LUKE 3:1-14 PREPARING THE WAY FOR JESUS2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 3:1-14 Preparing The Way For Jesus

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

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Well, as we head into chapter 3 this morning, we are fast-forwarding in the timeline. Thus far, in chapters 1 and 2, we've been looking at the announcement of John the Baptist and his birth, and then Jesus and his birth. We saw the birth of John the Baptist. We saw the birth of Jesus.

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Then last week we got to see a situation with Jesus when he was 12 years old and left at the temple as Joseph Mary went on with the caravan and thought that Jesus was with him. And then they went back and they found him in the temple. And that was when Jesus was 12 years old. Now here in chapter 3 we're jumping forward about 18 years to John the Baptist and the beginning of his ministry.

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Now John the Baptist is a very interesting guy. We will learn about him. We'll talk about him this week and next week. And actually not next week. Pastor Dion is going to be sharing the word. But as we continue on in chapter 3, we'll continue to look at the ministry of John the Baptist and talk about that.

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But I would encourage you to check out Matthew chapter 3 as well. In Matthew chapter 3, we also have a little bit more detail about John the Baptist and his ministry. He was kind of an odd character in that he would live out in the wilderness. He wasn't living in Jerusalem with the rest of the population. He was a loner. He was just out there in the wilderness.

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The Bible describes him as being dressed in camel's hair with a leather belt and his diet consisted of locusts and wild honey. And so he was a very unique guy, someone that stood out and someone that resembled people related him to Elijah the prophet. And there's some truth to that and we'll deal with that later on in the Gospel of Luke.

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But here's John the Baptist, and he comes on the scene, and what also makes him an interesting guy is that there had not been a prophet in Israel for over 400 years. Malachi, you might recognize that as the last book of the Old Testament, that was the last prophet, the latest prophet for the nation of Israel, and that was 400 years prior to John the Baptist coming on the scene here.

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And so God had been silent as far as the Jewish people were concerned as a population or as a nation. Of course, God was speaking individually to people, but there wasn't a prophet sent to the nation like in generations prior. And so for 400 years, there hadn't been a major announcement from God. But now all of a sudden, John the Baptist comes on the scene.

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Now Luke does what Luke does, you know, he's very careful in his historical record keeping and so he first of all gives us some insight into the timing of time.

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The coming of John the Baptist. And we see that in verses 1 and 2. It says this in verse 1. Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Etruria, and the region of Trachonitis and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene.

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This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to us, but for those who know history or for those who were reading this recently after it was written, it would make a lot of sense. It would pinpoint the timing of the coming of John the Baptist.

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We could perhaps relate it today to, you know, saying this event occurred during the term of Barack Obama as president. And Stan Skipworth was the mayor of Corona. And Jerry Brown was the governor of California. And the Nevada governor at that time was Ryan Sandoval. And you could look at the records. You could look at their terms. They all kind of have different timings and different terms in office. And I

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Understanding who was in control, who was governing at that time helps us to pinpoint and narrow down the time. In fact, it brings us to the date around 28 or 29 AD is when John the Baptist began his ministry.

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And so he gives the background, he gives a little bit of context about these different people who were ruling in these different regions that were impacting Israel. Tiberius Caesar, of course, he was the Roman emperor of the

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And so he was ruling over the whole empire and then more close to home, Pontius Pilate ruled over the region of Judea. Herod was under Pontius Pilate, but he was there specifically in the region of Galilee, which is the northern part of Israel and so on and so forth. And so he's describing these different rulers over these different regions to give context to the timing of when this occurred.

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He also tells us another aspect of the timing and the context in verse 2. He says, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, and so this occurred, John the Baptist began his ministry while these two guys were high priests. Now that's kind of unique because there was really only supposed to be one high priest and the one high priest was high priest until he died according to what God had instructed.

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But because the Romans were in charge, they changed things a bit. And so they didn't like Annas and he had offended the Roman Empire. And so they declared him to not be the high priest and named Caiaphas as high priest, who is actually Annas' son-in-law. And so his son-in-law is now high priest. And there was actually a couple other before him as well. But Annas was still alive. And so he's technically, according to Jewish law, the high priest.

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But then you also have Caiaphas, who's the appointed high priest by the Roman Empire. And so these two guys are the high priests of Israel at that time. And it was at that time, in that context, that the word of God came to John. This is a reference to John the Baptist as we know him today.

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John the Baptist was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth. And we talked about that back in chapter 1. You remember Zacharias was a priest and he was there in the temple. He was an old man and yet he was childless. But as an old man serving in the temple, an angel appeared to him and told him,

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You're going to have a son. You're going to name his name John. And he's going to be the forerunner to the Messiah. He's going to prepare the way for the Savior. And so in Luke chapter 1, we find that

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He is born, just as the angel Gabriel declares. They name the child John. And then Luke chapter 1 verse 80 tells us that the child grew and became strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel. And so John grew up

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At some point, his parents died because they were both probably in their 80s when he was born. So he didn't get very much time with them. And he just stayed out in the wilderness. He was basically on his own until this day. He's probably around 30 years old at this point. And now the word of God comes to him. God gives him a message, gives him something to say. And finally...

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Now that he has the message from the Lord, he can begin his ministry and begin the purpose for which God brought him to Zacharias and Elizabeth and brought him to the world. And what was that purpose? Well, his job was to prepare the way for Jesus. And as we look at the account here of John the Baptist, I would encourage you to consider this idea of preparing the way for Jesus.

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Because if you want Jesus in your life, if you want more of Jesus in your life, if you want a closer relationship with Jesus, John the Baptist has some key insights for us because his whole purpose, his whole ministry was about preparing the way for Jesus. And so if you want more of Jesus...

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If you want to be closer to Jesus, John the Baptist has some key truths for you and I to consider.

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There's three things I'd like to share with you from our passage this morning in regards to John the Baptist and his ministry, and specifically in regards to repentance. Because the primary way to prepare the way for Jesus is in repentance. And so the first thing we see found in verses 3 through 6 is that repentance precedes forgiveness.

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Repentance precedes forgiveness. Look at verse 3. It tells us, He went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. So now the word of the Lord has come to John the Baptist. He's out there in the wilderness. God speaks to him and says, Okay, John, now it's time. Here's what I want you to say. And so now he goes to

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It says the region all around the Jordan. The Jordan River was a river that started in the northern part of Galilee. I'm sorry, the northern part of Israel in Galilee, all the way down to the southern part of Israel. And so he would kind of go all the way around Israel, up and down Israel, around this Jordan River for his ministry, preaching the message that God had given to him.

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And part of this ministry that God had given to him was this idea of baptism. And so he was there preaching and he was calling people to be baptized, to be dunked in the Jordan River, immersed in the Jordan River. Now baptism at that time was something that was familiar to the Jewish people because baptism was used for

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For Gentiles, those who were not Jewish, maybe they were Greek or Roman or some other nationality, but they looked at the Jewish religion, they looked at Judaism, they saw the temple, they believed in God and they said, you know what? I want to follow God. They would convert to Judaism and

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And as they would convert to Judaism, they would be baptized. And it would symbolize them being immersed and now becoming a part of the Jewish people as they're committing to walk with God through the things that God had instructed in His Word.

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And so they were familiar with baptism as a whole. But what was unique about this is John the Baptist was calling out to the Jews to be baptized. Now, the Jews didn't need to be baptized. They were already part of the nation of Israel. They were already descendants of Abraham. So in their mind, there was no point for baptism. The Gentiles, yeah, it makes sense because they're heathens and now they're getting saved. And so they need to be baptized.

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But it wasn't for the Jews. Except for now, John the Baptist comes on the scene and he calls them to be baptized.

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Now baptism for us today means a little bit different things than what was happening back then, but the principle is still the same. We usually describe baptism as an outward expression of an inward change. It's something that professes on the outside what is taking place within. And so for the Jewish people of that day, as John is baptizing them, it was a baptism, tells us here, of repentance.

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And so it was an outward expression. It was a way to show on the outside, I've repented from my sins. The Jewish people, although they thought they were okay, they were in need of forgiveness. They were living sinful lifestyles. They were practicing things that were forbidden by God. They needed forgiveness. They needed to deal with their sins.

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And so John is calling them to repentance and the baptism that he's baptizing them with is a baptism of repentance. That is, they're professing, they're telling everybody, I agree with this message. I agree, I need to repent. That was what was being declared for them as they were baptized.

