Luke chapter 3, verse 2. We're going to kind
of start mid -verse there. We're going to just
skip all those names at the beginning. We're
just going to kind of get right down to what
we're talking about right there in the middle
of verse 2. Luke chapter 3. Let's pray, and then
we'll get started. God, we come to you, we thank
you for your good word, and I pray that you would
just help us to focus on you for just a few minutes,
dear Lord. There's a lot of stuff we got going
on this week, dear Lord. I'm sure everybody's
busy with school and work, and just life is tough
sometimes, and there's a lot of things that may
be competing for our attention today, and I pray
that in these few minutes that we would just
try to block all that out, that we would try
to seek you. I pray that we would listen to your
word. God, there may be some things in here that
are good for us, things that we need to hear.
And it is good for us, God, if we'd listen to
it. So help your Holy Spirit see the things that
we need to see. Meet us where we are, dear Lord.
Take away any pride or fear that's within me
and just let everything that's said and done
be for your glory today. In Jesus' name I pray
it. Amen. In the middle of verse 2, Luke chapter
3, about halfway through the verse, verse 2,
God's word came to John, the son of Zechariah,
in the wilderness. He went into all the vicinity
of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written
in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
a voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
prepare the way for the Lord, make his path straight.
Each valley will be filled and every mountain
and hill will be made low. The crooked will become
straight, the rough way smooth, and everyone
will see the salvation of God. All right, so
we're introduced to John the Baptist in this
passage, and the fact that John the Baptist was
going to come was prophesied in the Old Testament
that there was coming a day that the salvation
of the Lord was going to come. had sent a lot
of people to be priests and to be kings and to
be judges and people to lead his people and deliver
his people in a variety of ways in the Old Testament.
And the priests served to offer sacrifices to
make at least some level of atonement for the
people's sin. But all of those people that God
sent and all of those ways that were established
in the Old Testament were not, they were just
not sufficient to cover. our sins. Because as
people, we just sin continually. And there was
just this continual need for sacrifice, a continual
need for deliverance. And while there were some
good men and women in the Old Testament that
God used, ultimately they all failed to bring
about the deliverance and the atonement that
God's people needed. And so the Old Testament,
throughout the pages, are pointing us forward
to a Messiah who's going to come, a Savior who's
going to come, a King who's going to come, a
high priest who's going to come, who will be
able to lead God's people, to deliver God's people,
to make atonement for God's people once and for
all. And so Jesus Christ is the one who was talked
about in the Old Testament. He was the one that
all that was going to happen through. But before
he came onto the scene, there was going to be
one who came and prepared the way for him. One
who was going to come, and that was John the
Baptist, to say, okay, the time has come. The
time has come, get ready, because the Messiah
is right around the corner. The Lamb of God is
right around the corner. The one that all these
things are going to be fulfilled through, that
we've seen from the prophets, he's right around
the corner, and in fact, he's here. He's right
here among us right now. So John the Baptist
was preaching an important message, a message
of baptism, but a message of repentance. Repentance
for what? For the forgiveness of sins. He's paving
the way. Okay, what's our problem? Our problem
is the same as everybody in the Old Testament,
everybody that's ever lived problem, and that
is... That we sin, we get on this path that we're
doing these sinful things and we say things and
we do things and we act in ways that are just
sinful that God does not approve of. Now God
tells us, here's how I want you to live. I want
you to love me. I want you to love others. Here's
some things that are not good for you that you
need to avoid. And if we would do those things,
we'd be a lot better off and most of us can probably
attest to the fact that when we do right, Things
go a lot better than when we do wrong, but sometimes
we do wrong, and the Bible calls that sin. And
so it's important for us to realize that we can't
just continue on in that sin, but that God calls
us to repent. That's very important. It's very
important that we understand what repentance
is. Repentance means that we stop... living in
the sin that we're living in. Now, we probably
all have some sin, as Hebrews would say, that
so easily ensnares us. Now, there are some things
that are sinful that you're not tempted by in
the least. Those things aren't really a struggle
for you, but there are some things, maybe one
or two things, that are really, really hard for
you to overcome. There are some temptations that
you know they're sinful and you just give in
to them. And sometimes we get in this pattern
where we kind of don't care. We just kind of
live in that sin and don't really think about
it. But that's why it's important for us to be
in God's Word, to read God's Word on our own,
to come together at church, to come to Sunday
school, to dig into God's Word, to see what it
says. And the more we dig into it, the more the
Holy Spirit can begin to reveal to us, you know,
that's not the way you should be living. And
you've maybe experienced some of those convictions
before. for some things you've said or some things
you've done or maybe even right now, some things
that's going on in your life and you just, you
have an uneasy feeling. You're not at peace because
you know that that's wrong. Now, we can't overcome
those temptations and that sinfulness on our
own. We don't have the power. But praise the
Lord for Jesus Christ. He came and he lived a
perfect life and he did say no to temptation
and he did say no to sin. So he's our source
of strength. When we see in God's word and we
feel the Holy Spirit convict us that things we're
doing are sinful and we shouldn't do those things,
then John the Baptist tells us what we need to
do. He says you need to repent. You need to repent.
