Amen. So, we went through Matthew chapter 2 last week and we looked into Herod, what a wicked guy Herod was.
We saw, you know, sort of the birth of Jesus and sort of a small part of his childhood as well.
We saw that when the wise men came to visit him that he was a child at this point.
And now in chapter 3 we're jumping forward around 30 odd years now.
So, let's have a look at verses 1 and 2 then and I'm going to go to the Lord in the word of prayer as well.
So, verse 1 reads, Matthew 3 verse 1,
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying,
Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Let's bow our heads in prayer.
Father, thank you for this great chapter of the Bible.
Thank you for the many truths that we can get from this chapter of the Bible.
Please help me to preach them clearly, accurately, boldly.
Please just fill me with your spirit, Lord.
Please help those here to want to hear, to have attentive ears, to just listen to every word that I've got to say,
that you've got to say through your word.
Please just, you know, help everyone here to stay awake, to stay alert.
We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Right. So, we've got John the Baptist now. Who is John the Baptist?
Well, turn to Luke chapter 1 where we can learn a little bit more about him.
No, he isn't the Apostle John.
Some people get confused about that.
The author of John's Gospel, 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, the book of Revelation.
No, John was the last, and you could say the greatest of the Old Testament prophets.
He is an Old Testament prophet.
We might be in the New Testament, but we haven't come to the New Testament yet.
So, this is the last of the Old Testament prophets.
And like I say, you could say the greatest.
You don't have to turn, you're turning to Luke 1, but Matthew 11, 11 says,
This is Jesus speaking.
So, how does that work?
So, he's saying in Matthew 11, 11 there, that there is not a greater than John the Baptist.
Amongst those born of women, obviously not including the Lord Jesus Christ there,
not withstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven.
That's because there's no sinful flesh in the kingdom of heaven though.
There's no sinful flesh in the kingdom of heaven.
So, once we get rid of this sinful flesh, every single person here who's saved,
once they get to heaven, will be greater than John the Baptist.
But still, he was a great man.
He was a great man to have that said about him by the Lord Jesus Christ.
This was a great man.
And we're going to see a bit more about this great man now.
Luke chapter 1 kind of shows us really where John the Baptist comes from.
And verse 5 says,
Now, Elizabeth, when you look at this, also happens to be the cousin of Mary as well.
Verse 6 says,
So, these were good people, right?
Yeah, of course, they weren't sinless, but they were living for God.
They would have been doing the right sacrifices, the right ordinances.
They were just doing everything as God was telling them to do it.
They were doing their utmost for God, yeah?
These are good people, yeah?
You can see that there.
And they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren,
and they both were now well stricken in years.
Now, there's a good reminder there, everyone here,
where a couple described as righteous before God, walking all the commandments and ordinances,
blameless, weren't then blessed with 20 children.
Yeah?
They didn't have 20.
I mean, by the looks of it, this was some great couple there, weren't they?
But they didn't have 20 children.
They didn't just have, you know, children popping out every year or two.
And the reason I say that, because sadly there is a tendency among Christians
to look at a couple that maybe have problems having children,
and assume some sort of sin or chastisement.
They look at maybe someone who's been together for 10 years,
and maybe they're barren.
Must not be blessed by God.
Must be some sin in their life.
But that's clearly not the case here, is it?
And that's for a reason that, you know, in fact we see that many times in the Bible as well.
There are people that just, that's not how it works.
Now, the same people that kind of want to believe that seem to ignore the fact
there are also unsaved benefit scroungers out there with about 25 children,
who just keep adding more and more to get more cash.
Why is that?
Well, for he maketh his son to rise in the evil and on the good,
and sendeth the rain on the just and on the unjust, doesn't he?
Okay, now, there can be many reasons why someone isn't blessed with children.
These were great people, and God here had a special plan for them, didn't he?
Okay, he had a plan for them with their no child up until this point,
and we can see many different versions of that in the Word of God,
and also in our lives as well.
Now, verse 8 says,
And it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course,
according to the custom of the priest's office,
his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.
And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense,
and when Zacharias saw him he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
No, he didn't say,
Oh, what a cute little baby-faced, heart-playing, flying elf, did he?
No, fear fell upon him,
because that seems to be what happens in the Word of God when they see an angel of the Lord.
Fear falls, they're burying their face in the floor in fear, yeah?
But the angel said unto him,
Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard,
and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Now, just a quick point here.
They were well stricken in years, yeah?
So I've got a feeling that this prayer is probably a pretty long-standing prayer, isn't it?
And just a point there that sometimes we have to be patient for our prayers to be answered, don't we?
Sometimes people will just pray once, twice,
Oh, well done, you know, God's not answering it.
Well, I think that that prayer's probably gone on for a while,
and I think that prayer was a pretty old prayer as well,
probably at least it started old,
and now he's saying they're well stricken in years,
and here we have it, that the prayer's being answered,
and that's a good reminder for us, isn't it, yeah?
Keep praying, keep knocking on that door.
OK, verse 14 says,
And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth,
for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord,
and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink,
and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb.