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Now for us today, baptism includes that, but it extends it a little bit farther. Because remember, John the Baptist was the forerunner to Jesus Christ. And Jesus now has come, and so the full picture is understood. The full message has been declared. And so for us, baptism is that. It's a baptism of repentance, right?

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And it represents us being crucified with Christ in that we were put to death. Our old nature, our sinful life, it was put to death, buried in the tomb with Christ. That's repentance. That's the turning away from sin. But then also being pulled up from the water, it represents and it reminds us of the resurrection of Jesus and the new life that we have in Him. And you can check out Romans chapter 6.

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to get a better understanding of what baptism means for us today. But for them it was a call to repentance. And it was a way to declare, "Yes, I'm repenting from my sin. I agree with the message of John the Baptist and I want to turn from the things in my life that are wrong." This baptism of repentance. Now, what is repentance? Repentance simply means to change your mind. To change from evil to good.

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Now, the changing of the mind was not just something that would happen internally, but it would also manifest itself. It would be reflected in the life that a person lives. And we'll get to see that later on in this passage. And so repentance is a change of mind. It's important to understand that repentance is not just being sorry.

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Not just being sorry for some act or some habit or some practice in your life. It's not just feeling bad about something. In fact...

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Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10, that godly sorrow produces repentance. And so repentance isn't just being sorry, but actually godly sorrow produces repentance. And so it produces this change of mind. It's that sorrow, it's that guilt, that conviction of the Holy Spirit that brings sorrow, that causes us to say, you know what?

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God's right and I'm wrong. And what I've been doing and this thing that I've been practicing is sinful. Sorrow leads us to repentance, which leads us to salvation, which brings to us a changed life. And so repentance is very important for us, even today as believers, because you and I still deal with sin issues.

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It's important for us today, for those who are unbelievers as well, because what God is calling them to is repentance, to change the mind. And for us to say, I'm changing. The lifestyle I'm living is wrong. This activity that I'm doing is sinful. I'm going to stop practicing this. Now, repentance...

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precedes forgiveness. We see this here in the verse. It says He's preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And so they're being baptized to testify, yes, I'm repenting. And as they're doing so, it's for the remission of sins. Remission simply means forgiveness. It means to release sins from the sinner.

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And so they're repenting and their sins are being released from them. They're being forgiven. That is what is necessary for us to be forgiven. We must repent. Now to take a step back, we could ask the question, why is forgiveness needed at all? Well, because it says for the remission of sins. Because the real issue in our life is the issue of sin. Sin is a missing of the mark.

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Is there anyone here who is not perfect? All of us. Is there anyone here who is perfect? Absolutely not. All of us fall short of perfection. And see, perfection is the mark. That's the standard. The idea of sin is missing that mark, missing that standard of perfection.

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It would be, you know, with a bow and arrow target or a dart board, you know, the bullseye, that small circle in the middle of the target, that's the mark. And anything else is missing the mark. So you throw the dart, you shoot the arrow, and you're like right next to the bullseye. You're like, yeah, 25 points. That's awesome. Well, that's good for...

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Archery, that's good for playing darts. But in regards to salvation, in regards to holiness, it's not good enough. 25 points, so that doesn't mean anything. So what if you were a little bit good? So what if you did some good deeds? You missed the mark. You weren't perfect.

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So you're not eligible, you're not qualified to enter into eternity with God because you miss the mark, you miss the standard. That's what sin is. And so this is why we need forgiveness, because all of us miss the mark. We are all sinners. We all fall short. We all practice things that are sinful. We all sin.

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Think thoughts that are sinful. We all do things that are sinful. We miss the mark. And so we need forgiveness. Now sin includes big things, but it also includes little things. Things that we think of as little. You know, like, well, you know, it wasn't so bad. I didn't actually hit him. I just really thought about it. I didn't actually have sex with her. I just thought about it. I didn't actually...

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We think, oh, not a big deal. You know, I didn't act on it. I didn't act it out. Jesus makes it very clear. Even to think it is to fall short. It's sinful. It's missing the mark. We'll see as we look at the things that John specifically addresses at the end, that it's not just big things that we're dealing about here with sin. He doesn't tell them, okay, here's what you need to do. First of all, stop murdering people.

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He doesn't deal with that. He deals with being generous and giving to the poor, giving to those who are in need. And so it's not just the big things that are sin, but it's the little things of life. And we fall short in those things continually and repeatedly. In order to be forgiven of that sin, because you've missed the mark, you require forgiveness. And in order to be forgiven, you must repent.

