And go back to Luke chapter 3 in your Bibles.
Luke chapter 3.
So if you're a visitor here,
what we often do on a Sunday morning,
we just go chapter by chapter
throughout the whole Bible.
This ensures that we don't miss anything
that's in the Bible, all right?
Every word of God is pure.
Every word of God is profitable.
As we're going through that list of the names,
guess what?
That was profitable, all right?
As we go through that list of names,
that was profitable as well.
This is why we go chapter by chapter
and that way, you know, as a preacher,
I'm not then afraid to, you know,
like I try to skip something in the Bible
because I don't like it.
No, you know, I'm kind of forced to preach it
no matter what.
But look at Luke chapter 3 verse 6.
Luke chapter 3 verse 6.
The Bible says,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
The title of the sermon this morning
is see the salvation of God.
And of course that salvation
is the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we take a deviation from Luke chapter 2
which spoke about the birth of Christ.
We're now back to John the Baptist.
John the Baptist plays an important role
through this chapter.
Let's pick it up from verse number 1.
Now in the fifteenth year
of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea
and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee
and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituria
and of the region of Traconitus
and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilenein,
Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests,
the word of God came unto John
the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
That John the son of Zacharias
is what we commonly known as John the Baptist.
Okay.
Now the first thing I just want you to notice there,
this is very unusual
that's found there in verse number 2
is that in the time of Jesus Christ,
we've got Annas and Caiaphas as the high priests.
Two high priests.
That's what's unusual.
What you'll find in the Old Testament,
the way God had ordered the house of the Lord
is that there would be one high priest.
Okay.
One high priest
and of course that first high priest
was Aaron the brother of Moses
and they would see out their period until death
and when they passed away,
then you know,
one of the children would take over
as the high priest.
So it's quite unusual
that we start off with two high priests.
The Bible doesn't really tell us why that is.
It does tell us that Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas.
Okay.
So they are related
and my personal opinion,
keep your finger there in Luke,
turn to the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi,
turn to the last book of the Bible in Malachi
and just the last two verses there,
Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 and 6,
just the last book of the Old Testament,
Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 and 6.
I think this illustrates to us
the spiritual condition of the nation of Israel.
Okay.
We know when Christ came,
they were spiritually darkened.
In fact, God had to send a messenger.
Okay.
The cousin of Jesus Christ, John the Baptist,
to prepare the way of the Lord.
Okay.
Israel had lost their way.
They were spiritually darkened
and as we see later on,
we did religious leaders,
they weren't even saved.
Okay.
Their father, Jesus Christ, talks about them.
The Pharisees, their father was of the devil.
Okay.
Was the devil.
But so we pick up the story here
when Jesus Christ enters into Judea,
that look, the nation of Israel
was in a dark spiritual state.
Look at Malachi chapter 4 verse 5.
The Bible, this is how the Old Testament ends.
He says,
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great
and dreadful day of the Lord.
Now if you know your Bibles,
Elijah in the spirit of Elijah
is a reference to John the Baptist.
Okay.
John the Baptist was in the same spirit
like Elijah was in the Old Testament.
And look at verse number 6.
This is something we obviously know
about John the Baptist in the New Testament.
It says,
And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children and the heart of the children
to the fathers.
Okay.
He came preparing a way for the Lord.
And then look at this.
Why did God send John the Baptist
before Jesus Christ started his ministry?
At the end of it says,
Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
All right.
So, you know,
God knew the spiritual state of Israel
if Jesus Christ had come
without the forerunner there,
John the Baptist,
that he would be so angered
by the spiritual state that they were in,
that he would come and bring a curse.
Instead of Jesus Christ dying on the cross
and being that curse for us,
taking upon the curse of the law,
he would come and curse the earth again.
And that's why he had to come
and send that forerunner,
John the Baptist,
to prepare a new generation
that would be ready to receive Jesus Christ
as he came onto the scene.
Okay.
And so I think my personal opinion,
the reason why we have two high priests,
it just shows us that they're no longer
following the laws of God.
They're no longer trying to keep
the Old Testament laws and the commands
the way God had passed them down
generation after generation.
Okay.
Now, before we get into the rest of this chapter,
this is a long chapter,
there's a lot of information.
The challenge with Luke chapter three,
well, it's not really a challenge.
Like if you're newly saved
and you've heard sound preaching,
all you've done is read the Bible
and you've not been corrupted by false teaching,
this is actually a very easy chapter to get through.
But for those that are false prophets
and false teachers that want to add works
or the works of the law to salvation,
they'll often take Luke chapter three
and teach their damnable heresies.
Okay.
So I just want to cover a few fundamental things
before we get into the rest of the chapter.
Three very basic fundamental truths of the Bible.
First of all, salvation, right?
The title was,
See the Salvation of the Lord.
Jesus Christ is our salvation.
Hey, how are we saved?
We know about the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
but how do we receive the salvation?
How is that received?
How is that free gift of God received?
Many people would come up
with many different answers.
Okay.
But let's talk about some fundamentals
here of the Bible.
John 3 16.
We don't need to turn there.
For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever, what?
Believest on him shall not perish,
but have everlasting life.
What's the condition for salvation?
To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
John chapter 1 verse 12.
But as many as received him, Jesus Christ,
to them gave you power
to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name.
Salvation is by believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 16 verse 31.
And they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
All right.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved.
Okay.
