Words That Wake The Heart - Luke 3:1-20

A quiet life can inspire, but it can’t rescue. We open Luke 3 and hear a wilderness voice cut through the noise: the gospel is news that must be announced, not guessed at. From the emperor’s palace to the temple courts, power seems concentrated in all the expected places—yet God sends his word to John the Baptist in the margins, reminding us that heaven’s strategy runs through humility, not hype.

John’s message is razor clear: repentance before comfort. We explore "metanoia" as more than regret—it's a Spirit-born change of mind that redirects a life. Along the way, we confront false security in heritage, habit, and hashtags. The hard saying “brood of vipers” exposes the danger of relying on family faith, past prayers, or religious polish without a living trust in Jesus. Then John gets practical: share what you have, take no more than what’s fair, use power to serve, not squeeze. These everyday acts of generosity, integrity, and contentment become visible fruit that grows from real roots.

And John won’t let the spotlight linger on himself. He points to the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire—Christ, who gathers the wheat and burns the chaff, not out of cruelty but out of holy justice. Destiny is not about pedigree or performance; it’s about a present, surrendered trust in Jesus that bears fruit over time. We close with hope that rests on the finished work of the cross and the sealing strength of the Spirit. 

If you’ve been coasting on borrowed faith or quiet moralism, consider this your invitation: turn, trust, and walk in a life that shows. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs clarity and courage today, and leave a review to help others find the message.

Transcript

Why Words Matter For The Gospel

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But hey, if you have a Bible, go ahead and open it up. Join me if you would in Luke chapter three as we continue what is and will be a two-year-long study through the Gospel of Luke. Now we'll take breaks in the summer. So we're going to do an eight-week series on the person of the Holy Spirit this summer. I'm really excited about that. But right now we're walking through the Gospel of Luke. Luke is one of four Gospel accounts. Luke was written by a companion of Paul who was a physician who was probably a former skeptic, turned believer by the power of the Holy Spirit with the evidence he was presented, who's now writing one of two books, Luke and Acts, to a man named Theophilus, who was also probably a skeptic, that he might have certainty concerning the things he had been told about Jesus. Theophilus was probably, probably a Roman official. And so in the beginning of the Gospel of Luke, what you have is you have these dates and you have these leaders mentioned so that Theophilus can go and check to find out, okay, did this really happen and when did this happen? It was under the reign of this individual, and this person was governor, and this person was tetrarch. And you'll see that, of course, this morning. But as I begin this morning, there is a quote that sometimes floats around Christian circles. It's usually attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, but most likely he did not say this. And the quote you have probably heard is preach the gospel and if necessary, use words. That sounds humble, sounds compassionate. In some ways, okay, understand maybe what that's trying to say, but it's wrong. It's wrong. In fact, there's no way to articulate the gospel without saying words. The gospel is an announcement, it's good news to be shared. It's wrong. Because if your house was on fire and you found the only way out, you wouldn't try to simply just model safety to everyone else who's still trapped. You wouldn't live such a compelling example of calm that people just kind of figured it out. You would open your mouth and you would shout, Come, here is the way. Like Revelation 22 says, the bride says, Come, where there's water and life everlasting. The gospel, as we start this morning, the gospel is not something people infer by watching Christians live decent lives. The gospel is an announcement, it's news and it must be spoken. You see, Christianity is not a moral improvement plan where people who behave get rewarded. Christianity is a rescue mission where dead people are made alive by a sovereign work of the Lord as they hear and believe a message, the message of Jesus. After all, the Bible doesn't say faith comes by observing kindness. It says faith comes by hearing, and by hearing the word of Christ. That's what Romans 10, verse 14 teaches us. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard? And how are they to hear of him if no one goes and preaches? Which means words are not optional in gospel ministry. They are necessary. And here's where this matters. A gospel that never confronts is not compassionate. A gospel that never calls for repentance, it's not loving. And a gospel that never uses words is not a gospel at all. The gospel is the good news that the great and gracious creator of the universe sent Jesus to die in the place of sinners. Jesus stood in our place. The gospel is that he took the righteous wrath of God in our place in order that those who would repent and believe might die to themselves and live forever in him and with him. This morning, we're going to meet a man who modeled that more than anyone who ever lived. His name is John the Baptist. He did not whisper about these things. He did not soften the edges of his statements. He did not rely on what you might call religious vibes or just moral influence. He opened his mouth in the wilderness, and the word of God went forward, and when it did, everything changed. He is the man that we learned about in chapter one, when Zechariah and Elizabeth finally were able to bear a son. John the Baptist. He is also the one of whom it was prophesied in Malachi. Chapter 4, a new Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. A man who will help turn the hearts of fathers and their children to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. This morning we will meet John the Baptist and hear his message, and I hope heed it as well. So the outline you see three main points on your sheet. It is kind of one sentence. Not a perfect sentence, but a sentence. The three main points are as follows. God's word breaks into the world through the humble. Second point, that word demands repentance before it delivers comfort. And the Christ it announces, point three, will ultimately divide all people. Christ is the determiner of every person's destiny. Will you hear? Will you turn? Let's take these three statements one at a time. As we walk through 20 verses, I'll just tell you I hope you drank coffee this morning. We've got a lot to talk about. Verse one, point number one, of course, is God's word breaks into the world through the humble. I love this. Verse one. Again, you've got very specific leaders that Theophilus now can look back and trace so that he might have certainty. He goes on, verse 2 During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. So most significantly, in this introduction to this chapter, we're reminded what we have seen, and you have heard from me for the last like three or four weeks. And that simply is that God brings his word into the world by those of humble estate and uses those of humble estate to carry out his word into the world. He uses those who the world often sees as the least and the lowly, the weak, the outsiders, or just the common people. I say that because look again at your text. Verse 1 is all of the leaders of the day who were in charge. It is the Roman hierarchy. You've got Caesar of the time, who's Tiberius, you've got the governor below him in Judea, Pilate, and then you've got some regional rulers, Herod, Philip, and Licanius. These were the rulers of the greatest empire of the day. There would not be anyone in the region around Rome who did not know who Caesar was.

