The Gospel of Luke: The Coming Baptism of Fire

Well, brothers and sisters, if you can turn to your Bibles in Luke chapter three, we're going to be reading verses 15 to 22.

And the preaching will be from verses 15 to 20. Again, that's

Luke chapter three, starting verse 15.

When you have that, please do stand for the reading of God's word. 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 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 the good news to the people by Herod the

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

And now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and praying, the heavens were opened and the

Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove and the voice came from heaven. You are my beloved son.

With you I am well pleased. This is the word of God. You may be seated. Father, you now come before you asking that not only will the reading proclamation of your word go forth with power and authority, but now even the preaching.

We pray, Lord, that you would help us now to receive that good and implanted word, which is able to make us strong unto salvation.

Help us, Father, to receive this good word with cheer, knowing that the coming baptism of fire has been now received and manifested through the glorious work of our

Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory both now and forevermore. Amen. Well, beloved, as we come to this point in Luke chapter 3, we understand and we come to this realization that the people in the time of Jesus, the time of John the

Baptist, had lots of theological questions circling around their community of faith, similarly as we too today may have theological discussions and debates concerning various topics.

But one of the most important debates that were happening in this time is this expectation of who the

Messiah would be. Throughout the prophetic scriptures, starting in Genesis all the way through to the end of the

Old Testament through the minor prophets, the Lord had graciously given us prophetic insight into who the

Christ would be. And yet, almost like a good story with good breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout, lots of questions were left unanswered until the appointed time of fulfillment.

And we come to this point in Luke's gospel, where John the Baptist, being the main character of the early part of Luke's gospel, we see that there's expectations put upon John that aren't necessarily correct.

But I want you to think from a first century Jewish perspective this morning. You hear this preacher out in the wilderness.

Hmm, what will that invoke in your mind if you're a scholar or you're a person who has been looking into the scriptures seeking signs, seeking information of who the

Messiah would be? I want to draw a parallel to today. There are many

Christians today who do the same thing that was being done in the first century.

But we don't do it in regard to Christ's first coming because as Christians we receive the implanted word. We know that Jesus is the

Messiah. But what we do this with is not with regard to his first coming because we have the conviction that Jesus is the

Christ. But rather we do so with the second coming of Jesus. There are a lot of Christians today who read the

Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. And what they do is that they're scanning the newspaper and they say, oh wars?

Okay, check. Rumors of wars. They look at the news and they say, oh famines?

Okay, check. Famines, Matthew 24. And it's almost like a checklist, start checking things off.

And I remember one of the worst features of the application Facebook is when you get the little alert on Facebook that says you posted something 10 years ago.

And when you go back and you see what you posted 10 years ago and you're just, oh boy, what was

I thinking? And one of the things that I like to do is when I look at those old posts is oftentimes I was writing something about the

Bible. I remember somewhere around 2011, 2012 there were these solar flares that were happening.

I was making headlines and I remember putting Revelation chapter 16 saying, but it's getting near, it's getting close.

And almost like, again, reading the newspaper in one hand and reading the Bible in the other and trying to make it fit.

And so many Christians today fall into the same trap. They look at the news and they try to fit the news into the

Bible. And I think the same thing was happening in the first century. The Jews were hearing these news of this preacher coming out of the wilderness.

They're seeing all the wonderful things that he's doing, the type of message that he's preaching concerning the kingdom, not about Rome, not about Herod, but about God's coming kingdom.

And he's preaching a message of repentance. And so surely this guy must be it.

He must be the one we're waiting for. He's checking all the right boxes. And notice what it says in God's word in verse 15 of Luke 3.

It says this, as the people were in expectation, they were in expectation, they were looking for signs, they were looking for evidence, they were looking for the

Christ. And this is not a bad thing, by the way. It's not a bad thing that these individuals were in expectation for the promises to be fulfilled.

Likewise, as it is not a bad thing as Christians today to be in expectation for the coming of Christ.

In fact, Scripture admonishes us to be on the watch, to be looking and to be an eager expectation for the

Lord's return. But there's a difference that I think we all need to recognize.

In fact, what I think we all need to hold on to is the gift of discernment.