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Repentance precedes forgiveness. You must repent in order to be forgiven. That is, you must change your mind and recognize that you're in need of a Savior. You must recognize that your actions are sinful. You need to recognize that it's not okay to have sex with your girlfriend.

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You need to recognize that it's not okay to be consumed with money or your career or material things. You need to recognize that it's not okay to get drunk, to get high, to party. You need to recognize that your action, that your lifestyle is wrong, that it's out of place, that it's sinful. And again, not just sinful.

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change your mind internally, but that change of mind internally will express itself outwardly. And so it's not just, okay, I'm convinced it's wrong, but then you stop practicing it. You stop doing it. You stop living in that way. Well, let's go on to verses four through six. It says, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet saying,

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The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Here he quotes now from Isaiah the prophet. This is from Isaiah chapter 40 verses 3 through 5.

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And here Luke is declaring to us that John the Baptist, his ministry, is the fulfillment of what Isaiah wrote about hundreds of years before.

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that John the Baptist is the one who is crying out in the wilderness. Remember, that's where he grew up. That's where he was all around the Jordan River. That's basically what was there. It was wilderness. And so he's crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. This is the mission and purpose of John the Baptist. He's preparing the way for Jesus to come in. Jesus is not yet on the scene.

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He's alive. He's about six months younger than John the Baptist. And John the Baptist will be on the scene ministering for a little bit of time, and then Jesus will come on the scene. And we'll see that as we head into chapter 4 of the book of Luke. Now back in those days when a king or some high authority would be visiting a town or a city within his realm, he would send ahead of him a forerunner.

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And the forerunner would run ahead and announce to everybody, hey, the king is coming, get ready. We used to have this happen all the time when I was working for paychecks there in San Bernardino. And it's, you know, one location, but the corporate office is in New York. And

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And so we'd get a call from another office in the area, maybe the Orange County branch, and they'd say, hey, heads up, you know, the big vice president or this person, this so-and-so from the corporate office is here, and we think he's going there next. And so then, you know, we'd get the announcement, the word would be spread, everybody clean your desk,

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You know, everybody, you know, pick up the trash off the floor, empty, you know, the trash cans and look busy, you know, and get some clients or, you know, whatever. Just, you know, we got to be ready because we know the boss is coming.

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And so that's what would happen. The king would send a forerunner ahead of him and the forerunner would announce, hey, the king's coming. And so, hey, make sure you fill the potholes in the road so that as the king comes in, it's not too bumpy of a trip for him. Make sure you clean up the streets and get your house ready and make sure that things look good for the king when he arrives. And so the forerunner would prepare the way for the king to come.

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Well, that's the ministry that John the Baptist had for Jesus. He was to prepare the way to get the people ready for the Messiah, for the Savior to come. And so how does he get the people ready to receive the forgiveness that Jesus is going to offer? By calling them to repentance. You see, repentance paves the way, it prepares the way for the offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.

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Repentance precedes forgiveness. What prepares the way of the Lord? Repentance does. And so you and I need to recognize the importance and the value of repentance. Repentance precedes forgiveness. You want to be forgiven? You want to be set free from sin? It starts with repentance. It starts from turning away from the sin that you're practicing.

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Well, the second point that we find in our passage this morning is that repentance prevents wrath. Repentance precedes forgiveness, but it also prevents wrath. Look at verse 7. It says, Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

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I was really tempted to open the message this morning with this line. I think it's a great introduction, right? So you guys come in and I say, Hey, you snakes! Who warned you to flee from the wrath of God? What are you doing here? That's basically what John the Baptist is saying. And it says here that multitudes are coming out to be baptized.

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Again, there hasn't been a prophet to the nation of Israel for 400 years. And so now there's a work of God going on. There's this prophet out in the wilderness and people are coming to check it out. People are coming to hear what he has to say. But as they come, his opening line is, you brood of vipers or you offspring of snakes. You snakes, he calls them.

