Alright guys, Matthew chapter 3, Matthew chapter 3, I hope so far you've enjoyed, I know we've
already gone through two chapters, but I hope you're enjoying the format of going chapter
by chapter through the Bible.
It allows us to explore many many topics at once, because as we know many of the chapters
cover many things that we're taught, and it's not just one topic that's talked about per
chapter.
So I want to try to take as much as I can, especially in these chapters of Matthew, the
verses aren't that many.
As we saw there in chapter 3, there was only 17 verses.
I'm also preaching through the book of Luke up in Queensland, and almost consistently
the chapters in that book is something like 50 to 60 verses, like in each chapter.
So it's quite different, the breakup of Matthew with the breakup of Luke.
But as we go through and we look at Matthew chapter 3, it's very similar, I mean if you
have time when you get home, read Luke chapter 3, because it's basically the exact same situation
that we read about here in Matthew chapter 3, but we've got a lot more information, we've
got a lot more detail.
And what's beautiful about having these books is that we can compare scripture with scripture.
There are some things that if you took Luke 3 alone, it's kind of challenging you, you
end up scratching your head going, what is that talking about?
But then you look at Matthew and it makes it clear as to what is being said.
Now look at verse number 15, Matthew chapter 3 verse 15, what's the title of the sermon tonight?
Matthew chapter 3 verse 15, it says, And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now,
for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness, then he suffered him.
The title of the sermon tonight is Fulfill All Righteousness.
We have Jesus saying to John the Baptist here that we need to fulfil all righteousness
together.
So that's really what I want to take away from in this chapter, but we have many things
to cover.
Let's look at verse number 1, Matthew chapter 3 verse number 1, it says, In those days came
John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repeat ye, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand.
Now look, before we even get into anything else, this chapter, Matthew chapter 3 and
Luke chapter 3 are some of the chapters that I see more often butchered by other preachers,
butchered by churches, and many people take the verses that you're going to read here
and they teach a false gospel, they teach a gospel by works, and a lot of it comes from
these chapters, chapter 3, Matthew chapter 3 and Luke chapter 3.
So before we even get into the meat of this chapter, we need to cover some foundations,
we need to cover some fundamentals of Christianity.
And we're going to look at basically three core things that are very important.
Number 1, that's salvation, number 2, that's repentance, and number 3 is baptism.
Because as we come here to John the Baptist, we know what his mission was, and that partly
was to baptise a new generation that would be seeking after Christ.
But if we get these fundamentals right, as we go through this chapter and other chapters,
you know, you won't get confused.
You won't be deceived.
And many of these false preachers are relying on your ignorance, are relying that you've
not studied out these gospels on your own, and then they turn their twisted scriptures
and they mess up the gospel, they add works or whatever else they do to confuse what's
being read here.
The other thing, besides these fundamentals, the other thing that you must understand,
when you're reading through the gospels, compared to reading through the epistles,
you know when we read the epistles of Paul, and he writes to the Thessalonians, and he
writes to the Colossians, and he writes to the Ephesians already, he writes to the Corinthians.
We know that he's writing to believers.
So you can pretty much take those epistles and go, okay, this is for believers, this
is for a church environment, and you know, it's not confusing in that sense.
But one thing they need to understand about the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
is that there are multitudes that are being preached at.
We start with John the Baptist, there are literally thousands of people flocking to
hear John the Baptist preach.
And when Jesus goes, I'm sure when you've read those gospels you've realised this,
as Jesus is going from town to town, city to city preaching, there are thousands flocking
him.
There's one time he had to feed 5,000 men at once.
There are thousands flocking him to hear what he has to say.
And one thing that might confuse you is if you conclude, oh, he must be preaching to
believers all the time.
Or all these people that are flocking to hear him, they must all be believers, they must
all be people.
Why did you know the Lord Jesus Christ?
But that's not true.
We'll soon see in this chapter even, there are people that are not believers that are
listening to Jesus, there are outright reprobates, there are Pharisees and Sadducees, there are
people that are trying to catch Jesus in a word or in a deed to find blame in him.
And so one thing you need to understand as you go through those gospels is that there's
a variety of people that have been preached at.
And you need to make sure you apply certain things that are being preached to believers
and then other things that are being preached to non-believers and other things that are
being preached to false teachers like the Pharisees and etc.
So if you start messing that up, you're going to get confused while you read through the
gospels.
Now let's have a look at this.
Let's talk about salvation very quickly.
What's salvation?
We're already saying it.
God so loved the world in John 3.16 that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
It couldn't be more simple than that.
That God during this Christian period, we remember that God the Father gave us his son.
That's his gift, his free gift to us.
And we know why he came.
He came to die that cruel death on the cross and to be risen again three days later.
From the grave.
We know that.
But it says that whosoever believeth in him.
How are we saved?
We are saved by believing in Jesus Christ.
By putting our faith and trust on the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work.
His finished sacrifice.
The shed of blood that he did on our behalf.
We know that fundamental truth.
You know John 1.12 says, but as many as we seek him, to them gave the power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
How do we become a son of God?
How do we become a child of God?
It's them that believe on his name.
What's his name?
Jesus Christ.
We're saved by believing on Jesus Christ.
That's how we receive salvation.
