Don't turn with me to Luke chapter
3. If you're not still there, let's
look into this for a little while. While you're there or turning
there, let me say a couple of things. Vicki and I will be out
of town next Sunday, a week from today. I believe it's Easter
Sunday, isn't it? And we'll be In West Virginia where Pastor
Marvin Stoniker pastors and is having a conference this weekend.
I'll be there and Brother Bruce Crabtree will be there. Pray
for us as we travel and preach and worship there. I'll pray
for you. Brother Matt Vincent will be
here, aka the Kettle Corn Man. one of the kettle corn men now.
And I appreciate him being willing to come and trust him to preach
the truth to you. He's a dear brother and good friend to me. In chapter
three here, John is, of course, Still preaching
to this crowd, he's speaking to these ones who have come to him to be baptized. And as we've seen, he didn't
baptize all of them. He did baptize some. And it says here in verse 15,
you know, we've seen several different types of people. He spoke with the soldiers and
he said a certain thing to them. He spoke with the religious Jews.
He said a certain thing to them, and we'll go over that again
in a minute, but I want to show this right off in verse 15. This
is a whole other group of people that he's talking to. As the people were in expectation,
here's another group of people that says, he said, I baptize
you. It looks like these are the ones
that he did baptize. And they were in expectation.
It says, literally, they looked on with hope. They heard John's message. They
heard his rebuke of the Pharisees, the religious Jews. These saw
what he did, saw what manner of a man he was. And what do you mean by that?
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ said that no man has ever been born
of a woman that was greater than John. I would say if you're the guy
that the Lord says that about, you probably can't hide that. And we've seen before what made
him great. All he really did was speak of Christ. It says
of him everything that he said concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
was true. That's great isn't it? That's
great. Not in the eyes of the world
was he great, but according to the Lord he was great. You can't
hide that. And they saw who he was. They
saw his authority. He spoke with authority. What he said was verifiably
true from the scripture. They knew of his miraculous birth
too. Think about this. They were fascinated
by John. They attended unto him with hope.
That's what that word expectation is. And this is, as I said, yet a
fifth group of people mentioned in this text. You have the religious
Jews to which John said, in effect, quit trusting your religion.
Isn't that what he said? Quit saying Abraham is my father.
Quit saying I'm a Jew. Quit saying, as Paul did, I'm
a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee. And as he did, count all that
but lost, but done. That you might win Christ. Quit
trusting your religion. And then there was the General
Assembly, just called the People, to which he said, and I said,
what should we do? What kind of, what works would
be worthy of repentance? Care about other people. Quit
being selfish. If you have something somebody
needs, give it to them. Be merciful and kind and good
indeed. Not just in, you know, being
a well-wisher. Do something about it. Then there were the publicans,
that's the tax collectors as we saw, to which he said stop
cheating people. He said to people, generally
what he was saying to people was quit being what you are.
You've got to change. That's what repentance is. It's
a change of mind and heart. What is our mind by nature? We're selfish. Our mind is all
about ourselves. We're promoting ourselves. We're
pampering ourselves. That's got to change. You've
got to be a new you, doesn't it? You're a tax collector and
what characterizes you is cheating everybody out of their hard-earned
money. You've got to be something else. You can't be that no more. There were the soldiers who,
you know, they used their authority and they were able to intimidate
people. He said, quit that, quit using
your authority to intimidate and to falsely accuse and to
manipulate people for your own gain. Be content with just earning
your wages and quit trying to supplement that by manipulating
people, by imposing your authority for gain. Now here are some people,
a group among the crowd, who's looking to John with hope in
their hearts. Now they were in error about
something very important. They thought John was the Christ.
That's a problem. That's a problem, isn't it? But
think about it. Why did they think that? Well,
miraculous birth. Elizabeth was described as barren
and well stricken in years. In so much that when the angel
told her husband Zechariah that she would have a child, he believed
not because of that. She and I are old. How's that
going to happen? He believed not. They thought maybe he was the
Christ because he preached with great authority. He called the
religious big shots now, the ones that everybody respected
and were kind of scared of, you know. People, you know, look
at the Pope like he's, you know, don't dare even look at him wrong,
you know. John said, you're a generation
of snakes. That's in verse 7 of our text.
