A Baptism By Fire

A teenager walked into the local Catholic church and sat down in the confessional booth. He wanted to talk about how strict his mother had been with discipline, as he was seeking a sympathetic ear. The session began with the priest asking, “What would you like to confess, my son?” The young man opened by saying, “My mom is a strict believer in baptism by fire!” Well, thinking that the youth was requesting to be baptized, the priest replied, “My son, you have to use water for that.” I know; that was lame; but it was the best joke I could find to start off our message!

“Baptism by fire” is an expression meant to convey undergoing something for the very first time and finding it to be overwhelming. We may learn a lot, but it is very difficult.(1) This phrase is derived from a passage that we are going to be looking at this morning. Fire is a fierce, frightening force in the world, and we do not usually associate it with Jesus;(2) but today, we are going to learn how Jesus came into the world bringing with Him what John the Baptist calls an “unquenchable fire” (v. 12). So, what is this all about? Well, let us get started as we stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

Warning to the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 3:7-12)

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Beginning in verse 7, we see how the Pharisees and Sadducees showed up where John the Baptist was baptizing people, and how he laid into them as being a “brood of vipers.” If you have ever watched “The Visual Bible” or “The Chosen” on television, then these programs bring to light something I think we often overlook; and that is the fact that the Pharisees and Sadducees were always snooping around where God was at work and being jealous and critical of His servants. You even see this in the way they followed Jesus around!

So, what do we know about the Pharisees? “Some derive this word from pharatz, to ‘divide’ [and] to ‘make a breach’ . . . The Pharisees, who separated themselves from the people as righteous persons, were called ‘divisi, [or] the divided’ . . . [The church father] Origen says, ‘The Pharisees, according to their name, were certain divided and seditious persons’.”(3) The Pharisees were strict observers of the traditions of the elders. They believed in the resurrection of the dead, and that there were angels and spirits – in which they differed from the Sadducees. They were rigid defenders of the doctrine of rewards and punishments in a future state, which the Sadducees denied.(4)

So, what do we know about the Sadducees? Well, we can surmise that they were depressed, for “they were sad, you see.” No . . . That is a joke! The Sadducees derive their name “from Sadok or Saduk, a disciple of Antigonus, a man of Socho.”(5) “These men held the Scriptures only, rejecting the traditions of the elders . . . They affirmed that there is no resurrection of the dead; that the soul dies with the body; that there is no future state after this life, and that there are neither angels nor spirits.”(6) This is confirmed by Acts 23:8, which says, “For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection – and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both.”

John called the Pharisees and Sadducees a “brood of vipers.” “The viper . . . is full of poison; it looks harmless and innocent . . . [with] its teeth being hidden, but [it] is a most deadly and [harmful] creature. So, these men, though they [pretended to be religious and holy] were full of the deadly poison of hypocrisy [and] malice,”(7) and they were always slithering about, looking to ensnare someone in their trap.