1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,940 We find ourselves in Matthew's Gospel, we're in the third chapter. 2 00:00:29,940 --> 00:00:33,280 We'll look at verses 1 through 12 this morning. 3 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,200 Matthew writing, he says, In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness 4 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:42,760 of Judea and saying, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 5 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:47,640 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying, The voice of one crying in 6 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:52,700 the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord and make his path straight. 7 00:00:52,700 --> 00:00:57,480 And John himself was clothed in camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and 8 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,240 his food was locust and wild honey. 9 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,280 Then Jerusalem, all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were 10 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:08,800 baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 11 00:01:08,800 --> 00:01:12,440 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to 12 00:01:12,440 --> 00:01:19,200 them, Brute of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 13 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,760 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. 14 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,520 And do not think to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. 15 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:31,240 For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 16 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:35,800 And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. 17 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:42,280 Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 18 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:44,960 I indeed baptize you with water under repentance. 19 00:01:44,960 --> 00:01:51,520 But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. 20 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,760 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 21 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,240 His winnowing fan is in his hand. 22 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:02,440 And he will thoroughly clean out his thrashing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, 23 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,080 that he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 24 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:09,320 Let us pray. 25 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:12,240 Heavenly Father, this indeed is a stern word this morning. 26 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,080 It's a word of rebuke. 27 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:15,080 That's a word of caution. 28 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,440 Lord, it is a word of impending judgment. 29 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:23,220 And Father, Lord, help us as your people, Lord, to listen to what the Spirit would say 30 00:02:23,220 --> 00:02:24,880 unto the church this morning. 31 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,440 Father, let us hear this message of repent. 32 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:30,360 Lord, we need to hear that. 33 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,160 But Father, Lord, mercy and grace are found there as well. 34 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:41,680 And Lord, God, help us to preach Christ and him holy as he is, both Savior and Lord. 35 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:46,000 And Lord, that the one who will fall upon him, Lord, they'll be received. 36 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,400 But the one who will not but stiffens his neck will be broken without remedy. 37 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:51,400 God help us this morning. 38 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:53,560 Lord, help me to be clear. 39 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:58,080 And Lord, I pray, Lord, for the aid, the power, the unction of your precious Holy Spirit. 40 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,320 Oh, God, feed your sheep this morning, we pray in Jesus' name. 41 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:03,320 Amen. 42 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:09,560 You may be seated. 43 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:14,760 The church throughout its history has had to battle against false teachers and heresies. 44 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:15,760 That is nothing new. 45 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:22,840 I mean, Jude tells us in verse 3 that we must contend earnestly for the faith which was 46 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,040 once delivered unto the saints. 47 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:31,600 So what Jude was saying, that there is an earnest fight in the church because she is 48 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,520 engaged in a war. 49 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:37,560 The truth is always under attack. 50 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,240 It is always under siege. 51 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,440 And that's the way it's always been in every age. 52 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:47,280 We don't find ourselves doing something different than the church in the first century had battled. 53 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:54,560 From the beginning, heretics arose promoting what Paul would call demonic doctrines. 54 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:59,520 One of the most severe heresies in the first century was led by this heretic named Arius. 55 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:08,280 Arius, modern day founder of Arianism, denied the Trinity, denied the deity of Christ. 56 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:10,240 Now this heresy took root. 57 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:14,800 It actually found a following there in the first century and it caused a lot of harm 58 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:16,640 in the early church. 59 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:23,520 And finally, it was officially condemned as a heresy at the Council of Nicaea in 325. 60 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:27,600 But if you think about today, that heresy, it just gets repackaged and rebranded in every 61 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:28,600 age. 62 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:29,600 I've said this so many times. 63 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:34,360 You go to him in 141 and you have the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. 64 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:39,720 That's the heresy of Arianism, denying the Trinity, denying the deity of Christ. 65 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,900 But that's not where we're at in our context this morning. 66 00:04:43,900 --> 00:04:49,880 One of the false teachings that we encounter, and I believe especially in conservative churches, 67 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:56,680 is this modern day notion that somehow repentance is not necessary for salvation. 68 00:04:56,680 --> 00:05:01,420 There are some preachers, there are some pastors who would say, you should not preach the necessity 69 00:05:01,420 --> 00:05:04,900 of repentance, only faith. 70 00:05:04,900 --> 00:05:06,040 Because here's what they believe. 71 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:11,080 When you teach that repentance is necessary, they say that you're teaching a salvation 72 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,480 by works. 73 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,880 And that would be true if repentance were work of man. 74 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:23,880 But rather, it is a gift of God, just as faith. 75 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:27,200 God must grant true repentance. 76 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:29,280 Man cannot conjure it up himself. 