Beyond Baptism Luke 3:1-20

Sunday March 8, 2026

NASB

John the Baptist Preaches

3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. 3 And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight.

5 ‘Every ravine will be filled,
And every mountain and hill will be [a]brought low;
The crooked will become straight,
And the rough roads smooth;

6 And all [b]flesh will see the salvation of God.’”

7 So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say [c]to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 9 Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” 11 And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” 12 And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “[d]Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” 14 Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

15 Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were [e]wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was [f]the Christ, 16 John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you [g]with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

18 So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. 19 But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, 20 Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Well, good morning. If you're visiting with us this morning, or if you have a very short memory, I'm Byron, and I am uh glad to be here. Last week I was uh out of town. My wife and I were visiting uh in southern Mexico and appreciate your prayers. We got to go on a uh biblical ministries, biblical counseling ministries worldwide, which is an organization that takes biblical counseling to different different countries so that they can um uh expound upon the scripture, help their churches and their church members uh to be able to study the scripture and to know what it says and what it means. And uh it was it was a it was a blessing to be a part of that. And it was a bigger blessing to be affiliated with a congregation that supports us in things like that, to be able to go and to share God's word and to be involved all over the world. Uh Lord willing. What Kim and I were doing in Mexico, we're going to be doing in Spain in the months to come, uh, where we will connect with area churches and be able to start the ball rolling of training them of how to take the Bible and how the Bible answers so many questions, helps us in so many ways, the authority of God's Word, of how it guides us and directs us as He speaks to us for suffering, for sin, uh for life's issue. It's totally authoritative, it's totally sufficient, it's totally effective, it's totally inerrant, it totally is uh necessary, it's it's everything we need, it's all clear of how we walk in our walk with faith. Now, I say all of that, and I'm about to give you a little bit of a guilt trip. Did you bring your Bible? You do you have your Bible with you this morning? Uh if you didn't bring it, it's really a good book. It's really a good thing to have. And it maybe you you don't normally carry it around, maybe you have your your your tablet or your phone, you do it some other way, that's fine. But the point isn't the next few moments to be able to just say, hey, look at me, pat myself on the shoulder because I brought my Bible. The point is over all that we've done during a worship service as we we gather together and we we commune with the Lord, we sing praises to him, and we we pray to him and we we come into his presence and we want to him to be the audience of one. I want to tell you that this is the foundation of what we're doing as we come to his word. Because, see, I have I've got opinions, and you've got opinions, and honestly, they're worth the paper they're written on. But he has truth, he speaks, and he speaks through his word. So, what I encourage is as we we come back to the gospel of Luke and we look in chapter three, what I want to encourage you about this morning is the need for us to come to his word, not just as this is just another another piece of information, this is just another thing that we do, something that we we engage in. But I want you to I want you to take his word. My prayer and my hope for myself and for us as a congregation is that you come to his word with an expectancy, with with a reverence and a submission. You see, what what's happened in the in the culture, uh, what's happened in the church, um, gratefully not all over, not all the time, but what's happened is the word has lost a lot of the authority that it rightly deserves. We don't worship the Bible, we worship the author of the Bible. And what's happened is we take the word and we look in the scriptures and we say, okay, this means this and this means that, and we have this arrogance, this presumption that we get to tell God's word what it says. And we put ourselves over the Bible. That doesn't work. Every day, every day, we put ourselves under the authority of his word, where he speaks to us. We let him speak. Now, I I hope what I'm saying is making sense. I hope I hope I hope it has some sort of resonance with you. And honestly, I don't understand half of what I say half the time, so I don't know what what's connecting with you and what's not. But what what I want to do this morning is I want to start in Luke chapter 3. And if you've been with us over the last few weeks, we've been we've been going through the gospel of Luke. We're gonna go Luke and Acts uh through this year, Lord willing. At the rate I'm going, it's gonna be 2029 before I even get halfway through. But but I'm I'm doing the best I can. But we're it we're in Luke chapter three, and if you haven't turned there with me, I encourage you to turn there now. If you don't have a Bible, if you don't have a phone, if you don't have I wouldn't do the phone personally. I'm I'm telling you why I wouldn't do the phone. And this is this is me. And I know some of you are sitting there with your phone and you got the Bible app up and you're ready to go, and hand in hand, you say, Well, preacher, you don't like me anymore. It's not what I'm saying. Listen to me. If I wouldn't do the phone because that thing distracts me like nobody's business. It just takes one little notification for me to be off on a tangent, and then I'll come back five minutes later and oh, was he saying something? Were we talking about something? I don't know what's going on. So that's why I'm too easily distracted. If you have the focus, if you have the focus and you can you can block everything out, God bless you, teach me how to do it later. But right now I'm saying, let's come to the scripture, Luke chapter 3, and we're gonna I'm we're gonna stand in just a moment, so I'm giving you a second to look up the passage, but we're gonna stand and I'm gonna read it, uh, the whole passage. Uh and and since we've started doing corporate reading where we read it together, I want to be real clear. I'm not asking you to read along on this one. Okay, it's 20 verses. You guys are you're already worn out, you've had a long day, everything's fine. It feels like it's almost uh uh 1015 or 1215 instead of 1115. I get all that. It's just a weird day that we're gonna keep we're gonna be fine. Here we go. Uh if you stand with me, please, in honor of reading God's word. Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3. Now I'll be reading, and you please be listening. Uh Luke chapter 3, beginning verse 1. Now, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was Tetriarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was Tetriarch of the region of Ethereum and Tritononius, and Linnaeus was Tetriarch of Abelee. In the high priesthood of Anas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight, every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth, and all flesh will see the salvation of God. So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, You brood of vipers, who warns you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. Indeed, the axe is already at the root of the trees, so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. And the crowds were questioning him, saying, Then what shall we do? And he would answer and say to them, The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and he who has food is to do likewise. And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, Teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, Collect no more than what you have been ordered to. Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, And what about us? What shall we do? And he said to them, Do not take money from anyone by force or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages. Now, while the people were in a state of expectation, and all were wondering in their hearts about John as to whether he was the Christ, John answered and said to them all, As for me, I baptize you with water, but one is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His widowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. But when Herod the Tatriarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all of the wicked things which Herod had done, Herod also added this to them all. He locked John up in prison. Would you pray with me, please? Lord, I thank you for your word, and I do pray that you speak to us and we listen.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Help us to trust you. And I thank you for the truth. In Christ's name.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

