"Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, John
answered, saying to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water, but
One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the
strap of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His
winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff
with unquenchable fire." So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the gospel to the people. But
when Herod the tetrarch was reproved by him because of Herodias, his
brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had
done, Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Its good to be back together with all of you today, we're glad you're here.
We welcome you to worship in the name of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Its good to be back together with all of you today, we're glad you're here.
Over the past several decades, its become apparent to me that were living in a time where preachers are gaining popularity for offering messages with no real significance in terms of theology, talking in very broad generalities about everything except for Scripture. I do not believe that you can treat the Bible with the kind blatant disrespect. I believe it must be handled with great care and a tremendous amount of respect, never knowingly violating its sanctity. You just can't take verses out of context and make them say whatever you want them to say, I know there's some people who will make the Bible say things God never intended. First you have to understand what the passage says, then you need to interpret what it means by what it says. In my years of studying the Scripture, I've found that all you have to do is keep reading the passage and if you're sensitive to the Holy Spirit, He will begin to open up the divine truths contained in the passage.
I believe that sound biblical teaching and preaching is the single most important reason to choose a church, everything else is secondary. I've encountered a lot of people who choose a church because of its location, regardless of its teaching, and I believe that's a serious danger in that. I really struggle with the many problems that I see facing the church today, in fact, the Christianity as a whole stands on the brink of tremendous danger with all of the incompetent teachers that abound in our nation, heresy and false teaching is being tolerated more in the Christian culture than any other sec of society. If anyone dares to speak out against the warped theology that flooding the pulpits of the most popular teachers, which by the way are almost all charismatics, we're quickly accused of being judgmental and unloving. Nevertheless, as most of you know, it has always been of concern of mine to confront false doctrine that masquerades as biblical teaching and warn against the damning error that could adversely affect your spiritual life. I believe it's important to speak out on such damning error because whatever one considers to be true will ultimately control their behavior. Christian morals are being threatened to a point that I have never seen before in my life time, and nobody wants to talk about it, they would rather us believe that the problem is not as serious as we might think.
Doctrinal error is one thing, but the moral implications that stem from those who have unwittingly become victims of such scandalous teaching compounds the problem. I believe that any error that encourages people to engage in immoral conduct not only necessitates separation from those who hold to false doctrine, but it must be confronted head on. It's crucial that Christians be able to discern the differences between wrongly interpreted doctrine and the heresy attacks the essential truths necessary to become a true Christian. Biblical Truth is objective and is completely unaffected by an individuals perception based on feelings or emotions. It always strikes me as peculiar that those who demand tolerance are most often the least tolerant of those who disagree with them. It's as Jesus says in Matthew 11, "Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." Those who lack understanding of the Scripture will generally argue that biblical interpretation is just somebody's opinion. You can spend a lifetime reading verses in the Bible, but unless you actually understand what those passages teach you will go straight to Hell.
I believe I have encountered just about every kind of false teacher imaginable at one time or another, some have even claim to be prophets or apostles, receiving direct revelations from God all the time and the moment you challenge the authenticity of their "anointing to teach," they'll quickly throw out the verses 1 Chronicles 16:22 or Psalm 105:15 as a way to insulate themselves from criticism for their misguided theology, further, saying that anyone who divides the body of Christ is evil and will burn in Hell. Not everyone who claims to speak for God actually does, perhaps they should read Deuteronomy 13, which says if a prophet claims to speak for God is ever wrong, he must be put to death.
John the Baptist was a man of strong simple words, who's bold, straightforward message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins confronted the deeply rooted shallowness among the professed people of God, it's a perfect message to address the permissive church today of compromising, convictionless Christianity. There are a lot of people who claim to be in Christ, who say that they have fellowship with Him, but they walk in darkness. It’s not enough to claim you’re in Christ, you have to be able to back up your claim with your life. Salvation isn't a matter of what you claim, it's a matter of what you live. It’s just amazing to me how many religious people claim to know God, we're talking about millions and millions of people, who when you look at their life, you immediately know that they're lying, their claims are invalid, completely untrue. How can anyone who is denying and diminishing the sin in their lives claim to be a true Christian? If anyone is to receive forgiveness, there must be repentance. In other words, you have to agree with what God says about your sin and you must demonstrate your claim by turning away from it. Without action, words are worthless.
