Let's turn together to Luke chapter
3. Luke chapter 3. We'll begin reading
at verse 7. Luke chapter 3 and verse 7. Then said he to the multitude
that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath
warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bring forth therefore
fruits worthy, or meat of repentance, and begin 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 into the root of the trees. Every
tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
down and cast into the fire. And the people asked him, saying,
What shall we do then? He answereth and saith unto them,
He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none.
He that hath meat, let him do likewise. Then came also the
publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall
we do? And he said unto them, Exact
no more than that which is appointed to you. And the soldiers likewise
demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said
unto them, Do violence to no man. Neither accuse any falsely,
and be content with your wages. As I announced this morning,
my subject this evening is Baptist preaching. It might sound like
a strange title, because you who know me know I have no interest
at all in a denomination of any form, Baptist or otherwise. I
have no interest in the name, the history, the creed, the customs,
or the various religious traditions of any denomination. But we wear
the name of this man who was the last prophet of the Old Testament,
the first of the new, John the Baptist. Quite literally, John
Baptist. And if we wear his name, we ought
to, we ought to with honesty, either preach what he preached
and practice the work of the ministry as he practiced it,
or we ought to give up the name. So as we look at this man John
the Baptist this evening, we ought as a congregation, and
I as a preacher, and those who preach, ought to set ourselves
to be judged by this standard. John the Baptist was no ordinary
man, not in any sense of the word was he ordinary. He was
a remarkable character, a remarkable believer, a remarkable preacher,
and a remarkable man. It was impossible for this man
to be ignored or for anyone to pretend that he wasn't around.
Though there were few indeed who truly believed his message,
everybody who heard him, I mean everybody, was affected by him.
He flat stirred things up. Nobody ignored this fellow, nobody.
In the 11th chapter of Matthew, turn there for a moment if you
will, our Lord Jesus gave his own opinion about John the Baptist.
Look at what he says. John had sent two of his disciples
to the Lord while John was in prison. He sent them saying,
art thou the Christ or do we look for another? Not because
he had any question about it. He saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove and lighting upon him. John wasn't confused. But
his purpose was that as he was about to suffer execution for
his faithfulness, so that his disciples themselves would have
the Master confirm to them personally who he was. And the Lord Jesus
said as they departed, Jesus began in verse 7 to say to the
multitudes concerning John, what went you out into the wilderness
to see? A reed shaken in the wind? But
what went you out for to see, a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing
are in kings' houses. But what went you out for to
see, a prophet? O yes, I say unto you, and more
than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is written, Behold,
I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy
way before thee. The Lord Jesus quotes from Malachi's
prophecy concerning the coming of Elijah as the forerunner of
Christ, and he tells us plainly, it was an allegorical prophecy,
John the Baptist was that Elijah who was to come and be the forerunner
of Messiah. Verse 11, Verily I say unto you,
now listen, among them that are born of women, that takes in
a whole heap of fellows, among them that are born of women,
There hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
Now, I have no question about who our Lord is speaking of in
that last statement. He's talking about himself. He
who is the greatest became the least, that he might bring us
at last unto everlasting glory. He who became the least, for
he was made to be sin for us, and suffered the wrath of God
in our room instead, that which we shall never endure. Now a
preacher of such character and influence as John the Baptist
was, is a preacher whose example all preachers ought to follow.
He sets the pattern for what preaching ought to be. What were
the leading features of his ministry? What are the primary things which
characterized his preaching? These things are clearly set
before us in this third chapter of Luke and in the whole testimony
of scripture concerning John. This man's ministry as God's
prophet, as a preacher, is not to be measured like every other
preacher's work. It is not to be measured by his
traits of personality, his oratorical ability, his social graces, his
theological acumen, but rather by his message, by what he preached. Now that's the test of a preacher.
