The Son of Man // Preparing Hearts for Christ [Luke 3:1-20] (Billy Hanna)

But as we come before you, we like to commit Burrell's family

a lot. Into your hands, into your

presence. Well, we pray that you will

comfort them, knowing for sure that your promises are for sure.

It stands forever. The Lord God has promised that

those who are His, those who have died in Christ, will one

day rise again. And those who are yours, Lord,

has gone from this earth, are with you.

And Father God, that's a promise on which we stand.

And we pray, our Lord, that this promise of yours, the word of

God that stands forever, would come for the hearts of burials

family. So we commit them and bring them

before your Lord. And we also pray for whatever

the preparations that are made with regards to the funeral,

with regards to A10 time of Thanksgiving and remembrance

this coming Tuesday. Father, we pray that you would

help them through all of these process, but more importantly,

that they'll draw comfort. They'll draw Lord God in this

time of sorrow to know for sure not only that your word stands,

but burial at the moment is in a better place is with you.

We thank and praise you for that, but we also pray for those

amongst us who are not well. Many are Lord God are suffering

in terms of physical health. Some have gone through surgery

and are in the process of recovery.

Father God, we pray that you be with them, each and everyone of

them, knowing for sure, Lord, that your word says that.

Cast all your cares and worries upon you, that you care for

them. And we pray for that, Lord,

they'll stand on those promises. And so far the God we thank you

then in spite of all what's happening around us that we can

draw comfort on you that our foundation in new issue and its

steadfast and we thank and praise you for that.

And for that this time we also pray for our Sunday School kids

as they go to their respective Sunday school classes that you

will bless all the little children a lot.

And the teachers were especially those who have committed their

time and were involved in this wonderful ministry.

Father, we pray for your blessings upon them too.

We pray for every kid who Lord in our church here that as I

hear the word of God, that your word the Lord would stand sure

in their lives that they'll grow up one day with tremendous men

and women for the Lord. We also pray at this time that

as your word is brought by Billy, Father God, we pray that

your word would not return void. We pray our Lord God, that you

will open our hearts to receive your word.

And so we commit this time once again into your hands and save

your precious. And in his worthy name we pray,

I mean. Thank you, Peter, as the kids

hit out for Sunday school, would you open with me to loop Chapter

3, Luke Chapter 3 as we continue going through the book of Luke?

Luke 3 · chapter mention

Well, we're gonna read the passage and then we will jump

into it together. This is the Word of God.

Luke chapter 3, in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

Caesar punches Pilot being the governor of Judea, and Herod

being tit track of Galilee and his brother Phillip tit track of

the region of Iturria, and Trigonitis in Lithuania's

Tetrick of Abilene during the high priesthood of Ennis and

Caiphus. It will get easier from there, I

promise. The Word of God came to John the

son of Zechariah in the wilderness, and he went into all

of 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 paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled, every mountain shall be made

low, the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places

shall become live always, and all flesh shall see the

salvation of God. He said therefore to the crowds

that came out to be baptised 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 from Abraham. Even now the Acts is laid to the

root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does

not bear good fruit, as cut down and thrown into the fire.

And the crowds asked him What then shall we do?

And 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 baptised by him and said,

teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, collect no

more than you're authorised to do.

Soldiers also asked him and we 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 ruined. We're in expectation.

And all were questioning in their hearts concerning John

whether he might be the Christ. John answered them, saying, I

baptise you with water, but he who was mightier than I is

coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to

untie. He will baptise you with the

Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his

hand to clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into

his barn. But the chef, he will burn with

unquenchable fire. So with many other exhortations,

he preached good news to the people.

But here are the Tetrarch who'd been reproved by him for

Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that

Kieran had done, added this to them all, and he locked up John

in prison. This is the word of the Lord.

Well, we are continuing our journey through this letter,

this gospel written by Luke, and it's written to this man named

Theophilus. So we've been talking about that

as we've been going through to give Theophilus certainty.

So by all means, he was a, he was an outsider.

He wasn't a Jew, he was a Gentile.

