Do I Really Have to Change???

Foreign now, we're going to start something new today. If you're first time with us, it's great timing because we get to begin something together. We're going to study the book of Luke in our New Testament. If you want to grab your Bible out, you can grab right now. We're going to start in chapter three instead of chapter one.

We're not going to do Christmas in the June. We're going to do Christmas at Christmas. So we'll do chapter one and two then. But we're going to start in chapter three today. And as you're finding that, you guys know that we have two little ones at home.

If you're new, we've got four daughters, two teens and then two that are younger. Jessa is 8 years old, and Kate is 5 years old. She just turned 5. We had a birthday the end of April. For Kate.

It was a bluey birthday party. That's about all we can do right now is bluey. But we're still in that stage where, you know, you have a birthday, you've got cake. We did cupcakes. You have family, you have friends, and then you get what?

You get presents, you get gifts. And we're still in that stage of parenting now with the younger two. We're having to coach them, give them the pep talk about how you receive a present from somebody, parents. You know what I'm talking about. Like, we tell them, you're going to get gifts from your friends and your family member.

And when you do that, here's what we're not gonna do, okay? There's a few things we're not gonna do. You with me? Some of these things, There may be things I've learned from experience, but it may just be things I've heard about your nasty children. So I.

No, it's probably my kids. So what we're not gonna do is we're not gonna open the present and then toss it aside and grab the next one like it didn't matter that much. We're not gonna do that, right when we open it, we're not gonna dig through and say, is that all? You know? Is there more in here?

We're not going to open it and say, I didn't want this. I told you what I wanted. Because that happens. Doesn't it happen? And I don't know why this one gets under my skin more than most.

What we're not going to do is open it, and if you already have what's in the bag, go, I already have one of these. I don't need two of them, right? We're not going to do that. Here's what we are going to do is when we get the present, we're going to open it and then we're going to look at the giver in the eyes. Following me, right?

We're going to coach our kids. You're going to look them in the eyes and you're going to say, thank you. Thank you so much for what you've given me. Right? And I'm not trying to create inauthentic children who just can't be themselves, but I am trying to create responsible, grateful children.

You know, what we're not going to have is entitled kids. That's a big rule in our house and parents. That's a great goal for you to have. Number one, kids who know the Lord, love the Lord and follow after Him. Number two, very closely, not to be entitled kids.

And we've been working on that for a long time in our house, and not just with the kids, but with ourselves. We're not going to be entitled people because the gospel and entitlement just doesn't go together at all. And so that's what we're working on. When you get a gift, you're going to look the giver in the eye and you're going to receive the gift and you're going to connect to the giver. You're going to look at them and you're going to connect to their heart.

You're going to open the gift and you're going to receive not just a present, but you're going to listen and you're going to look and you're going to receive and connect with a relationship with the giver. And that is exactly what's happening in Luke chapter three. That's what John the Baptist was sent by God to do. It was to coach people about how to receive Jesus when he would come to them. Before Jesus began his public ministry, before he ever taught anything publicly, before he did a miracle, before he revealed that he is God and that he brought a path to salvation, that he came to seek and save the lost.

John was sent to coach people on how to respond when God comes to you and what Jesus is going to do in their life. Because when Jesus comes, it does demand a response. And there are wrong responses and there is a right response. And so today we're going to look at John the Baptist, give you a little background on him. John the Baptist is also known as the Big Dipper or the slam dunker.

My kids thought it was funny. I thought I would try it. Should I say it again? John the Baptist, the slam dunker. Because he's still not very funny.

I know. If you look back at John the Baptist, though, In Luke chapter 1, verse 11, it starts with an angel coming to Zacharias, who's the father of John. And he comes to Zacharias and says, you and your wife are going to have a son. Your wife is Elizabeth, you're going to have a son and you should name him John. Which I think number one is really unique and fascinating because how many of you have had your birth announced by an angel?

Because if you have, I really want to follow your story. I want to see what happens next. Just let me know. An angel appears, says, you're gonna have a son, and he says, you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will be. This is cool.

He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, yet while in his mother's womb. That's pretty unique. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother's womb. See, that is not like a normal kind of activity. This isn't saying that John's a Christian.

This is an unprecedented kind of thing. In the Old Testament, there are moments when the Holy Spirit would come upon a person for a time and then depart God. The Holy Spirit would come upon Saul for a time and give him the knowledge, the wisdom to lead in a way. But then he left Saul and he would come upon Samson for a time and strengthen him and empower him to do a task. But then that time was over.