And that's why the baby John leaps for joy in his mother's womb
when Mary greets her cousin sort of six months down the line with the baby Jesus inside her,
and this is some mighty child, isn't it, being born here,
filled with the Holy Ghost from being a babe in his mother's womb.
OK, and just another reminder there that it is a baby, yeah?
It's not a fetus, it's not some sort of bundle of cells.
It was a baby in his mother's womb that leaped for joy, we see,
six months down the line there.
Six months down the line there.
Verse 16 says,
And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
And remember this verse because another way of saying that is that they repented, yeah?
Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
Verse 17 says,
He shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias,
to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Now, this is why John also fulfils the prophesy coming of Elijah,
Elias being the Greek version of Elijah.
I don't believe that he is Elijah reincarnate, like some people believe,
but is of the same kind of spirit and power.
That's what it says here.
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, or Elijah,
to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Now, Elijah was mighty, wasn't he?
Elijah was bringing people back to life,
killing hundreds of false prophets, raining down fire on his enemies.
And did you know that there's no record of a supernatural miracle of John the Baptist?
Not supernatural as we would think it.
Not compared with how we would see those miracles of Elijah.
But John's power was that he turned the hearts of the fathers and the disobedient.
He was getting people saved.
And he was getting a ton of people saved,
and John the Baptist was mighty.
He went before him in the spirit and power of Elijah.
And is there anything more powerful really than getting someone saved?
Is there?
Any greater miracle than getting people dead in their sins,
destined and deserving an eternity of suffering in hell,
to be assured salvation, to be assured of eternal glory in heaven?
Is there any greater miracle?
Because, look, for people like ourselves here,
when you're at one of these sort of like pretty dead Baptist churches,
like some of us have been in before, and someone gets saved,
yeah, and they, you know, and they're even coming to church,
and they're like, right, they must be saved, you know.
And we won't go off on that one, yeah.
But for them, I mean, those guys are really celebrating, aren't they?
Because they see it so rarely because they don't go out and soul win.
But for a church like this, where we're out all the time preaching the gospel
and seeing people saved, it can start to sometimes,
I don't want to say become a bit old hat,
but you maybe don't quite recognise it for the miracle it is, yeah?
Yeah.
Because it is a miracle, isn't it?
It's an absolute miracle that someone can get saved,
that someone can know for sure they're going to heaven,
that someone just has to put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
that they're saved, and it is a miracle.
It's an amazing thing, and John the Baptist was preaching that,
and that's why he went before him in the spirit and power of Elijah.
Now go back to Matthew chapter 3.
So that's a little introduction of John the Baptist.
Now after that, John the Baptist goes into the wilderness.
He actually goes into the wilderness from young as well.
We're not sure exactly what age, but we do see,
and I think it's Luke chapter 3 that he goes in from young,
but Matthew 3.1 says,
In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea
and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
So he's an adult.
He's preaching in what was a spiritual wilderness too at the time, Judea.
What's he preaching?
He's preaching repent of your sins for the kingdom of heaven is at hand?
No, no, they just missed out the of your sins bit there, didn't they?
Yeah?
Matthew, he meant of your sins, but he just forgot to put it in?
No?
He just assumed that you would understand that he actually meant repent of your sins,
because that's how people look at it, isn't it?
But is that what he preached? No.
Because that's a damnable heresy, isn't it?
That's a damnable heresy, and we know here that if you really believe
that someone has to turn from their sins, stop certain sins,
give up certain sins, want to give up certain sins, etc., etc.,
to basically then put your faith in Christ and get saved,
then that is a damnable heresy.
And John the Baptist wasn't preaching a damnable heresy, was he?
No, turn to Acts 19, because I have seen many people try to say,
well, look at Matthew chapter 3, the third chapter of the New Testament,
and someone's already saying you've got to repent of your sins.
No, he didn't say you've got to repent of your sins.
Maybe there's some false Bible versions out there that do say that,
but even the majority of the false Bible versions don't add the of your sins bit into there.
Okay, so he's obviously not saying that.
Now, look at Acts chapter 19 and from verse 1,
because we're going to see what he really was preaching,
but we're going to see a couple of other truths here at the same time.
Acts 19 and from verse 1 reads,
And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples.
He said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?
And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized?
And he said, Unto John's baptism.
Then said Paul, John verily baptizes the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him,
that is, on Christ Jesus.
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
When Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them,
and they spake with tongues and prophesied, and all the men were about twelve.
Now, there are a couple of ways of looking at this passage.
Number one is that these men weren't saved yet
and they needed, basically, Paul to confirm what John was preaching.
And number two is maybe that these men were saved,
but they needed some things explaining more clearly.
And then there's probably a load of other, you know, heretical viewpoints of that
and things which probably don't make sense at all,
and we're not going to go into those.
But I believe that they weren't saved.
Okay, I was looking at this, you know, a bit more in depth the other day,
and I do believe that they weren't saved.
Otherwise, there was no need for rebaptism, was there?