It's the gift of discernment. Not to be one who is tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by every post from CNN or Fox News, or everything that may sound sensational and wonderful, where it gets us hyped up and excited.

Rather, we need to be measured and always bring things back to the Scriptures.

And so in verse 15, as the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the

Christ. And so I want you to write this in the notes if you're following along. The people of the day had expectations.

Now again, expectations are a good thing. We ought to have expectations.

We ought to be looking for signs. We ought to be looking to see the Scriptures to be fulfilled.

And some thought that John could be the what? The Messiah, the

Christ. Now again, it's good to have expectations. Just remember to have discernment so that you may have right expectations.

Because today, for instance, in American evangelicalism, there's a lot of expectations.

I'll give you an example of one. Might be controversial, but there are those within evangelicalism that do not believe

Christ will return until they see a new, beautiful, shining temple on the

Temple Mount in Jerusalem. And so they're not in eager expectation of Christ's return, more as they are in expectation of a physical temple in Jerusalem.

And they're looking for signs. There's an expectation, but it's an expectation, I believe, for the wrong thing.

Similarly, in the days of John the Baptist, there were expectations, and yet the expectations were often misplaced, in the wrong place.

Seeing that John might be the Christ, not knowing and not recognizing that the

Scriptures taught that there would be a forerunner. Matter of fact, the ending of the Old Testament Scriptures points that before the great and terrible day of the

Lord comes, he would send forth his Elijah, the forerunner, to come and to prepare the way of the

Lord, Isaiah 40. So if one had a proper grasp of the Scriptures, they would know that there would be one who is coming before the

Christ, who would make way for the Christ. And so those in the days of John the

Baptist had expectations, and some of them thought that John himself could be the

Messiah. John the Baptist answers this concern, answers this expectation in 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 fire. You see,

John makes this very clear. He is not the Messiah. He makes it very clear.

He's not cryptic. He's not maybe building himself to be something that he isn't.

I mean, what a wonderful opportunity this would be for any fleshly person. To think that you're the guy.

I'm the man of the moment. Have you seen these memes of our last president,

Donald Trump? I remember seeing a meme of him, a video of him saying, I'm the chosen one.

I guess it had to be me. And there are so many people who just take advantage of that moment and say, well, maybe

I am the guy. Maybe it is my moment. Maybe it's my time to shine. Any fleshly person would probably hear these words, see this expectation, and then seize the moment.

John the Baptist is not operating in the flesh. He's operating in the spirit. And John the

Baptist is making it clear. He is not the Messiah because he baptizes with water.

I want you to write this in the notes. He baptizes with water. Well, brothers and sisters, so do we.

We baptize with water. What's the distinction between the baptism that John brings and the coming baptism of fire?

And so John the Baptist baptizes with fire, which signifies repentance. Notice again what the text says.

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

I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the

Holy Spirit and fire. What a grand difference. What a grand expectation the prophet of God's people is proclaiming here to the people of God.

He's demonstrating this, that the baptism of water, which signifies repentance, would not be complete apart from that which is coming, which is what the

Messiah will ultimately bring. The Messiah would baptize with what?

Fire, which signifies the Holy Spirit. When we look at how this actually plays out in the early history of the church,

I want you to turn to Acts chapter 1 for a moment, and let's see how it is this actually unfolds in church history as received in the

Holy Word concerning Acts. I want you to look at Acts chapter 1, verse 4 and 5.

And while staying with them, he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the

Father, which he said, You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the

Holy Spirit not many days from now. And then the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, just a few verses down.

In verse 8, Jesus says the following. He says,

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all

Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. So the promise in Acts starts with this, that Christ had been raised from the dead, but his work was not complete in that his work, his salvific work was complete on the cross, of course.

But the work that he had now given to the church was just beginning. The work that he had given to the church had just begun.

And the promise that he gave them was that he was going to grant them the power and anointing of the

Holy Ghost. And that this anointing power would enable them to receive power so they may be a particular people, a group of witnesses.

Witnesses of his death, burial, and resurrection. Witnesses of his transforming power through the gospel.

Witnesses of Jesus in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the very end of the earth.

