John the Baptist – Christ’s Herald Luke 3:1-38 Message 1 in our 12-part series on the Gospel of Luke. Sunday, January 4, 2015 Speaker: Doug Virgint

 Scene (1-3)  Pr0phecy – Framework (4-6)  Message – Royal road to the heart (7-17)  Courage – John the Baptist’s Preaching (18-20)  Seal – Divine seal placed upon Messiah (21-22)  Lineage – Messiah’s right to reign (23-38) 2

 Scene (1-3)  Pr0phecy – Framework (4-6)  Message – Royal road to the heart (7-17)  Courage – John the Baptist’s Preaching (18-20)  Seal – Divine seal placed upon Messiah (21-22)  Conclusion 3

Luke introduces 7 historic persons  5 Gentiles, 2 Jews  John’s ministry dates from Tiberius’ 15 th year  After becoming co-regent / father’s death?  26 A.D. or 29 A.D.  Annas / Caiaphas 4

 Scene (1-3)  Pr0phecy – Framework (4-6)  Message – Royal road to the heart (7-17)  Courage – John the Baptists Preaching (18-20)  Seal – Divine seal placed upon Messiah (21-22)  Applications 5

God’s sovereignty over history demonstrated  John accomplishes Isaiah – 700 years ago  Image of royal monarch preceded by runners who ensure the road is free of debris  The herald prepared people to listen to/receive the King who was following 6

 Quoted from Isaiah 40 – turning point  No longer judgment but salvation  Consolation – because God’s ultimate goal is saving people, not condemning them 7

This is an analogy:  Desert - hardened hearts (40 years in desert)  Mountains - man’s pride  Crooked, rough roads – man’s tortured hearts 8

Note two things here: 1. God is coming to men – not men to God 2. Isaiah writes in Hebrew “God’s glory” - Luke translates into Greek “God’s salvation” 9

o Scene (1-3) o Pr0phecy – Framework (4-6) o Message – Royal road to the heart (7-17) o Courage – John the Baptist’s Preaching (18-20) o Seal – Divine seal placed upon Messiah (21-22) o Applications 10

Repentance – the heart of the Gospel “ The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” (Peter in Acts 5:31) 11

“ Repentance is a discovery of the evil of sin, a mourning that we have committed it, a resolution to forsake it. It is, in fact, a change of mind of a very deep and practical character, which makes the man love what once he hated, and hate what once he loved.” (Charles Spurgeon) 12

“Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God, and as our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged.” (J. I. Packer) 13

“Repenting means experiencing a change of mind that now sees God as true and beautiful and worthy of all our praise and all our obedience.” (John Piper) 14

Repentance:  Work of Holy Spirit who convicts us about sin  An internal change of heart and mind rather than mere sorrow and change of behaviour.  Taking into account the just wrath of God towards our sins 15

Repentance:  “metanoeo”  – “meta” - movement or change  – “noeo” - the mind, its thoughts and purposes 16

Repentance:  A word for those who continually have doubts about their salvation 17

Repentance:  Finally – looking to Christ  Be careful if you are a person who continually doubts their salvation  Talking about morbid introspection, Jonathan Edwards gave as an illustration, the peeling back of an onion. 18

“There's no center to this onion. You peel and peel and peel, and the last peel just disappears, because you can always ask yourself, ‘How do you know?’ You can always doubt yourself. There's no way, by self-analysis, to come to a point where you're looking at something and can say, ‘Definitely authentic!’ Because the capacity of the human brain to doubt is always there.” (Jonathan Edwards) 19

“So where does assurance come from? The answer is, that even though introspection is commended and wise up to a point, the bottom line of assurance comes when you stop analyzing and you look to Christ and you look and you look and you look until Christ himself in his glory and his sufficiency by reflex awakens a self-forgetful ‘Yes!’ to him.” 20

“Your best moments of assurance are not the moments when you're thinking about your assurance. Because the very moment that you're thinking about your assurance, you have the capacity at that moment to doubt your assurance. This little voice, whether it's your conscience or the devil, is saying, "You think you have assurance, but...” 21

“And so the answer comes, "Look to the cross! Look to Christ!" And if you're able to look to the cross, if you're able to see him as sufficient and satisfying and powerfully able to carry all your sins, and you find yourself drawn out of yourself to say "Yes" to him, that's what you want. You are assured. He is your assurance at that moment.” (John Piper) 22