You need to say, God, I know this is not right,
and God, I'm not going to live this way anymore.
I don't want to live in this sin. I don't want
to live for myself. I don't want to keep doing
this sinful thing, God. I don't. want to do this
anymore. God, would you forgive me for that sinfulness?
I don't want to give in to the sin, but God,
I want to serve you. I know that my sin is so
big and so deep and so ugly and so nasty that
there's nothing I can do, God, but I see your
word and I trust and I believe that the one that
John the Baptist was talking about, Jesus Christ,
I believe that he did die on a cross. I believe
that he does have the power to forgive my sins.
And God, I believe that he has the strength to
help me. So I repent. I'm turning from my old
ways. God, would you forgive me for what I've
done and help me to live for you? Now, this is
the message that John the Baptist was preaching.
Okay, there's some sin going on among you, the
crowd he was talking to and us too. And you need
to turn from those ways. You don't want to live
in those ways anymore. You need to repent. and
find forgiveness. And that message is still true
for us today. The one he was talking about, Jesus,
is the one who brings forgiveness to our life
today. Okay? So he's preaching this message of
repentance to the crowd who's listening. Listen
to what he says. In verse 7, He then said to
the crowds who came out to be baptized by him,
Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from
the coming wrath? Therefore, produce fruit consistent
with repentance. And don't start saying to yourselves,
we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you
that God is able to raise up children for Abraham
from these stones. Even now the axe is ready
to strike the root of the trees. Therefore, every
tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be
cut down and thrown into the fire. All right,
so he's coming and he's preaching this message.
And he's preaching a pretty strong message. Notice
what he calls the crowd here. He says, brood
of vipers. Now, this is not a really positive
term. Like, this is not really what people probably
wanted to hear. He's preaching this strong message
to these people. And he's trying to get their
attention. He's saying, look, the way you're
living is sinful. And you need to recognize what
you're doing. And you need to recognize, are
you following God or not? It seems pretty obvious
he's talking to a Jewish audience here because
what does he tell them? He says, you better pay
attention and don't come over here telling me,
oh, we're sons of Abraham. Don't come saying,
oh, we're Jews, so we can do whatever we want
to do and it's going to be okay because we're
God's people. We're Jewish people. And John the
Baptist says, hold up just a second. That's not
going to do you any good. The blood that's running
through your veins will do you no good. If you
don't repent and trust in the Messiah who is
coming. Now certainly some Jewish people did
throughout the scripture and Jesus' ministry.
But there was many who didn't. There was many
who did not heed the message of John the Baptist
here. And John the Baptist says, hey, you better
pay attention. Because... It's not the blood
in your veins that's going to save you. It's
the blood of Jesus Christ that's going to wash
away your sins. And so you better pay attention
to this message, repent of your old ways, and
seek to follow Jesus Christ. Now that's the context
of what's going on. Now we may not be Jewish
today, but perhaps we fall into the trap in some
way of... depending on something else or thinking
something else is going to be good enough to
save us from God's wrath. Oh, well, I come from
a good Christian family. I go to church all the
time. Oh, I do this, that, and the other. I sing
in the choir, whatever it may be. We may have
a lot of things that we just presume and say,
oh, well, I'm going to be okay because I do X,
Y, and Z, but John's message doesn't have anything
to do with those type of things. John's message
doesn't have anything to do with blood and veins
or whether we go to church a lot or whether everybody
in our family follows God. John's message is
repent because there's sin in your life, and
if you don't repent of your sin, there will be
no forgiveness of your sin. And you can't obtain
forgiveness for your sinfulness apart from Jesus
Christ. So pay attention to the Messiah, who
in John's case was coming. who in our case has
come pay attention to the Messiah. Now, what
did he say at the beginning of verse 8 there?
