John Preaches

When John the Baptist started preaching in the wilderness. There was a sense of urgency to his message. The crisis is right now.

Don't wait till tomorrow. You may not have it tomorrow. Faxes at the root of the tree and every tray that doesn't bring forth fruit as were the only to be cut down and thrown in the fire and the responses John the Baptist was impressive. Throngs of people were told to follow him into the wilderness to hear and preach today Renewing Your Mind. We returned to Dr. RC Sproul sermon series from the Gospel of Luke as we open the chapter 3 today will see that in preparing the world for the Messiah. John the Baptist proclaimed the message that's just as true in just as urgent today. Try to imagine in your mind's eye view can thousands upon thousands of people gathered at the Jordan River there seeking to undergo baptism by the hands of this strange new profit who was come to them. All of the desert were told by historians of the first century, the John the Baptist, notoriety and fame at this time of the first century was greater even than that of Jesus. So, multitudes flock to the Jordan, probably 10,000 from every walk of life.

The common people.

They retch the people of the earth for the layer also describes the Pharisee the Sadducees rulers from the local Sanhedrin who governed Jewish affair. Even Romans, who were represented by the military and tax collectors. Also gathered so in this huge throng of people milling around pushing up against John the Baptist is ready to preach to them at Hollis. He began his address does he say ladies and gentlemen, no notice he say dearly beloved, now, nor does he say friends Israelites and countrymen, lend me your ear's. He doesn't use that form of address anger instead he sees all these people in front of him, and he looks at them and he says you brood of vipers you dad. Now serpents, you messed poisonous snakes vipers in the land at that time usually didn't grow to be more than 2 feet long, but they were deadly with their venom. They would often stretch themselves straight out on the ground than the mistaken for sticks and people would pick them up. As we read in the book of acts. Or, as was experienced by a member of this church and picked up a pit viper last year to her everlasting remorse. But this is how John the Baptist violated every principle of political correctness and to Carnegie's book on how to win friends and influence. He said on talking today through a bunch of snakes and they have the poison of asps under their lips, and he says to them, who warns you to flee from the wrath to come is that why you're here. Are you coming to be cleansed because you know that wrath is coming, and somebody has warned you and suggested to you that you flee from this wrath.

Who told you that John of course was certainly not denying that wrath was at the gates and that it would be a good thing to flee from it is amazing to me that there were that many people in that day who considered it a matter of urgency to flee from the wrath of God because we live in a time today where it seems that nobody in our culture has any great fear of the wrath of God and even in the church. There is a callused sense that God gives love unconditionally and we have nothing to fear from his wrath with their people in this room right now who should be fleeing with all of their might. From the wrath of God. That will certainly come because there are inevitably people in this house this morning who were not converted, and if you're not converted to Christ, then you will experience the wrath of God. So if you have any wisdom in you flee as hard as you possibly can.

You know, if you're a candidate for that wrath. How do you know if your converted and safe from that wrath. Well, we can learn something from John the Baptist here. He says therefore there fruits worthy of repentance. Beloved, there were people who came to be baptized by John understood that he was saying to them repent and be baptized, take up that you're not clean the whole symbolic significance of his baptism was to point to a cleansing from sin and forgiveness to all of those who would repent that we know in theology to distinguish between different kinds of repentance is what we call contrition, the kind of thing that was manifested by David in his prayer of contrition in Psalm 51 when he was pouring out his heart before God and his sorrow for his sin was genuine and deep, but there's also attrition the kind of repentance your children show when you catch them with their hands in the cookie jar and they say please don't spank me they are repenting to get a ticket out of punishment and their repentance is not genuine, it doesn't come from the heart and so masses of these people came to the Jordan to get the latest theological and ecclesiastical provision to cover their sins, but they went into the water with no real sense of repentance's and they came out on converted so John said if your converted show me bring forth the fruits worthy of repentance, he wasn't saying the fruit will convert you or the fruit will save you or the works will justify you buddy setting up your faith is real. If your conversion is genuine, that you can't help but have fruit so I asked you this morning. Do you have the fruit of repentance in your life do you have evidence in your life of your conversion.