And of course, Ephesians 2.
Hey, these verses that I just read out to you, they just point to the fact that it's
by faith.
It's by believing.
But then there are others that say, well, believing means works.
Believing means action.
Believing means trying to live a better life, more God life.
That's how you're saved.
And that's why we have other verses in the Bible like Ephesians 2.
8 and 9.
For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of
God, not of works.
Less any man should boast.
And you know what it's like when you go strong with him.
You knock on the door.
You immediately see people posting about this and I'm called so-called salvation.
You ask them, are you sure you've come to heaven?
Yes, I'm sure of.
I hope so.
What gives you that assurance?
I'm a good person.
You know, what are you doing here?
You're posting of yourself.
You're posting of your merits and your performance and how you really want your wife.
Hey, that's not salvation.
It's by grace through faith.
And that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God.
It's free.
It's free because Jesus paid it all.
All right.
And of course, Galatians 2 16.
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law.
Now this is important as we go through this.
Okay.
As we go through this chapter.
As we go through Matthew chapter 3.
You know, it says we're not justified 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 not flesh be justified.
Okay.
Hey, what are the Ten Commandments?
That's the works of the law.
What's the Old Testament commands that we all read about?
Hey, they're the works of the law.
You cannot be saved by the works of the law.
The Old Testament saints were not saved by the works of the law.
Were they required to carry it out?
Yes.
You know, as a special nation that was chosen by God.
But salvation, even in the Old Testament, was by grace through faith.
Okay.
It's always been by grace through faith.
It's the only way somebody can be made righteous before God.
So, I have no question that you guys pretty much know this, right?
That salvation is not a works and it's by faith from the Lord Jesus Christ.
But as we read there in verse number two, if we look at it again, Matthew chapter three,
verse number two, it says, and saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Right?
And this is where the false teacher will jump.
Oh, there is this repent ye.
So, how do you get saved?
You've got to repent of your sins, I'm saying.
You've got to turn from your, from your, you know, the wickedness that you've done in your life.
You know, you've got to turn in your life in life.
You've got to be more holy and whatever.
You know, as soon as you reach a certain standard, then I'll give you the stamp of approval that you're saved.
I mean, that's just a false gospel.
Okay.
And it saddens me that my fellow Baptist brethren out there are teaching this nonsense.
Okay.
It's not by the works of the Lord.
Let me give you an example of this.
You know, if you're to say, hey, you know, to be saved you've got to repent of your sins.
Okay.
And usually they don't name the sins that you've got to turn from.
Okay.
So, let's just, let's just clarify this.
Let's add some, something practical to this.
So, if you might say, well, you've got to repent from lying.
Hey, how about that sin, right?
That's a sin, lying.
That's a small sin that we can repent from.
Right.
To be saved, you've got to repent from lying.
Well, what does that mean?
What are you asking?
You've got to turn from lying.
You've got to stop lying.
What does that mean?
That means in the Ten Commandments, that's commandment number nine.
You know, that shall not bear false witness.
That's lying.
So, if you, if you tell someone you've got to turn from your sins and one of those could
be lying, what are you telling them?
You've got to keep the Ten Commandments.
You've got to keep commandment number nine.
That's what you're essentially saying.
Okay.
And a lot of people have been so, are brainwashed that they don't realize when they're saying
those things, they're asking people to keep the works of the law.
And we already saw that no flesh can be justified by the works of the law.
Okay.
He says to them, oh well, you know, you're living in an adultery and this happens.
Pastors have preached this.
Right?
Someone's in an adulterous relationship and said, well, you can only be saved if you turn
from that adultery.
Okay.
You've got to leave that woman.
You've got to leave that man to be saved.
Well, that's commandment number seven.
Keep commandment number seven.
Keep the works of the law to be saved is what they're saying.
All right.
Well, covetousness.
You know, the desire in wanting something that doesn't belong to you.
You know, that someone else has.
You know, be conscious of what other people have.
Hey, that's commandment number 10.
And I think we've all probably experienced times of covetousness.
In fact, as we come through Christmas, I mean, the reason why, you know, these stores make
so much money is because of covetousness.
Okay.
People are desiring all this stuff that they can see and all the sales that they see, you
know, and, you know, I'll buy for other people, but really people are buying for themselves
all the time.
Right.
People buy for themselves afterwards and people go nuts over these things, you know.
It's covetousness.
It's the works of the law.
If you're telling people you've got to turn from sins to be saved, man, you're at a little
false gospel, you know, and you're not saved.
If you believe that, you're not saved.
Okay.
You got salvation by grace through faith.
Now, let's understand repentance because it did say repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
So, repentance for salvation has two parts.
Okay.
What does repentance mean?
Remember, it means to change or to turn.
Okay.
Change or to turn.
So, it says here in verse number two, and saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
Now, I haven't got the reference here, but when Jesus commanded his 12 disciples to go
and preach the gospel of the kingdom, I mean, sorry, to preach the kingdom of heaven, the
bible says they went preaching the gospel.
Okay.
Because the only way you can enter the kingdom of heaven is to be saved.
And the only way you can be saved is to hear and believe the gospel.
Okay.
So, first of all, that's what you need to understand what verse number two is talking
about.
Okay.