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The Roman hierarchy.

John The Baptist Enters The Wilderness

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And then Luke tells us the religious hierarchy in verse 2, which included high priests, the Sanhedrin, and other priests as well. The high priests would oversee all other priests. They were representatives of God to tell the people of God the will of God. And with this, these two great groups of people introduced. Luke then says, But the word of God went to John in the wilderness, the son of Zechariah. It did not go to them. At least not first. You see, God could have picked the powerful to carry out his message. Rome. He could have picked the pious to carry out his message. The religious. But he chose John. John, the forerunner of Jesus. He was not exactly an individual of great stature, but a man of holiness. He was not a man with power or prestige or great wealth, but it was God's plan to use John. And in the world that we live in, we are so often attracted to those of great influence, those with great power. On social media, we follow them, we watch them, influencers, right? Sometimes we get really, really excited when someone with great influence comes to know the Lord because we think, wow, God is going to do something incredible because look at their platform. And yes, that may be the Lord's will, but do not think for a moment the Lord requires someone's platform to carry out his message. He chose 12 average Joes. He empowered them by his spirit, and now you have 2.6 billion people across the face of the earth who profess faith in Christ. Why does he do that sort of thing? So that we don't think we're the ones carrying all of it out. So in this small part of the passage, Jesus is once again showing us that the most influential people God could have chosen is not who he chose. He went to John, this wilderness guy who wore camel clothes and eight bucks. Why? Again, because we need to see that God's plan does not depend on man's power, prestige, or popularity. It does not. In fact, God does not choose, it seems, the powerful to accomplish his plan so often in the scriptures. He chooses the weak so that no one can take the credit. And so that no one can get glory from it other than him. I mean, think about that. Israel, the fewest of all peoples, the twelve disciples, average Joseph who were not chosen by rabbis to be teachers. They're fishermen. Not a bad trade, but common men. And then Paul tells the church at Corinth the same thing. Right? Corinth was puffed up with pride. And here's how the letter to the Corinthians starts for consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth, but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, what is weak in the world to shame the strong, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. The Lord chooses who he wants to glorify himself. And we cannot take the credit. He chose John.

