Luke: Who is This? What Must I Do? Come & See (3:1-22)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

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The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

Glory to you, Lord of Christ.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip, Tetrach of the region of Ituria and Trachnidas, and Lysianus, Tetrach of Abelini, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

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

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight, every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be come straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.

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

Even now the axe is laid at the root of the of the trees, every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into fire.

And the crowds asked him, What then shall we do?

He answered them, Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.

Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do?

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

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

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

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His windowing fork is in his hand, to clear the threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chafe he will burn with unquenchable fire.

So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people, but Herod the Tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, for all the evil things that Her Herod had done, added to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were open, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.

This is the gospel of Christ.

Father, we come before you broken, um as people who may be be riding on a high of having a good week, or as people who have been riding on a low having a terrible week.

Father, we just come before you wanting to hear your voice.

And I just ask, Lord, that I would decrease and you would increase, that your voice would go forward, not mine.

Um I praise in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Please be seated.

A couple weeks ago, um, the National Post writer, um Andrew Alex Boyd, wrote in an article about how the first generation that is growing up fully online, fully having access to social media, uh, the internet, and all that that comes with it has fully is on its way to adulthood.

When I first read this, it um if I felt very old when I read it.

Because I can remember when the internet came.

But I remember a time before the internet and then a time after the internet, and I'm sure many of you do as well.

Um I was really surprised to read that they're now becoming adults.

But it goes on to talk about the effects of this with some very interesting examples.

One of them being from a British study show showing from 2021, showing that within minutes of signing online, those as young as 13 or younger are falling victim to false information.

He goes on then to quote a very thoughtful 16-year-old from Walkerton, Ontario, who says, 20 years ago, the internet was an escape from the real world.

But now today, the real world is more of an escape from the internet.

I can tell you right now, when I was 16, I was not thinking about this kind of stuff.

It's a very thoughtful 16-year-old.

I found this quote very interesting because the Bible has been called a book of fairy tales.

A place where you go to escape from your problems, to forget about the real world.

But what we're looking at today and over the fall, as Creighton said very well last week, is that we're looking at an ancient biography compiled by a man who is highly educated and highly detailed oriented.

This biography, ancient biography, is written within, it's estimated around 30 years after Jesus' death, of his death and resurrection.

People would still have been around who could say that no, that's wrong.

What you wrote in this right here, this little line, that's wrong.

I saw it this way.

There's many eyewitnesses still alive of Jesus' death and resurrection and what had happened afterwards.

People would have still have been alive, as I said.

And so as we think about that, we can be very confident what we're reading here in the Bible is actual from that time.

It's actually Luke's words, as he writes out Jesus' words.

Now, why do I bring all this up?

We live in a world where increasingly reality is becoming mixed with mythology.

Truth isn't made up of facts anymore, it's made of self-determining ideas or someone's own personal, what they deem as their reality.

But the Bible and the text we're looking at today is based on reality of historical facts, it's based on real people, and it's based in a reality of real life in the present, the physical.

So if you haven't already, um you can either open your bulletins to this or you can open your Bibles to Luke chapter 3, verses 1 to 22.

Luke 3:1–22

And I'll just give a quick disclaimer.

You may be wondering, well, Creighton only spoke on the first four verses last week, and now we're in chapter 3.

We will touch on the nativity uh later on, closer to Christmas time.

It just seems fitting the to talk about it then.

So we're just go we're jumping ahead here.

So let's see what Luke says.

I'll read verses one to six.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being Tetrach of Galilee, and his brother Philip, Tetrach of the region of Ituria and Trachnidas, and Lysinas, Tetrach of Abin Abelini, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

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

And it says, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight, every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Now what is going on here?

Luke is doing a couple things here.

First off, he's placing the story that he's about to talk about in history.

He names names of real people in a real place at a real time.

And he does this for a reason.

And you may be here questioning, well, how do you know this is these are real people?

Well, there is excellent historical scholarly research outside of the biblical field of research that backs this up.

So there's people who would be call themselves atheists that back up these people are real.

They had these roles in a reality in history.

So it's very like we can hold to this.

Luke is telling the truth here.

And he's introducing these people, these certain people, who will play an important role as we continue on in this ancient biography.

He's taught, he's he brings these people up for a reason.

And then you may have noticed he also quotes Isaiah here.

Isaiah was a prophet, it's estimated might be over 700 years before this happened.

And he writes about this.

Isaiah writes about this moment that this person, this herald, will come into reality, into the scene, and set, prepare the way for the coming Messiah.

So that is how Luke opens this section.

And another thing that's interesting about this section, it says the word of the Lord came to John.

Israel, the Jewish people, had not had a prophet for around 460 years.

And when you if you read the Old Testament, the prophets, you always see that it's introduced.

The word of the Lord came to Isaiah.

So what's happening here is God is bestowing his word on John to prepare the way.

It's a very important thing to note that when you see this, that the word of the Lord came.

It's almost like John is being ordained with God's word.