But what are we turning from?
Are we turning from sin to be saved?
Well, maybe a little bit.
Okay.
But let me explain this to you.
Okay.
When you're turning for salvation, we know that salvation is without works.
Without the deeds of the law.
But we are turning from something.
So, if it's not works, what is the repentance baseline?
It's a repentance of your faith.
If salvation is by grace through faith, if salvation is by believing of the Lord Jesus
Christ, then repentance for salvation is a repentance of your faith.
Okay.
Let me explain this to you.
If you're someone that believes, it is by the works of the law.
Okay.
If that's what you believe salvation is, well, you need to repent from that.
You need to take your faith away from the works and put it 100% on Jesus Christ.
You repent it from your dead works.
You're repenting toward the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what's happening.
Or if you believe salvation is by your idol worship, your false gods, your false religion,
your faith is on that false religion, then you need to repent from that false religion
because it's your faith you're taking away from there and you're putting that faith
on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is repentance in context of salvation.
Okay.
So, what about me?
I never believed it was by works.
I never believed it was by a false god, a false religion.
Well, there was a time when you didn't believe the gospel, right?
There was a time when you didn't believe.
So, what's repentance there?
Because, you know, you have to believe the gospel.
Well, you repent it from unbelief and you've taken your faith from unbelief and you're
putting your faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Okay.
It's not 90% on Jesus, 10% on me.
Hey, I can do it.
No.
It's 100% on Jesus Christ, 0% on you.
Okay.
You cannot do it on your own.
So, this is biblical repentance.
Mark 1, 15 says, and saying, the tithe is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand,
repent ye and believe the gospel.
Repent ye and believe the gospel.
What are you repenting from?
From not believing the gospel.
Believe the gospel.
Repent.
Believe the gospel.
Okay.
So, that's how repentance and salvation by grace through faith go hand in hand.
Okay.
It's not some extra additional work that you need to do to be saved.
If we keep these fundamental, like I'm telling you guys, you guys already know this, I know
that, right?
But we need to cover this because as we go through the chapter, we want to make sure
we don't get confused by what we're reading.
Okay.
And the last thing we want to talk about is baptism.
Baptism.
Okay.
Because we're going through John the Baptist here.
I'll just quickly, if you guys can turn to Acts chapter 8.
Acts chapter 8 verse 36.
The Bible says, and as they went on their way, this is the story of Philip and the Ethiopian
eunuch, remember that?
And the Ethiopian eunuch was reading the book of Isaiah and didn't know what it was reading.
Philip comes along and explains it to him.
And it says, and as they were on their way, they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch
said, see, here is water.
What doth hinder me and what prevents me to be baptized?
Verse 37.
And Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine heart, there's a gospel, you believe
on Jesus, thou hast.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And that's important that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, he's the second person in
the Trinity.
Now we're going to touch on this toward the end of the chapter.
But I want you to notice there that baptism comes after you believe on Jesus Christ, after
you've been saved.
And I'm just going to read to you from 1 Corinthians chapter 10, because this is not just the New
Testament.
Baptism was pictured in the Old Testament as well.
In 1 Corinthians 10 verse 1 it 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.
And what fathers are they talking about there?
Talking about Israel, when they left Egypt, the Exodus out of Egypt, they then passed
through the Red Sea.
Remember that on the dry ground, when Moses got his rod and the waters split open, they
walked on the dry ground.
But then it says in verse number 2 here, it says, and we will baptize unto Moses in the
cloud and in the sea.
So the Lord had a shade of cloud over the Israelites as they passed through.
So you can see that above them.
And then they had the waters of the wall of the Red Sea around them.
So in picture form, symbolically, as the Israelites went through that Red Sea, they were being
baptized.
And there was a picture of the New Testament, salvation.
But remember, it was after they were delivered out of Egypt, right?
After they were delivered, after they were saved out of Egypt.
The Exodus, remember, how did they get out of Egypt?
They got the Passover lamb, they took the blood and applied it to the doorpost, that
being a picture of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the house.
Then they walked out of that, they left Egypt in haste, they left Egypt immediately, because
salvation is a one-time process.
It's just us as soon as you believe, as soon as the blood of Christ is applied to you.
And then after they were delivered, after they were saved, symbolically speaking, they
were then baptized through the Red Sea.
So we even see the Old Testament play out perfectly with what the New Testament teaches.
Pastor Kevin, we know all this, but you've got to be careful, because there are the seekers
in this world.
There are false teachers in this world, and they go to try to take advantage of your ignorance.
Go back to Matthew chapter 3.
Matthew chapter 3, verse number 3.
All of what we just covered there will come to, you'll understand why I emphasize all
those points.
And please remember, keep the foundations there all the time when you read through the Bible.
The foundations are always black and white.
The foundations are always easy to understand.
The virgin birth.
You know, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The second coming of Christ.
There are fundamentals of Christianity that never changes.
And you need to hold on to those fundamentals in order to read the rest of the Bible.
If you read something in the Bible that sounds contradicting to those fundamentals, it's
just your understanding is not right.
Whatever the reason, the Bible has to line up with those fundamentals of the faith.
But let's read verse number 3.
