Turn back to Matthew chapter
3. I'm just about to get over this. And Vicki's about to get over
her knee surgery. She had knee surgery. So she
needs to hurry up and get well. Give me my easy chair back. We call it our sick chair. If
I'm sick, I can get it. If she's sick, she gets it. And
she's been in it now all week. So, I've been a little distressed. Okay. Matthew chapter 3. God's preacher. That's why I
entitled this. God's preacher. John the Baptist,
the forerunner of Christ. And you know, in a sense, every
preacher, in a sense, is a forerunner of Christ. If you have his preacher,
God sends you his preacher, he's going to be there. He's going
to be there. Now, in the close of chapter
2, Christ, the child, when he was a child, was taken to Nazareth
to live. Because Herod died and Archelaus
reigned in his stead. He was his son and he was no
improvement over Herod. He was just as wicked as his
father. So the angel warned Joseph to take him over into the parts
of the regions of Galilee and they ended up in Nazareth. And that was no accident. There's
no accidents, is there? There's no accidents with God. You know, a person might die
in an accident. I've said this many a times.
But it won't be any accident that they died. God gives life and God takes
life. There was no accident. that his
son ended up in Nazareth, that old town where nobody wanted
to live, but the people couldn't afford to live anywhere else.
They were the ones that lived in Nazareth. But God sent his
son there. That's where he sent his son.
But he sent him there to fulfill the Scripture, because he said
he shall be called a Nazarene. Everything about our Lord was
the fulfilling of Scripture. As he said to John, it becomes
us to fulfill all righteousness. He left no T uncrossed, no I
undotted. He fulfilled all righteousness. Everything he did, he did in
fulfilling all righteousness for us. For us. But for the next 28 years, we
don't hear anything. except one time when he's 12
years old in the temple. He's disputing with the scribes
and the Pharisees. They're dumbfounded by his wisdom. They just cannot stand before
his wisdom. But that's the only time we hear
of him or about him for the next 28 years. Just quiet. Just quiet. And even though we
don't know all that went on during that time. We do know this, that
he grew up before the Lord. It says over in Isaiah 53, he
shall grow up before the Lord. For 30 years, he was observed
and scrutinized by the Lord. For 30 years, He lived in this cesspool of
depravity. Then when he came to be baptized
here, when he came into his public ministry, a voice from heaven
cried, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. If
he had had one spot of sin in him, God would not have said
that. All those years living among
us, he was still the spotless, sinless Lamb of God. I thought
that's amazing. That's amazing. Where can you
go and not get dirty? Where can you go, any place in
this world, or be around a group of people, people you work with
for years and years, and not get dirty? Not get some of that
on you. And yet, after 30 years of living
among us, he knew no sin. It could be said of him, he knew
no sin. Even though, even though he was
made a sacrifice for our sins, he was made to be sin, yet he
knew no sin. You figure it out. You figure
that out. That's such a mystery. But also
know this, he experienced In all those years, he experienced
what we experience. He knows what it was like to
be a young child. He knows what it was like to
be a teenager. He went through those teenage years. He knows where we live. He knows what
we go through. He experienced what we experienced.
He was tempted in all points as we are, it says, yet without
sin. Without sin. But now is the appointed
time. Now it is the appointed time
for the King, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, it's His time
now to be revealed. It's His time now to enter upon
His public ministry. But before He does this, God
sends a forerunner. God sends a forerunner, a herald.
He sends a forerunner to tell them that the King has come. The Messiah, whom we have long
waited for, has come. God sends a forerunner. He didn't
sneak up on them. God doesn't sneak up on people.
He sent a man, and John the Baptist was a, I'm sure he was a very
boisterous, out there kind of man, and he cried. He's come. Behold the Lamb of God, which
takes away the sin of the world. This is He. This is the one I've
been speaking of. He pointed him out directly. He came and he proclaimed Christ,
the one prophesied of in Malachi 3, the forerunner. He must come
first because the Scripture must be fulfilled. You know, Matthew
says that more than any of the other Gospels. He quotes from
the Old Testament and the fulfillment of Scriptures more than any of
the other Gospels. The scripture must be fulfilled.
