 Matthew chapter 3, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Brutal vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance 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. Now even and even now the axes laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water and to repentance, but he who is coming after me is mighter than I whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Now John the Baptist, we've seen how he came preaching and baptized even as Matthew had said in the wilderness and as we've been looking at John we've seen that this is a man that was referred to as the greatest who's ever been born amongst women. Now obviously that would exclude Jesus himself, but the whole point is that John was a tremendous man, tremendous man of God and God used him in a mighty fashion. And so I want to show you something to develop an introduction. I'd like you to turn your Bibles with me to chapter 1 of Luke. I'm going to read to you out of verses 15 through 17 and develop something for just a moment with you related to him and the greatness that John had. And I want to apply it in my introduction to us as believers things that we can learn from John, things that John is described as that that we ourselves as believers might benefit from just by getting some insight from how he's described in Luke chapter 1 verses 15 through 17. You see in Luke chapter 1 verses 15 through 17 we read, he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will go before him in the spirit and power of 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. What is it that we can gain by looking at John in this fashion? What is it that we can read in this portion of Scripture that can help us to understand what it means to be used by God? Well, one, notice how he's described in verse 15 as being great in the sight of the Lord. He was great in the sight of the Lord, which means that even though he may have the acclaim of man, the thing that was most important to him would be that God would say that he is actually great. You see a lot of times what we want is we want man to say we're great, but in reality the greatest well done we'll ever hear isn't going to be from our boss or our parents. The greatest well done isn't even going to come from our wife or our children. If you're a woman and married to your husband, the well done. I mean, I appreciate the encouragement when someone says that was a job well done. Of course I do. Every job I do for the Lord, I would like to hear somebody say that was good. That was well done. But the bottom line, the most important thing isn't to hear man say to you well done. The most important thing is when God himself says well done and John was a man who was great in the sight of the Lord. He was great in the sight of the Lord because John was the one who pursued the Lord. There was one thing he desired like the psalmist said in Psalm 27.4 where he said one thing I've desired of the Lord and that will I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. I have one thing. This one thing I do Paul said. Jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So there has to be a primary in your heart in my heart a primary motivation. What is it that I love the most? What is it that is the first and foremost desire and passion of my life? If someone were to take you aside and interview you and they said what is your master passion or to take a child when your children or close relative and say to them tell me what the master passion of this woman or this man is. Well we ought to make it our goal that whomever answers that question would say their master passion their one overriding love the greatest desire is that they might know the Lord that they might be known as Christian because they love God. John was great in the sight of the Lord and the Bible makes it very clear when it says that in verse 15 he will be great in the sight of the Lord that should be a master passion. Secondly goes on to say and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit one to have a passion to be pleasing to God. And even as I say that I'm so used to saying that kind of thing. I assume naturally that everybody's in agreement with that perhaps there are some here who are not maybe for you religion or relationship with God is not really the most important thing so the rest of these things I have to say probably aren't going to affect you at all. But if you have a hunger inside of your heart if you say you know what that's really what I'd like I'd like to know God. I'd like to have a relationship with him a deeper walk with God while here's something else that would help because this is something that was descriptive of John and that was that he drank neither wine nor strong drink and was filled with the Spirit. In other words he lived what we today would refer to as a separated spirit filled life. Alcohol was not part of his life or lifestyle because he was filled with the Spirit of God. Greg Laurie once said and I appreciate what he said so much that I'm going to quote him. Greg Laurie said this he said it almost seems ridiculous to bring something like this up. Why do I have to say that Christians ought not to get drunk because there are some Christians out there today who say I have the liberty to drink and I know when to stop. Even so they will come under the influence of alcohol and it will make them behave in ways and say things they would normally never do or say. As believers we want to be under the influence of our God. That is how we are to live as last days believers not being filled with spirits but filled with the Holy Spirit. You want to be used by the Lord. This one thing have I desired pursue him. Do not give yourself over to artificial stimulants. John did not do that because he was a man from his mother's womb was filled with the Holy Spirit and in Galatians 5 16 it says live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desire of the sinful nature. A third thing found in verse 16 is that he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. That obviously would be the result of the Holy Spirit's filling of his life. He was an evangelist. He had the Holy Spirit's power. He had an eternal framework and he had a desire for people to be saved. The Bible says it like this at the name of Jesus Christ every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The Bible makes it very clear every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess and so John went forth proclaiming a call to repentance so that people might come to faith and the one God was sending who is Messiah. He was one who turned many of the