← The Church of Eleven22
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Amen. And amen. And amen. All right, church, let's go to work. Grab your Bibles. We're gonna be in Matthew, chapter three. We are studying the book of Matthew for the whole year. We're divided up into seasons and episodes. We're in season one, episode two. We're gonna talk about the baptism of Jesus before we get there. Just a little bit of housekeeping. For all of you that are attending the 7:30am service, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. For all of you attending the 4:22 afternoon Sunday afternoon service, thank you. For all of you that aren't, you should pray about it. You should seriously pray about it. If you find yourself in a service that's really full, you should really pray about it. If you had a hard time getting into or out of the parking lot, you should really pray about it. By pray about it, I mean actually go to it. All right? And if you're a 9 o' clocker or a 7 30th, just hold those times kind of flexible. We may adjust those times a little bit. All right? And this is not a poll. We don't do polls around here. You pray about that too. But just hold all of that very loosely. And here's why. We're just trying to serve you the best. We're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what we're doing. And we're always trying to make room for one more. Amen. All right, so be about that. All right, Matthew, chapter three. We're gonna dive in. We've got some heavy lifting to do. It's gonna be fun for me. Now, before we get into it, in case you missed last week, which you probably didn't, everybody was here. Remember Matthew's point. Remember what Matthew's doing. Matthew was born, an insider, chooses to be an outsider, sells out his family, sells out his faith, sells out his people to work for the Roman government, to take taxes from the Jewish people, to give to the Roman government, to then tyrannize the Jewish people. And then Jesus would love him enough to save him. And not just save him, but put him on staff, call him a disciple, and then eventually an apostle. And so Matthew is writing to the Jewish people to connect them to what the Old Covenant, the Old Testament has said, that this God Jesus, the Christ Jesus from Nazareth, he is the Messiah. And what the promise given to Abraham will be fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And the promise was not about necessarily just a nation. The nation was a Means to an end. The promises from that nation would arise from a serpent crusher. That would be a blessing for every family. And the way that was going to happen is every person that believes in Jesus would be the blessing. Because Jesus came to save sinners. So those are the goggles that you have to have on to understand. Now we get to chapter three of Matthew. The Bible says in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Verse 2. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Well, look at John the Baptist. He is on board with our vision for this year. Isn't that nice of him? And if you were here last week and paying attention and remembered everything that I said, because obviously you do, you would say, I thought that's what Jesus said in chapter four, verse 17. And you're right. It's the exact same message. Well, is Jesus plagiarizing John the Baptist? No, no, no, no. What's actually happening here is John the Baptist was sent by Jesus. And again, if you're like in the gifted class from Sunday school back in the day, be like, wait a second, I thought John the Baptist was born before Jesus. He was born before Jesus, but he was not before Jesus. Before there was John the Baptist, there was Jesus. Because Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, co eternal with the Spirit and the Father and God. One God in three persons sent John the Baptist as a messenger with, with this message. And here's his message. This is what we're focused on this year. Repent. For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Let me ask you a question real quick. What do you need to repent of? I mean, we're in the new year. Everybody loves a good New Year's resolution. You know what mine is? Mine is to finish one tube of chapstick. I've never done it in my whole life. Never been able to keep up with it. I lose them. It's Florida. You only need it for like two months out of the year. I leave them in my pocket and then I just have an empty one. It goes to heaven or wherever it goes in the dryer. So that's mine. Pray for me. All right now. But what do you need to repent of? There are things in our life that are hindering us, that are keeping us from the life that God has for us. In the book of Hebrews, it says there's like two categories. There's sin, and you gotta quit. You gotta stop. You ever notice Christians don't sin anymore? They just struggle be in Disciple group. Hey, I'm just struggling with lust. No, dude, you're looking at porn. That's called a sin. It's gonna kill you or you get to kill it. Those are the two options. You don't get dependent. You don't get detainment. Sin will kill you, destroy you. We have an enemy. The only thing he wants to do is steal, kill and destroy. Is there sin in your life that needs to be cut out of your life? And some things in your life aren't sin. They're just stupid. You just get too tangled up with the things of this world. Repentance is the rethink the way you're gonna do this life. And understand our way isn't working. I need to turn my back to this world and turn my face to Jesus and be about the Father's business. Repent. Are there things in your life that you need to change direction, change your mind? Why? Because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Listen, if you can't get your. I'm gonna do my best all year to teach on what the kingdom of heaven is. Yes, Jesus came to save your soul, but he didn't simply save you. To give you a get out of hell free card so that one day you. You don't have to go there. You get to go to heaven. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ and you were adopted into the family of God, you're now about the King's business. You are a part of the kingdom. And we live in an upside down kingdom. We are not supposed to be conformed to the pattern of this world. Cause this kingdom does things differently than his kingdom. And we're kingdom people. This means that we do life differently, that we change direction, that we are about God's kingdom. And as ambassadors of his kingdom, we're gonna learn this. When Jesus teaches us how to pray, what we are supposed to be about is what we're praying as God. We want it to be on earth like it is in heaven. So how do we. Instead of what our culture does is they pull hell up onto this earth. And what believers in Jesus are supposed to do is bring heaven down to this earth. So we treat people differently because we understand every single person we come face to face with is an image bearer of God. And Jesus died on the cross for them. So we treat people differently. Here's the big three. Okay, this is gonna really make you mad. The