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It's possibly even a reference to being children of the devil as that serpent there in the Garden of Eden. I mean, this is not a pleasant sounding, you know, oh, I'm going to go get my ears tickled and hear John the Baptist. I mean, you're going to go for a beating is what you're going to do. He's going to tell you the truth. He says, you brood of vipers. You bunch of snakes. Now, John wasn't lying here and he wasn't exaggerating. They were a bunch of snakes. But,

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He declared it to them when nobody else would. They were a bunch of snakes. They were sinful. They were practicing things that were not of God. And you know what? They are just like us. They're just like us. This message that John preaches is appropriate for today. In fact, we could open our services with, Hey, brood of vipers, what are you doing here? Who warned you to flee the wrath of God? Because that's the reality. We are sinful.

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We're snakes. We're consumed with ourselves. We look out for ourselves. We're focused on and consumed with pleasing ourselves and what matters most to me and what makes me think good things about myself and what makes me enjoy life and what makes me... See, it's all about me. We're snakes. They were just like us. He says, "...who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come?"

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This is an important statement. We need to understand wrath is coming. That's what he's saying. Wrath is coming. Who warned you guys to flee from it? What's bringing you out here? Paul tells us in Colossians chapter 3, he lists a bunch of sinful activities and he says, because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. The wrath of God is coming. We saw that there in the book of Revelation.

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The wrath of God being poured out upon the earth for the tribulation period. But that's just kind of the physical and worldly aspect of it. There's an eternal wrath that's even more important. Who warned you to flee from the wrath? The wrath of God is coming. There's a reality. You see, the reason why repentance is so important is because, well, the alternative is to receive the wrath of God.

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The permanent, eternal state of judgment in hell. That's the alternative to repentance. So you can take your pick. As uncomfortable as we are with the idea of repentance, it's much better than eternity in hell. I can promise you that. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Verse 8, Therefore...

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Bear fruits worthy of repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. So John the Baptist, you can see his idea is not to drive them away and tell them to get out of here. But he's getting their attention. He's helping them to realize really who they are, what they are. And he says, well, here's what to do about it.

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You're a snake. You're a viper. The wrath of God is coming. So what you need to do is bear fruits worthy of repentance. You see, repentance prevents wrath. The wrath of God is coming. In order to escape it, you must repent. You must turn from sin. You must stop living those sinful practices. You must repent. He says, bear fruits worthy

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Worthy of repentance. If you are going to flee the wrath that is to come, you must repent. And repentance, he says, bears fruit. You see, repentance is not just something on the inside and nobody can tell if you've repented or not. I'm not sure if Charles has repented. He says he did, so I guess we've got to take him at his word. No. We don't have to take him at his word. There's fruits of repentance. It's real. It's tangible. It's tangible.

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And it can't be faked. It can be faked for a short season, but it cannot be faked. For a short time, maybe you can pretend, oh yeah, I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry, honey, please take me back. And you put on the show, you put on the outward change that they're wanting to see. But time reveals whether or not that repentance was genuine. It can't be faked in the long term. There's fruit that is produced by repentance.

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We'll talk more about that in a couple of minutes. But he goes on to declare to them, he says, hey, don't begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. And so he's already countering the arguments that are going on in their minds. Well, he's calling me a viper. What's going on here? The son of the devil. Hey, how dare he call me something like that? The wrath of God is coming.

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Their mentality, their idea was, hey, I don't need to worry about the wrath of God because I'm a descendant of Abraham. That's what they would say. They were the Jewish people. They descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And it was taught, it was known, it was thought at that time that it was impossible for any Jew, any descendant of Abraham to go to hell. They just thought automatically I'm saved because...

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I'm this particular nationality. They thought that because they were of the nation of Israel, that they were automatically saved. And so John the Baptist is saying, don't think that because you're a descendant of Abraham that you're able to then escape the wrath that is to come. No, you must bear fruit of repentance. Now, the same thing happens today. There's many who attend church and

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and think that because I attend church, I'm saved. I don't have to worry about the wrath that is to come. Because I go to church or because I do these religious things, I think it used to be that some would say, you know, well, I'm an American, of course I'm saved, but I don't think that's the case anymore. But we do have many. We do have many within the church who base their salvation upon the idea that they attend church.

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I must be a Christian. I go to church. If I'm a really good Christian, I go twice a week. If I'm a super Christian, I help out in some ministry. Does that really strike home there, Carlos? But he says, look, going to church, being a particular nationality, that doesn't matter. You have to bear fruits worthy of repentance. He declares that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. This is...