But here with John, while still in his mother's womb, the Holy Spirit would come upon him and never leave him. He would be with him all of his days. So that as John grew up, he would see things in a different way than most people see things. And he would know things that he would not have known otherwise. And he would react and respond to situations in different ways.

Because God had a plan and a purpose for John's life, which sidebar is true for every Christian. The New Testament teaches. The Bible says, when you become a Christian and you place your faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell with you. Jesus promises this in John's Gospel, Chapter 14 the Holy Spirit will be your helper, and he will never leave you, and he will show you which way is right, and he will bring to your remembrance all the things that I have said, and he will empower you. We see in Acts, chapter 1.

Because God has a plan and a purpose for your life too, if you're a Christian. So John will have this even from his mother's womb. A little later in the story, you know, an angel went to Mary and said, you're going to give birth and your son will be the son of the Most High. You should name him Jesus. And then Mary goes to her cousin, who is who Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John, and she's pregnant with Jesus.

And so she goes to her cousin's house and she's like, oh, girl, you look so cute in that maternity where she's like, oh, you too. Where'd you get it? And so they do what we do. And when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth, now Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. When Elizabeth sees Mary come in, John, still a fetus in his mother's womb, just at the presence of Christ come near, begins to leap with joy.

And now Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, like, I don't know about you, but I didn't do very much as a fetus. And John, his ministry has already begun. He's already paving the way and coaching people on how you respond when God comes to your life. So soon after this, Zacharias is in the temple. He's remember the dad of John.

And the Holy Spirit comes and fills him for a moment that he might prophesy over John. And here's what he says. You, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give to his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. And why? Well, because of the tender mercy of our God to prepare the way for the coming of the Savior.

And that is what John is doing. When we get to Luke, chapter three, Jesus is about to come as the Messiah, the long awaited one. And John says, you can't just stand around and miss it. You don't want to ignore what is about to happen. And you wouldn't know which direction to look if someone didn't come and say you would miss the whole thing.

You want to pay attention. Something massive is about to happen. The Savior is coming and it demands a response. And there are wrong ways to respond and there is a right way to respond. And that's where we are in chapter three, verse one.

Read with me now. In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee and His brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituria and Trachnitus, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene. That's six political leaders that have been named in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. There are priests now we've got eight people in leadership that are named. And if you go, you don't have a history book.

If you go to Google or Wikipedia today and you look up these names, you'll find that this dates John's public ministry at around 27 or 28 AD. This is a real moment in history. It's not just a story. It's rooted and grounded in history. And if you go and you look up those names, what you find is dark and twisted politics.

You find corrupt and horrible men in leadership, even with the high priests. What you find is nepotism and controlling power, holding people down by oppression. And it's into that, that backdrop of dark and twisted politics and corruption that verse two, the word of the Lord came to John, son of Zacharias, in the wilderness, and he came into all the district around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And what makes this whole thing significant, the word of the Lord came to John is two things. One, from the end of Malachi, the end of your Old Testament, to the beginning, beginning of the Gospels, it's what's known as the 400 silent years.

And it's really about 460 silent years. And that means that God did not send a prophet for 460 years to the people of Israel to remind them that he is there, that he is watching, that he is working not to give them an update on what's next or what's happening, not to encourage their faith for 460 years. And during that period of time, you have all of these corrupt men running the show all over the place. And you got to imagine if you didn't have the word of God or the presence of God near you, reminding you of his faithfulness and his love towards you, what you might in your faith and your hope feel like in that moment, these people surely are going, God, are you still even out there? Are you even caring about us at all?

And into that moment, the word of God comes to John the Baptist. That's, that's an incredible and really important moment. And the second reason that little line is important is because John, like any prophet of the Old Testament, doesn't speak on his own authority. It's not his words or his authority. By which he brings conviction and power to the people he speaks to.

It's all by God's authority. It's not John's message, it's God's message. And that's important because it's God's message that not just for them in that time and place, but if it's God's message, it's his message for us too. Even 2000 years later, we deal with dark and twisted politics, don't we? And corrupt men and power.

And even like here, it's even God's people who are getting entangled and twisted up in it. And what we do typically is we dwell on that or we try to explain that, or we try to figure that out. But God's word here says what our focus is, should be in that backdrop is on our own. Repentance, says John was preaching a baptism of repentance for the gift, for the. For the forgiveness of sins.