We didn't talk much about that when we went through that part,
but that's what he said, you generation of vipers. Who hath
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Is that why you're here?
Because you're afraid of God's wrath upon you and your sinfulness?
Or are you just being religious like you've always been? He preached That God would cut
them down like a barren tree. Bold message now. God's gonna
cut you down. Not smile, God loves you. God's
gonna cut you down and throw you in hell. That was his message.
Because you believe not on him. You trust in your religion. He
preached unto them the kingdom. That there is a king on a throne
and you will bow or you will burn. He preached unto them repentance
toward God. You've got to quit being what
you are. The leopard don't change his own
spots now. That's the work of God. But it's
still got to happen. It's got to happen. You can't
be who you are and escape God's wrath. He preached unto them Christ
the Lamb of God. I know I quote this a lot, but
think of the monumental thing that John said when he pointed
to the Lord Jesus, to Jesus of Nazareth and said, behold, there
is God's lamb that takes sin away. The whole Old Testament, think
of all of the blood of lambs and bulls and goats that was
shed in the Old Testament, thousands. Just at the dedication of the
temple there were thousands of animals. Now that one day, every
morning thousands of animals were slain, an ocean of blood
was shed. And Paul said, all of that blood
together cannot take away a single sin. But this man, this Jesus of Nazareth,
this Son of God, this Lamb of God, he hath perfected forever
everyone that he sanctified with his blood. All of the blood of
all the bulls and goats and lambs and every ounce of blood, every
drop of blood that was ever shed was pointing to Christ, the Lamb
of God. All of that was doing what John
did. There's God's Lamb. There's how sins are taken away.
There's how sins are remitted. And this is what he preached.
You've got to change your mind about how sins are remitted.
There's God's Lamb. But he didn't say that until
later. They thought, now he must be, that he preached with authority and boldness, without fear of
men. He called upon them to renounce
their Jewish religion that they held so dear. He preached unto
them fleeing the wrath to come, and how sins are remitted, and
how it ain't like you think now. That's got to change. His answers
to their questions were wise and piercing. He was undoubtedly
a great man. He was evidently a great man,
a great preacher, and though he was uneducated by the world
standards, how can he preach with the authority he does? He
didn't go to the colleges we went to. John was like that. wise and sharp and bold, though
he didn't go to their colleges. And he was administering this
new ordinance of baptism that they'd never seen before. That
took some authority, didn't it? It's no great wonder that they
thought maybe he was the Lord. Now, misidentifying the Messiah
is a pretty grave error. But though they were wrong about
this, think about their mindset now. Though they were wrong about
who the Christ was, they were looking with hope in the Christ. Were they not? They thought,
is this Him? They were looking with expectation.
They were waiting like Simeon, it says in chapter 2 of this
same context. Simeon was waiting for the consolation
of Israel. That's the same word here. I
believe that's who these were. They were the ones among that
crowd that thought, here's the Christ, and they were excited
about Him. Even though they were wrong about who He was, the thought
that the Christ had come, God's Christ is here among us, that
was exciting to them. That's a good thing. What John said to them leads
us to think that like Simeon in the previous chapter, these
were ones who had been looking for the Messiah. And John very quickly and very
plainly, very simply, very powerfully set them straight about who that
was. Who the Messiah really is. They
didn't know yet who Christ was, but they were interested. They
were looking on and listening with expectation. And so John
told them. They were interested in who the
Christ is. And so John told them who he is. Verse 16. John answered, saying
unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water. Oh, but that's
not, that's not your hope. That's not salvation. That's
not how sins are remitted. One mightier than I cometh. The
lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. Now he's talking to these people
that were interested, they were looking on with expectation,
with hope. Is this the Christ? That mattered
to them. They were excited about the idea
that God perhaps has sent his son. Maybe this is him. He told them who the Christ truly
is. But it says he's also saying
unto them all. He's including everybody in his
answer to them. Because of what he said we know
that. He said he's going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with
fire. Now keep it in mind his message
all this time. What he's saying is, his whole
message, think about this, he's saying do you need remission
of sins? Are you looking to escape the wrath to come? All I can
do is dunk you in the water, but there's somebody coming.