That's the test of a preacher. What does he preach? In these
verses that we've read, in those preceding and in those following
our text, The whole account of John's life in ministry is given
in five distinct things that stick out as distinct characteristics
of the Baptist preaching. Here is the first one, blood. The first Baptist preacher preached
redemption and remission of sins by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Look in Luke 3. Preach the baptism of repentance
for the remission of sins. That word for ought to be translated
because, or because of. John came preparing the way of
the Lord, preaching baptism of repentance because of the remission
of sins accomplished in the purpose of God and about to be accomplished
by the death of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. He did not
preach baptism in order that sins be remitted. There's not
a hint of any such thing as that in the scriptures. He preached
baptism because of the remission of sins. He incessantly pointed
sinners to Christ, calling upon all who heard him to trust, love,
and follow the Lord Jesus Christ. As I said a moment ago, even
when he was in prison, John the Baptist being about to be sacrificed
for his faithfulness to the Lord, told his disciples, you go to
Christ and you ask him, are you the Christ or do we look for
another? And that question was given and
that commandment was given to them so that they might have
the Lord Jesus pointedly show them personally that he is the
Christ. Turn to John's gospel, chapter
one. In this first chapter, the Apostle John speaks in glowing
terms about John the Baptist. Listen to how he describes him.
In verse 15, John the Apostle says concerning John the Baptist,
John bear witness of him and cried saying, this was he of
whom I speak. This is the one I've been talking
about. He that cometh after me is preferred before me for he
was before me. What a statement. He said the
reason he's preferred before me is because he's eternal. He
existed a long time before I came around. And of his fullness,
verse 16, have all we received and grace for grace. For the
law was given by Moses, but grace in truth came by Jesus Christ. There's no grace in the law.
No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him. Again,
what a statement. John the Baptist talking about
the Lord Jesus living upon the earth. He says this man, who's
the only begotten Son of God, this man standing here in our
midst, he is right now with the Father in glory. He's never ceased
to be God. He hath declared Him. Verse 19.
This is the record of John. When the Jews sent priests and
Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who in the world are you?
Who are you? He confessed and denied not,
but confessed, I'm not the Christ. And they asked him, what then,
are you Elias? And he saith, I'm not. Are you
that prophet? He answered, no. Then said they
unto him, who art thou, that we may give answer to them that
sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? Oh, what a statement. Now listen to how he answers
it. These fellows come and ask this preacher, this preacher
that everybody was in a bustle about, this preacher everybody
was talking about, this preacher everybody wanted to hear. They
said, who are you? What do you have to say for yourself? He
said, I'm a voice. The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the
prophet Isaiah. And they which were sent were
of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto
him, verse 25, Why baptizest thou then, if you are not the
Christ, or Elijah, neither that prophet? John answered them,
saying, I baptize with the water, but there standeth one among
you whom you know not. He it is who coming after me
is preferred before me, who is shoelatched. I am not worthy
to unloose. I am not fit to untie his shoes.
These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was
baptizing. And look at verse 29. The next day, John seeth
Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. Here's the one I've been talking
about. Behold the Lamb of God. This is he of whom I said, After
me cometh a man that is preferred before me, for he was before
me. Skip down to verse 34. And I
saw in bare record that this is the Son of God. And again,
the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples, and
looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, try to get the picture
now, here John is, he's standing here talking, and some of his
disciples are with him, and he says, look fellas, there he is!
Behold, the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him
speak, and they followed Jesus. Now that's the ambition of every
faithful preacher. Follow him, follow him, follow
him. How delighted John was to see
his disciples walk away from him and follow the Master. Blessed
is that man whose preaching is full of Christ, who spends his
time and energy and opportunity to talk to eternity bound sinners
about the precious blood of the Lamb. And blessed are those who
hear him. No wonder the prophet said, How
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth. All who know Christ esteem his
blood to be precious, and all who preach Christ preach his
precious blood and their remission of sins by it. The scripture
tells us, for as much as you know, you were not redeemed with
corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your life, from your fathers. This
is what our life was. It was vain, empty, meaningless. That's what we get from mama
and daddy. Just vain, empty, meaningless, sinful, corruption
in life in this world. But we've been redeemed now.
How? with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world." Why is the blood of Christ precious?
Is there anybody here who doesn't know? His blood's precious because
it's his blood. It's the blood of a man who is
himself God Almighty. God loved the church and gave
himself for it and redeemed us with his precious blood. This
blood's precious because it's sin-atoning blood. His blood
has effectually put away sin by sacrificing Himself for us,
the Lamb of God, removed forever the curse of God's law from us.