He says, produce fruit consistent with repentance
or worthy with repentance. He says, everybody
that's not producing good fruit, pay attention.
The ax is about to chop the root. The tree that's
not bearing good fruit is going to be chopped
down. There's going to be punishment as a result
of that. Okay, so... Produce fruit consistent
with repentance. Okay, so when we repent in our
life, if we say we're going to follow what God's
Word says, if we're going to follow Jesus Christ,
if we say, I've repented of my sins and I'm not
living for me, but I'm living for Jesus, if we
say that, then there should be evidence of that
in our life. The fruit that we produce. Okay,
so how do we live? How do we treat other people?
How do we... How do we follow God's word? Do
we do what it says? Are we men and women of integrity?
Do we do the right thing even when nobody's looking?
Or do we only do the right thing on Sunday mornings?
Or do the right things when we see people we
know? We see somebody from the church in the
grocery store and all of a sudden we talk in
one way and we see them coming and we say, oh,
I've got to change my language up a little bit.
I can't talk that way in front of the church
members or the preacher. And so maybe... We need
to take time to look at our life and look at
what kind of fruit that we're producing. Or we're
producing good fruit. Now, if we have a life
that's been changed by Jesus Christ, if our heart
has been changed by Jesus Christ, if we're seeking
to live by the Word of God, then that should
be evident in some way that we live our life.
Now, I'm not saying that we'll never sin. Even
those who have repented and trusted in Jesus
Christ. There are certainly days that we fail
and we give in to temptation. I'm not implying
that we will be free of sin forever once we become
a Christian. But that pattern of just continual
sinfulness should begin to kind of wane away.
The more we walk with the Lord, the more we seek
His Word, the more we allow the Holy Spirit to
work in our life, there should be this trajectory
that's going upward. Now there may be a dip here
and there where we fail. But there should be
a trajectory in our life that we are going in
the right direction to try to seek to be more
like Jesus Christ and to love him more and to
live for him more. And that should be evident
in how we live our life. Now we probably, if
we're honest, we've probably all seen somebody
before that's a professed Christian. And we see
the way they act and the things they say and
the things they do. And our human nature can't
help but wonder. or can't help but say sometimes,
and they're supposed to be a Christian. We're
not the judger of hearts. God is. But you can
tell a tree by the fruit that it bears. Now,
if we say that we're a tree that's planted in
Jesus Christ and rooted in Jesus Christ, then
the fruit that should come from that should be
love and patience and gentleness and kindness
and compassion and love for God and love for
our neighbors like that. That should be part
of our life. John the Baptist says, hey, look,
you need to repent for the forgiveness of your
sins, and you need to produce fruit worthy of
repentance or consistent with repentance. So
what kind of fruit are you producing today? Well,
the fruit that you produce, it comes from the
seeds that you plant. So the better question
is, what kind of seeds are you planting in your
life? If you want to produce good fruit, you've
got to plant good seed. Has anybody in here ever
put a tomato plant in the ground and it grew
apples? Or you planted an orange tree and it
produced lemons? The tree is only going to produce
what it's going to produce. Whatever seed you
put in the ground, you put an acorn in the ground,
it's not going to grow a pine tree. What's going
to grow is going to come from what's planted.
So what kind of seed are you planting in your
life? Maybe if you're not producing good fruit,
because you're not planting good seeds, because
you're living in sin and you're living for yourself.
And maybe, just maybe, after you do a little
fruit inspecting in your life, maybe you say,
well, man, I thought I was walking with the Lord.
I thought I followed the Lord, but maybe I'm
not. Maybe I've gone to church my whole life
and I know some scripture and maybe I've kind
of fooled myself and maybe when I look at my
life, I need to repent. Maybe I've been living
for myself and living in my sinfulness the whole
time. And so John the Baptist says, here's what
you need to do. You need to repent of your sins.
You need to start producing good fruit. Now listen
to what follows in the next verse, verse 10.
What then should we do, the crowds were asking
him. Okay, that's a good question. That's a good
follow -up. He preaches this pretty hard message.