There's one that cometh after me who is preferred before me,
it says in another place. All I can do is immerse you in
water, but the one in whose name I baptize, he can immerse you
in his Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Have you
ever thought about that? What does it mean to be baptized? in the
Holy Spirit? Well, we know some things from
God's Word about the Holy Spirit of God. To be immersed in His
Spirit. What is the Spirit? Who is He
and what is His work? The Holy Spirit gives life to
dead sinners. The Lord told Nicodemus in John
chapter 3 that unless and until the Holy Spirit of God Who goes
where he pleases, by the way, like the wind that blows wherever
it wants to, and you can't control it. You can't even tell where
it came from or where it will go, much less influence where
it'll go. But just like that, so it is
with everyone that's born of the Spirit. But the Holy Spirit
must come and unless and until He does come and give you a new
birth from above. That's what born again means.
It means born from above. And that happens when the Holy
Spirit goes where He pleases and gives new life from God.
He said unless and until that happens you can't see God's kingdom
and you can't enter God's kingdom. You think about that. Now what's
He saying? This one coming after me will
immerse you in the one that will enable you to see the
kingdom of God. What was John's message? He preached the kingdom of God.
You want to see what I'm talking about? He's going to have to
do that for you. He does it by his regenerating
Holy Spirit. You'll see and you'll enter the
kingdom of God when he does this for you, when he baptizes you.
Because he doesn't just use water. John preached the kingdom of
God, but the Holy Ghost reveals the kingdom of God and ushers
sinners into the kingdom of God. Isn't that what he said to Nicodemus?
If the Holy Spirit gives you new life, you'll see it and you'll
enter in. That's what he does. So you see
the significance of what he's saying to this group. The Holy Spirit gives sinners
life. You know what else he does? He
reveals Christ. That's how he gives life. He
reveals the Son of God. That's always what he does. The
Lord said in John 16, the Holy Spirit does not speak of himself.
He will take the things of mine and show them to you. You hear a preacher that's always
talking about the Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost this and Holy Ghost
that. He doesn't have the Holy Spirit. Because you know what
the Holy Spirit does? He speaks of Christ. The Holy
Spirit doesn't talk about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
reveals the Son of God who alone can take away sin. The Holy Spirit seals sinners. Think about this now. Ephesians
4.30, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed
unto the day of redemption. You're sealed by the Spirit of
God. The Spirit in whom Christ will immerse you. He seals sinners. What does that mean? To seal
means a couple of different things. And they're both true of the
Holy Spirit. Concerning us, it means to seal up. or preserve
and protect, which no doubt the Spirit of God is to us and does
for us. He seals us up. It's God's Spirit
within us and His workings for us. Because of Him in us and
for us, we can't be hurt. We can't be touched. We can't
be destroyed, especially, but not even harmed. Not one hair
of our head will fall to the ground. No weapon formed against
you will prosper. The plague shall not come nigh
to you, though they have fallen all around you from it. Not even
a dog can move its tongue against you, spiritually speaking, not
just talk about protecting you physically. He may or may not
do that. He may use physical harm to bless
us. But spiritually speaking, we
are safe, we are sealed up, we are protected. But to seal also
means to mark, as with an insignia. And the reason it came to mean
that, because it kind of means the same thing to seal up, but
the way that you seal up a letter, so that nobody can change it,
if you're delivering a message to somebody and you want that
message to get to them exactly like you sent it, you seal it.