And this is a written account, an orderly account of the life

of Jesus Christ to give Theophilus certainty about who

Jesus Christ is and about the Christian message and the

Christian faith. And so because of that, I guess

as we've been journeying through Luke, we've been asking some

really foundational questions. So far we've asked the question,

hey, who is Jesus? How does the birth of Christ,

How does the childhood of Christ tell us about who Jesus Christ

is? We're asking the question, what

is God doing in the world? What is God's plan to make

everything right? We look around, we see things

are not right. What's got actually doing?

And when we come to this passage this morning, we're coming to

another very foundational question, a question that really

comes to the foundation of Christianity.

So this morning I'll just say to you, if if you've come and

you're seeking you, you don't know Christ, maybe you're you're

curious, you're interested. What John has to say is, is a

message for you. It is foundational, but also for

for those of us who know Christ, this is one that really cuts to

the heart as well for us because the question is, what does it

look like to receive Christ? What does it look like to

receive Christ? We're gonna find that answer in

the words of John the Baptist. And I guess as we do that, I

wanna ask the question firstly, why did John the Baptist come?

What was his purpose? What?

Why do we have John the Baptist? He was the last prophet.

So in the Old Testament, if you look through the Old Testament,

you have plenty of profits. You'll have Elijah, Isaiah,

Zachariah, people like that who came to speak God's word to the

nation of Israel to call them back to God.

He spoke on behalf of God to Israel.

And we know John, we're speaking about a prophet here because

it's showing the same pattern. The Word of the God and Word of

God in verse 2 came to John. Now that's the same pattern.

At the start of each prophet, the Word of God came to Isaiah

or Elijah. And so let's see, okay, Why did

John come? What was his purpose?

We're going to see it in verses 4 through 6, and I'm gonna read

it again. This is quoting from Isaiah

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

chapter 40. The voice of one crying in the

wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord,

Make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled,

every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall

become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways,

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

So this has come on the back of 400 years of silence in Israel,

from the time that the last prophet died, the time the last

prophet spoke to. Now, when the word of God comes

to John and he's speaking to the people of Israel, you've had 400

years of silence. You can imagine the people in

Israel, they've got all of these promises that the prophets have

brought. Hey, one day God is gonna make

away. He's gonna bring one who's who's

gonna make everything right. He's gonna bring redemption.

He's gonna bring restoration. He's gonna bring reconciliation.

And you can imagine 400 years. I mean, that's a long time.

We're talking back to the 1600s. If we're going from our time,

that's before New Zealand was a thing.

It's before the USA was a thing. That's a long time, right?

You can imagine the people in Israel, they're starting to

wonder, is this actually going to happen?

Should I stay true to these promises that God has given me?

Or maybe should I just kind of look for something else?

400 years. But nestled in this, in the Old

Testament, there there's a promise that when this Messiah,

when the Saviour comes, one will come before him to prepare the

way of the Lord. And the illustration used here

in Isaiah is really helpful for us to understand the purpose of

John. The picture here is if if you've

got a king and, and in olden times, in ancient times, and the

king is going to travel to a city or to a town.

Now, now the roads are nothing like there's no state highway 1.

The roads are horrible. They're hilly, there's valleys,

there's mountains. If there's a big boulder in the

way, you've got to go around it. It's not a good journey.

But when a king would go and travel, his servants would go

out before him and literally prepare the way for the king.

That would be breaking down boulders that are in the way,

trying to make the the road smooth, make the path easy for

the king to travel. So that's kind of the picture,

that illustration, prepare the way for the king.

So John the Baptist purpose using that illustration, using

that imagery, he is not preparing the way for a king.

He is preparing a way for someone much greater for the

Messiah. And he's not, he's not on the

road literally paving roads. He's preparing the way and the

hearts of the people of Israel. So, so he to the people of

Israel, John the Baptist is coming before Jesus Christ to,

to breakdown the boulders that are in the way to, to flatten

out the roads in their hearts so that when Jesus Christ comes and

when Jesus Christ comes and brings his message, they are

prepared, they are willing and they are ready to hear it, to

respond and to receive Christ. You can think about it like if

you go to any concert, any big concert, there's the main act,

but there's the opening act. And so the opening act comes

out. They're not the main thing, but

they're coming out to warm up the crowd to kind of get people

in the mood, get people excited and to build the anticipation so

that when Coldplay walks up on stage after an hour and a half

of a not very good opening act. I went to Coldplay and did not

like the opening act at all. But but when Coldplay comes out,

when the main act comes out, people are really the

anticipation has built. They're warmed up, they go

right, let's go. You think about that more or

less like the purse. The the purpose of John the

Baptist. He is preparing the way in the

hearts of the people of Israel so that when Christ comes they

are really the barriers are taken away.

