WWUTT 2288 Bearing Fruit in Keeping With Repentance (Luke 3:10-22)

John the Baptist told the crowds to repent and bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

They asked him, what does that look like? So what does it look like for us to live a life of repentance when we understand the text?

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Luke, we have been reading of the ministry of John the

Baptist. And I'm going to pick up where we left off yesterday. So starting here in verse 10, and we'll go through verse 22.

Hear the word of the Lord. And the crowds asked him, what then shall we do?

And he answered them, whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.

Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, Teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, collect no more than you are authorized to do.

Soldiers also asked him, and we, what shall we do? And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation and be content with your wages.

As the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the

Christ. John answered them all saying, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap 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 the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people, but Herod the

Tetrarch who had been reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife and for all the evil things that Herod had done added this to them all that he locked up John in prison.

Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened and the

Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came from heaven.

You are my beloved son with you I am well pleased.

So we have this particular section today divided up into three parts. We have the crowds that come to him and ask him in particular, what does it mean to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, which was what we had considered in his teaching yesterday.

So John answers three groups of people in verses 10 through 14 and then

John points specifically to the Christ showing that what he was teaching was not necessarily for them to just be on their best behavior, but that he came to preach the good news of the

Messiah who was to come. So that's verses 15 to 17 and then finally Luke kind of compresses the rest of what was done in John the

Baptist ministry in verses 18 through 22. So that's how we'll that's how we will look at that today.

Yesterday we had read where John the Baptist had said to the crowds, you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

And because of that statement, we have these questions that follow in verses 10 to 14.

What does it mean to bear fruit in keeping with repentance? Don't just come to me to be baptized and therefore do some sort of religious ritual and not really intend in your heart to repent of your sin and you'll go on from here sinning and in the same worthless works that you were doing before.

God knows your heart and he will pour out his wrath on those with this insincere religion of theirs.

That's his warning to them when he says you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come.

Several years ago, I had volunteered for a VBS. This was even before I became a pastor.

A friend of mine was leading the worship for that VBS week and he called me up and he said, I've got a great band, but I don't have a bass player.

Could you play bass? I had only played guitar. I'd never played bass before, actually, at this request, but I knew guitar well enough that I felt like I could fumble through playing bass.

So I told him, sure, and I figured out some fingerings and then played bass in the band. I still remember that as my my first bass playing experience.

But but anyway, there was during the week during VBS week, they had a different Bible character address the kids at the assembly.

So there was somebody that dressed up as a different Bible character all five days of the VBS. And one of my friends dressed up as John the

Baptist. And when he got to the party, he's telling the kids his story.

OK, so he's he's teaching about John the Baptist in the personage of John the Baptist. And when he gets to the part where John said, you brood of vipers, my friend actually changed it in the script to you bunch of snakes is the way that he said it.

And he's kind of standing in the aisle in the in the church, in the sanctuary. And he just kind of gets down low and he goes, you bunch of snakes.

And he yells it out. There was a girl sitting right there, a little girl who just burst out into tears.

And some of the audience started laughing. Others were kind of like, oh, you scared that little girl. And he broke character, too.

He was like, I don't want to terrorize kids with acting like John the Baptist here. But I never forgot that.

And every time I read this, you bunch of vipers, that's what I hear. My friend that was yelling you, you bunch of snakes in the way that he did and scaring little kids with it.

So John was really intense with what he preached. And yet the people came out to him.

And we have the reason why that's said here in verse 15. The people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the

Christ. So they're coming out to him in curiosity, but their hearts are being convicted by what it is that he is preaching.

So with regard to this statement to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, we have these questions that are asked of John.

Three questions here in verses 10 to 14. The first one in verse 10 is all the crowd asking him.

So this is kind of general population. And then we have specifically tax collectors and specifically soldiers.

So the crowds ask him, what then shall we do? And he answered them.

Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none. And whoever has food is to do likewise.

So what does it look like for you to bear fruit in keeping with repentance? And the short answer is love your neighbor, provide for others.

And that is something that, frankly, I don't know that we give a lot of thought to. I think there are a lot of churches that do well with caring for each other.

There are some that don't, probably a good majority that don't. But there are otherwise churches that are looking out for each other.

They'll build lists of taking meals to somebody when they're sick or looking out for each other.

Maybe they have a food pantry ministry. The ladies look out for the ladies. The guys look out for the guys. I think there's a general sense in which a lot of churches do that well.

But how much is a church thinking about feeding the poor or feeding those who are in need?

Maybe you have a need for that in your community. It's a good outreach for your church to do.

I place a lot of emphasis on caring for the flock first. And that certainly needs to be where our intentions lie.

First and foremost as a church, because that's what scripture says, that we care for one another, brothers and sisters in the

Lord, before we care for anybody else. But it is great that the church go beyond its walls to even do charitable things for the community.