But the way they did that was with an insignia. A distinguishing
mark. And so that's a seal also. A
distinctive impress which identified and gave authority and authenticity
to a thing or a person which possessed that seal. This is
the Holy Spirit to us also now. We are identified and authenticated
as the children of the King. By His Holy Spirit in us and
in that He said what? By their fruits you'll know them.
What fruits? The fruit of the Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit
that we bear. And so it's by the Holy Spirit and His working
in us and through us that we are identified, that we are unique
in this world. His seal is upon us. And the
Holy Spirit is that seal. We're certified as ambassadors
of the King also by His Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Well, His ambassadors bear His
message. And only by the Holy Spirit of God who takes the things
of Christ and reveals them to sinners can we be known to be
true messengers of King Jesus. That's what His messengers do.
They tell about Him. How do they do that? The Holy
Spirit. takes the things of Christ and
reveals them. I can talk all day long and not
do you any good, but if he speaks through his messenger, by his
Holy Spirit, you'll see the Lord. You'll see him. You'll hear his
voice and follow him. In other words, if Christ is
revealed to you, You learn of Him and you see Him to be who
He said He is, the sinner's only hope. Come to Me and I'll give
you rest. He that believeth on Me shall not be condemned. I
am the door. I am access to God. I am the
bread. You see Him to be the sinner's
only hope and His precious blood to be the sin offering, the lamb
that takes away sin, the sin offering that God will accept.
The blood of bulls and goats isn't going to cut it. They just
picture Him. They point to Him. Then the person who preaches
Him faithfully and truthfully is sent from God. Because only His Spirit can reveal
His Son. When the Holy Spirit uses a sinner
to teach another sinner the truth of Christ, that is the Holy Spirit
of God setting His seal. to the messenger and the message. When a believer loves the Lord
Jesus Christ and loves his people, you know what that's a sign of?
The fruit of the Spirit is love, not the fruit of your heart.
That fruit doesn't grow in your heart by nature. That's the fruit
of the Spirit. So when a believer truly loves
Christ and displays that, loves Him indeed and His people, when he's at peace with God through
Christ alone, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, when
he rejoices in Christ alone, when he's at peace with God through
Christ alone, when he's longsuffering and kind to others, he is bearing
the fruit of the Spirit and is therefore displaying the insignia
of God unto men. The Lord said, herein is my father
glorified that you bear much fruit. And that's the spirit of God
which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. That's how men will know there's
God's seal. They're gods. Because that fruit, that glorifies God, not the flesh. So what John is saying here is
that water baptism, it's a symbol, it's an important one. It's a profession of faith in
Christ, and that's important, but it is just a profession. When Vicki and I got married,
we had a ceremony. Does our love depend upon that
ceremony? Now we loved each other before that and we've loved each
other since then. I kind of like to think that
she still loves me. I hope so. I still love her.
Now that ceremony was important to us. But that's not our relationship. That's not our love. It's not the thing itself. It's
a picture of it. But it's an important one. I
want everybody to know I loved her. And that I'm hers. And so we had that ceremony.
That's what baptism is. It's just a ceremony, but it's
kind of an important one, isn't it? That's an understatement.