Let's pray
Heavenly Father,
Amen
Today's Message: You can silence the Messenger, but You can't silence the message
John's approach to preaching was radical, it was intended to awaken the people from their dead spiritual religious practices and to call them away from the religious hypocrites who were leading them to Hell. John challenged people to demonstrate their repentance by caring for the needy, living with integrity, and showing their love for God by showing love to others. John's message was designed to help the religious hypocrites see themselves as they really are, sinners in need of repentance, rather than the superior, sinless religious leaders they imagined themselves to be. He preached with such conviction and authority that some people actually thought he may be the Messiah, but John never sought honor for himself, quickly dismissed the rumors and pointed people back to the One whose coming he proclaimed. Unlike the other prophets before him, John actually lived to see the fulfillment of his announcement of the Messiah's arrival.
Today, we are returning to our study in the Gospel of Luke, so open you Bibles with me, if you would and turn them to Luke chapter 3. I trust that you will be following along with me read the text to you, to set it in our minds as we open our hearts and listen for the voice of our Lord. Luke 3:15-20.
"Now
while the people were in a state of expectation and all were reasoning
in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, John
answered, saying to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water, but
One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the
strap of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His
winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff
with unquenchable fire." So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the gospel to the people. But when Herod the tetrarch was reproved by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison."
As I've mentioned many times before, repentance is not a popular theme in many gospel presentations today, in fact, it seems they only want to talk about the grace and mercy of God, the love of God, the compassion and forgiveness of God. Frankly, it has become the common practice among professing believers to conceal their sin, or redefine it or blame it on someone else. But Scripture teaches that anyone who will not fully acknowledge their sin, who refuses to confess their sin and repent of it, is not in fellowship with God, they are not redeemed, rather, they are self-deceived. True Christians understand that confession and repentance must come before salvation and the forgiveness of sin. That doesn’t mean that they go around telling everybody everything they've ever done wrong, it just means they are open and honest about their true spiritual condition before God and they no longer attempt to conceal their sin, they are honest with others and themselves. Those who do not confess their sin, seek to cover it up. John recognizes that salvation always starts with confession and repentance. The word repent or some variation of it appears more than sixty times in Scripture. I do not believe a faithful preacher can begin to effectively proclaim the Gospel without mentioning the word repentance.
In Luke 8:17, Jesus says "For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light." And, in Luke 12:2-3, He tells us, "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops." That's an amazing statement to think about, that at the end of the day, everything ever said and everything ever done, every thought will be fully disclosed, there will be absolutely no secrets!
Let's look at verse 15, "Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ." There had been a certain level of expectation for the Messiah to come and establish His kingdom for centuries but when John came preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, saying that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 40, the voice crying in the wilderness, I believe that it was only natural that their expectation was heightened, I mean everybody knew that John was a prophet, because he came doing what prophets do, but they began to wonder if he might be more than a prophet, could he be the expected one?
To be perfectly clear, John never claimed to be the Messiah, he knew that he was to be the forerunner, the make the paths straight, by preparing the hearts of men for the One Who is to come. In fact, Jesus later said in Matthew 11, "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." His message of repentance and forgiveness and judgment and salvation fulfilled his mission of a prophet perfectly.
There are many in modern evangelism today who think that its just believing in Christ is sufficient for salvation, that repentance is completely unnecessary, however, James makes it clear that even demons also believe and they shudder, I can assure you there won't be any demons in heaven. A vital part of ministry is to warn people, and protect them from perverse teachers who would cause them spiritual harm by teaching contrary to the truth. I have no greater joy than to know that some of you have recently repented, turned away from a sinful lifestyle and are now walking in the Truth, that motivates everything I do as a pastor, because Jesus said its the Truth that sets us free, for that reason I am truth-driven.