Turn back to Acts 18 for an example of someone that was saved and baptized by John.
Acts 18 and verse 24, and it's no coincidence that it's literally right before,
it says, And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria,
an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus.
So he's mighty in the Scriptures.
Verse 25, This man was instructed in the way of the Lord,
and being fervent in the Spirit,
he spake and talked diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
So he was instructed in the way of the Lord, fervent in the Spirit,
he spake and talked diligently the things of the Lord,
knowing only the baptism of John.
So this guy, for me, is clearly saved.
Yeah, clearly saved.
He's come to Judea, been baptized,
but it seems he wasn't there during Jesus Christ's three and a half year ministry.
Because verse 26 says, And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue,
whom when Aquirah and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them
and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
Okay, so more complete.
So they basically bring him up to speed with what's been going on
and other bits and pieces, cleared up maybe,
just made it clear on some doctrines there.
Verse 27, And when he was disposed to pass into Achaea,
the brethren exhorted the disciples to receive him,
who when he was come helped them much which he believed through grace,
for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly showing by the Scriptures
that Jesus was Christ.
So this was a saved man of God who became a great soul winner, wasn't he?
And a great discipler of others as well.
Having had the full revelation of Jesus Christ explained in more detail,
but he had been baptized, he had been saved by John the Baptist, yeah?
Okay, or maybe he was saved before and then he got baptized by John the Baptist,
but either way he was clearly saved, mighty in the Scriptures,
you know, he was fervent in the Spirit.
Okay, now go forward again to chapter 19,
where these men, though, need teaching what John's baptism was about, don't they?
I believe then that they hadn't got saved,
because, look, this is a reality that we all need to understand and appreciate here,
that you can preach thoroughly,
and anyone think that the greatest man that was born of women
did it preach thoroughly?
Clearly, you could use the best verses, the clearest examples,
you could preach a great Gospel message,
and there will be many that do claim to believe, yeah?
There will be many that even get baptized,
but they can still not be saved,
because they have to believe in their heart,
they have to believe in their heart,
and saying you believe, ticking some boxes, yeah?
And some people will do that,
saying everything you've taught them, they know what the answer is,
but do they really believe?
Have they really put their faith, 100% faith, in Jesus Christ?
And we can't really know for sure, can we?
God knows, we don't know,
but it's not necessarily, oh, it must be sloppy soul-winning,
or it must be a false prophet, because we just don't know, do we?
All we can do is preach the Gospel as thoroughly as we can,
preach it as clearly as we can, and then it's up to them,
it's up to them whether or not they want to put their faith in Jesus Christ.
These guys got baptized by John, there were 12 of them,
these guys together, but they're not saved.
We read that there was no greater than John the Baptist,
but he can't force people to believe, can he?
And that's another reminder as well, it's no slant on your soul-winning,
if you're preaching the Gospel to someone,
and you just know, look, they don't really believe,
you don't have to force them, you have to just make,
look, if they don't believe, they don't believe,
they're not putting their faith in Christ,
they don't want to call upon the name of the Lord,
they don't want to do that, okay?
But we just do the best we can, don't we?
We do the best we can.
Okay, so a couple of other points, though, from Acts 19, verses 1-7,
look at verse 6 there, it says,
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them,
the Holy Ghost came on them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied.
This isn't the indwelling Holy Spirit,
this is the coming on, the filling of the Holy Ghost,
which then results in the speaking of unlearned languages and prophesying, okay?
So it's not that that's when the Holy Spirit, that he needed to lay hands,
no, that was just to basically be filled with the Spirit and do mighty things for God, okay?
You get indwelt with the Spirit the second you believe, yeah?
After Jesus Christ, and I think John chapter 20,
breathed on them and the Holy Spirit indwelt them,
and that is when, from then onwards, you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
But the main point of coming here, to Acts 19 here,
is to see what it was that John was preaching
when he said in Matthew 3-2,
Repent ye.
So look at verse 4, where we are in Acts 19, verse 4 says,
Then said Paul,
John verily baptised with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people that they should believe on him,
which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
John's repentance was to change their mind
or turn from their work salvation,
their non-belief to belief on Christ Jesus, okay?
And it doesn't take much study of the Bible to see that, does it?
Yeah? I mean, it's pretty simple there.
It only takes a bit of reading and you can see that.
Repent is a change of mind, yeah? Turning,
and when it comes to salvation, it's from what you did believe to faith in Christ Jesus.
That's why we read in Luke 1 16,
And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
Okay, and that's what that repentance is.
However many people, however many dictionaries try and change it to meaning,
turning from stopping your sin, turning from your sin, giving up sins or whatever else,
however many false prophets preach, repent of your sins to be saved,
the truth is, repentance is a change of mind,
from what you did believe and have your faith in,
to faith in Christ Jesus alone, okay?
That's what the Bible teaches,
and it doesn't take long to see that either, does it?
Okay, so back in Matthew 3 and verse 3 it says,
Now, you don't have to turn it, but this is from Isaiah 40 verse 3,
which reads,
And just another quick proof text that Jesus is God.