And this promise was greatly fulfilled in Acts chapter 2. And let's look at verses 1 through 4.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the

Spirit gave them utterance. The promise that even

John the Baptist had been looking forward to, that John the Baptist himself proclaimed, had been fulfilled in Acts chapter 2.

On that Pentecost day, after the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, he fulfilled his promise by sending forth the promised

Spirit. The Holy Spirit who would now not only indwell in the believer, but now empower the believer to be witnesses of Jesus to the ends of the earth.

This is the promise baptism of fire. And it's the promise that you and I have also received.

You see what was interesting and what was demonstrated in Acts 2, was that there was a literal fulfillment of this.

You see the literal tongues of fire over the people of God, showing that surely the anointed sign of God's people had been made sure.

Similarly, as the people of God consecrated the tabernacle in the wilderness, what came down from heaven?

Fire. Similarly also, when the prophet Elijah was contending with the false prophets of Baal, Ammar Carmel, and what happened?

What came down from heaven to show God's approval and God's anointing of his servant? It was fire.

Also, when Solomon's temple was consecrated and dedicated and the offering was weighed, what came down from heaven again?

Fire. Brothers and sisters, when God had anointed his people through the ministry of the

Holy Spirit, what came down was fire. Now, does it mean that every single then, every single time that the people of God gathered for temple worship, for instance, in a tabernacle in the wilderness or in the temple itself, that it had to be accompanied with fire coming down?

Obviously this is a dramatic moment which consecrated a particular time in redemptive history.

Similarly today, we don't have to be in a room gathered and have the expectation of tongues of fire over our heads in order to know that we have

God's spirit or approval. This was an inauguration of God's people in a particular time, in a particular place, and we now have also received this same anointing, not dramatically with tongues of fire, but with the fire of God's spirit living and dwelling in us, giving us the gift of regeneration and new birth.

Amen? That's the fire. That's the fire, and that fire ought to motivate us, move us to be more like Jesus, to be operating in the spirit, to be witnesses of Christ wherever it is that we go and whatever it is that we do.

We are indeed his witnesses. This is the promise, baptism of fire, and just because you don't have a literal tongue of flame over your head doesn't mean that you're not filled with the spirit for the spirit indwells us at the moment of belief when we confess

Jesus Christ as Lord, as Savior. At that moment, that fire came down from heaven to consume your heart, to change you from the inside out, and that fire is still in us even today, and the purpose of sanctification is that that fire should grow more and more so that when we approach him on that great day, whether we die and we go before him in his presence or we are translated and changed with him the moment that he returns, we shall be like him.

And the Bible says that when Christ was seen both in the Old Testament and also in the

New Testament book of Revelation, his eyes are like a flaming fire. What protrudes out of his mouth is a sword, a double -edged sword, which is the

Word of God, and it'll pierce every thought and intention of the heart.

Brothers and sisters, let that fire burn brightly in you today, tomorrow, and for all eternity so that we may be messengers, witnesses of this great

Christ, of this great Savior. The baptism has come, and we are today beneficiaries of that baptism, and we've indeed received that baptism through faith in Jesus so that John's baptism of repentance and of water is now made complete through faith in Jesus Christ, so that when we too are baptized, we receive a baptism of fire, regeneration, and we also receive the baptism of water signifying that not only have we believed on Christ, but we have now also repented of our sins and put our faith in him.

This is the baptism that we receive as believers. This is a believer's baptism.

Again in our main text in Luke chapter 3, please turn there. I want to highlight one more thing that John says in verse 16 when he says,

I baptize you of water, but he who is mightier than I is coming. So John sets a right expectation for what is to come.

He doesn't bask in the moment. He doesn't take for himself glory that isn't his. Rightfully, he admonishes the people of God that there is a coming one who is mightier than he is.

That strap of whose sandals he says, I am not worthy to untie. Everyone hearing

John, they think he's pretty great stuff, and John was great. Jesus says that of all of the children of men, none had been born greater than John.

John was indeed great. Then how can it be said that the one who is coming, he is not worthy even to untie the straps of his sandals?

That's because the one who is to come was far greater even than John, because we're not talking about an extraordinary man as we see in John.

Rather, what we are seeing in the one who is to come is holy God stepping into his creation.