And here's the forerunner. Here's the fulfilling of that
scripture in Malachi 3.1. And Matthew is telling this gospel
here to whoever will hear it. You know, there in Jerusalem,
they read this. They read his gospel. He said
this is the one. This is the Messiah. And this
is the forerunner that was prophesied that would come and proclaim
him. Now it says, In those days came John the Baptist. preaching
in the wilderness of Judea. Every preacher has his appointed
time. Every preacher has his appointed
time, his appointed place, and the people to preach to. God has appointed him to preach
to. And now is John's time. It's his time. And he came preaching
in the wilderness. Now, this does not mean that
he preach to trees and animals. That doesn't mean that at all. He's not out there preaching
to nobody. There were six cities out in the wilderness. You can
find that in the Old Testament. There were six cities scattered
throughout what they called the wilderness. And John went preaching
to those different places, to those different people. He went
preaching out there in the wilderness. He was not sent to the place
of organized religion. He was not sent to go to Jerusalem
or to Judea at that time. He was not sent to organize religion
at all. He was sent to preach to sinners. He was sent to proclaim Christ
to sinners out there in the wilderness. Doesn't that describe us? Isn't
that a real description of us in the wilderness, lost in the
wilderness? And that's where God sent the
gospel first. He sent it out there in the wilderness. He sent
John, his prophet. He said, there's not a greater
than John the Baptist that's born of women. And he sent him
out there in the wilderness. Why didn't he send him to us? Why didn't he send him to the
Pharisees and the Sadducees? That's probably what they thought.
Out there in the wilderness. God sent him for sinners. The
gospels were sinners. He didn't send him to straighten
up religion. He sent him to tear it down, really. Religion doesn't
need to be straightened up. It needs to be torn down and
discarded and done away with. False religion. It needs to be
done away with. He was sent out in the wilderness.
The Scripture says, the people who sat in darkness saw a great
light. Oh, the mercy of God descended.
God sent the gospel of sinners, and he sent it to sinners like
me and you. Sinners like me and you. He sent the gospel. One writer said this, no place
is so remote as to shut out the visit of divine grace. And I
tell you this, no sinner is so lost that divine grace can't
reach him. No sinner is so wicked That if
it's God's will and purpose to save that sinner, there's no sinner so wicked that
divine grace cannot reach down and pluck him like a branch from
the fire. No sinner. No sinner. One writer said, he said, the
sweetest communion the saints have with Christ is often when
they withdraw themselves from the noise of this world. You
know, our Lord often went to a desert place. He often went
to a desert place to be alone, where he could commune with his
Father. The beginning of the gospel went into the wilderness. It went into the wilderness.
And that ought to give comfort to people like us. Listen to
this scripture. I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar, in Isaiah 41. The wilderness shall be a fruitful
field in Isaiah 32, and the desert shall rejoice in Isaiah 35. I
tell you, he's speaking of us, of us. Scripture says the barren
shall have more children than the married wife. And notice here, he came preaching.
He came preaching. That was his business. reason
for the existence of John the Baptist was to preach Christ.
If you take Christ out of the picture, there's no reason for
John the Baptist, and there's no reason for any other preacher.
But the only reason for his existence was the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I'm telling you the truth, that's the only reason for our existence.
The only reason for our existence. And I want to God that I really
get a hold of this. The only reason for my existence
It's for the glory of Christ. It's for Him. Him and Him alone. And it was John's business to
preach. To preach. He did not come to
fight. He did not come to dispute. He came to preach. God has ordained
through the foolishness of preaching, he said, to save them that believe. God has ordained it. He came
to proclaim, not to interpret. We don't interpret the Word.
We proclaim the Word. We proclaim it. That's what we
do. With the Word of God, we read
it, we study it. God reveals it as it is and we
proclaim it. His one business was to point
sinners to Christ. And here, listen, his message.
Saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's at hand. Repent ye. Here's what this means. Here's
what true repentance is. Change your mind. It's a real,
a real changing of the mind. It's a real changing of the thoughts
about God. About Christ. About how God saves sinners.