world tells us how to do success and stuff and sex one way. And then God says, no, no, no, no, we don't do it that way. You see, success is all about me. I want likes and I want clicks and I want a blue check. And I want to make sure this world knows who I am. And God's like, no, that's not what we do. If you want to be first, you go last. You want to be the greatest, then you serve. And if service is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you. Everybody's okay with that one. Theoretically, this world has a way that it does stuff and money and it simply says more is mine. That's called selfish. Now right now in our country, we got a little bit of people that believe what's yours is mine. That's called socialism. I don't have time for that. But that ain't another kingdom either. And as Christians, what we say is no, no, no, no. Everything I have is God's. And I'm gonna bring to him first and best. Cause I ultimately trust him. And I know that with God I can do more on less than I can do on my own with all of it. And so I'm gonna be a good steward of all of it. I'm gonna bring my first and best to him. Cause I trust him. And wherever my treasure is, there my heart will be also. And then I'm gonna leverage all the rest of it for his glory and my joy. That is what I'm gonna be about. And I and this world does sex a different way. Oh my goodness. We're in like the circus olay now of sexual morality. There's not any anymore. It's a three ring circus. Whatever you say goes. How's that working out for everybody? Not good is the answer. And then God would come along and go, no, we're gonna do this differently. I made it up. So I get to set the rules. And the rules are not to prevent you from life abundantly. The rules are so that you can live in freedom. And, and this is. Sex is not a God and sex is not gross. Sex is a gift from God meant to be done his way. Repent. Cause we live in his kingdom and it is at hand. And the question is, are you gonna grab onto this abundant life or are you gonna try to keep one foot in the world and one foot at church and navigate both? It's not gonna go good for you. This is his message. Verse 3. This is gonna tell you a little bit of who John the Baptist is. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. When Isaiah said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make his Path straight. So John the Baptist shows up on the scene. And this had been prophesied hundreds of years before he ever shows up on the scene. So one of the things that you're going to see in Matthew, there's a very famous pastor out of Atlanta, and years ago, he used the most unfortunate word. He said that the New Testament believers are unhitched from the Old Testament. The problem with that will be the people that wrote the New Testament. If you don't understand the Old Testament, you'll have no idea what Matthew's talking about. Everything in the Old Testament is Christ concealed, and everything in the New Testament is Christ revealed. It's all talking about the same thing. It's not two different things. It's one thing, and it's all about Jesus. And John the Baptist shows up on the scene. He preaches very short messages. He just yells, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Tons of people start showing up. And so Matthew's like, yeah, this is the one that the prophets Isaiah said was coming on the scene. Verse 4. Now, John, this is John the baptizer. I love this man. He wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. Of all the things to cover. We're talking about hell and heaven and eternity and life and death and the ministry. Life, death, resurrection of Jesus. Why in the world does Matthew care what John the Baptist is wearing? The juggler's running around in camel hair. He did not get this from the outlet. You realize this. That brother saw a camel that looks comfortable and maybe tasty, and he kills it and he makes a coat out of it, gets him a leather belt. Why is he wearing this? Well, there's really a lot here when we read this. If you were connected to the old Covenant, then you would know that there was a prophet in the Old Testament and he wore the same thing, and his name was Elijah. And so the New Testament readers, Matthew's audience, would automatically begin to connect John the Baptizer with. And what's also incredible is that John the Baptist's dad was a priest. And so typically, what would happen in the first century is you just did what your dad did. And the dad and the priest had real fancy clothes, man, real fancy clothes. It was all bedazzled with jewels. And the Old Testament told them how to wear it. They had different kind of linens and an ephod and cloaks. And I mean, you've seen religious people, they get real fancy, like special hats and all the things. You know what I Mean. And John's like, yeah, that's good for you, bro, but that ain't my game. I'm not gonna put on those clothes. Cause those clothes aren't for me. I'm gonna kill a camel. I'm gonna wrap it around me. I'm gonna get me a leather belt. Cause that's all I need. He was not playing into the traditions of man. He was just about his father's business. Now, John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. And his food was locusts and wild honey. You see, John the Baptizer is the cousin of Jesus. He's about six months older than Jesus. And if you look in the Gospel of Luke, what you'll find is that when Mary is pregnant with baby Jesus and goes to see her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist, the baby in the womb of Elizabeth leaps with joy. Because that baby knows that the other baby is the Messiah real quick. Not a clump of cells. In the New Testament, the same human being on the inside of Mary, the same word is used for when the baby gets to the outside of Mary. In the womb of Mary. We talked about this at some point. The hypostatic union in the womb of Mary is the Son of God. And he's fully man and he's fully God. He did not become fully man once he was born. Why? Because according to the scriptures, life begins at conception, not when some dummy on a college campus thinks it does. This is what's happening here. And what the gospel writers want us to do is the moment John the Baptizer shows up on the scene, they want us to understand this was not an accident, that God had foretold this for a long time. If you've got your Bible open like you should, like I said, if you'll back up, just. Well, I use the ELP version, the extra large print. So it ain't gonna be long before I'm gonna be like in the beginning. Okay? So whatever. So in my Bible, it's probably less than yours. Oh, you group over here when you can carry your whole Bible in your pocket and just read it. Oh, just enjoy it, kids. All right. Anyway, so glad you're here. If you'll just back up just a few pages, you will get to the last prophet in the Old Testament. And it's pronounced Malachi. Okay? The Italian. It's not true. It's Malachi. That's for all of you that move here from New York. I like Malachi. No, that's not It's Malachi. Here's the way the old covenant ends. So the whole old covenant opens it up. God creates Adam and Eve, sin enters the world. God shows up, gives us the proto Evangelion, gives us the curses. And then he says, there is one coming from your seed, a singular Jewish man. And the enemy's gonna try to bruise his heel, and he's gonna get his head crushed. And then all of the rest of the old covenant is about the coming of the serpent crusher. And then when you get to the end of Malachi, there's that blank page in your Bible, okay? And that represents 400 years. And God didn't talk to his people the way he had been. And Malachi ends the whole Old Testament this way. He says, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with the decree of utter destruction. And then it's over. It's over. And then Luke, the gospel writer, here's how he basically opens up the whole thing. In chapter 1, verse 12. And Zechariah was troubled. That's John the Baptist's dad. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him. Him. There's an angel. And fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. And you shall call his name John. Traditionally, they would have called his name like Zachariah Jr. But the angel. If an angel shows up and gives you a baby name, you should go with that name. That's what they do. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink. And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. Once again, not to harp on this. Clumps of cells don't get filled with the Holy Spirit. People get filled with the Holy Spirit. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him in spirit and power of Elijah and. And turn the hearts of fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. And much like Elijah. We did a whole series on Elijah last year. John the Baptist is going to come in what the Bible says is the Spirit of Elijah in accordance with the scriptures. And both John the Baptist and Elijah, they have a lot in common. They didn't play the traditional roles, man. And before they step on the scene of ministry, they just lived in utter obscurity. They're just living out in the wilderness. They're just accomplishing God's assignment for their life. They are not being conformed to the pattern of this world. And when John the Baptist walks out of the scene, man, I see it like he walks out of the woods and he just starts screaming, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. And people are leaning in because he's just telling them what they actually need to hear, not what they want to hear. And there's always groups of people that love to have their ears tickled. All right, so John the Baptist is not out there with this message of like, you know what? You're good enough, you're smart enough. Don't let people like you. That's not what he's doing. I mean, he's a man's man. He's not afraid. He's probably bald with a big old beard and yelled at people for a living. It's what he does. He's an outdoorsman. The Bible's going to say that he's a troubler, just like Elijah was a troubler. He called out the religious leaders. You're going to see it in a minute. He essentially cusses the religious leaders. He tells them that their dad is the devil. That's what he's going to say. That'll be very offensive. He confronted society. He's like, you're chasing after the wrong things and jot this one down. He called out politicians to their face. He says, instead of walking in accordance with God, because the authority that you have is given to you by God, but what you're actually doing is you're throwing parades for things we ought to throw funerals for. And may God's judgment be on your head. This is what he does. And the politicians don't like it, so they have him killed. But it doesn't stop him. And by the way, when Jesus talks about John the Baptist, you know what he doesn't say? He doesn't say, well, he's a good guy, but he got too political. It's not what he said. He says, of all the people ever been born of woman, just in case you're taking notes, that's all of them. He's the best. That's what he said, because he stood on the truth of the Word of God. And he just did what the Word told him to do. We talked about this during the Elijah series. I'll say it again. We need some more troublers that will trouble the status quo of this world. We need some more people that are more concerned about what God thinks and what people think. We need some more people that are not just trying to use some verses in the Bible for the blessing of God. But we stand under the authority of God. And we're like the mailman. We are in the delivery business, not the manufacturing business. We don't get to make it up. We just get to deliver the Word of God. Because he is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Creator of all things, and he knows how it works best. And actually, you will not break God's word. You'll just break yourself against it. And we need some more, especially men. We spent a whole year on it. So hopefully we're further down the road. Being like John the Baptist, doing whatever it takes, whatever it takes for us to be in alignment with God. And so this is who this brother is. So he's out there. Very short messages. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Verse 5. He gets very popular. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him. He's out. He's in the Jordan. I've been there. I've been to a place that they think Jesus was baptized. It's terrible. It's terrible. It's not awesome. It's muddy. The water's gross. It's freezing cold. Freezing cold. And he's out there in the wilderness. Now, when we see this, when we see people going from Jerusalem out to the country, we don't think about it that much. But here's what's happening. Pay attention to this. People are going from the city of Jerusalem out into the country. Here's why this matters. In the first century, they are going from comfortable to uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable out in the wilderness because that's where, like bandits and tribes and people that would kill you lived. There was comfort on the inside of the wall of Jerusalem. There was order there. They are going from safe to dangerous these days. To go from the city to the country is to go from dangerous to safe. Mostly back then, it was to go from safe to dangerous. You see, some of you, in order to be about God's business in your life, you're gonna have to move away from the comfortable a little bit. Cause your life's just too comfortable. You're gonna have to move away from safety just a little bit. I'm telling you, man, one of the things that Gretchen and I have been committed to with our children, they're a little bit older now, but we tried really, really hard not to be parents. That just said, be safe. That is not the highest value in the Bible. Be wise for sure. Be courageous for sure. Be. But be safe. We live in the safest society in the history of humanity. How's that working out? I mean, when I see kids riding on bicycles now, and I compare them to Gen X riding bicycles, I think they have more safety equipment to ride a huffy than the dudes that went to outer space