Eternal, mighty, almighty, holy, set apart

God coming into humanity through the incarnation and through the self -humiliation of Christ.

Jesus is God come in human flesh. Even the greatest of men, the greatest man ever to live apart from Christ, cannot even untie his sandals.

It shows the level of separation between holy God and even the most righteous man.

Not even fit to untie his sandals. John had a right view of himself.

John had a correct view of himself in relation to the holy God for whom he was preparing the way for.

And brothers and sisters, this is the same mentality that we ought to have concerning the holiness of God and the things of God.

We ought to have a right estimation of ourselves in comparison to who God is.

We, no one in this room, is worthy to preach this gospel, including myself, in an objective way.

None of us have acquired enough holiness, righteousness apart from Christ to be able to even declare other the precious name of Jesus.

Yet, it is by grace. It is totally covering of grace that allows us to be witnesses of Jesus.

And not only is it grace, but it's the power that God provides through the spirit, through that baptism of fire, that baptism of boldness that he provides, that enables us to be proclaimers of his grace, to be proclaimers of his kingdom.

It's not by anything that we can add or merit, but it is totally by God's grace and the empowering work of his spirit.

None of us, by any virtue, are worthy to proclaim even the precious name.

Yet, here we are, having received this unique baptism of belief, this baptism of the spirit.

And he not only asks us, but commands us to speak his name, to speak it.

So, brothers and sisters, are we doing all that we can to proclaim this precious name, to speak to the nations, to our neighbors, to our co -workers of the most excellent name that there is, the name of Jesus?

If we can't even, if John the Baptist can't even untie the sandals of Jesus, yet he's the forerunner, yet he speaks these truths.

What about us? We're not worthy. To untie his shoes, and yet he has commanded us to go and declare and speak these glorious words of good news.

Indeed, the one who is coming, it says, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Part of the blessing of the baptism of the spirit is that it provides us a baptism of boldness.

It enables us to be bold. Notice again, the context of Acts chapter one.

Christians were a minority. It started with 12, then 70, then 72, then a couple hundred, and by the time that you get to the book of Acts, kind of whittled down to about 120 who were gathered together in the upper room.

Christianity was not an attractive religion or movement because it made enemies of the two great establishments of the time, the political establishment and the religious establishment.

It says that there is no king but Jesus, that our allegiance is to another

Lord, and this Lord is the one whom you crucified, whom the

Jews delivered, and whom the Romans crucified. Who would want to be part of that religion whose

Savior, whose God had been hoisted up to a Roman cross to be humiliated upon, spat upon, whose clothing was taken and cast over lots?

Who would want to be part of that faith? And yet, on the inauguration of God's people in the day of Pentecost, over 3 ,000 souls were saved and added to the disciples.

That's the power. That's the movement. It had to take a spirit of boldness, the same spirit that Paul talks about when he says, for God did not give us a spirit of fear or timidity, but he has given us a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind.

That's the power of the Spirit. That's the power of the baptism of fire, is that it creates a boldness in the believers so that we can proclaim the excellencies of his grace.

In Luke 3, verse 17,

John the Baptist makes this interesting remark. He says, 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 unquestionable fire.

What an interesting statement. What an interesting imagery he invokes here concerning the one who is coming, this one who is coming obviously being

Jesus Christ. His winnowing fork is in his hands.

Jesus is described as having a winnowing fork in his hand, and it's a description, and I want you to write this in the notes, of the coming judgment, of the coming judgment.

Winnowing fork is used in agriculture, especially in those days, and still actually today in many circles, to distinguish between different types of wheats, to distinguish between different types of agriculture, and it's to cut and to separate things, a winnowing fork.

In the same way John the Baptist is looking forward to the Christ, looking forward to what the

Christ would accomplish, and that what he is accomplishing in his first coming is indeed a judgment, and I want you write this in there as well, and separation of Israel.

One of the underlining themes of Luke's particular gospel is the coming judgment upon Jerusalem that is fulfilled and was fulfilled in the year 70

AD. You're going to see this a lot throughout Luke's gospel in particular, in particular.