Salvation is by putting our faith,
our belief 100% on Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2 eight.
For by grace are you saved.
How?
Through faith.
All right.
And that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God,
not of works,
lest any man should boast.
All right.
Those that believe that it's by works
are the same that boast of themselves.
Hey, I'm a good person.
I've kept the laws of God.
I go to church.
I've been baptized.
Hey, that's not going to get you saved.
It's not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, right?
Salvation is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is by faith.
And I just want to read to you Galatians 2 16.
Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law,
okay, not by the works of the law,
but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ
and not by the works of the law.
For by the works of the law
shall no flesh be justified.
All right.
Do I believe in the works of the law?
Do I believe in the commandments?
Yes, we should strive to do those things.
But when it comes to salvation,
the salvation of your eternal soul,
hey, it's based on the finished work of Jesus Christ.
It's not based on your,
you know, on your works, okay,
which are filthy rags in the sight of God.
So we understand what salvation is.
We don't need to go into that too much more.
What about repentance?
Well, a lot of people say,
well, to be saved, you can't,
you know, yes, you need to believe on Christ,
but you also need to repent.
Of course, you need to repent, okay.
God is not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
But what is repentance?
Okay, it's going from one place to another, okay.
You're changing from one thing to another.
And what that is,
is dependent upon the context that you're reading.
We often hear about the term repent of your sins, right?
Turning from your sins.
Am I for turning from your sins?
Absolutely.
What kind of Bible preacher would I be
if I did not believe you had to turn from your sins?
But do you have to turn from your sins to be saved?
Hey, what does that mean, right?
Let's think about this for a minute, all right.
If we know that salvation is believing on Jesus Christ,
His finished work,
and then we talk about repentance,
in context of salvation,
what are we talking about?
Let's think about it.
There are people, you know,
a lot of you guys knock doors,
preach the gospel,
and you ask them,
hey, what makes you sure that you're going to heaven?
What do they say?
I'm a good person, all right.
So what is their faith in?
Jesus Christ?
No, in their works.
So what do they need to repent of?
The faith in themselves,
the faith of believing that their works will get them to heaven,
and place their faith on Jesus Christ, okay.
Others will say,
I know I'm going to heaven because of my,
let's say, false religion,
false church, whatever it is,
whatever, you know,
whatever's not Jesus Christ, okay.
What do they need to repent of?
They need to repent of their false gods,
they need to repent of their false religion, okay.
What are we referring to here?
Their faith, what they believe,
they need to stop trusting in their church,
and start trusting 100% in Jesus Christ, okay.
You notice that it's not works,
it is faith that they need to repent, okay.
When it comes to repentance to salvation,
it is your faith,
where that is placed,
because we know what salvation is, all right.
And of course,
just the one that doesn't believe,
has no belief,
they need to repent from unbelief,
on Jesus Christ.
Every time you repent,
you're repenting from something to something else.
There's a two-part process there,
and Mark 1 says,
and saying the time is fulfilled,
and the kingdom of God is at hand,
repent ye and believe the gospel.
What's the gospel?
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So if you need to believe the gospel,
and it said repent ye,
what are you repenting from?
Not believe in the gospel, right?
Not believe in the gospel,
repent ye, believe the gospel, all right.
Because if you believe that salvation
is by a repentance of your sins,
a turning from your sins,
then this is what you're essentially saying.
We've already said that salvation
is not by the works of the law, all right.
It's not by keeping the commandments,
but if you start saying,
well, you got to turn from your sins to be saved,
then what are you saying?
Let's fill in some sins there.
Well, you need to turn or repent
from lying to be saved.
Well, if that's the case,
what are you actually asking them to do?
You're asking them to keep
commandment number nine
of the 10 commandments, right?
Thou shall not bear false witness.
So what are you saying?
If you're telling someone
you got to repent from lying to be saved,
you're telling them
you got to keep the Lord of God.
You got to keep the works of the law to be saved.
Hey, salvation is not by the works of the law, okay.
If you say, well, you know,
let's say there's a couple committing adultery,
and you say, well, to be saved,
you know, it's not just believing on Jesus,
but you got to stop committing adultery.
Now, should they stop committing adultery?
Absolutely.
But is that,
is them stopping or not stopping
part of salvation?
No.
Because if you tell them
you need to turn from adultery,
you're asking them
to keep commandment number seven, all right?
And if you say to them,
hey, you got to turn from covetousness,
okay, from desiring things
that do not belong to you,
you're asking them
to keep commandment number 10, all right?
And so on and so forth.
Hey, every time you're asking somebody
to turn from a particular sin,
you're asking them to keep the works of the law.
And salvation is not by the works of the law,
it's by faith, okay?
We need to understand these basic concepts
before we get to the rest of Luke chapter three.
Let's talk about baptism very quickly.
John the Baptist, baptism, right?
When should you get baptized?
After you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Baptism is the death, burial, and resurrection
you are identifying
with the death, burial, and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
Once you have placed your faith upon that,
you make a public confession in a sense
by following that command
that Jesus Christ gave us.
But whether you get baptized or not
plays no role in your salvation, okay?
Your salvation is by faith.
It's by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, okay?
Now, when should you get baptized?
As a little baby, as a little child,
sprinkling, we won't go into all that right now.
No, the Bible is very clear.
