What Should We Do Then?

Luke chapter 3, verse 2. We're going to kind

Luke 3:2

of start mid -verse there. We're going to just

skip all those names at the beginning. We're

just going to kind of get right down to what

we're talking about right there in the middle

of verse 2. Luke chapter 3. Let's pray, and then

Luke 3 · chapter mention

we'll get started. God, we come to you, we thank

you for your good word, and I pray that you would

just help us to focus on you for just a few minutes,

dear Lord. There's a lot of stuff we got going

on this week, dear Lord. I'm sure everybody's

busy with school and work, and just life is tough

sometimes, and there's a lot of things that may

be competing for our attention today, and I pray

that in these few minutes that we would just

try to block all that out, that we would try

to seek you. I pray that we would listen to your

word. God, there may be some things in here that

are good for us, things that we need to hear.

And it is good for us, God, if we'd listen to

it. So help your Holy Spirit see the things that

we need to see. Meet us where we are, dear Lord.

Take away any pride or fear that's within me

and just let everything that's said and done

be for your glory today. In Jesus' name I pray

it. Amen. In the middle of verse 2, Luke chapter

Luke 3 · chapter mention

3, about halfway through the verse, verse 2,

God's word came to John, the son of Zechariah,

in the wilderness. He went into all the vicinity

of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance

for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written

in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

a voice of one crying out in the wilderness,

prepare the way for the Lord, make his path straight.

Each valley will be filled and every mountain

and hill will be made low. The crooked will become

straight, the rough way smooth, and everyone

will see the salvation of God. All right, so

we're introduced to John the Baptist in this

passage, and the fact that John the Baptist was

going to come was prophesied in the Old Testament

that there was coming a day that the salvation

of the Lord was going to come. had sent a lot

of people to be priests and to be kings and to

be judges and people to lead his people and deliver

his people in a variety of ways in the Old Testament.