So I want to talk to you just for a few minutes this morning about John the Baptist. And I I I I had so much prepared that I I want to get through, and honestly, I'm not gonna need to get close to it. But I I want to I want to tell you about this guy. I want to tell you about who he is and and what he represents and why God sent him and his role and his his position and all that's happening with the gospel. But before I do that, I I just I want I want to tell you one of the ones that I I I grew up with. What what does Winnie the Pooh and John the Baptist, what do they have in common? Yeah, that they both honey is good, honey is good, they both have the same middle name. All right, so sorry, even as I said it, I was like, I probably shouldn't even say that out loud. The reason I want to slow down is because and and it really hit John is because the last few months we have been looking in chapter one and chapter two. And what Dr. Luke has done is he has taken he has taken great efforts to intertwine the ministry of John, the baptizer. His last name was not Baptist, by the way. His parents weren't Mr. and Mrs. Baptist. He he was a baptizer, and so he they Dr. Luke takes John and he intertwines Jesus. And it's not saying John is equal to Jesus, nowhere close. But what he's doing, he's saying, I want to tell you about the greatest prophet who ever lived. I want you to tell you about the man that God ordained and prepared and equipped to do something that no one else has been able to do before, since or ever will. And what John is doing in the spirit of Elijah, what he is doing and he is going to do, this is gonna be good. It's gonna be really, really good. And then he he leans in a little bit and says, but it's nothing compared to Jesus. And what he does is he says, I want to tell you about this great man. I want to tell you about his great ministry, I want to tell you about all that he's about, and then and then in the midst of it, in and out, in and out, go to Zacharias, and Mary, and then Elizabeth, and back and forth, back and forth, chapter one, chapter two. He says, I want to tell you all the good things that John does, but I want to tell you this so I want you to see the great one. I want to tell you about one who is going to be used by the Lord, and I want to tell you about one who is the Lord. I want to tell you about one who is going to prepare the way, and then I want to tell you about the way. That's why he's doing this. This is why he's putting all of these pieces together. So, with that in mind, I want to I want to begin in chapter three, and I want you to come back with me. Look in your in your copy of the scripture, look in verse one, and look at what John does. Luke chapter three, I mean, what Luke does talking about John. In Luke chapter three, verse one, he says, I'll get all my names mixed up. Good thing I don't talk for a living. Luke chapter three, verse one. Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was Tatriarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was Tetriarch of the region of Eutheria and Trichumbius, and Lanius was Tetriarch of Babylon. Okay, that's a lot of dates. And obviously, you woke up this morning thinking about these guys. That was on the top of your brain. You thought to yourself, I wonder how Philip did 2,000 years ago, because he was one of the four leaders of those regions. This is this means almost nothing to us, but it means everything to the readers, both then and now, when we realize that this gospel story isn't just a made-up little event in the corner of the world that nobody's paying attention to. It's a real thing in real time, in real history, something that truly happened. And here are the signposts. Here are the things that were happening politically, here are the things that were happening around the world. As John starts his ministry, some six months before Jesus is going to come on the scene. Here we go. John is here, and he's he's starting to do all of these things, and he's doing it in a real life world. You see, what happens, and this happens to me all the time, so I'm projecting a little bit, but sometimes we read scripture and we don't think that real people in the Bible even sweat or smell, that they don't have bad breath, that they don't have bad days. We we get the idea of this sort of weird imagination that they were all kind of floating. They all had kind of, you know, they all talked kind calmly and nicely. And sometimes we even think they spoke in King James Version, that they they said thee and thou, even though it was Greek and Hebrew. But anyway, we we get this idea that they had all this, and we get this imagery of what they were. Folks, they looked just like us. They talked different language, but they talked with vernacular just like we do. They they were humans made in the image of God with sin and shame and guilt and issues and skeletons and accidents and problems just like we are. The Bible's very raw, it's very real. It's talking to us, saying that you as creation, creation from a creator, that we can identify in a specific time and a specific place with real people. But it's not just the political landscape. He also talks about in verse 2 the high priesthood. Annas is a piece of work. He was he was the high priest, but now bring up verse 2, please. And the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, Annas was the high priest some 15, 20 years before. But it's like whenever someone has the role of president, even after they're no longer president, you call them Mr. President. Annas was like the spiritual godfather. He was he was a high priest, and his his son-in-law called Caiaphas, uh, he was still in charge. When Jesus was arrested, which will come in the days to come, when Jesus is arrested, they don't go