And so in his preparation is he preparing the hearts for Christ.

And in the hearts of the people of Israel.

There has to be a reorientation of perspective and of mindset.

And I mean, we just read it. It is a he doesn't pull his

punches. It is a blunt message.

He is up front. I'll try be upfront myself in

his tone, but his purpose here is to prepare the people of

Israel for the coming King. He's preparing the people of

Israel so that they can receive Christ when Christ comes.

And so that's the message of John.

And, and that's why I want to come to it this morning and ask

the question, well, what does it look like to receive Christ?

That's what John is wanting to get ready for here.

Get ready. Christ is coming.

Get ready to receive him. What does it look like to

receive Christ? And it's a simple message, but

it is up front. It's twofold.

Firstly, to receive Christ is to turn from sin to to receive

Christ as to turn from sin. If I could boil the message of

John the Baptist down to one word, it would be the word

repent. Verse 3 it kind of summarises

his message. It says he was proclaiming a

baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and the key

command that he has is in verse 8.

He tells them bear fruits and keeping with repentance.

This is also covered in the other gospels that talk about

John the Baptist. Matthew 3 verse 2 it says John

Matthew 3:2

the Baptist said repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Mark one verse 4. It says he was proclaiming a

baptism of repentance. So the message of John the

Baptist is to repent. So what does that word repent

mean? It comes from a Hebrew root word

which literally means to turn. So you picture it literally to

repent. I'm turning 180° from this way

to this way. I'm turning from this pillar

from this side of the stage, and I'm turning to this side of the

stage. Pictures 180° turn 1.

Commentator summarises repentance as a change of mind.

It's a change of heart and it's a change of direction.

It is a tune and it's very common, I guess in the Old

Testament for the prophets to call Israel to repent.

Often they use the word return to the Lord, right?

You've been living in sin, you've been living in idolatry,

whatever it's looked like. And he says, hey, you need to

return, you need to repent, you need to turn from your sin, and

you need to turn to God. So if we are to repent, we are

turning from something and we are turning to something.

They're flip sides of the same coin.

If we are to turn to God, we are to turn from sin.

You cannot have one without the other.

There are flip sides of the same coin.

Let's read from verse 7 to see how John describes his message.

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptised by

him. You brood of Vipers who warned

you to flee from the wrath to come bear fruits and keeping

with repentance. And it's interesting, Rod.

I mean, these crowds, they're not it doesn't say that they

came out. They were they weren't sussed.

They weren't going. What's this guy up to?

They came out to be baptised, right.

So at least they had some level of religious interest.

But John's messaged them as not like, man, good on you.

Come, come. He's saying repent.

John was not out to win friends and influence people.

He's saying repeat. That's a harsh message.

Matthew's account here shows us that he's especially looking at

the the Pharisees and the seduces.

So the religious elites in Israel and I thought, I guess,

and in themselves, they thought that they were good.

They thought that they were right before God.

But John wants to confront them about their spiritual standing

before God. And really, you think about it

when, when, when John's purpose is to prepare the way of the

Lord and we're thinking about a boulder and the path of ohh, do

I need Christ? John needs to show these people

actually. And John needs to show us as

soon as a problem at a very foundational level, our sin that

that that's an Archers term. You've missed the mark.

All of us have rebelled against God and it's a problem and

unless we realise that, we're not gonna realise that we

actually need to be saved, we actually need a saviour.

And John is trying to show them your sin is a problem, and he

tells them to bear fruit and keeping with repentance.

So in a sense his message is simple.

Christ is coming. The Messiah is coming.

You need to repent. You need to turn from your sin.

