In Luke 3:3 (NIV) the word of God comes upon John the Baptist and he immediately begins, "preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." His message was confrontational. In Luke 3:4-6 (NIV) John the Baptist says, "Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation."
Years ago a narrow two-lane highway connected the cities of Collinsville and Fairview Heights. The highway was exceptionally busy, winding and twisting through the countryside. On either side of the road were tall hills, deep ravines, and woods. I found this shortcut one weekend while driving Lara back from her favorite mall in St. Louis. But if you ask her, she would say I found it driving back from my favorite eating establishment, Krispy Kreme Donuts.
But forget all that. Slowly, methodically, and section by section, they began expanding this two-lane highway into a four-lane highway. First, they removed whole trees, by their roots, on either side of the road. Then, giant earthmovers began shaving the hills down one slice at a time. Large dump trucks and bulldozers took the dirt and clay and packed it into the deep ravines on either side of the road.
Most people don’t pay that much attention to road construction ("Jon, you really need to get a life!"), but I thought it was amazing how every valley was filled in and every mountain and hill was made low. How could this long, crooked, winding road be made straight andsmooth? But John the Baptist wasn’t preaching about a literal road. He was preaching about life! "Prepare the way for the Lord. Make a straight path for the Lord. Rise up from the depths of your sin. Humble your mountain-sized ego. Change your crooked, selfish ways. Smooth out the rough spots in your life. Repent and stop sinning. See God’s salvation!" Renovating or expanding a highway is one thing. But what doesit take to renovate our lives?
Renovating your life?
In Luke 3:7 (NIV) a crowd of people come to John the Baptist to be baptized. Before filling up the baptistry, John faces off with them. He shouts, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?" What a great way to begin a message!
Last summer I was out on my deck grilling hamburgers. As I stood there, I noticed a snake slithering across the patio. Lara hates snakes, and therefore, I hate them too. Ask Lara to tell you her snake stories. I’ve become quite the master snake handler. Obediently, I sought to eradicate the snake from our backyard.
First it hid under a large planter on our patio. Then it slithered under the steel base of the grill where I was cooking. Hearing Lara rummaging around in the kitchen, I had moments to act. The steel base was bolted to concrete and could not be moved. So I grabbed the garden hose and tried flooding the snake out. Suddenly, three snake heads appeared. When they could take my wrath no more, they slithered over into the bushes.
John the Baptist would not listen to excuses.
John the Baptist called the crowd a brood of evil vipers. He called themvipers because instead of having their snake-nature destroyed, they were slithering away from the wrath of God. They didn’t really want to change or repent. They just wanted to survive! They wanted to make excuses. They wanted to continue in their evil, sinful ways.
In Luke 3:8-9 (NIV) John the Baptist will hear nothing of it. Look at what he says next. "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
God is not interested in our justification for sinning.
God is not interested in our excuses and justifications for sinning, whatever they may be. He is not interested in our good intentions and our self-righteous praise. His sharpened ax is at the root of the tree. God wants us to produce good fruit, and if we do not produce good fruit we will be cut down and thrown into the fire. The fear of God is the beginning of all wisdom. We need to respect God’s wrath. He is just, he does not tolerate sin, and there will be a day of judgment. That’s John’s message.
As you can imagine, the crowds were stunned, and in Luke 3:10 (NIV) they ask, "What should we do then?" This is the same question the crowds ask Peter in Acts 2:37. In Luke 3:11 (NIV) John answers them, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."
To the tax collectors he says in Luke 3:13 (NIV), "Don’t collect any more than you are required to." To the soldiers he says in Luke 3:14 (NIV), "Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay." I wonder what kind of common sense things John the Baptist might say to us today? The point is that God wants us to stop slithering away. He wants our sinful nature destroyed. He wants to give us a new nature. He wants to forgive our many sins. Now let’s go to the outline.
Is willpower enough?
Most people assume willpower is enough to live for God. They assume that we can somehow defeat our own sinful nature and please Godwith our own strength. This is why people absolutely hate religion and hate Christianity. Most people think religion is all about human effort, self-help, self-improvement, self-salvation, and works. The God-honest truth is that we cannot change our own sinful, snake nature. Apart from God we are nothing more than a brood of vipers attempting to flee God’s wrath. In Romans 7:7-25, Paul talks about how weak our sinful nature is. Paul says thatwhenever we hear God’s commandments, we develop this desire to break them.
If you are attempting the Christian life on willpower alone, you will always fail. You will always have the appearance of godliness because of your good intentions, but your life will lack the substance of godliness, the fruitfulness, and real change. Yes, most people assume willpower is enough to live for God. But put this in your outline. God promises a greater power, his Holy Spirit. You can try to level the hills and valleys in your life with a hand spade, but what you really need is heavy-duty power equipment.
Beyond our willpower is the power of the Holy Spirit.