to Caiaphas first. They go to the granddaddy, they go to the big the big wig. Even though he doesn't have the position, he has he has the authority. And so we have the political landscape, we have the spiritual landscape, but then verse 2 this is where it all comes together. The word of God came to John. And just in case you forget who he was, we talked about Zacharias from chapter 1, chapter 2, we talked about Elizabeth, we talked about this incredible birth, we talked about the murmurings, what kind of man is this? What kind of who is this boy going to be? What's his life going to be like? What's all this going to happen? Who is this John? Why isn't he named Zacharias? And then no, his name is John. All the things that happened over the last few chapters. Now, moving into chapter three, some some twenty, thirty years later, than the end of chapter two, here we go. John comes onto the scene, the word of God comes to him in the wilderness. In verse 3, it says he came into all the district around the Jordan preaching of baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. So what we gather, what we get from John, this guy was incredible. He was not a normal person, he was strange. He he went out, and I know that fashion with leather and hair and whatnot with coats and and purses and shoes and all that sort of thing. He he he it wasn't fashionable. He got camel's hair and he would walk around. I'm not sure, I w I wish I had a picture, but you know, Polaroid in the way. Um I he walked around and he didn't look he didn't look right. He didn't he didn't look normal. He was kind of an outcast. Because of his parents' age, we're probably pretty confident that his parents were no longer living. They probably died when he was relatively young. We know that he spent time in the wilderness. We know that he was out and about. He he ate honey and locusts. He was a down-to-earth kind of guy, uh previous generation, we call him a hippie. Uh he was very much um uh on the outskirts, and he drew the crowds. He he had people coming from all over in the wilderness. You see, the the Jordan River is in a basin, it's in a kind of a valley, and it's it's dead. I mean, there's nothing moving toward the Dead Sea, um, there's there's nothing in terms of vegetation, there's nothing to grow, there's no farms. If you don't live there, it's the wilderness. And John, he had his ministry in the midst of the wilderness. And so it isn't like, you know, you know, today, I don't know if you're aware of this, and I'm not advocating that, you know, if you really wanted to hear some good preaching, that they have these cruise lines where you go and you and I never understood that, but you you get vacation to cruise, and then you have the the Bible study and the worship and everything, you get all that together. And so you go on this cruise line and you get to hear the preaching. The reason I don't understand it is because I don't, I don't, I would be so conflicted. Am I on vacation or what what's happening? But anyway, um you you you go and you get to enjoy the good preaching and you get to enjoy the vacation. When they went to go listen to John, there wasn't anything out there. It wasn't, well, we're gonna go on a spa day and we're gonna listen to a preacher at the same time, we're gonna have a good day, we're gonna we needed to get out anyway, we needed a few days of vacation, we need to spend some time away. Um, it was inconvenient, it was difficult, it was uncomfortable, it was hot. It was a place and a position where they didn't want to be in, but they came. All sizes, all backgrounds, they came. He did everything wrong according to church growth programming, and everything right in terms of the word of the Lord came to John. They shouldn't have come. He they shouldn't have wanted to listen, they shouldn't have wanted to know what he had to say. But here he is in the wilderness, all these people coming around in verse 3, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now, in the days to come, we're gonna dig into this even more, but I want to be clear as we're we're walking into this this baptism of repentance. The baptism of repentance. You see, what we tend to do is we take words in scripture, and especially when we see words like baptism, and we assume one size fits all, it all means the same thing. So when you see baptism, it always means the same thing. In this context, John's baptism is completely different than Christian baptism. You see, what John's baptism is doing, and this is this is where we're going with this, what John's baptism was doing, he's saying we're looking ahead. He's the forerunner, he's the prophet, he's saying someone is coming, preparing the way for the coming of our Savior. And so this baptism is one so that you can get your act together for you to receive by faith Jesus Christ. The Messiah is on his way. John, are you the Messiah? No. John are you are you Elijah? No, not even closer. Are you a prophet? That's not my job. My job, John says, is so I become less, he becomes greater, so that you can see who he is and why he's coming and what he's going to do for you. So John is proclaiming this, and he's doing it by going out into the wilderness, and all these people are coming, and they're hearing John tell this truth about being ready, preparing for the Lord, and this baptism of repentance, he's coming in and saying, I want you to be ready for Jesus. I want you to be ready for the Messiah. I want you to be in a listening mode. I want you to be able to respond when he offers you grace, when he is willing to give you forgiveness. I want you to be ready. I want you to be prepared. Now, I what I want to do is I I want to read through the prophecy, and and then I'm gonna do something real quick. Okay, so Luke chapter 3, verse verse 4. He says, As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight, every ravine will be filled, and every mountain will be brought low, the crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth, and all flesh will see the salvation of God. See, what I intended to do when I was studying and praying and preparing, what I intended to do was I was I was gonna give you kind of two or three little quick things to talk about how John started his ministry, how he engaged as used by God to one who's preparing the way. I'm not gonna do that this morning. I want you to look at this, and if you if if you're concerned about me going on and on and on, um don't don't be worried. Whereas this is gonna be quick, but I want you to see this. Go back to the passage, John, I mean Luke chapter 3, verse 4. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet. This is the this is what he is quoting, Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3, 4, 5, and a few other passages. Um, but here it is. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make ready the way of the Lord. One of the reasons, there's many, but one of the reasons that I respect and so want to be like him when I grew up is that John realized he was a blip on the radar, but the Savior is coming. And he wanted to do what he had to do to be ready for Jesus to come. Now, sitting here this morning engaged in in the worship service from prayers and songs and and offering, all the elements that we do, are you ready? Now, I'm not I'm not asking if if you're ready to come to church, because you are, you're here, you know, Captain Obvious. I'm not asking if you're ready to engage with your Savior, to listen to him. Uh I'm not asking if you're you're ready to open the Bible and read his word and pray to him. What I'm asking is, are you ready for the marching orders? Are you ready for the cleansing? Are you ready for the trusting and obeying? Are you ready for God to come in on the scene? Because if you've already made up your mind, if you ever had a conversation with someone, you could tell you thought you were in dialogue, but they had already made up their mind, and it didn't matter lick what you said, good or bad, up or down, they were gonna go ahead and do what they were gonna do. If you were in a position this morning where you have already decided in the back of your mind, I don't care what the preacher says, I don't care what the song leader says, I don't care what the deacons say, I don't care what the Sunday school leaders say, I don't care what my family says, this is what I think, and this is what I'm gonna do, and that's it. That's in the store, full period, full stop, we're done. You're not ready. You see, until you get to the point of understanding your need for a savior, the need for forgiveness of sins, the need to be right with him, until you get to the point of understanding you need a doctor, you're not gonna go see one. Why would you why would you do that? And no offense to doctors, but that's not my favorite place to hang out. I don't like going to the hospital, I don't like going to the doctor's office. And I honestly, if I could and I can't, but if I could lose my religion, that's where I would lose it. Because I don't understand why my schedule, when people come, they come on time, but I get to wait 20, 30, 40 minutes, two hours for something. Anyway, okay, back to back to this, back to this. And I don't understand why they ask us personal questions. It's none of their business how much I ate last night. It's none of their business. Okay, all right, all right, I'm getting off track. I don't like doctors' offices. Uh doctors are fine, they're fine people, but I don't like going. But if I am sick, don't I need somebody who can heal me? Don't I need to be able to go to the one who has the answers? So come back to the passage. The voice of the one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And so what I want to do is I want to I want you to go through this imagery with me for just a few moments. And I want to suggest to you that this baptism of repentance, this getting ready, which is not Christian baptism, baptism of repentance, John's baptism, Acts chapter 19, all of that is it's looking forward to the Messiah. Christian baptism, we look back and we say, This is what Christ has done for us, buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life. But what he's doing here is he's saying, I want you to be ready for this repentance. I want you to be ready for what this is going to look like. Here it is make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight, every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth, and all flesh will see the salvation of God. Now, what I'm gonna suggest over the next few moments, and this won't take long, honestly, you may not believe this, but I'm almost done. What I'm gonna suggest this morning is not that you get to play God in other people's lives, because only God saves. Only Jesus saves. And I'm not gonna suggest that other people's eternity is dependent upon you, because I don't think that's biblical either. But I do think, and I do believe, that there are some mountains and there are some ravines and there are some roads that you and I are responsible to prepare for the coming of the Lord. And let me let me show you what I mean. Let me tell you what I mean. I'm not suggesting that all of it is on your shoulders, because this is by the grace of God. And I'm not suggesting that you you have to do everything, and if you don't do it, you're the failure and everybody else is success. Not going down that road. What I'm what I want to suggest to you is that in the next few moments, when you leave this room and you get in a car with some of your family members and