Take your Bibles and turn to Luke 3. Luke 3.

I once read a book entitled "The First Celebrity." Who would you think was the first international celebrity? Who would you think that book was about?

Was it about a king or political ruler? About a famous artist or musician? It was actually about a preacher. The book made the case that in his lifetime, George Whitefield was the most famous and influential person alive.

You probably don't know who George Whitfield was. Actually, I had an uncle, who was quite the reader and a Christian and actually lived in the town where George Whitfield is buried (Newburyport, Massachusetts) and he didn't know who George Whitfield was. So don't feel bad.

But take it from me, he was big famous. He was so famous that on both sides of the pond, in America and in his native England, everywhere he preached thousands of people would show up, and he preached several times a day throughout his life.

He was so famous that Ben Franklin devotes a whole chapter in his autobiography to the time he met him. Franklin became the publisher for Whitfield's written sermons - not because he believed in Whitfield, but because he saw how hungry people were for all things Whitfield.

My wife, and brother Adam both grew up in Whitfield county Georgia - which is named after him.

Whitfield wasn't a baptist, he was anglican, but most historians think that he had more to do with the rise of baptists in America than any other single man. People would go to hear him and then go back to their church and think "this isn't it" and then find there way into baptist churches.

When Whitfield saw this - he said "All my chickens are becoming ducks."

Many other people think that Whitfield's preaching and the "Great Awakening" that came with it, led the way to the American Revolution.

John the Baptist, who we are going to talk about today, was a similar (though greater) character to George Whitfield. Like Whitfield he was the guy that everyone was talking about. Like Whitfield, he was preaching to enormous crowds in the open air. Like Whitfield, he was a mighty preacher. Like Whitfield, he was changing the nation and preparing hearts for something later.

Let's read about him this morning. Luke 3 verses 1-18.

[!bible] Luke 3:1-18 - KJV

1. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,
2. Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
3. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
4. As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
5. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
6. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
7. Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
9. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
10. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
11. He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
12. Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?
13. And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
14. And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
15. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;
16. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
17. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
18. And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.

Passage Overview

The Preacher

This is an interesting passage and it is very important to understanding Jesus' story.

John the Baptist was an extremely popular preacher. John the Baptist was a national phenomenon in Israel.

He literally came out of nowhere. He lived in the wilderness his whole life and did his preaching in the wilderness. People came to him - not the other way around.

He was so popular that later on, when the Pharisee's were trying to trip up Jesus, all Jesus had to do was to ask if John the Baptist's ministry came from God - because He knew that John was so popular they wouldn't dare say something bad about John.

But John the Baptist was more than just a popular preacher - he was a prophesied preacher.

Verses 4-6 tell us that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of promises from Isaiah chapter 40. (By the way, John knew this - the angel told Zachariah that John would fulfill this promise in chapter 1.)

If you look at the book of Isaiah - it's interesting. It has 66 chapters. Just like the 66 books in our Bible. The first thirty-nine of those chapters are about the judgment of God. They are very dark. They correspond to the 39 books of the Old Testament. But in chapter 40 - something changes. And how does it change?

Isaiah 40:1 says:

[!bible] Isaiah 40:1 - KJV

1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

Everything before this was judgment. And chapter 40 starts with "comfort ye my people" - that's a change.

Then, look at verse 2:

[!bible] Isaiah 40:2 - KJV 2. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’S hand double for all her sins.

Her iniquity is pardoned. Speak comfortably to her.

Then in verses 3-5 you have the verses that are more of less copied in verses 4-6 here:

[!bible] Isaiah 40:3-5 - KJV 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4. 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: 5. 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.

Now, in Israel's case - their whole history from the time of Isaiah - who wrote this 740 years before - has been dark. They are still waiting for this comforting voice. They are still waiting for the one who would prepare them for the Messiah.

And then out of the wilderness (just like Isaiah prophesied) comes John the Baptist - he is the one who is going to prepare the way for the Messiah. God had not forgotten His promise and his prophecy.

And this passage gives us an overview of John the Baptist's phenomenal ministry and message.

I want you to notice the first few verses here and see...

The Darkness

Look at verses 1-2 with me. It tells us this happened in the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar. Then it goes on and names 7 other leaders. Why?

This isn't how legends work. Legends start "a long time ago and far far away." But this is establishing a very specific time. Historians have taken this information and figured out this most likely happened in 29 AD.

But this isn't just given to establish the timeline. These details are given to show us how dark things are.