So today, what I want to talk to you about is repentance. Very simply, what is repentance? Repentance is you're going in one way and then you choose to turn and you go in a totally different way. It's the word metanoia. It's two Greek words smashed together.

Meta, think of metamorphosis. That means to transform or to change. And noia, think of the word knowledge. It's your mind or your thought. It's to have your mindset totally turned over to where you were thinking and seeing things one way.

And then you go, no, I'm now going to go in a totally different way. Your mind was directed once by your impulses and by your passions and by the things inside of you, your senses, that just led you to go in a direction to satisfy yourself. But then one day you said, you know what? This isn't getting me anywhere. This isn't satisfying.

This isn't leading to life. And I feel like I'm always scraping and I'm always fighting and I'm always wrong. I'm going to turn this way and I want to think the thoughts of God and I want to go his way and I want to pursue God with my life. That's what it means to repent. And like anything in life, when we change a mindset, our mindset begins to change our actions.

If you change your mind, it'll change your life. Now, if you're a note taker, I want you to write this down. And if you're not a note taker, I want you to write this down. Anyways, repentance isn't just confession. It's a commitment to lean on the grace of God to continually and genuinely change.

You hear that? Repentance isn't just a confession, but it's a commitment to lean on the grace of God to continually and genuinely change. Confession says I'm sorry. Repentance shows I'm sorry. Does that make sense?

Are you with me? There's a question that every one of us are thinking, and we can't say that we're not. I think the question often, and I think every person does, and the question is, is there any way to have some kind of a relationship with Jesus where Jesus is in my life and I experience his blessing and I have his help but not have to go through like, you know, life change. Like, I don't mind the things that are hurting and the things that are broken, having that experience, healing and that be a little better. But does everything have to change?

In other words, can I be a Christian and everything in my life not change? And the answer is no. To be a Christian by definition means that every area of your life is surrendered over to Jesus. You can't go this way and then just partly go this way, but still be going this way. There's nothing held back from Jesus.

That means when I think about my job, my business, when I think about my relationships, your dating life, the way you use the Internet, what you do with your body, what you do with your money, all of those things then are turned over to Jesus and you say, whatever you want, I will go your way in all of these things. The language of the New Testament is very clear. It's your to put off the old self and to put on the new self, not put a layer on top of what you've already got. The New Testament says once in regard to your former manner of life, you were like this, you thought this way, you acted this way, you spoke this way. But now, and it implies and it directs, there's all this kind of change to walk in and live.

And it talks about our life apart from Jesus, without Jesus. It says that we're dead, that we're blind, that we are in rebellion against God, that we're ignorant is what it says. Not that we're just so, so close and we just need a little bit to get over the hump. And I think that's what a lot of us think. It's like, I just, I'm close.

I just need a little bit of help to get in the place that I go. The church in Laodicea talked about in Revelation 3 or a church who felt like they had it all going on and they had the outward signs, like, so much is good and blessed in our lives. And they felt like they really didn't need anything. And Jesus spoke to them. He said, you say I'm rich.

You say, I've become wealthy. I have need of nothing. And you don't even know that you're actually wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Like, this is direct. He's not mincing any words here.

And I think about that and how I have to wrestle with that in my own life. Are there doors that I have not given him access to in my life? Have I said, yes, Lord, come into my life? I surrender most. I surrender some.

But there are some doors that I'm not letting you in, because I kind of like the way that this goes in my life. I have business habits and practices that have been proven to be successful in this world, and they work for me. And so I don't really need your help here. I'm already doing pretty well. And to that, Jesus says, you are.

You are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I think we have to think about that. And are there areas of my life that I have not given over to him and invited him to create transformation and continue transforming in my life, that I might own up to that and go, yeah, there is something more beautiful and more powerful ahead of me. If I could only hand it over to Jesus. The reality is that we have this tendency in our lives to constantly fall back to where we're just led by our senses, the impulses within us that would drive us to say or think or feel anything about anything that happens in our life.

But to repent, to be a Christian, Christian means you change directions. I was going in a way that I saw fit, but then I turned and I said, I don't want to go my own way. I want to think the thoughts of God. I want to go in his way. I want to share in his affections.

I want to love what he loves. I want to go after what he goes after, and I want to enjoy the things that he enjoys. Because I think we forget this. We're not taking Jesus on our journey. It's not like I'm going this way.