77 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:30,880 There is a worldly sorrow. 78 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,760 There is a repentance that man does on his own. 79 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:35,000 It's shallow. 80 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:36,240 It's a worldly effort. 81 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,000 It has no bearing in heaven whatsoever. 82 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,560 True repentance must come from God, and he grants it. 83 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:46,680 And we read that in 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 5. 84 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:54,680 If God perhaps, maybe, will grant them repentance so that they might know or acknowledge the 85 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:55,680 truth. 86 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:58,340 Paul is telling Timothy, we don't know. 87 00:05:58,340 --> 00:06:01,280 God might have mercy upon them and grant them repentance. 88 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:03,240 Show them their other ways. 89 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:08,220 In Acts 11, it's talking about repentance for salvation coming to the Gentiles. 90 00:06:08,220 --> 00:06:12,200 When they heard these things, they became silent and they glorified God saying, then 91 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:20,160 God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life. 92 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:25,240 The London Baptist Confession, the second confession, says this, that this saving repentance 93 00:06:25,240 --> 00:06:33,800 is an evangelical grace whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit is made sensible of the 94 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:36,160 manifold evils of his sin. 95 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:42,400 He does by faith in Christ humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it 96 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:49,080 and self-apportance, praying for pardon and strength of grace with a purpose and endeavor 97 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:56,980 by supplies of the Spirit to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things. 98 00:06:56,980 --> 00:06:59,340 This is our confession. 99 00:06:59,340 --> 00:07:03,120 So to enter the kingdom of God, and we looked at the kingdom of God last week and what it 100 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,200 is and what it is not. 101 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,920 The Lord Jesus Christ himself preached the necessity of repentance. 102 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,520 You must repent unless you likewise perish. 103 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:17,920 The disciples preached the necessity of repentance to enter the kingdom. 104 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,720 The apostle Paul who came later preached the necessity of repentance. 105 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:25,640 You must turn from idols and to the true and living God. 106 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:31,560 So the church throughout the ages has preached the necessity of repentance. 107 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,600 So then what should we do today? 108 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:40,480 Preach the necessity of repentance if one is going to enter into this kingdom that belongs 109 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:41,480 to God. 110 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:49,440 Now, we're in Matthew 3 and we must understand that every passage has a historical context. 111 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,760 Up until this time of Matthew's gospel, there had been no prophetic voice in Israel for 112 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:54,760 400 long years. 113 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:56,840 We talked about this last week. 114 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:59,400 They're called the silent years. 115 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:00,880 Heaven seemed silent. 116 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:05,720 No new revelation, no new light, no new prophets coming down the scene. 117 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:10,640 And so much time had passed, four centuries in fact, so the people started to believe 118 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:17,360 that the next prophet to arise must have some messianic significance. 119 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,320 Then all of a sudden, there's this desert prophet coming on the scene. 120 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:23,280 His name is John. 121 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:28,920 There's a lot of talk, a lot of expectation about the coming Messiah. 122 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:34,720 There was a buzz in the air about the arrival of God's anointed one. 123 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:41,480 Now Matthew tells us explicitly that John's ministry is a fulfillment of prophecy. 124 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:47,280 In fact, he fulfills what Isaiah had prophesied back in chapter 40, verse 3. 125 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:54,480 Isaiah writes, the voice of one crying, heralding in the wilderness, prepare the way of the 126 00:08:54,480 --> 00:09:00,280 Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 127 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:08,640 So if John, he's the forerunner of the long awaited Messiah, he is the voice crying out 128 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:11,560 for the arrival of the King. 129 00:09:11,560 --> 00:09:12,560 So John was a herald. 130 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:17,640 And what we mean in Old Testament times, when a king would come to a town or a village and 131 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:22,400 he would get ready to enter into that town, he would send first a herald who would arrive 132 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:28,640 in the town first, blow a trumpet, and announcing that the King is coming. 133 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,040 The King is arriving. 134 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:32,920 This is John's ministry. 135 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:36,120 He was to prepare the people for the arrival of this King. 136 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,880 He was going to make his paths straight. 137 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:40,880 What does that mean? 138 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:45,640 Well, when a king would visit and make a royal visit to a town, sometimes a new highway might 139 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:46,640 be built. 140 00:09:46,640 --> 00:09:51,640 Or certainly, they would clear a nice path for his chariot so that he would arrive without 141 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:53,960 any obstacles in his way. 142 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:58,160 Any clutter would be removed, roadblocks are going to be torn down, other hindrances taken 143 00:09:58,160 --> 00:09:59,920 out of the way. 144 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:00,920 Why? 145 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:02,800 The King was coming. 146 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:10,360 So John's ministry was to get the people ready for the King by removing any spiritual roadblocks. 147 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,360 And this is why he's starting to preach the message of repentance. 148 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:19,720 He was building a highway, but a highway of holiness for the Lord. 149 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:21,560 The King was coming. 150 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:23,920 The people needed to get prepared. 151 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:27,920 And the only way they could prepare was to repent. 152 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,620 Now Matthew mentions some peculiar details about John that others don't mention. 