did. It's unbelievable. I'm like, helmet, knee pads, elbow pads. What are you. Are you racing? What are you doing? Be safe. And I'm telling you, I don't think we should be careless. But if the ultimate value is to be careful, you're gonna have a real time following what the book says that we're supposed to do. I mean, listen, man, if safety is your highest value, following Jesus might not be on your bingo card. And sometimes this used to be popular. The safest place you could be is the center of God's will. You might wanna read the book. God himself got crucified for being in the center of God's will. All of the disciples died martyr's death for being in the center of God's will. Now, ultimately that works out one day when you get to heaven. But man, here on earth, you follow Jesus, it might hurt a little bit. And yet if we're not willing to leave our comfortable, we may not ever hear the message that God has for us. And so Jerusalem and Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, verse 6. And they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sin. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, well, I'd just like to welcome our guest. It's not what he's saying, man. You know, would all the first timers please stand up? We just want to welcome you. So glad you're here. Got you a coffee mug. It's not what he did, man. Here's what he said in English. This doesn't have like the ugh did it did there. He says, you brood of vipers. You brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath to come bear fruit in keeping with repentance. He calls them hypocrites. It'd be like the biggest insult you could give to the religious leaders when he calls them brood of vipers. There are some snakes and they like the baby snakes are hatched out of eggs, but it happens on the inside of the mama and they're hatched there and then they eat their way out of the mama snake. There's a brood, it's a bunch of little baby snakes. You know who a snake was in the Bible? Go back to Genesis chapter three. He was the snake, the devil. So if you were a brood of vipers, what he's saying is your daddy is the devil. And these were the religious people. And then they're just showing up. Here's something you might want to write down. Not everybody that gets close to you or follows you is for you. Yeah, man, some people roll up on you roll up on your Instagram and you know, they like a thing or here too. But what they're actually trying to do is just trying to find a space to take you out. By the way, Jesus is going to also tell this group of men, your daddy is the devil. So what you've got is got a bunch of self righteous religious leaders. And here's the problem. God is on the move through John the Baptist, an outsider out at the River Jordan. And they didn't, and he didn't check with the homeowners association to see if it was okay or not. And the religious guys show up with the clipboard to look for all the things he's doing wrong. They're listening to his sermon not to hear the word of God, but to double check him to see if he's okay or not. That's what self righteous religious leaders do. They lead with suspicion. And very few times did the Pharisees and Sadducees ever team up together. They were actually political enemies. The Sadducees was a smaller group and it was very liberal. They didn't even believe the law. They didn't believe in the afterlife. So they were kind of like, we should eat, drink and be merry because this is it. We're worm dirt after this. The Pharisees didn't think the law was enough. So they added to Moses 613 laws. And so these were like the most conservative people. And you see, our hope will never be found in political liberal or conservatism. Our hope is found in King Jesus. Period. End of. And here's the thing though. They show up with a critical heart. A critical mind is vital. The Bible says, test every spirit, that we should be like the Bereans. The Bereans are the people in the Bible that when they heard teaching the Bible says they studied the word of God to see if the person preaching was telling the truth or not. By the way, this is why I asked you to open up to the book of Matthew, so you can see I'm not making this stuff up. Critical mind. Praise God for that. A critical heart is cancer to the body of God. I hope you realize this, because when you are constantly suspicious of motives, what happens is it will rob you of joy and it will not allow you to celebrate what God is doing in somebody else's life because they didn't do it the way you think it ought to happen. Yeah, man. What we're gonna see in the Gospel of Matthew is Jesus will do a miracle. Like my favorite one to talk about in this is when he heals the man by the pool of Bethesda and he says, take up your mat and follow me. And the religious leaders with a suspicious heart come up and they can't even see the miracle. All they can see is the mat. And so these are the bad guys. They're going to be bad the whole time. And he says that you're hypocrites. Says you need to bear fruit in accordance with what you teach. That's what he's saying. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. In other words, your life does not reflect your message is what he tells them. Verse 9. And do not presume to say to yourselves. This is what the religious people say. Like, you know who you talk to? Do you know who my dad is? We have Abraham as our father. And John the Baptist is like, well, that's adorable. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. You missed the point of the blessing. The point of the blessing. We talked about this last week. Paul covers this in Romans, chapter nine and Galatians, chapter three. There is no group entrance into heaven. It's a single file line. And there is no way, no way, no way. This is very offensive, so make sure you hear it. There is no way you can simultaneously accept God the Father and reject God the Son. That is not an option. In fact, Jesus, when he himself says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And what these people were doing was trying to accept the God of the Old Testament while rejecting the person of Christ who was standing right there in front of him. And what John the Baptist is saying is, listen, God will bring all his children home. And like we studied in Romans 9 and Galatians, chapter 3, and nobody is born into it. God saves first names, not last names. And so if he wants to call these rocks his kids, then that's his prerogative. Verse 10. It gets worse. Even now, the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. He is talking about judgment. Listen, I love you enough to tell you this. Judgment is coming. Every single one of us one day will stand before the Almighty God of the universe, and we will give account. And if you read the Book of Revelation, there's more than one judgment. There's the Great White Throne judgment, which is about salvation. There's the Lamb's Book of Life. And anybody that puts their faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of you, then you are in the Lamb's Book of Life. You get to go to heaven. And