That's a question that each one of us has to ask ourselves pointedly and honestly, because true conversion always inevitably necessarily brings forth the fruit of repentance, so now the lecture turns into a Q&A as those who have heard this warning before that, he says, and don't start talking to me about Abraham when I tell you about fruits worthy of repentance. Don't tell me who your father was or your grandfather, your great-grandfather don't tell me that your children of Abraham, and serve your children of Abraham. You're safe from the wrath to come, if your children of Abraham.

That's like saying, church member, my parents were Christians. I was raised Christian, I don't have to bring forth fruits of repentance. Johnson don't talk to me like that, don't you know that God is able to raise up children of Abraham from the stones right here mentioned the John was familiar with the stones of the wilderness. The pebbles the stones and the rocks that were everywhere, and what he saying to these people.

He says that God made Adam out of the dirt he can make children of Abraham out of the stones. He can make a child of Abraham out of the stone that is your heart and then came the Q&A not yet I still run ahead of myself before we get to the Q&A he has on to say. Even now the ax is laid at the root of the tree. Again, that's not the. The woodsman has gone to the barn and picked up his action starting honing at the sharp edge, nor is he start chipping away at the outer bark of the tree is already penetrated to the very path to the very core of the tree one more swing of the oximetry comes crashing down. That's how urgent it is drawn to say the ax is at the root of the tree. The crisis is right now. Don't wait till tomorrow. You may not have it tomorrow. Ax is at the root of the tree, and every tree that doesn't bring forth fruit as were the only to be cut down and thrown in the fire. What you do with the dead fruit tree in your yard.

Just let it there for decoration for 20 years course not. If it's not bearing fruit. You cut it down, break up the branches throughout the far well at the garbage collector taken away. You need to get rid of it because it's worthless and so is everyone who brings forth no fruit from their conversion there like that tree. That's worthy of being cut down in cats in the fire now John has their attention and he opens the class for questions so the people asked him, saying, what shall we do, he answered and said to them, Hugh has two tunics let him give to him who has none. And he who has food let him do likewise. John the Baptist did not ask Herod institutes a redistribution program or a welfare state whereby the granting of relief from poverty would be forced upon the people know the message of the gospel is bawling very compassion voluntary giving to those in need. The church would do what the church is called to do, we wouldn't have the government interfering in this matter, the way they do. John says one of the fruits of conversion is compassion. If your converted person, you can't see somebody netiquette and not give them something to close them you saw somebody hungry you give them so once met a man say to me, our Savior ever seen anybody die of hunger. And I said no.

I have a nieces I'm glad you said that because if you would've said you had I would've said were kind of a man are you who would watch somebody die from hunger now fruit of conversion is a heart that loves people, our neighbor, whether believers or unbelievers where they are.

If they have AIDS. When I asked him how I got it there in the gutter. We don't ask them how they felt there we get out of there. That's what converted people do they show compassion than the tax collector. They have their question – players came to be baptized and set in teacher, what shall we do, and John says to them, click no more than what is appointed for you. You have your job.

It's not a very popular one. You're supposed to collect the taxes from the people and the taxes may indeed be oppressive but you add to the oppression by clipping the corn and take a little extra for yourself.