In Luke 3:16-18 (NIV) John says, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
The Holy Spirit is God’s purifying power, his refining fire, which is made available to the believer. Baptism into Jesus Christ’s name carries the promise of the Holy Spirit. Luke 3:21-22 (NIV) says, "When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'"
John the Baptist created the itch. Prepare the way for the Lord. Make your paths straight. Repent. Produce fruit in keeping with righteousness. Stop sinning. But Jesus Christ showed us how to please God. Instead of trying to attain our goal through human effort, we need to open our lives up to the Holy Spirit of the living God. The Holy Spirit is our power. In the Bible, water baptism always has the gift of the Holy Spirit associated with it.
The power of the Holy Spirit.
I told you that in Acts 2:37 the crowds asked Peter the same question the crowds asked John the Baptist in Luke 3:10. In Acts 2:37 the crowds discover that they crucified God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. In Acts 2:37 (NIV) we're told that, “When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' "
And Peter replies in Acts 2:38-41 (NIV), "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off— for all whom the Lord our God will call. With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, 'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.' Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day."
There is nothing magical about water baptism. Water baptism is you coming before the Lord and confessing, "I have a sinful, snake nature that I cannot change. I am powerless. I come before you seeking forgiveness through your Son Jesus Christ. I come before you to receive your promised Holy Spirit."
Through baptism, God bestows upon us the forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit. InLuke 3:21-22 (NIV) Jesus, as an adult, goes down into the waters of baptism and is immersed. Upon his baptism the Holy Spirit descends upon him. The Father says, "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
If baptism was necessary for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, then it is necessary for you and me. Jesus began his ministry by being baptized, and he ended his ministry on earth by telling us to go and baptize others. Baptism is a dedication of our lives to God. It is a pledge of a good conscience. It is a cry to God to be the leader and Lord of our life for eternity. It’s a declaration that we accept the message of God and that we accept God’s purpose for our lives.
Many of you need to be baptized, of your own will. Please consider coming to the "Questions About Baptism?" class today at 3:00PM to learn more about this important step of faith. Christ has set an example for us to follow, and his example includes adult baptism.
Being led by the Spirit.
Now in Luke 4:1-13 (NIV) Jesus demonstrates the kind of life that is possible when we are full, not of good intentions and willpower, but full of the Holy Spirit. Complete the following statement on your outline: We are better hungry and in God’s will, than satisfied and outside God’s will.
One of our biggest problems is saying "no" to our physical desires and appetites in order to live for God. This was Adam and Eve’s problem in the Garden of Eden. God told them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but the fruit was pleasing to the eye, and good for food, and desirable for gaining knowledge. So they ate of it.
It is in our sinful nature to believe that the greatest satisfaction comes in breaking God’s commandments. The sinners are so much more fun. Let's eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Let’s go to the bar, that party, or that gathering after work. Let’s push the boundaries in that relationship and let’s flirt with danger. Let’s see how exciting it can be to live in disobedience!
Sin never satisfies. The key to satisfaction is obedience.
In Luke 4:1-4 (NIV) the Bible says, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.'Jesus answered, 'It is written: Man does not live on bread alone.'" Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you, like Jesus,can find a satisfaction that transcends whatever fleeting, momentary satisfaction your appetites provide.
In your outline, go ahead and complete the next statement: We are better worshiping and serving God than being worshiped and served by men.
In our sinful nature, we spend a lot of time manipulating people. Every single one of us wants other people to notice us, accept us, like us, love us, desire us, and gravitate to us. We want people to serve our needs and to give us the desires of our heart. In our sinful nature, we can be very self-centered andvery self-serving.
The key to lasting influence is worship and service in the name of Jesus.
But getting people to love us, to serve us, and to worship us is a dead end street! In fact, it’s the height of arrogance and rebellion against God. What Jesus demonstrates is that the key to lasting influence is worship and service. It is loving God and loving people and it is emptying or expending oneself for the greater good.
Luke 4:5-8 (NIV) says, "The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.'Jesus answered, 'It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can move beyond self-centeredness and discover the joy of living a life centered on serving and worshipping living God.
In your outline, complete this one last statement: We are better off trusting God’s words than testing God’s words.
In our sinful nature we are very distrusting of others, and especially of God. One of Satan’s tricks is to keep us second-guessing the accuracy and trustworthiness of God’s word. This is what Satan did with Adam and Eve in the Garden in Genesis 3:1 (NIV), "Did God really say…" Not surprisingly, this is what Satan did with Jesus Christ and what he does with us as well. But Jesus demonstrates that the key to longevity is trusting God.
The key to longevity is trusting God.
Luke 4:9-12(NIV) says, "The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 'If you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down from here. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' Jesus answered, 'It says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Through the power of the Holy Spirit, you can move deeper into a life of trusting God.
Luke 4:13 (NIV) concludes with a simple statement: "When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Jesus until an opportune time." Jesus found victory over Satan through the power of the Holy Spirit. And for us this morning it is not about how much willpower we can muster to live for God. For us, it is whether we will open ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit, first in baptism by immersion, but then daily as we invite him to lead us through our deserts of temptation.