And the priests served to offer sacrifices to

make at least some level of atonement for the

people's sin. But all of those people that God

sent and all of those ways that were established

in the Old Testament were not, they were just

not sufficient to cover. our sins. Because as

people, we just sin continually. And there was

just this continual need for sacrifice, a continual

need for deliverance. And while there were some

good men and women in the Old Testament that

God used, ultimately they all failed to bring

about the deliverance and the atonement that

God's people needed. And so the Old Testament,

throughout the pages, are pointing us forward

to a Messiah who's going to come, a Savior who's

going to come, a King who's going to come, a

high priest who's going to come, who will be

able to lead God's people, to deliver God's people,

to make atonement for God's people once and for

all. And so Jesus Christ is the one who was talked

about in the Old Testament. He was the one that

all that was going to happen through. But before

he came onto the scene, there was going to be

one who came and prepared the way for him. One

who was going to come, and that was John the

Baptist, to say, okay, the time has come. The

time has come, get ready, because the Messiah

is right around the corner. The Lamb of God is

right around the corner. The one that all these

things are going to be fulfilled through, that

we've seen from the prophets, he's right around

the corner, and in fact, he's here. He's right

here among us right now. So John the Baptist

was preaching an important message, a message

of baptism, but a message of repentance. Repentance

for what? For the forgiveness of sins. He's paving

the way. Okay, what's our problem? Our problem

is the same as everybody in the Old Testament,

everybody that's ever lived problem, and that

is... That we sin, we get on this path that we're

doing these sinful things and we say things and

we do things and we act in ways that are just

sinful that God does not approve of. Now God

tells us, here's how I want you to live. I want

you to love me. I want you to love others. Here's

some things that are not good for you that you

need to avoid. And if we would do those things,

we'd be a lot better off and most of us can probably

attest to the fact that when we do right, Things

go a lot better than when we do wrong, but sometimes

we do wrong, and the Bible calls that sin. And

so it's important for us to realize that we can't

just continue on in that sin, but that God calls

us to repent. That's very important. It's very

important that we understand what repentance

is. Repentance means that we stop... living in

the sin that we're living in. Now, we probably

all have some sin, as Hebrews would say, that

so easily ensnares us. Now, there are some things

that are sinful that you're not tempted by in

the least. Those things aren't really a struggle

for you, but there are some things, maybe one

or two things, that are really, really hard for

you to overcome. There are some temptations that

you know they're sinful and you just give in

to them. And sometimes we get in this pattern

where we kind of don't care. We just kind of

live in that sin and don't really think about

it. But that's why it's important for us to be

in God's Word, to read God's Word on our own,

to come together at church, to come to Sunday

school, to dig into God's Word, to see what it

says. And the more we dig into it, the more the

Holy Spirit can begin to reveal to us, you know,

that's not the way you should be living. And

you've maybe experienced some of those convictions

before. for some things you've said or some things

you've done or maybe even right now, some things

that's going on in your life and you just, you

have an uneasy feeling. You're not at peace because

you know that that's wrong. Now, we can't overcome

those temptations and that sinfulness on our

own. We don't have the power. But praise the

Lord for Jesus Christ. He came and he lived a

perfect life and he did say no to temptation

and he did say no to sin. So he's our source

of strength. When we see in God's word and we

feel the Holy Spirit convict us that things we're

doing are sinful and we shouldn't do those things,

then John the Baptist tells us what we need to

do. He says you need to repent. You need to repent.

You need to say, God, I know this is not right,

and God, I'm not going to live this way anymore.

I don't want to live in this sin. I don't want

to live for myself. I don't want to keep doing

this sinful thing, God. I don't. want to do this

anymore. God, would you forgive me for that sinfulness?

I don't want to give in to the sin, but God,

I want to serve you. I know that my sin is so

big and so deep and so ugly and so nasty that

there's nothing I can do, God, but I see your

word and I trust and I believe that the one that

John the Baptist was talking about, Jesus Christ,

I believe that he did die on a cross. I believe

that he does have the power to forgive my sins.

And God, I believe that he has the strength to

help me. So I repent. I'm turning from my old

ways. God, would you forgive me for what I've

done and help me to live for you? Now, this is

the message that John the Baptist was preaching.

Okay, there's some sin going on among you, the

crowd he was talking to and us too. And you need

to turn from those ways. You don't want to live

in those ways anymore. You need to repent. and

find forgiveness. And that message is still true

for us today. The one he was talking about, Jesus,

is the one who brings forgiveness to our life

today. Okay? So he's preaching this message of

repentance to the crowd who's listening. Listen

to what he says. In verse 7, He then said to

the crowds who came out to be baptized by him,

Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from

the coming wrath? Therefore, produce fruit consistent

with repentance. And don't start saying to yourselves,

we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you

that God is able to raise up children for Abraham

from these stones. Even now the axe is ready

to strike the root of the trees. Therefore, every

tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be

cut down and thrown into the fire. All right,

so he's coming and he's preaching this message.

And he's preaching a pretty strong message. Notice

what he calls the crowd here. He says, brood

of vipers. Now, this is not a really positive

term. Like, this is not really what people probably

wanted to hear. He's preaching this strong message

to these people. And he's trying to get their

attention. He's saying, look, the way you're

living is sinful. And you need to recognize what

you're doing. And you need to recognize, are

you following God or not? It seems pretty obvious

he's talking to a Jewish audience here because

what does he tell them? He says, you better pay

attention and don't come over here telling me,

oh, we're sons of Abraham. Don't come saying,

oh, we're Jews, so we can do whatever we want

to do and it's going to be okay because we're

God's people. We're Jewish people. And John the

Baptist says, hold up just a second. That's not

going to do you any good. The blood that's running

through your veins will do you no good. If you

don't repent and trust in the Messiah who is

coming. Now certainly some Jewish people did

throughout the scripture and Jesus' ministry.

But there was many who didn't. There was many

who did not heed the message of John the Baptist

here. And John the Baptist says, hey, you better

pay attention. Because... It's not the blood

in your veins that's going to save you. It's

the blood of Jesus Christ that's going to wash

away your sins. And so you better pay attention

to this message, repent of your old ways, and

seek to follow Jesus Christ. Now that's the context

of what's going on. Now we may not be Jewish

today, but perhaps we fall into the trap in some

way of... depending on something else or thinking

something else is going to be good enough to

save us from God's wrath. Oh, well, I come from

a good Christian family. I go to church all the

time. Oh, I do this, that, and the other. I sing

in the choir, whatever it may be. We may have

a lot of things that we just presume and say,

oh, well, I'm going to be okay because I do X,

Y, and Z, but John's message doesn't have anything

to do with those type of things. John's message

doesn't have anything to do with blood and veins

or whether we go to church a lot or whether everybody

in our family follows God. John's message is

repent because there's sin in your life, and

if you don't repent of your sin, there will be

no forgiveness of your sin. And you can't obtain

forgiveness for your sinfulness apart from Jesus

Christ. So pay attention to the Messiah, who

in John's case was coming. who in our case has

come pay attention to the Messiah. Now, what

did he say at the beginning of verse 8 there?