Verse 16, "John answered, saying to
them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is
mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals; He
will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." John is saying in no uncertain terms, Jesus is in a league of His own, it really offends me when people say that Jesus was a good man, Jesus was a great teacher, or Jesus was a prophet. Like John, all I can do is preach the Gospel to you in all its power, strength and glory, and pray that the Holy Spirit will convict you of anything that jeopardizes your soul, then I can baptize you in water and point you to Christ, but that's where my ability as a godly leader ends, I don't have the power to save you, I can't give you the Holy Spirit, nor do I have the power to change your heart, no man can, you have to do the rest. All I can do is affirm exactly what Scripture teaches, is if someone is in sin, and they refuse to repent, they are bound in their sin. And, if they repent, and turn away from it, and embrace Christ, they have been loosed from the bondage of their sin; meaning God will forgive all their sins. I can tell you that if you superficially repent, that you're going to burn in Hell, because that's essentially what Scripture says.
Certainly, Jesus understood that there are superficial repenters when He said in Matthew 7:21-23, "Not
everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’" Then, in Matthew 25, in the parable of the ten virgins, Jesus pointed out there are also many false professors, those who have the lamp of profession but lack the oil of salvation. In Acts 8:21-22, Peter told Simon Magus, "Your heart is not right before God. Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray earnestly to the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you." Impenitent hypocrites are nothing new, there are pews all across American filled with them today, people who think they are saved, when in reality they're really no better off than an unbeliever, in fact, they are actually worse off.
How can you tell a Christian from a non-Christian? How can you tell someone who is born again from someone who is not? How can you tell a child of God from a child of the devil? According
to Scripture, the answer couldn’t be any clearer: Anyone who
continually practices sin and lawlessness is not of God. Anybody who
claims to belong to Christ but does not keep His commandments, is a
liar. A true Christian who receives the Holy Spirit lives a new life,
with new behaviors, a life that is dramatically different from their
former sinful way of life.
Because Satan has infiltrated the church, he has convinced pastors that every imaginable sin is acceptable, that the things that God's Word clearly defines as sin are no longer sinful, and the result is many Christians are living the same damning sinful life they did before. When you think in terms of your salvation, are you more painfully aware of the sinful behaviors in your life? Do you have an increasing desire to obey God's Word or are you content to as you are? Because if the Holy Spirit is residing in you, you can no longer be comfortable with your sin, your life can’t possibly remain the same as it was.
Satan's agenda is to corrupt the church by using false teachers to make his false Christianity appear as close to Truth of God as he can, while damning those who follow it. (Matthew 24:24) You're free to reject this message, to reject what Scripture actually teaches about your sin, but remember, when you die and someday you will die, Christ is free to reject you. It's important to understand, that nobody who habitually practices lawlessness gets a pass, even those who call Him Lord, but do not obey the will of God.
Verse 17, "His
winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor
and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff
with unquenchable fire." Those who God has forgiven, He has implanted His Spirit in them. The Holy Spirit has many functions in the life of an obedient believer, for example, He illuminates the Scripture giving us the mind of Christ, so we can have a proper understanding in the truest sense, which is why the natural man can't understand the things of God, because they are spiritual, so they foolishness to him. There are some who would have us believe that the Holy Spirit giving people these supernatural revelations, imaginary trips to heaven, and the "gift of tongues," none of which are useful, nor can they be compared to Scripture, because it is all subject only to the interpreter. Since you’re not an Apostle, and you have no way to prove that any of it actually happened, people have every right to be suspicious of you, I don't care how anointed you are or how high you've been elevated, by the way, that's how they talk. When I tell you something, I can point you to the Scripture that backs up what I'm saying, so that you’ve got something you can put your finger on. These people might be communicating with spirits, but its not the Holy Spirit. Contrast to that to Paul's experience when he was caught up into the third heaven, in which he saw things that were too wonderful to talk about.
