Luke 3:10-17 The Fruit We Bear Pt.2

Church, a couple of weeks ago, we were in this passage in Luke.

And I did not finish and not get all the way from verse 17 to verse 14 through all those verses.

And we stopped at the end of verse 9.

So the plan this morning is to pick up where we left off.

But I want to do a little bit of recap for those who were not here a couple of weeks ago, or those who might have forgotten in the last couple weeks.

So one thing we talked about is how we live in a culture where everyone, whether they know it or not, seems lost.

And they're looking for help trying to navigate this world.

And that a good preacher, a good Christian, a good disciple, or a good teacher of God's word helps people, first of all, locate themselves, to know where they are, that they are actually lost, and then where they need to go.

So this is what this is what John the Baptist does in this passage.

He comes to tell them where they are and then tell them where they need to go.

And in that he's talking about bearing fruit, and the fruit that we bear.

If we're bearing good fruit, it's a good thing.

If we're bearing bad fruit, then if we continue to bear bad fruit, that we will endure the wrath of God, and we will be condemned to hell.

But the Lord is gracious and kind in sending a messenger to tell us where we are and where we ought to go.

So pick this up in Luke chapter 3, beginning in verse 7, and we'll read through verse 14.

Luke 3 · chapter mention

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 fruit 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 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?

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 baptized, and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do?

And he said to them, Collect no more than you are authorized to do.

Soldiers also asked him, And we, what shall we do?

And he said to them, Do not exhort extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.

It's an interesting scene here.

John has come kind of out of the wilderness, and he's beginning to declare that the Messiah is coming.

And people question, well, who is this guy?

Is he the Messiah?

Is he Elijah?

Is he Isaiah?

Is he who is he?

And he keeps calling the people to repentance to prepare the way for the Messiah who is to come.

And he begins by calling them to repentance, and they respond, well, what shall we do then?

But before he answers his question about what they should do, he undoes some of their bad theology.

First, he points to who they really are and what they really desire.

He's telling them information so that before they get to the next step process, they have a good assessment of who they are and what it is that they want.

He begins by calling them a brute of vipers, asking who warned you to flee these things?

This is very strong language.

He's going right to the heart.

Why are you running?

Why are you seeking repentance?

Why are you fleeing from the wrath?

Who's told you these things?

Did you not flee the wrath to come when you heard all the prophets or the prophets being read in the tabernacle or the temple?

When you were studying the scriptures, did you not understand that you need to repent?

Why is it now that you are coming to repent?

He's calling into question their motive and their heart.

He's calling into question the wisdom of their teaching and their teachers.

He's saying, listen, don't claim that Abraham is going to save you, or that somehow being a descendant of Abraham is going to save you.

These things will not save you.

Because Abraham, although he might be a bloodline for you, you must have the faith of Abraham.

And remember, we said that God is faithful to keep his promise to Abraham.

That if God needs to, he will raise up stones for children for Abraham.

So these people should not be cocky or confident, as if God needs them to fulfill his promise to Abraham.

So he calls out what they desire, he calls out what they believe.

He gives them this warning, this axe is laid at the root of the tree, and that there will be a judgment.

There will be a time where good fruit will be allowed to prosper.

Those are trees, so to speak, that bear good fruit.

But those trees who bear bad fruit, those who are not following the ways of the Lord, that are not following Jesus' teachings, they will be cut off, thrown into the fire.

There was judgment coming for them.

So John's kindly revealing to them where they are.

That there are people with hard hearts who desire salvation from the wrath, but they don't desire the king or the savior to follow his ways.

They'd rather claim their lineage as their ticket for salvation than act as if they're following the ways of the scriptures.

They're not saying, well, we're living like Abraham, or we have faith like Abraham, we're obeying God's commands like Abraham.

That's not their claim.

It's like, well, we're descendants of Abraham.

You know, we're kind of in the family.

So we want to flee the wrath.

And John is a helpful preacher, teacher, to tell them where they're where they are.

This is the situation.

Now, the beautiful thing about God's word is it doesn't ask us, well, do we agree with that?

John's not saying, listen, I've studied the old covenant uh scriptures, I know God's law, I know the prophets, um, God's been given me a word, God's told me that I need to declare the way before the Lord.

God has given me his Holy Spirit while I was in my mother's womb.

However, this is just my opinion.

What's your opinion about your situation?

It doesn't happen.

That's not what he does.

It's not because John just doesn't care.

He's just saying, listen, God has spoken.

God has a standard.

And against his standard, which is the only one that truly matters, this is where you stand.

This is where you are at.