Acts 836, when Philip came to the Ethiopian eunuch
and preached the gospel to him,
the Ethiopian eunuch said this to him,
as they went on their way,
they came into a certain water,
and the eunuch said,
see, here is water, what doth hinder me
or what prevents me to be baptized?
So he wants to get baptized.
Hey, what's preventing him?
What's hindering him?
And Philip said in verse 37,
if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest.
So what's the condition to get baptized?
You must first believe with all your heart, right?
And then you can get baptized.
And he answered, this is the Ethiopian eunuch,
and he answered and said,
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, all right?
So we see first salvation, believing on Jesus Christ,
you're saved, it's done.
It's based on the works of Christ,
not on your performance.
Then in obedience, you should get baptized, water baptized, okay?
It follows salvation.
Even in the Old Testament,
even in the Old Testament,
the Old Testament type,
when Israel was delivered out of Egypt, right?
And then what happened?
They passed through the Red Sea, remember that story?
When Moses parted the sea,
and they walked through dry land.
The New Testament in 1 Corinthians 10, 1 says,
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant,
how that all our fathers were under the cloud,
and all passed through the sea,
speaking of Israel passing through the Red Sea.
And then it says this in verse two,
and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
So we have a picture of Israel being delivered out of Egypt.
Then they pass through the Red Sea,
which is a type of baptism,
an Old Testament type of the New Testament baptism.
So you notice that the deliverance came first,
or the salvation came first,
then the baptism, all right?
Basic things that anybody should know.
And if you haven't grasped these things,
I recommend that you,
I haven't got the DVDs here,
but I recommend you go on YouTube
and just go through the fundamentals of our church,
the fundamentals of our faith, okay?
Now let's get back to Luke chapter three.
Let's get back to Luke chapter three,
because whatever we read here must be consistent
with these fundamental truths of Christianity, okay?
Must be.
You can't just read a passage and go,
well, that sounds different.
I'm going to go with that view.
No, you stick to the fundamental truths.
You stick to the black and white scriptures, all right?
And you don't wrestle the scriptures.
You follow through.
And again, this really shouldn't be difficult
if you just knew the fundamental truths
and you just read your Bible, okay?
Verse number three, verse number three,
Luke 3, three.
And he came into all the country about Jordan,
preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Oh, John the Baptist came preaching
the baptism of repentance.
Let's think about those words.
Now keep your finger there.
Turn to Acts 19, Acts 19,
because I don't want to give you my opinion
as to what this preaching is, okay?
Acts 19, turn to Acts 19.
And if you're wondering,
why are we turning to the book of Acts?
Well, if you're here for chapter one of Luke,
we learned that the book of Acts
was written by Luke as well, okay?
Written to the same person,
to the most excellent Theopolis, okay?
It was written to a man that was already saved, okay?
And both the book of Luke and the book of Acts
is written by the same person, by Luke.
So of course we'd find this consistency anyway.
Acts 19, verse four, Acts 19, verse four.
What does it say here?
Then said Paul, John verily baptized
with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people,
look at this, what is he saying to the people?
That they should believe on him
that should come after him.
That is on Christ Jesus.
Hey, what is the baptism of repentance?
Believe on Jesus.
It's the gospel, all right?
And yet we will find these false teachers
and false prophets taking this baptism of repentance
and teaching people you got to repent from your sins.
You need to turn from your sins to be saved.
Where is that in the Bible?
That phrase does not even exist in the Bible,
repent of your sins.
Am I all for repent of your sins?
Yes, I am.
Don't misunderstand, but it's for the believer.
We should live a life of continual repentance, okay?
Because we have a sinful nature,
we're going to commit sin for the rest of our life.
Unfortunately, hey, but we should strive
to live holy lives, not to be saved,
because salvation is the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
but to maintain a close fellowship with the Lord,
live holy and blameless lives,
and to please God the Father, okay?
And ultimately to earn rewards in heaven, okay?
But that is not salvation, okay?
We see the baptism of repentance here,
defined for us in Acts 19 four,
that they should believe on him,
that should come after him, that is Jesus Christ.
Go back to Luke chapter three,
Luke chapter three, verse four.
So what's John the Baptist preaching?
Preaching the gospel, he's preaching the gospel.
Verse number four,
as it is written in the words,
in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet saying,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord,
and make his paths straight.
Quickly turn to chapter one,
Luke chapter one, Luke chapter one, verse 76.
Luke chapter one, verse 76.
This is Zacharias speaking of John the Baptist.
What did he say about John the Baptist?
His own son in Luke one, 76.
And thou child shall be called the prophet of the highest.
Then next, look at the next words.
For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord
to prepare his ways.
What's thou?
It's a singular, okay?
He's speaking to John the Baptist.
John the Baptist will prepare the ways of the Lord.
Verse 77, how does he prepare the ways?
Verse 77, to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their sins.
Hey, he was preaching salvation, all right?
And it was a task that was given to John the Baptist.
Now go back to Luke chapter three.
Notice that thou in Luke one, which is singular,
go back to Luke three, look at verse four again.
Verse four, the second half of that,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord.
What's ye?
Plural.
You all, okay?
So John the Baptist came preaching the gospel, right?
Then when they got saved, what's he teaching them now?
Ye go and prepare the way of the Lord.
You go and prepare.
You go and preach the gospel now, okay?
You go and spread this word.
Don't let it just be me.
Yes, I was tasked with this.
But now ye are to go out preparing the ways of the Lord, all right?