Isaiah said, prepare ye the way of the Lord, capitals, Jehovah.
And then he said, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Yeah, and that's who it's talking about here, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the same John, verse 4, had his raiment of camel's hair,
and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
Now, firstly, he had camel fur clothing.
Yeah, hear that, everyone? Camel fur clothing.
That's pretty cool. Does anyone have camel fur clothing anymore?
Anyone ever see? I should have looked this up.
No? No? Anyone know about this?
I want a camel fur coat. That sounds good.
So he had camel fur clothing. He's hanging out in the camel fur.
A leather belt. So he wasn't mincing about with a drawstring, was he?
Yeah? He had a man's leather belt. Yeah?
Now, he was a man's man, wasn't he, John? Yeah?
Like all the prophets of the Bible were.
But interestingly, it's also how Elijah appeared.
And again, you don't have to turn there. Just a quick anecdotal one here.
2 Kings 1-8 says, and they asked him, talking about Elijah,
he was a hairy man and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins,
and he said, it is Elijah the Tishbite.
Quite interesting there, isn't it?
He didn't have the physical hair, I don't think, so instead he got the fur coat.
He got the camel's hair, and they make a point of it being a camel's hair,
so I don't think it was just maybe like a skin coat.
It was the full-on hair as well that was making a point of really him being a picture,
or at least, you know, however you want to see that, of Elijah there.
But those in the know would maybe have been aware of this, yeah?
But John ate locusts and wild honey too.
Now locusts being permitted in the Leviticus dietary laws,
and obviously honey is too.
But he's obviously living hand to mouth, yeah?
Out in the wilderness preaching the word.
And he's clearly not the world's version of a Christian preacher, is he?
The world's version, is he?
This is a guy living out in the wilderness.
I'm guessing he's cooking locusts, maybe he's not.
Maybe he's eating them raw, I don't know.
He's eating wild honey, which means he's got to go and collect the wild honey,
which is a bit of a dodgy business, yeah?
Unless you take it out of the carcass of a lion,
and even then you're probably going to have the bees buzzing around at the same time.
He's out in the wilderness, he's eating locusts of wild honey,
he's got camel fur on and a leather belt,
and this guy is the real deal, isn't he?
And that is the complete opposite to the world almost trying to tell us,
because the world tries to tell us and tell Christians
that if a guy isn't very mild-mannered and very softly spoken and very effeminate,
that he's clearly not a man of God.
And to the point where Christians can't believe,
where even I think saved churches, believe,
well, this guy seems quite godly because it's been so hammered year after year,
Ned Flanders throughout The Simpsons, you know, these types of people, isn't it?
All the movies with all these just queer priests, vicar, reverend,
whatever they are, they're always soft as anything,
and then for them it's like, yeah, well, that's what a man of God is.
He's softly spoken, he would never say boo to a goose,
he would never defend himself, you know, or anything else.
John the Baptist, though.
Again, we see the first preacher in the Gospel of Matthew,
and we see a real man, don't we?
And let's see, we're going to see what that real man does in a second.
Verse 5 says,
Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan
and were baptised of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
There were people coming from all over to get saved and baptised, yeah?
He's preaching the Gospel, you know, of Jesus Christ here.
Now, this could explain, I was just thinking when I was looking at this,
this could explain the 12 from Acts 19, yeah, why there were 12 people there,
because he's preaching to Jerusalem, Judea, all the region,
he's saying, sorry, then went out to him, so all these people are coming,
it gives you that impression, and I might be reading into text there,
of many people coming to him.
Yeah, many people coming out to him.
So I get the feeling that John probably wasn't getting much one-on-one soul winning done out there.
I might be wrong, I get the feeling like he's just preaching hard Gospel messages out there,
he's preaching hard, and there are going to be people that are, you know,
doing the old classic walk down the aisle type thing and saying,
yeah, you know, I believe, yeah, and he's going to roll up for the baptisms after.
Now, maybe that's why, maybe not, maybe not,
maybe there are just 12 guys that they had some sort of hang up
and maybe that hang up was influencing each other, I don't know,
but what I do know is that not everyone there that got baptized got saved,
but that's no sight on John.
Now, when it said confess their sins, did these people come with a shopping list of every sin they've ever done?
Is that all right? You've got to, right, to get saved, you've got to confess every single sin.
I've heard people come out with this sort of rubbish.
That's impossible.
It's, what, every single foolish thought?
Every covet you've ever done?
Of course not. They're confessing that they're sinners and in need of a saviour.
Okay, that's what people need to confess that they're sinners and in need of a saviour.
Verse 7 says, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism,
he said unto them, oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Right, firstly, who are these Pharisees and Sadducees?
Pharisee means separatist, so they were the holier than thou's.
They were the I'm going to heaven because I'm so holy types, although they weren't.
And we run into these guys quite a lot on the door, don't we?
We run into these people that are telling you that they know they're going to heaven
because of the church they go to and because of, you know, how holy they are
and they do this and they do that.