There's a particular emphasis in Luke's gospel concerning the future judgment of Israel, which is why it's very interesting when you compare the synoptic gospels, the synoptic gospels being

Matthew, Mark, and Luke. When you compare the synoptic gospels in particular concerning the things concerning the judgment of Israel, you'll see that Luke's gospel always includes far more detail in regard to the coming judgment.

The Olivet Discourse is a perfect example of this. The Olivet Discourse, famously, mostly quoted from Matthew 24, where Jesus gives us the list of things that will happen in the future, specifically concerning the question that is raised in verse 3 of Matthew 24, which is what is the sign of your coming, and when will these things be?

And Jesus gives us the Olivet Discourse. But when you read it from Luke's gospel, the Olivet Discourse in Luke 21, you see that Luke is far more concerned that the audience understand that these are things that were to be fulfilled in that particular generation.

And so he looks at, and so when you look at Luke's account of the Olivet Discourse, he focuses far more on Jerusalem than, for instance,

Mark's or Matthew's account of the Olivet Discourse. He wants you to get the fact that Jesus is indeed speaking of a particular judgment, a particular day of the

Lord, which was promised back in Malachi chapter 3, that the day of the Lord would come, this day of the

Lord being a judgment against the covenant people and the covenant breakers. And so what is being described here in verse 17, when

John says his winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff you'll burn with unquenchable fire, he's referring to the coming judgment and separation of Israel.

That's what he's referring to. This undercurrent that is very prevalent through Luke's gospel is clearly seen even here in chapter 3, verse 17.

Christ's coming is also a sign of judgment for the people of Israel. And we know this because even at the cross, before they even come to the cross and they're examining

Christ and they're given an opportunity for Christ to be set free or for the prisoner to be set free, what do they pronounce upon themselves at that gathering?

They pronounce a curse upon themselves, upon their generation, upon that particular people, and that curse is fulfilled when

Christ comes in judgment against the covenant breakers in the year 70 AD by destroying the temple, destroying the people in Jerusalem.

One of the most horrific events ever to take place in history, one of the most gruesome events ever happened in history.

If you ever read Josephus as a historian of the first century, Josephus was a Jewish scholar, a

Jewish historian who was hired by the Romans to compile this data, compile this historical count concerning the first century

Jewish people, and he describes the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem that happened from the year 66 all the way culminating to its destruction in the year 70.

And the way that he describes it, you would not even be able to read without your stomach churning.

Things that happened within that judgment period which Christ had prophesied, which scripture had prophesied, happened exactly as he had said it would.

He says Jesus reminds us in the Olivet Discourse, alas or woe to the woman who is pregnant and nursing in those days.

One of the accounts that Josephus gives is very graphic, very gruesome, was that one of the things the

Romans did, they choked out the food entry points for the city, so the people in the city began to slowly die out of starvation.

Pregnant women would often give birth to stillborn children, and out of desperation they would begin to cook the flesh of their stillborn child.

And the smell of flesh being cooked would cause a riot in the streets where people would tear down the very doors and walls of the house just to get a little bit of that flesh and meat for their own bellies.

Just horrific the things that were described by Josephus in the siege of Jerusalem.

And this is what was promised, and this is what is indeed prophesied even by John the

Baptist. The winnowing fork, the separation of the people of Israel was happening through the ministry of Christ, that Christ was calling.

His ministry was first to the lost sheep of Israel, and then ultimately opening it up to the nations.

Which is why Jesus says in the Olivet Discourse that when you see the city encamped by the armies, don't go back in, but instead flee to the mountains.

This was his salvific message to the Christians, to those who had heeded his words, not to find their hope in Jerusalem, but rather to flee and find their hope in Christ.

Today I think many Christians have wrong expectations about Christ's second coming.

They too are making the mistakes that were made in the first century. They keep looking at Jerusalem, earthly Jerusalem, as the key and center fold for prophetic history.

When indeed our Lord says not to look to Jerusalem, but to flee Jerusalem, to look upon Christ, to look upon Jesus.

And that is what will help us have a right expectation of the future, is not looking upon a particular people or place, but rather looking to Christ and Christ alone.

Amen? That's where our hope is. And the hope for the future is not in one particular city or place, but it's in only one particular person, the

Lord Jesus Christ. And so again, Jesus is described as having his winnowing fork in his hand as a description of the coming judgment and separation of Israel.