And I'll just quickly read to you from John 140.
This is an example of this.
One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew,
Simon Peter's brother.
And first findeth his own brother Simon and sayeth unto him,
we have found the messiahs which has been interpreted the Christ.
So we see here, Andrew following through this, right?
He hears the preaching, he gets saved,
and then he goes and gets his brother and says,
hey, we found him.
We found messiahs.
Let's go, all right?
So we see this play out in the Bible.
Now look at verse number five.
Luke 3, five.
And every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be brought low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways shall be made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord.
So when it talks about the valley has been filled,
the mountains and the hills being brought low,
okay, this is figurative language
because the sentence hasn't finished.
It goes to verse number six which says,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Now think about this.
Think about this.
Who's to see the salvation of the Lord?
All flesh, the people, right?
So when we talk about these mountains being brought low
and the valleys being filled,
we're referring to people.
Think about the gospel, right?
When we go out and we preach the gospel,
those that think they're good enough to be saved,
those that think they're keeping the works of the law,
what are they filled with?
Pride, all right?
Lest any man should boast.
Ephesians 2, right?
They're being boastful.
They're being prideful.
They're like these hills.
They're like these mountains.
And the only way they're going to receive the gospel
is if they're brought low, all right?
If they're taken down a peg, right?
And that's why we say to them,
yes, look, you might be good in the sight of men,
but next to God, you come short of the glory of God, right?
And we need to bring them low
and make them realize, hey, you're right.
I'm a sinner.
I'm not perfect and I need salvation.
And so those that have been prideful,
thinking they're safe because of their own abilities,
hey, they need to be brought low.
And then it says here,
and every valley shall be filled.
So those that already are humble enough
and realize, yeah, you know what?
I'm not a good person.
You know, I can't make it to heaven on my own.
They're low.
They're like a valley that's low
and they shall be filled, right?
Because they get the good news of the gospel.
They know the righteousness of Jesus Christ
and that brings them up,
brings them up to the level of Christ.
What this is saying is, hey, salvation is a great leveler.
No matter who you are in society,
no matter if you're rich or poor,
if you're full of pride or you're very humble,
hey, salvation is the same way.
It's through Jesus Christ.
And in Christ, it's level, okay?
I'm not better than you and you're not better than me
because we're saved through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, okay?
I'm not comparing my righteousness to yours.
Hey, who's going to make it to heaven?
No, we can all just be humble and say,
hey, thank God for the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
That gets me there.
It's a great leveler, okay?
That's what I believe we're seeing there in verses five and six.
Look at verse seven.
Then said he to the multitude
that came forth to be baptized of him.
Okay, so the multitude's coming to get baptized.
Think about this, right?
Are they saved?
They should be if they're coming to get baptized, right?
Baptism comes after salvation.
But look at the words here.
And this is where it gets a little confusing.
Oh, generation of vipers,
who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come.
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance
and begin not to say within yourselves,
we have Abraham to our father.
For I say unto you that God is able of these stones
to raise up children unto Abraham.
Now, it sounds like he's being really cruel.
These multitude turn up,
and he calls them generational vipers.
Hey, but is he talking to everybody?
No, keep your finger there.
Let's compare scripture to scripture.
Go to Matthew chapter three.
Matthew chapter three.
This is another record of John the Baptist
preaching the same message
to those that came to get baptized.
Matthew chapter three verse seven.
Keep your finger there in Luke three,
Matthew three verse seven.
The Bible says,
and when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism,
he said unto them,
oh, generation of vipers,
who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come.
So you see how when we compare scripture to scripture,
these things come to light.
Who's he referring to when he calls them
the generation of vipers?
The Pharisees and the Sadducees,
the religious leaders that thought they could be saved
because they're a child of Abraham.
Hey, I'm a child of Abraham.
I'm saved.
No, right?
God is able to use these stones
and raise up children for himself.
He says, right?
I mean, that's pretty insulting, right?
You're better off being a stone, right?
God can make your child through stones,
you know, and they're worse than that, right?
They're worse than that.
It's pretty insulting.
He calls them a generation of vipers.
Jesus Christ also calls them
a generation of vipers twice in the New Testament,
both times referring to the Pharisees, okay?
The religious leaders of the day,
those that were preaching a false religion.
And so we need to understand this in the context there.
Go back to Luke 3.
Luke 3.
Speaking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Just keep that in mind.
Verse 9.
And now also the axe is laid onto the root of the trees,
every tree therefore which bringeth forth good fruit
is hewn down and cast into the fire.
What's this fire?
It's hell fire, okay?
If these Pharisees are still thinking of themselves as,
well, I'm saved because I'm Abraham's seed.
Hey, they've got to come and bring fruits
worthy of repentance.
Now, keep your finger there.
Go to Matthew 7.
Go to Matthew 7 verse 15.
Because we need to understand it.
What does it mean?
We don't want to just start making things up.
What does it mean to have this tree that's cut down at the roots
and I just start giving you my opinion?
No, the Bible defines itself, okay?
The Bible defines itself.
Matthew 7 verse 15.
Remember he's addressing the Pharisees, okay?
Matthew 7, 15.
The Bible says,
Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes or thorns or figs or thistles?
Even so, every good tree bring forth good fruit,
but a corrupt tree bring forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down, the same words that John the Baptist said, right?