They are dark politically. The jews are under Roman Rule. Locally, they are being governed by a corrupt leader in Herod (who killed his own wife, his own brothers, the high priest and his own son to stay in power) or corrupt Roman Politicians like Pilate.

The priesthood was controlled by Annas and Caiaphas. Annas was a corrupt man who enriched himself, was basically a puppet for Herod and then made sure his three sons served as High Priests - then his son in law Caiaphas.

So you get the idea here that Israel is in this time of political and spiritual darkness. Bad men are in power. They don't have independence. They are so, so far away from the Messianic kingdom promised in the Old Testament that it seems like it will never happen.

The Answer

So that was the darkness. Into this context comes John the Baptist. A preacher from the wilderness wearing a camel skin cloak with a leather girdle. A nazarite with long hair and a long beard. A wild country preacher man. A mighty preacher.

Is he the answer?

But John the Baptist knows his role. He isn't the answer.

People start to look at him and hear his spirit filled message and think "Is this the messiah? Is this the promised one?"

Look at verse 15:

[!bible] Luke 3:15 - KJV 15. And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;

They were really wondering. John could be Him.

But John knew He was not the answer. Look at what He says in verse 16:

[!bible] Luke 3:16 - KJV 16. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:

John's message was consistently "I'm not Him. I'm unworthy to tie His shoes. He must increase, but I must decrease. " and "Behold the lamb of God" look at Him.

John knew his job and it was a job of preparation. He was like the advance man that would go into town before a king travelled through to make sure that the roads were up to par and make sure everyone was ready for the royal visit.

So what was the message of John the Baptist? How does it apply to us today?

Well, you can see it in verse 3:

[!bible] Luke 3:3 - KJV 3. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;

You can summarize the message of John in one word: "repent."

Matthew 3:2 summarizes His message like this:

[!bible] Matthew 3:2 - KJV 2. And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

So John was telling people to repent.

Change your mind

Now, what does it mean to repent? The word literally means "a change of mind." "Metanōā" "meta" means "against" or "about" and "nōā" means "thinking."

So literally John is telling them "you have to change your mind about some things to get ready for Jesus."

And I think that message still applies to us today. If we are going to receive Jesus, we have to change our mind about some things.

I think we can see three things in John's preaching here he was telling the people to change their mind (or repent) about, and these are three things we need to change our minds about.

The first thing John the Baptist had to tell these people to repent about, to change their mind about was who they were.

So number 1...

1. Change your mind about your state

Look at verse 8 with me:

[!bible] Luke 3:8 - KJV 8. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

Remember, John was preaching to jews. They believed they were already saved, just by virtue of being jews. They believed that because they were the child of Abraham - they were automatically included in the promises given to Abraham.

And they were very, very wrong about that. John had to point some things out to them that were uncomfortable for them to hear.

He told them that the messiah was going to come with an axe and cut down some trees. Which trees? The trees that weren't bearing fruit.

Just because they were jews didn't mean they were spiritually a part of God's people - God was looking for fruit.

Look down at verse 17, where John talks about what Jesus will do:

[!bible] Luke 3:17 - KJV 17. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

What does this mean? When they harvested wheat - they would get the wheat, but they would also get a bunch of stuff that was junk. They would get the husks. They would get parts of the stems. This was called "the chaff."

And the farmer would take this pile (called the floor) and throw it up in the air with a big fork (called a fan) and the wheat and the chaff would be separated. Then he would burn the chaff.

So John is saying to these jews - listen - just because you are jews doesn't matter. God is looking for fruit, and the Messiah is going to cut down some unfruitful trees and He is going to separate the wheat from the chaff - the real from the fake.

And what is this baptism? This was the ultimate act of humility for a jew.

You see, the jews practiced Baptism. It wasn't unheard of or new for them. But the jews themselves weren't baptized. They used Baptism when a gentile wanted to join the jews religion. The Baptism was a symbol of washing away their gentileness.

And so for a jew to get baptized was for them to say "I'm just like a gentile. I need God's mercy just like they do."

They had to change their mind about their state. Who they were.

And listen, if you want to come to Jesus - you have to get rid of the notion that who you are matters. God is not going to accept you because of your race, or because of your nation, or because of who your parents or grandparents are. That's not how it works.

There are a lot of people trusting their lineage for their salvation - or trusting the church they are a part of - but being God's people isn't a political thing, it is a spiritual thing.

So you have to change your mind about your state.

author: Ryan Hayden

The second thing John told them to repent, or to change their mind about, was their sin.