And it's always funny, isn't it, when you're talking to them because you're just looking at them thinking, really?
But no, the Sadducees were the sort of liberal skeptics that you see out there.
They denied the resurrection, they basically denied the word of God whilst still trying to seem religious.
So they're the sort of liberal sort of, well, you know, you can't take it literally, yeah,
and just make it up as they go along and they're always so, you know, worldly with it,
but they always try and come across to be so intelligent and they've just kind of gone back to the Greek
and gone back to the Hebrew and everything else.
Now, when they came to John, did John show them respect for their different religious beliefs? No?
Did he just say, oh, I'm glad that you're here, you must have got right with God?
Come on in, guys. Is that what he said? No?
No, the greatest man that lived called them a generation of vipers, didn't he?
He said, oh, generation of vipers, and no, this wasn't a culture of snake lovers.
The liberal Bible correctors would probably have us believe, wouldn't they?
No, the original Greek wasn't talking about a breed of viper that's, you know, well respected amongst others, yeah?
Everyone in that region, they just respected this particular viper, yeah?
And, you know, at least, you know, they tolerated that viper, yeah?
I bet there's a liberal Bible corrector out there that said something like that.
I'm sure there is someone out there that's tried to come out with something like that.
No, what did he say to these false prophets? He said, you bunch of snakes.
That's what he said, didn't he? Who warned you to try and slither away from God's anger?
That's what he said to them, didn't he?
But the liberal, the critic, the hater would have called John mean, scary, unloving, wouldn't they?
Yeah, that's exactly what they would have been saying, yeah?
Yeah, what a hate preacher, hate preacher.
You hate preacher, you? How dare you, yeah?
It's not quite like that.
Yeah, definitely, definitely.
Why have you got to go and throw the insults, John?
Just preach the word. Why have you thrown out the insults?
He that is without sin, John, he that is without sin, throw the first stone, wouldn't they?
Yeah? Not very Christ-like, John. Definitely they would have come out not very Christ-like, John.
But it was Christ-like, wasn't it?
Because Jesus Christ called the same false prophets hypocrites, blind guides, fools and blind,
whited sepulchres, full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness,
full of hypocrisy and iniquity, serpents and also a generation of vipers,
all in one chapter, Matthew chapter 23. What a great chapter in the Bible.
That would be a good one to memorise, wouldn't it?
That is a great chapter in the Bible, Matthew 23.
Jesus Christ said all those insults, all in basically one strong rebuke.
No, in fact, had John been more Christ-like, he might have given them both barrels.
But unfortunately, he was only a man.
Yeah, that's the truth, isn't it?
Yeah, because more Christ-like would have been to let them have both sides, yeah?
But no, John went easy on them and he just called them a generation of vipers.
But what happened to love your enemy? What happened to love your enemy?
These aren't just personal enemies, though, are they?
They're God's enemies, damning people to hell with their false doctrine, with their damnable heresies.
John had the hatred, he had the disdain that we should all have for false prophets, right?
Every single one of us here should have that hatred and disdain for wicked false prophets.
This is the greatest man that ever lived and he is trying to be Christ-like.
He just didn't quite get it as strong as Christ got it with them, yeah?
How did he know that they were false prophets?
Well, turn to Matthew chapter 12, because it's by what they taught.
By what came out of their filthy mouths.
That's what I believe.
Matthew 12 and verse 30, Matthew 12, 30 says,
He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
If they're not preaching Christ, if they're not preaching grace through faith,
then it's a false way and they're not saving anyone, they're damning people to hell and their false prophets.
Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men,
but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
And whosoever speaketh the word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him,
but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,
neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
So, basically, these men have just accused Jesus of being possessed by a devil,
they've just exposed themselves with their mouths.
He said in verse 33,
Either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt,
for the tree is known by his fruit.
And in this context here, that's what the fruit is.
It's what they say, what they speak.
Now, you could also say it's what they bring forth,
and of course we know that they're not going to bring forth saved people, these false prophets,
but here in particular he's talking about what comes out of their mouth, what they speak.
He says in verse 34,
O generation of vipers, this is Jesus Christ talking to them,
how can ye, being evil, speak good things?
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things,
and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
So, talk about bringing forth out of the mouth here, isn't it?
Eventually it comes out of these false prophets, doesn't it?
Eventually it does come out.
But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account of in a day of judgment,
for by thy words thou shalt be justified,
and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
It's about their words, and that's why if you go back to Matthew 3,
John says to them,
Bring forth therefore fruits, meet for repentance, in verse 8.
He's saying, let's see what you believe them,
and then basically he just goes on to tell them really what they believe.
He says in verse 9, Think not to say within yourselves,
so what you really believe, which is we have Abraham to our father.
For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
So, look, he's just said it's, you know, basically bring forth fruits, meet for repentance,
but then he's saying to them, look, you don't believe the truth.
You've been preaching lies.
You've been preaching damnable heresy, you're false prophets.
He's saying, think not that, oh, well, we have Abraham to our father.