You brood of vipers. Don't think that God's going
to save you just because of who you are. But
you better realize that you need to repent for
the forgiveness of your sins. And you better
start producing good fruit. Because if you don't,
you're going to get chopped down. And they say,
okay, what do we do? What do we do? That's a
good question. And maybe some of you are asking
that question today. Say, okay. Well, there's
some things in my life that aren't good. I want
to follow Jesus. I want to get on track. I want
to do what God wants me to do. So what should
I do to repent and produce fruit worthy of repentance?
Now, pay close attention to what he says here
in verse 11. He replied to them, The one who
has two shirts must share with someone who has
none. And the one who has food must do the same.
Now, who would have thought that was coming?
Like, if you hadn't read this story and you had
read those first verses and then you read that
verse, like, I don't know that I would have expected
it to say, all right, what do you need to do?
Share your clothes with somebody and share your
food with somebody. So this is the type of thing
that we see is pretty important throughout Scripture.
It might not be the first thing that comes to
mind. You may would assume that if somebody says,
okay, I want to repent and I want to do better
and I want to follow God and I want to produce
good fruit, what do I need to do? You would think
that probably the answer would be, well, you
need to go to church more and you need to read
your Bible more and you need to put more money
in the offering place. That's kind of the message
that a lot of people would preach or maybe have
preached or maybe the message we expect to hear.
But that's not at all what he says. He says,
hey, you need to produce good fruit. And he don't
say nothing about going to church. Now, I'm not
saying that we shouldn't go to church. We certainly
should do those things. By the way, just for
clarity, we should read our Bible. We should
pray. We should gather together. We should do
all those. Those are good things. I'm not implying
those are bad things. But sometimes we just do
those things. We just come to church. Or we pray
every once in a while. Or we look at our Bible
every once in a while. And we really miss the
things that are important to God that God really
calls us to do. And so obviously, I'm going to
guess that he's addressing a problem that's going
on there. Like maybe this was an issue. Maybe
he's not just picking a random thing. Maybe that
was a real issue that there were people who were
poor, that didn't have clothes to wear and didn't
have food to eat. And he's saying, look, instead
of acting like you're all high and mighty and
saying, hey, we're pretty religious and we're
sons of Abraham. I think he's saying, well, wait
a minute. Realize that God wants you to love
other people. And if there's people around you
that don't have and you do have, you want to
produce good fruit, here's how you produce good
fruit. You got two shirts, you give somebody
one of your other ones. Now, I'd venture to say
that most of us in here probably have more than
two shirts. If we're honest, most of us probably
have a closet full of shirts. And if we're really
honest, we've probably got two closets full of
shirts because we filled up our main closet and
we had to go to our spare bedroom and fill it
up with clothes. So now you got your summer clothes
in your main closet, your winter clothes in your
other closet, right? So most of us have plenty.
The point is, most of us have something we could
use to help somebody else. And are we doing that?
That's pretty important to God. At least I believe
it is through the scripture. I believe that's
pretty important that we help other people when
we have the ability to do it. Whether it be clothes
or food or... The list is endless. There might
be lots of ways in which we can help people.
So they say, okay, what do we need to do? This
is the first thing he tells them. Listen to the
next thing he says in verse 12. Tax collectors
also came to be baptized, and they asked him,
teacher, what should we do? He told them, don't
collect any more than what you have been authorized.
All right, pretty simple. Don't steal from people.
Tax collectors, it's good that they're asking
these questions. It would be horrible if they
just went away mad, and sometimes we do see people
that hear Jesus' teaching in the Scripture, and
they just don't really pay any attention to it,
and they just go on their way. But at least this
crowd, they heard the message, and they're asking
questions. Okay, if this is what's required of
us to repent and produce good fruit, how do we
do it? The tax collectors say, how do we do it?
Well, the tax collectors weren't really honest
people. They would take what they had to to pay
to roam, and then they'd just add a little extra
to it to put in their pocket. So it's a real
simple message. Okay, the first one, help people
when you can help them. If you've got extra,
help others with what you have. And then the
next group, he says, hey, look, don't take what's
not yours. Just do your job. Do what's right.
Do what's honest. Don't take more than you're
supposed to take. Pretty simple. Next group,
he says in verse 14. Some soldiers also questioned
him. What should we do, he said to them. Don't
take money from anyone by force or false accusation.
Be satisfied with your wages. Okay, very similar
to the tax collectors. Don't take what's not
yours. Don't use your authority. Sometimes people
do that. That's a trap that we really have to
look out. We have to be careful about that because,
man, it's something about when we get a little
authority. We can go to our heads so quick, and
some people do okay with it. Other people don't.
