Matthew 3:1-17

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias [Isaiah], saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.  And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.  Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:  And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.  And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost [Spirit], and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.  Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.  But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?  And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.  Then he suffered him.  And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 

“Good morning.  Pleasure to have you with us this morning.  If you’re new, I’d just like to officially welcome you to this church, and we have little cards on the back of some of the seats, if you would like to you can fill out one of those cards and let us know a little about yourself, that you’re here visiting with us this morning.  You can even put a little prayer-request on there if you’d like.  We have folks that gather here in the morning, Tuesday and Thursday mornings that pray for all the prayer-requests on those cards.  On your way out there’s Agape boxes by the doors, you can just drop them in there.  But again, if you’d like, we’d love to hear a little bit from you, God willing [Same thing goes for here online, you can sign the Guestbook on this website at http://guestbooks.christiansunite.com/sign.cgi?unityin, we’d love to hear from you.].  So, this Wednesday night in the announcements it was mentioned we won’t have the adult service on the 2^nd floor, it will be up here on the 3^rd floor, as we have a concert pianist coming in, Steve Schneider, whose a Messianic Jew from Tel Aviv, a gifted man who will be with us.  And so we’ll have a night of worship.  [I was there, very gifted and nice man.]  So that’s this Wednesday night.  And you’ve been hearing a lot about retreats, as we’ve been noting them in the bulletin.  There’s a few of them, there’s opportunities if you’re single and looking for just some fellowship with folks that are single too, there’s the one mentioned there in the bulletin, that’s happening real soon.  There’s also the Men’s Retreat, we’ve been getting the word out on that.  We’ve got three guys this time with us, three pastors that are going to be teaching.  And as I mentioned last week, their wives are going to be with them, so we’ve thought about trying to set up something a little bit for the gals.  And so on Saturday, for two hours, there will be ladies tea, and two of the pastors wives are going to minister during that.  So, that’s just a neat weekend for us.  We can get blessed as a church, folks coming just to serve us and love us, and teach us and minister to us, even Sunday morning that week, Mickey from San Diego is going to be teaching the Sunday morning service…Let’s say a word of prayer.  We’re in Matthew chapter 3, and we’ll go through this text as we march here through the book of the Gospel of Matthew.  ‘Lord, thank you that we can study your Word together, and as we come on Sunday morning, I think once more of what you say a number of times in the New Testament, Lord, that if anybody has an ear, let him hear.  Of course you exhort the seven churches that way too in the book of Revelation we studied last.  But here we come again, so imperative that we have ears to hear your voice.  Some of the things that we look at, maybe we’ve heard many times, they’re so familiar to us.  But yet the power of it is not in our lives because we just haven’t heard in our hearts, haven’t responded to those truths in our own lives.  And Lord I would just ask simply, my own life as I stand here and all of us together, God give us ears to hear, give us hearts that are so willing to respond too, that we’d be doers of the Word, not hearers only.  And so Holy Spirit, be upon all of us, upon even myself now as we go through your Word, in Jesus name, amen.’

“Israel, Judea, you need to go backwards!”

I’d like to start with a story, it’s about the clipper ship the Dreadnaught, 1862.  This ship actually sailed backwards for 280 miles, and it is a technical feat that is unique in maritime history.  But a clipper ship sailing backwards.  That hasn’t happened too many times, let alone 280 miles.  But this ship got itself into a difficult situation, left Liverpool, was in the Atlantic, encountered a pretty big storm, so much so that the wind killed the ships’ carpenter, broke the rudder and disabled the vessel.  So for three days it was just going back and forth in the waves, drifting along.  And then, desperate situations require desperate measures, the captain tried something unique.  He at first rolled up and secured all the lead sails that were on the foremasts, and he went back to the third mast, which is called mizzenmast, and set all the square-sails there and threw back every sail that was set, thus by steering over the bow [he may have also thrown a very small “sea anchor” type sail over the bow to keep her stern headed into the wind, while making minor coarse corrections with an improvised rudder thrown over the bow, which was now being used as the stern—complicated maneuver to say the least], this captain sailed this boat backwards to the nearest harbor, which was in the Azores, 280 miles away.  So you get the visual, out there in the Atlantic, pretty strange to be out there in your little boat, watching a big old clipper ship, which is designed, it’s got the flat stern, the pointy nose, it’s going backwards, sailing backwards through the waters.  And I start with that illustration, kind of a strange sight, but I think it gives a good picture for us as we go now through this chapter of Matthew chapter 3.  [see http://currierandives.net/ClipperShipDreadnought/  and http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Clippers/Dreadnought(1853).html .  This was a fast ship, a purebred racehorse of the seas.]  Because that picture to me is what the nation of Israel is presently in need of, as the Word says here, they’re in need of a certain work, it’s like that clipper ship going backwards.  You know the nation of Israel was in a spiritually difficult place.  For 400 hundred years there hasn’t been a spoken word from a prophet.  So without the enriched word of God, there’s a drought of the Word of God, and with the drought there’s been a dulling of the hearts of the people of Israel, and with a dulling of the hearts, there’s been a drifting away from God.  So they’re not in a good place.  But now God’s Word comes, God’s Word speaks from the quiet.  And it’s a word, the message is ‘You need to change your ways, O nation of Israel, you need to change your ways.’  In a sense, they need to go backwards, they need to leave from where they are, the point in time spiritually where they are at this point, and then to go back to their old ways when they were a nation that sought the face of God.  So, ‘Go back, change your ways.’  You know, today you’re here, and maybe that’s a word to you.  Maybe that word has come your way many times, and you just haven’t yet heard it.  It’s a beautiful message though, it’s incredible, we’re singing a song about ‘God of compassion, God of mercy’, it’s true that we have such a merciful and compassionate God that we can yet change our ways, and we can return to old ways as Christians, ways and places that we used to be where we were better off.  Maybe that’s you, you’ve been  tossed to and fro, morally, spiritually, gotten off course, gotten away from where you used to be.  And so the message today as we go through this chapter, this is so clear in this chapter, God is going to say to you, ‘You need to change your ways.’  Of course, that is the word “repent”, you need to repent, that’s what it means.  It means you find yourself in the wrong place, you need to set your sails and return, go another way, take that U-turn, go back to the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul.  What a difference too.  To have been in the waves, where you’re being tossed, in the mess, and yet actually having the option to go back to the harbor, the safe place, the safe zone, the place of peace, the place of safety and joy.  And that is what repentance is.  You know, if God says to you today, ‘Repent’, it’s not like he wags his finger at you, and says, ‘You naughty old person, you disgust me, you disappoint me.’  It’s not that at all, he comes in an encouraging way and he says ‘Repent, from where you are, it’s not a good place, and come back, come back to the harbor, come back to be with me so you’ll be in that sense of blessing and peace and hope and the good life.’  Now maybe you’re here today, and you’re not even born-again, you’re not a Christian.  And the Bible says “Unless a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, read verses 3-8 for context).  And when we say Christian in this church, we mean ‘born-again’, born anew, alive in the Spirit.  And so maybe that’s you, and you’re here this morning, and so God’s Word is similar to you, it starts when you recognize that you’re a sinner, and in need of repentance.  And then after that, too, then to be willing to change your ways and to come to the Lord in faith and receive him as your Lord and as your Savior.  And so, incredible, powerfully, the way we receive salvation, healing and hope and spiritual life in us.  Is that you today?...Let God speak to your heart.  Don’t so much listen to me, as we go through this passage and things are shared, let God speak to your heart, he wants to speak to you, and he wants to bring you life.  But it starts with repentance.  It starts by getting right with God, and receiving the Lord as your Savior.  [Comment:  Really, in the new covenant, it starts with a desire to repent.  We as humans without God inside of us cannot truly repent of anything.  The endless cycle of addictions and/or sins, with no way of coming out of them is our lot in life without God inside of us by way of his indwelling Holy Spirit.  But when you ask and accept Jesus into your life, the Holy Spirit is placed inside of you, and you receive power to overcome and truly repent of your sins.  Real repentance comes from the Lord working his good pleasure inside of us by way of the indwelling Holy Spirit (cf. John 14 & 16).  Log onto http://www.washedred.com/changed_lives and check out the fascinating testimonies given about this process called repentance and asking God into your life.] 