In verses 18 to 20, this is what it says.

For with many other exhortations, he, that's John the Baptist, preached good news to the people.

But Herod the Tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all.

And he, that's Herod, locked up John in prison. Now remember what

I said, the early Christian movement was marked in opposition with two central powers, the political powers, the political establishment, and also the religious powers and establishment as well.

John begins that trend for us here in his ministry. John the

Baptist was one who stirred up the religious community. He was baptizing people as a symbol of their repentance and their identification with the coming kingdom of God.

He was also stirring up trouble with the political establishment, particularly here with Herod, who is a

Tetrarch, that is the kind of the small king, small governor of sorts, small ruler, that's what the word

Tetrarch means, ruler. He's the ruler over this region. And he's given authority.

And Herod was kind of put in place by the Romans, actually. The Romans had hand -picked

Herod to be the ruler because he was a yes man, he would be a crony for the Roman power, the

Roman establishment. And so what John does, he doesn't just pick a fight with the religious folks, he's picking a fight with the political folks.

Let this be a good guide for us as Christians today. There are a lot of Christians who think that, well, we should really just not talk about our politics, not talk about what's happening in the political world and sphere.

We absolutely ought to be, not in that we pick one side or the other, for both sides are clearly flawed.

We have a two -party system in this country and both are flawed, both are imperfect, both need to be rebuked, both need to come to Jesus.

But that our declaration is unchanged, whether we speak to the left or the right.

And that we can proclaim boldly, without hindrance, the full counsel of God and speak

God's truth into every situation, which is what John the Baptist was doing. So with many other things, he says, he preached good news to the people.

And brothers and sisters, we have good news to speak. We have a message, a gospel of good news, that is to be preached both to the left and the right.

Democrats, Republicans, people who are on all sides of the political spectrum, the good news is for them also.

But just know, it may get you in trouble. Verse 19 again says, But Herod the Tetrarch had been reproved by him, that is that John the

Baptist had reproved, rebuked Herod for his sins, publicly, publicly rebuking him for his sins.

With Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done. Calling out sin is one of our duties as Christians.

It's one of the things that we're called to do. So when a politician or leader is in sin, we don't care what side of the aisle he's on, but we must confront it and call them to repentance.

That's the call. And that's exactly what John the Baptist did.

And what did he get in return? It wasn't a thank you note from Herod. It wasn't a message of acceptance, of receiving this word as one king did before when he was confronted in sin,

David. When David was confronted in sin, he graciously received that word from the prophet and turned back to the

Lord, to the shepherd of his soul, and repented and turned to life. But instead,

Herod was not that type of king. Herod was not a king who was gracious. He was not a king who's going to give himself over to repentance, but instead to wrath.

And so what Herod did was that he locked up John in prison. Here's what is to be learned from this occasion, is that John the

Baptist would fearlessly, I want you to write this in the notes, he would fearlessly preach the truth about the arrival of God's kingdom.

And he would then be arrested for Herod for rebuking his sins. As we've mentioned before in this series, in the first few chapters of Luke's gospel, we've learned that John is the first and last.

He's the first prophet of the New Testament in a sense, as he's the first prophet that appears in the

New Testament, but he's actually the last Old Testament prophet as he comes before the inauguration of the new covenant.

And John the Baptist would be the first to preach this particular good news, setting up this expectation of the kingdom of God that is inaugurated in the personal work of Jesus Christ.

What I want you to know is to look to John as a good model for us to follow in today.

He is, by the way, the original Baptist, John the Baptist. And what we as a

Baptist people, what Baptist distinctives need to do is to look to John as the one who sets the model for the way that we ought to be bold in proclaiming the arrived kingdom of God in Jesus Christ.

The church doesn't need empty feel -good messages with platitudes that resemble the emptiness of our politics, but instead we need men and women who will stand up for truth regardless of the outcome.

Because that was John's power, that was John's anointing, was that he can preach the truth regardless of what the outcome would be.

Whether it would be favorable towards him or not, he was bold in proclaiming the kingdom.