children of Israel to the Lord. He was an evangelist and fourth in verse 17 he turned the hearts of the fathers to the children. His message led to the conversion of entire families. The message of the gospel is a message that transforms families. As a father speaking of fathers as a man speaking to other men I would say that we need to understand men that the greatest influence if you're married the greatest influence in the home isn't your wife now that may be something that may offend even some of you ladies but the fact is it's not. The greatest influence in the home is the husband and his strength or lack thereof influences everything and what God has called us to be as men God has called me to be as man is a man responsible a man who leads that home. Marie and I yesterday my wife and I yesterday went to one of these these stores in the area forget if it's a Home Depot or a Lowe's one of those stores we went to go and buy some stuff you know I wanted to buy Marie a new lawnmower because she's so tired of pushing that old one I'm even considering getting her a power edger because she looks so tired when I'm sitting there drinking that tea and watching her work it really bothers me so I want to get her a power one no we went yesterday somebody probably believes that I'm just kidding and she and I were walking I was picking up some things I was doing a little work at the house and this older man older meaning he was he was like in his fifties and a younger man meaning he was in his thirties we're talking and as I walked Marie and I walked past him the older man had looked up at us and he worked there at the store and he nodded and greeted us hi how are you and we nodded and fine thank you and off we went and we went and found whatever it was that we were looking for and and as we were walking back he was obviously schooling this young guy about something he's schooling him and so because you could see the way he was talking and the young man's kind of looking at him as we were about to pass so the older man stops us he says sir excuse me for just a moment I said yes he says can I ask you a question I said of course and he brings the young guy so now I've got this young guy and this older guy and it's obvious he's training this young man not in the job but in life so he says to me I want to ask you a question when you get in an argument with your wife who wins and then he looks down at the young guy like watch watch right this is some old guy he'll tell you the truth he'll sit you straight so he goes who wins and I looked at him I said I do and he goes no no no no when you get into an argument with your wife who wins like I'm so old I couldn't hear I said I do and my wife looks at him and she says he does and he goes well you know anyway I'll talk and he turns around and walks in so you know that's unusual he said that he said that's kind of unusual you know I kind of blew his whole teaching moment right and I laughed so when Marie and I were talking later on I said you know it's interesting honey I said well when I ought to say this to you Marie and I believe it or not we really don't argue so that's not it's not that we don't have differences and I have to be careful as I say that it's it's it's not that you know that we don't have differences we do on occasion then she discovers she's wrong but that's another sermon entirely no when we have when we have differences we've learned over the years how to handle those differences of course they're going to be differences men and women living in the same house of course you're going to have differences you know it takes a while for us to be able to you know understand one another and and to learn each other's language all of that's real and there's no no necessary problem with any of that but the bottom line is Marie and I really don't fight we don't have that and the reason we really don't is because we've made an effort not to and I've tried to be a man that loves my wife so I listen to her if she is saying something I don't agree with I'll ask questions I'll say what are you talking about and what do you mean by that well this is what I mean oh okay I misunderstood you I thought you were saying something else and we learned a long time ago how to communicate without having to pull out the I'm right and you're wrong card and I don't have to as a man bully my wife I learned a long time ago by loving my wife she's gonna listen to me by respecting her she listens to me I don't have to be right all the time but I do have to love all the time I do have to be understanding all the time I do have to have the ability to listen all the time that's something God calls me to do but in the bottom line when I show that respect to her she listens to me and gives me respect back and if you were to ask the average man how do you spell love the average man was spelled respect because respect is love and when a woman does not respect her husband she could all day long say I love him but if there's no respect in that home there's no love in that home either that has to be worked out and so a long time ago Marie and I learned to communicate in such a way that I try to understand not just the words but the things behind the words the things that motivated the words because there's very often I don't have full information and so I say that to say it's not as if we don't have our differences is that we've learned to deal with them but when it all comes down to it if Marie and I are having a disagreement it's not that I'm always right and she's always wrong is that together we've decided that we are better together than apart and our opinions are not so important that they should drive us apart I am a better man because of her and she's a better woman because of me and as we see that we're able to communicate now I didn't have a chance to discuss that with this man who is trying to train up this young guy but that's the point I was making because I do win all the arguments but I don't win them by bullying her I win them by agreeing together that this is better for us this works best for us now if there's something wrong she's wrong my wife will admit it now I have to be honest with you I'll see you quickly when we're first married she would she would not she would not admit she was wrong and I would sit there and I'd say you know what this conversation is continuing until you admit you're wrong well you got a long way I got a lot of patience because I will admit when I'm wrong I think I did back in 1975 if I'm not mistaken but you will too because we're not going to go in the direction where one person's always right and