About yourself. But you're not good. Scripture
says, none good, no, not one, and that includes me. That includes
me. The self-righteous Pharisees,
they believe they include everybody but them. They say, well, he
must be talking about my neighbor. No, he's talking about me and
you. Change your mind and your thoughts
about God. Change your mind about yourself.
Change your mind about the kingdom of heaven. They thought it was
just a fleshly kingdom. They were looking for a physical
kingdom to be set up. It's a spiritual kingdom. We
just talked this morning. It's a spiritual kingdom. It's
what it is. Change your mind. You know, the
Scripture said over in the Psalms, God said, you thought I was altogether
like yourselves. Change your mind because I'm
not. I'm not. You see, we change. We're up
and down. One day we might tell the truth. I like what Todd said, the only
time we ever really tell the truth is when we read the Scriptures.
When we're reading the Scriptures. Now you're telling the truth. Change your mind. When God saves
a sinner, his whole way of thinking is changed. I mean the whole
way you think. is changed. Your heart is broken
over your sinfulness. Now you see your sinfulness,
not just everybody else's. You see yours. You see the beam
that's in your eye. You see the moat that's in your
eye, not the one that's in everybody else's. You see it's in your
eye. And that person whom God saves
is truly humbled before God. You see what John the Baptist
said when the Lord came to him to be baptized? He said, no.
He said, I need to be baptized of you. He said, what? Why are you coming to me for?
I'm just a sinful man. Peter said that one time. He
said, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. Sinful man. I tell you, when
God really saves someone, that person is humble. He's broken. He breaks that arrogance. He
breaks that pride. He brings us off our high horse. He brings us off of high thoughts
of ourselves and low thoughts of God. It turns around, doesn't
it? We have high thoughts of God
and low thoughts of ourselves. That's the way it ought to be,
because that's the way it is. God is high and lifted up. We're
of the earth, earthly. God said, my thoughts are not
your thoughts and my ways are not your ways. Repentance is the gift of God. It's the gift of God. It's the
work of God. But it's also a willing surrender to the Lordship of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. He grants us repentance. enables us to repent, but we
do repent. Just like faith is a gift of
God. True faith is God-given, but it's your faith. As thy faith, so be it. How many
times does our Lord say that throughout the Gospels? And repentance is a gift of God,
but you do repent. You do repent. We willingly,
willingly bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Any man, any woman that does
not willingly bow to His Lordship is a rebel and lost. John preached the Kingdom of
Heaven is at hand. It's at hand, but it's not like
you think. Like I said, they were looking for that physical
kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, but it's not like
you think. It's a spiritual kingdom. Which requires, it requires a
divine work of grace in order to be in it. It's at hand. But now it requires a divine
work of grace for you to be in it. You're born into it. That's
why our Lord said you must, He said to Nicodemus, you must be
born again. To be in the kingdom of God,
you've got to be born into the kingdom of God. You're not educated
into it. You're not pushed into it. You're born into it. The
same way you were born into this world, you're born into the kingdom
of God. That's how you end up in the kingdom of God. You must
be born into it. It's not inherited by flesh and
blood. It's a spiritual kingdom. And
we must be made spiritual sons and daughters of the King. And he says here in verse 3,
For this is He that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying,
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare you the way
of the Lord, make his path straight. Matthew points out here. This
is the forerunner. This is another fulfilling of
prophecy. This is the person spoken of
by Isaiah in Isaiah 40, verses 3 and 4. The Messiah, as I said,
didn't sneak up on him. God sent a herald. God sent one
out there to proclaim His coming. That He's here. He proclaimed
He's here. They didn't believe Him. But He's here. The King has come. God sent a voice. God sent a
voice to them. And even now He sends a voice. The King has come. The Messiah
has come. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
who it is. And if you'll notice here, John
called himself a voice. Or Matthew calls him a voice.
John calls him a voice over in John chapter 1. But he calls
himself a voice. No title. Boys like titles nowadays,
don't they? Doctor this, doctor that. They like titles. Men love to be called
Doctor. They like to be famous. But here's a man filled with the Holy Spirit from
his mother's womb, called of God to preach, the forerunner
of Christ, and he says, I'm just a voice. Well, that had better
be the attitude of everyone who preaches the gospel. I'm just
a voice. That's who I am and what I am.