your friends and your loved ones, and then some of you will go to the park and some of you will go out to eat, some of you will go to your home, you'll you'll go different places. And tonight and tomorrow, whatever your vocation or your position is, retired or working, school, whatever it is, what I'm going to suggest to you is that every person you lock eyeballs with, every person that you engage with needs a savior, the savior. Every person we know needs the Messiah. And sometimes there are some mountains that you and I need to help chip away so that they can truly see Jesus. And sometimes there are some ravines and some ditches that we're gonna have to fill in so that they can see Jesus. And sometimes there are some roads that they're getting they're getting wrapped around the axle, they're getting all tangled up in ideas about can a God who can do anything create a rock that can't be moved, and et cetera, et cetera. And we need to we need to help straighten the road, the path a little bit to help them see Jesus. And the reason I'm saying this is because Isaiah chapter 40 and Luke chapter 3, what he's going to start doing is he's going to start giving us this repentance idea, this truth about turning around. Not just a change, but a change of mind, where we realize that the roads we've been going down, the things we've been doing, the thoughts we've been having are not honoring to God, and they're not of him. And so we need to repent for forgiveness of sins. We need to trust him. Now understand, John's baptism doesn't save you. John's baptism is not how you get to heaven. John's baptism is not with the Holy Spirit and fire that's coming. John's baptism is you and I today, in this vernacular, in this day and age, walking and talking with our brothers and sisters in Christ and those who are far from God around us, John's vernacular of understanding this preparing and repentance. It's giving you and I the God-given grace and opportunity to say, you need Jesus. Now, not in a not in a condescending judgmental way, not in a in a I know better and you know worse, and I'm a better person, and you if you get as good as me, then everything's gonna be great. But he does it in such a way that helps us to get all of this put together. And let me show you how. In verse 7, he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warns you to flee from the wrath to come? That is not church growth 101. That is not the way to make friends and influence people. You brood of vipers, you snakes. Who gave you an in so that you think that you're going to get away with the blessings and the judgment of God, that you're going to actually make this work? So what he's doing, he's telling the truth. And as he's telling the truth, he's helping us see this is this is how all of this is going to be put together. They're snakes because they're thinking that if I just, if I just live a righteous life, if I just do the best I can, then I'm going to be okay with God. They're thinking that if I my my heritage, my DNA, my parents, my grandparents, they're from Abraham, my father was a pastor, my uncle was a bishop, et cetera, et cetera, then I got it by family heritage, and I'm going to go to heaven on the coattails of my family members. They're thinking that if I just do enough good things, and maybe baptism could be one of those good things that I could do, then I'm going to be right with God. And John comes in and he looks at him and he has the courage of a lion and he says, You don't get it. It's not what you do, it's who he is. It's not what you've done, it's what he does for you. It's not your ability to be more spiritual and act better and to be righteous in your own works and your own strength. It's an understanding that none of us are righteous, none of us are clean, none of us are okay, and we all need that same cleansing from God. We all need that purity from God. And what John does, he gets right in their face. He says, You're trying so many ways and so many things. You're trying to do it your way. This is God's way. I'm going to stop there. I'm going to I'm going to pause. I'm going to wrap this up. There's more. Come back next week. But I wanna, I wanna I wanna stop with an idea. You you you and I, we get this idea that the love of God is dependent upon us. That we get to call the shots, we get to make the rules, that if we if we're smart enough or spiritual enough or strong enough, that we get to be right with God. And the reason that John the Baptist, the baptizer, the reason that he called for a baptism of repentance is because all of those things that they were trusting in were shaking sand, shifting sand. They they weren't going to make it that way. And I want to suggest to you this morning that if you think coming to church is going to get you right with God, it's important, but it's not the first thing. It helps, it's vital, it's commanded, but it's not the first thing. If you think that having a Christian family is going to make you right with God, it's good. It's very good, it's a blessing, but it's not the first thing. If you think that maybe if you just act better than worse, that you look good versus bad, if the other people think you look good and act good, then you're gonna be okay. That's good. And it's important, but it's not enough. And this is where it really rubbed the Jewish people in Luke chapter 3 wrong. If you think dunking in water is going to make God owe you salvation, you're wrong. If you think just getting wet makes you right with God, you're wrong. Now, baptism, and this is what I was nervous about. Baptism is important. Baptism is commanded, baptism is part of it, but it's not the first thing. The first thing is Jesus. And by that I mean, even as I said that I had bells running off. Don't just say Jesus.