The fruits (results) of repentance:  Works are the inevitable signs that salvation has taken place.  We are not saved by works, but works are the evidence that we are truly saved.  These works involve changes in our attitudes and behaviours. 23

The fruits (results) of repentance:  Two tunics  Probably a type of underwear  Concern for and generosity to those who have much less than we do. What have I done for the poor in my city? 24

The fruits (results) of repentance:  Sharing food  People were going hungry in that day  People are still going hungry in our day! What have I done for the hungry in my city? 25

These two illustrations are simply a confirmation of Old Testament teaching:  “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 26

Let’s not miss the order here:  Repentance first, then fruit  If works are not the result of a new relationship with Christ, they are useless for our salvation.  If we look closely enough, they are probably motivated by pride. 27

Proper fruit is now explained to two groups of persons:  Publicans – tax collectors  Soldiers  The two most hated groups of people in Israel  Notice – do not change your jobs – just be fair and honest 28

o Scene (1-3) o Pr0phecy – Framework (4-6) o Message – Royal road to the heart (7-17) o Courage – John the Baptist’s Preaching (18-20) o Seal – Divine seal placed upon Messiah (21-22) o Applications 29

There are two extremes among preachers today:  Those who do not declare God’s word because they fear unpopularity or worse  Those who pick fights over unimportant issues 30

May I dare to salute John’s courage:  Herod and Herodius are compared by D. A. Carson to Ahab and Jezebel  Herod and Ahab were mean and nasty, but weak  Herodius and Jezebel were mean and nasty, but without pity 31

 The “marriage” of Herod and Herodius was and open scandal and a pulp novel in the Roman Empire  Herod wanted to be King of the Jews, but going against Jewish law, divorced his first wife because he became infatuated with and married his brother Philip’s wife. She was also the daughter of another of his brothers. 32

 John, when calling the Jews to repentance, was also brave enough to call Herod, their leader, to repentance  He called out a powerful and vindictive man and woman over serious moral offences. 33

 Our churches are going to face difficult issues in the coming days.  May our Lord give us grace towards sinners and the courage to confront sin in our society. 34

 John the Baptist died because he was courageous in his preaching.  Many others throughout Church History: Jan Huss, John Wycliffe, St-John Chrysostom, Peter, Paul, James…  Am I willing to stand up for the truth? 35

o Scene (1-3) o Pr0phecy – Framework (4-6) o Message – Royal road to the heart (7-17) o Courage – John the Baptist’s Preaching (18-20) o Seal – Divine seal placed upon Messiah (21-22) o Applications 36

Why was Jesus baptised by John?  “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 2:15)  Jesus also participated in the Passover and the Day of Atonement without need for forgiveness  He also paid the temple tax (Matthew 17: 24-27) 37

Notice the unity of the Father, Son and Spirit  In creation they acted together  Here in salvation – the new creation! – they act together again  See the teaching of Paul in Ephesians 1  The Father, plans salvation, the Son carries it out, the Spirit seals us 38

Notice the love of the Father for the Son:  God has loved his Son since all of eternity  Notice how the love of the Father is expressed when the Spirit anoints Christ  The Spirit has always united the Son and Father in love. He is called the “Spirit of Christ.” 39

Notice the humility of the Son:  Always dependant on the Spirit for His power  The Spirit had acted in His conception  Jesus was led by the Spirit during his temptation, his preaching, when he healed and cast out demons, and when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit. 40

This anointing is symbolic:  In the Old Testament, priests, kings and prophets were anointed. Christ is all three.  As it flutters through the air full of grace, the dove symbolizes the grace of the Spirit of God who always acts with tenderness and grace. 41

o Scene (1-3) o Pr0phecy – Framework (4-6) o Message – Royal road to the heart (7-17) o Courage – John the Baptist’s Preaching (18-20) o Seal – Divine seal placed upon Messiah (21-22) o Applications 42

 Has the Holy Spirit been convicting you of sin?  Have you repented and placed yourself under the authority of Christ the Saviour?  Are you showing the evidence of true conversion in your life?  Are we courageous in our proclamation of God’s truth? 43

John the Baptist – Christ’s Herald Luke 3: