Beyond Baptism Luke 3:7-20

Sunday March 15, 2026 

NASB 

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 [a]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, “[b]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 [c]wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was [d]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 [e]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_01 0:22

It's difficult to follow something after that. We're going to let me just give you a quick announcement. Hi, good morning, by the way. I'm I'm Byron. I am the pastor here, and I'm grateful for ministries like Journey of the Cross. I'm also, it also is one of those where it it's kind of it's hard to you can't put it into action, but I'm grateful for the all this the work and the act uh the effort that the actors have put in. And it it is all it's supposed to make you feel a little uncomfortable because it's it's something that we are very grateful for. But let me give you a couple of things just to be aware of as you're if you've got your Bibles, I hope you turn with me to Luke chapter three. I'm gonna continue where we were last week with the baptism um John the Baptist, and then next week moving into to the baptism of Christ. But let me just give you a heads up. If um if you're not aware of what we've been doing for the last as a church, for the last two and a half months, um I'm very very blessed to have folks um in our congregation that are passionate about reaching young people with the good news of Jesus Christ. And we have been swapped by a bunch of short people on the weekends over the last 10 weeks, uh nine weeks, and it's Upward Soccer. And what they do is all ages come and they play the games, and we've got a number of volunteers who have helped with coaching and with uh the facilities and getting things ready. Uh we've got some great uh concession stand uh food and all that sort of thing. I'm telling you all that uh to tell you that this weekend, not not today, but a week from today, Saturday and Sunday is the conclusion of the upward season. And on Saturday, they're gonna have all of the games, the championship games, and then on Sunday afternoon, we're gonna bring all those families, and they're gonna be here Sunday afternoon. So what I encourage you at two things is to be involved. If you haven't come to one of the Saturdays before, it starts at nine o'clock with the first game, goes through early afternoon. Uh come and see the championship games. That's the best weekend to see all the excitement and the energy. I encourage you to be a part of that and get some of the food. Miss Don and uh Carolyn and some others, they worked really hard. I can't name all of them, but they work really hard to get some good food uh for us for snacks, for concession stand. And then Sunday afternoon, next Sunday, uh four o'clock, I believe, we're gonna have a celebration here in the sanctuary. It'd be great to have a good representation. So you don't know anything about soccer, neither do I, and I coach. So uh it's uh that's been a lot of fun. But you can love on people, and that's a good thing. That's a good thing. All right, we are in Luke chapter three. Luke chapter three, and we are going to be reading together. If you'll stand with me, please, in honor of reading God's word. I'm gonna be reading, uh, not corporately, but just me. But I'm gonna start in chapter three, verse seven, and we're gonna read through verse twenty. So beginning in Luke chapter three, verse seven. So he began saying to the crowds, speaking of John the Baptist, as the one who's uh who is speaking, saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warns you to be 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. Instead 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. 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 thong of his sandal, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, and he will burn up the shaft with unquenchable fire. So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. 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, 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 pray that we would be students, we would be servants, we would be listening and obey.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

In Christ's name we pray.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

How he is the one who is making the path smooth, getting way, making ready the path of the Lord, the way of the Lord, making his path straight. Last week we were referring primarily to Luke chapter 3, verse 3, where he talks about how he came into all the district around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. So we we emphasized the baptism of repentance. And this I'm gonna just mention briefly just so that if you weren't here last week, or if you're like me, you've slept since then. I just want to tell you what John is doing and why. This is not the same baptism that Jesus commands us as his followers to follow. This is a preparing, a cleansing, a becoming aware of your sin and your need for salvation. It is not in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is not so that you can have new life in him. This is very much connected with the old covenant, with the old ways of baptism of cleansing, purification, getting ready, anticipating ready for the Savior to come. So this baptism of repentance is looking forward, saying Jesus is coming, the Messiah is on his way. The baptism that we experience and that we celebrate and that we're commanded to do is looking backward. We're looking at what Jesus has done for us, and we're grateful for his death for us. So we are buried with him in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life. Romans chapter 6. So all of that is happening. John is getting all the pieces together, he's putting all of this the way it needs to go, and then we transition or we