then there is a following set of books. And this is where, like when Jesus says, every single one of us will give an account for every word that we say. There's this kind of judgment. And he's saying, a judgment is coming. Then verse 11. I've read this a bunch, but for whatever reason, I spent about three hours just on this verse in the tree stand this week. He says, I baptize you with water for repentance. So John the Baptist's baptism and what we do in baptism, Christian baptism, it's not the same. Okay, talk about that in a second. He says, I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me, that's Jesus, is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. And he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now, I'm gonna be honest. I'm like, what does that even mean? Baptized in the Holy Spirit. Let's go. Praise God. Give me that. What does it mean to be baptized in fire? Well, okay. John the Baptist's water baptism was for preparation. Jesus is gonna come to declare salvation. Baptism doesn't save you. It declares that you are saved. More to come. I'm gonna unpack that a little bit more in a minute. But Jesus is going to immerse you. The word baptize just means immerse. Baptizo means to dip, dunk, or immerse. So Jesus not only on his first round's coming to save, on his second round's coming to judge. And all of us will be judged, and we will be immersed with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now, we see a foreshadowing of this at Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus ascension to the right hand of God the Father, that the Spirit of God moves on every believer like a wind. And people are immersed in the Holy Spirit and tongues of fire fall down on them. But it's more than that. Historically, there's two understandings of what this means to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. Almost everybody I read did an either or thing. And I'm just. My card's on the table. I think it's a both. And here it is one of the options. I think it's both. He could be talking about the judgment of salvation that, like, as a group, everybody is going to be to experience Jesus either by Holy Spirit or by fire. We're talking about heaven and hell. In Matthew 25, Matthew says, the end of it all, Jesus is going to return. He's going to separate everybody like sheep and goats. And the gospel quartet cake back in the day had a song and it said, sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell. It's very biblical. The reality is, listen, the Bible says every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Okay? But not everybody's going to heaven. So you know what this means? Jesus will be your Lord. He will either be the Lord of your salvation or he will be the Lord of your judgment. He will be first in your life. He will either be first as your Savior or He will be first as your judge. Hear me. Every single one of us will stand before God. Which baptism do you want? Do you want the baptism of the Holy Spirit, where He pours out his grace on you and fills you with his love and wipes your sins away and adopts you as his child? Or do you want the baptism of his justice because he is just? All sin must be paid for. And do you want to volunteer to pay for it on your own? That will require an eternal damnation and an actual, literal, physical hell. This is what he's saying. This is what he's saying. You see, the reality is this. If you're a Christian, if you're a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus, this is as close to hell as we'll ever be. This is it, man. There will come a day in our redemption and our glorification, and there'll be no more pain. And he'll wipe away every tear. And the loved ones that know him will be reunited with Him. And nobody's going to be broken. Doesn't matter how much food Costs up there. You know why they got so much gold? They use it as asphalt. Ain't nobody gonna be hungry. I can't find a verse where there's a vegetable mentioned at the banqueting table. It's gonna be gospel meat over there. Bacon wrap, filets, stuff like that. I'm telling you, man, bread, wine, it's all good. This is as close, if you're a Christian, this is as close to hell as you'll ever be. Alright? They won't ever miss a past interference call at the end of the game to ruin it. That won't happen. People actually have eyes to see. This is it. This is as bad as it gets. And I have horrifying news. If you're not a believer, this is as close to heaven as you're ever going to experience. Every good and perfect gift comes from above. Anything lovely, anything good, anything pure, anything from a sunrise to the beach to the love you have for your kid. This is it, man. It's the common grace of God. And if you don't know him, you will be separated from all of that for all eternity. And I don't even have language to explain it. So if you don't know him, believe. Put your faith in him. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, who got in some serious trouble towards the end of his life about, he said, I don't know, I don't even have enough time to like dig into all the things that he said. And was he kidding or what is he not? But whatever, he was pretty much labeled as saying some seriously racist things. And then he's dying of cancer and on his deathbed he's recording these videos, like from hospice. And he says, many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go. I am not a believer, but I have to admit the risk reward calculation for doing so looks so attractive to me. So here I go. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I look forward to spending an eternity with him. The part about me not being a believer should be quite quickly resolved. If I wake up in heaven, I won't need any more convincing than that. I hope I'm still qualified. But what qualifies you is not what you do, it's what Christ has done on your behalf. And again, man, when you read this, because I was reading this, what's called Reddit or some kind of terrible thing like that, and what the guy was saying was like, that's not fair. How's he gonna live his whole life saying, I don't believe, I Don't believe. I don't believe. And on the last minute, just out of fear, say, okay, I believe. That's called grace, people. It is by grace that we have been saved through faith, not by works. That is how scandalous the grace of God. So the question is, do you want to be baptized with the Spirit of God or by fire, the fire of judgment. Now, there's another group of people that think that this baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire might be not about redemption, but about refining. And I'm going to be honest, I think I agree with that, too. I think ultimately, when Jesus is saying, or when John the Baptist is saying about Jesus, you're going to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. And fire. That is like a. A judgment on salvation. Yes, and amen. But my testimony is I met Jesus. The Spirit was deposited on the inside of me, and I walked through a little fire, too. Sometimes when the Bible talks about fire, it talks about