So you can't say that you're lost anymore.

You can't say, I didn't know how to follow God.

I didn't know that I needed to repent or any of those things.

No, you've been told where you're at.

You've been told the way of truth.

So John lovingly does that.

It's a gracious, kind, compassionate thing to do, to tell people what God's word says and where they're at in relation to God.

Jimmy, pray that we would not be a judgmental people in the prayer of confession.

And how easy it is for us to just judge people as if we know their hearts.

We don't know their hearts.

And we can't say, well, you know, God says that you're going to go to hell.

Right?

We don't say that to people.

We do say is God's word says that if you keep living this way, if you keep rejecting him, if you keep indulging these sins, then that's evident that you don't love God, that you're not following his ways, that you're rebelling against him.

And if you rebel against God and you die, you will go to hell.

It's a compassionate truth we're telling people about what God's word says.

We're not asked what's our opinion of it, it's just given to us.

John then tells them what they need to do or where they need to go.

You know, it's interesting when people begin to figure out, well, how do I get to heaven?

How do I make it to glory?

And for some people, they ask that question again and again and again, but they don't want to turn to God's word.

They don't want to trust his word.

But once you know where you are, you can begin to figure out where you need to go when you look to God's word.

Because these people that John's speaking to, this crowd that he's recently called vipers, they've been told that they're lost.

They've been told that their way of getting to heaven won't work, that their pride is binding them, and that God will be just in sending them to hell for eternity to suffer the punishment for their rebellion.

And what's their response to this?

What's their response to this news?

It's a good question.

It's a good question they say.

What then shall we do?

This is a phenomenal question.

What then shall we do?

How often do you ask this question about God's word?

People who have things figured out, or they think they have things figured out, don't ask this question.

What shall we do?

Even as mature, as mature Christians, I hope this is a question that you ask as you study God's Word and as the Holy Spirit reveals your sin.

Or when a brother or sister lovingly approaches you over a sin in your life or an error in your thinking, that the question, well, well, what then shall we do?

What shall I do?

What shall I think and believe?

That that would be the question that would come into your mind.

But it's easy to become defensive.

A defensive heart just shuts down.

It's not asking the question, well, well, what shall we do?

Now that we know we're lost, or we know that we've sinned or we're struggling, what shall we do?

A defensive heart just retracts, it self-protects, and it does not grow.

It does not flourish.

It's like a plant that needs to grow, but it's in a small little pot.

Its growth is hindered, it's held back, it's stunted.

Because it's not open to correction.

It's not asking the question, well, what shall we do?

Am I following the word?

Am I obeying God's teachings?

Am I listening to those who are seeking to instruct and give me counsel?

Proverbs 12, verse 1 says, Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge.

Proverbs 12:1

But he who hates reproof is stupid.

Proverbs 15, 32 says, Whoever ignores instruction despises himself.

Whoever ignores instruction despises himself.

But he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.

Listening to reproof is not easy, it's not fun.

And sometimes when people bring reproof to you, it's not even accurate, right?

But it is the way to growth and maturity.

If you're not willing to hear a preacher or a friend or someone call out sin, if you're not willing to respond with something to the effect of, what shall I do?

I need to repent, I need to follow the Lord, you will not grow.

You will not mature in your faith.

You know, if you feel stagnant in your faith, you feel just like you've you're just spiritual growth is not happening.

There's years in your life where you grew a lot, and now it's kind of a slower time.

You're just like wondering, why am I not growing anymore?

Maybe, it's just a maybe question.

Maybe people came to you with concerns or issues, or and they tried to reproof or encourage or correct you on something, and you just shut them down.

And after so many times, people stop coming to you to encourage you or to correct you on something.

Or you regularly hear a reproof in a sermon telling you to stop a particular kind of sin or to or to give sacrificially or to be kind and compassionate, but that reproof falls on deaf ears.

So it's not a matter of, am I hearing truth from the pulpit?

Sure, our preacher preaches God's word and I love those things.

But do you have ears to hear those things?

Or is those, or are those reproofs falling on deaf ears?

Your conscience is this wonderful thing that God's given you, and it's how you understand and apply the scriptures.

A healthy, well-calibrated conscience understands God's word and what parts it needs, how to apply the parts of God's word.

But a seared conscience, an uncalibrated conscience, just rejects things.

It hardens itself.

It approves things that God's word doesn't approve.

It disapproves things that you want it to approve.

And there's different reasons for this.

Some people, this their conscience, this mechanism, they don't hear these reproofs.

For several reasons.

But here's a few.

One, they hear it, and they hear the reproof, and they just assume themselves to be innocent.