the ones always wrong either we're both right together or we're both learning from what was wrong that's how it's going to work here now that's a why'd I say all of that to you because men have that authority you love your wife respect her lead her in the ways of the Lord your home becomes better and John's message was one that turned the hearts of the fathers back to the children because the fathers have that kind of influence husbands men you have been called by God to lead don't let anybody tell you you haven't you have been God created you in that way so take the lead and do it in a loving fashion take the lead I'm not saying wrestling you know you know best two out of three I'm saying love be honest get in the word be prayerful because if you have a godly woman if you have a godly woman you're married to she wants a godly man she wants a godly man that's how it works just telling you and John had that ministry he turned the hearts of the fathers and the children back to the conversion of entire families he made according to verse 17 he made a people who were prepared for the Lord so the message he had was of repentance it was for all to hear and he gave it to any who would listen and his message was very basic and to the point the king is coming open up welcome him the method of opening up and receiving him is to repentance and faith and an indication that you are repenting is when you submit it to baptism now that was unusual Jews normally would not submit to the baptism that John was performing and there's a reason for it it's because the Jews considered themselves to be what are called children of the covenant and because they had Abraham as their father they regarded themselves as already being believers and the only ones who were to receive this kind of baptism would have been gentile converts see a Jew believed that because they were under the law from the time a male was you know born and into the rest of his life he was under the law at eight days he was circumcised and things he was brought as a son of law over the time of his in his life they considered themselves to be the children of the covenant now the Gentiles on the other hand they were not they were outsiders they were outsiders and so if I as a Gentile would have been there in Israel and I see the religious practices of the Jews and I'm taken by them I might begin to be what is called a God-fearer and I might start doing some of the things that they do because they would regard me as not being quite as bad as an outside Gentile but I would be a little closer as a God-fearer and therefore I might contribute to the synagogue or or do things of that nature but if I got it in my heart that I want to be a fully recognized Jewish man then as a Gentile the Gentile would receive circumcision circumcise the male as a sign of the covenant and then after he had healed he would be baptized but it was South baptism he would baptize himself again the Jews did not regard themselves as needing to be water baptized because to do so would have admitted they were outside of the covenant thus they would be called outsiders the Gentiles are referred to as outsiders in Scripture in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11 don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth you were called the uncircumcised ones by the Jews who were proud of their circumcision even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts and so outsiders were the Gentiles the Jews would not submit to water baptism because they were insiders they were people of the covenant and yet here comes these Jews getting water baptized and the people began to wonder why no as they were doing so John's ministry was becoming apparent what was he there for because the confusion started amongst the religious Jews they started wondering why is he baptizing Jews well one he has already made it clear and you see that in and i'll turn back to Matthew 3 you see then in verse 11 when he says i baptized you with water unto repentance his baptism was to prepare people for the Lord of baptism unto repentance that's referred to later on in Acts 19 verse 4 when Paul said John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him that is on Christ Jesus he had a baptism that that was one that was leading to the reception of Messiah but he also baptized in order to reveal who Jesus true Messiah is you'll see that in John chapter 1 verses 31 through 34 where John said i didn't know him but that he should be revealed to Israel therefore i came baptizing with water John bore witness saying i saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and he remained upon him i did not know him but he who sent me to baptize with water said to be upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and i have seen and testified that this is the Son of God so he had a baptism of repentance he had a message of repentance but he was baptized in in order that he might be able to identify Messiah now great numbers of people came they wanted to hear him preach they respected him and they respected his ministry and they recognized it as being from God here's a real basic thing here's ministry 101 for some of us in this room some of you believers if you want to minister if you want a minister and i'm speaking to those who who actually want to serve the Lord if you want a minister and you want to have ministry credibility then number one thing that you need to remember is you need to be respectable 100 people we'll say a hundred people if they were looking at a bible or looking at you 99 of them will read you before they read that bible maybe one of them will read the bible 99 will read you and and we know that to be true you see if i want to be used by the Lord then i need to be respectable i need to be a man that people regard my father taught me that even before i was saved my father as an unsaved man was respected by friends and family my mother respected my father my mother actually would threaten us sometimes by saying these people respect your father don't do anything that causes them to disrespect your father that's how my mom was with us respect is a very important thing respect is very important in ministry and so john's ministry was powerful part of part of the reason because john as a spirit filled man was respectable and the people began to wonder about this man just who is this man as a matter of fact matthew in chapter 21 verse 26 simply says all hold john as a prophet say saw this man as something else someone different and so as he was going forth and doing this work and people were coming to be baptized admitting that they