That's his motivation. He wants them to recognise their

spiritual state. He wants them to repent.

Now John's gonna. He's gonna address, like he

said, barrier to this recognition.

Let's read second-half of verse 8 and do not begin to say to

yourselves, we have Abraham as our father.

You don't understand, John. I'm a Jew.

I'm an Israelite. Abraham's my father.

My, my, my dad was due. My dad's dad was a Jew.

I obey the law. Tell you what, I've memorised

the Torah. You don't get it, John.

See, John actually gets out ahead of them.

He goes, don't even think about saying that.

Don't play the the Israelite card salvation to to to stand

before God. It's individual.

It's not corporate. Yes, I ohh, Billy my I'm church

maybe 48 out of 52 weeks. That's pretty good.

Ohh, hey, I'm, I'm at Home group every week.

I mean, it's, it's simple stuff, but it's stuff that we can

easily try rely on. When we look at the group that

we're surrounded with, we look at the group of friends that

we're surrounded with and we assume all they all know Christ,

they all read their Bibles. I can kinda just get and be

right with God because I'm mixed in with that group.

That's like trying to go to a a sports event with with a bunch

of your friends and they've all got a ticket to get in and you

just assume, well, they've all got a ticket, they'll let me in

as well. Well, no, the person at the

ticket door is gonna scan each ticket.

If you don't have a ticket, you don't get in.

Each of us have to stand before God and we cannot rely on

heritage. We cannot rely on our family

name, we cannot rely on what church we went to.

It is where do we stand before God?

Have we put our trust in Jesus Christ?

And at the foundational level we need to recognise the reality of

our sin, the problem of our sin, that we stand beer before a holy

God who is completely good and we are sinful and that's a

problem. And as we recognise the reality

of our sin, the proper response is to turn.

Now, we've already seen an example of that this morning.

David, second Samuel 12. He's confronted by Nathan for

committing adultery, for committing murder, horrible

sins, and David confesses that before God and Psalm 51.

What does he say? The sacrifices of God are a

broken spirit are broken and contrite heart.

Ohh. God you will not despise.

So at a foundational level we need to recognise, and John

wants the people of Israel to recognise, that before God our

sin is a problem, our sin as a problem because God is holy and

we are not and our sin stands an offence to God.

We need to confess that to God. When you say God, I am sinful

and I need a Saviour, but John has more in mind than that but a

life of repentance. Martin Luther said this.

When the Lord Jesus said repent, he whirled that the entire life

of a believer is to be 1 of repentance.

It is a continual life that is embodied by this attitude,

mindset and action of repentance.

Now this doesn't mean that we should be walking around every

10 seconds and going ohh I'm sorry God, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. But repentance doesn't mean

firstly to to repent. It doesn't mean that we will

then be sinless to repent. Doesn't mean that we will never

commit that sin again. If that's the case, I don't know

if anyone has truly repented, but to repent is an attitude

change which leads to an action change.

It's a change of our mind where we go.

Actually, this sin that I used to live for, that used to to

rule over me, that I used to love, I'm actually recognising

before God that that sin is wrong in the eyes of God.

And more than that, because I know it's wrong, I am going to

turn from it. I'm going to seek to fight it.

I'm gonna seek to run away from it.

That's what John means. Bear fruit and keeping with

repentance. It is not just saying, yeah, OK,

I'm sorry. It's actually going.

No, no, that that that true remorse over sin.

It needs to be a fruit in our lives.

And that fruit will not be perfect.

You need to hear that that fruit will not be perfect.

We will miss up and I'm really gonna stress that because there

is hope in the gospel, but the Christian life is one that seeks

to turn from sin. This is not an optional add on

to the Christian life and to to show this and to show the

importance of this, John is going to give us a picture in

verse 9. He says this.

Even now the ex 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. What he's saying here, the axe

has laid at the root of the tree.

Judgement is coming. The life that shows no evidence

or fruit of repentance is cast into judgement.

And notice how the acts of repentance there is described as

fruit. And I think that's a helpful

analogy for us to think through this repentance, a life that is

seeking to turn from sin and, and, and fight sin and not just

dwell in it, but turn from it. That those acts of repentance is

the natural outflow of a life that is turned to Jesus Christ.