Repentance Defined And Demanded

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Camel hair, bug eaten, John. He will get the glory to the humble.

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Point number two, and our longest point, because it is the heart of the passage, it's going to take some time, but please follow along. That word that he brings into the world demands repentance before it delivers comfort. Look at with me with me at verse three. And he went into the region, that is John the Baptist, 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. Now it should just be mentioned here that Isaiah's prophecy was somewhere near 600 years before what's taking place. So Isaiah prophesied about the birth of Jesus, about specific details about Jesus' life, and about John the Baptist 600 years before they were born. As it was written, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, this is Isaiah 40, he's quoting and saying it's being fulfilled by John the Baptist. 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. He's saying three things. Humble yourselves, you will see him. How? Verse four, by preaching the good news. Verse three and four. Verse 18, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people. Now here's the good news he brought once again. He told people about a coming Savior who would humble the proud, and yet redeem those who humble themselves, repent, believe, and follow him. But that message required rebuke.

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Because people were not following the Lord. Your and I, our basic state is rebellion.

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We find things good that God says are bad, and yet we still pursue them. It's called sin. When we're tempted, we're we're pursu we're we're we're caught up in a moment of whether or not we're gonna believe that what God has provided us is good, and what he's keeping us from is bad. And oftentimes we, like Adam and Eve, say God has not provided enough for us, and what he's keeping us from is actually good. It's better. And so John the Baptist comes in on the scene to tell religious people who cared more about their traditions than they did trusting in the Lord. Repent. Turn. He rebuked them. He called them to repent that they might be forgiven, and then he baptized them. So we need to talk about repentance for some time this morning. Repentance is the Greek word metanoia, and it means a change of mind that leads to a change of direction, a change of action. Repentance, you see on the screen, is the discernible moment of disgust over sin and desire for a savior that is prompted by the Holy Spirit. Or sin becomes repulsive. It is spirit-wrought sorrow. It is not just feeling bad because we received natural consequences of the sin we pursued. It is sorrow over sin that the Holy Spirit has given us, convicted us of. And how do you tell the difference? Let me just tell you. Time.

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Time. Sometimes it maybe I I I feel really bad. But I've not really confessed my sin before the Lord. And my life hasn't changed.

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You see, repentance, true repentance, begins with the recognition, the moment of the Spirit's conviction, that sin is bitter.

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And Christ is better.

False Security And The Brood Of Vipers

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And not only better, but beautiful. Beautiful. There's three things that I want you to see about repentance from our text. Three things, you have three boxes that you'll see in your notes, and we'll cover those three boxes. It's going to take some time. Three things about repentance. The first is repentance is necessary. Repentance is necessary. We see from the scriptures that repentance is a gift God grants us by his Spirit, where He convicts us through the proclamation of His Word, where He opens our eyes to the truthfulness of the gospel, that Christ is who He says He is. He came to do what He came to do, that sin will separate us from a holy God forever. And that there is only one way to be forgiven, and that's through Christ. Repentance is necessary. It's not a work we do, it's a hatred of sin, a denial of sin, and a new desire for God. And repentance, this he talks about repentance for the forgiveness of your sin. Repentance and forgiveness kind of go hand in hand. Let me explain. It's impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first having your mind changed by his spirit about your sin and about who God is and about what Jesus has done. And so we don't want to split repentance so far from faith. I want to turn from sin to the Savior. Turning to the Savior, Christ, I'm turning from something else. Repentance is turning from sin, and faith is turning to Jesus for forgiveness. We turn from sin for forgiveness. See, Christ is both the Savior of our soul and also the Lord of our life. In confessing our sin before the Lord, we are turning true repentance to the Lord as the only hope for forgiveness. Seeing Him as the Lord of our life. And that's John's audience. He's preaching to Jewish people, hey, the Lord is coming. Prepare for that. You are still in sin. Turn from sin and get baptized. And so you got a lot of people hearing John's message, and they don't like it.

