John the Baptist and The Fire Of God … Luke 3:1-16
INTRODUCTION...
This is our 3RD message in our REVIVAL SERIES...our first message was “Spirit...Breath on Me” and our text was MATTHEW 28:1-7, our second message was “Revival” and our text for that one was HOSEA 10:12-13.
Today...we are going to look at the Gospel according to Luke...specifically the 3RD chapter of that book.
I guess most of us can quote JOHN 3:16 but how many of us can quote LUKE 3:16?
LUKE 3:16 is the other side of the coin...and it should be just as well known.
It says... “John (the Baptist) 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:"
Because the Bible says that God is a consuming fire...it naturally follows that the Holy Spirit is a Spirit of fire.
Jesus said in LUKE 12:49... "I’ve come to bring fire on earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" ...see...in the Bible there is no escaping that fire...the fire of our Almighty God.
THIS MAY BE A CLICHE, BUT I STILL GET A LIFT OUT OF SAYING IT... “I BELIEVE THAT TODAY THE WORLD IS GOING TO HELL FIRE BECAUSE THE CHURCH HAS LOST THE HOLY GHOST FIRE, IT’S AS SIMPLE AS THAT.”
Between the book of Malachi and Mathew you’ve got 400 black...non prophetic years unaccounted for.
Why? Because there was 400 years of prophetic stillness...no prophetic voice in the world...BUT...then suddenly this strange man named John the Baptist came streaking across a sky that was totally black and barren.
Our Lord...the Word of God...says in JOHN 5:35 about this John the Baptist... "He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.”
And through this verse Jesus, the greatest man in history is saying... “There was no other man comparable to Him...not Isaiah...not Jeremiah or the other towering saints...he was a one time remarkable character.”
He was teaching a doctrine contrary to anything ever before heard...his message which was not the gospel ...not the “Good News”...but a message of judgment contrary to the Jewish beliefs of that day had 3 parts...
FIRST...it began by demanding that men should share with one another...he said in LUKE 3:11... “...He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.”
SECOND...it ordered a man not to leave his job but to work out his Salvation by doing that job as it should be done...he said in LUKE 3:13... “...Exact no more than that which is appointed you...” and in LUKE 3:14 he says... “Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.”
THIRD...John understood that he was only the forerunner to the Messiah...he says in LUKE 3:16... “But one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose...”
FIRST...JOHN THE BAPTIST...THIS WILD MAN...JUST APPEARS OUT IN THE WILDERNESS.
MATTHEW 3:3-4 says... “3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying... 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.' 3 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.”
SO...this man was in the wilderness preaching and baptizing...yet it was not only a wilderness geographically...it was a wilderness morally...It was a wilderness politically...It was a wilderness religiously.
To set the stage...in the Old Testament we see how the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah with guidance from God set up a governorship over Israel for God's Chosen People made up of a hundred and twenty priests and rulers.
But in 170 BC there was a man with the strange name of Antiochus Epiphanes...you need to look up his name and take a look at his relatives and the things he did to the people...most especially one thing he did.
He took over Jerusalem...polluted the temple...made the Jews sacrifice to idols...branded their foreheads with a fig leaf...built a statue of Jupiter where the the altar of the burnt offering should have been.
In our history there have been antichrist like figures...him, Adolph Hitler...and they put a mark on people.
He also burned the Scriptures...prohibited the worship of Jehovah...and all this evil went on and on.
Then in 37 BC came Herod the Great who betrayed the nation to the Romans, fostered immorality, massacred these noble people, and desecrated the magnificent temple that was standing in Jerusalem.
Now with this horrendous background of murder and rape and debauchery and suffering and agony, John the Baptist steps forth…onto this stage...this remarkable character burst forth and this sets the scene that he steps into.
But see...today when things are wrong we tend to organize...we try to get a bunch of people together but God never did that...God takes individuals...Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, and I could go on and on.
He takes a Moses to the backside of the desert to get him ready.
A John the Baptist he takes into the wilderness to prepare until the day of his showing forth arrives.
Even Jesus, the Son of God who had left His Glory, He spent thirty years in training to minister!
So John the Baptist thirty years in training...the apostle Paul at least thirty years getting ready...Moses at least forty years...yet we want to go to Bible School 6 months and come out a prophet!