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Kind of a funny thing that he's saying here. He says, look at these rocks around here. God could, from those rocks, raise up people that are genetically related to Abraham. That's easy for him. He could do that. That's no problem. He's not looking for people genetically related to Abraham. He's looking for people spiritually related to Abraham. Jesus, when he was addressing the Jews in John chapter 8, he's telling them of their need to repent from sin.

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And they say, hey, what are you talking to us for? Abraham is our father. And Jesus tells them in John 8, verse 39, He says, if you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. You see, they were claiming the heritage of Abraham and saying, that's our salvation, that's what we need. We don't need anything else. But God says, no, you need to follow Abraham's example.

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You need to repent. You need to live by faith. You need to respond and be obedient to God. Paul tells us in Galatians 3, verse 7, that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. It's only those who believe God and respond to His Word that are children of Abraham. To be genetically related to Abraham, that's of no value in the sense of forgiveness and salvation.

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In the same way, God could turn all the stones that we have out in the parking lot and He could raise up from them churchgoers, people who attend. But that's not really what God wants. What does He want? He wants those who will be of faith. He wants those who will trust Him. He wants those who will walk with Him. He wants our hearts. God wants you to surrender to Him, to give your life to Him completely. Not just for you to give Him a Sunday morning, an occasional Wednesday,

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But to give Him your life. To turn over everything. Full control to Him. To submit to Him and surrender to Him completely. That's what God wants. That's what God requires. That's repentance. And it's the only way of salvation. We always try to find, you know, it's like the get out of jail free card, right? Okay, so I just pray this prayer and then I can be saved and I won't go to hell. Alright, now I can go live my life the way I've always been living it, the way I want to live it because I prayed this prayer. Listen.

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If that's your mentality, if that's your heart, that prayer didn't mean nothing. God wants your heart. And when you pray the prayer of repentance, of salvation, then you have to bear the fruits worthy of repentance. Your life has to demonstrate, yes, I'm fully devoted to God. I'm surrendered to Him. Your life is going to be radically altered. And so he says, don't say, hey, you know, I go to church or I'm of this nationality. That doesn't mean anything.

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Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Verse 9, And even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. A reference of the wrath that is to come. He says, look, the axe is at the root of the trees. He's saying judgment is not far off. The wrath of God is not far off. Now, you and I, we like to put the wrath of God far off, don't we?

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Why do we put it far off? Because then we can repent later. One day I'm going to repent. The wrath of God is far off. John says, no, look, the axe is at the root of the trees. It's ready to cut. The axe is ready to fall. He says, even now. That's why the Bible says that today is the day of salvation. Because the wrath of God is right there at the root of the trees. And the trees that do not bear good fruit.

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Now, of course, he's not talking about fruit trees in your backyard or something. He's talking about people. He's talking about our hearts. He's talking about our lives. And if we don't bear fruits of repentance, the axe is right there. If it doesn't bear fruit, it's going to be thrown into the fire. There is a judgment for those who do not repent. The wrath of God will be upon those who refuse to turn to God. The axe is at the root of the trees.

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I don't know if you've seen it in the news, but I paid close attention to it because it's very closely related to me in that there was a young man with my name, Jerry Simmons, who was recently killed just a couple of days ago. It was an accidental shooting.

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And he was killed. I think he was about 12 years old. And I get notifications, you know, whenever something pops on the internet with my name, because I'm kind of vain and full of myself that way. And so this week I'm getting all these reports about Jerry Simmons is dead. He's died. It was an accidental shooting. And it was a reminder to me that Axe is at the root of the trees. It could have been me. Just as likely.

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Those headlines could have been about me. I could have been dead this week. There's no promise that I'm going to live till next week. The axe is at the root of the trees. Any day we will enter into eternity. Whether by Jesus returning, whether by the tribulation happening, whether by us getting accidentally shot. Any day we will enter into eternity. And so now is the time to repent. We don't have time to

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Put it off and say, oh, I'll repent later, one day. Listen, repentance precedes forgiveness. Repentance prevents wrath. If you put it off and then you die, your chance to repent is gone. The time is now. Every tree that doesn't bear good fruit, that is every tree that doesn't bear fruits worthy of repentance, will be cut down and thrown into the fire. This idea of bearing good fruit, it's in the present tense, by the way.