Jesus, hop in, let's go. No, as a Christian, we're saying, I'm gonna go on your journey. I'm gonna follow you. Where are you going? Wherever you go, I will follow.

And that's what it means to repent. And can I Tell you this. If you don't like change, you ready? If you don't like change, you may not like Christianity. Because Christianity is all about change all the time.

It's about daily changing from those desires that are warring within to the desires of God, which are beautiful and powerful and can transform. You can't go partly in with Jesus. You can't go one foot here and one foot there. Remember the Apostle Paul in Romans 7 when he said, even the Apostle Paul who wrote most of the New Testament, he goes, there are all these things that I really, really deep down in my soul want to do because they honor the Lord and bring life. But I find I don't do them a lot of the times.

And there are all these things that I know they're stealing from me, joy and life, these things I don't want to do. And yet on a Monday, I get up and I jump right in and I do those things again. And he's torn. The Apostle Paul. Aren't we all like that?

There are all these things that I want to do, but I find my life being wasted in other ways. And all these things I just don't want to do anymore. And yet I get keep getting pulled back. We're not who we one day will be when Jesus returns. First John tells us that.

Second Corinthians 3 tells us that as we face Jesus and we behold his glory, he is transforming us when we are surrendering to Him. He is changing us day by day. It says not one day he did, but he is changing us day by day into his image. We're not today what we one day will will be. Christianity is all about change.

Listen to Acts 3:19, and the promise of it says, therefore repent and return. And why? So that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. You hear that? The idea of repentance is to take away things that are robbing you from refreshing.

Wipe away the things that are destructive in your life, the attitudes, the preconceived ideas, the paths that you take that really aren't leading to life and life abundant. It's to wipe those away so that you might be refreshed by the presence of the Lord leading you in all of your ways. Those who are truly repentant have an absolutely changed mindset. And because their mindset has changed, it changes their actions. Not in some ways, but in every way.

And I say this, and I have said this over and over to myself and to you, still holding onto that Question. Can I be a Christian and yet not have to change everything in my life? You know, can I not just have, like, my life and the way that I'm going pretty much, and add a little Jesus to it? I think the problem is because still in our day, in the place that we live, this isn't true all over the world today. It's not even true in, in all of America anymore.

But in the place that we live and in the time that we live, it's still the greatest challenge to the church in our day is cultural Christianity. It still is. It's people who attend church, who own a Bible, who maybe even read it, who maybe even tithe when the QR Code goes up, who identify themselves as a Christian, and yet their life doesn't show anything of it. You think about the famous quote from Mohammad Gandhi who said, you know, I like their Christ, I just don't like their Christians. Remember that.

How many of you have ever been turned off, turned away from the church or turned off by Christianity because of someone that you have known or seen who claimed to be a Christian, but their life just didn't show it? Have you like I have and still am. There are the body of which I belong to, and my identity is wrapped up in the church of Jesus Christ. I am turned away from it at times because of people who call themselves Christians and their life looks nothing like Jesus. And when I think about it, the biggest part of my job and your job is taking apart, piece by piece, any cultural Christianity that still exists within us and around us, people who are just a moralistic genre of life in claiming Christ's name on their life.

It's that that's the biggest part of my job, when I think about it, taking apart cultural Christianity. And I think that the problem is too many of us have grown up thinking that the good news is that Jesus came to make good people a little bit better and that we are the good people, that we are the good people that Jesus came to make better. I'm not talking about other people. I was good and Jesus came and made me better. And as long as we have that idea in our head, we will be full of pride and we will be full of bigotry and prejudice, and we will be full of a critical and judgmental spirit, and we will be full of a spiritual lethargy, and nothing will change in our life because of it.

And that is exactly what's happening with a group of the people who are gathered in front of John the Baptist in Luke chapter three. We'll see them in a moment. But note takers and those who aren't notetakers, write this down. Where the Gospel has become a moralistic, therapeutic deism, I'll talk about that. Where the Gospel has become a moralistic, therapeutic deism, we are left with a religion that bears the name of Jesus but has no power to change a life.

A friend of mine said this. I'm going to break it down. Moralistic. We mean people who just say, I do good, I do the right thing. Therapeutic mean people who say, I'm going to feel good, I'm going to feel the right way.

Deism. And that's all going to be oriented around I do believe there's a God out there. Right. That term makes sense now. That phrase.