fire as a refiner that the believer is immersed in the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1, 13, 14. Okay, the moment you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you get all of the Holy Spirit he is God, unzips you, rips out your dead, decrepit black heart, takes the Holy Spirit, sticks him in there as a deposit forever and ever and ever, zips it back up and says, good luck, not good luck, go for it. Whatever he says. Okay, now. And yet several times in the Gospels, in the Book of Acts, the phrase filled with the Spirit will be used. So just because you have the Spirit of God deposited in you does not mean that we are living fully in line with the Spirit. The question is not, do you need more to the Spirit of God? The question is, does the Spirit of God have all of you? And so I do think, though, that even those of us who believe and the Spirit of God has been placed inside of us according to Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, that there is still a process of sanctification that the Bible calls refining back to Malachi. Malachi is prophesying about this very moment. Malachi, chapter three says this. Behold, I send my messenger. He's talking about JB I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming talking about judgment? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, a fuller's soap. I Didn't study the soap stuff. I don't know about soap. I'm going to tell you about fire. He will sit. This is crazy. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. There were some people and they went and they interviewed a silversmith, and they're like, they didn't tell him they were Christians trying to figure out what these verses mean. They just asked him about this process of revision, refining silver. And sure enough, the silversmith is sitting while he's refining the fire. And they're like, why you got to sit there? And he's like, well, I've got to sit here because the edges of the fire aren't enough. I got to keep it right in the middle to burn out all of the impurities. And then the people said, well, how do you know when it's ready? And the silversmith said, that's easy when I can see my image in it. That's what God is doing in the believer. Romans 8:28. Boy, we love this one as we should. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to his purpose. Praise God for that. But here's his purpose. For those who he foreknew, he also predestined. Don't worry, that word just means what it says. You're predestined. Okay, whatever. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. How do you think that happens? You think you just trust Jesus and he just sprinkles some conformity image of His Son dust on you? Everybody I know with the deepest, most abiding walk with Jesus in the areas of their life, their time, in their life, when they grew the most, it was always when they were walking through the fire. It was always in the most difficult places. You know how easy it is to trust God when everything's going good. Yeah, man, but what about when it all falls apart, man? That's the refiner's fire, you see, because he's burning away everything in you that doesn't conform to the image and likeness of His Son. I don't read many comments online. I just ain't got time, man, and it makes me mad, so I want to fight, and that ain't good. So whatever. Sometimes I'll read, I don't like Joby I'm like, me either. He's been the biggest pain in my whole life. My whole life. I've been walking with Jesus a minute, but I'm still on the backside of Romans, chapter seven. There's still a lot of refining that has to happen in me. What is wrong with me? The things I don't want to do, I do. And the things I don't want to do. These things I keep on doing. Is there any hope for me? And it's not buggle up, buttercup. That's not what it is. It's not, try harder, do better. No, no, no. It's. Who will save a wretch like me? Praise God for Jesus Christ the Savior. And then when I'm in him, therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And part of the way we know what this means is by the next verses that he gives. He says, his winnowing fork, that's like a pitchfork, big pitchfork. His winnowing fork is in hand. And he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. And but the chaff, he will burn with unquenchable fire. Again, I think this is about both salvation and sanctification. So what they would do is they would bring in all the wheat, and along with it are the stalks and the dead leaves, and that's called the chaff. And they had this big, like, stone floor, and they would take a pitchfork and they would grab it and they would throw it up in the air on a windy day. And the wheat is heavy, so it would fall back down. And the chaff is real light, like toilet paper. And. And the wind would blow it away. And this was this separation. So that is going to happen in regards to salvation. There will be a day of judgment. And if you've not put your faith in Christ, I am begging you today, believe on Christ for your salvation. But it also. I mean, we got any Christians here that can testify? I feel like he's been throwing me around with the winnowing fork sometimes, too. I mean, listen, man, I didn't know what a selfish, arrogant son of a gun I was. I got married, started sharing my life and house with this lady. I thought, what is wrong with her? Then I'm brushing my teeth one day, and I'm like, there it is. That's what's wrong with her. She's picked a horrible roommate. He's a slob. He's a mess. He's selfish. He always wants his way. He demands his own way. He's easily irritated. He's rude. Uh oh. And that was just the Lord, dude, I'm telling you, marriage is the left lane of sanctification, the autobond, parenthood. My gosh, you're just screaming at your kids. What are you doing? You're acting just like I act. Stop. And that's just the Lord, man, just separating. I know I've shared this 10,000 times, but this is what it is. So many times. You see, James says that we should actually thank God when we face trials of many kinds. We get Romans 8, 28. It's okay to look over your shoulder and see how God was at work. James, the brother of Jesus, he knows a thing or two. He's like, actually, what you ought to do is consider it pure joys, my brothers, when you face trial, when trial is coming at you, you're like, how you doing, trial? I'm glad to see you. And the reason I'm glad to see you. Cause I know God is at work, and I don't like this, but he's gonna produce some things in me. And you're the only way it can be produced in me. There's only one way to get endurance is to endure. They don't make a GLP one for endurance. Patience. You get this. So you've heard it before. I'm yelling at my football players at Providence. Them jokers in there in the weight room, just what are they doing, man? Working out like swimsuit models. That ain't it, boys. And I screamed, everybody wants to be strong. Nobody wants to be sore. And I thought, holy moly. That ought to be a proverb for the American church. Everybody wants to be strong. Everybody wants to grow in a deepening relationship with Jesus. Don't want to do anything about it. God is so good that he can use our absolute worst days for good and our joy. So the winnowing fork is at hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff, he will burn with unquenchable fire. And now Jesus is going to get baptized, and I got to go fast. Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. And John would have prevented him saying, I need to be baptized by you. You come to me. You ever feel unworthy, you ever be like, I can't lead a disciple group. I'm a sinner. Ever do that? You know, ever look at how God blesses you, and you're like, I don't deserve this. You're in good company that's what John the Baptist felt like. Boss, I can't baptize you. You ought to baptize me. I got really good news, man. I feel the same way all the time. And God's blessing makes it worse, not better. You know what I mean? And it's just more evidence of his grace. I mean, the Bible says he uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Look who's talking to you right now. I'm just telling you it's only by God's good grace and his sovereign hand that he could use a jacked up, wretched, black hearted nobody from nowhere to just be. Just do what he tells you to do. And then God gets all the glory. And what's great about John, man, John's ministry's blowing up. He's got a blue check online. They want to interview him and all of the ministries and he's like, nah, dude, that ain't it. The point of John the Baptist's life was to point people to Jesus. That's it. News flash on the book of Matthew before we get to neighbors and nations. The point of your life is to point people to Jesus. That's it. That's the whole point of your life. That's why he's giving you everything that you have. How do you do that? Do you have to start a ministry? You're already in ministry. My job is to equip you for the work of the ministry. You do it. You do it when you give. You do it when you pray. You do it when you go. You do it when you share an invitation. But if your life is not ruled by God's great commission, then you're not doing it right. We're not doing it right. I hope you realize this. The church doesn't have a mission. The mission has a church. Jesus has a mission. Therefore, go and make disciples of everywhere. Everywhere you are on the go. I don't care who they are and what they believe and what they used to believe. And you teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. You baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. I don't know what to say. Don't worry about it. I'll be right there with you. That's the promise. That's the mission. And so God created a church to accomplish the mission, not the other way around. So Jesus answered him, let it be so now. Like, hey, you gonna dunk me? For thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented and When Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, okay? Jesus got baptized to be an example to us. He is identifying with us as sinners. Because think about it. John the Baptist is saying, repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized. Wait, Jesus, you got nothing to repent of. He's like, yeah, I'm gonna come and be sin on these folks behalf that they may be able to receive my righteousness. And so baptism doesn't save you. Baptism is an outward invisible symbol of an inward working grace. It doesn't. Next week, we're gonna start baptizing people. We're gonna have tubs up front. Ain't nothing holy about the water. It's J E A. It's nothing but the sovereignty of God. Who decided that there was gonna be the baptism instead of the toilet, Same water. Think about that. You're just declaring, I renounce the sins of my past, the ways of this world, anything darker than have ever been connected to, and I pledge my allegiance to Christ and Christ alone. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. You are verbally repenting. That's what people are doing. It's like a. My favorite example is a wedding ring. Gretchen just got me a new one, man. It's got bucks fighting on it, man, you can't hide money. I'm telling you what, straight up. I wish you could see it. It's elk fighting. It's called the rut. Pretty much describes my role in our marriage. All right, so anyway, this is not my marriage. Gretchen and I stood in an altar almost 26 years ago. It'll be 26 next month. And we said, I do, and if I never put this thing on, she'd still be my wife. If I lost it, she'd still be my wife. This just tells the whole world I made a vow to that girl. That's it. And if you put this wedding ring on, that does not mean that you get my wife. Not a chance there, sucker. She's mine. Got doesn't save you. It just tells the world you're saved. The reason that we dunk is because. What does the word mean? Baptiza means the dip. Dunk. Submerge. You can't come up out of a sprinkle. Jesus came up out of the water. It is a picture of death to life. That's what it is. In Romans, chapter six, it says, do you not know that all of us have been baptized? Baptizo. Dip dunk. Submerged, immersed into Christ Jesus. We were baptized into his death. We were Buried, therefore, by him, by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too may walk in a newness of life. So when you see somebody profess Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior, they are, it's already actually happened. The moment you were sitting there in your seat, and you're like, I think I'm gonna raise my hand. You're getting saved right then. And then, however long afterwards, you get up here and you get in the water and you profess it and you go public. And then what you're telling the world is, say bye to the old me. Cause he gone dead, buried, washed by the blood of the Lamb and resurrected to the newness of life. And just like Jesus walked out of the grave, I'm walking out of the grave of sin and death, too. That's what baby baptism is. And then that's what we do. The plain reading of the New Testament is that baptism is for the believer. And if you say, so what if I was baptized as a baby? You should call your mom and say, mama, thank you so much for prophesying over me that one day I could claim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And now I'm going to be baptized by immersion in water to ratify the. The prayers that you were praying over me when I didn't even know I was there. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're not undoing anything. You're just finishing the drill. That's what you do. And some of you are like, okay, last year I got baptized, and I had a rough couple months, but now I'm back. Can I do it again? There's no need to. There's one baptism. You're all set. It counted. Jesus knew the sin he was going to be washing away. Now, that is not a license to sin. That is freedom from it. So if you have never been baptized as a believer in Christ, then you should go to baptism class immediately following this service. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. In accordance with the commands of Jesus. You go and let us celebrate what Christ has already done for you. And it says, and behold, after Jesus comes out of the water. It's my favorite part. The heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and. And coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven. By the way, this is where we get the. This is one of many, many, many places in the Bible where we get the understanding of the Trinity. It's not like God represents Himself in different modes over different time. It's not how it works. It's one God in three persons. And at the baptism of Jesus, the three, the whole, the Godhead is there, that God the Son is standing in the water. God the Spirit is descending on Christ like a dove. And. And God the Father speaks out loud. And here's what he says. This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. All right, pop quiz for the gifted class. If you've been here both weeks of Matthew, how much ministry has Jesus done so far? None. Now, he was incarnated. That's a big deal. But he hadn't taught, hadn't done a miracle, definitely hadn't died on the cross, been resurrected from the grave. He has not accomplished his mission. He has not. He hadn't done anything yet. And before he does anything, God places his approval on his Son. Behold my Son, in whom I am well pleased. If you are in Christ, God's word over you, before you anything good, and even after you've screwed up, he says, behold my son or daughter, in whom I am well pleased. First John 4:10 explains it this way. In this is love, not that we have loved God. God is not responding to us. God is not waiting for you to start tithing, to quit cussing so much, to quit watching terrible TV shows on Netflix, to break up with her. He's not waiting. He's not withholding. He's not responding to see if you get your act together, to decide if he loves you or not. No, no, no, no. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sin. And again, propitiation means a payment that satisfies. And here's why. If you could actually believe that down to your bones, it'll change everything about you. Because most of us think God is aggravated with us because we're aggravating. You got anybody in your life that doesn't keep all their promises? They're frustrating, right? You keep all your promises to God, and so we think he looks at us the way either our dad looked at us or we look at other people when they let us down. And yet the Bible would say that Jesus is the propitiation for our sin. Propitiation very simply means a payment that satisfies. So if you apply the saving blood of Jesus to your life, that means because Christ is fully satisfied, the law of God, the justice of God, the righteousness of God on the cross, then God cannot be dissatisfied in you. And you know what that means? Freedom. Freedom from the opinion of man. Freedom from the lust of the flesh. Freedom from the temporary things of this world. Because you have the approval of the God of the universe and you did nothing to earn it or deserve it, which means you can't do anything to unearn it. Why? Because you're saying Christ is enough? That's it. So John the Baptist came and baptized with water. If you are a believer in Jesus and you've never been baptized, you should take the plunge right after this. You should go directly to the class. And I'm telling you, if you're like, well, I rode with somebody, they will wait. And if they won't wait, they probably going to hell. Okay, Let them go. Bring them with you. Share the gospel with them, something. And not because you're getting baptized, not because you're taking any step of obedience, but God's posture towards you when you put your faith in Christ is this. Behold, that's my boy. That's my girl. And in you I am so pleased. That is the good news of the gospel. And we will be baptized. We can either be immersed in the grace and the goodness and the glory of the Spirit of God who gave his Son to redeem us. We will be immersed in the fire of judgment by our own evil decision to reject God. I am begging you on behalf of Jesus Christ. I stand as an ambassador of his glory and say, won't you put your faith in him? Won't you trust him? And if you're like, yeah, you don't know what I've done, then you don't know what he did for you on the cross. There is more grace in him than sin in you. He'll take any person that just believes when he died on the cross that what he did on the cross was enough to pay for your sin, the propitiation for your sin. And the moment you believe, you receive the right to become a child of God. Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And if that's you, and today, for the very first time, you are ready to put your faith in Christ, for your sin to be forgiven, to be adopted into his family. The Bible says all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. And if you were ready for the very first time to call on the name of the Lord, I right now want you to lift your hand as high as you can and just say it, Lord Jesus, save me. And that is a prayer that gets answered 100% of the time. The Bible promises that if you, if you put your faith in him in this very moment, sins washed away, the Spirit of God fills you and you will be forever sealed. And the pleasure of God, the approval of God, is put on you by putting your faith in Jesus Christ, our good and gracious heavenly Father. God, we love you more than anything. Jesus, we thank you that you have set for us an example and we should do likewise, that we should go public with our faith and God. Many of us feel like we're walking through the fire right now. Even though we know you and God, as hard as it is, we say thank you. Thank you for the trials and the tribulations that you use in our lives to conform us to your image and God, I thank you and I praise you for the men, the women, the students in this very moment who have had their sins washed away. The Spirit of God has been deposited into their life. They have been brought from death to life and may from now on they walk in that newness of life. And God, may every single one of us who knows you walk with your approval, not trying to earn it, knowing we can't lose it, but because of what Christ has done for us. That your word over us is, Behold my son or daughter, in whom I am well pleased. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond. We're going to respond to the gospel because he deserves it. We're going to make much of him that Christ is enough. Not my works, not my past, but Christ is enough. We're going to bring our tithes and our offerings because we're going to look at this world and say, you ain't the boss of me. I'm bringing to my King first and best, that's tithes and offerings. Because I want my heart to follow after my treasure and I treasure him before all things. And we are going to pray. It could be about big things, it could be about little things. It's about all the things. Why? Because you have a heavenly father that in Christ looks at you and says, hey man, I've already placed my approval on you. So whatever that thing is you need, you bring it to me. So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray, let's respond.