The ministry of John the Baptist---the last of the Prophets

So, verses 1-12, “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of  heaven is at hand.’  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’  Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locust and wild honey.  Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to meet him, and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.  And do not think 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.  And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  I indeed baptize with water unto repentance.  But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn.  But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  “Few preachers ever produced such effects as John the Baptist: “People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan” (verse 5)…Jesus called him “a lamp that burned and gave light” (John 5:35); the great bishop of souls himself declared that “among women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). (excerpted from J.C. Ryle, Matthew, p.13.)  J. Vernon McGee comments that John the Baptist is the last of the Old Testament prophets.  He says, “He’s really an Old Testament character, walking out of the Old Testament.  He is the last of the Old Testament Prophets.”  So, Matthew begins this section “In those days”.  In what days?  Of course, going back to the previous chapters, he’s referring to the days of Christ, when Jesus was here on this earth, so going back to that.  Now we left off last week, Jesus, Yeshua as a young child.  You remember, he was taken for a time to Egypt with his parents.  We don’t know how long he was in Egypt, but he lived there for a time, probably a couple years.  Then he returns to Israel after Herod (the Great) dies, doesn’t go to Jerusalem, but Joseph is directed to go up to Nazareth.  So Jesus spends his adolescent years, teenage years and adult years, growing up in the community of Nazareth.  Now we don’t know a whole lot about those years.  You know, we go from, he’s a young child, and we jump right ahead now to this time.  And as you go on, this is the beginning, this is where the ministry of Jesus, Yeshua starts.  And he’s about thirty years of age at this time.  So we’ve skipped a whole big deal, we left the teenage, all that we know very little about.  We just know a little bit.  In Luke we have a picture of Jesus, age of 12, pre-teen, he’s there in the Temple, and the teachers are gathered around him, and we see into his life at that particular time, he was filled with incredible wisdom.  In fact, the teachers there gathered around, it says they were astonished.  And of course his interaction with his own Mom, you know, he said he was in his Father’s house while he sat in the Temple at age 12.  Something very special about him even then.  We also know then too, of course the New Testament teaches us, that Jesus’ life was sinless, he never sinned.  He never knew any sin.  So then that would be also those younger years, and that’s very unique, not too often you know of a teenager who goes even a day---right?---without sinning.  So, we don’t know much, but sinless, clearly you get a little glimpse.  Has a heart, very wise as he’s growing up.  And that’s about all we’re given.  Of course his step-father was a carpenter, so we assume he grew up in that trade.  He’s known as ‘the carpenter’s son.’  That’s all the Holy Spirit wants us to know, and therefore that’s all we need to know.  Now there are some books, of course, there’s the apocryphal books, the Gospel of Thomas, will give you some stories, accounts of Jesus when he was young, and they are silly stories.  The early Church didn’t accept them as accurate or true, and if you’ve ever read any of them, they’re strange, and I can understand why they weren’t seen as true, because they’re not true.  But we move on, and this is all we need to know.  Now we have these ministry years, “In those days”, thirty years of age. 

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”

Now, Jesus is coming on the scene, as far as his ministry, so in order to prepare for that time, God sent one ahead of him, and that is as you see there in verse 1 and 2, beginning there, it’s John the Baptist.  Matthew, as he introduces us to John the Baptist, then quotes from the prophet Isaiah.  He says ‘This fulfills prophecy, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’  So, the ministry time begins for Jesus, God sends this one in fulfillment of prophecy to prepare his way.  Now what does it mean when it says “to make his paths straight”?  What does that mean?  Well, it’s a picture.  Of course, we do it to a degree today.  But of course in those civilizations and cultures of the time, a king coming into your territory was a big deal, and people prepared for it.  You’d prepare the roads, you’d prepare the countryside.  You’d make sure his travel there was smooth, his travel was nice.  [Hope no royalty has to be driven over Massachusetts roads---poor bloke would have his limo swallowed up by a pot-hole!]  This is the king, he’s coming to your territory.  We do that even now.  With people we see as important, we clear the way, we clean the church, make sure all the windows are washed, make sure everything looks good.  ‘He’s coming to our church, ‘Mike, we’ gotta get ready.’  We do the same thing.  I remember when I went to Israel the last time, the year 2000, it just happened to be a couple weeks before the pope was coming to Israel.  We went twice as a church, first time, man it was so cool. Second time it was beautiful, too, but it was crazy there, because the pope had said if you go to Israel in the year 2000 you’d get to heaven quicker, that’s not why we went there.  [chuckles, laughter]  But we were just scheduling the trip anyway.  So I guess we got the added blessing, I don’t know.  I didn’t really think much of that.  But the place was packed.  Not only that, there was a lot of road construction, they were preparing for the pope.  He was going to be there in two or three weeks, so everywhere you went, just delays and constructions, big deal, he’s coming, prepare, make the paths straight.  And that’s the essence of what that means.  Now, of course, in a spiritual way, because this is John the Baptist preparing for the Messiah, now he’s not worried about physical roads and anything like that.  But he’s come to prepare the hearts of the people, you know, to make the paths straight in that sense---the mountains in the hearts, they need to be made low, they need to repent, and people that are discouraged, they need to be encouraged---here comes the Messiah, the Christ is coming!  Well, that’s a big assignment.  So, this man John the Baptist, as we study the Bible, he’s no ordinary man either.  He’s very much a man like you and I, he’s a human like we all are.  But certainly his life is a bit out of the ordinary.  As you look at the different Gospels and what it tells us about him, we’ve noted some things.  His name literally means, Gift of God, that’s what John means, that’s a great name.  But if you remember, he’s the cousin of Jesus.  But also his birth was, there was something miraculous about it in that his mother was very old.  In fact, the Greek would say, in the sense that she was bent over, she was an old lady.  And her womb was closed.  And miraculously, God opens her womb.  So his birth starts with that.  But then an angel actually comes and announces that he’s to come.  As you remember the story of his father, the angel Gabriel, Luke chapter 1, verses 14 to 17, and what the angel says, he says that this man isn’t an ordinary man, says he’ll be a joy and delight to his parents, one who would cause many to rejoice because of his birth, as he would bring back many to the Lord their God.  He would be great in the sight of the Lord, never to touch any fermented drink, any wine or alcohol.  But from his birth he would be filled with the Holy Spirit, from his very birth.  “One then who would go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”  And that’s what we see here.  Out there, turning the hearts, children, adults, preparing them for the Lord.  Now, when he was born his father even prophecied, in Luke chapter 1, verse 76, “That he would be the prophet of the Most High---so a prophet---to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.”  So, a prophet.  He is the last of the prophets.  Luke chapter 16, verse 16, we learn there that he is the last of the Old Testament prophets.  There hasn’t been one for four hundred or so years, and now we have this man John the Baptist.  But furthermore, Jesus himself will later even say of John the Baptist, in Matthew chapter 11, verse 9, that he was more than a prophet, not just a prophet but more than a prophet.  Among those born of women there’s not been anyone greater, Jesus said.  Now that says a lot.  Among those born of women, that would include all of us, never been anyone greater.  And Jesus said, “He is the Elijah that was to come”, you know, as far as the prophecy in Malachi.  Yet John, and we even see this, John the Baptist, we see these truths here too, this man is a man of humility.  Great man, I mean he’s great in also that he’s very humble.  As we were at this conference, I was at a conference in California this last week, and it’s called a huddle, it’s a little different from a conference.  You don’t just sit there and listen to somebody teach all day, but we, Mike has people breaking up into prayer-groups, and we pray for each other, and we do all kinds of different things.  But at one point we divided into three groups of about a hundred, and we went into three different rooms for 40 minutes apiece, we kind of rotated.  And in one room we were to talk about the three greatest lessons in ministry, the other room we were talking about the three greatest blessings in ministry, and the other room we were to talk about the three greatest difficulties in the ministry.  Interesting, the greatest difficulties and the greatest blessings were the same answer, it was people, people are the greatest difficulties and people are the greatest blessings.  But anyway, that’s a side-point.  [chuckles]  But one of the things, one of the lessons learned, and one of the great things needed in ministry that came out consistently with hundreds of people was humility.  Such a powerful thing.  And this is something you see in this man, he’s a great man, but one of the reasons is he’s so humble.  But he said of himself, in John chapter 3, verse 29 it’s recorded its says ‘he was the friend of the Bride Groom, the friend of the Bride Groom who waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the Bride Groom’s voice.  Just the friend, you know, real humility, and we’ll see that more as we go. 