were unsafe they were outsiders that was amazing as all of this is taking place that was your introduction let's get into the study verse 7 when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism he said to them oh the more the merrier you're all welcome it's great to see you no he said to them brood of vipers who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come he did not know how to win friends and influence people he did know how to speak in a way that would be attractive that to me is amazing i would never do something like that i'll be honest with you up front who can speak like that for him to actually address the people in such a way isn't that insulting and many people would say oh you're just undermining my sense of who i am but john apparently didn't care and he spoke to them in this way and i'll show you why in just a moment but first let's look at who he's speaking to he's looking and speaking to Pharisees and Sadducees now you read your bible long enough maybe you're just learning to read your bibles and you'll read about Pharisees and you read about Sadducees and you you may not know very much about either one of those groups those are religious groups during the time of christ their their actual inception when they began is lost in history they don't know exact dates and there's an awful lot of of us study many studies that have been done concerning their origins and all but suffice it to say that the Pharisees during the time of christ were regarded as being the ultra orthodox rigidly rigidly legalistic branch of Judaism that existed during his day they were small in number they were probably around it's been estimated that during the time of christ there were around six thousand or so Pharisees most of their endeavors and the things that they did were around large cities especially centered around Jerusalem and they were regarded as being the most rigid legalistic people of that day the Pharisee the word Pharisee means separated one they were separated from the other people and so they were regarded in that fashion to become part of the group well you actually had to go through a probation period of up to around a year and during that time the applicant demonstrated the ability to follow the understanding of ritual law sometimes people to this day get into rigid rules and regulations to try and prove themselves to be religious there was a guy who went to a monastery and he wanted to be brought into the brotherhood there and he had to keep a vow of silence and they only allowed him to speak two words at the end of the year whatever is on his mind at the end of the year he could speak but he had to give it whatever is on his mind with two words and so it was a three-year probationary program so the first year they say okay brother you've been here for the last year you have the right now to speak you have two words what words would you like to speak and he'd been silent for a year so he said bed hard and they said oh okay we'll see what we can do about that the next year he's brought back in once again they say you've been here for two years and you have two words that you can speak what would you like to say food bad they said oh okay well we'll see what we can do about that well here's his final year the third year he walks in they say to him okay you've got two words what words would you like to say he says I quit and they said well of course you did you've done nothing but complain from the moment you got here anyway I just that came to mind we we old sick mind rigid legalistic have to do certain things Pharisee they were a very proud group of people they loved to be noticed and were known for the rejection of people in general if they were in a marketplace and and and they came out they would immediately go to wash uh because they were afraid that they might have touched some unclean person the Pharisees considered themselves to be what we would call the elite they were the super spiritual they pursued small items excluded the more important ones they added to the law of moses their own interpretations calling them the tradition of the elders and so here come Pharisees and then you have on the other side the Sadducees Sadducees another religious group of people were very very liberal so on the one hand you have the ultra orthodox the very legalistic and conservative to the nth degree but on the other hand you have the Sadducees who were just exactly the opposite they were people who admired uh the roman pragmatism they claimed to follow only the law of moses and they rejected the oral tradition oral tradition of the Pharisees in Acts chapter 238 it reads Sadducees say there's no resurrection neither angel nor spirit but the Pharisees confessed both so you have one on one side that is rigid and the other that are extremely free and they're all showing up at this baptism why well they may have suspected him to be a prophet there was word going out at that time that he may have even been messiah or at the very least they were simply curious it is possible that they were religious opportunists who simply wanted to profit from john's ministry they weren't coming because they needed to repent they were coming because they could gain something by being identified with them and that happens to this day people gain when they present themselves as people of faith we know that every time there's an election every time there's an election a major election the presidential election coming up in a couple years you know this and i know this if you've been around long enough you've seen this many times i see it every presidential election i would be so surprised if it doesn't occur again and it's this whatever candidate is trying to get my vote they will have photo ops of them in church you will see them walking with a bible you will see them with their family smiling after they left a sunday service you will see them that'll be the time that you see them with bibles going to church if they get elected you don't see it anymore and there's a reason for it it's so that they can be identified with the moral fabric of america nobody wants to vote for president an atheist they don't want to believe that somebody at that switch doesn't believe in god and they want people to believe in the same kind of religion that they themselves believe and you will see this i've already noticed this taking place those are being trumpeted as being potential presidential candidates are beginning to speak concerning their religious heritage how so-and-so in my family my grandfather was a pastor how my parents taught me their faith because they were sunday