153 00:10:31,620 --> 00:10:35,320 He tells us about the way he was dressed and he tells us about his diet and what he ate. 154 00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:39,320 Verse four, he's clothed in camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist and he 155 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,760 ate locust and wild honey. 156 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:46,980 So his diet lets us know that John is a poor man and he's a poor man living in the desert. 157 00:10:46,980 --> 00:10:50,520 This is desert food, locust and wild honey. 158 00:10:50,520 --> 00:10:57,160 But why does Matthew mention such a seemingly insignificant detail about the way the prophet 159 00:10:57,160 --> 00:10:59,800 was dressed? 160 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,360 Because he's letting the Jewish readers, and Matthew's gospels were written primarily to 161 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:10,120 Jewish readers, he's letting these Jewish readers get clued in another prophecy. 162 00:11:10,120 --> 00:11:14,800 The penultimate verse of the Old Testament, the next to last verse of the Old Testament, 163 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:18,440 is Malachi chapter four verse five. 164 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:20,240 Here's what Malachi writes. 165 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:26,160 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful 166 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:28,680 day of the Lord. 167 00:11:28,680 --> 00:11:32,120 God is going to send Elijah before the Lord arrives. 168 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:37,440 Now, since the time that Malachi had issued that prophecy, the people were expecting a 169 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,200 visit from Elijah. 170 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:45,600 And Elijah is going to serve as a forerunner for the Lord. 171 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:53,440 Now centuries later, 400 years later, John the Baptist comes dressed in camel's hair 172 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:59,960 and he has a leather belt around his waist dressed like the prophet Elijah was dressed. 173 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:02,040 We read that in 2 Kings 1 8. 174 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:06,240 A hairy man wearing the camel's hair, wearing a leather belt around his waist. 175 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:07,240 And he said, well, that's Elijah. 176 00:12:07,240 --> 00:12:08,800 Everyone is how Elijah's dressed. 177 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:11,200 That's Elijah the Tishbite. 178 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:17,000 So now after all the silent years, you have a desert wilderness prophet dressed like Elijah 179 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:23,280 making his debut and he's preaching a radical message like Elijah would have preached. 180 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:27,760 Now if you look at Elijah and John the Baptist, they have very similar ministries. 181 00:12:27,760 --> 00:12:30,920 They both face down evil kings. 182 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:32,960 Who is Elijah facing down? 183 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:33,960 Ahab. 184 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,240 Who was John the Baptist facing down? 185 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:38,520 Herod. 186 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:42,320 They both were actually more threatened by the king's wives. 187 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,840 Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was the one that got to Elijah. 188 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:51,520 And Herodias, remember how John the Baptist dies? 189 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:56,800 Is because of Herodias and what she had petitioned her husband for. 190 00:12:56,800 --> 00:13:00,600 Both of these men, the prophets, they live solitary lives. 191 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:05,300 And so no doubt the Jewish readers who are reading this gospel, they're going to pick 192 00:13:05,300 --> 00:13:06,920 up on what Matthew is writing. 193 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:13,180 There's an Elijah-like figure who had just arrived after so many silent years. 194 00:13:13,180 --> 00:13:18,460 Now of course we're not, you're saying, well, okay, aren't you making a big deal about nothing? 195 00:13:18,460 --> 00:13:19,800 We're not reading into the text. 196 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:26,480 In fact, 14 chapters later, the Lord will confirm this is the accurate interpretation. 197 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,960 In chapter 17, here's what our Lord said. 198 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:34,560 His disciples asked him, that is Jesus, saying, why then did the scribes say that Elijah has 199 00:13:34,560 --> 00:13:35,560 to come first? 200 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:36,560 Well, here's why they said it. 201 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:37,560 Malachi said it. 202 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:38,560 Malachi 4-5. 203 00:13:38,560 --> 00:13:43,060 Jesus then answered and then said, he didn't say they are wrong. 204 00:13:43,060 --> 00:13:47,280 He said, indeed Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 205 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:49,320 But notice the words of our Lord. 206 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:53,120 And I say to you that Elijah has come already. 207 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,780 And they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished. 208 00:13:57,780 --> 00:14:01,840 And just in the same manner, likewise, a son of man is also about to suffer at these people's 209 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:02,840 hands. 210 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:05,840 Then it dawned on them. 211 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:11,360 Then the disciples understood, ah, he's talking about John the Baptist. 212 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:16,600 John the Baptist was the Elijah-like figure who was to come to prepare the people. 213 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:17,600 Why? 214 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:19,520 Because he was coming. 215 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:22,000 He was to prepare the people for the arrival of the Christ. 216 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:24,540 Now, he was wildly popular at the time. 217 00:14:24,540 --> 00:14:25,540 People loved to hear him. 218 00:14:25,540 --> 00:14:28,160 Verse 5, it says Jerusalem, that's the capital city. 219 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:29,900 Judea, that's southern Israel. 220 00:14:29,900 --> 00:14:36,160 And all the region around the Jordan, that's the river, they go out to him and they were 221 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:40,200 baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 222 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:42,560 Now, again, let me just say something that is a side note. 223 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:46,000 It says all Judea, all the region, and Jerusalem. 224 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:47,640 Jewish people sometimes says all means all. 225 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:50,160 Does it mean every single person who lived in Judea? 226 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:51,160 No. 227 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:53,320 Clearly, context is dictating here. 228 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:57,480 So you have Jerusalem, the southern area of Judea, the region, they go out to him and 229 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:02,360 they're hearing this message he's preaching and they're brought to conviction. 230 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:08,080 But what was more surprising was the message that this prophet was preaching. 231 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,140 He's preaching a message of repentance. 232 00:15:11,140 --> 00:15:17,500 He told the people who came out to hear him, listen, folks, you need to repent. 