move into what's happening as he begins to preach to this crowd. John is in the basin, he is close to the Jordan River, uh, it is it is desolate, it is very much the wilderness. Nothing grows there, nobody goes there. It's not a it's not a resort community, there's nothing, nothing for anybody. And John is there, and these crowds, we know it from this gospel as well as many others, these crowds are coming to him and wanting to hear him, and we know because he says the word of God. He has that authority, he's telling us what God has said, and thus saith the Lord. So here we go. John is there, and he begins his sermon, just like every preacher needs to begin their sermon in Luke chapter 3, verse 7. You brood of vipers, you bunch of snakes. How long would you stick around? You understand what he is doing is not out of anger or cruelty or rudeness. He is not doing this because he has a point to prove, he's doing it because his job in sharing the good news, in being a messenger, a herald, for herald for the truth, is so that he can be used by God to tell people what's really going on. If you were in a foreign country and you were about to pick up a bottle and you couldn't read the label of the bottle, and someone were to yell at you in a stern voice, drop it, don't drink it, stay away from it, because they could read the label and they knew it was poison and then it would kill you. Would you get in their face and say, How dare you yell at me? Would you be upset with someone telling you the truth? But honestly, let's just be real for a second, as opposed to all the time. Just you you and I, we have this defensive mechanism. Even if we're 110% wrong, we don't appreciate people pointing that out, right? There's this this uh this bristling, this this uh reaction, this stiffening, where we don't like it when someone tells us that we don't have all our ducks in a row, that we don't have it all together, that we haven't got it all figured out. And what John is doing by the grace of God to tell the truth, to help us, is he is drawing these crowds, and he's doing what any good public speaker does. He's saying, Let me tell you how terribly bad you are. Doesn't work, but it did here. And what he's doing, not trying to appease, not trying to please, not trying to make people feel good about themselves. It's not a therapeutic culture. What he is doing here is spot on. Because he's saying, you know what you're doing as people, and we're gonna read the passage in just a moment. He says, Do you know what you're doing as people, as religious people? You are claiming that you can do something to force God's hand. All you've got to do is you've got to get wet, and then that's gonna give you some credit in your spiritual bank. And when you get wet and you have credit in your spiritual bank, you can live however you want to. You can get on with your life, but God's gonna owe you some forgiveness of sins. God's gonna owe you some sort of relationship with him. God's gonna owe you a way to be right with him because you've done everything just the way that legally, legalistically, you're supposed to do it. And this behaviorism, this attitude of religiosity, this this sense of God owes me this, I've done so much for him, how could he not do this for me? That's what's happening here in Luke chapter 3, and that's what's happening here in 2026. You get this idea that God owes us, that all we've got to do is just follow the rules. If I go to church enough times, if I read enough scripture, if I pray enough times, then I'm gonna be okay with God. He's got to do what I tell him to do. He's forced because I've got it up on him. I've I've got it figured out. Like the genie in the lamb. I know how to rub it just so I know he'll come out and he'll have to do what I wish for him to do. And it's just like that, treating God like some sort of some sort of slot machine in the sky, I guess. Where he does what we want to do as long as we put enough coins in the receiver, then he's going to be the God that we want him to be. But I want to show you, come back to the passage, I want to show you how this plays out. Luke chapter 3, in verse 7. He says, 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. Verse 8, therefore, bear fruits in keeping with repentance. Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. When John is preaching the baptism of repentance, he's also preaching the fruits of repentance. He's saying, you can go through these motions, you can you can come get wet, you can get dunked in the baptistry, you can do all of these things that make you look religious and make you look spiritual, you can get the lingo, you can talk the God jargon, you can go through and be polished and clean on the outside, but the inside's still gonna be just as corrupt because the actions that are gonna come from the reactions, the things that are gonna flow from the heart are not gonna change. If you don't truly repent, then there's no, there's not gonna be any fruit that's gonna come from a new root. If you and I don't have a spiritual transformation on the inside, it really doesn't matter how many spiritual acts or actions or rights, R-I-TEs, or procedures that we do religiously. It doesn't matter who blesses us or who hands on us or who whatever us is. What matters is that transformation from within that works from its inside out for us to be able to be used by him. True repentance. And so what he's doing, he's saying, what you've done is you've made this a game, a very serious game, and you're gonna lose, but you've made this a game that you're playing, that all you've got to do is just go through the motions, act the part, but in the heart of hearts, in the depths of depths, in the dark of the dark, in the closets and the quiet places, you know that you're no better now than you were before you went through this motion. So come back to the passage. Luke chapter three, verse seven. You brood vipers, you snakes. Someone has given you another another option to try to get away from the wrath of God. You think that you're going to be clean cleansed, you think you're going to be free. Verse 8, 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, once again, the fruits of repentance, fruit in keeping with repentance. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Now, if you're with me so far, if if you're tracking, and I I hope you are, if you haven't fallen asleep or if you haven't already gone on to something else in your brain, if you haven't already done everything else and just sitting here, you're not here, you're here physically, but not necessarily mentally. Uh uh, if you're still here, I know that this can get tricky, and this this concerns me both for my understanding as well as as I'm I'm speaking with you. Because when we're talking about John's baptism, we're not talking about you do all of these things and then you're going to be saved. That's the bad that's not the baptism we're referring to. That's not what this is about. So it's tempting for me to stand up here and and say things like, bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and say, okay, so now I've got to live differently so that I'll be saved. That's not what this is talking about. He's talking about being ready to receive a Savior who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire, being ready to be transformed. And the question when he talks about repentance is are you seeing that when you truly repent, that you not only want to stop doing what you're doing, but you want to be saved from what you're doing. Let's be honest. Sometimes you and I get caught with the hand in the cookie jar. And the only reason we're upset is that we got caught with the hand in the cookie jar. It's not that we don't want cookies. We still want cookies. It's not that we don't want to treat our hunger, we still want the cookies. Now I'm hungry. It's not that we don't, it's not that we don't want that. It's we don't want someone to tell us not to have that. And what John is doing so perfectly, and what what the Word of God does for us every single day is it gets into our face, it looks us eyeball to eyeball, and says, I get it that you're acting wrong. I get it that you're sinning. But let's go a little bit deeper than that. Does your sin grieve you? Are you contrite? Are you repentant? Because if all this is, is some sort of spiritual cop with a clipboard and a whistle, kind of like Barney Fife on Andy Griffith, with walking around and say, nip it in the bud, nip it in the bud, that's behavior modification. That's not spiritual transformation. That's that's just trying to act better so you look better, so you smell better, so you are better. And there's nothing wrong with morally being upright. That's not what he's saying here. What he's saying is you're trying to earn your salvation by what you do instead of what he has done. The Messiah is coming. And when he gets here, he's going to do for you what you can never do for yourself. This fruits of repentance. As an example, just real quick. I don't, I'm not gonna ask you to turn there just yet, but as you flip through the gospel of Luke, you might keep going, chapter 9, chapter 10, and you you see these stories of a wee little man, a wee little man was he. And he goes up in a sycamore tree. And when y'all are singing the song too, when when Jesus tells him, I'm going to your house today, and Zacchaeus goes home, salvation finds him, and he doesn't say, Well, I'm gonna go back to what I was doing before. He says, I'm gonna give up half of my possessions, and if I've cheated anyone, I'm gonna give up four times what I cheated, what I extorted from. That's repentance, bearing fruit in keeping with repentance. Then you keep flipping. You go chapter 10, chapter 11, chapter 12. Luke, he does this throughout, but you get to chapter 15 and you have these, you have these incredible stories that Jesus gives, these parables, that refer to he's saying them in response to the the religious elite saying, What are you doing hanging out with sinners and tax collectors? What are you doing being around people who are not as spiritual and holy and righteous as we are? And Jesus tells these three important stories. One of them has to do with a bunch of sheep, 99 and one. And the 99 are safe, but the one is lost, so the shepherd goes out, he he finds the one that is lost, and he has a party because he didn't have a party because the 99 were already saved, he had a party because the one was lost. Something that was lost is found, and there's a celebration. But just so we get the point, he does it three times. The second parable has to do with coins, and a lady losing one of the ten coins, and then the third parable has to do with sons and the two sons, both of them prodigals in their own way. And the youngest one, and this is this is why I'm bringing this up, the youngest son, he squanders his father's wealth, he insults family heritage, and he runs away, and then he comes to his senses and he repents. And the same road that he took to go away from his father is the same road he took to come back to his father. So John the Baptist is looking at all of these people, all these people who are coming in, and he's saying, You don't get repentance if you think this is just one more spiritual notch on your belt. You don't get repentance if you think you can just live the way you lived before as you did after, and there's no difference in what's happening with you. Repentance is coming back, turning around, changing your mind. It's it's understanding how grievous what we are and what we've done is to our Savior and wanting to be right with him. Then you keep going, chapter 15, 16, 17. You get to Luke chapter 20, and let me just read this one parable to you. It won't take but a second. Luke chapter 20, verse 9. He began