For this, speaking of John the Baptist, for this is he that was spoken of by the prophet
Cassius saying, well that's Isaiah, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Okay, so what was the job of John the Baptist?
Why did he come before Jesus?
That he would prepare the way of the Lord.
And he came preparing a new generation of believers.
Knew that they would come and when Christ would come, they would receive him as his
Messiah.
Because at this stage, Israel were very lost.
They were darkened.
I mean their priests were totally lost.
Jesus describes some of those Pharisees as sons of the devil.
Children of the devil he says.
You know what I mean?
It was a very spiritual dark place when Jesus came, but John the Baptist came providing
a pathway for him.
Okay, now that saying there, I'm going to read to you from Isaiah 40.
You don't need to turn there, but I'm going to read to you from Isaiah 40 verse 3.
Okay, and you can turn there if you want.
But, Isaiah 40 verse 3, this is where it comes from.
It says, the voice of him that cried in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Now the next verses are pretty interesting.
It says, every valley shall be exalted.
You know what valleys are?
That's where, you know, the ground starts to cave in between mountains and between hills.
Okay, it says, every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made
low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the glory
of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the
Lord hath spoken it.
Okay, now, a lot of people don't know what this is talking about.
They think about, hold on, when Jesus comes, are the mountains going to crumble down, are
the valleys coming up?
You know what this is talking about?
Let's not make it clear.
It says that all flesh shall see it together.
In the book of Luke, it says that all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Okay, and what's that salvation of God?
It's the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, what is this about the valleys and the mountains?
Okay, let me explain to you what it is.
Because, what the valleys and the mountains represent are people, are the flesh.
Okay, when you speak to someone that believes they're safe because of their works, they're
like that mountain.
They're like lifted up in pride.
They're exalted high, hey, I'm going to heaven because of me.
Right, but the Bible said there that every mountain and hill shall be made low.
What does that mean?
It means we've got to go and say, hey, you're a sinner.
You're a sinner.
You come short of the glory of God.
When we say that to them, what are we saying to them?
We're trying to peg them down a bit.
Yeah, you might be good in the sight of men, but in the sight of God, you come short of
his glory.
You come short of his perfection.
And that's when they turn around and go, yeah, you're right, I'm not perfect.
You know, and they're willing to accept that.
In other words, those that are silent, high minded and prideful, they've got to be brought
low.
They've got to be humble.
Okay, and it's only in humility that they can then receive Jesus Christ.
When they realize that they cannot save themselves, that's when they've got to humble themselves
and accept the salvation of God.
And then you've got the valleys.
And so the valleys there, every valley shall be exalted.
So when you do have the humble person, the one that knows, I mean, have you knocked on
someone's door and said, are you sure you're going to heaven?
They're like, you know what, I'm going to hell.
Because, you know, they realize they're a sinner.
They realize I'm not a good person.
I haven't done good in this life.
I'm probably going to hell.
And that's like a valley that will be, what did it say?
Exalted.
Let me just look at it again, make sure I did it right.
Yeah, that the valley shall be exalted.
Why?
Because what fills that gap between them and God?
It's the righteousness of Christ.
And what's beautiful about salvation is that the salvation of God is a great leveler.
It doesn't matter what your background is.
It doesn't matter how much you know about Christianity.
It doesn't matter how long you've been in church.
It doesn't matter how many good works or bad works you've done.
We enter in the same door.
That door means the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ's righteousness makes us all equal.
When it comes to salvation, I'm not better than you.
And you're not better than me.
But if salvation was by works, then I could say, hey, I'm going to heaven because I'm better than you.
And you could say the same thing to me.
Okay, so one thing we need to see there is that salvation, the past that John the Baptist was preparing, was a leveler.
And the Pharisees did not like it.
They didn't like being counted like everyone else.
They wanted to think of themselves as high and mighty and we'll soon see why.
Go back to Matthew chapter 3, verse 4.
Matthew 3, verse 4, speaking of John the Baptist here.
It says, and the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leather girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
I mean, this man, if you go to the wilderness to see this John the Baptist, he's clothed with camel's hair.
Okay, I mean, I don't know, did he find a dead camel and use his skin there and clothe himself?
You know, a leather girdle about his loins has got a bell time and his meat was food.
This is what he ate to sustain himself in the wilderness with locusts, you know, insects like grasshoppers or whatever, and wild honey.
That's what sustained him, you know.
And you might say, oh man, if you saw that sight, what a simple man.
You know, what a rough man.
But Jesus says to him in Matthew 11 and 11 on the screen, it says,
Verily I say among you, among them that are born of women, they have not risen a greater than John the Baptist.
Hey, you know what, it doesn't matter if you have great possessions.
It doesn't matter how much you have.
Hey, if your diet is locusts and wild honey, you can be a great person for God.
Okay, and so, you know, we shouldn't look at people and go, look how they look.
You know, look how they speak, they're a bit uneducated or whatever.
Hey, that person could be doing great works for God.
Okay, what makes someone great is the one that prepares the pathway for the Lord.
The one that goes preaching the gospel.
That's the one, the one that puts the kingdom of God first.
They're the great people of God, okay.
The Pharisees weren't.
The Pharisees looked good on the outside, but they were full of dead men's bones, the Bible says, right.
Look at verse number 5.
Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan,
so you see great multitude of people from all cities and areas coming to hear John the Baptist.
And were baptized of him in Jordan confessing their sins.
And here we go, here's what the false prophet is going to say to you.
Aha, here we go.
They're confessing their sins, right.
And they'll say, look, can you see these people are turning from their sins because they're confessing their sins.
Look, does the Bible say they're turning from their sins?
Does the Bible say here they're trying to live better lives?
No, it says they're confessing their sins, all right.
And this is the same thing when we go and we knock boards.
And we say, hey, you've come short of the glory of God for the way that your sin is death.
You know, we teach them, you know, in death and hell we're cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death.
And we teach them, hey, as sinners we're all deserving of hell.
And I don't know, the question I'd like to ask them, you know, just to make them realize they're counting amongst this,
is have you ever told a lie?
And most people are quite comfortable to say, yeah, I've told a lie, you know.
What's that? What's that?
Let's then confess in their sins.
Let's then admit, hey, I'm a sinner.
It's until you realize that you're a sinner in the sight of God, that's the point when you realize, I am a savior.
And look, it says here, what were they doing?
They came in verse number six and were baptized of him in Jordan.
Hey, were they getting baptized and then getting saved?
Hey, what's the proper process?
Remember, what are the fundamentals?
When should you get baptized?
After salvation.
After you believed the gospel.
That's when you get baptized.
So the fact that these people came being baptized means they were already saved.
Okay?
They were already saved.
And that's important.
Let's look at verse number seven.
Verse number seven.
So verse number six are believers.
Okay?
Verse number seven are non-believers.
Please, don't apply non-believer stuff to a believer.
Okay, let's have a look at this.
Verse number seven.
And when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them,
Who? Them? The Pharisees and the Sadducees, right?
O generation of vipers, who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come,
bring forth their forefront, meet for repentance.
Now, there it is, right?
There's a, you've got to turn from your sins to be saved.
No.
What?
Let's have a look at this.
So, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they're coming.
They're being preached against, right?
They're being preached against.
John the Baptist is saying, look, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
These people were not saved.
Okay, because that's saying, we're not appointed to the wrath of God.
But these were, they were still under the God's wrath because they had not received Jesus.
They had not put their faith in God.
And then it says in verse number eight, look at it again, bring forth therefore fruits, meet for repentance.
Now, has the sentence finished?
Look at it.
Look at the end of that sentence.
Or the end of the verse.
Has it finished?
No.
There's a column.
Okay.
And when you read your Bibles and there's a column, don't stop.
The sentence is not over.
Usually when there's a column, what follows explains what was just said in more detail.
Okay.
So what are the fruits of repentance that the Pharisees need to come with?
Is it that they have to turn from their adultery and their fornication?
Is it that they have to turn from their drunkenness and start keeping the commandments of God?
And that's what the Prince is going to say to you.
That's what they're going to say to you.
The false teachers out there, they're going to say that to you.
But the Bible tells us we're going to have to work.
Look, I'm not a genius.
The Bible tells me all about this.
Okay.
Look at verse number nine.
And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father, for I say to you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
So what's the problem with the Pharisees?
They think they're right with God.
They think they're saints because they're children of Abraham.
They think because they're physical descendants of Abraham, they're wrong with God.
Right?
That's what John about to say.
Think not to say within yourselves.
Hey, this is what you need to repent from.
You thought you were so great.
You thought you were right with God because you were a descendant of Abraham.
And he kind of, you know, what's the word?
Insults them by saying, you know, God is able of these stones, these dead stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
You think that makes you good with God?
So what is their fruit of repentance?
What is their faith in?
Think about that.
Is John about to say, hey, you've got to turn from sins?
Is he saying you've got to turn from wine and light, turn from extortion and turn from drunkenness?
No.
It's repentance because it's their faith.
Their faith was in the wrong thing.
Their faith was in I'm a descendant of Abraham.
Okay?
They need to turn from that in order to be right with God.
Okay?
Verse number 10.
And now also the axe is laid unto the roots of the trees.
Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Okay, here it is.
Be careful.
Here it is.
They'll say to you, see, you need to bring good fruits.
Otherwise you're going to the fire.
You're going to hell.
And they'll interpret the good fruits as works.
You've got to live the life and go to church and read your Bible.
You've got to do all this stuff to be saved.
That's what I'm saying.
And it can sound like that, right?
If you're ignorant of other scriptures.
So to understand this, please go to Matthew chapter 7.
Matthew chapter 7.
Because Jesus teaches this in a lot more detail.
And I don't want to go into too much detail in Matthew 7 because we're going to get to
Matthew 7 eventually and then we'll cover it in more detail.
But have a look at this.
Have a look at this.
Remember the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they were the religious leaders.
They were unsaved.
Their faith was on the wrong thing.
Child of Abraham.
No, it's not going to get you saved.
Your DNA is not going to get you saved.
And there are still some people today, Christians that think Jews are saved because of the Children
of Abraham.
It's the craziest thing, right?
Your DNA will never save you, okay?
It's only through Jesus Christ.
But anyway, Matthew 7 verse 15.
Matthew 7 verse 15.
Look at this.
These are the words of Jesus.
He says, beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they
are ravening wolves.
You shall know them by their fruits.