233 00:15:17,500 --> 00:15:20,520 You need to turn from your sins and turn to God. 234 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:24,200 Now, that's not a surprising message to us at all. 235 00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:30,320 But what was surprising was the people to whom he was preaching this message. 236 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,660 John was not preaching to Gentiles. 237 00:15:33,660 --> 00:15:38,920 John the Baptist was preaching to Israel, to his fellow Jews, to the people who were 238 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,600 in covenant with God already. 239 00:15:41,600 --> 00:15:45,680 And he told these Jewish folks, you all need to repent. 240 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:49,520 And that, of course, was signified in their baptism. 241 00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:56,000 Now, Judaism, if you know anything about it, they had baptisms or what we call washings, 242 00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:57,000 ceremonial washings. 243 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,800 They had purification rights. 244 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:01,840 But they were not for Jews. 245 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:05,240 They were for Gentiles who were converting to Judaism. 246 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:06,480 Why? 247 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:08,360 Why being cleansed? 248 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:13,260 It was well understood that the Gentiles were unclean. 249 00:16:13,260 --> 00:16:18,560 And since the Gentiles, anyone not a Jew, were unclean, they did need to repent and 250 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:19,560 they needed to be cleansed. 251 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:21,480 So they went through these purification rights. 252 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:27,160 They went through these ceremonial washings so they could join the people of God. 253 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:33,360 But it was unconscionable that the Jews needed to be cleansed. 254 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:37,280 They weren't unclean like the Gentiles, were they? 255 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:40,600 That's exactly what John is telling them. 256 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:45,520 He is telling his fellow Jews, you are unclean. 257 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,300 You have broken the law of God. 258 00:16:48,300 --> 00:16:51,880 You need to repent and you must turn to him. 259 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:56,160 What is surprising, you have 400 silent years, all of a sudden this new prophet arises, something 260 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,180 radical and something new was taking place. 261 00:16:59,180 --> 00:17:03,760 Something of significance was happening down in Judea and everyone knew about it. 262 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:07,680 Now the common folks gladly heard John. 263 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:11,860 They go out into the desert to meet him, out by the Jordan River and they respond to his 264 00:17:11,860 --> 00:17:19,040 message and they begin to confess their sins in baptism. 265 00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:20,960 But not all the Jews accepted his message. 266 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:23,120 Look at verse 7. 267 00:17:23,120 --> 00:17:26,600 But when he, that is John the Baptist, saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come into 268 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:32,960 his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the 269 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,240 wrath to come. 270 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:37,240 These were the religious leaders. 271 00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:42,600 Pharisees, facetious holders and keepers of the law, Sadducees, they are the erudite 272 00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:44,560 lawyers. 273 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:48,120 Not lawyers in the way we mean it, but lawyers of the law of God. 274 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:52,260 So these religious leaders got wind of what was taking place out in the desert. 275 00:17:52,260 --> 00:17:57,080 So they dispatched their own group, hey go investigate, see what is going on out there. 276 00:17:57,080 --> 00:17:58,080 They were curious. 277 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:03,320 Why was John so popular with the people and additionally they wanted to know why is he 278 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:05,480 preaching anyways? 279 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:10,280 Now they were not coming so that they could be baptized by John. 280 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:11,800 They didn't want to do that. 281 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:16,280 They just wanted to see for themselves what was actually taking place. 282 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:20,920 Now if one of these Pharisees or Sadducees had been baptized, it would have been the 283 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:25,880 highest of scandals because they were the religious leaders. 284 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:29,880 And that would have been an admission of their own guilt. 285 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:34,400 It also would have been a stamp of approval upon John the Baptist's ministry. 286 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:36,880 So that would have been, if they would have been baptized, that would have been these 287 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:41,040 religious leaders admitting I'm unclean. 288 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:43,620 I need to be cleansed. 289 00:18:43,620 --> 00:18:46,880 That was too big of a blow to their pride. 290 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:49,520 Surely they did not need to repent. 291 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:51,280 Surely they were not among them clean. 292 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:56,080 And if you know anything about these groups, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they saw 293 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:59,160 themselves as righteous, personally righteous. 294 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:05,280 In fact they were so confident they could lead others into the kingdom of God. 295 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:12,700 And you have John in effect telling them you're not even in the kingdom of God, much less 296 00:19:12,700 --> 00:19:15,680 capable of leading someone else to it. 297 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:17,440 This is a strong message. 298 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:23,200 That John the Baptist was a rugged man, he's a desert man, a rugged prophet, not very diplomatic 299 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:25,440 and certainly not used to soft words. 300 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:30,560 He's not using any soft words to encourage or to foster dialogue, what we might say today, 301 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:35,360 but instead he boldly said, listen, you are a brute of vipers. 302 00:19:35,360 --> 00:19:38,920 Who told you to come out here and flee from God's wrath? 303 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:43,400 What he's doing, he's calling these religious leaders, he said you're a bunch of scoundrels. 304 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,040 He compares them to snakes. 305 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:49,800 And he says, he had the courage, John was a man of courage, he faced down the king, 306 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:54,680 he faced down these important religious leaders, and he said, listen, you too are headed for 307 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:59,800 God's wrath unless you repent. 308 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:00,800 You've got to see it. 309 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:03,520 And he's not a man to mince words, is he? 310 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:05,240 He's a straight shooter. 