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which means it's continued, it's repeated action. Repentance is not something, well, I did that, you know, one time back there at the Harvest Crusade, I prayed the prayer, I repented. Repentance is ongoing because all of us, we deal with sin in our lives and as God reveals to us the sin that is going on, that's happening in our hearts, we're to be in a continual state of repentance. As we read His Word and He shows us, look, this is who you are, this is what you're doing, you're a brood of vipers and we say, oh,

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I'm going to change. We respond to God. We respond to His correction and His instruction. Recognizing the things that we're practicing are wrong. It's fruits worthy of repentance. Changing our way, changing our life as God instructs us as we walk with Him. Listen, the wrath of God is for real. Again, in the book of Revelation, we saw how terrible things will be here on the earth during the tribulation where it declares that the wrath of God is being poured out upon the earth.

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But again, that's just the outward temporary physical things. The eternal state of judgment is far worse. Nobody wants to experience that. But in order to prevent it, you must repent. Well, finally, point number three, as we look at verses 10 through 14, is that repentance is practical. It precedes forgiveness, it prevents wrath, and it's practical. Look at verse 10. So the people asked him, saying, what shall we do then?

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And so they hear this message, brood of vipers, you bunch of snakes, what are you doing here? You got to produce fruits worthy of repentance. And the people say, okay, okay, yeah, we agree. Okay, we understand. Okay, so what do we do? What does this mean to us? What does it look like? And John the Baptist will go on to tell them, it's practical, it's lived out. It's not just something that's done in the heart. And we have to wonder, I don't know if Romans repented or not.

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No, we'll know because he will be living accordingly. He will be doing and showing the fruits of repentance. Repentance is a change of heart, but it's a change of heart that's so radical that affects the whole life of the individual. That all that we do is radically altered by this change of heart that happens when repentance takes place. Paul talks about this in Ephesians chapter 4.

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He tells us that we have to put off the old things and put on the new nature. We stop living in the old lifestyle and we start living according to the example of Christ. Now you've probably heard repentance referred to as a 180 degree turn, right? So if you're walking this way, to repent means to turn around and go this way. Now that's important. Repentance is not just walking this way and then stopping. Okay, I'm going to stop doing this sin.

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repentance is the turn around and going the opposite way. So I'm going this way and I'm practicing lying. Repentance is not just stopping the lie. Repentance is turning around and now telling the truth. Going back, making things right, telling the truth, speaking the truth, not continuing on in a lie. Or you're continuing on, you're going this way and you're practicing some sort of sexual immorality.

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Repentance is not just stopping sex outside of marriage or some type of adulterous relationship or pornography or whatever. It's not just stopping that, but it's turning around and then going forward in the relationships that God has instructed and declared. Working on your marriage, ministering to your wife or your spouse. It's going forward. It's not just stopping the activity.

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So you're consumed with materialism and you're caught up and you're just filling your life with things. Repentance is not just stopping that, but now turn around, go the opposite direction. Repentance is, okay, you're going this direction and you're stealing. Repentance is not just stop stealing. He tells us there in Ephesians 4, it's to turn around, go the other way, get a job, make some money and give to others.

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You see, repentance is not just stopping the sin, but doing what's right. Filling your life with the things that are good and the things that are of God. It's practical. It's not some weird thing. Well, I don't know if he's repented from stealing. You will know if he's repented from stealing. I don't know if he's repented from this sexual immorality. No, you will know if they've repented. Because they'll stop doing it. That's one part of it. But then they'll start doing the right thing.

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It's very practical. It changes our lives. It's not just something that happens within. It's not just, you know, well, you just say a couple Hail Marys and pray a little bit and then you're fine. No, your activity is changed. Your life is changed. And we get to see a few practical examples of repentance here in the following verses. Look at verse 11. He answered and said to them, He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none, and he who has food, let him do likewise.

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So here's a sample. The people say, hey, what are we supposed to do? How do we show the fruits of repentance? John the Baptist says, repentance will show itself in compassion and generosity. You have two tunics. The guy next to you doesn't have any. The tunic would be an extra layer of garment. It would be for warmth. It would be to help protect you from the weather. This guy has no protection from the weather. You've got two tunics.

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John the Baptist says, here's what repentance looks like. You take one of your tunics and you give it to him. You help the person out who's in need. You have compassion. You have generosity. Now, what's our tendency? Mine. It's mine. We learn it from when we're just a baby, right? Mine. It's mine and we hold on to it. John says, here's what repentance looks like. See needs and meet those needs. Fill those needs. Be generous. Be compassionate. Consider others more than yourself.