The same thing John about to say, right?
You need to have the fruits.
Let's have a look at this.
Do men gather grapes or fawns or figs or thistles and so every good tree bringeth forth good
fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit?
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Isn't that what John about to say to the Pharisees?
Exactly the same thing, right?
Exactly the same thing.
Verse 20.
Wherefore, by their fruits, ye shall know them.
Say what?
Hold on.
What is this?
Is it be a good person?
Again, that's what gets taught, okay?
But keep reading because it tells us what it is.
Verse 21.
How are we going to know the false prophet by their fruits?
Who are these people that are going to have the axe to the roots cast out and cast into
the fire, cast into the hellfire?
Who are these people?
It's explained here in verse 21.
Pay attention now.
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.
Say, what's the will of the Father?
What does God say?
That God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
What's the will of the Father when it comes to salvation?
That we would come to repentance, that we would believe the gospel, okay?
That's the will of the Father.
Let's keep reading.
Verse 22.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
Hey, these are preachers.
These are prophesied in the name of Christ, okay?
And then it says, and in thy name have cast out devils.
Now, he doesn't say here that these people cast out devils.
They are saying to Jesus that they cast out devils, okay?
You can only cast out devils in the Bible if you're saved and Jesus Christ gave you
the power to do that when he gives it to his apostles and we'll cover that some other time.
But these people are not casting out devils, but they're telling Jesus they cast out devils
in his name.
And look at this.
This is the important bit.
And in thy name done many wonderful works.
Verse 23.
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Hey, what are these corruptories trusting?
Their many wonderful works.
Look, if you stand before Jesus Christ, and this is not going to happen at the same time.
Hypothetical, right?
And Jesus says to you, why should I allow you into heaven?
You don't say because of my many wonderful works.
Okay, if you say that, you'll like the Pharisees, you'll like the Sadducees, these post teachers,
these trees that are going to be cut down and cast into the fire.
That's what Jesus says.
I never knew you.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Okay?
So, does this line up with Matthew 3?
Absolutely.
It's the same teaching.
Okay, Jesus just expanded on what we just read there previously.
Okay, so if I haven't explained that well enough, please ask me after the service.
Let's keep going.
Verse number 11.
Oh, sorry, before I just move on to that.
So, what do the...
Actually, let's keep reading.
Let's keep reading.
Verse number 11.
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance.
But here that cometh after me is mine together than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
Now, I don't know if you've ever really thought about what this verse is talking about.
Verse number 11.
I used to think, and my mind changed not that long ago, maybe a few months ago, my mind changed.
What was I talking about?
I used to think, because it's what I heard preached.
I used to think being baptized by the Holy Ghost and with fire was a breakfast to the day of Pentecost.
Because the Bible does say in the day of Pentecost that they're baptized by the Holy Spirit.
And then if you remember, they're able to speak in tongues in many other languages.
And the Bible says there was a clothing, tongue and fire above their heads.
So I kind of, I didn't really study it that much.
I'm not going to go into it all today.
But if you look at Matthew, Mark and Luke, I think John covers this.
It becomes quite clear as to what is being said here.
This is what I believe is being said.
When he says he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, he's talking about those that are saved.
When you're saved, you're born again of the Holy Ghost.
Okay? The Holy Ghost indwells the believer.
And of course, there is a principle to being filled with the Holy Ghost.
You know, someone that is empowered by the Holy Ghost is usually filled by the Holy Ghost.
That can happen in different periods of your life.
You know, if you ask the Lord for the power of the Holy Ghost, and I usually do before I preach.
I usually ask the Lord to give me the Holy Ghost to empower me.
So, you know, my nerves get out of the way and I can just focus on the Word of God.
But if you go out preaching, you know, Lord to Lord, you should ask the Lord to give you the Holy Ghost to empower you with the Holy Ghost.
So you can go out there and knock doors preaching the Word of God in power.
But anyway, the Holy Ghost, all saved and with fire.
And I've come now to understand that this fire is a hellfire.
Okay? Those that are damned, those that are unsaved.
There's two ways to be baptized essentially.
One way as a believer through the Holy Ghost.
And then when you cast into the lake of fire, because baptism, baptized, just means immersion.
That's what it means.
Okay? It just means immersion.
So when you cast into the lake of fire, you'll be immersed by the fire.
And say, well, that doesn't make sense.
But if you keep reading, notice again verse 11.
Notice the colon at the end of it, right?
Notice that?
That means it hasn't, the sentence has not finished.
And now what's following is going to expand on what was said previously.
Verse number 12.
Okay, so there's a little parable here, there's a little story here.
Speaking of Jesus, as someone who goes into the harvest,
he gathers his wheat into the garden.
You know, I believe this is ultimately speaking of gathering the believers unto him at the rapture.
But here we have gathering the believers, right?
And then it says the chaff, and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
What's chaff?
You know what chaff is?
Chaff is basically, if you get wheat and you rub it in your hands,
and when you rub it, you separate the grain from the exterior shell.
And the grain is heavier than the chaff, the shell is light.
So if you were to blow it, once you've done that, once you've blown it,
the things that blow away, that's the chaff, okay?
It's the worthless bits, okay?