311 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:11,680 And he said, and by the way, verse eight, bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. 312 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,200 You repent and prove it. 313 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:19,760 See, repentance is more than just lip service, it's more than just saying, I'm sorry. 314 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:22,400 Repentance is a Greek word, metanoia. 315 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:27,640 And it literally, metanoia literally means just to change your mind. 316 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:29,720 But it is deeper than that. 317 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,720 That's the etymology, but the way it's used goes much deeper. 318 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:38,620 It is a change of mind, but it's a change of mind that leads to a change of behavior. 319 00:20:38,620 --> 00:20:45,400 In its classical form, metanoia is to turn from sin, to turn from idols, and turn to 320 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:47,760 Christ for salvation. 321 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:49,760 You're changing your mind about yourself. 322 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:54,160 You no longer see yourself as righteous, you know you're unclean, you turn to Christ because 323 00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:55,960 you know you need a savior. 324 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:56,960 That's repentance. 325 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:04,640 So it's a change of mind about sin that goes from delighting in it and approving of it 326 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,160 to loathing it. 327 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:11,960 Percy Sproul said, scripture understands a true change of mind to be one that includes 328 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,840 more than just a shifting of intellectual categories. 329 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:20,760 To have metanoia, to have true repentance, well that involves feelings of regret and 330 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:22,840 remorse. 331 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:28,840 Repentance means we are truly sorry for something we have done, not just its consequences. 332 00:21:28,840 --> 00:21:30,920 And we want to change our behavior. 333 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:34,200 A repentant life is a changed life. 334 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:40,040 Not that perfection is ever attained, but that the fruit of repentance, a change in 335 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:47,880 actions, a change in attitudes, it does become discernible in a man's character. 336 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:52,040 Genuine repentance folks, listen, it takes place in your heart. 337 00:21:52,040 --> 00:21:55,840 If your heart changes, so does your behavior. 338 00:21:55,840 --> 00:22:01,360 But if your behavior never changes, neither did your heart. 339 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:08,120 Really having remorse about what you have done is what the Bible calls worldly sorrow. 340 00:22:08,120 --> 00:22:09,120 Unbelievers have this. 341 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:10,120 They're sorry. 342 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:12,840 They see that they made a mess of things. 343 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,680 I think the classic example of this is Judas Iscariot. 344 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:20,880 Judas Iscariot felt remorse for his actions. 345 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,800 He even recognized his evil deed. 346 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:26,120 He certainly felt bad for it. 347 00:22:26,120 --> 00:22:32,560 He went so far as to confess that he had condemned an innocent man. 348 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:33,560 He agreed with it. 349 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:35,880 He confessed it. 350 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,560 But he didn't look outward to God for mercy. 351 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:42,080 Judas continued to look inward. 352 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,720 And eventually he takes his own life. 353 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:46,480 And the Bible says he went to his own place. 354 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:49,440 Judas died an unconverted man. 355 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:52,720 Judas Iscariot is in hell today. 356 00:22:52,720 --> 00:22:58,980 Daniel Dorianne says this, true repentance looks inward at your own sinfulness, outward 357 00:22:58,980 --> 00:23:04,280 at the harm you've caused to others, but upward to the Lord. 358 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:08,880 See, friends, repentance is the initial step of the Christian life, but it's not a one 359 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:10,760 and done event. 360 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:14,800 The entire Christian life, and let me say this again, the entire Christian life is one 361 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:20,320 of daily repentance, looking to God for grace and mercy because we still see something of 362 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:22,340 our own sinfulness. 363 00:23:22,340 --> 00:23:26,920 This is why Jamie earlier, I'm so appreciative of how he did this, the prayer of confession, 364 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:31,160 we read the law of God, we read the word of God, and we see in Ephesians, or Revelation 365 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,200 2, how the church at Ephesus had left their first love. 366 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,920 And he says, unless you repent, I'll come and read your candlestick. 367 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:39,680 You will cease to be a church. 368 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:40,680 Turn back. 369 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,080 And friends, we read that and we don't say, oh, poor church at Ephesus. 370 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,520 We say, poor us. 371 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:49,600 We like they are prone to do this. 372 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:53,160 Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. 373 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:55,920 Prone to leave the God I love. 374 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:56,920 And so what do we do? 375 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:02,960 We confess each Lord's day, we confess our sins, but we also see assurance and pardon 376 00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:06,300 at the tables who are met with Christ. 377 00:24:06,300 --> 00:24:11,360 But what these religious leaders failed to see here is they were blind to their own inward 378 00:24:11,360 --> 00:24:13,560 corruption. 379 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:16,760 They could not see that they were separated from God. 380 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:18,800 They had an outward veneer of righteousness. 381 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:19,800 They did. 382 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:24,360 They looked good on the outside, but housing deep within them, corruption. 383 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:29,600 Now they hated external sins or obvious sins. 384 00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,160 Sexual immorality, John 8, they had the woman caught in adultery. 385 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:33,440 They would have easily seen that. 386 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:35,400 They would have stayed away from that. 387 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:39,840 Theft, well, they thought they stayed away from that. 388 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:50,080 But they failed to see the inward sense of pride, self-righteousness, greed, avarice. 