A Study of the Book of Luke
Sermon # 6
It’s Time to Turn
Luke 3:1-20
Dr. John R. Hamby
Approximately eighteen years have passed since Mary and Joseph found their lost twelve-year old son in the temple, “going about his fathers business” (2:49). During the years after their return to Nazareth, Luke says that Jesus kept “increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men” (2:52). At the same time Luke writes that that our Lord’s cousin, John “…continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel ” (1:80).
Luke wanted his friend Theophilus, for whom this gospel account is written to remember how spiritually dark the world scene was before the appearance of John the Baptist, began to “preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” and John’s cousin Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, was revealed as “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He therefore begins by looking at who occupied the seats of highest authority in the land at the time. “Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea (I’-tu-re’-ah) and the region of Trachonitis, (Tra-ko-ni’-tis) and Lysanias (li-sa’ni-as) tetrarch of Abilene, (2) while Annas (also Ananias) and Caiaphas were high priests,”
Luke begins with a list: it would take some doing to assemble a more wicked company of scoundrels; Tiberias, the Roman emperor wanted to be a god; Pilate, the Roman governor was despised and feared; Herod, the occupant of the Jewish throne, was unbalanced, dangerous and cruel; all were noted as men who wanted more than anything else to retain their power. Ananias’ legacy was that he controlled the high priest office for three decades through his sons (6-15 A.D.) and his son-in-law, Caiaphas (18-36 A.D.).
It was against this backdrop of political and religious darkness that “the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness” (v. 2).
As a son of a legitimate priestly family John could have served in the temple, dressed in the finest clothes, eaten from the best of meats and bread sacrifices. However, he came dressed in a camel hair garment, a leather belt and had a daily diet of locust and wild honey (Mark 1:6). He confronted the nation as the first authentic prophet in over 400 years: as God’s messenger, with God’s message and declaring God’s judgment.
I believe that what John was saying through his appearance was, “What you see in me and where I am from is what you are spiritually.” The wilderness where John preached was a symbol of the spiritual barrenness that Israel was experiencing. Spiritually speaking the nation of Israel was living in the wilderness of unbelief, and the road to spiritual truth were twisted and in despair. The priesthood was corrupt and scribes and Pharisees were hypocrites. The people desperately needed to hear a voice from God.
1. THE TRUTH MAY NOT BE EASY TO HEAR (vv. 3-6)
“And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, (4) as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:“ The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. (5) Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low ;The crooked places shall be made straight, And the rough ways smooth;(6) And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
John came bearing the message of repentance. The word repent today carries a lot of baggage. The Hebrew and Greek behind the English word means “turn back,” “change,” and “turn around.” They imply an understanding that the simple act of turning is reflective of a change of heart and mind. Repentance prepares the way for Jesus to come into our hearts.
A unique feature of John’s ministry was baptism. Baptism was nothing new to the people; the Jews baptized Gentile converts to Judaism. But John was baptizing Jews and this was unusual.
John said, “Turn back to God and be baptized. Then your sins will be forgiven.” This does not mean that baptism brings forgiveness of sins. In fact, John’s baptism followed each person’s repentance and was a sign of it. John applied the pressure to people to take an honest look at them selves and then to change. Young and old, high born and common man, priest and soldier were asked to meet the challenge.
John was full of the Spirit and preaching with such effect that the multitudes that came out to hear him visibly fell under conviction, resulting in many repenting of their sins and ten asking for John’s baptism. Entering the waters of the Jordan physically demonstrated the person’s spiritual willingness to have the Messiah forgive his sins.
Quoting from Isaiah the prophet John stated that his mission was to (v. 4) “Prepare the way of the LORD.” How did John prepare the way for Jesus Christ? His task was not building a road in the wilderness, filling up depressions, grading hills and straightening out hairpin curves, he prepared people. How did he prepare people? He taught them about their need for repentance. He paved the way with his demands for repentance and the changed lives that it produced.
2. THE TRUTH DEMANDS CHANGE (vv. 7-11)
The problem with repentance is that is very difficult for anyone to tell if anyone is truly repentant. So John the Baptist taught the people that they must bear fruit worthy of repentance.
Some people came to John with no intention of changing. John was no softy. He laid into the people when they made only a half-hearted attempt to identify with his message. When they thought that they could just turn up and listen to a few sermons and then go through baptism and then every thing would be alright, he surprised them with harsh words: “You bunch of snakes.” He said that they were like snakes fleeing form a brush fire, trying to escape but having no intention of allowing their evil natures to be changed.
“Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (8) Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance…”
John destroyed their sense of false confidence. Like some “religious but lost” folk today, many of the Jews thought that they were destined for heaven simply because they were descendants of Abraham. John repudiated the teaching of the spiritual leaders that because they were Jews by birth they had nothing to worry about. John in verse eight warns them, “… do not begin to say to your-selves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. (9) 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.”
John was not impressed with a religious profession that does not produce fruit. This teaching shocked the people and according to verse ten the people were asking John, “What shall we do then?” John’s answer is somewhat surprising. We might have expected that he would ask them do
John did not point out something that they had to do in order that they would be forgiven (Go do four good things for those less fortunate in your town.) nor did he ask them to do something religious, (Go to church four times and recite the Apostle’ Creed twelve times a day or read through your Bible in 3 days.) The people asked and John’s answers were painfully practical. He pointed out to them that true repentance means to rethink one’s life-style and goals and to carry out the results. For this reason John addressed himself specifically to the ethical problems of his time. To the general public he said, (v.11) “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” To the tax-collectors who were notorious for overcharging the people he said, (v 13) “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.” John did not tell them to quit their jobs. He told them to do their work honestly. And to the soldiers, who often misused their authority he said, (v. 14) “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.” Jesus did not condemn their vocation he told them to refrain form using their authority to get personal gain. It is significant that all three sections of advice have to with money and material possessions.
John was pointing out that if repentance is genuine then it will impact the way that we live our daily lives. It may begin with a sorrowful heart, but it must end with determined action.
Repentance was a way of life not just a one-time event. The fruits of repentance were not an effort to earn being rescued from our sins but rather a concrete, practical evidences that a life had been touched and moved by God’s mercy.
And yet we are not saved by works, but by grace. In Ephesian 2:8-10 we are told, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, (9) not of works, lest anyone should boast. (10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
3. THE TRUTH IS THE SAME FOR EVERY ONE (vv. 19-20)
“But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, (20) also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.”
The story behind these verses is a tangled one indeed. Herod Antipas has several half-brothers, and one of them was married to a woman named Herodias –the daughter of another half brother. Antipas became infatuated with Herodias, who being an ambitious woman, agreed to divorce her husband and marry him, if he got rid of his present queen. After divorcing and disgracing his wife, Antipas eventually got his beloved Herodias. Only John had the courage to bring this dark and sorted affair to light and for his trouble he was thrown into prison and eventually beheaded.
Let me close with this illustration.
“It was a bright Sunday morning in 18th century London, but Robert Robinson’s mood was anything but sunny. All along the street there were people hurrying to church, but in the midst of the crowd Robinson was a lonely man. The sound of church bells reminded him of years past when his faith in God was strong and the church was an integral part of his life. It had been years since he set foot in a church—years of wandering, disillusionment, and gradual defection from the God he once loved. That love for God—once fiery and passionate—had slowly burned out within him, leaving him dark and cold inside.
Robinson heard the clip-clop, clip-clop of a horse-drawn cab approaching behind him. Turning, he lifted his hand to hail the driver. But then he saw that the cab was occupied by a young woman dressed in finery for the Lord’s Day. He waved the driver on, but the woman in the carriage ordered the carriage to be stopped.
“Sir, I’d be happy to share this carriage with you,” she said to Robinson. “Are you going to church?” Robinson was about to decline, then he paused. “Yes,” he said at last. “I am going to church.” He stepped into the carriage and sat down beside the young woman.
As the carriage rolled forward Robert Robinson and the woman exchanged introductions. There was a flash of recognition in her eyes when he stated his name. “That’s an interesting coincidence,” she said, reaching into her purse. She withdrew a small book of inspirational verse, opened it to a ribbon-bookmark, and handed the book to him. “I was just reading a verse by a poet named Robert Robinson. Could it be…?” He took the book, nodding. “Yes, I wrote these words years ago.” “Oh, how wonderful!” she exclaimed. “Imagine! I’m sharing a carriage with the author of these very lines!”
But Robinson barely heard her. He was absorbed in the words he was reading. They were words that would one day be set to music and become a great hymn of the faith, familiar to generations of Christians:
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace’
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
His eyes slipped to the bottom of the page where he read:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it—
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
He could barely read the last few lines through the tears that brimmed in his eyes. “I wrote these words—and I’ve lived these words. ‘Prone to wander…prone to leave the God I love.’” The woman suddenly understood. “You also wrote, ‘Here’s my heart, O take and seal it.’ You can offer your heart again to God, Mr. Robinson. It’s not too late.”
And it wasn’t too late for Robert Robinson. In that moment he turned his heart back to God and walked with him the rest of his days. [Ron Lee Davis, Courage to Begin Again, (Harvest House, Eugene, OR; 1978), pp. 145-147]