Is hewn down and cast into the fire,
wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Now I didn't intend to really go into this in any depth,
but let me just turn, let's keep reading there.
Matthew 7, let me just find my place here.
Matthew 7 verse 21.
Because the question is, what are these fruits?
Ah, you've got to turn from your sins to be saved.
That's the fruits.
Well, hold on, let's keep reading.
What are the fruits?
What is the bad tree that brings forth the bad fruit?
Look at verse 21, Matthew 7, 21.
Not everyone that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
Okay, now what is it?
Verse 22.
Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
And in thy name have cast out devils.
Let's stop there for a minute.
What is this bad fruit?
They're coming around saying, Lord, Lord, we've prophesied.
Hey, we preach, we're preachers.
We preached in your name.
Hey, we've cast out devils.
Now, does the Bible say they cast out devils?
No, they're saying they cast out devils, right?
They're saying they cast out devils, but look at the end of it.
And in thy name, the many wonderful works.
Hey, what are they trusting in?
The works, the many wonderful works.
Okay, keep reading.
Uh, verse 23.
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Hey, what is the bad tree producing?
People that are trusting in their works for salvation.
People that are trusting in their repentance of sins for salvation.
That's the bad fruit that's been produced.
You come to Christ and say, I've done many wonderful works.
Christ is going to say to you, I never knew you.
He never knew.
It's not like you lost your salvation.
He never knew you.
You were never saved to begin with.
Okay.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Okay.
So we need to address these things.
The Bible is very clear about what that bad fruit is.
People preaching that salvation is by works
and having converts that are trusting in their works for salvation.
All right.
That is one sure way to know a false prophet.
If they're teaching works for salvation.
All right.
Or the converts believe it's by works.
Back to Luke chapter three, please.
Luke chapter three, verse 10, verse 10.
Now I want to make this clear, right?
Sorry.
Let's go.
Let's look at Luke chapter three, verse eight.
Okay.
So we're talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, verse eight.
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance.
Hey, what are they required to do?
They're required to repent, right?
Otherwise they're going to go into the lake of fire, be thrown into the fire, right?
So what is that repentance that they need to do?
And begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father.
So what do they have to repent from?
Trust in that they're going to heaven because Abraham's their father, right?
For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Hey, that makes sense.
That makes sense what we understand about the gospel, about salvation.
Their faith was in themselves.
Their faith was in the lineage.
Their faith was in the genealogy and they have to transfer or repent from that faith
and put their faith on the one that would come after John the Baptist.
That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
You notice that the repentance there is what they're trusting,
where their faith is at, what they're believing.
Okay.
Now when we get to verse number 10, because now this is where it gets confusing for some people,
because now John the Baptist starts preaching works.
Hey, but is this is works for salvation?
No.
You see this other group of people that he's preaching to, remember there's a multitude.
There's a whole bunch of people.
Some are unsaved devils.
All right.
Some are unsaved Pharisees that still can get saved if they repent.
And then there are still and there are others that are already saved.
They come to be baptized.
Baptism is after salvation.
All right.
Verse number 10.
And this is another group of people.
And the people asked him saying, what shall we do then?
Okay.
We know what the Pharisees need to do.
They need to get saved.
But now that we're saved, what do we do then?
All right.
Verse 11.
He answerth and said unto them, he that have two coats, let him impart to him that have none.
And he that have meats, let him do likewise.
So basically just to summarize, love your neighbor.
It's better to give them to receive.
Be generous.
If someone has a need and you can fulfill that need, you know, do so.
All right.
He's preaching them.
Look, do you have to, if you start lumping this in with salvation,
do you need to find someone that needs a coat and give it to them to be saved?
Is that salvation?
Of course not.
But this is works.
This is after salvation, right?
Verse 12.
Then came also publicans.
So these are people that work for the government, like our friend Jason there.
Then came also publicans to be baptized and said unto him, master, what shall we do?
Okay.
They're coming to be baptized.
Remember, they're already saved.
They're coming to get baptized now.
All right.
What shall we do?
And he said unto them, exact no more than that which disappointed you.
Okay.
So be honest in your dealings.
Don't commit extortion.
You know, that kind of thing.
Again, works, right?
Verse 14.
And the soldiers, so we have Roman soldiers here.
Now, I don't know if they're, they're obviously Roman soldiers because we know the state of the
nation at this point, but they may have been, they may have been Jewish Roman soldiers.
Okay.
Because the Roman empire enlisted people of that region as well to serve as a soldier.
But anyway, and the soldiers likewise demanded him saying, what shall we do?
And I love this because anyone, this is a good, this is a good preacher for any police officer.
Anyone that holds authority in civil matters, right?
Because this is, this is what they fail in, right?
And we see this in the Bible.
We still see this today.
What shall we do?
And he said unto them, do violence to no man, right?
Don't violate people, all right?
Yeah, do your job.
Do what you need to do, but don't overstep the boundaries and start killing people, right?
Start violating.
Say things that don't belong to you.
Neither accuse any falsely.
Hey, stop lying.
Stop making false reports, all right?
And be content with your wages.
Stop complaining about how much money you make, all right?
These are things that I think are still applicable to the police force or any kind of authority
that society raises up above, you know, the common citizen, all right?
So again, it's works, all right?
It's works.
These people are saved.
They're coming to get baptized, all right?
They're saved.
What shall we do?
They're works, right?