BUT see this...for most people it’s the time factor that kills us when it comes to really knowing God.
Tell me how much time you spend alone with God...I will tell you how spiritual you are..and I mean really alone.
Not how many meetings you go to...not how many gifts or talents you have...not how many sermons you preach...not how many records you’ve recorded or produced...not how well you can lift people up in song.
Just this one thing...how much time you spend alone with God...then I’ll tell you how spiritual you really are.
The Word here tells me about this remarkable man, this John the Baptist ... it tells me that he was in the wilderness until the day of his showing forth...until his going forth at the command of God Himself, of course.
Yes...he was in the wilderness of all places...it says he had lived among wild beasts...among ferocious things.
The remarkable thing to me, as I read this again today, is this: he had absolutely no role model to look to.
Elisha had Elijah ... Joshua had Moses ... Timothy had Paul...these men had super models in front of them.
And right through the Scripture you find these men that have lived with some giant and they learned from their giant and they became like them...but John the Baptist...he had no one like that...only Jehovah.
So just what did he do wandering on the rocks? The scripture says..."He ate wild honey"...and he was with wild beasts…and yes...he was a wild man...and yet as we will see...the people amazingly came to him.
LUKE CHAPTER 3 gives you a kind of run down on the awesomeness of this man’s ministry.
Look at LUKE 3:1 with me..."1 It was now the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea; Herod Antipas was ruler over Galilee; his brother Philip was ruler over Iturea and Traconitis; Lysanias was ruler over Abilene. 2 Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests.”
That’s about as refreshing as drinking sand for thirst...yet it gives you a framework...but hold on, doesn't it say... "Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests" ...now that is illegal...contrary to the Law of Moses.
They could only have 1 high priest and they got 2...we often miss that...Luke doesn't...religion was broken.
Then VERSE 2 says... "...at this time a message from God came to John son of Zechariah, who was living in the wilderness” and VERSE 3 says... “Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.” I bet that really stirred up the Jewish Leaders...yes...I bet it did...don't you?
AND BOY, that’s a dirty thing to preach these days. Who preaches true, total, and absolute repentance?
There is an old hymn that says... Repentance is "to leave the sins I’ve done before, and show that I in earnest grieve, BY DOING THEM NO MORE." YES...”BY DOING THEM NO MORE.”
YES...repentance is more than saying, "Forgive me God...I’m sorry." Repentance is a mental thing...a conviction.
It’s something in my mind...it means I’ve been on my side and I turn away and move to God's side.
And see...when I’m going my way what I’m saying is... "God is in the wrong and I am in the right."
BUT when I turn to God's side I am saying... "God is in the right, if He sends me to hell He is in the right."
NOW...that is repentance. It’s not just repenting for the sins I’ve done, it’s repenting about the motive that made me do those sins. Did you hear that?
It’s going past the fruit...yes past the fruit, the sin...way down deep to the root.
If the root of corruption is there you can bet there is going to be more fruit coming out in the future that is still unGodly...still unrighteous...still unholy...still sinful.
And that can only happen by being filled with the Holy Ghost and letting His FIRE burn away the ROOT.
SO...John goes out, stands and ministers there...and they come to him...they come to this wild man.
He is a success any way you count it...Geographically he is a success...they come from the North and South and East and West...He is a success socially...they come from all levels of society.
Then he said to the multitude that came to be baptized... "...you generation of vipers." OH MY!!! YOU SNAKES!
Now that's not pleasant? Know anybody who’d dare stand up in the First Baptist or the Last Baptist or the Methodist or the Holiness Church and say... "You generation of vipers. I’m sick of talking to you." Do you?
They would sure take a love offering for him, wouldn’t they? To get him out of town!
He was not only condemning their sin, he was saying... "Hear me...there is this gate, yeah this gate and when you get through it, you will find the eternal wrath from God on the other side."
SECOND...WE HAVE FORGOTTEN HOW TO PREACH ABOUT THAT ETERNAL WRATH OF GOD.
How many ministers do you hear today that get in the pulpit and preach HELLFIRE AND DAMNATION.
I mean really preach about the WRATH OF GOD...about how we are hanging by a thread over hell and there is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.