It's a real important one. But he's saying, I can do that,
I can administer that by his grace, by his direction, by his
wisdom, in his providence, I can immerse you in water, but salvation
Is Christ himself immersing you in the spirit of life? I want
to show you this from the scripture and it would take me three hours
to do it if we looked at every one of these. The scripture has
a lot to say about the spirit of God and what it is to you
if you're his, if you're a believer. I'm going to give you the references
so you can write them down if you want to look at it and study
it some on your own. But what John is saying is that
water baptism is just a profession of faith in Christ. Salvation
is Christ himself immersing you in the Spirit of Life, Romans
8.2. He's called the Spirit of Life.
In the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation, Ephesians 1.17. The Holy Spirit
of Promise, Ephesians 1.13. The Spirit of the Father which
speaketh in his people. He said you don't have to worry
about what you're going to say in Matthew 10 20. The Holy Spirit of my Father
will speak in you. The Spirit which gives us sight
and entrance into the Kingdom of God. We already talked about
that from John chapter 3. This thing of being immersed
in the Spirit is kind of a big deal, wouldn't you say? He's
the spirit who enables you to see what we preach, the kingdom
of God, and to enter into that kingdom. John chapter 3, the
spirit which continually satisfies the thirsty soul. He said that
my spirit will be like a well of water springing up within
you. You'll never thirst again because
he'll always... John 7, 39. Oh, that's beautiful,
isn't it? He's the Spirit that gives utterance
to those who testify of Christ, Acts 2.4. Is that you? Is that me? Have you ever been
a testimony, a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ? The Holy Spirit
will have to give you utterance, Acts 2.4. The Spirit who tells
the people of God where to go and what to do, Acts 8.29. The Spirit which does not suffer
us to go where we should not go, Acts 16, 7. Are you glad
to be immersed in the Spirit of God? He'll not suffer you to go where
you shouldn't go. The Spirit after whom believers
walk, Romans 8. We walk not after the flea, but
after the Spirit, Romans 8, 2. You're never free from Him. You're
never free from Him. Your whole walk, you're immersed
in Him. Isn't that good? Aren't you glad?
The Spirit that dwells in us, Romans 8 and 9. The Spirit that
leads us, showing us that we are the sons of God, Romans 8
and 14. The Spirit of adoption, whereby
we cry, Father, Father. Romans 8.15 The Spirit that bears
witness with our spirit that we're God's children. Are you
glad to know that you're a child of God? Thank God for His Holy
Spirit. Romans 8.16 Romans 8 says a lot
about the Spirit. The Spirit which helpeth our
infirmities and makes intercession for us. You know why he does
that? Because we don't know how to
pray. I like that one. Romans 8, 26. The spirit that reveals to us
the deep things of God. 1 Corinthians 2, 10. The Spirit by whom we are given
various gifts with which to serve our Master, 1 Corinthians 12.
The Spirit which is the earnest of our inheritance. If God gave
us His Holy Spirit, that's just a little taste of what's coming,
isn't it? It must be wonderful. If the earnest is this wonderful.
2 Corinthians 5, 5. The spirit
whose fruit is everything good. Now you think about that, the
word fruit there, that's an analogy. The fruit of the spirit is what
we do, how we act, our motives. It's everything good. Galatians 5.22 The Spirit of
Grace Hebrews 10.29 The Spirit of Grace The Sanctifying Spirit
1 Peter 1.2 We are set apart unto God by His Spirit The Spirit
Revelation 22.17 that says Come to Christ The water of life. The Spirit
says come. The bride says come. And everybody
who hears them, you say come. The Spirit of God who says come
to the Lord Jesus Christ. How wonderful. You know something? The Lord Jesus baptizes His people
in the Spirit that says Come to Christ. And you know something?
He's still saying that to me. He's still saying that to me.
Come to Christ. Quit leaning on your flesh. Quit
looking to yourself. Come to Christ. He's still saying
that. Thank God He's still speaking that to my heart. And with fire. Some will be immersed in fire. Look at the next verse, verse
17 in our text. We'll close. Whose fan is in
his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather
the weed into his garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire
unquenchable. Now some say that this baptizing
with fire is talking about when the Lord baptized The disciples
with the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts that there were tongues
of fire that came down upon them. Verse 17 tells us that's not
what he's talking about here. He's talking about immersing
you in fire. The chaff he will burn with fire
unquenchable. That kind of makes it clear,
doesn't it, what he's talking about. Some will be immersed
in the Holy Spirit of God who is so much to us. He's life. He's our walk. He's our fruit. He's what we
do. He's everything. He's our guide. Oh, thank God for his spirit.
The sun will be immersed in fire. What do you mean by that, John?
Well, he's going to gather his wheat into his garden. That's
his fruit. That's what he delights in. That's
the outcome of him having a world to begin with. Why does he have
a world? Because he has a people. Why do you have a garden? Because
you want some fruit. This is what he delights in.