When I was ordained last week, there is a moment in the ordination service when the bishop hands me a Bible.

And that's him, in a sense, ordaining me to preach the word of God, the Old Testament and the New Testament.

But God is ordaining John to preach his word.

This is something it's I found interesting thinking about like the correlation between the two.

Now, what is the word?

If you look at verse 3, it says repent and be baptized.

You might be watching online or might be sitting here thinking to yourself, oh, here we go.

This is gonna be one of these sermons that make you feel just horrible about yourself.

You hear we it's whenever you hear repent and be baptized, you just think of certain images of people with signs or something like that just calling people down.

It's so unCanadian.

It's so like you might be thinking, what about love?

Wins?

What about that slogan?

That is such a better slogan than saying repent and be baptized.

But I would argue that this text is very Canadian.

And it shows what true love is.

It's not a fake love, it's a real love.

So let's take a look, let's see what Luke writes next.

As he's set the stage, he's given us the idea of when it's happening.

So let's see what comes next.

And I'll read verses seven to nine if I can find it.

He said, therefore, John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.

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

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

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

He's talking about Jewish people, this text, it's talking about someone named Abraham, and then it's also talking about a tree being cut down.

How is that very Canadian?

Well, what he's talking about here is that the Jewish people at this time they base their whole identity around being called the children of Abraham.

Abraham is from the book of Genesis.

I believe this promise comes from chapter 15, um, where God says to Abraham, I will make you a great nation.

Your your nation, the nation will be the people, there'll be an endless number of people.

It'll be like the grain of the sand, just endless.

You'd be a great nation.

So the people of Israel cling to that promise.

It is their complete identity.

It is what makes them up completely.

They would call themselves the chosen race.

They would not affiliate with anyone else who is different from them, who is not a Jewish person.

Well, you might be thinking, okay, well, how does that apply to me?

I've been we've been in Port Perry now for about two months, and uh it has been great.

It has been such a wonderful place to be.

It is beautiful.

Um, it always feels like you're at the cottage because there's a lake.

It's a great place.

And I've gotten to talk to a lot of people in the community already.

Uh it's a very welcoming community.

And but you always hear, it's a great place.

It's a perfect place.

I love it.

I would never leave it.

But then as you continue in the conversation, I've heard this a lot.

Um, there's people complain about the weekend crowds.

Um they complain about the people who are in the parks taking over their space.

I just found it interesting that the contradiction.

They love this place, but they don't want to share it.

And I'm not just picking on Port Perry.

This is a very common thing.

Um, in Ottawa, there's a place called the Glebe and Westboro.

These are very high-class areas, lots of lots of trees, very beautiful.

And they don't like it when people come in.

Um, this is very much, if you think about like the Jewish people, they don't like other people coming in on their ground.

And they try to disassociate with them.

They almost make uh an exclusive heaven on earth.

Then you may be thinking, okay, well, that's nice.

Um but if you continue on, if you think about it, we um as Christians sometimes fall prey to this.

We sometimes think we're chosen people in a sense that we've put our faith and trust in Jesus, but we don't tell anyone about Jesus.

Sorry, I'm losing my voice.

We sometimes don't want to talk to people about Jesus.

We almost become like an inward-focused club.

We forget most of the time about the outside world.

If when you have a chance, um I believe the Vest Report is coming out, it's come out or it's gonna come out very soon because we're talking about it later.

Creighton, his rector report, I would encourage you to read it.

Um he does a really good job at talking about gospel-centered and community serving.

Those are two of our vision vision statements.

He does a great job at this.

But you see, it's human nature and very Canadian to become to become secluded into different groups and as clubs.

And we we have a tendency to elevate ourselves above other things, other people.

We don't want to be a part of that group, we want to be a part of that.

This group, we don't want to do this, we want to do that.

But did you see what it says in verse 8?

In verse 8 it says, bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

You may be thinking, what does that m even mean?

You may be thinking, I completely disagree with you, Matt.

I can't believe you're up here saying this.

Or you may be someone in the middle.

Or you may be thinking, You lost me at verse 9, where it talks about an axe is laid at the root and a tree is going to be thrown into fire.

You lost me there.

Well, look what says next in verse nine.

I'll read from there and continue on.

Every now 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 and he answered, Whoever has two tunics, that's a garment that's under them, the main clothing, it'd be like an undershirt that they would wear.

Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.

Then when you see here in verse 12 it says tax collectors, a better translation would be toll collectors.

So we're all familiar with Matthew.

Um, if you've been going to church or you grew up in the church, um Matthew, one of the other gospel writers, was a tax collector.

We're very familiar with tax collectors.

But a toll collector is someone that would, who was normally not a Jewish person, normally a Roman person, who would bid on certain areas within the town to collect tolls, and then they would they would charge outrageous prices to make their money back on these contracts that they bid for.

That's what he's talking about here, these toll collectors.

So toll collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do?

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

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

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

You may be saying, Well, Matt, I'm a generous person.