I'm just a voice. No title, no claim to fame, just
a voice of one. There are many preachers. God's
called many to preach the gospel, but it's only one voice. Only
one voice proclaiming only one gospel, one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one message. That's all we have is one message.
That's why we say the same things. That's why when you hear Frank
say something and you hear me say it, it's just one message. One message. John is a voice. Christ is the Word. I'm just a voice. Christ is the
Word. John arouses with his voice.
He gets their attention with his voice. But the Word teaches. I hope you hear more than just
my voice. The Word teaches. The Word instructs. John gets their attention. Christ
gives life. I can get your attention this
morning. You can hear my voice this morning. But the Word must
give you life. I hope you hear more than just
my voice. I hope you hear Christ, the Living
Word, and live. Now in verse 4, It says here,
in the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his
loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey. That's not much of a meal, is
it? He wasn't given to the dainties of life. He was sold out 1,000% committed
to preaching Christ. John did not dress up to please
men. You'd probably be shocked this
morning if John the Baptist was standing here instead of John
Chapman. I can't even get away with not wearing a tie. He had a leather girdle on and
camel's hair. He was a rough-looking dude.
He was. He was a rough-looking guy. But he didn't dress up to please
men or make himself more acceptable to the crowd. He didn't do that. Listen, he didn't outdress his
Lord. Listen, if Christ hath no form
or comeliness, neither will his forerunner. Neither will his
forerunner. The servant is not greater than
his Lord. John wore the dress of a prophet.
You'll go back and you can read what Elijah wore. Our Lord said this is Elijah.
This is the spirit of Elijah. He wore the same thing Elijah
was wearing. So he wore the dress of a prophet. His dress was plain. His food was plain. He wasn't
given to the comforts and the dainties, like I said, of this
life. John was committed to one thing and one person. The Lord Jesus Christ. He was
absolutely consumed. He was consumed with proclaiming
Christ. He was consumed with preaching
Christ. He was consumed with what he
was called to do. Point sinners to Christ. If I
could get a hold of that. if I could get a hold of that.
That's what he was consumed with. Nothing else mattered. You could
tell by his dress, by the food he ate. Just locusts. I'm sure he ate a few other things,
but locusts and wild honey made up his diet. He was committed to preaching
Christ, proclaiming his gospel, and he kept to his calling. He
didn't get sidetracked. He didn't get sidetracked by
Advances of this life. He kept to it. He was obsessed
with Christ. He was not obsessed with, what
am I going to eat? Isn't this what people are really
obsessed with? What am I going to eat? Where am I going to sleep? Where am I going to live? He
was obsessed with his Lord. With the Lamb of God. He showed
his contempt for this world by the way he lived. One writer said this, disagreed
with the doctrine he preached of repentance, and fruits meet
for repentance. Those whose business it is to
call others to mourn for sin and to mortify it ought themselves
to live a serious life, a life of self-denial, mortification,
and contempt of the world. John the Baptist thus showed
the deep sense he had of the badness of the time and place
he lived in, which made the preaching of repentance needful. Every
day, he said, was a fast day for John. He showed his contempt
for this world and the vanity of it by the way in which he
lived. Then here in verse 5, they went
out to him, Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round
about Jordan. Power attended his preaching.
Well, that's what I want. That's what I want. I do not
want to just stand here time after time and just preach
cold, hard, dead messages. But power. Pray to God that power
would attend the preaching, the message. Power attended his preaching. John preached in the power of
the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, and things
happen. It happens when it's preached in power. Paul said
the word of God came not into you in word only. The gospel
came not into you in word only, but in power and in demonstration
of the Spirit. As rough and as uneducated as
he was, they considered him to be uneducated. He was not educated
in their schools and their seminaries and whatnot. They considered
him to be an uneducated man, just like the Lord. They considered
him to be an uneducated man. The disciples, they called them
ignorant men, unlearned and ignorant men. If you know God, you're not ignorant.