John is preaching in the wilderness of Judea, probably near ancient Gilgal

Now he appears on the scene preaching in the wilderness.  Now the wilderness of Judea, the desert of Judea, it’s a barren area, it’s a desert area.  There’s rock, there’s stone, it’s not a very nice area.  It’s not a place where large crowds would naturally gather, where you’re cutting out and saying, ‘Let’s just go and gather’ in large numbers, the wilderness of Judea, that’s not the place for it.  Yet this man has such a powerful way to him, filled with the Spirit since he was conceived.  There’s such a powerful way to him, when he teaches, and his message, so much stirs the hearts of the people that they come in great multitudes, they come from all around.  Now of course, as you see there too, his appearance is a bit unusual, clothed in camels hair, he’s got a garment on, a robe of some sort that’s made of camel’s hair.  That is a bit unusual, leather belt around his waist.  Now that clothing, if people understood the Bible, they would understand that this was the prophet’s clothing.  Zechariah chapter 13, verse 4 says that.  That’s the clothing of a prophet.  And so the dress of Elijah, that’s what Elijah was dressed in, in 2 Kings chapter 1, verse 8.  So, he’s got these unusual clothes, he’s got this powerful way to him, but not only that, he does have a bit of an unusual diet.  And I believe it’s unusual, that’s why it’s noted.  Some will try to say, ‘Well, maybe it’s not locust…’ but I think pretty clearly it’s locust.  That’s what we’re told.  It’s a little bit unusual.  Now locust is something that the Jew could eat, it was the only flying bug that you could eat.  But you could eat locust if you chose to eat locust.  And so that’s his diet.  You know, just imagine, this guy’s got locust and wild honey.  You go to the restaurant, you got your chips and your cheese dip, and he pulls out the grasshoppers, dips them in the honey, and that’s what he’s having.  And I don’t know, if he asked me to share I’d probably pass.  “Ah, it’s OK John, you can keep those grasshoppers, man, I’m sticking with the nachos, I’m not too interested in the locust and honey.’  But that’s his diet.  But in all of his life, this man’s been set apart.  Now he’s been in the wilderness for a period of time, it’s possible, his parents were very old when he was born, so maybe they weren’t alive for very long, and when he was at a young age they died.  So he’s been in the wilderness for some time. 