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Because the only people that were getting baptized were converts to Judaism, not Jews. We know the Lord. He's our father. Abraham's our father. We need not turn. We're the people.

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Baptism would be going and confessing that you have not really followed the Lord. That you have sin in your life that needs washed clean.

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It's outing yourself.

Fruits That Prove Real Repentance

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I mean, it was an affront to the self-righteous. The Jewish self-righteousness the Jewish leaders thought they had. Some didn't believe they needed to be baptized, simply didn't want to be baptized. They don't want to go before people and show others that they needed to repent by participating in a public outward picture of the washing of sin from their lives. Jesus later calls those people whitewashed tombs. They look pretty, but they aren't on the inside. One famous Christian rapper used to say, like spraying cologne on a corpse. It smells good from a distance, but when you get close, you realize someone's dead here. See, a part of repentance is a realization of your rejection of God. And so John is calling this people to realize they have rejected the Lord, to repent that they might be forgiven. And now, as God's people of faith, not just of ritual, of faith, to serve him faithfully as evidence of genuine repentance. The call to follow Christ is the call to leave sin behind. When Peter preached that sermon, the first spirit-empowered sermon at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and people were cut to the heart. This is after Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, they say, What do we do? He tells them to repent and be baptized. And when they're baptized, what they're basically saying is, I have a new master. They're all walking into the water, outing themselves, and saying, We don't believe just because there is blood flowing from our veins that we have the blood of Jesus covering over our sin. And that ostracized them from families. Where they would go out through persecution to Samaria and other parts of the world. It's personal. That doesn't mean it's private, but it is necessarily personal. Look at verse 7 with me. John 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? In other words, who told you to slither into these waters to be ritualistically redeemed? You know, he had a crowd who came to be baptized by him, but he could perceive by the power of God's Spirit that many there were not there for the right reason. So what did he do? Well, he started a sermon with, You brood of vipers. You notice I didn't start the sermon this morning with you brood of vipers. That's a very strong statement. To those John perceives are not believers.

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I mean, imagine hearing a sermon beginning, you're all snakes. Can you imagine that?

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I mean, with John, there is no shallow teaching with a joke, story, verse, principle, motivation, pick-me-up sermon, sprinkle of Jesus. It is, listen, you are headed to hell.

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And this is more than just calling them names.

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He's doing something very specific here. So while you may hear it very often, um, you may hear it uh you know expressed in sentiment, we are all children of God. Not only does the rest of the scripture dismantle that, but John does here also. He looks at Jewish people and he says, You all are sons of the snake. You are not children of God as you suppose yourself to be. You are of your father the devil. There exists two people in this world, only two. No matter your ethnicity, no matter your heritage, your parents, your lineage, those who have faith in God, now seen in Christ, and those who do not have faith in God, whether they have tradition or not. John sees a lack of faith and he says, Vipers, you've not turned from your sin. You've not sought the mercy of God. He is pointing out they were mistaken to think just because of their religious lineage that they were a part of the forgiven family of God. Do you see that? Look with me at verse 8. Do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones, you can imagine pointing at river rocks, to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and is thrown into the fire. You see, they were relying on their religious heritage for salvation. Again, they were relying on the blood that flowed in their veins rather than the blood that would be spilled to cover them for their sin. They did not have genuine faith in the Lord, and therefore, hear me quite clearly in helping us understand the broad sweep of scripture.

Christ’s Winnowing Fork And Final Divide

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No faith, no God. No faith in the coming Messiah and God to fulfill those promises. You don't have a relationship with the Lord. Romans 9 says that was for Israel too. There was Israel that was not Israel. No faith. Faith is the determiner.

