Advent: False Saviors, True Savior

So I thought this morning we would begin with a little true false.

So I have five true false questions.

Here's how we'll do it.

There's no reward here, so you can kind of calm down on that.

But if you think it's true, you'll just raise your hand.

If you think it's false, you'll keep your hand down.

So that's how we'll do it.

All right, here's the I have five of them.

The first one, a mix, a mix of topics.

The first one, Kanye West and Kim Kardeshian's children are named North St.

and Chicago.

If you think that's true, you can raise your hand.

Think that's true.

You raise your hand.

That is true.

Okay, that's true.

We were horrible at that one.

We're warming up, warming up.

I saw a lot of you are even hesitant.

You're like, I don't know if I should raise my hand.

Second question, true or false.

The sun, the sun makes up 99.8% of the solar system mass.

True or false?

Raise your hand if you think it's true.

That's also true.

Isn't that crazy?

It's a crazy statistic.

I mean, you're like, I can't believe that's true.

Alright, maybe, maybe you're like, oh, those are overwhelming.

Oreo cookies existed before chocolate chip cookies.

If you think that's true, raise your hand.

If you think an Oreo cookie existed before chocolate chipping.

That's true, wouldn't have guessed that.

1912, the Oreo cookie.

1938, and the toll house inn, two chefs invented the chocolate chip cookie, just so you know.

Alright, number four, fourth one.

Hot water freezes faster than cold water.

If that's true, you raise your hand.

That is true.

I've always thought that's just that's just I still don't believe it.

It's probably like, yeah, right, okay.

Yeah.

I can see it happen, and I'm still not gonna believe it.

That doesn't make any sense.

So hot water's gotta become cold before it freezes.

This is this is what I know.

All right, number five.

Florida is the closest US state to Africa.

If you think that's true, Florida's the closest US state to Africa.

No, it's false.

It's Maine.

Isn't that crazy?

That was I actually looked that one up.

I'm like, that does not seem right at all.

I looked it up, I was looking at maps, I was Googling and stuff.

All right, so that one messed with my head.

All right, so those are the five.

And some of those mess with our head, right?

Like that doesn't seem right.

Like hot water, freezing before, you know, cold water, you know, Maine is closer to Africa than Florida.

That doesn't that doesn't seem right because sometimes, sometimes things seem like they should be true, but they're not really true, right?

Right?

You you you you knew a guy, he was so great, you thought he was into you, you knew a girl, you thought she was so great, you thought she was into you, and then Friday Night Chili's, you saw them with somebody else, right?

Like you know what I'm talking about.

You thought something was true, and then all of a sudden you thought this business deal was gonna happen because this guy was so honest.

I mean, they shook your hand, they looked you in the eye.

I mean, for sure this thing was gonna happen, and then two days later, he's he's doing the deal, she's doing the deal with somebody else.

We know these feelings, and this is our beginning point this morning is this.

Some things are true, and some things are false, and sometimes it's just hard to see the difference.

Right?

So some things are true and some things are false, and sometimes it's hard to see the difference.

Let's work our way through this passage.

I think that'll make a little bit more sense as we go.

Luke 3, I'll read a few verses, we'll make a couple points, read a few verses, make a few points.

Luke 3, verses 7 through 9.

Luke 3:7–9

He said therefore to the crowds, so this is John the Baptist.

We talked about John the Baptist last week.

If you need to catch up, you could listen to that online.

He said, therefore, to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, you brought of vipers.

Isn't that interesting?

A lot of crowds want to come out to hear that, right?

Uh you brought a 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 from 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.

So, point number one, very similar to all of last week's sermon, is this there is true repentance and there is false repentance.

Verses seven and eight are showing this to us.

So the crowds are showing up, and for some they just want to be baptized to avoid punishment.

Or for some, they're showing up and they just want to be baptized because they say, you know what?

It's my heritage.

It's not personal.

There's no heart in it.

Right?