This happens because no real evaluation is given.

You don't think and reflect.

Have I committed that sin?

Have I done that thing?

You hear God's word preached, you hear the call to confess your sin, and you just assume you haven't done any of those things, that you're innocent.

You need to reflect and think and repent.

Another tactic of the conscience is to assume everyone has committed the same crime and to a much worse extent.

So, yeah, sure, you're guilty, but you're not as guilty as most people.

Therefore, it's okay.

Because most people have committed this sin a lot worse than you have, you're okay.

And you continue in your hard heart, your seared conscience.

Another way we harden from reproof, this is very often, the craftiness of the enemy, is we just accept that our obey our obedience is mediocre.

We've just come to terms with our sin.

It's just, it's apathy.

We know we're failures.

We judge others too often, we don't control our tongue as we should, we aren't praying enough.

So, yeah, of course we're guilty and deserve reproof.

Sure.

We accept the charge, but it doesn't really matter because we continue to fail.

And at some level, we're okay with that.

So we've we've heard the reproofs, we know our sin, we're well aware of our shortcomings and our failings, but we just stay there.

As if that alone doesn't harden our conscience, as if that alone doesn't have an effect on us.

We're not guilty of being blind to our sin and being apathetic and not hearing reproof.

But we just we just accept it and kind of throw our hands up.

I just, this is who I am.

We carry on through our day.

How you respond to God's word, how you respond to sermons, to teachings, to instruction tells you how well calibrated your conscience is.

And these people in this story in Luke 3, they respond with this question: what then shall we do?

It would seem no longer were they okay with their sin.

They had not come to terms with it, they were willing to do something about it.

It would seem that they realized that they were not innocent and in need of salvation.

What then shall we do?

So simple and clear.

We almost dismiss it.

Surely it's not that simple, one might say.

But that is the question that begins to bear real fruit.

If it's a genuine question.

If you come to the Lord with your sin, with your struggle, with your doubts, with your insecurities, and you say, Lord, what shall I do?

Help me know what to do, guide me, or forgive me, instruct me.

The Lord begins to bear fruit in your life.

A repentant heart is good fruit.

So John gives these instructions.

Verse 10, what 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.

This first instruction is to be compassionate.

To be compassionate.

Jesus was marked by compassion.

Few attributes were as prominent.

Almost every interaction we see, every story, we see Jesus being compassionate.

Is your life marked, Christian?

Is your life marked by compassion?

Do you pull toward compassion or toward being indifferent or judgmental?

Jesus was perfect the perfect example of showing compassion without approving sin.

Sometimes I think we feel like this need that if we're gonna be compassionate, we can be compassionate, but we have to make sure that we list everyone's sins first, right?

And like, well, we'll show compassion, but first we need to make sure that all the sins are accounted for.

And we all know these things, everyone's a sinner.

Well, the beautiful thing about the Bible, the beautiful thing about Jesus' ministry is he just knew everyone's a sinner, right?

And the Bible says everyone's a sinner.

And so it's not saying, don't call out sin.

That's not what it's saying at all.

But it is saying compassion, a compassionate heart is a heart that breaks for others.

A heart that realizes that someone is suffering because of sin.

They're not, the compassion isn't, well, they've just got a hard lot in life, and you know, they made some bad choices, and that's tough.

Those things all might be true, but the compassion is because guess what?

Sin has brought to bear in their life hardship and disappointment and death.

Not just their sin, but the sin of all mankind.

But it'd be marked by compassion.

Because Christ has been compassionate toward us.

Is your life marked by compassion?

People have two coats.

They have more food than they need.

Other people who have needs around you give to those things.

Sometimes we want to caveat this with saying, this doesn't mean go home and get.

Give away all your food and give away all your clothes.

Maybe it does.

Maybe it means that you're gonna sacrifice.

Maybe it means that you have way more than you need.

And there are people who need things around you.

Now, in our cult our culture, when we live in America and where we live in the world, there are plenty of coats.

And most people don't go hungry.

But what are you withholding?

What do you have that other people do need?

What is it that you do have in abundance?

Maybe you have time.

You have a lot of time on your hands.

And there are people who need encouragement.

They need someone to grab coffee with them and open the word and pray with them and help them follow Jesus.

Maybe you have a lot of money and there are needs around you.

People who are struggling financially.

You can help with those things.

Maybe you have wisdom.

Maybe you've been following Jesus for a long time.

And I would just say, anyone who's been following Jesus more than 10 years, that's a long time.

Okay?