You might not know a lot of things, but you're not ignorant if you
know God. That's wisdom. That's wisdom. But John, as rough
and uneducated as he was, preached in the power of God. He preached. And that whole region
was moved by His preaching. It was moved by His preaching.
God uses men of His making, not ours. Not our making. God uses men of His making. God
does not need our refined speech. He does not need our education. We need what He has. He doesn't
need what I have. I need what He has. Now believe
me, I'm not knocking education. You need an education, a good
education, to make a living in this world, but God doesn't need
it. We need Him. We need Him to teach
us. I'll tell you what we need. We
need a man educated of God in the gospel. That's what you need. We had the privilege for many
years of sitting under such a man. We had the privilege of that.
A man educated of God. God educated John in the desert. What a place to go to school. I know someone else he educated
in the desert. Moses. Moses. Raised up at the feet of Pharaoh.
Went to the best schools Did all that. And then before God used him,
He sent him out on the back side of the desert and taught him.
He didn't know anything. Moses, you don't know anything.
And when God called him to finally deliver the people 40 years later,
Moses said, Lord, don't send me. He said, I can't talk. He
said, I don't know what I'm... I don't know. I don't know anything.
Send somebody else. Now he's ready to be used. God's
going to get the glory. God's going to get the glory.
And all this movement that was going on under the preaching
of John the Baptist, God got the glory. I wrote down here,
John was just what they needed. God knows how to fit the man
to the crowd. He took an educated man, Paul,
and sent him to a bunch of heathens, uneducated. And he took an uneducated
man, John the Baptist, and sent him to a bunch of educated people.
Those Pharisees and scribes came out to hear him. Well, God knows
how to humble people, doesn't He? He knows what He's doing. He knows what He's doing. And they came. And they were
baptized with Him in Jordan, confessing their sins. This is
how they openly were showing that they had agreed with John. John would believe what you're
saying. This is so. And they were baptized, confessing
their sins, confessing that Jesus is the Christ, He is the Messiah,
that the King of Heaven has come. And that's what they did. And
they confessed that they were sinners in need of cleansing. Although
I don't think too many of them that came out of Jerusalem and
Judea did. I think a lot of them may have been baptized, but I
don't know that too many of them believed God. Because Scripture says He came
unto His own, and His own received Him not. He did not receive a
very good welcome when John pointed to Him. How many followed Him?
When John said, Behold, the land of God which takes away the sin
of the world, how many took off and followed Him? I think it
was two or three of His disciples that turned and followed Christ. Look over in Ezekiel 33. Now there were some, and I mean
it may have been many, that truly believed and were baptized and
were saved, but I think there were many that just followed
the crowd because of his reception that he received later on. Over
here in Ezekiel, let me see, 33, look in verse 31. And they come unto thee as the people
come unto thee, and they sit before thee as my They hear thy
words, but they will not do them. With their mouth they show much
love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness." I think
a lot of them followed the crowd because of the reception our
Lord received when He was revealed. It was such a cold-hearted reception.
Only a few followed. But those who did believe, those
who believed, were baptized. They were baptized. They followed
the Lord and believers' baptism. Rebels don't do that. Rebels
don't follow Christ. They don't follow Him very long,
for sure. Many of the disciples went no more with Him, walked
no more with Him, it says in the Gospels. But now, those who
believe, they follow. They follow their Lord's command.
They do what He says. But when John saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said to them,
Oh, I'm glad you showed up today. I'm glad you all came out today.
I'm so glad to see you. He said, No, you snakes, you
vipers, you poisonous people. Is that the way you treat the
crowd? He said, Oh, a generation of
vipers. Who hath warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? John never toned down his message
of repentance, did he? He never toned down his message
of repentance. It wasn't just for the folks
out in the wilderness. It's for all those folks there
in town, too. All those folks there in Jerusalem and Judea.
They needed repentance as much as anybody upon the face of this
earth. And John did not tone down the message for the religious
group. Instead, he turned up the heat. Really, he called them
vipers. He didn't call the people of
Wilbur and said that, did he? He said, you religious vipers,
you generation of poisonous snakes, that's what you are. John showed
his utter contempt for their false pretense to worship. John
could see through them. He said, I can see through you.