Verse 7 is saying this.

That sort of religion is not enough.

That's what John is saying.

And verse 8, what he's saying, he's saying, no, no, no, no.

You need repentance with fruit.

So repentance that begins inside of you, that has heart in it.

Last week we made the distinguishment between religious repentance and gospel repentance.

And we said, religion makes, so like a self-reliant, moralistic, I'm gonna get good enough to please God, that type of religion, that sort of thinking, that makes repentance self-centered.

We're sorry, but we're just trying to escape punishment with nothing more than fear as our motive.

So we're not truly sorry.

You're not truly sorry.

You just you just want to avoid pain or consequences.

That's not truly sorry.

That's still self-centered.

Like, we're not sorry for the sin itself.

We're still just selfishly sorry for what might happen to us, right?

So it's it's fake, it's not from our heart.

That's what we said last week.

But we also said there's another way.

There's the gospel repentance, true repentance, which begins inside love.

Romans 2, 4, by God's kindness we are led to repentance.

Right?

There's nothing to fear here, so we get to repent our heart from inside of us.

And we quoted Jack Miller, who said, repentance is our ongoing calling to collapse on Jesus, acknowledging our need and our receiving of his supply for us.

So it's a turning, but the turning is not this like moralistic, I'm gonna do better, it's all on me, I will do it, I'll perform the checklist, I'll get better.

It's not all us and us and us and self-centered.

The turning is a death in and of itself.

It's a death to that, it's a surrender into God's provision for our forgiveness and our righteousness.

Verse 10 comes around.

The crowds ask John the Baptist, what then shall we do?

You just unloaded on us, so what should we do?

And another way to ask that question would be what should be the effect of my inner life change?

That would be the same question.

What should be the effect of my inner life change?

And so John goes on, he says to some people says, Hey, you share your clothes, like share your food.

To another group of people, he says, Hey, uh, stop collecting more taxes than you should.

You're basically stealing to soldiers.

He says, Hey, and you just stop taking advantage of people, stop stealing from people.

And then in verse 15, we get this verse, it says, as the people were in expectation, so they're all they're all in expectation, they're wanting something, they're wanting a deliverance, they're wanting the Messiah.

And they're all questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ.

So that's beginning in them to claim him as the Christ.

And this is point number two.

There are false saviors, and there is a true savior.

Have you ever been feeling a little bit down?

You're just a little down, a little unsure yourself, life hasn't worked out, you're it's not going well, you're feeling inadequate, maybe you're feeling guilty, maybe you're feeling ashamed, whatever.

And you meet somebody.

Maybe this was years ago.

You meet somebody, you meet him at the at the I don't know, Home Depot or church or the bar, I don't know.

You met him somewhere, Kroger.

And you meet them and you think you think this person, who is that, who is this person?

Who is this person that makes me feel alive?

Oh my gosh.

Like, if this person could be a part of my life, I bet my I bet my life would, I bet my life would change.

If I could only have this person, this person, right?

And then what if this person actually speaks into your life a little bit?

Right?

And then maybe you date, maybe you married, maybe you did marry, maybe you did this.

And we won't raise our hands on this next statement, but then maybe it turns out that they're all so messy and sometimes dysfunctional and sometimes selfish.

And they're not quite the savior you thought they would be.

True or false?

Anybody?

No, we're not gonna, okay, not true or false.

Right?

And it takes us sometimes a little bit of time to realize that we will call a John the Baptist a Christ.

Here's what I mean.

We're quick to ask people who have a little influence over us.

We're quick to ask a person who has a little influence over us.

We're quick to ask them to be our deliverer.

These people in this text, they're wanting a political saving.

I mean, they're under a lot of pressure.

They lived in tension in the Roman Empire, the system is set against them.

They're longing for a messiah, but for many of them, the their concept of messiah is will save us from Rome.

And so they long for a day to be saved from this type of rule.

And in any environment of fear, any environment of fear, true or coerced, a crowd will gather.