school teachers and you'll hear that because it's called religious opportunism and it's possible that these Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to identify with john who was making such a big splash so that they could borrow his status and apply it to themselves and that was what it seems was taking place what's john's response he sees right through him verse seven he calls him a brute of vipers and even says who warned you to flee from the wrath to come vipers a viper is a very small venomous snake and when the viper was still it looked like a dead branch and people often would pick him up by mistake the apostle paul did he reaches down thinking that he's picking up a branch because they're starting a fire and it turns out to be a poisonous snake that bites him in the hand and so when john is calling them this he's rebuking them in a very serious way he's saying you hypocrites your lives and your seductive teaching is from the serpent and it is deadly so he asks them who warned you to flee from the wrath to come now you have to picture this why would you say that john well because after the harvest had been finished and all that was left in the fields with where the drying up residue farmers often would light that field on fire and they would burn it up and out of the field would come snakes and that's the picture he's giving right here who warned you to flee from the unquenchable fire that is coming you see he's saying what you're really doing by coming to me is you're trying to get some some insurance you're trying to get fire insurance you're trying to come to me and and and uh somehow make sure that uh you don't perish but he's reminding them genuine repentance leads to life but remember this insincere religious acts harden the hearts insincere religious acts harden your heart don't forget that there are many people who grew up in churches and they sang the songs they were taught to even raise their hands to read and memorize scripture but their heart was not part of that and when they turned 18 they turned away and they don't want anything to do with it anymore because they did not really have a heart for any of that and some of the most difficult people that i ever have ministered to are the ones who've been raised in churches because they already think they know but in reality they never experienced anything of the Lord they just got hardened to the gospel and the goodness of God so he says to them in verse eight bear fruits worthy of repentance 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 and even now the axe 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 bear fruits worthy of repentance in other words true repentance will always be evidenced by works of faith James in chapter two verse 17 simply says faith if it has no works is dead true and faith filled repentance always results in a new way of life it results in a changed life it comes to the renouncing of sin and then living righteously it's like what Isaiah chapter one verses 16 and 17 says wash yourselves make yourselves clean put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do good seek justice rebuke the oppressor defend the fatherless plead for the widow he says don't think that you automatically enter in because you can say Abraham is our father simply because you have racial dissent does not make you righteous before God just because you have a relative that may have had a right relationship with God doesn't automatically mean that you do in my family in our family history I didn't know this I learned this later as a young man I had a an uncle who was a bishop a catholic bishop in Mexico and I didn't know that until I read my aunt's birth certificate the oldest sister in my mom's family and she was from Jalisco and the the bishop when my my aunt was getting baptized here in the United States the bishop from Jalisco came to baptize my aunt turns out that was my uncle and so my family had a deep religious root that went further than I thought but just because we had people in the family that had religion in the background didn't mean anything to me because if I don't have a relationship with God I'm just as lost because God doesn't have grandchildren he only has sons and daughters and so when he's saying that don't think to say within yourself we have Abraham as our father God's able to raise up from these rocks children Abraham what was it about Abraham well the Bible says Abraham believed God it was counted unto him for righteousness so if you're going to be a child of Abraham he's basically saying you need to have the faith of Abraham well they missed the point they didn't understand and so he goes on in verse 10 and we'll close in by reading verse 10 through 12 and I'll touch on a couple things he says every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire I indeed baptized you with water from water unto repentance but he who is coming after me is mightier than I whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit in fire his winnowing fan is in his hand he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire and so a couple of thoughts when it says even now the axe is laid to the root of the tree and if that tree doesn't bear good fruit it's going to be cut down and thrown into the fire so true repentance produces fruit but a tree that does not produce fruit is of no value and ultimately is simply going to burn fruitless repentance is useless vines that do not bear fruit were simply cut down and they were burned he said in verse 11 I baptized you with water unto repentance my baptism is for repentance because that awakens you to your need for messiah but on the other hand Jesus's baptism is for eternal life and the power to live for the Lord today this is a baptism he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire when the Holy Spirit is in your life empowering you he is also working in your life to purge you that's where the conviction comes in your life whereas at one time you did certain things without any regret but now that you're saved there's this sense that I can't do that anymore because that doesn't please the Lord and his winnowing fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire messiah will separate all who truly belong to him from those who simply pretend that they do ultimately the genuine wheat is separated from the chaff so the best question that we could have today is am I wheat or am I chaff am I real or am I not because for those who are real you're separated from the judgment those who are not judgment is all that's awaiting we need to know whether we belong to the Lord today or not