His blood is eternally efficacious blood, so that His blood continually
prevails with God in heaven for the forgiveness of our sins.
His blood's divinely ordained blood. His blood, oh, blessed
be His name, His redeeming blood. E'er since, by faith, I saw the
stream, Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my thing,
And shall be till I die. The Baptist preaching was the
preaching of blood atonement, By crucified substitute, the
crucified Lamb of God. John's motto was that of Paul
and of every faithful man, I determined to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. God forbid that I should glory. Save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. All right, first thing stands
out is blood. Second thing, boldness. John the Baptist knew that he
spoke for God. Now that's the key, Merle. He
knew that he spoke for God. He spoke with God's power. with
God's authority by God's call. He spoke for God. He didn't have
any question about it. He was God's ambassador. Therefore,
he preached with a confidence that gave him holy boldness and
courage before men. John the Baptist was a man, not
a sissy or a wimp, but a man. He was not a reed shaken in the
wind, bending with the breeze of popular opinion. This man
was not a pampered pastor who dared not to offend those who
pampered him. He was not dressed in soft clothing. I can almost picture our Lord's
tongue in his cheek as he said, what went you out to see a man
dressed in soft dressed up like a, almost like a girl. What did
you go out to see? Oh no, John the Baptist was God's
servant. And you knew it when you heard
him preach. You knew it. You knew either he's God's servant
or he sure enough thinks he is. He's God's servant. In Luke chapter
3 here, verse 7, the multitude came to be baptized of him. This fellow, he didn't take homiletics
in Bible college. He didn't take pastoral theology.
If he did, it didn't take him. They come out, we want to be
baptized? Man, we can put your name down
here on the tote board, send it into the denominational headquarters,
and they'll put our name on the bulletin board somewhere. Oh, no, no,
no, no. You generation of vipers, who warned you to flee the wrath
to come? Verse eight, bring forth fruit
worthy of repentance and begin not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham to our father, that doesn't amount to a hill
of beans. For I say to you, God's able
of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. John saw the rottenness
and hypocrisy of the religious world around him, and he denounced
it with pointed sharpness. His head wasn't turned by popularity. He courted no man's favor and
feared no man's frown. He cared not who might be offended
by his message. The message must be delivered.
The spiritual disease of those standing before him was desperate. He knew the disease being desperate
required desperate measures. He lived in desperate times much
like ours. And he knew that the day in which
he lived demanded desperate plainness of speech. Oh, how sad that there
are so few like John the Baptist who stand in pulpits in churches
these days. These days the first primary
rule of preaching is you be sure you don't offend anybody. You'd
be sure you don't get anybody upset. Preachers, and I've chosen
my words deliberately, preachers have a castrating fear of offense
by direct, forthright, plain preaching. A castrating fear. So that when they stand in the
pulpit, they act something less than men, bowing and scraping
before men. If I would be faithful to your
souls, I can't stand up here and flatter you. If I would do
you good, I dare not flinch, if I can, by God's Spirit, through
his word, from exposing your inmost corruption and sin, demanding
and pressing upon you the claims of Jesus Christ, forcing you,
if I can, to repentance toward God and faith in him. If my object
in preaching Oh, my soul, I can't tell you how searching this is
to me. If my object in preaching, Larry, is to impress and please
you, I'm not God's servant. That's what Paul said, isn't
it? Do I then persuade men of God?