There's no better way to gather money or people than to create fear.

And these people are afraid, they have some fear in their lives.

They're under an oppressive regime.

And so the crowd is gathering.

Here's this charismatic guy making big proclamations.

And what's interesting here is how eager they are, how quick they are to call him the Christ.

It was so quick.

And we still do this.

We still give our hearts to people who have no ability, no ability to restore our hearts or redeem our hearts.

We do it politically just like they did.

Because, oh, oh, this guy, this guy's gonna do it.

Have you heard about this guy?

This guy will do it.

Oh, she will do it.

We need her.

That's who we need.

If we have her, oh yeah, that last guy.

No, no, no, no.

I was wrong about that last guy, but this next guy, this next guy's gonna be the one.

I'm hearing a lot about him.

He's gonna be the one.

Michael Ware, who's a faith and politics consultant, he wrote this on his blog.

If political positions are not just political positions, but the highest expression of one's being and morality, then we will tithe to their coffers and worship at their altar.

Politics is not detached from morality or faith.

They are related.

But political judgments are ultimately prudential.

We should have great humility in our own positions and great humility in casting moral judgments on others' politics.

Now, that was a lot.

We can unpack that for a long time.

But did you hear that first line, the very first line?

Political positions can't be the highest expression of one's being.

It can't be your saving.

If it is, all of a sudden it becomes your worship.

Right?

The position or the party becomes your saving.

Not just your opinion, but your identity in a certain way.

Which was never meant to be.

Because then ultimately then we just become servants to it.

And we're being bombarded, right?

I mean, we're all bombarded with hundreds of millions of dollars being spent attempting to convince us to tie our very beings to claim, to claim a non-savior as a savior, to convince us that this would be the one.

This is the one.

And it's not true.

All of those people, all of them are should be servants for society, not saviors for our souls.

Never a definition for our identities.

You know, the last thing a political party or a brand name, right?

Or a brand name.

The last thing either of them want is for any of us to be a free, independent thinking person.

I mean, I I think Patagonia clothing got me years ago, right?

I'll just be honest.

Like I can handle through the political sphere pretty well, but Patagonia clothing, that got me years ago.

I know I pay more than I should, and I just do it.

I just do it because I can't imagine wearing something else.

I mean, what would that mean for me as a person?

I can't imagine.

Right?

That's crazy, right?

To be tied in that much for identity to be tied in.

Can you imagine driving another brand?

Can you imagine wearing another brand?

Right?

We're calling something a savior.

It's merely supposed to be a servant.

Never a part of our identity, never an expression of our being in the highest extent.

And all this is spiritual.

A little bit of a tangent, but spiritual.

These people find John the Baptist to be a courageous leader and think, oh, he could do the job.

He could say, maybe, maybe he's the savior.

He never claimed to be the savior, but how quick they are to want to put that on him.

And all he says in response, he says, No, no, no, no, that's not me.

I'm not that.

A greater one is coming.

Now, that's not a popular political speech, but it would be a really good political speech, right?

Just for somebody to say, like, hey, um, I'm a servant of society.

That's it.

I can't deliver you.

I can't be your hope.

Right?

It's also not a good first date conversation, but it would actually be a really truthful one.

Hey, I'm glad, I'm glad we're here together at Chili's, but I have no hope in me.

I hope you don't place hope in me.

Right?

Not good, but it would be really truthful.

I don't recommend it.

Verses 16 through 18.

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 fire.

His winnowing fork is in his hands to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff you will burn with unquenchable fire.

So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.

So all that language that seems a little daunting, like, oh, oh goodness.

And then all of a sudden, verse 18 says, Oh, yeah, by the way, that was good, that was good news.

Isn't that interesting?

Point number three is this.

We all know a lot about false saviors, right?

So maybe I maybe I stepped on your toes with something with politics, or maybe I stepped on your toes with a little something with a brand name, right?