And there are people, people in this room, who need encouragement, who need disciples, who need others to help them again follow Jesus.

Maybe you have Jesus.

Maybe the Lord has saved you and you know the gospel.

And there are people in your life who don't know Jesus.

And they need you to share the gospel with them.

And they need you to pray for them.

They need you to be compassionate.

As Jesus was compassionate.

In verse 12, the instruction goes on.

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.

Now, being a tax collector in this part in Israel back then and Jerusalem was a tough gig.

Right?

Someone had to do it.

The issue was that these would have been Jews who were working for the Romans and extorting other Jews, taking advantage of their position to take more money than they should.

And what's the call here?

Don't cheat people out of their money, right?

Be honest.

Don't steal.

Most of us probably don't struggle with extortion or stealing things.

Put in small little ways.

Are you men and women of integrity?

Are you stealing time from your employer?

15 minutes here, 10 minutes there?

Are you using your position to take advantage of others?

Are you truly honest?

Do you hide things from people?

Do you tell enough of the truth so people think you're honest, but yet you don't tell the rest of the truth?

Be honest.

This is what John's saying to them.

Just be honest people.

Don't steal, be honest.

Verse 14, be content.

Soldiers asked him also, what shall we do?

And he said to them, Don't extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusations.

Be content with your wages.

Similar words for the tax collectors.

The soldiers are not to extort, not to use their power to abuse others and get what they want.

They're to be content.

Now it's interesting for both the tax collector and the soldier.

John doesn't say, stop being a tax collector, or stop being a soldier.

It's wrong, it's immoral.

He tells them, do your job ethically.

If it was a sin to be a tax collector, or if it was a sin to be a soldier, John would have told them that.

That would have been a thing they would have needed to repent from.

John doesn't tell them to repent from their jobs.

He tells them to repent from their wickedness, from stealing and extorting.

He tells them to be honest and be content.

Contentment, I talk a lot about this, it's a difficult thing.

Striving for contentment.

I don't think most of us are extorting people.

I think a lot of us struggle with contentment.

Maybe manipulating others to get what you want.

I think what that's, I think about this just as a parent.

How am I using my authority over my kids?

Are you, as a parent, using your authority to help them prosper and to grow?

Or just to keep them under control so they don't embarrass you or they don't bother you, pester you?

If you're a manager or employer, do you use your authority?

Do you use the position that God's given you to build others up?

Or to get your way and to exploit others?

Think about this, even as husbands.

Husbands, do you use your authority that God has given you as the husband, the head of the household, to build up your wife, to see her flourish, or do you use your authority to just get your way?

For some, that might mean just apathy.

I just check out and let her deal with her problems.

I do the bare basics.

Sure, I work hard, I maybe I make some money for the family and those things.

But after that, I've done my bit.

I kind of check out.

No one says it that way, of course, but that's what's happening.

Or maybe you use your authority in a more intense way.

You're domineering over your wife, holding her to a standard that you would never keep yourself, expecting things from her that are unfair and unjust, unkind.

How are you, husbands, using your authority?

Those of you who are in positions of influence or power, are you using your authority for the good of others?

Are we being content in what God has given us?

John's instruction to these questions are simple.

Again, beautiful question.

A question that you should be asking, that I should be asking.

We hear the good news of the gospel.

What, Lord, should we do about this?

You read about how you're supposed to love the body of Christ, how you're supposed to love your family, how you're supposed to evangelize the lost, make disciples.

What then, Lord, should we do about this?

I love the great commission in Matthew 28.

It's very well known, well quoted.

Jesus, before he goes to heaven, gives this commission to the church.

Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all my instructions.

Right?

Well, the first question that should pop in our minds as we think about that passage is, well, what are we doing about that?

And are we content just to say, well, we go to church on Sunday?

Well, praise God that other Christians were faithful and following that command because we have a church here in America.

But what are we doing about that?

What are you doing about that?

How are you making disciples?

How are you helping the kingdom come?

What are you doing as you read scripture and it's convicting you over your sin?

When you're in your prayer time and it's apathetic, you feel like it's dry, and your heart for the Lord is weary.

What's your response?

Isn't it the question, well, what do I do about this?

Or is it just, hey, this is just how it is.

Maybe tomorrow we'll be different.

Maybe next Sunday we'll be different.

Day after day, year after year.

This question should confront us.

What then shall we do?

If God is real, his word is real, if all these things are true that we're dead in our sin and Christ has come to forgive us and to bring us from death to life, what then shall we do?

Shall we just go about our lives and sprinkle in some Christianity, some moral, a good, clean living, and act like that's enough?