He says, produce fruit consistent with repentance

or worthy with repentance. He says, everybody

that's not producing good fruit, pay attention.

The ax is about to chop the root. The tree that's

not bearing good fruit is going to be chopped

down. There's going to be punishment as a result

of that. Okay, so... Produce fruit consistent

with repentance. Okay, so when we repent in our

life, if we say we're going to follow what God's

Word says, if we're going to follow Jesus Christ,

if we say, I've repented of my sins and I'm not

living for me, but I'm living for Jesus, if we

say that, then there should be evidence of that

in our life. The fruit that we produce. Okay,

so how do we live? How do we treat other people?

How do we... How do we follow God's word? Do

we do what it says? Are we men and women of integrity?

Do we do the right thing even when nobody's looking?

Or do we only do the right thing on Sunday mornings?

Or do the right things when we see people we

know? We see somebody from the church in the

grocery store and all of a sudden we talk in

one way and we see them coming and we say, oh,

I've got to change my language up a little bit.

I can't talk that way in front of the church

members or the preacher. And so maybe... We need

to take time to look at our life and look at

what kind of fruit that we're producing. Or we're

producing good fruit. Now, if we have a life

that's been changed by Jesus Christ, if our heart

has been changed by Jesus Christ, if we're seeking

to live by the Word of God, then that should

be evident in some way that we live our life.

Now, I'm not saying that we'll never sin. Even

those who have repented and trusted in Jesus

Christ. There are certainly days that we fail

and we give in to temptation. I'm not implying

that we will be free of sin forever once we become

a Christian. But that pattern of just continual

sinfulness should begin to kind of wane away.

The more we walk with the Lord, the more we seek

His Word, the more we allow the Holy Spirit to

work in our life, there should be this trajectory

that's going upward. Now there may be a dip here

and there where we fail. But there should be

a trajectory in our life that we are going in

the right direction to try to seek to be more

like Jesus Christ and to love him more and to

live for him more. And that should be evident

in how we live our life. Now we probably, if

we're honest, we've probably all seen somebody

before that's a professed Christian. And we see

the way they act and the things they say and

the things they do. And our human nature can't

help but wonder. or can't help but say sometimes,

and they're supposed to be a Christian. We're

not the judger of hearts. God is. But you can

tell a tree by the fruit that it bears. Now,

if we say that we're a tree that's planted in

Jesus Christ and rooted in Jesus Christ, then

the fruit that should come from that should be

love and patience and gentleness and kindness

and compassion and love for God and love for

our neighbors like that. That should be part

of our life. John the Baptist says, hey, look,

you need to repent for the forgiveness of your

sins, and you need to produce fruit worthy of

repentance or consistent with repentance. So

what kind of fruit are you producing today? Well,

the fruit that you produce, it comes from the

seeds that you plant. So the better question

is, what kind of seeds are you planting in your

life? If you want to produce good fruit, you've

got to plant good seed. Has anybody in here ever

put a tomato plant in the ground and it grew

apples? Or you planted an orange tree and it

produced lemons? The tree is only going to produce

what it's going to produce. Whatever seed you

put in the ground, you put an acorn in the ground,

it's not going to grow a pine tree. What's going

to grow is going to come from what's planted.

So what kind of seed are you planting in your

life? Maybe if you're not producing good fruit,

because you're not planting good seeds, because

you're living in sin and you're living for yourself.

And maybe, just maybe, after you do a little

fruit inspecting in your life, maybe you say,

well, man, I thought I was walking with the Lord.

I thought I followed the Lord, but maybe I'm

not. Maybe I've gone to church my whole life

and I know some scripture and maybe I've kind

of fooled myself and maybe when I look at my

life, I need to repent. Maybe I've been living

for myself and living in my sinfulness the whole

time. And so John the Baptist says, here's what

you need to do. You need to repent of your sins.

You need to start producing good fruit. Now listen

to what follows in the next verse, verse 10.

What then should we do, the crowds were asking

him. Okay, that's a good question. That's a good

follow -up. He preaches this pretty hard message.