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They gotta know, we gotta know what that means. More than anyone or anything else.

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What you do, who you are, where you go, what you believe, that he becomes Lord and Savior, that everything about him is how you exist. So under his lordship, under his salvation, under his grace, he is able to help you to walk with him. See, where we where we get where we get out of order is we think we think that repentance is our deal. And you can't even know how bad you are if but by the grace of God He shows you your need for repentance. If you're sitting here this morning and you're thinking to yourself, I've trusted in the wrong things. I've trusted in my acts, I've trusted in my religion, I've trusted my heritage, I've trusted in my even even saying the profession of faith or signing a commitment card or a membership card. And all of those things are might be fine in and of themselves, but if you're thinking you've trusted in anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ, then you've missed it. It's got to be Jesus. It's got to be all Him as your Savior and your Lord. Next week I'm gonna I'm gonna dig into that baptism with with Holy Spirit and fire, but but for now, for just right here, let me ask you, have you repented? When the Bible talks about repentance, it's not remorse, it's not feeling sorry, it's not sorry you got caught, it's not sorry that that things didn't work out the way you wanted, it's not sorry that you're guilty, it's none of that. It goes much deeper and wider that causes us to come to a point of realizing that the more you look upon the face of God, the more you see his glory and his holiness and all that he is about, you realize how far you are from him. It's Isaiah in the temple in Isaiah chapter six, where he says, Woe is me, I'm undone. I'm among a people of uncleanliness, I'm unworthy. Not being able to be able to look up because you see Jesus right there in all he is. Now, see, even as I say that, I know I know that this goes beyond what we can get a handle on. And I understand that some of you may be thinking, Well, I lost you there, preacher. I have no idea what you're talking about. So I get it. Just be patient with me for two more seconds. What I'm what I'm suggesting, and what I want to say, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough roads smooth. And all flesh will see the salvation of God. Last two questions. Do you see the salvation of God? If you have not repented, you're not gonna get there. If you have, what are we doing as brothers and sisters in Christ to help other people see the salvation of God? Every head bowed, every eye closed. We're gonna spend some time in prayer this morning. And as we do that, I'm asking that you talk to your Lord about your relationship with Him. That you you ask the hard questions and be prepared for the hard, loving, speaking the truth and love answers. Over the next few moments, we're just gonna stay put. I'm gonna pray in a few minutes and we're gonna we're gonna be dismissed. But right here and right now, have you repented? Have you come to an understanding by the grace of God that you are not okay, that you are broken, that you need help, and that Jesus Christ is the only answer.