Where the gospel has become a moralistic, therapeutic deism, all we're left with is a religion that bears the name of Jesus but has no power to change a life. The gospel is not work harder and get a little better and better, feel a little better. It is know and believe in deeply and truly live in Christ and Christ alone, so that times of refreshing may come in your soul because of the presence of God in every area of your life. And I believe this ultimately cultural Christianity is robbing generations of people from actually knowing what it means to be set free and to live in Christ. It is robbing us of truly knowing Jesus and the redemption and the restoration that he brings for all who would depend on Him.

More than half of my work in your work is taking apart cultural Christianity. And all the while, while we're playing around with that, we have the God of the universe who is saying to us, I want for you you, life, abundant life and freedom and joy and satisfaction in living. I want for you in things and in ways that you have not yet imagined for yourself. And the only right and reasonable response for us to the truth that there is a God who loves us so much that he sent His Son into this earth to live for us, to die for us, to suffer, for us, to pay the price for our sins, to resurrect, to heal us, and to lead us in a way that we would never even think about going on our own. The only right response is to fall at his feet and say, you take everything.

I surrender all to you because there are things that you want for me that I would never even have thought of for myself. Greater things still that you want for me. Remember when Jesus in Matthew 7 talked about earthly fathers and a heavenly father? He said, you earthly fathers, which among you, when your Child said, I want some bread, would give him a rock, here's a rock. In which earthly Father among you, when your child said, I need a fish, would give him a poisonous snake or a scorpion, right?

If you earthly fathers know to do that good, how much more is your Heavenly Father, who is perfect, wanting for you greater than what you ask for? How much more is he going to exceed that which you think you need in your life? Do you believe that? Do you believe that God wants better for you than you want for your loved ones? Do you believe that God wants better for you than you want for yourself?

I think a lot hinges on that question. In our lives, in our lives between when Christ came and when he comes again, do you believe that God wants more for you than you want for yourself and that you want for your loved ones? Mark 1:15. Jesus said this simply. He said, the time is now.

The kingdom of God is here. Repent and believe the good news. Jesus said, turn and follow me. Not just for eternity's decision, but for every decision of your life, turn and follow me. You, in everything that you're invested in, in this life, don't go your own way, but go my way.

And that's what John is calling people to in Luke chapter three. That's the thing that I want you to hear today, the thing I want you to think about most. When you think about this passage or when you look back and go, what did we talk about on Sunday? I want you to think about this. It is God's command, and it is his invitation for every person that we would stop going in our own way, in everything in our life, and we would turn to him and follow him in everything in our life.

And each of us has to address those things in our life where we've held back and we've said, jesus, you can have all of me, except for this. This much is still mine. Because as long as we're holding on to some things that we haven't surrendered to him, we haven't made him king of our life at all, because we are still deciding what parts he can have and what parts he can. Can't have. Does that make sense?

I think about the illustration of when we watch kids open a present. And I think about how we see kids and they open it and they go, what's next? And we think about how when they open it, they go, is that all? That's not what I wanted. Or how they open it and they go, oh, I'm gonna obsess over this toy.

And they never even Think about the person that gave it to them and how much you and I can be like kids opening a birthday present. When it comes to God's presence, presence and what he offers to us in our life, we will obsess over the gift and never even consider the relationship with the giver. We'll say, is that all? I thought. I thought it would be more like this.

We talked about that last week. I thought, got to discard our assumptions. Remember that. So here's another thing I want you to write down. Notetakers.

Anything that doesn't change in your life keeps you from experiencing and seeing Jesus for all he is and enjoying the life he brings. Anything that doesn't change in your life that remains a part of your old way, it keeps you from experiencing and seeing Jesus for all he is and enjoying the life he brings. Me and you and all of us, if we stop and we slow down and we look at this, we realize something has got to change. Don't assume this message is for someone else. For every one of us.

For me, something. There are multiple somethings that really need to change. Now, the next part of the passage, verses 4 through 6, Luke quotes the Old Testament. He quotes Isaiah. Listen to this as it's written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet quote here, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord.

Make his paths straight. Every ravine will be filled, every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, the roads will become smooth, and all flesh will see the salvation of God. Luke quotes Isaiah because he sees John the Baptist as the fulfillment of this prophecy. This is what it looks like back in that day when a king or an important figure would come through a town.