to tell the people this parable a man planted a vineyard and rented it out to vine growers, grine growers, and went on a journey for a long time at the harvest time. He sent a slave to the vine growers, so that they would give him some of the produce of the vineyard. But the vine growers beat him and sent him away empty handed, and he proceeded to send another slave, and they beat him also, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty handed, and he proceeded to send a third, and this one also they wounded and cast out. The owner of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him. But when the vine growers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, This is the heir, let us kill him so that the inheritance will be ours. So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy these vine growers, and will give the vineyard to others. When they heard it, the crowd couldn't believe what Jesus was saying. When they heard it, they said, May it never be. But Jesus looked at them and said, What then is this that is written? This became the chief cornerstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust. John the Baptist saying, You have to repent. And them saying, We're children of Abraham. We're related, we're good, we're already in. What do we got to repent of? And Jesus saying in the parable, This cornerstone is going to crush you because you've rejected the truth of who God is, who I am. Trying to tell John back in the baptism, why should we have to repent? We're already in covenant, we're already accepted by God. And Jesus telling this parable of the vine grower saying, God gave you that stewardship, not so that you could kill the messenger, not so that you could kill the son, but that you would understand that you are given a stewardship so that when the Messiah truly comes, when the Messiah is truly standing at the door, so when the king comes, you're ready for him. It isn't about just trying to live spiritually, trying to act more religious or look better than everyone else. If this baptism of repentance isn't accompanied by a change in life, then we've got a problem. So come back to it. And here in Luke chapter 3, let me show you what happens with these different groups that respond. They all ask the same question in verse 10. They all, when the crowds were questioning him, saying, Then what shall we do? And they ask it three different ways, but it's the same question, what shall we do? Verse 10, verse 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. So you want to know what repentance looks like? Before you were guilty of selfishness, of greed, of covet. Now you actually care about the people around you. It isn't just about lip service that's important. It's not just about the gospel, you have to proclaim it, but it's also living it out so that you can have others see what's happening on the inside out. Things change. You could be the exact same human being, but you've got a new heart, a heart of flesh instead of stone. You understand those around you are in need and you want to do something about it instead of just taking care of yourself and your own. He continues in verse 12. Some tax collectors, and these are Jewish hypocrites, these are Jewish traders who have work for Rome, and what they do when they take the taxes is they'll take some for themselves, and they ask, they came to be baptized, and they said to him, Teacher, what shall we do? And he says in verse 13, collect no more than what you have been ordered to. You used to pad your pockets, you used to be greedy, you used to take what didn't belong to you, and Rome had the authority of Rome behind you so that you could do that. You could cheat still, you could take care of it the way you wanted to take care of it, but now live with integrity. That's what the fruit is going to look like from the root of repentance. So you do that and things change. And the people around you are going to notice it, and things, things, the light is starting to shine. He continues in verse 14: some soldiers. These are the soldiers that were employed by Herod who would guard the tax collectors, so they're all connected, they're all together. The soldiers were in question of them, saying, 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. Basically, have a little integrity. Live your faith. You truly believe, you work, you worship, and know the one true God? Live as he would want you to live. Now, understand, this is John's baptism, this is repentance. We haven't got the Holy Spirit and fire yet. Understand this is pre-conversion. I get all of that, but the principle still remains true. How can we claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ and not live the way he calls us to live? How can we be submissive to him and simultaneously be oblivious to the needs around us? That's not loving God and loving people. So he gives that to us. But the curious thing is John is giving these instructions, nowhere does it say, John speaking to the crowds, nowhere does it say, hey, listen, if you really want to do something special, I need you to sell everything you have and come live in the desert with me. I need you to be a part of a sect group that wears funny clothing and eats a funny diet, and just everybody makes fun of us, but I think you'll love it. And that's that's going to show that you truly are a follower of John. That's not what he does. He doesn't say I'm I'm I'm collecting a group. I want people to all follow me. He's not saying that you have to quit your job. He's saying you have to quit being the sinner and live righteously in the job you already have. You know, that changes everything. It's who we are, where God has placed us for his glory and for our good as well as the good of others. Now, let's let's finish this up and let me show you where all of this is going. In verse 15. 