You brood of vipers. Don't think that God's going

to save you just because of who you are. But

you better realize that you need to repent for

the forgiveness of your sins. And you better

start producing good fruit. Because if you don't,

you're going to get chopped down. And they say,

okay, what do we do? What do we do? That's a

good question. And maybe some of you are asking

that question today. Say, okay. Well, there's

some things in my life that aren't good. I want

to follow Jesus. I want to get on track. I want

to do what God wants me to do. So what should

I do to repent and produce fruit worthy of repentance?

Now, pay close attention to what he says here

in verse 11. He replied to them, The one who

has two shirts must share with someone who has

none. And the one who has food must do the same.

Now, who would have thought that was coming?

Like, if you hadn't read this story and you had

read those first verses and then you read that

verse, like, I don't know that I would have expected

it to say, all right, what do you need to do?

Share your clothes with somebody and share your

food with somebody. So this is the type of thing

that we see is pretty important throughout Scripture.

It might not be the first thing that comes to

mind. You may would assume that if somebody says,

okay, I want to repent and I want to do better

and I want to follow God and I want to produce

good fruit, what do I need to do? You would think

that probably the answer would be, well, you

need to go to church more and you need to read

your Bible more and you need to put more money

in the offering place. That's kind of the message

that a lot of people would preach or maybe have

preached or maybe the message we expect to hear.

But that's not at all what he says. He says,

hey, you need to produce good fruit. And he don't

say nothing about going to church. Now, I'm not

saying that we shouldn't go to church. We certainly

should do those things. By the way, just for

clarity, we should read our Bible. We should

pray. We should gather together. We should do

all those. Those are good things. I'm not implying

those are bad things. But sometimes we just do

those things. We just come to church. Or we pray

every once in a while. Or we look at our Bible

every once in a while. And we really miss the

things that are important to God that God really

calls us to do. And so obviously, I'm going to

guess that he's addressing a problem that's going

on there. Like maybe this was an issue. Maybe

he's not just picking a random thing. Maybe that

was a real issue that there were people who were

poor, that didn't have clothes to wear and didn't

have food to eat. And he's saying, look, instead

of acting like you're all high and mighty and

saying, hey, we're pretty religious and we're

sons of Abraham. I think he's saying, well, wait

a minute. Realize that God wants you to love

other people. And if there's people around you

that don't have and you do have, you want to

produce good fruit, here's how you produce good

fruit. You got two shirts, you give somebody

one of your other ones. Now, I'd venture to say

that most of us in here probably have more than

two shirts. If we're honest, most of us probably

have a closet full of shirts. And if we're really

honest, we've probably got two closets full of

shirts because we filled up our main closet and

we had to go to our spare bedroom and fill it

up with clothes. So now you got your summer clothes

in your main closet, your winter clothes in your

other closet, right? So most of us have plenty.

The point is, most of us have something we could

use to help somebody else. And are we doing that?

That's pretty important to God. At least I believe

it is through the scripture. I believe that's

pretty important that we help other people when

we have the ability to do it. Whether it be clothes

or food or... The list is endless. There might

be lots of ways in which we can help people.

So they say, okay, what do we need to do? This

is the first thing he tells them. Listen to the

next thing he says in verse 12. Tax collectors

also came to be baptized, and they asked him,

teacher, what should we do? He told them, don't

collect any more than what you have been authorized.

All right, pretty simple. Don't steal from people.

Tax collectors, it's good that they're asking

these questions. It would be horrible if they

just went away mad, and sometimes we do see people

that hear Jesus' teaching in the Scripture, and

they just don't really pay any attention to it,

and they just go on their way. But at least this

crowd, they heard the message, and they're asking

questions. Okay, if this is what's required of

us to repent and produce good fruit, how do we

do it? The tax collectors say, how do we do it?

Well, the tax collectors weren't really honest

people. They would take what they had to to pay

to roam, and then they'd just add a little extra

to it to put in their pocket. So it's a real

simple message. Okay, the first one, help people

when you can help them. If you've got extra,

help others with what you have. And then the

next group, he says, hey, look, don't take what's

not yours. Just do your job. Do what's right.

Do what's honest. Don't take more than you're

supposed to take. Pretty simple. Next group,

he says in verse 14. Some soldiers also questioned

him. What should we do, he said to them. Don't

take money from anyone by force or false accusation.

Be satisfied with your wages. Okay, very similar

to the tax collectors. Don't take what's not

yours. Don't use your authority. Sometimes people

do that. That's a trap that we really have to

look out. We have to be careful about that because,

man, it's something about when we get a little

authority. We can go to our heads so quick, and

some people do okay with it. Other people don't.