But notice again, the Pharisees, they need to, they need to repent in context of their
faith, what they were trusting in.
These that are already saved, yeah, they need to repent as well.
They need to do better.
They need to live a whole life, but they're already saved.
They're coming to get baptized, all right?
We need to understand the differences here.
Now, if you think, nah, you know what?
You're making your, you know, that's not what the Bible reads.
You're making that up.
Keep your finger there.
Go to Luke chapter seven, Luke chapter seven.
Let's just confirm this in the scriptures.
Luke chapter seven verse 28, Luke chapter seven verse 28, Luke chapter seven verse 28.
This is now Jesus speaking of John the Baptist, okay?
Speaking of John the Baptist, he says in Luke 7 28,
For I say unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than
John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
I won't go into that right now.
I just want to give you the context there.
Look at verse 29, look at verse 29.
Pay attention.
And all the people that heard him and the publicans,
remember the publicans came to get baptized?
Were they already saved?
Justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.
What does it mean to justify God?
It means you, what they're saying is what we heard from John the Baptist,
the greatest prophet, is justified.
It comes from God.
What he was preaching, the gospel, the salvation.
It was just, it was right, it was correct.
Which is why they were then baptized by John, right?
Then look at verse 30.
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves,
being not baptized of him, all right?
So we do see even later on in Jesus' ministry,
this division of people that came to John the Baptist.
Some did not believe the gospel and of course they were not baptized.
Those that did believe, we saw a group of them, some of them being the publicans,
they were saved and they justified God, it was right, they got baptized.
So you know we see it play out later on that Luke chapter 3 is speaking about two groups of people,
the unsaved and the saved, okay?
Don't get that confused, okay?
Otherwise you're going to start confusing what the gospel is.
Go back to Luke chapter 3, Luke chapter 3.
And I know I'm speeding, there's a lot to cover here guys, I'm going to try.
But look if you have any questions after the service you can feel free to ask me.
Luke chapter 3 verse 15.
So this proves, verse 15 proves that he's preaching the gospel,
that he's preaching about Jesus Christ.
And as the people were in expectation, so they're expecting we'll see Christ,
and all men mused in the hearts of John whether he was the Christ or not.
So he's preaching about Christ coming, right?
And people are hearing this and they're like,
I wonder if it's actually John the Baptist himself or not, right?
So that confirms that their hope, their trust is in Christ that's coming.
But John the Baptist clarifies this in verse 16.
And notice verse 17, it confirms for us that there are the lost there
and that there are saved.
Because verse 17 says,
So the Lord's going to come and gather his wheat, right?
And I believe that's figurative later on,
of being gathered together in the clouds of the Lord.
That's one group.
But then he says after,
And that's a reference to hell fire.
That's a reference to hell.
There's two groups there, right?
The wheat that the Lord gathers,
and then that which is cast into the fire, all right?
Now, just a few thoughts here.
Verse 16, it says that Jesus Christ,
so John the Baptist baptized with water,
but Jesus is coming baptizing with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
And I'm not going to go through all this.
Brother Jason did a great sermon called, Filled with the Spirit.
He goes filled with the Spirit.
And if you want a bit more information in this concept of being baptized by the Holy Ghost,
I recommend you go and listen to that.
But I just want to point out this,
that well, first of all, that when you are saved,
you are baptized by the Holy Ghost.
Because you're born of the Holy Spirit.
You're born again.
And the Holy Ghost comes and dwells the believer, all right?
But notice that it says,
he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
Now, prior to that sermon,
I used to, and I didn't really study it out all that much,
but I used to just assume that the Holy Ghost and fire
was a reference to the day of Pentecost.
Because on the day of Pentecost,
they are indeed baptized by the Holy Ghost, the Bible says.
But also there's a cloven tongue of fire that appears above their heads.
If you guys remember that story.
And so that's what I just generally thought.
But Brother Jason mentioned that the fire here
is a reference to being cast into the lake of fire.
And I hadn't really thought about that.
And verse 17, because the sentence does not finish in verse 16.
Notice there's a colon.
So verse 17, then talks about that fire that's unquenchable, okay?
The chaff.
If you read in the Bible, whenever you look up the word chaff,
it's always talking about the ungodly,
always talking about the wicked that rejects the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that chaff will burn with fire unquenchable.
So the context does lend to the idea here
that the baptism of fire is being cast into the lake of fire, okay?
But of course, when I heard that, what are we supposed to do?
When you hear something new and you're not sure,
hey, what are we supposed to do as believers?
Do we just accept what's preached behind the pulpit?
No.
We should go back to the scriptures and confirm, is this true?
Is this correct?
And the fact that I didn't go back to you, Jason, means that I agreed with you, right?
All right?
But I just want to prove this a little bit and just show you this
because in the three gospels, this is mentioned, okay?
In the three gospels, this teaching is mentioned.
Go to Matthew chapter three.
Again, keep your finger there on Luke three.
Matthew chapter three, verse seven.
So as you're turning there, remember, unquestionable fire is mentioned.
Baptized by fire is mentioned.
And the rebuke to the Pharisees, okay?
The wicked, ungodly, unsaved is mentioned, right?
We saw that in Luke chapter three.
Look at Matthew chapter three, verse seven.
And when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism,
he said unto them, oh, generation of vipers, who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come.
So we have there that same reference to the generation of vipers, the Pharisees.
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
So now we have that second mention, right?
Baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
Lines up with Luke chapter three, right?
Then verse number 12.
We see again the unquenchable fire, right?
We see that, we see the baptism of fire
and we see the generation of vipers that is being preached against.
That lines up perfectly with Luke chapter three.
Now turn to Mark chapter one, Mark chapter one, verse five.
Mark chapter five, sorry, Mark chapter one, verse five.
Mark chapter one, verse five.
And notice the difference, notice the difference here.
Mark chapter one, verse five.
preached saying they come with one mightier than I after me the latter of
whose shoes I'm not worthy to stoop down and unloose I indeed have baptized you
with water but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost
you notice what's missing there and with fire missing the unquestionable fire if
you read on it's not there and the generation of vipers are not there and
so I believe that is the correct interpretation by the way brother Jason
and so when the generation of vipers are mentioned and the threat of not
believing the gospel is that you'll be cast in the lake of fire makes sense but
in the book of Mark he doesn't see fit for whatever reason to record that
conversation and so he misses he leaves out the baptism with fire okay and so
that shows that correlation between those other things I hope that makes
sense if again if you have any questions please let me know back to Luke chapter
three back to Luke chapter three I better hurry up a little verse 18 and
many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people so there are
many other things that John the Baptist preached he wasn't just baptizing he
wasn't just preaching the gospel he was preaching many things and then verse 19
is one example of what he preached but Herod the tetrarch being reproved by him
for Herodias his brothers Philip's wife and for all the evils which Herod had
done added yet this above all that he shut up John in prison so what else did
John the Baptist preach against divorce against remarriage this guy took his
brother's wife and John the Baptist is preaching against it hey John the
Baptist Jesus said John the Baptist is the greatest of the Old Testament
prophets all right he was a great man hey he was a preacher of God right he's
a great preacher of God and if you have a desire to be a pastor to be a preacher
then you need to follow after the examples that we have in the Bible you
ought to follow off the examples that we have of John the Baptist was he just
preaching love is that all he was preaching no he had a balanced diet of
preaching right he preached the gospel then he preached those that got saved
you go and preach the gospel right and then he preached against the false
prophets of the day the false teachers the Pharisees and said you're gonna be
cast into the lake of fire stop trusting hey he preached against those that are
trusting in their genealogy as a descendant of Abraham that they're saved
just by that hey he preached that right and then he preached good works he
preached generosity he preached loving your neighbor he preached giving a quote
to those that require one he preached hey be content with your wages he
preached contentment hey he preached against divorce and remarriage
hey if you want to be a preacher of God you must be a balanced preacher all
right if all you preach is the gospel just sit down and let someone else take
over now that's important okay but we need to we need to cover all these
things you need to preach about hellfire you can't just preach you can't just
preach salvation without talking about the dangers of hell should you reject
Jesus Christ hey you need to call out the false prophets the false teachers
okay oh that's not loving then John the Baptist wasn't loving then Jesus wasn't
loving hey these men of God these great preachers had a balanced start of
preaching you need all these things but if all you're doing is preaching against
false prophet week in week out then you're not balanced either you need all
these aspects right the gospel preach soul winning preaching against false
prophets preaching good works okay preaching against marriage and remarriage
and divorce okay we need to cover all these bases if you want to be a preacher
of God Luke 3 21 Luke 3 21 and now when all the people were baptized it came to
pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying the heaven was opened and the
Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him and a voice came
from heaven which said thou at my beloved son in thee I am well pleased he
had the baptism of Jesus Christ all right this is the one that would come
after John Baptist the salvation of the Lord and what do we see in the baptism
of Jesus you see Jesus going into the water getting baptized we see the Holy
Ghost descending bodily like a dove my personal opinion on that is that the
Holy Spirit looked like a dove as he descended all right some other people
have some different interpretations like he descended bodily and like a dove is
in the manner that he descended like it may have looked like a human body but
the way he descended was like a dove at the end of day doesn't really matter
okay but we have the Holy Ghost there and then we have the voice in heaven
which said this is my beloved son who's speaking if Jesus Christ is his beloved
son it's God the Father speaking hey we have the Trinity in place here at the
baptism of Jesus Christ the Trinity is emphasized in all the passages that deal
with the baptism of Jesus Christ and you might ask well when you baptize someone
do you baptize someone by the name of Jesus only no when we baptize someone we
baptize them by then in the name the instructions that Jews left us in Matthew
28 baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost okay all free all right all free and then someone say well hold on in the
book of Acts in the book of Acts it says they'll baptize in Jesus name yeah but
understand that the name the name is not only a personal name name also means
authority name also means power like the name you know stop but in the name of
the law name that the law doesn't have a personal name it's the authorities the
power of the law which that person wants to stop right and so when we talk about
someone in the book of Acts that was baptized in Jesus name what they're
referring to is that they were baptized by the authority that Jesus Christ left
us found in Matthew 28 baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost which reflects what we see with Jesus Christ baptism
all right all these things come together and make perfect sense now we're left
with the genealogy now the genealogy look at verse 23 Luke 3 23 and I'm not
going to read it through at all but I just want to bring some things to your
attention and Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age being as was
supposed the son of Joseph hey was he the biological son of Joseph no he was