Whether they were visiting that town or passing through that town on some site, a person called a herald would go ahead of them and would go to the town and say, the king, king is coming. Everybody get ready. And the people would come out and they've had a little bit of notice to begin preparing the pathway for the king to come. And that would mean if there are ruts in the road that they're just used to because they live there and they know well, when you're going along the road, there's that creaky stair, you got to go around that one, right? They would go through and they would smooth everything out.

They'd pick up the rocks, they clear the path, they might even decorate it to where it would be flat and clean. And they would really present to the king. We Know that you are coming. We want to show you respect and deference, and we are ready to receive you, our king. And when John is coming to the wilderness, here in Luke 3, he's saying the same thing.

He's just saying you need to prepare the way spiritually. So any crooked thing in your heart, any rocks, any lumps, any ruts in your life, you need to look at those, you need to pay attention to those, and you need to be ready to receive the king and say, come along this path, over all the things that I've had, it needs to be cleared so that you might make transformation in my life. What John is doing is he's acting as the herald. Prepare the way spiritually for the Lord. Anything crooked, anything twisted in your hearts, prepare it.

How do you prepare it? You turn from any preconceived ideas, any prejudices that you've held onto, and you've tried to pretend they're not really a part of your life, because I don't act on them yet. They're still here in your heart. Any wrong ideas, any directions, that if you were face to face with Jesus and he was right there with you, you would go, ah, yeah, I know, I know that that hasn't been the right way. And in that moment you would fall at your knees and go, this needs to change.

John's saying, right now, prepare your hearts to receive Jesus. Everything that you've held on to that is crooked and twisted in your life, it's time to lay it out. It's time to clear the deck. It's time to receive from Jesus. And there's only one way to do it.

As you turn now, Verse seven says, the crowds came out to the wilderness. They were going out, which you can assume, if it's in the wilderness, that they've made some effort. This was like a little Sunday drive. They made some effort to get out to where John is. And an interesting.

A strange thing happens is in the middle of all this, as people are now coming to be baptized by John, John gets mad at a group of them. He says, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Verse 8. Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our Father. For I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

Indeed, the axe is already laid at the root of the trees, so that every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Now, this isn't to the crowd in general, when we look at the other Gospels, the same story is written down. And you find in Matthew 3 and in John 1 it says, when the Pharisees and the Sadducees began to come up to John for baptism, that's when he got mad. And why did John get mad when the Pharisees and the Sadducees began to come up for baptism? It's because he knew the condition of their hearts.

He knew their practices. He knew that they were the dark and twisted ones. He knew that they were the ones who were using religion as a hammer to control the people and to force their will upon others. They were the ones who knew the law the best. But it hadn't changed their lives at all.

It had stopped at their head and never moved into the heart and never moved into their life. They weren't truly absorbing the world word of God. They were only twisting and using the word of God for their own desires and their own pleasures and their own power. And so when John sees them coming, he goes, you fools better take this seriously. He says in verse eight, you better start bearing fruit and keeping with repentance.

In other words, the proof of your faith in this moment has nothing to do with you jumping in and out of water right now. It has to do with the transformation that we're going to see in your life. Don't come here and jump in the water and use it as another way to try to control other people. If you're going to do this, make sure you're doing this because you're giving your life over to the coming Messiah. Your life should show it.

Remember when Jesus said, the good tree brings good fruit and the bad tree brings bad fruit. And then he said, the way you will know us is by our love. These Pharisees instead thought that their descendants from Abraham, that their heritage bound God to bless them, that God had to bless them because they were of the lineage of Abraham. They weren't depending on the mercy of God, a relationship with God, the grace of God, the ministry of his son. But they were depending upon their knowledge, their heritage, who their family was, and the power that they had.

To think that God has to do this for me and John or Luke, sorry, John in Luke says to them, it doesn't have anything to do with who your daddy is. If God is going to have children, he'll raise up children of Abraham by rocks. Like it doesn't have to do with who your daddy is or if you're a card carrying member of some particular group. It has to do with God and his grace and his love and his word mercy and him sending his son into the world. And so you better take this very seriously.

You need to take this seriously, he says to them. John's message was pretty clear in this moment, that it wasn't outsiders, but it was God's own people who were unclean. It was the leaders of God's people who were crooked and twisted within and were reflected, refusing to receive the mercy. Think about that. They were refusing to receive the mercy of God because of their power, because of their dignity, because they were closed minded.