He's saying you think you're somehow automatically saved because of your bloodline,
but it's got nothing to do with your bloodline, has it?
Getting saved has got nothing to do with your bloodline.
It's about what you believe in your heart,
and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will eventually speak.
Now, I've turned there, 1 Timothy 1.4 says,
Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies,
which ministers questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith.
So do.
Look, the endless genealogies or whoever, you know, what bloodline,
that's got nothing to do with salvation, has it?
Nothing to do at all with salvation.
It's about faith.
Now, John then says there, he says that God is able to make children unto Abraham from anywhere.
But ultimately, he gives the example of stones here,
and it is from a stone, it's from a rock, isn't it?
That's how he makes the children.
Turn to Psalm 94, 1 says,
I come, let us sing unto the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
So I think maybe, you know, that's why he uses that example there,
because that rock is Jesus Christ, isn't it?
Okay, that's a rock upon which we stand.
That's a rock that you have to stand on to be saved, yeah?
There's no other way that you're getting saved other than faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he says that he's able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham,
but what he's basically saying is that, look, it doesn't matter what your bloodline is, yeah?
It doesn't matter whether, oh, well, I'm so special because I'm a Jew.
I'm so special because my family member was saved because of who this,
look, it makes no difference, does it?
And that's a good reminder for you kids here as well, yeah?
You have to put your faith in Jesus Christ.
It's not about what your parents believe, yeah?
It's what you believe.
You have to put your faith in Jesus Christ to be saved.
And these guys, they clearly hadn't, had they?
And they clearly couldn't either.
That's why he's preaching hard at them here just in front of everyone else,
just saying, look at you vipers.
Verse 10, he says, and now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Because it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from,
if you don't believe, you're getting cast into the fire, aren't you?
Yeah, it doesn't matter who you are.
If you don't believe, you're going to end up in the fire and it's an eternal fire.
Because if you believe, then out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
That's a good fruit.
That's what I believe he's talking about there because he's not talking about good works, okay?
There are no automatic good works.
You know, Romans 4-5 says, but to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that just worth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
There's no automatic works.
He's not talking about automatic salvations because that would be works, wouldn't it, as well?
Yeah.
He's talking about what comes out of your mouth, okay?
Verse 11 says, I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance,
but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.
He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand,
and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner,
but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Now, that's a proper introduction to Jesus, isn't it?
That's the introduction to Jesus in the first book of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 3.
Jesus is about to start his ministry,
but that's not what the movies, the kids' books, the Catholics, the liberals,
pretty much everyone else would have you believe what John said.
Now, they would have you believe that when he said,
I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance,
but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.
He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand,
and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner,
but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire,
that then this long-haired hippie in a dress wandered in and went,
Peace, guys, sorry about that mean old Old Testament father,
I'm here to set the record straight.
That's what they honestly believe, don't they?
That's what they're trying to teach.
That's what they're trying to make us think, that when he's introducing this fearsome God,
this awe-inspiring God who walks in, in the flesh,
he walks into where they're preaching, where he's baptising people,
and he gives him this great introduction, and they want us to believe,
they're trying to push and promote all the time that suddenly this long-haired hippie just walked along,
very mild-mannered, and just going, Hi, everyone, sorry to interrupt,
but that's not the Jesus Christ that he just introduced there, is it?
He's a loving God, though. He's a loving God, but he's also a terrifying God.
Yeah, amen.
Now, when John said, I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance,
that's not saying that if you're baptised you will then repent.
He's saying that his baptism is resulting in people coming and repenting, OK?
But he then says, but you had better be careful, basically,
because with Jesus it's either the Holy Ghost or it's hellfire.
They're your two options. You can get indwelt with the Holy Ghost, get saved, yeah?
Or it's hellfire for eternity. They're your two options.
The fan here, if you're wondering what that is, it's how they harvested wheat.
It's called winnowing, yeah? They would basically winnow it with a makeshift fan
or sometimes with the wind to separate the wheat from the chaff, yeah?
Jesus separates the wheat from the chaff and the chaff then burns up with unquenchable fire.
And what a great warning that is there straight away, isn't it?
You know, chapter 3, and we're just getting this warning there where he says,
he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Verse 13 says,
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptised of him.
But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptised of thee, and comest thou to me?
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.
So Jesus comes to get baptised and John is saying, what on earth?
Why do you need me to baptise you? Yeah? Understandably you would think.
Jesus replies, just do it because we need to fulfil all righteousness.
So getting baptised was fulfilling some amount of righteousness, wasn't it?
Not for salvation though, was it? Jesus Christ was already saved.
So what's he talking about here?
Well, basically because it's the answer of a good conscience toward God.
Jesus Christ is setting the example, isn't he?
He's setting the example of getting baptised.
You want to go and do a work for God.
You want to go and do a ministry for God.
You want to go out soul winning like Jesus Christ was about to start doing and anything else.
You better make sure you're baptised.
You better make sure you're baptised and you have the answer of a good conscience toward God.
Because God sets a clear precedent here by the Lord Jesus Christ.