Or do we forsake the things of the world and follow after Christ, being a people marked by compassion, known for their compassion, people known for their honesty, their truthfulness, and their contentment in the midst of a world going mad over all these things?

John's instructions are simple.

They get right to the heart.

Are you living for yourself?

That's his question, that's his answer to these people when they're responding, when they're asking him.

He's saying, Are you living for yourself?

Do you consider others more important than yourself?

Now, John's not saying putting others before you is what's going to save you.

But if you're willing, if you aren't willing to stop sinning, if you aren't willing to call upon the name of Jesus, if you aren't willing to turn from sin, do you really want to follow the Messiah who's coming?

Do you really want to, if you don't want to stop exhorting, extorting people, stealing, and being indifferent to the needs around you, if you don't want to stop those things, do you really think that you're going to be willing to follow Jesus when he comes?

John's question to them, what are you living for?

He calls them to repentance.

Now it's good to remember, Christians, that repentance is not what saves you.

Being sorry for your actions, wishing things were different doesn't save you.

Jesus saves you.

He opens your eyes to your sin and your need for him.

This leads us to repenting and asking Jesus to forgive us and to save us.

For some of you, true repentance feels like a vending machine, right?

It's just like I gotta put a little bit of repentance in and out comes forgiveness.

Got to put a little repentance in and out comes forgiveness.

As long as you honestly feel bad, and as long as you just say a quick prayer, yeah, your things are forgiven.

You're good to go.

You have a very cheap, cheap view of grace, and a light view of your sins.

The reality that Jesus, God's one and only Son, had to die for your sins.

It's true.

And you need to repent of having such a trivial, light view of your sin.

Now, for others, repentance is a difficult topic.

Your relationship with repentance isn't one of being trivial or half-hearted.

Rather, you feel sincere in your repentance.

You feel like you're genuine.

You feel sorry.

But no matter how many times you say you're sorry, you feel like you're not truly forgiven.

You feel like you can't fully overcome the sin.

You feel the weight of it, but you repent and you repent, but you don't feel forgiveness.

And you know the formula.

Hear the gospel, confess your sins, say you're sorry, mean it, put your faith in Jesus, and do that, all that with honesty and a genuine heart.

And you've tried that again and again, but still the sin remains.

Still the guilt and shame remains.

If your repentance is half-hearted and trivial, or if you feel like you can't repent enough, your stint your sin still lingers and remains.

For both of those groups, you need the gospel.

You need Jesus.

And it might sound funny, like, well, of course I do.

No, duh.

What else do you have?

It's like I don't have anything else.

There is something about the good news.

There's something about Jesus Christ that you're not believing.

That you're not clinging to.

Only Jesus can change your heart.

It might sound frustrating or too simplistic to say, well, you just need the good news of the gospel.

But it's true.

And you know it.

There isn't other, there isn't a formula that you need to hear, or if I just do these three steps, or if I do these things, you need to know Jesus Christ.

You need to embrace his love and his forgiveness and be in the word, soaking in the word.

And I'm not saying five minutes a day.

I mean you need to spend hours throughout the week in God's word, praying that he would reveal himself and encourage you, free you, free you from a light view of sin, or free you from this feeling that you're not forgiven.

That you would behold Jesus Christ, the one who has come to save you and to redeem you, that you would understand the weight of your sin, that you would understand the weight of his forgiveness and his mercy.

That he has come to redeem you.

That today you can separate, leave behind these sins that entangle you, or this apathetic heart, that you can repent of those things and follow after Jesus.

We're gonna sing here in a few moments, yet not I, but through Christ in me.

I'll read a little bit of this song before we sing it.

I want to call you, if you are someone who is apathetic over sin, it just doesn't really bother you.

Maybe you're not a Christian.

Or maybe you think you are.

I want to call you to repentance.

And if you're someone who's just weary, like you're just your soul is you're weary of repenting, I want to call you to a different kind of repentance, so to speak.

I want to invite you to come and know Jesus Christ, whose burden is light, his yoke is easy.

You might know him.

Listen to these words from the song, yet not I, but through Christ in me.

What gift of grace is Jesus, my Redeemer?

There is no more for heaven now to give.

He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom, my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.

To this I hold my hope is only Jesus.

For my life is wholly bound to his.

Oh, how strange and divine I can sing, all is mine, yet not I, but through Christ in me.

So don't come to repent thinking that you can keep part of your worldly living.

Don't come and repent thinking that Christ cannot forgive you of all of your sin.

Don't come with these false notions, but come and repent and enjoy the life that Christ has for us.

Church, let's pray.