It is not a work, it is a natural outflow.

It is a fruit. Like a fruit grows on a healthy

tree, acts of repentance flow from a life that is turned to

Christ. When that fruit is not there,

when there is no evidence of that fruit, John says.

We have calls to look at the route.

So what that's saying if I say to you, if I claim to know

Jesus, but my life is defined by continual, habitual, unrepentant

sin without sorrow, without effort to fight against it.

The Bible says we would have reason to ask whether our truly

know Jesus Christ with I truly genuinely know Christ, because a

life that knows Christ shows evidence of fruit, of

repentance, of a desire to turn from sin, a desire to fight

scene, and we need to take some seriously.

We need a desire to fight it, not live in it, not dwell it,

because our allegiance has changed from sin to Jesus

Christ. That repentance, that fighting

of sin does not save us. It is the outflow, it is the

evidence, it is the fruit of a relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is consistent with the teaching of Jesus Christ

himself, he says in John 15, using a similar similar analogy.

I am the true vine. My Father is the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

Every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may be

a more fruit. Crosses and Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

You cannot have two masters. Matthew 624 You can either serve

God or money. Money.

An example of that. Either you love one or despise

the other. Cannot serve 2 masters.

Mark 115. Christ's first words on the

scene. Repent for the Kingdom of God is

at hand and Luke chapter 13 and incident happened.

Luke 13 · chapter mention

Jesus is referring to where a tower in Siloam fell down and

killed 18 people. And Jesus essentially says,

well, what's the moral of that? The moral is, unless you repent,

you will all likewise perish to show a heart of repentance,

desiring to turn from sin as a natural outflow of the life that

has turned to Jesus Christ. That is the flip side of the

same coin. So what does this repentance

look like where we have these crowds asking Him Then verse 10,

What then shall we do? And I think in verse 11 is gonna

go and give them a general principle and then versus 12

through 14 is going to look at some specific instances. 1st 11

he answered them who were they has two tunics is to share with

him who has none and whoever has food is to do likewise.

So the general principle then is as a life that is saying sin is

no longer my master. I've turned to Jesus Christ will

then desire to live out the good news of the gospel in everyday

life, showing a generous heart, displaying care for one another.

I, I guess as a general principle, the Christian life as

a change life, one who looks outside of themselves.

But then I just wanna look. He's going to give a few

specific examples here where you have a tax collector and then

you have a Roman official soldier coming to him and

saying, well, what should we do? He says to the tax collector

that collects no more than you're authorised to do.

And he says to the soldier, do not extort money from anyone by

threats or by false accusation and be content with your wages.

Now, these are specific instructions based off their

sitting. And really what you're seeing

here is John is looking at these two professions.

You've got a text collector. So you've got a Jew who is

collecting taxes against his own people for the Roman occupiers.

And they're collecting more than they should so they can fill up

their own pockets. And then you've got the soldiers

who are looked down on and and often treat people harshly.

And so he's looking at these specific instances and he's he's

showing this is what repentance looks like in your sitting with

the sins that particularly the set you.

So he's saying, hey, a part of living a repentant life is

knowing in our life which sins we are vulnerable to and what

areas of our life are we vulnerable and desiring to fight

it and acting on it. So for a tax collector going

actually, if I wanna know Jesus Christ and walk with Jesus

Christ as a part of my turning from sin, I'm gonna look at my

occupation and go. That's gonna show itself and

that I'm not gonna collect more than I should.

And for a soldier, he saying. That's going to show itself.

I'm not gonna extort money. I'm not gonna threat people.

I'm not gonna use my power to wield it over people.

So for us, I mean, I think that looks very practically like

looking at our life looking Hey, where am I most basic person and

out of our love of Jesus Christ. So you remember this is not a

work out of our love for Jesus Christ and what He has done for

us on the cross. We go, man, what can I do to

fight that sin? If I recognise that I'm

especially prone to anger, I go. When am I most prone to my

anger? Maybe it's when I get home from

work and I'm tired and frustrated.