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That it's only by Him that you have true life. And that's not my opinion. I'm telling you what the Bible says.

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If that's your heart cry this morning, I want to encourage you to start talking to Jesus right now. Pastors and deacons will be available after we close. They'll be up here front. We'll be glad to pray with you, talk with you more. But if that's what you need, God brought you here at a specific time, a specific place to help you to know Him. It might be this morning that you are you are growing in your faith, that you are trusting your Savior. But maybe the Spirit of God has convicted you this morning that you're making you're making your family and friends, you're making it more difficult than it needs to for them to see Jesus, to see the salvation of the Lord. And it's not about you being perfect, it's not about you doing everything just right. But maybe you need to ask forgiveness for an attitude you've had, or a disposition you've shown. Maybe you've been holding a grudge, and you realize, sitting here, that you haven't cleared the way for Jesus. You're becoming more of an obstacle than you are an opportunity. And maybe by his grace, the Spirit of God is convicting you of that. And you know by his conviction, the scripture's clear that he doesn't lead where he also doesn't give you the opportunity to seek his forgiveness and to know him. If that's your heart cry this morning, I pray that you would you would engage with your Lord and be involved with him. Whatever your need, whatever wherever you are. If everyone would stand with me, please. I'm going to close us in a word of prayer. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are more than enough. We thank you for characters like John, who had the courage to say the unpopular thing because of the truth of who you are. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to search our hearts, see if there's any wicked way within us. Show us how to turn to you and trust you, and use the body of Christ to help us along the way. Lord, I pray for you to be glorified. That you would help us to be obedient as we go. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you or dismiss.