Or do I seek to please men? For if I please men, I should
not be the servant of Christ. If my object in preaching is
to please you rather than serve your eternal good, I'm not God's
servant and I'm not serving your soul." Because he was God's servant,
John told these people three things, true of them and three
things that ought to be declared to all men, because they are
true of us all. Number one, he said, you're a
generation of snakes. Vipers, poisonous, cunning, deceitful
snakes. Number two, you're under the
wrath of God and you ought to be. The wrath of God's coming on
you. Number three, God doesn't need you. They say, well, we're Abraham's
children. John points, I can almost picture
him, I'm sure this is what he said. He points over to the Gentiles
who are standing around marveling at all that's going on. And he
says, God's able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
You read about them in Romans chapter four. The uncircumcision,
God raises up to be the children of Abraham. God Almighty doesn't
need any man, any group of men at any time. When John the Baptist
demanded that those he baptized bring forth fruits worthy of
repentance, the word that's used for bring forth is the same word
he uses, or rather the same word that John the Apostle uses in
1 John 3, verses 4 and 7, where he talks about people committing
sin. Those who commit sin, he says,
are themselves without life and faith before God. And those who
do righteousness are made righteous. The word commit, the word do,
and the word bring forth, used here in our text, all has this
idea, practice, after the manner of life. You see, fruits worthy
of repentance, fruits that show repentance, to be genuine in
our hearts, are the produce of God the Holy Spirit, not the
produce of our flesh. And they are things formed in
us by the grace of God, but surely formed in us so that the believer
is no longer the servant of sin. A person's true character is
seen not in isolated acts. There's nothing you won't do.
Nothing I won't do if God leaves us to ourselves, Merle, nothing.
But our character is seen in the totality of our lives, in
the habit of a man's life, in the way he lives. You men and
women, you love your husband, your wife, and if you live together
very long, sooner or later, you may keep everybody outside the
house from knowing it, sooner or later, You act in such a way
that's in total conflict to the love you know you have for her
and she knows you have for her too. It's totally out of character. Oh, you don't love me. No, no better. The totality of the
life testifies otherwise. And this is what I'm saying.
The believer's life is a life that reflects repentance toward
God. It is a life that reflects the
grace of God. It is a life that reflects a
man whose heart is set on Christ and the glory of God. That's
the testimony of Scripture. Most people say this is what
Christians ought to be. The book of God says this is
what they are. This is what they are. All of them. All of them.
All right, thirdly. The thing that characterized
this man's preaching was justice. John the Baptist spoke plainly
and forcibly about the wrath of God and the everlasting damnation
of sinners under God's wrath in hell. He didn't hold back
the fact that there is wrath to come. He faithfully warned
all who heard him that God will cut down every unprofitable tree
and God will cast it into the fire. I get so tired of hearing
folks say, God doesn't send anybody to hell, we send ourselves to
hell. I don't believe I would. I just don't believe I would.
Oh no, it's God Almighty who sends men to hell, and he does
so on the grounds of absolute justice. John said there is wrath
to come. It is that God, that God who
said the soul that sinneth it shall die, who sent a flood to
destroy this world. It was that God who said the
soul that sinneth it shall die, who rained fire and brimstone
on Sodom and Gomorrah. It is that God who said the soul
that sinneth it shall die, who broke open the earth and swallowed
up Korah and his sons because of their rebellion into hell
itself. It is that God, he said, the soul that sinneth, it shall
die, who nailed his son to the cursed tree when he was made
to be sin for us. Don't you ever imagine God doesn't
punish sin. Don't you ever imagine God won't
send you to hell. Look yonder to Calvary and see
what God did with his son when he found sin on his son. Fourthly,
John's ministry was characterized by destructiveness. Destructiveness. I was looking
for just one word with which to identify each of these traits,
and I couldn't find a better than that one, destructiveness.
What on earth do you mean? The Baptist laid the axe to the
root of every fruitless tree. The axe is laid to the root of
the tree. Man, he went to work with earnestness, conviction,
passion. He endeavored to destroy every
refuge of lies in which sinners seek to hide from God. When the
multitudes of religious people came and stood before him, their
lies being manifestly wicked, they stood before him in their
religiosity. They stood before him in their
little profession of faith. They stood before him in their
religious tradition. And John said to those multitudes,
you're a generation of snakes. You're hypocrites. You're hypocrites. You'd say one thing, do another.
You talk a good talk, but you don't walk anything. You profess
what you know you don't possess. You have a profession of faith,
and nothing but a profession of faith. You're hypocrites.