He who knew no sin.
Jesus Christ was sinless.
He was the unblemished Lamb of God.
But Jesus Christ got baptised.
So what's baptism for?
Baptism is to show that you're ready to follow God.
Baptism is to give that picture of that death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And also of your dying to sins and your new life in Christ.
Now look, that doesn't mean you're going to stop sinning.
But it's saying that your flesh has died and now it's time to start trying to do the right thing for God.
I hope everyone here who's saved is baptised.
And on that as well, did Jesus just go and find some guy down the road to get him baptised?
Did Jesus Christ just kind of go, I'll just get my dad to do it?
Yeah, Joseph was a righteous guy, wasn't he?
Joseph was saved.
Did he say, oh, you know, Joseph, could you baptise me because I'm about to start my ministry now?
No, he went to John the Baptist, yeah?
He went to John the Baptist.
He didn't go to John the Evangelical, did he?
No, he didn't though.
He didn't go to John the Catholic.
He made a point of going to John the Baptist, didn't he?
He didn't go to John the Pentecostal.
No?
He went to John the Baptist, yeah?
You better make sure that you go to a Baptist pastor or a Baptist evangelist,
someone who's ordained by God to baptise, to baptise if you want to get baptised, yeah?
And make sure that it's someone saved, that it's someone, you know, as much as you can.
Look, I've spoken about this before.
Look, it's hard sometimes.
You can go back, I don't know if that guy was saved.
Look, if you believed he was, if you were saved, if you, if that person was at least ordained,
you know, you felt, you believed that he was in an ordained position to baptise,
then I believe that you're alright with that.
If you want to get re-baptised, get re-baptised.
But if you've been baptised by some, you know, by your mate, you know,
because you didn't really fancy going to church,
or you've been baptised when you were unsaved or anything,
then you need to get baptised, don't you?
And because, you know, what does it need to be re-baptised?
Well, if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest, yeah?
That's what hinders you.
If you don't believe with all your heart, if you're not saved, then don't get baptised.
And it doesn't count, yeah?
It's basically like you're holding, you're crossing your fingers when you got in there, okay?
It doesn't count.
So, look, Jesus Christ, he sets a great example there, doesn't he?
He sets a great example before he goes out on his ministry.
Verse 16 says,
And Jesus, when he was baptised, went up straightway out of the water,
and lo, the heavens were opened unto him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him,
and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Now, what an amazing sight that must have been.
The Holy Spirit descending like a dove, not a dove, yeah?
For all the superstitious out there that want to look at doves and go,
It must be the Holy Spirit.
No, like a dove.
Basically, it just kind of dive-bombed down, yeah, type thing, yeah?
Okay, so the Holy Spirit's descending like a dove, yeah?
And it seems like that was a visual sight as well, lighting upon him.
Then there's this voice from heaven.
So God the Father speaks from heaven,
witnessing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
I mean, what an amazing thing to see.
Can you imagine that?
And John the Baptist is just baptised because it says straightway,
went up straightway out of the water.
So it's not that he got baptised and then sort of, you know,
well, then this happened.
I believe this happened straightaway, okay?
So he come up out of the water, John the Baptist's there,
and this amazing thing happens.
Now, why am I saying that?
Well, turn to Matthew 11, in fact.
Matthew chapter 11.
Because in Matthew chapter 11, we then see that John has doubts.
So let's have a look from verse 1 here, and it says,
And it came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples.
He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.
Now, when John had heard in the prison,
remember John's in prison at this time, imprisoned by Herod,
the works of Christ he sent to of his disciples,
and said unto him, Art thou he that should come,
or do we look for another?
So this is the greatest man that's ever lived.
This is a man that not only was the greatest man, you know,
born of woman, that he's witnessed Jesus Christ,
he said to him, you know, I need to be baptized of you.
He knows who he is.
He's baptized him, and the heavens have opened,
and the Holy Spirit has ascended upon him,
and the voice has come out from heaven,
and a little further down the line, he's doubting.
And what does that tell us?
That tells us that everyone here is capable of having doubts at some time.
Everyone here is capable of having doubts?
No, you cannot stop believing.
Yeah, you're not going to ever stop believing.
You're not going to lose your salvation or anything else.
But you can have doubts.
You can have times when you're a bit unsure.
You can have times when you're wondering, when you're questioning.
What was Jesus' answer?
Well, Jesus said unto them,
Go and show John again those things which you do here, and see.
The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk.
The lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear.
The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel,
preach them, and blessed is he.
Whosoever shall not be offended in me.
Now, look what he says right at the beginning.
Go and show John again those things which you do here, and see.
And when you have those times of doubt,
what's the best thing you can do is listen to the Word of God.
Yeah, listen to the Word of God.
Hear what he's saying.
Get into your Bible, and there's nothing like it.
The faith that comes from reading the Word of God,
because it cannot be written by man.
Yeah, this book is unbelievable, isn't it?
And sometimes it just takes a verse or two
to just strengthen you straight away.