Like we all know about false saviors.

Maybe the romance thing, like you met you did meet somebody at Kroger and you thought they were gonna save you.

Right?

We all know about false saviors.

We all know about false saviors.

But true saving is by God's grace in Jesus.

So there's a strong warning in this passage, but an even stronger promise.

Theologian Fred Craddock says this When repentance and forgiveness are available, judgment is good news.

The primary aim is to save the wheat, not to burn the chaff.

So the judgment is real, we should hear it, but the promise for us in Jesus is so much, so much greater.

And John is trying to get people to understand this.

But here's what's interesting: John's trying to do that, but the people are reacting differently.

The people are so attracted to his message of certainty in him as a charismatic leader.

And isn't there always attraction to that?

Isn't there always attraction to somebody who's just willing to tell you what to do on some level?

Like part of us reacts to it.

But man, if you could give me some tips, like just give me five tips and then I can leave and I can go do them.

Wouldn't that be nice?

Like, do this and you will live?

Like give me a few keys, a few tips.

We love that on some level, but it doesn't work for our, it doesn't work for our hearts.

Like it may work like to get better shoulder muscles because somebody gives you five tips for like five new exercises, and all of a sudden you do them for a year and you have better.

Like it could work for your shoulders, but it's not gonna work for it won't work for your heart.

It just won't.

Telling people to change doesn't help them change.

There's a shortcoming in John's message.

With any message of law or demand, there's a shortcoming.

See, theologically, we say it this we say we say the law cannot deliver what it demands.

And you know this.

Because you had a rebellious kid, or you have a friend that is uh going way off, and you're like, oh, I'm gonna try to straighten them out, or your your spouse, you can't get your spouse to do what you want your spouse to do.

And what you've tried is you've given them some tips.

I'll give them some tips.

You've tried to urge them, maybe you yelled at them, but until they desire to do it, there's no change.

Right?

Until you somehow work your way into their heart, nothing changes.

Right?

Something deeper is always needed.

The law cannot deliver what it demands.

And John's actually aware of this.

He's aware he comes up short.

That's why he's he keeps, he's preaching this, but at the same time, he's pointing to them hey, there's a mightier one coming.

Nobody does the message of repent and change better than John.

I mean, he's fantastic at this.

But it doesn't hold enough power.

It's never meant to save us, this message of repent and change.

It's meant to lead us.

The law leads us to grace.

John leads us to Jesus.

This is why he says, 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 fire.

It's a way of him saying, Jesus immerses you with presence and the power of God.

Right?

In Acts, and in him we live and move and have our being.

See, this is our position with God in Jesus, as imperfect people.

That in Jesus we are immersed in the righteous presence of God, his righteousness over us.

And the gospel is about what comes at us and in us and given to us.

Because our sins are taken away from us and put on the cross, and his righteousness is given to us, and that great act of imputation for us, imputed, given to us.

So it is, it is a forever righteous presence for us.

That's a fire.

That Holy Spirit in us claiming us every moment of every day.

That is a fire that never ends.

So, my brothers and sisters, may you let the law lead you to grace.

Let John lead you to Jesus.

Because in Jesus, and only in Jesus, do we have saving, do we have delivering, and do we have life.

Let's pray together.

God, we thank you that we are not saved by brand names, political leaders.

We are not saved by romance.

We are not even saved by ourselves.

But we are saved only by your grace to us.

That while we are sinners, you move toward us.

You don't wait for us to get our act together or for us to be good enough.

That into our mess and into our rebellion, you come.

And you come with righteous, forever, never-ending fire.

Presence.

Powerful presence that claims us while we're imperfect.

That works in us inside of our hearts.

And to that and out of that, we repent.

For we want to collapse on Jesus in greater ways.

For all the ways that we find false saviors in this world.

And we need to rest in the true Savior.

The one that grants joy and peace.

And our forever righteousness.

In Jesus' name.

We pray.

Amen.