Aligning your own pockets. By virtue of your authority as a tax collector was drawn saying to them, saying stop stealing is stealing from people. Paul tells us in his epistles let him who steals steel no more. So one of the fruits of conversion. Beloved, as you don't steal than the soldiers asked their question and they said what should we do John said them. Don't intimidate anyone, or accuse them falsely and be content with your wages. Yesterday Bess and I were driving down the one of the streets in Altamonte Springs and police car from Altamont Police Department fold alongside of us. Fortunately didn't have his red light on but I looked over and I strained my neck to see if it was one of our church members who is an officer with the Altamont Police Department and I couldn't really tell. But the policeman in the car looked very nice in his fabulous uniform. You know how soldiers look when all dressed up in their their dress blues and so on, and the policeman with their spit and polish uniforms. They can be scary. They can be intimidating and they can use the power and the force of their office to falsely accuse people the John the Baptist was doing them randomizing before it was even fashionable in the United States. This is don't use your office to intimidate or to extort people or to accuse them falsely. By the way, another fruit of the conversion is to be content with your wages content with my wages. Now John is not preaching. He's meddling people are always content with your wages and when were not content. We have tendency to shake our fists in the face of God, saying God you and your providence have not been kind enough to us. If you are really a good God, you would make us more prosperous than we are. The same flight drawn here was pretty much covering the gamut that were not done yet. After he had the discussion with them as to whether or not he was Jesus or the Messiah, which will look at God willing next week were told almost as a footnote at the end that John was shown up in prison. Why, why did Herod shut them up in prison and subsequently kill him by cutting off his head and tell you why, because John following a long list of profits of God was engaged with what we call in theology prophetic criticism he had the audacity publicly to criticize the tetrarch, the ruler of that territory. Herod, for his illicit marriage to his daughter-in-law, and so John the Baptist called them out publicly, but I see the difference between Republicans and Democrats in America is a difference in degree and not of kind.

I don't see any party really committed to just economic policies to address taxation policies or to morality of the sanctity of life may say what in the world are you talking about that from the pulpit for wants must be discussing Pulver just where you are.

I'm a tell you why the office of the preacher of the office of prophetic criticism is goes through the whole of sacred Scripture, beginning when Moses went up and knocked on the door of Pharaoh and said God told me to tell you to let my people go, because what you've done in your government of Egypt is wrong.

Moses was God's prophetic voice to Pharaoh. As Elijah was to Ahab's consort, who were trying to impose paganism on the house of Israel or Isaiah as he went before the Kings calling them to repentance. Is Nathan confronted David and his soon, which was a sin not just the guests arrived about against the nation. He ruled or think of Daniel, Ezekiel, challenging the kings of Babylon for their evil all the way through the history of the church. It is been the function of the church, but to be the state but to be the conscience of the state. God establishes government for the main reason originally of sustaining, protecting and maintaining this sanctity of human life and when a government and a government fails to do that.

It is been demonized and it is the responsibility of the church to stand up to that government and say stop discrete bloodied murder.

In the say we won't tolerate you people who have no more regard for human life or ethics. This kind of corruption will destroy this people and all of her institutions with it again. It is not the duty of the church to be the state but it is the duty of the state to be the state and we speak to the state about abortion were not asking the state to be the church were asking the state to be the state to do what they're held accountable by God to do, protect human life.

This is in Russia. This is in the third Reich. This is the United States of America that kills sanctions, the killing of one and 1/2 million babies every year. And where is the church intimidate terrified, cringing for the first service morning somebody asked me who just finished reading the cost of discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer Mason or cities of you ever read that book as a discourse. He said heredity Susan, I can understand what he had written the forward to situate the right to forward everything else I should actually editing the how to write when the Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that book and paid for it with his life because while the rest of the German churches were intimidated. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said Adolf Hitler no, you have to go and your administration in the name of God who has ears to hear what John the Baptist says said not only to first century Jew says to us this morning. Teaching a pointed lesson drawn from John the Baptist ministry is Dr. RC Sproul, he's taking this verse by verse through the gospel of Luke here in the sun. The addition of Renewing Your Mind and were glad you could be with us. We have been studying in this great book over the past several weeks, and I hope you make plans to join us each Sunday as we learn about the life and ministry of Jesus, the careful study that we hear from RC each week here in the program can also be found in his commentary on Luke. Contact us today with a donation of any amount he will be happy to provide a digital download of this nearly 600 page commentary or offices are closed on this Lord's day, but that you can give your gift to make the request online and Renewing Your Mind.war before go today like to remind you that ref that is available 24 hours a day and we'd like to invite you to tune in. We feature the ministries of faithful men like Alister Begg John MacArthur Stephen Lawson and of course Dr. scroll plus you'll hear Bible readings, music and Christian audiobooks.

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Have you ever wondered why Jesus insisted that John the Baptist baptizing Jesus was perfect. So why did he need to be baptized. Dr. Strobel tackle that passage from Luke's gospel next Sunday here on Renewing Your Mind