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In the future work of God, and now in the past work of God, in his Son, Christ Jesus, the Messiah. The problem was they thought they were safe because they thought they had God in their hand. He didn't realize, but they didn't realize they were not in the safety of God's hand. Their argument was, I'm a part of the people of God. It's a bad argument. We similarly sometimes have a bad argument as well in our day. I was a youth pastor for a number of years, like 10 years, and um and and youth pastors, you know, like pastors, often talk about people who trust in the Lord, who recite the ABCs of salvation, or come forward because they felt bad or came for at a young age. Young age isn't bad, but came forward at a young age and prayed a prayer, but didn't really repent and turned and trust Christ. Oftentimes that's that's called like getting your fire and insurance, for example, right? You've heard that phrase before, maybe. I prayed the prayer, I'm safe. I'm good. I did what I needed to do, I'm in. First off, before I just dismantle that for a minute, we let me let me dismantle it first. Christianity is not a mantra religion where you say something and you're in. It's a bad argument. For the first time, not many years ago, I had a student, an older student, came up to me and said, you know, I don't like this, I don't like that, I don't know. But I prayed a prayer, so it's okay. I never actually had someone articulate that because I just figured a lot of people in the church had heard, like, that's not that's not it. You see, there is not a more dangerous place to be than to be lost, destined for damnation, yet believe yourself to be saved based upon who your family is, what you have said or done, or what you just know about. Not against the sinner's prayer. I'm not against articulating the gospel by using A, B, C, but a person who never truly repents was never truly saved. And here's the hard truth. It's extremely hard to for people to hear who think they're saved that they're not. There are a lot of people, especially in the Bible Bible, who think they're saved. They know their Bible. They have the Ten Commandments in their home. They quote a Bible verse in their Instagram bio. They are givers at their church. It's really hard to convince someone they don't actually know Christ personally. Satan is happy for a well-mannered church attender to go to hell.

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Here's why it's so difficult. Because if you're to challenge such a person, they know what to say without knowing the Savior.

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They know the scripture, they just don't know the God of the Scripture, like the Pharisees and John's audience, who have the Bible in large part memorized. And when confronted, individuals, maybe this is you, confronted, you have a response, or they'll have a response. It's just not a good one. For the Pharisees in John's day, it was, we're a part of the people of Abraham. Sometimes in our day, it's I prayed the prayer. I'm good. Hear me, you are saved, justified by faith alone, not by work. But it is a turning to Christ, turning from sin. It is an indwelling of the Holy Spirit that it shows itself to be visible as you continue to pursue the Lord. That's the last thing I want to point out. Repentance is visible. Visible. Visible. For all of us, the question is not whether you remember a moment in time where, like, this is the exact moment I prayed this prayer. The question ultimately is whether Jesus is presently trusted and treasured and followed as you struggle against your sin, as you go through seasons of difficulty, is Jesus Lord. Have you trusted in Jesus? However imperfectly. Verse 8, bear fruits in keeping with repentance. So there, John tells us, are there explicit, objective evidences of genuine repentance. There is evidence of a life given to the Lord. Here's some evidence. Verse 10 through 14. The crowds asked him, What do we do? He says to them, Whoever has two tunics is to share with them, who has none, whoever has food is to do likewise. Tax collectors came to him 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 asked him, What do we do? And he said to them, Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be content with your wages. So he gives three examples of what repentance looks like. Three. Three examples. Not that there's not more, this is not an exhaustive list, but your life changes when the when the Lord of your life changes, when your master changes, when the Holy Spirit indwells your life, your life looks different. You have a new appetite for things. A new disgust for things that mark your former life. So he he looks at three things. A heart transformed looks like a desire to kill sin. That's the first of three things I want you to write down. Kill sin and greed. Think about it. Because I love and I trust God, I will love what he loves, and I'll stay away from what he says will destroy my body and my soul. A heart transformed to care for others. In view of God's mercy to me, I, being transformed, will be gracious with what I have been given. I will use my power to give instead of take. Lastly, another example, a heart transformed to ultimately be content in Christ. Be it resolved, with God I have all that I need. Without him, nothing. So ask yourself this morning. The text bids you ask, is your life hidden with Christ and God? Have you turned from sin, though you still may wrestle with it this side of eternity? Is there objective evidence of that repentance in your life? Are you merciful in view of Christ's mercy, gracious in view of Christ's grace, self-controlled, empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit? If your life looks nothing like Christ, it might mean your life is not hidden with Christ in God. Let's be clear. Repentance is not what earns forgiveness. It's what forgiveness creates. Fruit is not what earns Christ's forgiveness. It is a gift freely given. Fruit is what a new heart produces in a person that has been forgiven. This is you, no objective evidence of the Lord's work in your life. Would you turn from your sin to Christ? Throw yourself upon the mercy of God and enjoy life with him. Point number three, and finally, the Christ this word announces will ultimately divide all people. I said from the beginning, Christ is the one who determines destiny. Are you in him or are you not? Have you trusted him? Have you rejected him?