As the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 6, let us give thought to do what is charitable to all, but especially to the household of faith.

Sometimes we put that emphasis on the household of faith part and not realize or not recognize that Paul said we should do charitable things for everybody as we have opportunity.

Let us show charity to others. I think that what John is saying here, John the Baptist is saying here, is in that general sense.

It's not just care for your fellow Jews, although that certainly would apply, but that you should care for your neighbor.

Whoever has two tunics, let him share with the person who has none. We live in the

United States of America where clothing is very abundant and very readily available. But sometimes we still need to be mindful of those who are in need.

Showing kindness needs to be deliberate and intentional. We actually have to step beyond ourselves to show kindness to somebody.

We need to be on the hunt for ways that we can show kindness, not just waiting for those opportunities to come to our doorstep, but we're going out that we may show kindness to others.

And this is John's exhortation to the people. Don't be hoarding up things for yourself when you have an opportunity to take what

God has blessed you with and bless somebody else. Loving your neighbor is going to be part of bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.

And so then verse 12, tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, teacher, what shall we do?

Now, remember when yesterday we were looking at the prophecy of Isaiah where it is said in Isaiah 41, prepare the way of the

Lord, make his path straight. Every valley shall be filled. Every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall become straight and the rough places will become level ways.

The crooked shall become straight. I had said was very well in reference to tax collectors who were crooked in their dealings.

But when they hear the gospel and become followers of Christ, their crookedness will be made straight and the rough places may refer to oppressors, especially soldiers that would oppress others.

And yet when they come to know Christ and his gospel, they become less harsh.

And so what you see here are tax collectors and soldiers that come to John the Baptist verse 12 tax collectors come to be baptized by him and they say, teacher, what shall we do for us as tax collectors?

What's fruit in keeping with repentance? And he said to them, collect no more than you are authorized to do.

So they need to stop adding to the sums that they would be taking from people because the tax collectors would charge people more than they really owed.

And then they would take the extra off the top for themselves. Soldiers come to him and say, and we, what shall we do?

And John says to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation. Don't use your position as soldiers, as officers with authority over others to take advantage of them and be content with your wages.

The law says a worker is worthy of his wages. So even a soldier is worthy of his wages.

And so what you see with regard to the tax collector and the soldier, you have John the

Baptist telling them, simply be honest in your heart. You desire to show love toward others than you will deal justly with them.

And your fear is of God and not of man, nor is your desire for yourself, but to serve as you have this position to be able to serve others.

So do it now. It's interesting to note that John doesn't tell tax collectors to stop being tax collectors.

It's not a dishonest occupation in and of itself. It's just what the tax collectors were doing with it that made it evil, the evil intentions of their heart to get rich off of it and to extort money from others.

And same with being a soldier. John the Baptist doesn't say to the soldier that you have to, if you want to bear fruit in keeping with repentance, you have to stop being a soldier.

Scripture doesn't say that anywhere. In fact, scripture by and large, Old Testament and new refers to soldiers as a very honorable position, a position that to whom honor is due.

And so John says to these soldiers, not lay down your arms and quit being a soldier. He's not preaching pacifism.

Neither did Jesus. Instead, he says to them, don't extort money from anyone.

Don't use your authority to take advantage of anyone. Be content with your wages. You're worthy of your wages.

Be content with that so that you're not tempted to steal from others. Now, there are many other things that we could add to this list with regards to bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.

Years ago, I had confronted a man who was guilty of adultery, and he was resistant to apologizing about it at first.

But a couple of days later, the Holy Spirit seemed to really be convicting his heart. And he called me to breakfast one morning and sat down with me and said,

I know I need to repent. I know what I'm doing is evil, and I need to leave this woman and go back to my wife and kids.

And so I talked with him through several things and said to him, what is really, really important from this point on is that you bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

It's good that you want to go home, but now what? If your wife is going to have you, if she's going to receive you home, what are you going to do to repair your marriage and restore the relationship that is even broken with your kids?

Because even if your kids don't know what you did, they know. They know something is really wrong, and eventually they're going to find out exactly what it is that you did.

This was kind of part of our conversation, too. Steps that I was giving him as to what he needed to communicate to his kids and how to make these things right.

But I said, going forward, you have to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. If you're truly repentant, here's what we should expect to see.

And very unfortunately, although it looked all right at the start, it was a matter of maybe a month or two when he started to resent his wife and kids again and did not bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

So it was only a season, but it didn't continue. And friends, we have to be diligent as Christians to bear fruit.

If we have repented of sin, if we have put our faith and trust in Christ, if we are drawing near to him, the fruit that we are going to bear is a continual repudiation of those sins that we were previously in.