I'm I give to those in need, honest with people I deal with.

What John is saying here is you need to be radically generous, radically giving, radically honest with people.

That's what he's telling these people to do.

He's telling people not to quit their jobs, he's telling them within their jobs they need to be, they need to show the love of God to people.

If you are, if you and if you say that, yes, I do this stuff, well, you're better than me.

Um I find it very humbling sometimes to be around um people who would not call themselves followers of of Jesus.

Um they sometimes are more generous than me, they're nicer than me, they're more honest than me, and I find that very humbling sometimes because then it makes me feel like I'm just a horrible person.

What John is calling people to do is to be radically generous, radically caring, radically honest, but radically in need.

Let's read on.

Verse 15.

And as the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all, saying, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, his winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear the his threshing floor, and to gather wheat into his barn, but the chafe he will burn with unquenchable fire.

So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people, but Herod the Tetrach, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all.

He locked up John in prison.

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized, he was and was praying, the heavens were open, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove, and a voice.

Came from heaven.

You are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased.

Now, if I was to end the sermon right here, you might be thinking, Well, that was a very harsh-sounding sermon.

Um the the people here, when it says they were in expectation, they were expecting something.

They were oppressed by the Roman people, they were almost slaves to the Romans, and they had no prophet come to encourage them about God and the Messiah that's coming.

If you are baptized here, and only rely on doing good things to save you, you will fail.

That's just relying on yourself.

That is what John is getting at here.

He's telling them you need to completely change, do a complete 180 in your life.

Luke presents John as the messenger, the one who will prepare the way for the Messiah.

That Messiah is Jesus Christ.

The one we see God calling him my son.

I am well pleased.

The baptism of Jesus shows us that Jesus is the Son of God.

It happens in history.

It happens in the created world, it happens in reality.

Did you notice what John says?

There's two leading interpretations of this verse, and I've been going, I was going back and forth with it all week.

But I came to this.

What Luke is presenting us with is this God sent his son into the world, as we see here, as you see in the beginning of Luke.

He anoints his son here, right in verse 22.

Jesus lives a perfect life, the life that we cannot live, and he takes on God's wrath that we deserved and designed on died on the cross.

And then he rises from the dead, as you see at the end of Luke.

And whoever puts his faith and trust in Jesus will be saved.

When you're baptized with water, you're baptized into the church, you're baptized into a family.

It is a great experience.

It's a loving experience.

But when you truly, truly believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He baptizes you with His Spirit.

As you as that was read, Rachel read in the Ezekiel text, that God will come.

God will come and change your heart.

It's not something that we can do.

And what fire means, if you think about it figuratively as an illustration, when a forest fire happens, it completely burns everything.

So when he says this, he's God comes, Jesus baptized you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Your inner self, your old life dies.

It becomes soil, soot.

But the thing with a forest fire is that it creates a rich soil, a soil where things can grow.

And as his spirit enters your heart, it creates new growth, new life.

Then that growth produces rich and abundant fruit.

If Jesus rose from the dead, that changes everything.

Through the new soil, the new growth, you'll be radically generous.

When you cling to Jesus and say, Lord Jesus, help me.

I need help, you will become radically changed, radically generous, radically honest.

You'll give to those in need.

The Spirit will lead you in it.

It's not something that you have to like worry about.

I need to do this, I need to do this to make God happy.

When you become more gripped by the gospel daily, by clinging to Jesus, fruit begins to grow in you.

That is what it means to be baptized and bear fruit.

It's not a fruit that we can produce, it's a fruit that the Spirit produces.

It is a great, it is a great hope because it creates this, it creates a peace in our lives that we don't have to perform anymore.

When we come become gripped by the gospel, Jesus begins to work in our lives.

I know it's hard to hear this text that it's it seems very black and white, and it is a black and white text.

It's either you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior of the world and are saved, or if you don't, you face eternal judgment.

That is what John is saying here.

It's very plain, I can't say it any other way.

But who is Jesus?

Did he rise from the dead?

This is the most important question you can ask yourself and make your life around.

If you are here and you struggle with the concept of Christianity and you're seeking it, you're seeking it out, I would encourage you to ask honestly who Jesus is.

Who is he?

Did he rise from the dead?

Because that is such an important question.

And if you are here and you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, lean into him more.

Lean into him more.

Become more and more gripped by his gospel, that he loves you, that he died for you, that he came into the world for you, not for people just thousands of years ago.

He came in for you.

He knew about you when he was on the cross.

There's the most important question to ask.

Did Jesus rise from the dead?

Come and see as we continue on over the fall in the Luke series.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for the immense hope of the cross and Jesus' resurrection.

I thank you for that hope, Lord, that you have called us to be your people.

And it's not based on our performance.

It's not based on us trying to be better people, that it's just based on faith in Jesus.

And through that, that you will work in our lives.

And Father, as we continue on in the service, I just pray that your gospel will become more gripped in our lives through this service and through the week and the coming months.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

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May God bless you and keep you today and every day.