Or better yet...how many will preach on HEBREWS 10:26-27 which says... “26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” OH MY!!!
Be warned and yes...be scared...MATTHEW 3:12 says... “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
A friend of mine saw a bumper sticker and you know what it said on it? Now...this may sound ugly.
"Jesus is coming and He is as mad as hell." Sacrilege? No.
2 THESSALONIANS 1:7-8 says... “7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ...”
Be warned...because it says those... “...that know not God, (but adds) and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In other words, He’s is coming in flaming fire taking vengeance and He is … MAD AS HELL. AMEN!!!
Maybe it is a bad way of putting it, but beloved...it’s simply and awesomely and eternally...the truth.
You see, we are all looking for... "a gentle Jesus … a meek and mild Jesus."
And yes...today He is that “LAMB OF GOD”...but when He comes again He will be the “LION OF JUDAH”!
The attitude of the average Christian today is … “JUST RELAX AND ONE DAY BE RAPTURED.”
But He is coming with flaming vengeance on this world...with flaming vengeance!!!
And to you who think... “Some time ago I bought my ticket to Jordan” be warned...true Christians are “Slaves to Christ and are sold out to HIS WILL...HIS WAY...HIS PATH...HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS”!
There is a time when His Spirit’s patience ends...and there is going to be a day of the vengeance of God.
When God gets angry you’ve no idea what it is like...but it is probably like a 1000 volcanoes exploding.
He has appointed a day in which He is going to judge the world and the poor blind world doesn’t know much about it, and the poor blind church doesn’t think much about it now.
Leonard Ravenhill said... “The world has lost the power to blush over its vice; (but heaven forbid) the Church has lost her power to weep over it.” So many are clueless including the church...simply CLUELESS!!!
Let me illustrate this point from the scripture...look at this in EXODUS CHAPTER 33 with me.
To put this chapter in context...Moses had come down from Mount Sinai with the stone tablets to find God's children...His chosen and beloved children...worshiping a Golden Calf...an idol...and we still do that today.
And Moses in anger for what he saw told them anyone who is with God separate and come over here.
But only the Levites fell in with Moses...and that day over 3000 Israelites felt the WRATH of GOD...they were slain...that means killed beloved...by the Levites swords under God Almighty's command.
NOW EXODUS 33:7-9 says... "Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle the cloudy pillar descended..." AMEN!!!
God's Spirit which was in a cloudy pillar by day and fire by night descended on the tabernacle...AMEN!!!
And from that day forth they pitched the tabernacle outside the camp...the Pillar and Cloud resided outside the camp...so why do I read this passage while talking about John the Baptist and Biblical REVIVAL?
For context again...if you are in London going past where the queen lives and somebody says... "The queen is at home" … you would wonder how does he know...wouldn't you?
Well, because when she is at home the flag is flying, when she is not at home it’s not flying there.
I believe the sign of God’s presence in a sanctuary then was and still is today ... that pillar of fire.
It is the living vibration, the blowing wind, the eternal FIRE of the “I AM” that stands in the midst and does something you can’t explain … because God is beyond definition ... I cannot explain Him.
But I can experience Him...I know when He touches me as I am alone in the night and I know when His Living Presence comes into my presence in a special wave of anointing.
But notice He did not come until they WENT OUTSIDE THE CAMP and this is significant!
There are very, very few occasions when God Almighty has revived dead denominations.
All the religious men of history who stirred their generation … they had to go outside the camp … because the camp...the prevailing religion of the day was broken...it was spiritually bankrupt.
Doesn’t it say in HEBREWS 13:12 that... “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.” He went outside the camp...outside the church to sanctify us.
HEBREWS 13:13 says... “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.”
Maybe before long God will bring a cleavage somewhere in this city or state or nation, I hope He does and you will have to get outside of the camp...so to speak.
You will have to leave your group...join a people who have the anointing of God.
They may be poor, and have no stained glass windows, or beautiful choirs.
You see … I am impressed with this idea, you may not be, but I certainly am.
Exodus 33:9 says... "It came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle.... And all the people saw the cloudy pillar."
Wouldn’t it be wonderful...if it were just that easy to know where to worship?
Imagine if you could answer your child as one of those Israelite mothers probably did.