And if you sin as a Christian, which Christians are certainly going to do, 1 John 1, 9 says, if we ask forgiveness for our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But there's still going to be consequences for your sin. And that's a good thing, too, as Hebrews 12 tells us that God disciplines us because we're his children.

And if we were not his children, then he would not discipline us. So, again, more that we could add to this with regards to bearing fruit in keeping with repentance, but all of this simply to say, hate your sin and love

Christ, desire holiness, walk in the way that is right and true. And any temptation that comes to your mind, be disciplined enough that you would draw near to God and you take those thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.

And so we go on from here with the real heart of John's teaching, which was to point to Christ, verse 15, and the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the

Christ. Remember that in John chapter one, the gospel of John, not John the Baptist, but the

Pharisees send messengers to John to find out if he is the Christ. And John denies that he is.

He's there to point to the Christ who is to come. So, verse 16, John answered them all, saying,

I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals

I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

So, as yesterday, we were considering the differences between John's baptism and the baptism that Jesus gave the apostles to go out and baptize with.

There's one difference right there, that there is a baptism of the

Holy Spirit that happens when you put your faith in Christ, that even your baptism in water symbolizes that John's baptism did not symbolize.

There was certainly a cleansing that took place, but Jesus is the one who gives the Holy Spirit. So he baptizes you with the

Holy Spirit and with fire, with fire being that purging of sin, the sanctification.

So the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a reference to justification. Baptism with fire is a reference to sanctification.

You are continually being made holy. You are burning off the evil, the excess, the sin as God perfects you and shapes you more into the image of his son as you grow in this faith that you have been given.

His winnowing fork is in his hand, John says, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the weed into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

And this is kind of a bookend to what he had preached previously at the start of what

Luke writes down regarding John's teaching. You brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

And then we have at the end of that teaching, a reminder of the wrath to come. He's going to know who is genuinely his follower, and he's going to know who is not.

His winnowing fork is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor. He will gather the wheat, the good, that which bears fruit.

He will bring it into his barn, but the chaff, that which does not bear fruit, that which needs to be burned off and discarded because it is no good, he will burn with unquenchable fire, a reference to eternal punishment.

We can finish the rest of this rather quickly because Luke finishes it rather quickly. Verses 18 to 20.

So with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people. But Herod the Tetrarch, remember, this is

Herod, the great son, who had been reproved by John for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done.

So oftentimes it is said that John the Baptist simply rebuked Herod because he had married his brother's wife, which was unlawful for him to do.

And that's certainly what John the Baptist did. But more than that, John reproved

Herod for the other evil things that he had done. My friends, it is good and right for us to reprove politicians for the evil things that they do.

And we shouldn't have this thought of like even the politician that we want to win, we shouldn't reprove his behavior because that might make him look bad and then our guy won't win.

Let us hold all to account to the word of God, because his word has authority over all, whether they believe it or not.

And so this was John holding the king of Judah to account.

Adding this to them all, Herod the Tetrarch locked up John in prison, despising him, although he was even kind of somewhat amused by him.

So he didn't put him to death, but he locked him in prison. Now, finally, verses 21 to 22,

Luke gives us a very brief description of the baptism of Jesus. Now, when all the people were baptized and when

Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were open and the

Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove and a voice came from heaven.

You are my beloved son with you. I am well pleased.

Matthew probably gives us more detail into the baptism of Jesus than the other three gospel accounts.

Luke kind of summarizes it quickly, but nonetheless, notice that Luke does put Jesus baptism with the other people being baptized.

So this was not an isolated incident. Jesus wasn't just simply alone with John and being baptized.

And John was the only witness to these things. In fact, when you read in Acts chapter one, one of the requirements of an apostle when they were looking to fill the office that Judas had vacated because he killed himself.

Among those requirements in order to be an apostle is that they had to have been present in Jesus' ministry from the time of his baptism to the time of his ascension.

And there were only two men that qualified. So that means all the other apostles had been there when

Jesus was baptized and had witnessed that. Very interesting to think about. Well, we finish there with the ministry of John the

Baptist and what we're going to read next time as we finish up chapter three. I don't know how much time I'm going to spend on this, whether it'll be just one day or a couple of days.

But then we have the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3, verses 23 to 38. And we'll talk about the differences between those genealogies and why

Luke writes this genealogy the way that he does. So much different than the way that Matthew wrote his genealogy.

Let's finish here with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the lesson, what we've read here today concerning the teaching of John the

Baptist. And I pray that we would be convicted in heart to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. We have joined ourselves with Christ.

And so what does that look like for us? How now do we live? How are we to live as Christians in this world, in our respective occupations, in our homes, with our family members, with loved ones, in our churches?

I pray that we're growing in knowledge of these things all the more. And in so doing, growing in maturity with Christ, being conformed all the more to the image of your

Son. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. on an