sin and repentance

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (verses 1-2).  “He taught the absolute necessity of repentance (verse 2)…he preached that repentance must be proved by its “fruit” (verse 8); he warned his hearers not to rest on outward privileges, or outward union with the church…We are naturally dead, and blind, and asleep in spiritual things; we are ready to content ourselves with a mere formal religion, and to flatter ourselves that if we go to church we shall be saved: we need to be told that, unless we “repent…and turn to God” (Acts 3:19), we shall all perish.” (excerpted from J.C. Ryle, Matthew, p. 13.)  But God is using John, there’s a beautiful picture here, because the nation of Israel has been quiet, and suddenly there’s this voice crying out in the wilderness.  If you were on the hills of Judea, you would have  heard this voice out there, crying out in the wilderness, powerfully this message.  To some close by it would be a little louder.  To some further away, it would be a little quieter.  But that message coming forth.  And maybe it’s the same with you, depending on where you are right now in the Lord, and the condition of your heart.  Maybe it’s just a soft thing you hear, maybe it’s a loud thing.  God’s Word can be that way to us.  But this stinging message, directed right to the heart of the people, people who have departed from the ways of God.  And so the very first word that breaks the silence [since Malachi] after hundreds of years is “Repent.”  [The book of Malachi was written about 400BC.]  Now that’s our English word, that’s not the Greek word, it’s our English word.  But this need to repent.  You know, our English word really falls far from what the Greek word means.  It doesn’t do it a lot of justice.  Some commentators have even argued that the word “Repent” in English is the worst translation in  the history of the New Testament of what the Greek actually says.  It really misses the word, and that is because our English word comes from the Latin, which means “to be sorry again.”  And sometimes we think of it that way, when God comes to me and says, ‘Steve, this needs to be corrected in your life.’  I think, ‘Oh I’m sorry about that, I’m sorry I did that.’  But when we have the word “repent” here, the Greek word is much deeper than just that.  John is not calling the people to just be sorry about their state, but he’s calling them to change their very attitude and their way of life as a result.  [Strongs #3340, Repent: metanoeo, to think differently, to reconsider.  3341, repentance: reversal.].  The word for the Greek word metanoeo that we have here for “repent” literally means to change one’s mind, and act upon that change.  So that’s what he’s saying.  The first word that comes out from God [after 400 years of silence from God] is ‘Repent, think differently’.  Think differently about your life, the condition of your heart, the state of your life.  And now with that thinking and attitude, go live differently, go in a different direction.  Like that ship, put it in reverse.  Put the sails in the stern, put them up, take down the sails in the bow, and sail that puppy backwards, and get back to where you need to be.  Now, repentance, this is such a powerful thing [and the Greek word for repentance means reversal].  Again God isn’t just shaking his finger at them.  But God is getting through to them that they’ve drifted, they’re not in a good place.  They’re like that ship, out there on the waves with a broken rudder.  And they’re not in a harbor anymore, near God, where there’s safety and peace.  I mean, it is a powerful thing to repent, to be able to do that.  You and I are so fortunate that we have a God, it’s not like I’m in outer space as an astronaut and my tether gets cut and now I’ve drifted.  If you’re drifting in outer space, you’re in trouble, right?  If you don’t have some kind of jet propulsion to get you back, you’re going to drift forever.  But I have the ability, as soon as I realize I’m in the wrong place, to say “Lord, I realize I’m in the wrong place, and Lord I ask that you’d forgive me, cleanse and heal me right now, I just don’t want to do that anymore.”  And praying that, you’ll see the change in your life.  ‘If I need to I’m going to cut the cable, if I need to I’m going to stop going to that place, I’m maybe going to change some relationships’, there’s a change in the direction of my life, whatever it is.  That’s what the word “repent” means.  It’s very beautiful and it’s very powerful.  You know, we have on the front of our bulletin Jeremiah 6:16, had it on the front of our bulletin for a long time.  I’ve always wondered, but now with the prayer thing that God has called us to, to me it just fits.  God saying to the nation of Israel [Judea, tribe of Judah, house of Judah] you’re at a cross-road, choose which way you’re going to go, but choose the good paths.  Choose those old ways, the ancient paths that lead to life.  You know, put it in reverse, get back to the safe harbor.  Very beautiful, the harbor of peace.  You know, when I was at the huddle, before the huddle we were asked, there were hundreds of people.  And when I went to our HQ church in San Diego, big church, and I was just so blessed, it was such a powerful work that God did in my life, I’m still even now intimidated by the leadership there.  Shouldn’t be.  Just my carnality, but just had such respect for them before.  Just amazing the work I saw God doing in them.  And so even now when I go to the huddle, I’d just as soon be quiet, meet my little friends and I don’t want to be up front and share anything.  Well, we get a call a week or two before, and the request is, ‘Hey, Mike would like you guys to make a little quick video, put it together about what’s going on at the church, kind of a history of our church here, left San Diego ten years ago and where we are today and what’s happening.  So we make this little video, and it doesn’t really go the best.  I mean the people that are doing it for us are doing a great job, but my wife and I aren’t doing the best.  So it’s a bummer when you’ve got to make a video, and you got the greaseball, long day and tired, and you’re going to stand and give this.  Now maybe it gets shown in front of hundreds of your peers.  So we make this little video, and we’re kind of hoping, we watched it at home, the people that put this together, they did the best with what they had.  That was the problem was what they had.  But they produced this nice little thing, and we watch it, and are thinking ‘Oh man, hope it doesn’t get shown.’  So, first day of the huddle, been there just an hour, things are just kicking in, and don’t you know, it goes up on the screen, here I am---‘No! No!  Everybody close your eyes, plug your ears’---here goes this little video.  Well fortunately they edited it a little bit more, so it was short, wasn’t too bad.  In fact, people applauded, and I guess they enjoyed it.  Well there’s people coming from all over, there’s some incredible ministries, I’m so blessed to be a part of this denominational group, and to see what God is doing in so many countries, and just the sincerity of the people’s lives.  Mike has people share at different times…well the last day, it’s a three day deal, and now the last day I get the word, “Mike wants you to share a little bit.”  He wants me to share too?  All right, all right, I’m a little nervous.  I’m thinking, they saw the video, people have been teasing me about the video, so I’m not going to talk about the same story.  I’m going to focus on last weekend, we did the Stand New England prayer-gathering, and talk this heart, you know, I believe what the nation is in need of is for God’s people to repent---and the Church, repentance and revival in the Church, what it’s in need of.  So I tell them my little story, I tell them about the rain last weekend, and struggling through that, the messages.  It was a blessed time [in spite of the rain from hurricane Ivan].  What’s cool is Mike comes up after, and Mike says to people, he says, “You know, what Steve has said is a vision from the Lord.”  And he goes on to talk for a little while about just this book he’s written, he’s written a new book called “Falling In Love With Prayer”.  But just that he believes in his heart, he’s believed since he became a Christian, that God is going to do one final work in America, a revival.  Although he says ‘I believe, it’s not going to change the course of this nation.’  Because nationally, the nation isn’t going to repent.  You know, repentance is powerful, because there’s change.  So the nation isn’t going to repent, but there’s going to be a work of God in the Church.  And then he says ‘I believe, right after that, the Rapture’s going to happen.’  [Comment: The denomination this sermon series comes from believes in the pre-tribulation Rapture of the Church.  This website takes the Classic Pre-millennial stance, since most of pre-millennial Christianity takes that view, it’s a majority view, and more Biblically defendable as a doctrine (as opposed to the pre-tribulational Rapture view).  I agree, we may have one more major Christian revival, and then the end will come as Jesus said, that “end” being the  beginning of World War III, or the tribulation, ending with the 2^nd coming of Jesus Christ.]  Well clearly he believes in the power of repentance, as he came up and shared, which was very beautiful.  As I also shared about prayer, and to me, I said if there’s revival, there will be prayer, because the two go hand in hand.  And so we had a prayer-gathering.  Well he then says to the people as he’s up there, he says, ‘You know, every year our church, we have a couple weeks a year where we set aside for fasting and praying, and we have a whole week.’  And we do that here as a church too, now and then.  And he says to everybody, he says, ‘There’s probably a hundred thousand people represented by all the ministries here.’  He says, ‘What if we, next year, 2005, all set our calendar’s,’ he said ‘We’ll help communicate it from San Diego, that we all fast and pray at the same time, a couple times throughout the year.’  He says, ‘Wouldn’t that be powerful.’  I said ‘That’s cool.’  And I was struggling, saying, ‘Why did it rain on September 18^th, and what does all that mean? all the fruit that God works through it, and the fruit before…and now listening to Mike, as I shared the story, he says, ‘Why don’t we get 100,000 people next year?’  That’s essentially what he was saying, to fast and pray.  I tell you, man, it’s wild, it’s an adventure to follow the Lord.  But repentance is so powerful, such a beautiful thing.  So the first word that comes, so quiet, barrenness, you know the wilderness is a picture of the spiritual state---but this voice comes out, “Repent, repent.”  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (verse 2).  J. Vernon McGee comments about repentance in these verses, “‘Repent’ is an expression that always has been given to God’s people as a challenge to turn around.  “Repent” in the original Greek is metanoia, meaning “to change your mind.”  You are going in one direction; turn around and go in another direction.  Repentance is primarily, I think, for saved people, that is, for God’s people of any age.  They are the ones who, when they become cold and indifferent, are to turn.  That was the message to the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2 and 3, and it was the message of the Lord Jesus Himself.  Someone might ask whether the unsaved man is supposed to repent.  The unsaved man is told that he is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  That was the message of Paul to the jailor at Philippi (see Acts 16:31).  That old rascal needed to do some repenting; but when an unsaved man believes in Jesus, he is repenting.  Faith means to turn to Christ, and when you turn to Christ, you must also turn from something.  If you don’t turn from something, then you aren’t really turning to Christ.  So repentance is really a part of believing, but the primary message that should be given to the lost today is that they should believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We like to see folk come forward in a service to receive Christ or sign a card signifying that they have made that decision, but the important thing is to trust Christ as your Savior, and if you really turn to Him, you turn from something else [i.e. you turn from sin, which is repenting].” 

What does it mean, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”?