Her little boy wakes up at night and says... "Mommy, sometimes I think of those days we were in Egypt, I think about that terrible journey we made and I wonder what’s going to happen."
She puts her arms around him and says... "Darling, you see that? That pillar of fire over there? That’s the HOLY PLACE. Our Holy God brands it with His presence of fire." AMEN!!! COME HOLY GHOST...COME!!!
Doesn’t it say in Hebrews that God makes His Angels...ministering Spirits, and His ministers...flames of fire?
But today we’ve got snowmen in the pulpits with icicles hanging all around.
If ever the fire comes...and praise God it WILL...there will be some melting going on...AMEN!!!
I say again, this man John Baptist had no pattern to follow before him...no example...just God's guidance.
I believe this man walked up and down amongst the wild beasts, and there he is, he doesn’t eat much.
Some big flies, you know big, big things, he caught them, put them on a rock and roasted them.
Three times a day he had locust burgers...nothing else to eat except locusts burgers and wild honey.
And yet the people came to this strange and wild man...amazingly they came near to hear him.
And he was outside the church...outside the established church...but he had God's FIRE anointing him.
I’ll say it again, for my comfort if not yours: You never have to advertise a fire...NEVER!!! PRAISE GOD!!!
Whether it’s a spiritual or a physical fire ... the most self advertising thing in this world is a fire...and John had IT!
I wonder how many of us have ever really seen a man ... WHO IS ON FIRE FOR GOD?
When the Holy Ghost came into the upper room, how did He come? Did He come as a dove? NO!
Yet when Jesus received His baptism the Spirit came as a dove upon Him...WHY...because with Jesus there was nothing in Him to purify...BUT HE COMES TO US IN FIRE BECAUSE WE NEED PURIFICATION.
But I believe that if we get right with God...God's fire still comes...yes I do believe that!
And if we do we will feel a wonderful insurge of the Life of God...of the power of God...you define it.
You see, there is a great deal of difference between a Biblical Revival and evangelism.
I am so sick...everybody is getting half of America saved...if you add the lists of people saved in these evangelic meetings the whole population has been saved and filled with the Holy Ghost 6 times over in the last 20 years.
And yet we are as dumb and as dead and as damned as we were when we started off...but before anyone gets mad...there is good in these evangelic meetings if even one person is truly saved and does get on fire for God.
THIRD...RIGHT NOW I WANT TO TELL YOU WHAT PREACHING REALLY IS...
Study this 3rd chapter of Luke and when you’ve read it then read the 26TH CHAPTER OF ACTS where Paul is standing before a heathen king in a pagan court and says in ACTS 26:16-18... “16 But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”
SEE...Paul says that is what preaching is... “...it’s to open the eyes of the blind, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified.”
So many people come to altars on Sunday across America...but meet them at the door and ask them what just happened and they will say..."Oh, ah, ah, ah, ah. I confessed my sins." And people that is good...but it is just a start!
There is not one minister or evangelist in fifty in America today preaching real and total salvation.
They are preaching forgiveness...they are preaching... "Just come and get forgiven."
Beloved...that is not salvation...Jesus came for more than to forgive us our sins...YES...He came for more...
BELOVED...He came to rescue us from hell... AMEN!!!
BELOVED...He came to rescue us from sin and sinning... AMEN!!!
And not just our past sin, but to stop this damnable business that makes God so SAD...so MAD.
"He that is born of God does not"...that is N-O-T..."does not commit sin anymore."
You say it’s impossible not to sin. IT IS POSSIBLE FOR US NOT TO SIN...SO HOW?
What happened when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost? What does it say?
THEY WERE PRICKED IN THEIR HEARTS. After that Stephen preached and the same thing happened.
YES...when PETER and STEPHEN preached they were “PRICKED IN THEIR HEARTS” and that means they wanted to go past the sin to the root of the sin and pluck that root out.
Beloved...destroy the root of your sin and you will destroy the sin...if it is unmarried sex...go to the root and destroy it...pluck out the desire...you will gain a large degree of respect for the opposite sex and yourself.
What did Jesus tell the woman caught in adultery in the 8TH CHAPTER OF JOHN VERSE 11... “And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: GO, AND SIN NO MORE.” LISTEN TO YOUR LORD...TO YOUR MASTER!!!