born of his mother who was a virgin at that time right the son of God but those
around him that grew up with him that knew him family you know the community
supposed thought of him as the son of Joseph and then as you read for this
chronology chronology it says that which was the son of which was the son of
which was the son of as Tim did very well reading fruit for us now go to our
Matthew chapter 1 Matthew chapter 1 let's look at the other chronology that
exists for Jesus Christ let's compare the two Matthew chapter 1 and I'm almost
done now but Matthew chapter 1 verse 16 Matthew chapter 1 verse 16 actually
Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 first Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 the Bible says the
book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham so
when we go to the chronology in Matthew we see what is trying to be
emphasized here that is the son of David that's King David and the son of Abraham
okay Abraham had the promises to him and to his seed the Bible says that seed
which is Christ in Galatians chapter 3 we won't go into that right now but
notice that when we get to verse 16 it says and Jacob begat Joseph the husband
of Mary of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ now if you read through
that chronology it doesn't say the son of the son of the son of it says
begat begat begat all right now I've got ten kids all right now let's talk about
my sons for a minute we've got seven sons and they're all begotten of me as
well okay now what what is it which one carries more weight which one speaks of
biology of procreation of genealogy generation what which one of those speak
of it that is my son or that he was begotten of me that which was begotten
of me right because begotten is to bring forth to bring into existence all right
so my children my sons were brought forth through my genes right for being
intimate with my wife my wife giving birth their genes I carried and carry my
genes and my wife's genes right we we begat we begot these children okay but
if I were to adopt let's say one of the Mitchell kids we adopt Brody right into
the family you know and he legally became my son I could call him my son
right he'd be my son all right but did I beget him no okay his genes will not
be the family genes but he'd be my son all right now let's think about this a
little bit more what about when my daughter you know Isabel hopefully gets
married one day guess what when she gets married I'm gonna have another son all
right yeah my son-in-law my son-in-law hey he's my son but did I beget that
son-in-law no right no so I just want you to think about these things when we
come to these two genealogies one is that physical passing down of a
genealogy be getting someone the other one then references the Sun now the
reason is it's it's um it's because there is a difference between the two
genealogies there's a difference okay now when we look at the genealogy there
in in Matthew Matthew chapter look at verse 116 again it says and Jacob begat
Joseph the husband of Mary so who was the father of Joseph Jacob right Jacob
is the father of Joseph Jacob begat or begot Joseph okay so he is the reason
that Joseph exists all right now go back to Luke chapter 3 go back to Luke
chapter 3 Luke chapter 3 verse 23 Luke chapter 3 verse 23 Luke chapter 3 verse
23 and Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age being as was supposed
the son of Joseph was he actually begotten of Joseph right now which was
the son of Eli hold on the other one said Jacob this one says Eli or Eli
okay so the genealogy that we have here in Luke chapter 3 is not the generation
of Joseph the Joseph's line but that of Mary okay Mary who married Joseph and of
course the Bible talks about marriage being of one flesh and he lie was the
father-in-law of Joseph all right and that also passes through we won't go
into it all now eventually goes back to King David back to Abraham and all the
way back to Adam okay all the way back to Adam so what we see in the book of
Matthew we see that it goes through the line of David King David but also through
the kingly line so it's not just David but then Solomon his son and then
Solomon's son Jeroboam all right I know I forgot his name anyone remember it
Rehoboam that's right yeah sorry the king of Judah and so Matthew confirms
that Jesus Christ is the king of the Jews and follows that kingly line okay
through Joseph but Joseph was not his biological father but still is it was
important that Joseph did marry Mary to keep that lineage right it was important
that genealogy but then if someone were to criticize that and go well you're not
really of Joseph and wanted to trace it down Mary's line well Mary also her
genealogy goes all the way back to King David but not for the kingly line goes
through another son of his and then back to Abraham and beyond Abraham okay
because many of the Hebrews or the Jews consider Abraham their father and then
we have a lineage in Matthew of of the Israelites okay but what's great about
the book of Luke it goes beyond that and goes into the Gentiles in fact Abraham
was actually a Gentile okay so was Isaac okay and then Jacob his name was changed
right by God to Israel what are the Israelites the children of Israel the
twelve tribes of Israel under Jacob Jacob was Israel but Abraham his
grandfather was not an Israelite because he was not a child of Israel okay he
actually was a Gentile and obviously all the way back to Adam there were Gentile
nations okay the point I just want to bring there is that Jesus is not just
the Savior of the Jews not just the Savior of the physical nation of Israel
but also the Savior of all mankind okay of all you know Jew or Gentile you know
the Savior but he also came forth in his genealogy from both Israelites and
Gentiles okay I think that's all I've got for you guys today oh yeah just one
one more one more thing just just in Luke Luke chapter 3 okay Luke chapter
3 because notice that Luke chapter 3 verse verse 31 Luke chapter 3 verse 31
it says which was the son of Meliah which was the son of Menon which was the
son of Metaphor which was the son of Nathan which was the son of David King
David so Jesus was the son of David right we just confirmed that right but
then when you go when you follow all the way through back to verse 38 down to
verse 38 Luke 3 38 which was the son of Enos which was the son of Seth which
was the son of Adam which was the son of God hey who created Adam God but who was
the creator when God the Father created all things he did it through his son the
Lord Jesus Christ right and in Revelation 22 16 Jesus says of himself I
Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches
I am the roots and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star
yes is the offspring of King David but he's also the root of King David right
because it's it's it's the Lord Jesus Christ who created all things and
created Adam and down that lineage goes all right let's pray