“The kingdom of  heaven is near” is another translation.  “The kingdom of heaven”, what does that mean?---the kingdom of God is at hand.  Now the Jewish person at the time that loved the Word of God, would be thinking more than likely that they’ve been waiting for the Messiah, and they understood God’s promises to David, so the Messiah would come, and establish an earthly kingdom, and rule and reign, which he will, next time, when Jesus returns. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/mkg1.htm to see prophetically what the Jews were waiting for and expecting at the Messiah’s first coming.  When Jesus, Yeshua didn’t come to set up this future coming kingdom, they naturally no longer thought he was the promised Messiah.  This kingdom will come, but at Jesus’ 2^nd coming.]  But in this sense, when John is saying “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,”  he’s not referring to the rule and reign of the physical kingdom, the  Messianic Kingdom on the earth.  He’s referring to the kingdom of heaven in the sense of being within individuals hearts [indwelling them through the Holy Spirit].  You see, Jesus is here, the Savior of the world, and he’s come to bring man into a relationship with God.  And through Christ, this ministry where he’s going to go and die on the cross and be raised to life, I can now have an intimate walk with God, and can have the Spirit of God in my life.  And where the Spirit of God is, you can be sure that the kingdom of heaven is there…Now if I have the Holy Spirit in me, the kingdom of heaven is right here.  It’s very near, it’s in my heart.  I’m in the kingdom of heaven.  [Colossians 1:13, “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son…”]  And of course, Jesus said, and Paul said to the Romans, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of Christ, his kingdom is one of peace, and of joy.  So where the kingdom is, you can be sure right now God on his throne, God around his throne, if we could get in there physically, there is complete peace.  We’ve seen it in the book of Revelation, it’s a place of worship.  And where God is, within that sphere of ruling and reigning, there is complete peace and joy.  And so the kingdom of heaven is near, now as a Christian, it’s in my heart [and mind, cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34], it’s in my life.  So, then with that, the question to you, is there that peace, are you a born-again believer?  And is there truly the peace of God in your life?  Is there the peace, is there the joy?  There should be in your life.  If there isn’t, then it would mean then, that sense of the kingdom of God ruling and reigning isn’t happening in your life.  That means then that you’ve probably drifted, and you’re in something you shouldn’t be, doing something you shouldn’t, or just doing it on your own, not in faith, letting the Spirit of God just overflow your soul and give you the rule of God in your life.  Because you can be sure, regardless of your temperament and personality, the kingdom of heaven is one of peace, and it’s one of joy.  And that’s something we all need and all want, and it comes as I say ‘Jesus, you’re in my heart, you know, I repent, I’ve been doing it on my own…rule and reign, I’m going to yield to you, I’m going to leave this building, and moment by moment I want to do what you want me to do.  I want to think the way you want me to think.  And when I get off course I’ll get right back on track, I want to speak the way you want me to speak, I want to live the way you want me to live.  And I tell you, when that is your heart, the peace of God comes in, the joy of the Lord.  So is there peace?  It’s sad, there are a lot of Christians that don’t have that  peace and joy, and it’s because they’re doing it on their own, they’re drifting out on the waves, it’s not peaceful out there.  You come into the safe harbor of the Lord, man, and there’s true peace there.  [Comment: King and kingdom are synonymous with each other.  You can’t have a king without a kingdom.  Presently Jesus’ kingdom is in heaven, not on earth physically, yet.  Currently, Satan is the ‘ruler of this world’, and this present evil age.  At Jesus’ 2^nd coming Satan is literally dethroned and locked up (along with all the other demons), and Jesus takes over as the King of the whole world (cf. Zechariah 14:9).  J. Vernon McGee asks “Is there a present reality of the kingdom of heaven [on earth]?”  Then he answers, “Yes, there is.  Those who come to Him [Jesus] as Savior and acknowledge Him are translated into the kingdom of His dear Son (Colossian 1:13).  They [believers in Jesus] belong to Him now.  And they have a much more intimate relationship than that of a subject with a king.  Christ is the Bridegroom and believers are part of His bride!  The “kingdom of heaven” is the rule of His heavens over the earth.  That’s not in existence today.  Christ is not reigning over the world now.  There must be something wrong with the thinking of those who insist that the kingdom of heaven is in existence in our day [or any day in the past 6,000 years either].  Christ is not reigning in any form, shape or fashion---except in the hearts of those who have received Him.  However, He is coming someday to establish His kingdom on the earth.  When He does, He will put down rebellion.  Believe me, He is really going to put it down.  The kingdom of heaven was at hand, or was present, in the Person of the King.  That was the only way in which it was present.”

John’s baptism, an acknowledgement of acceptance

Verses 5-6, “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.”  Now in verse 6 we learn, John comes with his message of repentance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, but there’s also a baptism that goes with it.  Now why is there this baptism?  Well the baptism is to those that receive the message.   And it’s an acknowledgement that they’ve accepted the message.  And now as a statement that ‘I have accepted this, there has been repentance in my life, I now am going to be baptized.’  [Comment: Back in the days, when I was a new believer in another church, this church had a term for those who were contemplating baptism and becoming a Christian.  We termed it ‘Being a prospective member, or PM’.  John’s baptism was marking out all those ‘Prospective members’ of the Church Jesus was about to found right after his death and resurrection, on Pentecost 31AD.]    It’s a baptism of repentance, in that sense.  Now it says that when they were baptized by him in the Jordan, verse 6, “and confessing their sins,” of course, initially there’s a confession.  And that happens in revival too in the Church, there’s a transparency, in how people are willing to say what they’ve been guilty of, whatever that may have been.  When there’s humility and transparency, man, there’s a wonderful work going on in the life of an individual, in a family, and in a church.  So they would confess.  A confession isn’t repentance.  Confession is acknowledging that something in one’s life is sin, ‘I acknowledge, God, you say that this is wrong in my life, and right now I confess, yes, this is wrong.’  But repentance is then the change of heart, a change of mind, a change of attitude [and actions, turning around and going in the other direction].  Well, he has this baptism, God’s calling these people to this baptism, and it’s one indicating they’ve accepted the message. 

What water baptism was to the Jew

Well it’s very interesting here too, there’s a little bit more of a statement, and that is, baptism here to the Jew at this point in time, there was baptism, but baptism to the Jew was for the Gentile, for the Gentile neighboring nations, people around that recognized that Jehovah is God, and I want to come underneath him, and so I am going to be baptized, and in a sense become a Jew in that sense.  [Comment:  “God-fearers” were Gentiles attending Jewish synagogues in Asia Minor and the Diaspora who had come almost that far, but probably hadn’t been baptized, and definitely not circumcised.  Most, if not all the Gentiles God called through Paul were called alongside Jews in Jewish synagogues.  They weren’t ordinary pagan Gentiles who had no knowledge of the LORD GOD of Israel.  See http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/index3.htm.] So baptism to the Jew was for the “converts” [i.e. those who were converting to Judaism.]  So that was the place of baptism.  Now you have all these Jews coming out, people from all over Judea, sons of Abraham being baptized.  There is a statement there, in that.  And that is, it was for the Gentile initially to become a Jew, but ‘you guys have been in a place, you’ve been in a dangerous place, drifting out far away from God.’  So in a sense it’s like a conversion.  ‘You’ve been in a place no different from a Gentile as far as being apart from God.’  So John is calling the nation to a new life, to a new life, preparing them, of course for their Messiah, the suffering Messiah, their Savior.  Now, this message, you know the message going out ‘Repent’, the cry going out from the wilderness ‘Repent, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand’, I tell you, that’s the message that many in the Church need to hear.  Tony Perkins was with us last week, he went down to Arkansas the next day, and there in a very large church, Dobson, and just a host of Christian leaders exhorting the Church.  But what were they exhorting?  They were saying similar statements that we say, ‘Now is the time, for such a time is this…’ those types of statements.  But also it’s time for God’s people to repent and to stand, and to pray.  And so, that message going out, may we continue to herald it.  It’s what our nation needs.  Of course, we need godly civil leaders, and we pray for the election.  But more than anything, I mean, we need to cast our vote and be responsible, that’s for sure and be good stewards.  We’re accountable for what we have been given, and we’ve been given the opportunity to vote.  [Comment: some denominations teach that we truly are Ambassadors for Christ, and as Ambassadors, we are not a part of any civil nation on earth, but only live here as representatives of God’s soon-coming Government, and as such, shouldn’t vote.  For such, they must follow their conscience and not vote.  But regardless of whether you do vote or don’t’ vote, I’ve always felt prayer for or against a candidate is far more effective than any one vote.  Besides, who gets elected is ultimately up to God anyway, as Daniel stated.  For those who don’t vote for conscience sake, be sure not to berate them, but give them due respect.]  But all the churches are in need of repentance and turning to the Lord, and making God central in our lives.  Oh, the great need for that, central, #1, full of the Spirit, filled with the joy and peace of God.  It’s so needed in the Church. 

John teaches about the Lord Jesus Christ

“O brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

Verses 7-8, “ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:…”  Now as John is doing this, he sees many religious leaders coming.  And they come out.  Now these guys are pious, they’re traditionalists, the Pharisees.  They’ve got the traditions, they’ve developed traditions.  They believe in the Law, but they also believe there was the Oral Law, and from that they developed the Mishnah.  And the Mishnah was an interpretation of the Old Testament.  But they began to put a lot more weight on that, their tradition.  Of course there’s churches like that today, which put much more weight on the tradition of the ‘church experience’, rather than on the Word of God itself.  And with that they (these Pharisees) created a big system of bondage that was heavy for the people, but yet made them look pretty good on the outside.  So they expected, when they walked into a circle, they would get a pat on the back, they’d get the nice seat, ‘Oh here comes Pharisee George, oh man, Oooh, Pharisee George.’  They expected that type of reception.  The Sadducees didn’t want the Mishnah, they believed in the Old Testament as the written Word of God, but yet somehow they got kind of liberal in their interpretations.  [Comment: there are denominations out there today like this too, dead or dying revivals who haven’t thrown out the Bible per se, but have watered it down with their own liberal interpretations of God’s Word.]  So they no longer believed in the resurrection, they no longer believed in the afterlife or believed in angels, kind of a hopeless deal.  So they were fairly liberal, into wealth and money, financially they controlled the Temple.  But these guys still, same attitude toward themselves as far as ‘We’re the religious elite.’  They came walking out, and what does John do?  Now this guy isn’t a respecter of persons, he’s full of the Holy Spirit.  And as they come, as God shows them, these guys look one way, but their hearts are so far different.  So he rebukes them.  They come, in front of everybody.  He says, ‘You brood of vipers!  Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath that’s to come!?’  Now with that picture there, they’re out in the rocks, the crevices, and they’re out in the desert, and of course, there’s snakes around.  And you hear about it, people out in the wilderness, and they start the fire, they didn’t see any snakes, but now suddenly snakes are around.  And with the heat, the snakes start slithering out of their crevices and rocks to get away from the heat.  So he says “You brood of vipers”, not a compliment, not a pat on the back, not a thing of honor, in the sense that they expect.  ‘Who warned you, who warned you?  ‘You guys’, as he says in verse 8, ‘you need to bear fruit worthy of repentance.’  You know, you’re so far, and so much on the outside, you’re hearts are so far from the Lord, and there isn’t the true love and passion for God, and the joy and the love and the peace.  You need to bear fruit.  Do that!  The real deal, live the life, bear fruit worthy of repentance.’  Of course the point is, if there’s no change, there’s no repentance.  [Comment:  To the Jew, the word “repent” means to turn around and go in the opposite direction.  It was an action word, not an emotional saying that you were sorry for something.]  And the same is true in your life and my life.  I can say over and over before my wife and my children, ‘I repent, I repent’, but if there’s not change, there’s not repentance.  J. Vernon McGee comments, “A great deal is said in the New Testament about fruit bearing.  Fruit bearing is the result of having the right kind of tree.  Only a fruit tree can produce fruit.  He talks here about the axe being laid to the root of the tree, and the reason is that the tree is not bearing fruit.  An apple tree will bear apples, and a plum tree will bear plums.  But when a tree bears thorns, it is not an apple tree, and it must be cut down.  The root and the fruit go together, by the way, and a tree must have the right kind of root to bear the right kind of fruit.  That is exactly what John the Baptist is saying to them here.  He is telling them that the wrong kind of tree is going to be taken down and cast into the fire.”

“bear fruits worthy of repentance”

Verses 9-10, “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”  There was a story of a man, he appealed to the Detroit Police to help him find his wife.  His wife had left him.  But why?  The reason came out in his promise to the wife, which he asked the police to relay to her, ‘Tell her I won’t do it again’, he promised, ‘I will admit, I was making eyes at the lady next door, but I promise I won’t do it again, I won’t even glance at the lady next door.  Tell her, please, please.’  Well one more detail with the story, the husband and wife were the same age, they were 71 years old.  Can you imagine a little 71 year old, ‘Tell my wife, I won’t ever do it again.’  He’s at the police station.  But his heart, he’s saying ‘I admit, I’ve done wrong, I won’t do it again, I won’t even glance.’  And that’s beautiful, man, repentance.  You know many people say they believe in the Lord, but their lives don’t show any reality of repentance.  I was talking to somebody recently, and they were reasoning with somebody they love, that says they know God, yet there’s no desire to come to church, there’s no desire for the things of God.  In fact they get a little irritated with this person, because this person does have a desire for God and they want to talk about God, and they don’t want to talk about God, they’re a little frustrated.  And he was trying to reason, ‘Wait a minute.  How can you say you know the Lord, and yet you don’t desire to be with his people, you don’t desire to talk about him, pray and worship, and read the Word, there’s a problem.  And that’s what he’s saying, “Bear fruits worthy of repentance.” Meaning, if there’s repentance, and Christ is there, and the kingdom of heaven is ruling and reigning in your heart, then it will be clear, the reality of it, the fruit of it.  Well he [John the Baptist] goes a little further, and then he goes right for their religious pride.  He says, “Don’t think to say to yourselves”, ‘you’ve got this false sense of security, dudes.  You’re thinking you’re OK for the wrong reasons.  You say, ‘Hey, we’ve got Abraham, I’m a descendant of Abraham, I’m a Hebrew’, and of coarse God made promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, I mean, they were so blessed, God said “Your descendants, blessed, my people.”  And so this false sense of security, they could just have their own religious system and be hard hearted and brutal with other people and far from God in reality, and he says, ‘Don’t you think because you can say you have Abraham as your father, let me tell you,’ and he points to some rocks and stones, and it’s possible if they’re in the Jordan River at this point outside of Jerusalem, because that is the area, near Jericho where Israel originally crossed into the Promised Land, and you remember when they originally crossed, Joshua, you know they selected the twelve stones there in the river where the water was dried up temporarily, and the twelve stones were placed, stacked up in a heap on the side as a memorial [this was near ancient Gilgal then, if those 12 stones were there].  Maybe they’re there and he points to the 12 stones representing the nations of Israel, the twelve tribes, and the grace of God toward them, and he says, ‘Don’t you think just because you’re a descendant of Abraham, let me tell you, from these very stones God can raise up descendants, it’s not that big of a deal (for God to do). That’s the way you’re thinking, anyway.  What you need is to change your heart.  You have a false sense of security.  But here’s the deal, the ax is laid right now at the very root of the tree.  It’s there.’  And the tree is  representing the nation of Israel [Judah, the house of Judah at this point], and this confidence that they’re in God.  ‘Let me tell you, the ax is right there, and if that tree does not bear good fruit…’  In fact, Jesus even gives a parable of this later, ‘…if that tree does not bear good fruit, it will be cut down and thrown into the fire.’  [And it was historically, see http://www.unityinchrist.com/history2/earlychurch1a.htm to see how that “house of Judah tree” was cut right down by the Roman Empire in 135AD.  Scroll near to the end of that file to the heading Bar Kochba Revolt and read from there on to the end.  After the Jews kept rejecting the Gospel being presented to them by the early Church, the Nazarenes, God had had enough.]  You think because you’re in a place, you’ve got this religious background, you’ve got this baptism when you were little, you have this inheritance, you have this ‘family’, you have all these things around you, and you think that that is it.  You have a false sense of security.  Because those that are saved, those that are the people of God, the people who have repented of their sin and have turned to Jesus and made Jesus their Savior, you can see in their life that Jesus is their Savior and their Lord.  So, no change, then no repentance.  Religious pride, you’ve got a false sense of security.  Man, there’s a lot of people like that, all sorts of people.  Man, you go around this community, all kinds of people you talk to, they have this religious structure around them, and that is their security.  But the Word of God comes out boldly, John the Baptist steps forward from the page and says “False sense of security!”  I tell you, it doesn’t’ mean anything if there is not a life.  Because when the kingdom of heaven moves in, it moves in, and the fruit comes out.  If you’ve got Jesus in your heart ruling and reigning, it’ll bear fruit [and the fruit will last].  So the false security, of course, the danger of fruitlessness.  Luke chapter 13, you know Jesus taught, John 15, very prominently taught that if there is no fruit, what it means in the end if there’s no fruit.  And so, your own life, is there spiritual fruit?  I mean, would your spouse say ‘Yes!  There is change, continual change in their life [of course my spouse didn’t stick around long enough to see that fruit, but left God’s fellowship entirely].  Or your children, do they say the same thing?  You know, when I heard Henry Blackabby on that tape that we were listening to on the Walkman, and he talked about that prayer, I’ve been praying that for my kids ever since I heard that beautiful prayer he says, from the very beginning I prayed for my kids.  I prayed, ‘May I live in such a way before them, that they would look at my life, and they would chose to serve the God that they see me serve, that it would be so attractive to them, there would be no other choice, they’d look and say, ‘Henry, Dad, Mr. Blackabby, man, that’s exciting, serving God.  Why would I think of doing anything else?”  His prayer for his kids when they were very little.  And as he went on to share at that national day of prayer, as he gave that sermon, he said “All my kids today are in full-time service.”  And so I pray that now for my kids.  My prayer is for me, that Lord, I would live in such a way that they would look at my life and go, ‘Wow!’, there couldn’t be anything greater than serving God, couldn’t be anything more exciting, why would I even want to do, why would I want to go and do that when I can serve God?’  I like that prayer.  That’s pretty cool.  But you know, your children, your spouse, your friends, is there fruit in your life, spiritual fruit?  You know, we in our society, because of this political correctness [crap], ‘Don’t judge, don’t judge’, and somebody goes, ‘That’s sin’, ‘Oh don’t judge me, you’re judging me!’  It’s not judging, it’s just the truth, it’s the truth that there’s no fruit, something’s wrong.  ‘Or that fruit, it shouldn’t be on your tree.  That’s not good fruit to be hanging there.  In fact that’s stuff that grows on bad trees.  So why is it on your tree, if you’re really a good tree?’  So, John the Baptist, calling the nation to a new life.  Oh man, is that ever needed in our country, ever so needed in our own lives.  The danger of fruitlessness.  So to remain in that state, and not to change, is to be judged.  That’s the picture, right, to be judged.  To never change from that state, that’s a dangerous state, all sides agree, forget your theology, everybody agrees, if you’re a fruitless tree, you’re in a dangerous place.  [Just look at the nation, the house of Judah in 135AD.]   Well as he goes on, John then says “I baptize you with water unto repentance.”  And there’s more to this conversation, you learn about it in the Gospel of John and other places, where what happens is the religious leaders also send people out to ask John, “John, are you the Messiah?”.  ‘You know, you’re baptizing out here.’  You know, interesting things, ‘Are you the Messiah?’  And his response includes these words and a few other things.  But he makes it very clear, ‘I am not the Messiah, I baptize with water unto repentance.  This is a preparation, I’m here to prepare a people for God, for the coming of the Messiah.’  ‘But there is one who is coming after me who is much mightier than I, whose sandals I’m not worthy to carry.’  Now that’s humility.  Can you say that about anybody?  ‘I’m not worthy to even carry the sandals.  You know, you pick up my sandal, you drop ‘em pretty quick, man, I’ve been wearing them all summer now, and you’d be going, ‘Oh no, Steve’s sandals!’  You’d be like ‘OOOh!, run away!’  But he’s got such a view, and it’s the right view of Christ, of Jesus, Yeshua.  ‘I’m not even worthy to carry his sandals.  Not even worthy to have that role.  You’re thinking that I’m somebody special, listen, I’m just preparing, I’m just pointing to him.’  And of course that’s the way it always should be in our lives, too.  Right?  When God is working, working through your life, man, we should be just pointing right back to Jesus.