If anyone's ever had a pet bird, I mean I experienced this with my pet bird.
I remember when I first got my pet bird, I didn't know it hadn't worked,
but we had bird seed, right?
And the bird would come and eat the bird seed, and then it would come and the bird was hungry.
And I didn't know why it was hungry, because I looked at the tray and it was full.
But then, you know, if you blow the tray, all this chaff blows away.
Because the birds, usually they cut around the chaff, around the shell,
and they eat the good stuff, and all the chaff and all the leftovers remain in the tray.
So what it looked like was still food, was just waste.
It was worthless.
That's what the chaff is.
That's what chaff is.
So it says here that the chaff, the worthless stuff, will burn with unquenchable fire.
And we know that that phrase, unquenchable fire, in other places is referred to as hell.
As hell fire.
So we see the two groups play out here, the wheat, which is the valuable believers of Christ,
and the chaff that will be the unbelievers that will be cast into hell.
Alright?
Verse number 13, verse number 13.
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptised of him.
So now if Jesus comes to John to be baptised.
But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptised of thee, and cometh thou to me.
You know, John the Baptist couldn't believe.
He knew who he was.
He knew that Jesus was the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the Son of God.
He says, look, you want me to baptise you?
You know, you should be baptised of me.
He doesn't understand what is happening here, but verse 15.
And Jesus answering, said unto him, suffer it to be so now, or allow it to be so white.
For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.
Then he suffered him, or then he allowed him.
And look, we talk about Jesus Christ, and we praise and write this whole,
that Jesus Christ came, you know, as a babe, and he lived that perfect life.
You know, a righteous life, kept all the commands of God.
He never sinned, you know.
He was that perfect Lamb of God, and his blood washes away from our sins.
And it's beautiful when you think about how holy Jesus was,
and that still he took on the sins of the world.
He became sin for us, and died on the tree.
He was tortured, and paid the penalty that we deserved.
We think about the righteousness of Christ,
and that we're made right with God because of the righteousness with Christ.
Praise God for that, right?
But it's amazing that Jesus Christ also wants his believers to fulfil all righteousness with him.
Okay, so look, look at verse 12 and 15 again, and Jesus said that to him,
Alloweth the suffering to be sown now, for thus becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.
Look John, if you baptise me, we're both fulfilling righteousness.
You know, he's come, Jesus Christ has come to fulfil all righteousness,
to do all the righteous works of the law, but he says,
I want to partner up with you John, I want you to do it.
Okay, now keep your finger there, go to Romans chapter 8.
Romans chapter 8, because that is the title of the sermon tonight,
Fulfil All Righteousness.
Did you know God, did you know Jesus Christ wants you to fulfil all righteousness as well?
You might say, praise God I'm saved, I have the righteousness of Christ imputed upon you.
Praise God, yes, but he wants you to go further than that.
He wants you to move on beyond that.
Look at Romans 8 verse 3, Romans 8 verse 3, it says,
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, can then sin in the flesh.
Look at verse 4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.
In us, not just in Christ, but in us.
Why? Because when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Holy Ghost gives us new birth, we're born again, right?
And that dead spirit is now revived.
We have the new man, we have the spirit in us.
And that new man can never sin.
He said, well I do sin, yeah.
When you do sin, it's your flesh.
When you do sin, it is the old man, it is the carnal man that sins.
But the new man never sins.
That new man is righteous because of Jesus Christ.
That's why we go to heaven.
Not because his body will never be clean,
it's because the new man in us is clean.
Let's keep reading that in verse number 4, the rest of it says,
Who wove not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
Say, how can I fulfil all righteousness?
How can I fulfil what Jesus Christ wants me to do?
I'm like, yes I'm saved, but he wants me to move on.
What do we do? We walk after the spirit.
We don't walk after the flesh.
You know what that means?
It means every day you need to decide,
am I going to walk in the flesh?
I'm not going to walk in the spirit.
And when you sin, okay, and when you fail, you know why?
Because you've walked in the flesh.
You know, you have the new man there,
but you've decided to walk in the flesh.
So how do I walk in the spirit?
You know, you fulfil all righteousness.
You read your Bible, you praise the Lord.
You know, you have the kingdom of God in your mind.
You go and preach the gospel, you come to church.
You know, you keep preaching.
You know, you sing praises to God.
Hey, you prioritize the kingdom of God.
That's when you walk in the spirit.
And when you walk in the spirit,
you're going to overcome sin in your life.
You're going to get better.
I mean, look, you'll never overcome sin completely
because that old man is always there.
But you're going to do it less.
And you're going to be more righteous,
you're going to be fulfilling all righteousness with God
as you go on.
Let's keep reading in verse number 5,
For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the spirit
are the things of the spirit.
For to be kindly minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace,
because the carnal mind is enmity against God,
for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be.
Notice that your carnal mind, your flesh,
your old man is at enmity.
It's the enemy of God.
There's nothing good you can do in your flesh.
It says there,
For it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can it be.
It can never try to keep the law of God, that flesh.
It's only through the new man
that you can keep the law of God.
Verse number 8,
For they that are in the flesh
cannot please God.
There it is, they cannot please God.
Verse 9,
But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the spirit.
If so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you,
now if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ,
he is none of his.