389 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:54,000 So what we understand, these men should have gone out to John, confessed their sin and 390 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:59,920 baptism, but instead they found comfort in their position. 391 00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:03,160 And this message is needed as much today as it was in John's time. 392 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:07,520 So many preachers today preach a gospel and they offer salvation to sinners who have no 393 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:09,440 desire to break from sin. 394 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:10,440 None. 395 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:14,920 They offer Jesus as a very delicate savior, but not as the reigning Lord. 396 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:18,720 They offer entrance into heaven without ever having a break from sin. 397 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:22,680 And let me just say this, of course, sinners want to go to heaven when they die. 398 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:24,240 They're not foolish. 399 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:25,400 All people do. 400 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:31,440 But sinners do not want a Lord who reigns over them and rules them by His own word. 401 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:36,040 Christ Jesus will not save the impenitent. 402 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:40,000 And He does not offer salvation without repentance. 403 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:45,280 He does not save those who claim to want salvation and have no desire whatsoever to leave their 404 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:46,620 sinful lives behind. 405 00:25:46,620 --> 00:25:47,920 You don't get it both ways. 406 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:50,580 You don't have your cake and eat it too. 407 00:25:50,580 --> 00:25:58,000 So the Lord Jesus is offered to mankind in the gospel, but it's the complete Christ. 408 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:01,560 He is savior and He is Lord. 409 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:03,720 And those can never be separated. 410 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:11,240 To be saved by Christ, when we use the word saved, so angry, is to be rescued, is to be 411 00:26:11,240 --> 00:26:12,720 delivered, but saved from what? 412 00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:13,720 Well, God's wrath. 413 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:14,720 Why is God angry? 414 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:15,720 Why does He have wrath? 415 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:17,960 Why is He angry at you? 416 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:24,680 Because we've broken His holy law by our sin and we stand condemned before Him. 417 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:30,040 Therefore, you cannot be saved by Christ and still try to cling to the very thing that 418 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:35,280 separates you from God and arouses His anger, which is your sin. 419 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,040 You must repent metanoia. 420 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,640 You must change your mind. 421 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:41,640 Repent before God. 422 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:45,640 John was clear, he's not mincing word, he's clear in his message to these religious leaders 423 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:49,240 and he says, and by the way, if you've claimed to repent, well bear fruits worthy of that. 424 00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:54,320 A repentance that is real, it is genuine, produces genuine results. 425 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,840 Not perfect change, not overnight change, but real change nonetheless. 426 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,280 Let me give an example of this. 427 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,720 When I was in college, I went to a very, very strict, fundamentalist college and I was called 428 00:27:04,720 --> 00:27:10,720 to be a floor leader, so I had charged probably about close to 100 guys on my hall and I had 429 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:15,000 another guy, we would have to go in, we had to do room check daily to inspect it and that 430 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,200 night, long story. 431 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,720 So anyways, every morning, 7.30, you had to have your room completely clean, so that was 432 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:23,220 the room protocol. 433 00:27:23,220 --> 00:27:26,840 So I had to go into this one room and so the guy's name was Dusty, he and I became good 434 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:27,840 friends. 435 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:32,800 He had just gotten saved, no one knew this, he confided in me, out of a non-Christian 436 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:33,800 background. 437 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:38,200 I mean, he had not been saved that long at all before he arrives on this university doorstep. 438 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,080 He had actually fathered a child while in high school and he didn't tell anyone but 439 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:42,080 me. 440 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:46,480 So he has a child, he's at school, at college, and Dusty had just gotten saved, but he had 441 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:48,880 always used foul language. 442 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:54,800 One day I was checking his room and he was taking a shower and this shower with hot water 443 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:56,120 apparently ran out. 444 00:27:56,120 --> 00:28:00,000 Now he didn't realize I'd come in the room, there was obviously a door separating us, 445 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:03,160 and I'm on the other side of the door just looking at the room and when the hot water 446 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:08,320 turns cold, he let out a profanity-laced torrent against that shower head that would make a 447 00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:10,260 sailor blush. 448 00:28:10,260 --> 00:28:15,960 His language was not cleaned up overnight, folks, but he was making progress. 449 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,880 Dusty was repentant. 450 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:25,080 He had very deep conversations, his desire was real, and that showed in his life, albeit 451 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,400 imperfectly and slowly at the beginning. 452 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:29,800 And isn't that the way with us? 453 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:34,760 I mean, can anyone ever say, hey, we just absolutely categorically did away with our 454 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:35,760 sin overnight? 455 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:36,760 No. 456 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:42,120 This is how God deals with us, the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit of God. 457 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:43,120 Look at verse 9. 458 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,800 Do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I say to you that 459 00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,880 God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these very stones. 460 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:54,360 See, what he's saying is he's taken away their pride, he's taken away what they held comfort 461 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:55,360 in. 462 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,440 They found comfort and solace in their identity. 463 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:03,560 They were Jews, biological sons of Abraham, incredibly proud of their pedigree and religious 464 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:04,680 heritage. 465 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,040 This is why they didn't feel they needed to repent. 466 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:08,440 They're not pagans. 