You probably know people. You may be somebody

that you get a little bit of power, and all of

a sudden you go on a power trip. Here are these

soldiers, and they're wanting to know what they

can do, and he says don't take money by force

or false accusation. Treat people right. Like,

just because you've got the power as a soldier

and you can go bully people around to get what

you want, like, is that really the way to treat

people? Like, shouldn't you treat people with

respect and honor and care about people and not

just use your power to get what you want? But

sometimes we have power, but maybe we could use

it to help others. And listen to what he says

at the last part of that verse there. He says,

be satisfied with your wages. Now, that's the

real key, I think, there. Because if you're satisfied

with what you have, then you're not going to

mistreat anybody else. You're not going to take

from anybody else. You're not going to treat

anybody else poorly. And so he gives three simple

things to these folks that ask. He preaches this

great message, short message, repent for the

forgiveness of sins and produce good fruit. They

say, what do we do? He says, if you've got extra,

help those who don't. Don't take from anybody

else. Be honest and be satisfied with what you

have. Be content with what you have. Now those

three things alone are good things for us to

ponder in our life today. And maybe if you pray

to the Lord and you seek the Lord this week and

you think about this question, and maybe... Maybe

you have the question. Maybe you hear the message

today. You hear about Jesus Christ. You hear

about repentance. You realize you're not producing

good fruit. Well, maybe some of these things

apply to your life. Maybe you're taken from somebody

else. Maybe you're not satisfied with what you

have. Maybe there's something else going on in

your life, and maybe you already have a clue.

It's already kind of eating away at you, and

you kind of know. That there's something in your

life that's just not right, some sin that's there.

Well, today is the day of repentance. You don't

have to wait. You don't have to wait until tomorrow.

You don't have to wait until next week. You can

pray to God. You can seek God and say, Okay,

God, there's this area in my life that I'm producing

some bad fruit, and I don't want to do that anymore.

God, I want you to change my heart. I want you

to help me make good fruit. And that starts with

us following Jesus Christ, following the Word

of God. That may result in us changing our lifestyle,

saying no to some things we do to stop planting

some of those bad seeds in our life. It may mean

saying no to some of the people we hang out with.

Sometimes the people we hang out with, man, they're

bad seeds. And that temptation of being around

them leads us to produce bad fruit. Are you producing

good fruit today? Well, I don't know the answer

to that. I hope you are. Maybe you're not. But

the only way that we produce good fruit in our

life is through Jesus Christ. The way we produce

good fruit is by doing what God calls us to do.

And that's loving Him and that's loving others.

That's doing right by folks. That's helping people

that we encounter that have a need. That's not

living for ourself, but repenting of our sins

and through Jesus Christ being forgiven. And

just as John the Baptist was baptizing folks

in those days, ultimately baptized Jesus himself,

it's Jesus who commands us that if we followed

him, that we too need to be baptized. And praise

the Lord for that. That's representative that

our sinfulness has been washed away. Not by the

water, but by the blood of Jesus Christ. Have

you repented of your sins today? Have you experienced

forgiveness? And are you producing good fruit?

Let's pray. God, we come to you today. We thank

you for your good word. God, I pray that we wouldn't

fall into the trap of thinking that we can earn

your grace by our actions or anything that we

do. But that, Lord, we would examine our life.

And maybe there are some things in our life that

are just not good. Maybe we're not producing

fruit consistent with repentance, God. Maybe

there are some and they say they're following

you, but maybe your Holy Spirit's convicted them

today. Maybe they've been to church a whole lot.

Maybe they know your scriptures, but maybe they

just realize they've never followed Jesus Christ.

I pray that today, that as I pray, That in this

moment, dear Lord, that they would just pray

to you. That they would repent. That they would

ask you to forgive them. That they would trust

in Jesus Christ. Believe that he is the Savior

who gave his life on a cross for their sins.

God, maybe they're some today and they're yours.

And maybe they've got some weeds that are growing,

dear Lord. And they're producing a little good

fruit. But there's some bad stuff kind of inching

its way up through there. God, I pray today that

they would repent of those things. That they

would seek you. seek to draw closer to you. God,

I pray that we would follow your words, that

we would seek you, that we would love you and

that we would love others, that we would help

those that we can help, that we wouldn't take

advantage of folks, dear Lord. And I pray that

you help us to be content with what we have,

God. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.