You pretend to worship God, but you don't love God at all. You
don't worship God at all. Your religion is nothing but
ceremonies and false worship. That's all it is. God's not in
it at all. And you're a bunch of snakes.
You're just like your father the devil, that old serpent. You Sabbath-keeping, Sunday-school-going
people are lost. That's what John was telling
them. He said, you're lost. You're lost. He calls them what
they were, vipers. Unless we are honest with men, unless we are honest with men,
God's not going to save them. God's not going to save men by
using a lie. It's the honest truth, and there is no other
kind of truth. The honest truth that God uses
to save men. It's a great mercy. It is a great mercy if God sends
someone along to tell you what a rich you really are. You know
what a mercy that is? That's not the easiest thing
to do when you stand before an educated crowd. Everybody looks
so nice. That's not easy to do to stand
and say you're rich. You're a wretch. Tell old grandma
that's been so good all those years that she's a wretch. Religion's false. Tell her, and
if it's so, if it's so. I tried to speak to my grandmother
once. I spoke to her one time about the gospel. She's a very, very nice lady. I mean, one of the most respected
ladies probably in that area. But buddy, she just got upset.
She got upset with me. When I began to talk about God's
sovereignty, God choosing sinners, Christ dying for those sinners,
when I began to speak of particular redemption, God's sovereignty,
she and my uncle were sitting there. They got flat upset with
me. We had to stop talking about
it. You couldn't have found a better
grandmother than I have. Couldn't have done it. John said, you generation of
vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
It's not easy to do that, is it? It's not easy to be an honest
when you've got people that's been outstanding in the community.
But if they don't believe the gospel, they're lost. And thank
God if God sends someone along to tell you. To tell you. You know, Vicki and I, I won't
go too long here. We made a profession when I was
20 years old. I think she was 18. Right when
we got married. And for three years, I mean,
we... I put myself to shame then compared
to now. I shouldn't say that. I mean, she threw away all of
her short dresses, wore long dresses. I'm telling you, she
got rid of a lot of stuff. Didn't wear a bathing suit. Didn't
do anything. I mean, we were good people.
Lost as a goose in a snowstorm. We did all that. Didn't even
go to her sister's wedding because she married someone who was divorced. Rotten. That's what self-righteousness
does. Self-righteous, so self-righteous
is good. I look back at that, I couldn't stand myself now.
Just so. And then one day we heard the
gospel. Then you find out what you are.
And you find out the worst thing there ever was was self-righteous.
It's not having to wear the long dress, make yourself look more
like those people in Texas. Couldn't I? There's nothing righteous
about that. Nothing. God looks on the heart. Boy, when you find that out.
And He'll take care of everything else. He'll take care of everything else. Somebody told me the truth.
Somebody told me the truth. God sent a man to be honest with
me. And you'll be thankful for that
when it comes time to die. You and I will be thankful for
that when it comes time to leave this life. Now John says to him
here, bring forth therefore fruit, meat for repentance. What he's saying here is true
faith, true repentance, True repentance, first of all,
is followed by true faith. And it's followed by works. It's followed by fruit. It's
followed by evidence. You see, a lot of them, John
saw a lot of them was coming to be baptized. And a lot of
them was, you know, coming down there and he was baptizing them
and they were confessing Christ. But he says, now, bring forth
fruit. You're going to leave the water. Now bring forth fruit that's
evidence that the work in you is real. That it's real. Any repentance
that does not produce a great change in the heart and in the
life is no repentance at all. If you are just as mean as ever,
you're just as lost as ever. Really. If you like to run with
the same pack as before, well, that's who you are. That's who
you are. If the tree is good, the fruit
will be good. That's what our Lord said. A good tree doesn't
bring forth bad fruit, and a bad tree doesn't bring forth good
fruit. If the tree is bad, the fruit will be bad. If it's good,
the fruit will be good. The evidence of it will be there.