Hey, how do you get the Spirit of Christ?
How do you get the new man, the new spirit?
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that's how you say it.
You place your faith in Christ, you're born again,
you have that new spirit, okay?
And if you want to fulfil all righteousness,
you want to partner up with Jesus Christ
to do powerful things for God, you know?
Just like John the Baptist did with the baptism of Jesus,
partner up with him,
but you've got to be doing it in the spirit,
okay?
Walking after the spirit.
And a great illustration that I love to use
is if you have, you know, maybe I've mentioned this before,
I don't know, if you have two dogs,
you know, you have one dog that you feed
that you look after,
you take to the vet when you get sick,
and then you've got the other dog
that you don't care for, you don't feed,
you know, you get sick, you don't take it to the vet,
you know, you beat it up, whatever.
If those two dogs got into a fight,
which one's going to win?
The dog you fed, right?
The dog you loved, the dog you cared for.
You say, hey, when I come into temptation,
if I'm going to sin,
how do I know it's going to be the old man or the new man?
Hey, it's going to come down to what you,
where you've been walking, okay?
If you've been walking after the calm things,
if you've been walking to the flesh,
if you've been sobbing to the flesh,
then, yeah, the flesh, the calmer mind
is going to be stronger, and you're going to sin, okay?
But when you're in temptation,
if you've been feeding the spirit of God the new man,
you've been walking and memorizing scriptures
and trying to live for the Lord,
you're going to have greater strength
to overcome those temptations in your life.
That's how you fulfill all righteousness in your life,
by walking after the spirit, okay?
You've been given that new spirit in you, okay?
You can either waste it, you know,
just continue living the life you've always lived,
but you're saved, praise God, you know,
but you're not going to get many rewards in heaven
or choose to strive after the mastery,
choose to strive after Jesus Christ,
part or off you've been.
Let's go back to Matthew chapter 3, please,
we're almost done, Matthew chapter 3, verse 16.
And you might say, why was Jesus baptized?
You know, because we're saying people that get baptized
shouldn't be saved people, did Jesus have to get saved?
No, because baptism, remember, what's the picture?
The death, the burial, and the resurrection, okay?
When we get baptized, we're identifying
with that, you know, that we've believed
on his death, burial, and resurrection, okay?
And when Jesus was baptized, he was identifying
with that as well, that he was going to be crucified,
die, and rise again, okay?
So it's the beginning of his ministry there,
verse number 16, verse number 16.
And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway at the water,
and lo, the heavens were open unto him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove,
and lightning upon him.
So we see the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit,
descend on Jesus like a dove.
Now some people have different ways of interpreting that.
Right now, I believe the Holy Spirit
looked like a dove as it descended, okay?
Other people believe, maybe it looked like a human body,
but it descended like a dove, meaning like,
the way it descended was like a dove, okay?
But it's not a big deal.
Anyway, we see the Holy Spirit there,
and lightning, a lightning upon him,
and then verse 17, and a voice from heaven.
Hey, what's this voice from heaven?
Saying, this is my beloved Son,
in whom I am well pleased.
Hey, what's that voice in heaven?
If it's calling Jesus his Son,
that's God the Father, isn't it?
That's God the Father.
And we see this is very, very important,
that God the Father identifies Jesus
as the Father?
No.
As the Holy Spirit?
No, he identifies Jesus as the Son of God.
Hey, the Trinity is a fundamental doctrine.
You start moving away from this,
you're gonna mess up many other things in the Bible.
Jesus is the Son of God,
the Holy Spirit was present there in his baptism,
and they heard the voice of God the Father
speaking of Jesus Christ.
And this is important,
because we're gonna be doing baptisms this coming Sunday,
as long as the weather turns out okay,
and when I baptize you,
if you're getting baptized,
I'm gonna baptize you in the name
of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost, okay?
And the reason I'm doing that is because
that's the command that Jesus Christ gave us
in Matthew 28, okay?
Matthew 28?
Well there he was, okay.
But then in the book of Acts,
the Bible many times references
that were baptized in the name of Jesus.
Okay, what does that mean?
Well hold on, were they disobeying Jesus there?
Is it just in Jesus' name?
No, because you gotta understand,
name is not always a personal name.
Many times in the Bible,
a name is a power or an authority, okay?
You know when the police say
stop in the name of the law,
and they say stop because of the personal name of the law?
No, they're talking about the authority
and the power that comes from the law,
that's what you need to stop by, okay?
So when the book of Acts says they were baptized
in the name of Jesus,
what I believe that's referencing is,
it's Jesus that gave us the command
and the great commission
to baptize in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
And so it's by that authority
that we see in the book of Acts,
the authority that Jesus Christ gave us in Matthew
in the great commission, you know,
the Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
that's important because in Jesus' baptism,
you know, God makes it clear to us
that the Trinity were present in that baptism.
Okay, so if you're wondering, you know,
how do I baptize?
Why do I baptize this way?
This is why.
Because we're following after the example
that Jesus Christ left us.
Mentioning the Trinity there,
the Father, the Holy Ghost and the Son
were all important when it came to the baptism of Jesus, okay?
And if we're following after his footsteps,
we need to highlight them as well, all right?
That's all I've got for you here in this chapter.
Let's pray.