The Holy Spirit

Verses 11-12, “‘I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.’”  “John the Baptist spoke plainly about the Holy Spirit.  He preached that there was such a thing as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He taught that it was the special work of the Lord Jesus to give people this baptism…We need to be told that forgiveness of sin is not the only thing necessary for salvation.  There is another thing, and that is the baptizing of our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  There must not only be the work of Christ for us but the work of the Holy Spirit in us…” (excerpted from J.C. Ryle, Matthew, p.14.)  Now we’ll focus on “He will baptize you with his Spirit, and fire.”  John says, ‘Now I have the baptism of water, but there’s a greater baptism, it’s the baptism of the Spirit.’  And then he goes on and adds those words “and fire”.  The baptism of the Spirit, we studied that in Acts, we talked about that.  And you don’t experience the baptism of the Spirit in your life unless Christ is ruling and reigning.  Right?  It’s God, rule and reign, I now submit to you, be my Lord and my Savior, it’s power.  But he’s saying more than just that.  When he says “fire” it’s clear…now some would say, now there are churches that would say “fire, fire, oh, I want the fire, I want the fire, give me the fire.”  And I think it’s OK, depending on how you mean it.  But here, “fire” is not a good thing.  It’s not a good deal, because “fire” here in this verse is a statement of judgment, of purifying.  Now God in the Christian life brings the Holy Spirit into my life, and the Holy Spirit in a sense is a fire in the sense that he’s purifying, he’s sanctifying me.  There’s a work that goes on in my life through the Spirit, God just dealing with me, purifying me.  And it’s not something I want to be asking, ‘More purifying, more purifying Lord.’  I want to live more pure, but I realize that it’s usually like “Ouch, that hurts!”, you know.  I’d like to be there without the process, Lord.  But especially as you see the context of this verse with these religious leaders, he’s talking about a judgment, verse 12, “His winnowing fan.”  The winnowing fan, the fork, when they would thresh the wheat, initially they would step on it, crunch it up, and then as we’ve shown pictures from India, where the gal was throwing up the wheat there, and the wind would blow the chaff away, and the grain falls.  But if you don’t have a breeze, then you have a winnowing fan, which would blow the chaff away, and then falling on the threshing floor would be the grain.  He says “His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor, he’ll gather up his wheat, but he’ll burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (verse 12).  That which is no good, he’ll burn it up.  Now, I know he does that in my own life, and it’s needed, and I thank God for it, but it’s scary when he’s speaking of different groups of people, the chaff.  Psalm chapter 1, he speaks of the wicked, that they’ll just blow away in the wind like chaff.  And when he’s speaking here with the religious leaders, Charles Spurgeon put it this way.  “Thus the forerunner, pointing to the Coming One, and they the people look for one who in the power of the Spirit would scatter to the winds all the vainglory of the learned Sadducees and the boastful Pharisees…”  Just scatter them to the wind, all their vainglory.  “…by proclaiming the spirit of religion in which repentance and faith would far outweigh any external religiousness or exercise.”  Let’s finish up as we have our last few minutes together.  J. Vernon McGee comments, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost [Spirit], and with fire [Matt. 3:11].  John is saying, “I baptize with water.  But He is coming, and when He comes, He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”---that final “and” is already over nineteen hundred years long.  You and I are living in the age of the Holy Spirit.  Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit in this present age [i.e. the Church Age]. He will baptize with fire when He comes the second time, and fire means judgment.  This distinction needs to be made.  Somebody will say, “I thought that on the Day of Pentecost, the believers were baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, because it says that tongues of fire sat upon each of them.”  Oh, my friend, you ought to read Acts 2:2-3 again.  The record is this: “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them” (italics mine).  It wasn’t wind and it wasn’t fire; it was the coming of the Holy Spirit.  But there was something to appeal to the eye-gate and to the ear-gate.  Therefore, when the Holy Spirit came, there was not a fulfillment of the baptism of fire.  Let me repeat that, the baptism of fire will take place at the second coming of Christ.  In the present age of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit comes upon every believer.  Not just some, but every believer is baptized by the Holy Spirit, which means that the believer is identified with the body of Christ; that is, he becomes part of the body of Christ.  This is one of the great truths in the Word of God.  John continues to speak of Christ’s second coming---Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner [barn]; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire [Matt. 3:12].”  That was J. Vernon McGee’s comments about these two verses, 11 and 12 of Matthew 3.

