his sandals

is not an act

of honor

or a display

of great respect.

It was a work

of a servant.

It was a dirty work.

It was taking off

the shoes

after you've lived,

after you've walked

around

the dusty,

dirty,

and I mean

stinky dirty,

streets

of Palestine.

It was not an honor

to untie their shoes.

It was drudge work.

And John says,

I'm not even worthy

to do that

because of the greatness

of the one

who comes

after me.

He is coming.

He is going to be

the one

that when you see him

you will see

the salvation

of God

mentioned in verse 6.

He is going to be

the one

who's going to come

and bring a greater

baptism

than I do

because the baptism

that I do

is water

and it's going

to clean your skin

but the baptism

that he's going

to bring

is going to be

done with the Holy Spirit

and it's going

to clean your soul

and it's going

to be able

to change your heart

and it's going

to be able

to transform

your life.

A turning

to this one

who comes

after me

will be turning

to

what you've

really always

longed for.

And in fact

it's not just

you turning

to him

but it's him

coming for you.

Did you see it

in verses

16 and 17

which John

is talking

about

this one

who's coming

after him.

Verse 17

is such a powerful

verse.

His winnowing fork

is in his hand

to clear his

threshing floor

and to gather

the wheat

into his barn

but the chaff

he will burn

with the unquenchable

fire.

This is a picture

from if you've

never seen

a threshing floor

it's basically

this platform

that the harvested

grain would be

poured out upon

and the grain

had an inner

meat of it

that was good

and an outer husk

that was hard

and dry

and inedible

and in order

to separate them out

the threshers

would take a shovel

and throw it

up in the air

and the wind

would blow

the hard

chaff

that was inedible

away

and the good

grain would

fall back

to the

to the floor

and then it

would be gathered

up

and it was

how grain

was harvested

and gathered

and part of

what John

is saying

is that

when Jesus

comes

he will gather

his own

there is wheat

and he will

gather it

there is also

chaff

there are those

who are going

through the motions

there are those

who are trusting

in themselves

there are those

who are doing

all these things

and they will

be blown away

and they will

find themselves

on the wrong

side of judgment

how does

Jesus do this

how do we know

what Jesus

is going to do

what is it

what is John

saying

well he doesn't

say here

but Luke knows

Luke wrote the

gospel to say

read the rest

of the story

read all the way

through chapter 24

for that matter

read the whole

other book

book of Acts

and I'm going

to write

about how this

will change

the world

and change

your life

but Luke

as he lays

out this

he says

this Jesus

that John

is proclaiming

he will come

and live

the perfect

life that we

ought to

but can't

he will offer

himself in our

place

taking upon

himself

the wrath

of God

against our

sin

he will be

cut off

the axe

will be laid

to his

root

he will be

cut off

from God

the father

so that we

won't be

cut off

from God

he will take

the judgment

upon himself

as he dies

on the cross

on Good

Friday

but he will

rise again

as well

he will rise

victorious over

sin and death

and the grave

and he is able

then to be a

savior who

offers to all

who believe

and trust in him

not in their

religious actions

not in their

goodness

but who trust

in him

alone

he comes

to them

as their

savior

and he offers

them

a new

life

and that

new life

is characterized

by repentance

and turning

from sin

and taking

hold of

this new

life that God

has given us

it transforms

our hearts

and enables

us to be

those who

love and

serve others

the way God

has called

us to

so Jesus

comes

Jesus

comes as a

savior

and as a

judge

and the

question that

John the

Baptist put

to his

hearers

is the

question

that I

want to

leave you

with today

are you

ready

are you

ready for

Christmas

are you

ready for

this Jesus

to come

he will

come

and to

all who

turn to

him in

repentance

and faith

who know

the depth

of their

sin

he will

welcome

but to

those of

us who

want to

stand

obstinately

outside

who want

to trust

in ourselves

and make

our own

way

and be

our own

God

he will

come

as a

judge

do you

hear the

warning

and do you

hear the

hope

this is

what

Christmas

is about

let's

pray

together

Jesus

we love

you

and we

thank you

for

this season

where we

remember the

incredible gift

of your

incarnation

that you

came

to be

our savior

by identifying

with us

and dying

for us

Lord I

pray this

morning

that as we

walk through

this season

that you

will help

us

Lord that

you will

help us

to consider

the significance

and the

depth of

what we

celebrate

when we

celebrate

Christmas

and Lord I

pray for

many this

morning

I pray

that the

joy

of the

hope of

salvation

in Christ

would fill

our hearts

that we

would turn

from the

empty

things

of this

world

from the

empty

religiosity

and the

empty

works

that we

would turn

to him

and find

hope

we pray

these things

in Jesus

name

amen