And I wonder today how many of us would have responded to John's message in the wilderness and how we would have responded. You know, I wonder if, if I was there, would I go and be baptized by John and say I'm ready, I want everything in my life changed, or would I go, John, you're kind of a freak. You know, you are saying things that are just seem absolutely nuts. And other people, you know, these boss type people aren't going that way. So I'm not going to go that way.

Would I look at John and go, you know what, I'm a little too dignified. I know things too, John, you know, when I go and submit myself and surrender myself to this message, to the mercy of God, he's preaching the baptisms, baptism of sins because of the mercy of God, would I go or would I not go and would I refuse because I'm above this kind of thing? I think the answer to that, we don't have to speculate. I don't have to just imagine my life in the movie of John the Baptist. Like I can actually see how I would respond.

By the way, I repent right now on a daily basis. That tells me who I would be in that scene with John the Baptist in the wilderness. Because our repentance is a daily activity. And there are areas of my life that I have given over to his leadership, but there are still some that I haven't found fully given over to him. And you're the same.

Come on, don't, don't pretend this is for someone else. There are areas of our life that we have held onto too tightly and we have not let go of them and said, wherever you lead, I'll go. That applies to every, every area of my life. There's some people in the next few verses, verses 14 through 16, who come for baptism and they come also with questions and, and there are multiple groups that come up and they say, well now what do I Do. In other words, the question is, what has to change in my life?

There's a group of tax collectors, they come for baptism and they go, okay, John, now what changes in our life because of the Gospel? And John gives them an answer. And then there are a group of soldiers who come and go, well, what about us? What has to change in our lives? The worst case scenario is that they're coming into this going, well, what has to change?

What do I have to do? The best case scenario is they're saying, I really believe salvation has come. I believe that redemption has come, that there is refreshment for my soul with the Messiah. What do I do to walk in it? That's the best case scenario.

But whatever was on their agenda, whatever was on their mind, John gave to each of them specific direction. If you're a tax collector, the gospel applies to tax collecting. There is a way to do so that is following the Messiah. If you're a soldier, there is a way to soldier that is in the way of the coming Messiah. It applies to every area of your life.

It doesn't matter where what you do or where you do it or who you do it with. There is a gospel way of going about life in this world. Everything must change if you turn to Jesus Christ. And so I want to give you three questions to end on this morning to think on. And I'm going to let you sing in a moment or just sit and pray in a moment, but three questions that don't answer them too quickly, answer them in prayer, don't even answer them today, answer them throughout the week, throughout the month.

Write these down or take a picture of them and dwell on them with the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to help you to see, to have eyes to see and ears to hear what he has for you. Question number one in what is Jesus specifically calling you to turn to him and follow him today? And how will you respond? You didn't just turn to him once. It's a daily turning.

How is he calling you to turn to him today? And how will you respond? Question two, Are you ready to respond to the call to turn all things over to Jesus? Are you ready for that? We're seeing a cartoon one time in a magazine of a guy getting baptized and he had one arm out of the water holding his wallet.

You can have all of me, but this, right? Are you ready to respond to the call to turning all over to Jesus? And question three, is there anything you're pursuing with your life that is not of Jesus? Is there anything that you are pursuing with your life that is not of Jesus, that he is not involved, that he has not graced it, led it, blessed it, directed you in it, guided you in it. Let me pray for us as a church.

Jesus, we thank you that you came into this earth. You're the eternal Son of God, whom John 1 says, all things were made in and through and by and for you. Nothing came into being that didn't come through you. And Colossians says that you hold all things together by the power of your hand. You are mighty God, one wonderful counselor, Prince of peace, Lord of Lords, you are a king of kings.

Would you forgive us when we have made you so familiar that you're just like this boss who tells us what to do, or this therapist that says, it's okay, I'm here, feel better, and we've not bowed before. You connected with your heart, desired to see as you see, to love what you love. Help us as a church, as individuals and as a body, to turn to you in that way, to repent, to see you as the one who brings life and life abundant and refreshment to our souls by your very presence. May we, like John, leap with joy just simply having you near to us.

And for all of the things that we have gripped our hands around in our lives, whether it be professional or relational, or what we do with our bodies or what we do with our time, Holy Spirit, would you help us to have open hands to entrust all things over to you, that you would bring transformation and change? We're not what we one day will be when Christ returns. But would you in these days be changing us day by day, bringing about salvation day by day in our lives, that we might delight in the presence of God, that we might have lights that shine so bright that a world would see and say, I too need the refreshment that Jesus brings. In Jesus name, amen.