The imagery John uses here is a fearful graphic illustration of Judgment to describe the process the Lord is going to use to separate those who have received the Holy Spirit and eternal life and those who are going to be burned in Hell for all of eternity. When the harvest was done, all the grain was gathered, and thrown onto the thrashing floor. Then, there would be an ox or a team of oxen, that would walk around the threshing floor dragging great heavy pieces of wood to separate the kernel from all the rest of the straw and the dirt, until finally, the hard kernel would be left. The "winnowing fork," is an agricultural reference to the harvest. It was a tool used by the farmer to throw the mix from his shredded pile of grain and straw into the air to let the wind carry the straw and chaff away and the heavy grain fall back down for collection. When the separation process was completed, the wheat would be taken to the barn, and the chaff would be burned with fire. Allow me to point out that John says "to thoroughly clear His threshing floor," he wants us to see that everybody will be dealt with, whether good or evil, until nothing is left. In the end, there will only be two piles, one to be kept and the other to be destroyed by the everlasting fire. Which will you end up in? I pray that question will lay heavily on your heart until all the sin in your life is dealt with through genuine repentance.
Verse 18, "So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the gospel to the people." John preached the Gospel, he preached the Truth about the wrath that is to come, calling people to repentance, baptizing them in the Jordan as an outward symbol of an inward change of heart, he warned those who didn't repent about the reality of the eternal Judgment. Then his preaching became very personal, in this particular instance he reproves Herod the tetrarch, or Herod Antipas, a man who we've talked about quite extensively before. Herod Antipas was the kind of powerful man that I would dare say would silence most modern day preachers, but not John the Baptist, he boldly went directly Herod's face to tell him what he needed to hear. Notice I didn't say what he wanted to hear, he confronted this wicked man with the same message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. I believe that all preachers must follow the same pattern, confronting sin with the same Gospel message no matter who the audience is.
Verse 19, "But when Herod the tetrarch was reproved by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done" I believe the most loving thing you could ever say to anybody is that if they will repent on their sin, God is willing to forgive all their sins. John didn't just confront Herod with his sin, he continually exposed the sin of this dreadful man on a regular basis, who's life was so sinful, it would make a black mark on a lump of coal. After all, he was the son of Herod the Great, a man who had ten wives and murdered much of his own family and anyone else who might try to take his throne, even after he was dead, so we wouldn't really expect his son to have high moral standards. But John continuously confronted the one thing that stood out in all of Herod's life, his sinful marriage to Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. You can read more about this sorted story in Matthew chapter 14, and Mark chapter 6, which picks up after Jesus has already started His ministry.
That brings us to verse 20, "Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison." Apparently, the list of Herod's wicked behavior was too long for Luke to even write, perhaps because he was constantly adding to the list, as we see here in this verse.
If
you will remember, John preached for about six months before Jesus
actually showed up on the scene, to be baptized and to be designated as
the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world and begin His own
ministry, their ministries overlapped for about six months before Herod,
who had a love/hate relationship with John the Baptist, had him
arrested and put in prison on account of his brother Philip's wife, Herodias, but Herod kept him safe, because he knew John was a righteous man and he was afraid. That didn't matter to Herodias, she had a grudge against John and she wouldn't let up until he was dead, even if she had to use her own young teenage daughter to seduce Herod. After about a year, she finally got her wish, John the Baptist was beheaded on Herod's birthday. Sinful marriages always lead to all kinds of wretched, wicked behavior.
Notice Scripture only refers to Herodias as Herod's brother Philip's wife, that's because in God's eyes, their marriage was unlawful. In fact, John had been repeatedly saying that very thing to Herod himself, "It is not lawful for you to have her," and frankly, anybody else who would listen to him. That's why you've got to love John, he said what he needed to say to whom he needed to say it to and was not the least bit intimidated by even the most powerful, prominent people in the land. I believe we could certainly use some bold Gospel preachers like that today, don't you? After John's work was done and his life was over, he went to heaven, when Herod and Herodias finally died, they went to Hell with their sins unforgiven. They could silence John's voice but they didn't really accomplish anything to remove their guilt by killing John did they? You can kill the messenger, but you cannot kill the message, that's why we're still talking about it today, all these centuries later.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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