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 baptized 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. You understand that slaves in that day, it's not it's not slavery as we may understand in the last couple of hundred years. Slavery in that day were often it was your own people. It was often it was often because of economic reasons. But even slaves who were Jewish, they would not they would not stoop so low as to touch their master's feet. Uh that you had to be low upon low upon low, even get close to the idea of touching someone's sandals because of the filthiness of their feet. And John, in his classic He Must Increase, I Must Decrease mentality, he says, I'm not about drawing a crowd, I'm not about being about me. I want it to be about him. Greater is he. And the lowest of the lowest of the lowest responsibilities of a slave toward his master, I'm not even worthy to reach up to that. I don't even have the credentials or the ability to say with full confidence, I'm worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. That is worth invitation. You see, you can't make much of Jesus and yourself at the same time. You can't brag on yourself and on Jesus simultaneously. You can't make it all about you and all about him in the same breath. Oh, I know we try. I I know, I know we do we we are so good at this. Someone I was growing up, and someone would do a great job in the in the singing on the on the on the platform, and after the service, they'd go, it's not here, but they would go, they would go to the back, and people would just go all over and say, You were so great, you sounded so good, and they do that whole righteous it wasn't me. It was him. What you just did there, you made it all about you, saying it's not about you, it was him. How about just say thank you and move on? It's not about you, but what we do is we say, Well, I just can't believe how spiritual I am, how talented I am, how gifted I am. Jesus must be so grateful that I joined his team. John's saying, I'm not worthy. And neither are we. And Jesus even called John the greatest. And we're not as great as John. So understanding this, you continue seeing that what the baptism is about is not just getting down in water, it's beyond that. It's about blessing and judgment. So let me spend the last last few moments this morning and let's talk about this. Let's talk about what Jesus is going to do and what we need to do in response to that. Luke chapter 3, verse 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. So, with many exhortations, he preached the gospel to the people. What John is doing as he's preparing the way, as he's anticipating the Messiah, as he's getting ready for Jesus to come, he is saying, Jesus is going to be here. The Messiah is on his way. And the question isn't whether the question isn't whether or not you get to pick him among many gods, quote unquote. It's not whether you like his religion or his style or his denomination. The question is when the king comes, the king of kings, when he comes and he stands before you, the only issue is whether or not his judgment will produce, will produce condemnation or blessing. The only question, there's only two categories of people, those who are in Christ and those who are not. Those who are saved and brown, there is no gray area, there is no in, or we're all out. And what John is doing is he's talking about Jesus coming with the winnowing fork, and he's talking about this judgment.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

He's saying, what's going to happen? And I'm telling you, you can't.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

If you understand that he's going to come and he's going to examine you and he's going to show you for who you are, and if at that point you don't allow him to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, if you don't allow that fire to come in and purify you and make you new in his image, then that fire is going to do the exact opposite and it's going to burn you with an unquenchable fire that you will never get away from. When we understand that and we see what he's about, this blessing, it is so true that God so loved the world. But it's also true, John 3, 17, that we stand condemned unless we receive him. We get this, we get this spiritual one-upmanship, this arrogance about us, that we think Jesus owes us something. No. We owe him everything. You and I have the choice right here and right now of whether or not we will face his judgment, condemned or redeemed, saved or lost. That's it. Only Jesus, Holy Spirit, only Jesus can regenerate. Only Jesus can make new. And this repentance is one of the pieces of salvation that he allows us by his grace. We can't even do it without his grace, by his grace giving us that that conviction, giving us that direction. John talks about in his gospel how the Holy Spirit shows us how we need him and gives us that urgency, that urging to turn to him. Because of what he has done for us, we have the option to respond to him. Is that you? Have you done that? Do you know what it is? Do you know what it is to have the awesomeness of a holy God and then be confronted with the sinfulness of yourself and realize the only hope is Jesus? That's repentance. It's not just lip service, it's not just sacramental where you go in and you do something and think you were going to earn his grace. It's very much sensitively, humbly, obediently coming before him. That's the gospel. How is that good news? The scripture says in verse 18, with many other exhortations, he preached the gospel. He called them a bunch of snakes. He told them that judgment was coming. It's good news because he's telling them God's answer for man's problem. And you're getting it right now, too. If you and I can respond to the grace of Jesus Christ and receive him, then everything else, everything else, he holds, and we stay in him. Let me finish these last two verses, and then we're going to