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No matter where you're from, no matter what you've done, do you know him?

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Do you trust him? As the people were in expectation, verse 15, 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 unworthy to untie. A disciple would not even do that. A slave would. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. John simply says, I am the pointer to him, I'm not the point. I am a prophetic preparer. He is the one who is sovereign and will make separation. He will be the one that determines destiny. Will you trust him? Will you not? Will you receive him? Will you reject him? John 1 2. Begins his gospel by saying to all who received him, he gave right to become children of God, not of the will of man or the will of the blood or flesh. But those who received him are his children. In our text, real quick, before we conclude, hear me. Christ will separate people. The illustration here is Jesus separating chaff from grain. So imagine the picture behind me. You see, back in that day, those that were collecting their grain would take a winnowing fork and they would throw the grain up in the air that was mixed with dust and dirt. And dust and dirt is lighter than grain. And so when they would throw it up in the air, the grain would come back straight down, and the wind, if they chose a windy day to do it, would blow the chaff out of the way. That's how they would clear the threshing floor and collect their grain. What is going to happen on the last day is Jesus is going to clear the threshing floor. He will separate the goats from the sheep, the wheat or the grain from the chaff. And scripture tells us very clearly from Revelation and all the rest of the scriptures the difference between those he separates is trust in the Lord. Trust in Jesus.

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And it's visible. While I'm perfect, it's visible.

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So John, as I hope I am this morning, compassionately confronts people with the truth of their desperate need of Christ, knowing that it will have a negative or a positive effect. Some will turn away, some will turn to. Sin is damaging, deadly. It will kill you. Christ is better. He will save. Oh no, you will not be perfectly sinless in this life. It is impossible. John calls you a liar if you say you are, and John knew Jesus very well. But would you pray, God, give me a certain repulsiveness to what you say is bad for me. And give me a desire for what is beautiful as I trust your word and follow you. Seek his forgiveness. He is there. Not by your own work, but by his finished work up on a cross 2,000 years ago, paying for your sin fully and finally to forgive you of all unrighteousness. Oh, would you follow him to life? He's coming again. Are you ready? Let's pray. Oh God, we love you and we thank you for your deep and dear love of us, that you would be so kind to send your one and only Son to die a sinner's death that you might give sinners life in him. God, we thank you that you look past the sin we still struggle with straight to Jesus and see that it has been dealt with fully and finally. We thank you that it pleased you to pour your wrath out on your son instead of ourselves. We thank you that you offered a way that we might enjoy eternal life with you forever. We thank you that you have sealed us until the day of your return by your spirit, that you keep us. That it is not as if we just trusted in you and were left to ourselves to keep following you, but you empower us by your spirit and seal us by your spirit. So, Lord, we pray that in accordance with your word you would continue to keep us. We want to be ready. We love you, Lord. We thank you for so deeply and dearly loving us. It is in your name we pray all these things. Everybody said, Amen.