And the worst thing you can do when you have those times of doubt,
when you have those hard times, and you're wondering,
oh, man, is to just stop reading your Bible,
because then you're in free fall,
and then you're in kind of backslide mode,
and then things start to get worse and worse.
No, you can't lose your salvation,
but like we spoke about on Sunday,
you can easily end up on that return flight to Egypt.
Now, John, he's in prison.
He's in a hard time right now.
You can understand him doubting a bit.
He's like, man, I was preaching the Gospel.
I was baptizing people.
I felt like I was ordained a god, and I banged up in prison.
Have I done something wrong here?
Have I got something wrong?
He's unsure, isn't he?
He's not going, oh, am I even saved?
But look, some people might even get to that point.
They might even get to that point
where they're just starting to doubt things,
doubt the salvation and everything else.
Get in the Word of God.
You're saved if you know that you believe
that Jesus Christ paid for your sins, yeah?
That he died, was buried, that he rose again.
That's paid for all your past, present, and future sins.
If you believe that in your heart, you're saved, yeah?
And you might have times of doubt.
John the Baptist had times of doubt,
but he was a great man, yeah?
So don't start questioning yourself,
thinking I must just be this terrible Christian
because I'm going through a hard time.
John the Baptist wasn't a terrible Christian, was he?
And that's a great lesson for us there.
We've just got a minute,
so just carry on here for a second
because he then says, Jesus says,
And blessed is he who serveth,
shall not be offended me.
Verse seven, it says,
And as they departed,
Jesus began to sound to the multitudes concerning John,
What went ye out into the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken with the wind?
But what went ye out for to see?
A man clothed in soft raiment?
Behold, they that wear soft clothing in king's houses.
But what went ye out for to see?
A prophet, yeah, I say unto you,
Amorn the prophet,
for this is he of whom it is written,
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Verily, I say unto you,
Among them that are born of women,
there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist,
notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he.
Now, go back up just to verse seven there.
He says,
What went ye out unto the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken with the wind?
So did you go out to just see this soft guy out there
just getting blown about,
getting mugged off by the Pharisees,
just apologizing to everyone
who feels a bit offended by his preaching?
Is that what you went out to see?
Did you go out to see a man clothed in soft raiment?
Did you go out to see some well-presented,
you know, he's got, like, the latest fashionable items on.
He just looks apart and everything else
with the expensive clothing.
But, no, those that wear soft clothing in king's houses,
you went out to see a prophet and more than a prophet.
Okay, and that's a good reminder to everyone here
because we're going to constantly get those attacks, aren't we?
Constantly get those attacks.
We're just not, you know, we're not Christ-like.
We're not holy enough because we preach the word of God,
because we call false prophets false prophets
and we call them names,
like Jesus did, like John the Baptist did,
because we shout from the pulpit,
because, what, you think when he was saying,
oh, generation of vipers, he was going,
oh, generation of vipers?
Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Sorry to offend you, you know.
Sorry, let's get back to exegesis here
and, no, he preached hard, didn't he?
He preached hard, yeah?
He lifted up his voice like a trumpet.
I'm sure he did, yeah?
I'm sure he spared not, yeah?
And he showed his people their transgression,
a housejacket, they said.
I'm sure that he made it clear, didn't he?
He made it clear, he did it loudly.
He's in the wilderness.
He had to speak loudly, didn't he?
I don't think he had a microphone.
Didn't have one of these clipped onto him, did he?
Yeah, and he didn't need it because he bellowed, yeah?
I reckon he bellowed at those false prophets.
And too right, yeah, and too right.
And don't ever let the, you know,
don't ever let the naysayers,
the people that want to stop you coming to a proper church,
try and deceive you with, oh, they're just, you know,
he's so mean from that pulpit
because he preaches the word of God, yeah?
He's so mean because he shouts and he says it how it is,
you know, you tell him that's how John the Baptist preached, yeah?
And as we have more, as the men carry on preaching here
and we go out and we plant more churches and people are preaching,
they're going to start shouting and crying more and more, aren't they, yeah?
Wailing, whinging, moaning.
But really, we're just trying to do what the Bible tells us to do, yeah?
Amen.
OK, on that, let's pray.
Father, I thank you for your word.
I thank you for the great chapter of the Bible.
I thank you for the great example of men like John the Baptist,
men that we can just look to and say, OK, that's how you want us to do things.
You want us to preach the truth.
You want us to call it as it is.
You want us to preach about these wicked people,
but also to preach of your love
and there's nothing more loving than the gospel,
that your son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh,
came and died on that cross and paid for every single one of our sins.
You didn't have to do that, but you chose to do that.
We thank you for that.
We thank you that salvation is so easy,
that there's no turning from sins or some weird, ambiguous,
just bizarre man-made doctrine needing to be added onto it,
that it's faith alone, it's grace through faith.
Help us to stand strong on that.
Help us stand strong on the word of God
and preaching the word of God loudly and clearly and boldly
and help this church to thrive, help us to just grow and go out
and get many people saved.
In Jesus' name we pray all of this. Amen.