OK, what would it look like for me in the car ride home to be

intentional and going? Hey, I know I'm prone to anger

when I get home. How can I prepare my heart?

How can I work on that and grow to hates and and and and love

Jesus Christ? It is not just a one time

confession, it is a a continued call in the life of a believer

to turn from sin to fight sin. So does our life as Christians

look different to an unbeliever? Are we fighting sin or are we

just giving in to every desire? Now I guess I recognise as as

I'm Speaking of this, it can sound hopeless.

It can sound harsh, and I think this is where we turn to the

good news that and the Christian life.

What we're calling us to and what the Bible calls us to is

not just be good, be good, be good and, and, and if we mess up

to go. Have I done enough?

Because not only are we called to turn from sin, but we are

called to turn to the true Messiah.

You see, in these first verses, John has has, I guess, shown and

pointed his audience to the things that accompany salvation,

the outflow of salvation. But but he, he's not leaving

them there. And I'm not gonna leave you

there, but point you to the core, the source of salvation.

You see, repentance will not save us.

JC Ryle says this. No quantity of repentance can

ever justify us in the sight of God.

That's not the take home for today.

Hey hey, go and try, be bitter and and if you miss up, be

scared. That's not the gospel that the

good news that Jesus Christ offers is that we are saved if

we put our trust in Jesus Christ, our sins, past, present,

future, forgiven, gone, nailed on the cross with Jesus Christ

as a response and as an outflow. When we've put our faith and

hope in Jesus Christ, we live a life that because we've turned

to Christ, we've turned from sin.

And, and if we point in our life, we seek to fight, fight

against sin. We will not dwell in sin because

we've died to sin. It is an outflow.

It's really verse 15. You gotta turn to the true

Messiah as the people were in expectation and all the

questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he

might be the Christ. You see, through John's

preaching, he's preaching so boldly, people are starting to

wonder. It's building expectation.

And is this the one we've been waiting for?

Maybe John is the Christ. Maybe John is the Messiah but

John quickly says no I am the opening act, I'm not the main

event. Verse 16 John answered them all,

saying, I bet ties 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 baptise you with Holy

Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his

hand to clear the threshing floor and gather the wheat into

his barn. But the chef, he will burn with

unquenchable fire. So John is saying hate.

No, I am not the one you've been waiting for.

I'm not the one who's gonna bring you salvation.

And the way he shows this is as as he compares his baptism with

the baptism that Jesus Christ is going to bring.

So we've seen so far throughout this, John is baptising people.

And if we saw it, it would look very similar to the kind of

baptisms that we would see here on a baptism warning into the

water, out of the water. But John is saying, hey, my

baptism, that's all it is. What you see.

It is water. It was an act.

When he's preaching this repentance, people would be

baptised as a physical act to go.

Yeah, I actually want to take my repentance seriously.

I want to turn from my sin. I want to be prepared for Jesus

Christ to come. But John saying my baptism, that

I was doing, that's all it was. It was a symbol, but Jesus

Christ is coming, one who is coming, who is greater.

He's saying I can't even, I'm not even worthy to untie his

sandals, the lowest of tasks. And he compares and he sees

Jesus Christ's baptism, and mine was physical Jesus Christ the

baptism. He brings us spiritual it.

It's not of the body, it's of the heart.

You think if I, if I get a, a Weetbix card and I've got the

boat and Barrett Wheatbix card and I say, hey, I've got Boden

Barrett here, it's a far different thing than actually

having Bowden Barrett and the flesh right here.

See, the Weetbix card is a symbol of something that is

real, but it's not the real thing.

John is saying my baptism was a symbol.

The real thing is coming, and it's in the heart Speaking of

the salvation that Christ offers.

Because although John's baptism is with water, Jesus baptism is

with the Holy Spirit and fire. You see, the good news of

Christianity, the good news of the Bible, of what we call the

Gospel, is that for those who say no, I don't wanna live in my

sin. I don't wanna follow my sin.

I wanna turn from my sin and accept Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ forgives us of our sin and as we'll see, it will

develop as we journey through the book of Luke.