It will be in your life, your everyday life. A tree is what
it is. It is what it is. And here's
what John's saying. Prove your repentance by your
life, your walk, your talk. Prove it. A profession of being
baptized doesn't save anyone. It's Christ that saves. And it's
evidenced by our walk every day. Every day. A person who does
not walk in humility is lost. A person who lives in self-righteousness
is lost. A person who does not rejoice
in Christ alone is lost. John said, Bring forth fruit,
evidence that the work in you is real. And think not to say
within yourselves, We have Abraham'd our father, for I say unto you
that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Don't say within yourselves, Because God sees the heart. God
sees the heart. He knows what's going on in there.
But don't imagine that God needs you in order to fulfill His promise
to Abraham. God does not need me or you to
fulfill His promise to Abraham. He can raise up some children
to Abraham out of stones. It wouldn't be any harder than
it was to make you one. That's right. And me. Not any harder. Don't hold on to your ancestry.
Salvation doesn't come by blood relatives. What he's saying is
this, God doesn't need you or me. He can make up His kingdom
from others besides me or you. Well, that was one of the first
things I realized when I heard the gospel. God didn't have to save
me. God could save anybody else but me and be a just God and
do it. And for the first time, for the
first time, I feared. of being lost and perishing for
the first time. Always before, I thought He wanted
to save me. It was just up to me whenever I decided to do it.
But boy, that changed when I heard the Gospel. That changes. He said here, don't think so
highly of yourself. God can take stones and make children of Abraham
if He's so pleased. And now also the ashes laid into
the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which brings
not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Every time the gospel is preached, the axe is laid to the root of
the tree. Truth, which is Christ, is the axe, and it's laid to
the problem, the root, and that's sin. The root of my problem is
sin, and that's what I am. Done good, no, not one. Every false professor, he's saying,
will be cut down, starting at the root. He's not going to cut
off some branches. He's going to cut off the root.
And this keeps it from ever coming up again. When God cuts the root,
it doesn't come up again. And when God deals the final
blow to false professors, they're not going to rise again. You're
not going to come back and do it over. He says hell's forever. It's forever. Any preacher worth
his salt will not shun to tell sinners of the hell that awaits
them if they do not flee to Christ. He said, Who hath warned you
to flee from the wrath to come? 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. John
knew his place, didn't he? Oh, we all, we just knew our
place. If we just knew our place. John knew his. I'm not worthy
to bear his shoes. I'm a slave. John looked upon
himself like a slave. He said, I'm not worthy to carry
my master's shoes. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. All that John could do, John
said, all I can do, all that I can do is baptize you in water. That's all I can do. John had
power. It was evident by his preaching,
but Christ has more power. I cannot baptize you in the Holy
Ghost. I can baptize you in water. Here's what he's saying. Listen. The great refiner has come. And
he's the only one who can administer the inward work of salvation. This is the only one who can
administer Salvation to the heart. Oh, I can baptize you in water,
and the Lord says to do that, and we'll do that. But I can't
save you, and water doesn't save you. But if He does, if He baptizes
you in the Holy Ghost, you're saved. You're sealed with the
Spirit of promise. He's speaking here of spiritual
regeneration. That's what He's talking about. Spurgeon said
this, and I'll wind this up. I've gone longer than I thought. What is water baptism without
Him? What are all the Johns in the world with their baptisms
in water when compared with Jesus and His baptism in fire, in spiritual
regeneration? 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.
He sets forth our Lord under another figure here, A husbandman,
the winnower, he takes the wheat and chaff that's in it and he
throws it up. And the wind blows that chaff away. And the wheat
comes back down onto the floor. And he keeps the wheat, but the
chaff is blown away toward the fire. It's going to be burned
up. That's why he's saying, all that's
not real, all that's not genuine, this one, This one that's coming,
the Lamb of God. This one is the refiner. This one is the refiner. He's
going to separate. He's going to separate the sheep
from the goats. He's going to separate the wheat from the chaff.
He's going to separate. The one's going to be burnt up
with unquenchable fire. But the wheat is going to be
saved. Every grain of it. Not one grain of wheat will perish. I say this, as we behold our
Lord under these aspects, let us worship Him. We worship Him
as He is revealed in the Scriptures. Whether it's the King of kings
on the throne, or the Lamb, or the branch, or whatever form
He's revealed in the Scriptures, we worship Him. We worship Him. We have no other way. Okay, Mike.