467 00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:09,440 They're children of Abraham. 468 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:12,760 And John, he says, hey, listen, you think that's a big deal? 469 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:13,760 You're a son of Abraham? 470 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:18,400 If God wanted, he could take these stones from the Jordan Riverbed and make children 471 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:22,040 of Abraham if he desired. 472 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,680 And he did. 473 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:28,440 You and I are Gentiles. 474 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:31,800 Before we came to Christ, how does the Bible describe our heart? 475 00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,880 A heart of stone. 476 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:39,840 And God made us alive with Christ through the gospel, gave us a heart of flesh that 477 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:43,760 now beaded and pulsated with the life of God. 478 00:29:43,760 --> 00:29:45,880 He in effect made us what? 479 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:47,780 Sons of Abraham. 480 00:29:47,780 --> 00:29:51,040 He did use stones and make them sons of Abraham. 481 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:56,240 In Christ, God took men and women with stony hearts and makes them sons and daughters of 482 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:57,480 Abraham. 483 00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:59,640 That's wonderful. 484 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:05,480 But these Jewish leaders relied on pedigree, on ethnicity to save them. 485 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:06,480 Verse 10. 486 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:10,840 And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees, therefore every tree does not bear 487 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:11,840 good fruit. 488 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,840 It's cut down and thrown in the fire. 489 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,040 What he's doing, he's pressing his urgent claims on these religious leaders, on these 490 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:19,800 Pharisees and Sadducees. 491 00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:24,280 Time is running out, he says, and judgment is coming to them. 492 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:26,480 It's kind of like a lumberjack and he's sizing up a tree. 493 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:27,480 He's looking at this tree. 494 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:29,880 It's not born fruit and it hasn't born fruit. 495 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:35,880 And if it doesn't begin to produce fruit soon, he's going to chop it down and burn it in 496 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:36,880 the fire. 497 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:38,560 What's the point? 498 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,780 God's judgment is closer than they feel. 499 00:30:41,780 --> 00:30:46,520 So these leaders, they went out to investigate John's ministry, but they should have been 500 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:52,000 using this time to repent and get ready with God, get right with God, excuse me. 501 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:53,000 R.C. 502 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:54,000 Sproul once more. 503 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:59,360 We live in a culture where no one is afraid of the judgment of God, no one. 504 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:03,400 But the biblical portrait is of a God who will judge the earth, a God who will call 505 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:05,840 every leaving creature to account. 506 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:09,600 If we do not bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, we will be cast into the fire 507 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,400 where we belong. 508 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,080 Friend you must turn from your sin. 509 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,720 You must flee to Christ for salvation. 510 00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:23,720 God's acts is already at the root of that tree. 511 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,120 Today's the day of salvation. 512 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,880 Today's the day you run to Christ confessing your sins, forsaking your sins, and He will 513 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,040 save you. 514 00:31:32,040 --> 00:31:37,040 Verse 11, John says, I am baptized you with water under repentance. 515 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,920 But the one coming after me, he's mightier than I. 516 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,800 I'm not even worthy to carry a sandals. 517 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:47,920 And that man, he's going to baptize you, it'll be with the Holy Spirit in fire. 518 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:52,200 So John has been announcing and documenting the need for repentance and now he's about 519 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:56,440 to announce the King's coming. 520 00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:04,120 There's one who's coming who is much greater than I, greater in power, certainly, greater 521 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:06,200 than importance than John. 522 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:14,680 In fact, John says, this man is so great, so esteemed, I'm not even worthy to carry 523 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:15,680 his sandals. 524 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:17,440 That's the job of a slave. 525 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:20,640 I'm not even worthy to compare this one who's coming. 526 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,600 I'm not even worthy to carry sandals. 527 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:24,880 I'm not even worthy to be his slave. 528 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:25,880 He said, no, no, I can do. 529 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:29,200 I can baptize you with water. 530 00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,080 But not the one coming. 531 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:33,040 He will baptize you with Holy Spirit in fire. 532 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:37,160 And I believe this is a reference to Pentecost where the Holy Spirit is poured out upon his 533 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:43,200 church in clothes of fire, in flaming tongues of fire, excuse me. 534 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:49,320 The Messiah will come and he has come, not only to save his people, but he will judge 535 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:51,800 his adversaries. 536 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:56,960 This is what Sproul has said, no one thinks that this God that we serve will ever bring 537 00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:59,360 judgment and yet he will. 538 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:05,240 Verse 12, his winnowing fan, it's in his hand, he will thoroughly clean out his thrusting 539 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:13,000 floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. 540 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,160 The winnowing fan, it's a fork. 541 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:17,400 He's talking about a farming metaphor here. 542 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:21,520 Jewish farmers would use this fork to separate wheat from chaff. 543 00:33:21,520 --> 00:33:25,120 So they would go in, they would just use this fork and pick up the wheat. 544 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:26,680 They would throw it in the air. 545 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:30,200 The chaff, since it's lighter, would be carried away by the breeze and the good grain would 546 00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,600 fall to the ground and it would be bound up as well. 547 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:39,640 And John says, there's coming a time where God's going to clean out his thrusting floor. 