He came and lived a perfect life and willingly went to a cross to

be executed, bearing the weight and the wrath of God, the

punishment against sin, and then that all who accept Jesus Christ

are given the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that Ephesians 1

describes it. It's a seal.

It's a guarantee of our inheritance.

If we have the Holy Spirit, we are sealed and Jesus Christ and

you know that same Holy Spirit is what works in us to draw us

to fight sin, to hate sin, to live a life that is repentant

and continuing to turn to Jesus Christ.

So to those who who believe in Jesus Christ and accept this

free gift, we are given the Holy Spirit.

We are forgiven, but to those who reject it, here is the fire

of God's judgement. You have the baptism of Spirit

and fire. It's meaning how we respond to

the baptism, meaning the salvation that Jesus Christ

offers. It is determinative.

It determines what happens. Are we saved or are we

condemned? It depends whether we put our

trust in Jesus Christ, and that needs to come from a foundation

of recognising that our sin is a problem.

A sin must be dealt with, it must be confessed before God,

and not paid for by us, but paid for by Jesus Christ on the

cross. So John showed them their need

for Christ, the reality of their sin, and all of this is

preparing them for the coming of Christ.

He's saying Christ is coming and you're not ready.

But the great news is that we have the baptism of Jesus

Christ. We have the salvation offer of

Jesus Christ. And if you've come this morning

and you're curious, you're on the fence, you don't quite know

about Christianity, I'll plead you to, to, to look at this

offer that John brings. Hey, I was just baptising you in

water. But but Jesus Christ has come

and He's offered you complete full cleansing of sin,

forgiveness, a right relationship with God, and He's

going to seal you with His Holy Spirit, which will equip you and

allow you to live a life that continues to fight soon and turn

to God. And as Christians, we have the

physical act of baptism, which their physical active baptism in

itself doesn't save us, but it is a symbol of the cleansing

that we have in Jesus Christ, the forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

And so just a side note, I, I would and urge you and encourage

you, if you know Christ and you haven't taken that step, that

baptism is this beautiful picture that is greater than

John's. It is a beautiful picture of

what has happened in our heart. It is an expression of what

Jesus Christ has done. So what does it look like to

receive Christ? To receive Christ is to turn

from sin and to turn to Him. To receive Christ as to turn

from sin and turn to Him. Jesus is coming, John says.

You need to be ready, and that's true for us today.

Although Christ came the first time, the Bible tells us that

Christ is coming again as judge and as king.

Are you ready for the coming of Christ?

Have you turned from your sin and turned to Christ?

If you know Christ, does your life display it?

Is that our our lives bearing the fruit of repentance?

Are our lives showing the fruit that comes from loving God and

growing to hates? And what would it look like this

week in your home and your workplace and the setting that

God has put you to live a repentant Christian life to, to,

to seek to understand the sins that so easily entangle us as

it's described in Hebrews 12, and seek to fight them and seek

to go. No, no, no, I don't want to be a

slave to sin. I've been purchased by Jesus

Christ. I think a helpful way for us to

frame this, and as we close is the way Paul puts it in Romans

Romans 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12. You see our repentance.

This flows not from an active duty.

This flows from a love of God. See, we've got a King who loves

us, who who created us and he sent his Son to die for us and

rescue us. And so the Christian life is

looking at the glory of God and what he's done for us.

And as Paul says. By the mercies of God, present

your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable

to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Deliver a repentant Christian life seeking to fight sin.

Turn from sin. It is our spiritual wishes for

our God and our King who has saved us.

So may we go out this week and live those lives empowered by

God's Holy Spirit for His glory. This pray Almighty God, we thank

you for your word, we thank you for your message, and we thank

you for the message brought by John the Baptist pointing us.

What does it look like to receive Christ Load?

My prayer is that Your Holy Spirit would just equip us and

help us this week, Lord, powered by our love for You, to seek to

fight sin, turn from sin, to live repentant lives with our

lives. Just display the fruit of our

relationship with you, God. Yeah.

My prayer Lord is that for those who do not know you, Lord, that

you were just working there hard as they they read your word to

understand the goodness of the gospel and be moved to then turn

from sin and turn to you. God, we thank you for your word

and for your goodness, Lord Jesus name.