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Now he doesn't say, hey, if you've got ten tunics, then you can give one of them. He says, if you've got two. That's kind of how we usually do it, right? Yeah, I think I've got ten pairs of shoes. I'll give one to the goodwill. I'll give one to someone who's in need. Maybe I won't give the whole pair. I'll just give them the right shoe. Sometimes we're like that.

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But what repentance is, is, "No, I have a little bit extra. This person has a need. I'm going to give. I'm going to meet that need." It's showing compassion to the people around us. Having a love and concern for the people around us. Well, we see the next example in verses 12 and 13. It says, "Then the tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to Him, 'Teacher, what shall we do?' And He said to them, 'Collect no more than what is appointed for you.'" John the Baptist says repentance will show itself in fairness.

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and integrity. Tax collectors were known to be corrupt. They were hated. They were notoriously greedy and wicked. And here's how it would work. Rome would tell the tax collector, okay, you need to collect this amount of money. Nobody else would know how much they were responsible to collect. Now, they were responsible to go to everybody and say, okay, I'm supposed to collect this amount of money. They could name whatever amount they want. And so whatever amount they collected above and beyond what Rome required, they get to keep.

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So Rome required $100. They say, hey, Larry, you owe me $500, man. Got to pay the taxes. So they give Rome $100 and they get to keep $400. And so they lie to people. They cheat the people. They'd rip them off in order to get for themselves. And so the tax collectors are out there. They're hearing that John the Baptist and said, well, what should we do? And he says, be fair. Don't collect the extra. Just collect what is appointed for you. Be fair. Be right. Don't take advantage of people.

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Collect what is right and fair. We see another example in verse 14. Likewise, the soldiers asked him saying, and what shall we do? So he said to them, do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely and be content with your wages. So now the soldiers are there. They're listening. They're watching. They're responding. Oh, wow. Here's John the Baptist. Okay, we need to repent. Okay, how do we do that? What does it look like for us as soldiers? John says, repentance will show itself in contentment.

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but also in the proper use of authority. Not intimidating, not using and taking advantage over people because you have authority. So these are some examples of what repentance looks like. And again, you can see how this would be different, how this would be visible. These are the fruits of repentance. Of course, this is not all the examples. You could take whatever occupation you have and

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And consider, well, what kind of things would that mean for me? What does a Christian look like in my workplace? What does repentance look like in my job, in my home? I was formerly a person of rage and I would let my temper get the best of me and I would yell and scream and throw things. Okay, I'm going to repent. Now, what does that look like? And so on and so forth. Compassion, generosity, compassion.

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Fairness, contentment, proper use of authority. These are some examples of the fruits of repentance. Now why is this important? Because repentance prepares the way for Jesus in your life. You want Jesus in your life? You want to have a relationship with God through Jesus? You want to have the blessing of walking with Him, of knowing Him, of Him working in your heart and in your life? Then you must repent. John the Baptist said it. Jesus said it. Peter says it.

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Jesus said it, remember, in Revelation chapter 3 to the church. He says, repent or else. We need to repent. To turn from our sin. To stop living in those things that are not of God. And to turn towards God and do the things that He's instructed us. As we consider this idea of repentance, I would ask you, where do you stand? Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance.

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Let's pray. God, I pray for each one of us here. Lord, I pray that you would open our eyes. Lord, remove the blinders that the enemy has placed, that our sinful nature has deceived us with. And God, help us to see our need for forgiveness. Help us to see our need of repentance. And God, I pray that as we see our need, as you reveal to us those areas that you want to correct and deal with,

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God, I pray that you would help us to bear fruits worthy of repentance. Lord, that we wouldn't just try to fake it, that we wouldn't just attend church and think that's good enough and that'll keep us from hell. But Lord, that we would respond to you as you speak to our hearts. And Lord, that we would really turn from sin, that we would change our lives, that we'd stop going the way that we've been going. Lord, that we might turn and follow you and pursue that relationship with you that you desire with us.

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So God, I pray that you would draw us near to you. Pour out your spirit upon us to convict us of sin and righteousness and the judgment that is to come. And help us, Lord, to respond. Help us to repent and get right with you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.