But then the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. Our Lord
is pictured as a great winower. And the idea is one of separation. That's what a winnower does.
He winnows. He separates wheat from chaff. There's a difference.
He did this all through his ministry, didn't he? He said, who do men
say that I am? But who do you say I am? He made a separation. It says in the book of Acts there
was a division among the people. Why? Because of him. He'd been
separating from the start and he's going to separate finally
and eternally. one of these days and he's pictured
as a great we've already seen in the same context of this that
there are two kinds of trees good trees that bear good fruit
that shows that they have repented that they're not what they were
that they've changed by the grace of God and bad trees unfruitful
trees which are cut down and burned here the same thing is
taught with a different picture wheat and chaff good tree bad
tree The Lord is the Lord of the harvest. He is the husbandman. And this
is pictured all through the New Testament. Whether you're talking
about our Lord's picture of good and bad trees, wheat and chaff,
the vineyard spoken of in Matthew 21, all these pictures show and
say clearly that God is the husbandman. And that word means literally
land worker. He's the one doing the work in
this thing. He's the one that reaps the outcome. He's the one that decides. He's
the one that separates. He's the owner. He's the disposer. He's the beneficiary. The glory
is His. Matthew chapter 13. Let's read
these. I've got a little bit of time. I don't want to Matthew 13, 24. Let me just read
these because just the bare word of God is so instructive in these
parables. Matthew 13, 24. Another parable put he forth
unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man
which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his
enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Now I want you to think about something while we read this
parable. Think about what this world's religion says. That everybody's
the same in the sight of God. He's trying to save everybody.
He wants to save everybody. He will save everybody if you'll
just let him do it. We're all equal in the eye. We're
all the children of God. Think about that and contrast
that with this parable. The kingdom of heaven. It is
like unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. That's God
sowing his people. His field is the world. We're
going to see that. But while men slept, his enemy came and
sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade
was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares
also. So the servants of the householder
came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed
in that field? From whence then hath it tares?
He said unto them, an enemy hath done this. That's what happened
in the garden. Bad seed was sown, wasn't it?
And it grew. But the Lord has sown some good
seed. The seed are those who have the faith of Abraham. They
are Christ's. They are the seed. The seed is Christ and it's all
those who are His. So they said, why does it have
tares? An enemy hath done this. Verse
28, the middle part, the servant said unto him, wilt thou then
that we go and gather them up? And he said, no, no, don't do
that. That's not our business, is it? We don't know the difference.
He said, in another place, you'll tear up the wheat too. You don't
know wheat from tares, but he does. And so he'll give direction on
that. He'll send his angels to do that, which can't mess up.
They just do his bidding, nothing else. He tells them who to pull
up and who to gather. No, lest while you gather up
the tares, you root up also the wheat with them, let both grow
together until the harvest. This is what John is talking
about. The harvest. The difference that's made. He
made a difference from the start, didn't he? He said bad trees,
God's going to cut you down. But in the end, it's going to
be final, isn't it? Let both grow together until
the harvest, and in the time of harvest, I will say to the
reapers, gather you together first the tares, and bind them
in bundles to burn them. But gather the wheat into my
barn. Jump down to verse 36, where
he gives them the, he explains the parable to them more clearly.
Then Jesus sent the multitude away, And went into the house,
and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable
of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them,
He that soweth the good seed is the son of man. That's the
Lord Jesus Christ, the one that's speaking to them. The field is the world. You see
why? He said, For God so loved the world
that he gave his own. This is God's garden. He loves
his garden. I love my garden. I don't love
the weeds, but I love my garden. This is his world. This is his
garden. This is where he has his people and saves them, redeems
them, and delights in them. The field is the world. The good seed are the children
of the kingdom that he planted. He wasn't waiting to see who's
who. He planted the children of the kingdom, and Satan planted
tares. Not without God's providence
and causing it. God's the first cause of everything.