HE SAID... “...GO, AND SIN NO MORE.”
In other words...destroy the root of your sin and you will not continue to commit that sin!
FOURTH...THAT IS PREACHING...THAT IS THE WAY GOD COMMANDED PAUL TO PREACH...
When Nathan the prophet went to David about his sin with Bathsheba, Nathan didn’t say... "You know, some of you are guilty" did he? NO...He said, "Thou art the man!" He told King David that he was the one guilty of the sin!
Oh, people say, "I’d love to go to a Holy Ghost church." Now would you really?
Would you love to hear somebody say... "Hey fellow, listen, last night you committed adultery. You cheated on your wife this week. You’ve got a spirit of hatred which God says is as bad as committing murder?"
Again, Jesus came not just to save us from sin … He also came to save us from sinning. AMEN!!!
See...when they heard the Acts preachers ... they were pricked in their hearts. YES...they were PRICKED!
And we need to be pricked in our hearts...any minister who is not preaching that in the pulpit is failing God.
Now go back into the third chapter of LUKE, VERSE 7, it says... "Oh, generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth fruit meat for repentance."
And He says in VERSE 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.”
John the Baptist called them vipers and now he says... "God can do as much through stones as through Abraham. Don’t boast of Abraham; if God wants He’ll turn these stones into children to worship Him."
That pretty much exhausted their Jewish theology, didn't it?
In VERSE 9 he says... "The ax 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. And the people asked him…"
SEE...John did not ask them...yet, they were so conscious of their guilt, they felt as though they had some serpent or scorpion that was stinging them.
They didn’t dare look back because of their sins and they didn’t dare look forward because of judgment.
They didn’t dare look round about them, somebody might come pouncing on them...so they just cried out.
CONCLUSION...BELOVED...THAT IS REVIVAL! AMEN!!!
Revival not singing some sentimental chorus, then giving the invitation and saying... "Would you like to come? Sweet Jesus is waiting, wringing His hands in heaven, He would be so upset if you don’t come."
JESUS DOESN’T CARE A HILL OF BEANS WHETHER YOU COME OR NOT. HARSH...YES...BUT THE TRUTH!
He’s already done everything...He's done ALL He can do for you. AMEN!!! You will have to do the rest.
He is not going to whip you into submission. He is not going to demand even though you sing... "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."
It’s on your side to do it. He will keep calling you...but one day He will cease.
VERSE 10 says... The people asked him... "What shall we do?"
VERSE 12 says... "Then came also the publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?"
VERSE 14 says the soldiers came asking... “What shall we do?” Now they were Romans, they lived in a pagan society, they’d never seen a man on fire for God. None of these people had!!!
They’d never seen a priest who didn’t care a bit about his trimmings...his salary...his lifestyle.
And we need more preachers who today say... “My salary be damned...I am going to PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD...I AM GOING TO LET GO AND JUST LET GOD PROVIDE.”
MORE PASTORS WHO SAY... “THIS ONE THING I DO...THIS ONE THING!!!”
Remember how this man was born.
His father Zechariah went into the temple...as he got there to the altar, there was an angel on the right side …and he says... "Fear not… your wife is going to bear a son." And God does a miracle to raise that child.
Now, Zechariah did this only once in his life...once in an entire lifetime...being allowed into the temple.
And there is a line behind him of at least 2000 priests, all waiting for their 1 time when they’ll be allowed to enter into the Holy of HOLIES. See...all except the High Priest got only 1 time!
And when Zechariah gets in there, there’s a marvelous person by the name of Gabriel sitting there and he says... "Fear not. I have a message from God for you."
And Beloved...we may only get that same ONE TIME to truly hear God's PURE and RIGHTEOUS MESSAGE!!!
If you haven’t had it, if you will walk with God...if you will pluck out the root...then one day you will go to a meeting and you’ll think God Almighty is talking to nobody in that congregation but you...nobody BUT YOU...AMEN!!!
Why is He singling you out? Because you have the ears to hear which you didn’t have before and because you have a hunger for God you never had before. Receive the Holy Ghost and His FIRE today.
COME HOLY GHOST...COME SOON AND RAIN THAT FIRE UPON US!!! THEN REIGN SUPREME IN US!!! LET'S PRAY!