The Baptism of Christ

Verses 13-17, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and are you coming to me?’  But Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’  Then he allowed him.  When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’”  “We have here the account of our Lord Jesus Christ’s baptism.  This was his first step when he entered on his ministry.  When the Jewish priests took up their office they were washed with water (Exodus 29:4), and when our great High Priest begins the great work he came into the world to accomplish he is publicly baptized.  1. The honor of baptism.  An ordinance which the Lord Jesus himself took part in is not to be thought of lightly.  An ordinance to which the great head of the church submitted should always be held in honor in the eyes of professing Christians.  2. The solemnity of Jesus’ baptism.  Such a baptism will never happen again as long as the world stands.  We are told about the presence of all three persons of the blessed Trinity.  God the Son, revealed in the body, is baptized; God the Spirit descends like a dove, and rests upon him; God the Father speaks from heaven with a voice.  In a word, we have the presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit revealed.  We may regard this as a public announcement that the work of Christ was the result of the eternal wills of all three persons of the blessed Trinity.  It was the whole Trinity which, at the beginning of the creation [Elohim], said, “Let us make man” (Genesis 1:26); it was the whole Trinity again which, at the beginning of the Gospel, seemed to say, “Let us save man.”…We read of no voice from heaven before this, except at the giving of the law on Sinai.  Both occasions were of particular importance.  It therefore seemed good to our Father in heaven to mark both with particular honor…” (excerpted from J.C. Ryle, Matthew, pp. 15-17.)  So, Jesus comes down, people are coming from everywhere, from far beyond the region.  Jesus comes from far beyond the region (too), from the Galilee area, Nazareth area to be baptized down there in that area of the Jordan.  But John seeing him, John, this is his cousin.  John certainly knows Jesus, he tries to prevent him, saying, ‘Wait a minute, you want me to baptize you?  Hold on, hold on.  You should baptize me, I shouldn’t be baptizing you.’  Of course, just imagine the one that baptizes Jesus.  You know, I baptized my son a little while ago, man, that was really special.  My grandma a little before that, my sister, that was special.  My son, I could have stayed there a while in the water.  But to baptize Jesus, can you imagine baptizing Jesus---being the one person who had that privilege?  Wow!  He baptized him.  Now what we should note, we may think, and it may be possible that he looks and he understands right from the beginning that this is the Messiah.  Of course, Elizabeth had a certain understanding, it’s possible that he had that understanding.  But when you look at the other Gospels, we find that John said God said to him, ‘I will show you who the Messiah is, he will be the one the Holy Spirit comes upon.’  And when he baptizes him, the Spirit of God comes upon Jesus.  We know from the other Gospels that John actually sees the Spirit of God come upon him, and thus John knows that this is indeed the Christ.  Now before the baptism, does he know he’s the Christ?  He doesn’t know for sure.  But yet he’s saying, ‘You should be baptizing me, hold on there…’  Now here is potentially a statement about the life that Christ lived, that even John knew that this man was, you know, maybe he hasn’t sorted out that he’s the Christ, but he certainly understood that he is unique, this man is a man sold out, this man has lived such an incredibly holy and powerful life.  So, it could very well be indicated that even John was seeing that in his life, showing up in those words.  [Comment: Jesus, Yeshua has lived a sinless life for 30 years!  Boy, try doing that just for one day if you can.]  Well, Jesus says, ‘Hey, this is the right thing to do, it’s fitting to fulfill all righteousness.’  So then with that, John baptizes him.  So why is Jesus baptized?  There’s a few reasons.  One, he’s showing complete submission to the Father.  He’s showing complete submission and full consecration to the Father.  Of course, in doing that, he also identifies with us, all us sinners, sets an example for us.  The Bible says, “Believe and be baptized.”  But we know too, that Jesus, he was faithful to the Law in the sense of all the religious ceremonies, the synagogue worship, Temple tax, the Feasts and all that.  And now God’s calling the people, the Jews, to this baptism of repentance, so he’s faithful to all of what God requires for the people of Israel.  But especially the purpose of the baptism is to point, declares very clearly that ‘This is where I’m going.’  And he’s taken the call, he’s accepting the cup.  Because baptism says “Dead, buried, raised to life.”  When I’m baptized, I identify with the death of Christ, I’m identifying with that, and saying I identify with his burial, and his resurrection.”  That’s what baptism means, it doesn’t save me, but I say “I’m a Christian [or Messianic believer in Yeshua haMeshiach], I’ve died to the old ways to embrace the new.  When you look at Jesus on the cross, you were there with him.  So when Jesus here was being baptized, he is declaring where he’s heading, he heading to the cross.  It’s the beginning of his ministry.  And so this statement, this picture, going to the cross to die for the sin of the world.  Well then with that, it says in another Gospel, you know, it says “he came up immediately from the water [total immersion], behold the heavens were opened”, and another Gospel throws in there “and he prayed, and as he prayed, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God”, Jesus sees the Spirit “coming as”, as in one Gospel, in bodily form “like a dove.”  So he appeared like a dove.  That’s why we have at Calvary Chapel, we have the doves.  Just a representation of the Holy Spirit of God.  We have, “The Spirit of God descending upon him”, and then this voice from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (verse 17b).  Of course, that statement says a lot about the life of Christ too that he’s lived up to this point, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  A few times, as we go on from here, we’ll see God [the Father] speak to Jesus directly from heaven, speaking before the people, of course the baptism the first time.  There’s three times. Next time will be John chapter 12, verse 28, the second time he’s on the way to the cross, a voice comes from heaven, God speaks to the Son.  And then the other time is at the transfiguration.  And we’ll get to that.  So, I like the picture, it’s a beautiful picture.  Christ, he’s my example, full submission to the Father.  He doesn’t need to repent.  He’s lived a sinless life.  But, fully submissive, there’s a sense of, a picture of humility.  And with that full submission, you see the Spirit, so the Spirit of God is upon him, it’s the power of God.  And then the smile of God, the Father saying ‘Awh, well pleased.’  The smile of God, you know, Dr. Lloyd-Jones, I read a book about his life, this great preacher of the twentieth century, just died, but great preacher, considered the Spurgeon of the 20^th century.  He used to say “I desire the smile of God upon my life”, meaning I’ve lived a life and am just yielded so that I know that the Spirit of God is upon me.  The smile, the blessing of God.  Of course, we have the Spirit in us by the grace of God, it’s by faith that we experience the power of the Holy Spirit.  But yet the life, the life of faith is a life that’s yielded, submitted and consecrated to the Lord.  And so a beautiful picture, and an example to you and I.  Well, we’ve seen the need for repentance, and if there’s no change, there’s no repentance.  And may we not be caught up into some false religious security…may we come and repent, and make Jesus the Lord and Savior of our life.  There is a danger, a great danger and warning throughout the Bible, if I am not bearing spiritual fruit, good fruit, there’s a danger, there’s a warning.  Well, we come, we receive the Lord, we have the Spirit of God in us, and there’s this wonderful experience of the baptism, the overflow of the Spirit.  Yes, the Spirit works in me, and purifies me, but there’s also this work of the Lord, man, where he deals with those that are his, and he also deals with the wicked.  And yet this final example, of Christ, humility, smile of God.  Let’s close, conclude in prayer…[transcript of a connective expository sermon given on Matthew 3:1-17, given somewhere in New England.]  Again, J. Vernon McGee comments, “…Jesus is identifying Himself completely with sinful mankind.  Isaiah had prophesied that He would be numbered with the transgressors (see Isa. 53:12).  Here is a King who identifies Himself with His subjects.  Actually, baptism means identification, and I believe identification was the primary purpose for the baptism of the Lord Jesus…There was a second reason Jesus was baptized.  Water baptism is symbolic of death.  His death was a baptism.  You remember that He said to James and John when they wanted to be seated on His right hand and on His left hand in the kingdom, “Ye know not what ye ask.  Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” (Matt. 20:22).  You see, Christ’s death was a baptism.  He entered into death for you and for me.  There is a third reason for the baptism of Jesus.  At this time He was set aside for His office of priest…”[and that would be  as our high priest in heaven]. 

[All quotes of J. Vernon McGee taken from “THRU THE BIBLE with J. Vernon McGee, MATTHEW through ROMANS”, pp. 18-20.]