Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* -- On September 23, 1926, Jack Dempsey, a major character of the Roaring Twenties, and holder of the heavyweight title since 1919, stepped in the ring against Gene Tunney.

He counted on his legendary punching power to win against the underdog, Tunney.

But Dempsey could never land a good punch and was easily outpointed by the younger, faster, slicker Tunney.

He explained his loss to his wife, actress Estelle Taylor, with the famous line, “Honey, I forgot to duck.”

Dempsey wasn’t ready, and he paid the price.

President Reagan used the same line to his wife after being seriously wounded in the attempt on his life in 1981.

Well, neither were the Jews of Jesus day prepared for the Messiah who was about to invade their existence.

They thought they were.

They had been anticipating Him all of their lives, and the expectations were high that he would deliver them from Roman oppression.

But they did not missed the one fundamental truth that was the key to the whole thing.

They forgot I Samuel 16:7: “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

They failed to understand that Messianic deliverance was first and foremost internal.

Before he could rule their nation, he must first rule their heart.

Thus, God had arranged a forerunner, John the Baptist, to prepare hearts for the coming of Christ, the Messiah.

And what they needed, we need too.

So last week we began to look at 6 elements involved in preparing hearts for Christ from Luke 3:1-14.

*I.

The Mess (1-2a)*

Luke mentions six officials in Lu 2:1-2, 4 of whom will later participate in Christ’s death.

They represent life without Christ -- and it is not a pretty picture.

Mankind is a sinful, broken mess as a result of the Fall, incapable of meeting his own moral standards, let alone those of a holy God.

Try to live life without Christ and you will screw it up.

I’ve been there, and so have many of you.

So we need a Savior.

That is step one in preparing for Christ – recognizing the need.

We will never accept Him if we do not recognize our lostness without Him.

*II.

The Messenger (2b)*

The messenger is John – “Jehovah is gracious.”

What we need to understand here is that God was under no obligation to do anything.

God would have remained the same holy, loving, righteous and just being that He is had He left men to die in their sin.

But because of His love and mercy and grace, He took action.

He sent John – “Jehovah is gracious” – to prepare the way for Christ to invade hard hearts.

*III.

The Mission (4-6)*

John’s mission is to ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, by removing all hurdles to the hearts of the people.

It is an awesome task to soften hearts, especially hearts that do not recognize that they are hard.

But that is John’s task.

He is making straight paths to crooked hearts, preparing the way for Christ.

How?

*IV.

The Message (3, 7-8)*

Lu 2:3: “And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

The key word here is “repentance.”

Everything revolves around that.

But first, let’s note 3 things.

One, baptism was not unknown in the Jewish community where it was used with Gentile converts.

The Jews failed miserably to be the blessing to all nations that God intended.

But when an occasional Gentile did desire to convert, they had to be circumcised and to be baptized symbolizing their cleansing.

So, when John came preaching a baptism of repentance, Jews would have linked it with a need for cleansing by outsiders.

To demand that a Jew be baptized was scandalous.

It sent a clear message, “You are unclean!

You – Jews!”

Here is John at the start of a new era addressing Jews as though they were Gentiles – the ultimate insult, but necessary to make straight paths to hard hearts.

Not just outsiders, but the people of God are unclean.

They often confuse outward compliance with inward clearnsing.

If they want to meet Messiah, they must be cleansed.

The second thing we note is it is not the baptism that leads to forgiveness, it is the repentance.

The baptism reflected a heart already cleansed -- by repentance.

We must never confuse ritual with repentance.

Forgiveness of sins comes the same way in every age and every dispensation and every era.

It comes by believing God; ritual is always a reflection of faith.

Way back in Abraham’s time we are told in Gen 15:6, “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

How are we saved?

By faith.

How was Abraham saved?

By faith.

True, the content changes.

Abraham did not know Christ’s person or work, so his faith was in something God was going to do that was not crystal clear to him.

Our faith is in God’s Word as expressed in the person and work of Christ, but salvation is always by faith.

Third, note John’s baptism was not the same as the New Testament baptism we practice today.

It was outwardly identical, but it could not reflect the death and resurrection of Christ for the simple reason that those had not happened yet.

We see this in a curious incident in Acts 19.

Turn there.

Paul comes to Ephesus on his third missionary journey and finds 12 guys who are already believers – but with a twist.

Let’s pick up at Lu 2:2, “And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?”

They said, “Into John’s baptism.”

(So, these guys had been in Palestine sometime during John’s ministry, become believers and were baptized by him – tho probably Gentiles) 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Question: why were these men re-baptized?

They were re-baptized because NT baptism, detailed in Romans 6, is about identifying with Christ’s death and resurrection.

John’s baptism couldn’t depict what hadn’t happened yet, so Paul re-baptized these 12. Baptism does not save, Beloved, but it is an expected act of obedience to our Lord showing that we freely and truly identify our life with His.

Baptism is a wonderful way that Christ has provided for us to say to our world, “I belong to Him.

And I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.”

If you have never followed the Lord in this way as a believer, please consider it.

Now, what is repentance all about?

The word μετανοια (metanoia) literally means a change of mind.

As used here it describes a change of heart – from a hard, selfish heart, intent on its own passions to a heart that has turned from self toward God.

John is preparing the way for Christ.

Any relationship with Christ begins in the heart and Christ and sin cannot co-exist.

So if Christ is coming, sin has to go.

But in our human condition, we put up all kinds of barricades – because, frankly, we like our sin.

So I want us to see first 3 impediments to repentance and then 2 indications of true repentance.

*A.

Impediments to Repentance*

*1.

Outward Confidence*

Lu 2:3: Luke tells us that John is proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

You say, I don’t see any impediment there.

And I grant you it is not spelled out, but Oh, I do see an impediment, Beloved.

Why was John preaching repentance?