Your lies tell it. It's vain to say with our lips,
I believe God, if by our works we deny him. I wouldn't say anybody's
not saved. Ron Wood. If in the tenet of
your life, if you set yourself on a path of ungodliness, if
you set yourself walking contrary to God, I don't care what you
say you believe, what creed you hold, you don't know God. And
the same thing's true of the fellow talking to you. And the
same thing's true of everybody here. believers are men and women
who profess to know him and they know him and knowing him they
seek his glory in their lives. A confession of faith without
consecration of faith is hypocrisy. To be baptized into his death
without being crucified with him more is hypocrisy. To eat
the bread and wine of this Lord's table without eating his flesh
and blood by faith is hypocrisy. It's vain. Faith without works
is dead. Abraham was justified by his
works. It's what James said. What do you mean? His works didn't
justify him, but his works justified his profession. He believed God,
let's see if he does. Go up to Mount Moriah and find
out. Rahab believed God and she justified herself by her works.
Why would she do that? She hid the spies when it was
likely to cost her her life. She justified her profession
by that which she did. And believers don't attempt to. That's not it. Believers don't
try to justify their faith by their works. Believers don't
try to justify their claim of faith. They just do. They just
do. Believers walk with God. All
right, there's something else here. John boldly and plainly
denounced the commonly held notion of covenant family religion.
These fellas standing here in front of him, they said, well,
Abraham's our daddy. Everything's all right. Everything's
all right. Let me tell you something. Saving
faith is a personal thing. It doesn't matter who you're
related to. Doesn't matter who brought you into this world.
Doesn't matter who raised you. If you don't yourself trust the
son of God, you don't know him. Mama and Daddy may talk you into
a profession of faith. Mama and Daddy may bring you
to church from time you're on the cradle row. Mama and Daddy
may set you in church. But Mama and Daddy can't give
you life. You've got to walk with God yourself. One last thing. John's preaching was imminently
practical. Everybody says, let's be practical.
Let's be practical. John was. The multitudes came
to him in verse 11 and said, what shall we do? John said,
quit living for yourself. Quit living to gratify your own
lust. Quit living to please yourself.
If you got two coats, give one to your neighbor. You got two
steaks in the refrigerator, you don't need but one of them, give
one to your neighbor. You quit living unto yourself
and live with charity and gratitude and generosity before men. The
publicans came and they said, what are we gonna do? When they
came to be baptized of him, John said, In verses 12 and 13, because
the publicans were commonly known as crooks and thieves, he said,
you fellas take real good care that you don't defraud anybody.
You take real good care that you don't deal with anyone with
severity. You take real good care that
you walk before men with honesty. And the soldiers, those crusty
old soldiers, they said, well, what should we do? When John
baptized them, he said, fellas, Do no violence to any man. Don't
abuse anybody. Don't falsely accuse anybody.
You take great care that you don't abuse your powers over
men. And you be content with God's provision. Be content with
your wages. In other words, John said, don't
y'all join in any parades in the streets. Don't y'all get
involved in all of the movements of rebellion and rioting that
men do after themselves. It ought to be noted that John
said nothing to indicate that there was anything unlawful about
either paying taxes or collecting them. There was nothing unlawful
about serving as a soldier. Now remember, he's talking about
tax collectors in the Roman Empire. James, he's talking about soldiers
of the most corrupt, morally decrepit, barbaric, inhuman,
idolatrous government the world has ever known. And he says,
you work for Rome and you collect taxes. Rome may be crooked, but
you be honest. You work for Rome and you're
a soldier defending the nation. Rome may be crooked as a dog's
hind leg, but you be upright. you be upright, you set the example. In doing so, in leaving those
things off, John shows us plainly that it is not our business to
correct the world. It's not our business to involve
ourselves with all the disputes and fusses and arguments that
men get involved in. Isn't it amazing as you read
the New Testament, not one time, not one time in all the writings
of the New Testament do you find any inspired writer Urging folks
to join up with a group of folks and form a committee to stop
this group or stop that group, get these folks out of business,
get those folks, leave them alone. Preach the gospel to them. If
they ever meet the Son of God, that'll take care of business.
That'll take care of business. And if they don't meet him, nothing
else will do them any good. Oh, may God be pleased to revive
such preaching. to give such preaching again
this day. Maybe, maybe, maybe he might
one more time move in our midst and grant reviving to his people
for the glory of his son. Amen. All right, Lindsey, you
listen to him.