But there's two different kinds of seed here. There's wheat,
and there's tares. The children are the good seed
of the children, but the tares are the children of the wicked
one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil, the harvest is
the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore
the terrors are gathered and burn in the fire, so shall it
be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth
his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things
that offend and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them... By the way, he says to them,
I never knew you. I never loved you. I wasn't trying to save you.
God's purpose from the start is to tear them up and burn them.
In verse 42, And shall cast them
into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their father. You see what we've been talking
about? Who's going to enter the kingdom? The good seed. The children of the kingdom.
Who God planted from the start. They are who they are because
he made them who they are. Wheat doesn't turn itself into
weeds. It just is. God makes wheat. That's where
wheat comes from. Who hath ears to hear? Let him
hear. Religion pictures this whole
thing as some kind of a crapshoot. Let's see what comes up. Let's
roll the dice. That God loves and wants to save
everybody but leaves it up to all men to choose by their own
will whether to be saved or not. God's word says on the other
hand that God plants good seed by his son in this world. God
so loved the world and causes them to flourish and bear fruit.
And when it's all said and done, they're going to shine forth
as the sun. Who? The ones he planted. And that those planted by Satan,
in other words, those who fell by Satan's lies and sinned in
the garden and stayed that way, never became a new them, a new
nature, never were born again. That good seed was never planted
in their hearts. Their heart was never good ground,
according to another parable our Lord told. It was stony ground
or ground with tears and thorns in it. They were never created in righteousness
and true holiness in Christ Jesus. Those ones are cut down and burned. God makes the land. He made the
earth. He makes the field. He owns the
field. God makes the good seed. God
owns the good seed. God plants the good seed. God
makes the ground, good ground. He works it. He's a land worker.
It took the finished work of Christ to bring this fruit forth. The greatest work ever done.
God gives life to the seed. God causes the seed to bear fruit. It is the fruit of his spirit
that they bear. God allows Satan to plant tares
among the wheat because you really think God is blindsided by that? God allows the tares and the
wheat to grow together for a time and then God separates the two.
I can't tell the difference to be honest with you. I have some
idea about it. But God has always known the
wheat. And always known who the tares
were. He said of Judas Iscariot, there's
one among you who was a devil from the beginning. He didn't
become a devil the night he betrayed our Lord. He always was a devil,
the Lord said. He's always been a terror. There was never any universal
brotherhood of man. There was never any homogeny
or sameness of men in the mind and heart of God. He does not
separate them physically until the end, but in God's mind and
heart there's always been wheat, and there's always been terrors.
Wheat doesn't decide to be wheat. God makes it wheat. God's not
waiting to see who's wheat and who's chaff. He planted the wheat to begin
with. And he will thoroughly purge his floor. He will thoroughly
purge his floor. In other words, not one grain
of wheat will be lost and not one speck of chaff will remain. He's very thorough. The Lord
Jesus Christ said, of all that you've given me, I'll lose nothing.
What John is saying, just generally speaking, is that not me, but
Christ. I'm not Him. But let me tell
you about Him. Not what I'm doing. Not this
baptism with water, though the Lord has sent me to do this.
It's an important symbol. But that's not salvation. What
He will do is salvation. His baptism is salvation. His immersing of you in Himself. His salvation. I'm not worthy
to untie His shoes for Him. I'm just immersing people in
water. He is the Son of God, the Lamb of God, the Bridegroom,
the One who determines who lives and who dies. The One who has
decided from the beginning, making them from the beginning, wheat
or tares, and has decided thereby who will be gathered and who
will be burned. And John's message is that look
to Him, don't look at me. They were saying, don't look
at me, look to Him. Listen to Him, bow to Him, believe
on Him. He's my dear. He's able to do
what we can't. And when he does, you will live. He'll be a constant source of
satisfaction for you, a river of water springing up within
you. He'll guide you where you ought to go. He'll say to you
every moment, come to Christ. He'll show you who I am and say,
come. Thank God for him. We're still
saying that by God's grace.