close. Because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, Herod also added this to them all. He locked John up in prison. Now, I don't want to skim over that too quickly, and I definitely don't have the time to give it the attention it deserves. But can I suggest to you just a couple of things? When the gospel of Jesus Christ comes with full force and we proclaim the truth of who he is and what he has done, it means that we don't bend, we don't, we don't shade, we don't alter from the truth, fully truth, word of God. And John didn't say, because I'm talking to Herod, I'm going to say something different, or because I'm talking to these Pharisees, I'm going to say something different. He said the exact same thing in every circumstance. He didn't, he didn't he didn't hide anything, he didn't hold his tongue, he didn't worry about hurting anyone's feelings. He loved, but he loved in such a sense that he gave them the truth and he understood that they needed to hear it, including Herod. There's that integrity, that humility and integrity that I think is worth worth imitating. But as he's doing this, and the consequences, we know a few chapters later that John is literally going to be beheaded because of his faithfulness and Herod's depravity. Because of the consequences, the hero in this story is still not John. Who we're supposed to be looking at is not John the Baptist. It's the Savior that he is crying out about. When I was studying this years ago, I had a professor, he he got up and he started to try to explain, and I say try to explain because I'm way too thick. He tried to explain the Trinity. And I and I I I kept trying to get my head around it. I'm still not there yet, but he kept talking about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. And then finally he he just kind of you know how professors there are so kind, some of them, and they're so patient, some of them. He was, and he he looked down at me and he just he said, Okay, okay, all right. And basically he would say, I'm gonna dumb this down for you. You ready? I said, I'm ready. Here we go, here we go. He said, Do you remember when John the Baptist would point his finger back and say, Behold the Lamb, there is the man. In the economy of the Trinity, the Spirit of God is John the Baptist. It's not literally, but he is the responsibility is to say, Behold the man. They're all three fully God, they're all three one God, three persons, he's fully, equally, eternally divine. But as I listen to that, I got to thinking, well, wait a minute. You you mean the reason that maybe we don't talk as much about the Holy Spirit as we do God the Son is because the whole responsibility of God the Spirit is to direct us toward the God the Son. He is to be the witness, he is to be the one to help us see. It doesn't make God the Spirit any less God, it doesn't make him less important. But it got to me to thinking, wait a minute, if if God the Father is glorified by sending God the Son, God the Spirit is glorified by pointing out, lifting up, exalting God the Son. And if he's supposed to do that, shouldn't I at least at the bare minimum be do that as well to be a part of that as well? All right. So you get to all of this. And let's let's finish. If you'll turn with me to Psalm 139. One 139. I picked out these verses anticipating that among myself and some of you, that you may be thinking, okay, how do I know if I've repented the way God's called me to repent? How do I know if it's worldly sorrow versus godly sorrow? How do I know if this is the way that I'm supposed to do this, that I have the right, the right heart for this? And the best way, the analogy of faith, the best way to translate scripture is with scripture. And you get to Psalm 139, and you've got this, you've got this theme of God being everywhere and knowing everything. And as He created us, as He knows us, as He works, whether we see Him or understand or acknowledge or not, it always comes back to Him. And so I thought this would be a good way for us to check, to ask, to use this Psalm 139, verse 23, and verse 24, and just just be honest. And so what I want to do for the next few moments, this is the invitation. This is our encounter with our Savior responding. And I want to ask if you'll have the courage with me to truly pray this prayer, to truly ask God this.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Search me, oh God, and know my heart.

SPEAKER_01 39:47

Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there be any hurtful way in me. And lead me in the way. The everlasting way. We pray prayers like this. You're the one who knows. You're the one who purifies, you're the one who cleanses, you're the one who regenerates, you're the one who does all of that. And we thank you for that. We also know we have to be humble. We have to ask you to search us. I pray for the individual sitting here this morning that even now you're convicting toward repentance. Oh, your your kindness is so good to us. It leads us to repentance. You know what is best for us. You love us with an agape, unconditional love. And Lord, where we are grievous, where we are sinful, where we are disobedient, where we are proud, where we are arrogant, where we are malicious, where we are spiteful, where we are lustful, where we are coveting, where we are lying, etc., etc., etc. Search us. Cleanse us. Heal us. And let us be. Let us be yours. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. If you'd stand with me, please. I'm going to pronounce a blessing on you. And as I do that, if you are here this morning and you'd like to talk with a pastor or a deacon, we will stay at the front for a few moments to give you an opportunity just to spend time with us. But if not, then I'll give you this. I'm going to read to you today out of 2 Corinthians, one of my favorite verses. 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. You're dismissed.