548 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:45,320 He's going to get all that good wheat, but he's also going to take the chaff and take 549 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:47,200 it away into unquenchable fire. 550 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:53,400 And this is what John said, it's not my words, he says, the winnowing fork, it is already 551 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:56,040 in Messiah's hand. 552 00:33:56,040 --> 00:34:01,640 That's the one who's coming, he's also bringing judgment. 553 00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:08,800 There'll be a day of separation, separating wheat from chaff and it's imminent. 554 00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:15,640 But here is the importance, that separation results in a fiery end. 555 00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:21,580 The chaff is burned what he calls unquenchable fire. 556 00:34:21,580 --> 00:34:23,560 The message is clear. 557 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:25,760 Not everyone belongs to God. 558 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:29,840 There are wheat, good grain, and the rest is chaff. 559 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:33,800 The Lord will one day gather all his people out of the world. 560 00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:35,840 A day of great separation. 561 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:40,720 His people he will gather into his father's house, where there'll be joy and feasting 562 00:34:40,720 --> 00:34:43,160 and eternal celebration. 563 00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:49,200 But those who are not his, those who are chaff in this metaphor, those who have not repented, 564 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:57,520 those who have not turned to Christ, will face an eternable, unquenchable fire. 565 00:34:57,520 --> 00:34:59,260 Judgment. 566 00:34:59,260 --> 00:35:01,120 Not my words, folks. 567 00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,840 This is the word of the living God. 568 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:09,400 So the question that really behooves us is to which group do you pertain? 569 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,400 Are you gonna be taken to the Father's house? 570 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:13,880 Will you face the Father's wrath? 571 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:17,740 You say, how do I know? 572 00:35:17,740 --> 00:35:25,520 The Lord's people, those who belong to him, the good grain, they have repented. 573 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:28,000 They have turned from their sin. 574 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:33,840 They have sought refuge in the Lord's anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ. 575 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,400 And their lives are bearing fruit, worthy of repentance. 576 00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,720 Not perfectly, not perfectly at all. 577 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:45,600 But here's the message, and it's a message that I'm burdened with this morning. 578 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:50,920 Unless you repent, you too will likewise perish. 579 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:54,160 Turn from your sin and look to Christ. 580 00:35:54,160 --> 00:36:02,040 Turn from any self-righteousness and rest in the one who is perfectly righteous. 581 00:36:02,040 --> 00:36:04,560 Just as in John's day, the king was at hand, right? 582 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:05,560 That's what John was announcing. 583 00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:07,160 The king is coming, and he was. 584 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:09,160 So there was an urgent need to repent. 585 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:11,440 Likewise, let me say this, the king is coming. 586 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:12,920 Well, let me say it this way. 587 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,920 The king is coming again, and the message is urgent. 588 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:19,480 There is an urgent need for you to be ready for his arrival. 589 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:20,640 How? 590 00:36:20,640 --> 00:36:22,280 You repent. 591 00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:26,480 And I would be remiss if I let you think that at the end of the day, this repentance would 592 00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:27,800 be a work of your own. 593 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:35,520 I love what Daniel Doriani said, that no one is forgiven on the basis of their penitence. 594 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:39,360 We need to repent even of our own repentance. 595 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:41,640 We are forgiven how? 596 00:36:41,640 --> 00:36:50,840 By the mercy of Jesus, who gave his life to atone for our sins and grant us the true repentance 597 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:53,160 that opens up a new life. 598 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,640 Hear the word of the living God. 599 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:57,480 Hear the message. 600 00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:01,080 Hear what the Spirit says to the church this morning. 601 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:05,500 If you don't know him, friends, don't fight with it, don't argue with it, fall on your 602 00:37:05,500 --> 00:37:07,560 face before him. 603 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:11,260 Admitting what you know to be true and what he already knows to be true, you are an unworthy 604 00:37:11,260 --> 00:37:15,560 sinner who has broken his law and you stand in judgment, rightly so. 605 00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:18,880 But God has offered his son as a savior. 606 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,600 And today is the day of salvation. 607 00:37:21,600 --> 00:37:24,640 Fall on your face before him, repenting of your sin and turning to him in faith. 608 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:26,780 And he will save you. 609 00:37:26,780 --> 00:37:28,280 And you can rest. 610 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:32,880 And every Lord's Day as we gather for worship, we come to our covenant renewal here at the 611 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:33,980 table. 612 00:37:33,980 --> 00:37:37,880 This is the promise of God, Jesus, broken for you. 613 00:37:37,880 --> 00:37:40,320 Come and feast at the table of the Lord. 614 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:41,320 Let us pray. 615 00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:44,480 Lord, we thank you this morning, Lord, for the word of God. 616 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:45,480 It is so rich. 617 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:47,080 It is so nutritive, Lord. 618 00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:48,840 It feeds us, Lord. 619 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,600 It meets us, Lord, in our need. 620 00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:55,080 Lord, it provides nourishment for our soul. 621 00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:58,080 Lord, let us see Jesus, Lord. 622 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:05,440 Let us understand the incomparable worth and glory that alone belongs to him. 623 00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:10,400 May he be preeminent in his church this morning. 624 00:38:10,400 --> 00:38:16,080 Father, thank you for all the ways you have dealt and met with your people in mercy. 625 00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:19,560 Lord, indeed, we are blessed, and we pray this in Jesus' name. 626 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:20,560 Amen. 627 00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:24,120 I want to ask the deacons if you'd come to the table as we prepare to commune with our 628 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:40,900 egoism, Lord.