So we too need men and women who stand up for the truth regardless of the outcome, people who will stand up to falsehoods, deception, and sin, and a people, we need to be a people who will stand up for Jesus Christ and for his kingdom.

Because we have been called to be his witnesses and you have been baptized with fire for this very purpose, for this very purpose to proclaim him, to represent him, and to make him known unto the ends of the earth.

That is the coming baptism of fire that you and I have received to be his witnesses.

Therefore, unfortunately, many believers throughout the ages and even today have faced imprisonment, martyrdom, because of their testimony of Jesus.

It doesn't cost us much to represent him today. It might cost us our job.

It might cost us some friends. But in this particular moment in history, in this particular place in history, it doesn't cost us a whole lot to open our mouths and proclaim the excellencies of his grace.

So therefore, what a privileged time it is to be his witness. But also, don't take it for granted.

Don't take it for granted. Let us stand on the shoulders of martyrs, stand on the shoulders of many great witnesses who have come before us, and let us live boldly in proclaiming the excellencies of his grace, the excellencies of his name, even the name of Jesus Christ to whom you have now been wedded to by means of this baptism of fire that you received through faith in him and repentance unto new life.

Let us now be bold witnesses of Jesus. And if you're not a witness of Jesus today, you might be asking yourself, what do

I need to do to be a witness of Jesus? Well, the first thing that you must do is recognize that you are indeed a sinner.

Recognize that you have fallen short of God's glory. The Bible says in Romans 3, 23, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We are all in the same boat. Adam and Eve, our first parents, dropped us on the heads.

We all have the same deformity of sin that has wreaked havoc upon this whole world.

Therefore, when we look at the world and its problems, we recognize this truth that all problems in this world is a result of sin, starting with Adam.

And what we need to do is recognize that we're not only just sinners, but that we are also in need of a Savior and that God has made a way for us to be saved through the

Savior whom he has appointed, even his son Jesus Christ, whom he sent in the fullness of time, born of the

Virgin, to live a holy, perfect, blameless life so that those who would put their faith in him would have an escape from the wrath of God and would be now transformed from slaves to sin to slaves to righteousness, from sons of Satan to sons of God, from children of darkness to now children of light, from children of wrath to now children of God.

That's the promise of the gospel for you and me. If you receive him by faith, if you repent of your sins, turn away from it, and trust in Jesus Christ today.

The Bible says that you will be given a new life. You'll be transferred from death to life. That moment you'll receive a baptism of fire.

The Holy Spirit will make his home in you, make you a child of God, give you that good and new deposit that you're that you're now heaven -bound.

Not only are you heaven -bound, but you're bound for glory, bound for glory, bound to this new beautiful creation called the church.

And so, friends, may you know him today. May you trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins.

And if you've done so and you've not yet been baptized, as we've learned this morning, we believe in baptism by full immersion, joining in Christ in the likeness of his death, burial, and resurrection, and also joining him in walking in units of life.

And so we ask that you would come to know Jesus, be part of a bio -believing church, and be baptized.

And then you can partake fully of all the Lord's blessings as we are going to partake in just a few moments in the

Lord's table. Let me pray. Benevolent Savior, even

Jesus Christ, our blessed King and Redeemer, we thank you that you have indeed come in the fullness of time, accomplishing for us an eternal redemption and salvation that cannot be denied nor taken away, and that you have purchased for God a people of every tribe, nation, and tongue, and that one day you shall come again in glory.

On one glorious day, you shall break forth from the sky. Every eye shall see you, even those who pierced you, and they will beat their breasts in fearful expectation of thy coming judgment.

But Lord, what a grand day of salvation that will be for all those who eagerly awaited you.

We pray, Lord, that you would help us, even now, to receive this baptism of fire, the baptism that comes by faith in you, repenting of our sins and trusting in what you have ordained in the gospel, namely the death, birth, and resurrection of Christ, and that through belief in this glorious gospel, we receive this glorious inheritance of the things to come.

We pray, God, that you'd help us in this moment to receive this baptism of boldness, to be witnesses of Jesus Christ, both here in Sunnyvale, the

Bay Area, California, United States, and indeed even unto the end of the earth, so that men, women, children everywhere may hear of this great news, this good news that Jesus reigns.