You probably know people. You may be somebody
that you get a little bit of power, and all of
a sudden you go on a power trip. Here are these
soldiers, and they're wanting to know what they
can do, and he says don't take money by force
or false accusation. Treat people right. Like,
just because you've got the power as a soldier
and you can go bully people around to get what
you want, like, is that really the way to treat
people? Like, shouldn't you treat people with
respect and honor and care about people and not
just use your power to get what you want? But
sometimes we have power, but maybe we could use
it to help others. And listen to what he says
at the last part of that verse there. He says,
be satisfied with your wages. Now, that's the
real key, I think, there. Because if you're satisfied
with what you have, then you're not going to
mistreat anybody else. You're not going to take
from anybody else. You're not going to treat
anybody else poorly. And so he gives three simple
things to these folks that ask. He preaches this
great message, short message, repent for the
forgiveness of sins and produce good fruit. They
say, what do we do? He says, if you've got extra,
help those who don't. Don't take from anybody
else. Be honest and be satisfied with what you
have. Be content with what you have. Now those
three things alone are good things for us to
ponder in our life today. And maybe if you pray
to the Lord and you seek the Lord this week and
you think about this question, and maybe... Maybe
you have the question. Maybe you hear the message
today. You hear about Jesus Christ. You hear
about repentance. You realize you're not producing
good fruit. Well, maybe some of these things
apply to your life. Maybe you're taken from somebody
else. Maybe you're not satisfied with what you
have. Maybe there's something else going on in
your life, and maybe you already have a clue.
It's already kind of eating away at you, and
you kind of know. That there's something in your
life that's just not right, some sin that's there.
Well, today is the day of repentance. You don't
have to wait. You don't have to wait until tomorrow.
You don't have to wait until next week. You can
pray to God. You can seek God and say, Okay,
God, there's this area in my life that I'm producing
some bad fruit, and I don't want to do that anymore.
God, I want you to change my heart. I want you
to help me make good fruit. And that starts with
us following Jesus Christ, following the Word
of God. That may result in us changing our lifestyle,
saying no to some things we do to stop planting
some of those bad seeds in our life. It may mean
saying no to some of the people we hang out with.
Sometimes the people we hang out with, man, they're
bad seeds. And that temptation of being around
them leads us to produce bad fruit. Are you producing
good fruit today? Well, I don't know the answer
to that. I hope you are. Maybe you're not. But
the only way that we produce good fruit in our
life is through Jesus Christ. The way we produce
good fruit is by doing what God calls us to do.
And that's loving Him and that's loving others.
That's doing right by folks. That's helping people
that we encounter that have a need. That's not
living for ourself, but repenting of our sins
and through Jesus Christ being forgiven. And
just as John the Baptist was baptizing folks
in those days, ultimately baptized Jesus himself,
it's Jesus who commands us that if we followed
him, that we too need to be baptized. And praise
the Lord for that. That's representative that
our sinfulness has been washed away. Not by the
water, but by the blood of Jesus Christ. Have
you repented of your sins today? Have you experienced
forgiveness? And are you producing good fruit?
Let's pray. God, we come to you today. We thank
you for your good word. God, I pray that we wouldn't
fall into the trap of thinking that we can earn
your grace by our actions or anything that we
do. But that, Lord, we would examine our life.
And maybe there are some things in our life that
are just not good. Maybe we're not producing
fruit consistent with repentance, God. Maybe
there are some and they say they're following
you, but maybe your Holy Spirit's convicted them
today. Maybe they've been to church a whole lot.
Maybe they know your scriptures, but maybe they
just realize they've never followed Jesus Christ.
I pray that today, that as I pray, That in this
moment, dear Lord, that they would just pray
to you. That they would repent. That they would
ask you to forgive them. That they would trust
in Jesus Christ. Believe that he is the Savior
who gave his life on a cross for their sins.
God, maybe they're some today and they're yours.
And maybe they've got some weeds that are growing,
dear Lord. And they're producing a little good
fruit. But there's some bad stuff kind of inching
its way up through there. God, I pray today that
they would repent of those things. That they
would seek you. seek to draw closer to you. God,
I pray that we would follow your words, that
we would seek you, that we would love you and
that we would love others, that we would help
those that we can help, that we wouldn't take
advantage of folks, dear Lord. And I pray that
you help us to be content with what we have,
God. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.