Look again at verse 3:

[!bible] Luke 3:3 - KJV 3. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;

Remission means "freedom from." It speaks of bondage. When we come to Jesus, one of the things that should happen is we should be freed from our sin.

So, you have to change your mind about your state and you have to...

2. Change your mind about your sin

John got specific with people. When publicans (crooked tax collectors) came to be baptized they said "Master, what should we do?" He told them "exact no more than that which is appointed for you."

Basically, he told the tax collectors "stop stealing from people", he told the soldiers "stop abusing people." He told everyone "stop sinning."

When we come to Jesus, we have to come to Him as a sinner looking for salvation from our sin.

Remember what the angel told Joseph:

[!bible] Matthew 1:21 - KJV 21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

That's what we need to be saved from - our sins. Not just hell. Hell is the natural consequence of our sins. But we need to be saved from the sins themselves.

And here is the thing - a lot of people don't think they need to be saved from their sins. They don't think they are sinners. They don't think they are that bad.

They point the finger at some other guy and say "I'm not as bad as him." Or they live in denial of their sins and think "they aren't that bad."

But when we come to Jesus, we have to come to Him as sinners.

Turn the page over to chapter 5 for a second. Look at what Jesus says in verses 31-32:

[!bible] Luke 5:31-32 - KJV 31. And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

If we are going to accept Jesus, we have to change our mind about our sin.

So have you? Have you ever come to the place in your life where you see yourself as a sinner and you cry out to God to save you from your sins.

Listen, I came up in church. I was the church kid. I was the precocious kid in sunday school that won all the "good seat" prizes and Bible memory competitions. I think I started singing in church when I was in 4th grade.

Do you know what, I thought I was pretty good. I thought "I am part of a Christian family, I go to a Christian school, I go to a good church - I'm good."

But it wasn't till I was a teenager when my flesh started to really show itself and I began to realize how wretched I was that I realized I was a sinner and my only hope was Jesus.

Have you ever come to that realization?

Have you repented, or changed your mind about your state? have you repented or changed your mind about your sin?

The third thing John told them and we need to do is...

3. Change your mind about your salvation

Again, John the Baptist was the preparer of the way. He was making the road ready for Jesus. He had to clear some obstacles. He had to fill some potholes.

And maybe their biggest pothole, their biggest obstacle to accepting the Messiah was understanding the nature of salvation. We have the same obstacle.

Salvation is not political. Israel could of looked around at the government situation and thought - we need a king, we need a conqueror, we need to get rid of these terrible Romans and Greeks and get back in power.

Many of them missed Jesus because they were looking for political salvation. And today, we can do the same thing: we can think "What we really need is better leaders. We need better government. Then the world will be right again."

No. No it won't. That's not how it works. Salvation isn't political.

Salvation is not religious. Another temptation was for them to look at the priests - their corrupt religious leaders and think "if we just had the right priests in power, then we would be alright."

The priests of the day were liberal and corrupt. And they had conservative religious leaders who were opposing them. Those guys were called "the Pharisees."

Look what happened when the Pharisees came to hear John, Matthew 3:7 says it this way:

[!bible] Matthew 3:7 - KJV 7. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

He called them snakes. Vipers. They weren't the answer.

Listen, you don't get saved by going to the right church or listening to the right preacher.

Salvation is not political. It is not religious.

A third thing John had to remind them (and I've already covered this) is that Salvation is not racial. You don't get Jesus just because you are in the right earthly family. In fact, they totally missed this, but Jesus was coming and He was going to include A LOT of the dreaded Gentiles into His family.

So if Salvation is not political, racial or religious. Then what is Salvation?

Salvation is personal. John preached that God was going to look at every tree and see if it had fruit. John told each of them as individuals to get rid of their sin.

Salvation is personal. You must be saved. Your dad can't do it for you. Your church can't do it for you.

Second, Salvation comes through Christ. He is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. He is the answer.

You cannot repent enough to get saved. You can't pray enough. You cannot cry enough tears. Your only hope in salvation is trusting in the work of Christ. Salvation comes through Him and His work on the cross.

So, have you personally changed your mind about your state and your sin, and come to the cross in faith and trusted Jesus?

Finally, I think we can see here that Salvation will result in fruit. God is going to cut down the trees with no fruit. He's going to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Those who accept God's salvation - really accept it - are born again. God is going to give them some fruit. It's going to be real in their life.

So, have you accepted Jesus? Have you changed your mind about your state, your sin and your need for a Savior and do you have the fruit to show for it?

Let's stand for a closing song and I want to invite you to accept Christ if you haven't today.