Pastor from Covenant Bible Church delivers "The King's Herald" on Matthew 3:1-12, recounting John the Baptist's wilderness ministry and his fierce rebuke of Pharisees as a "brood of vipers." He contrasts genuine repentance with hollow lineage claims, highlighting John's water baptism versus the future Spirit and fire. The sermon interprets the axe and winnowing fork as symbols of divine judgment separating wheat from chaff, urging modern believers to bear spiritual fruit through faith rather than relying on heritage or position. Ultimately, this message affirms that true Christianity demands authentic repentance, echoing Jesus's call in Mark 1:15. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
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Praise God for the New Daughter00:03:23
Wonderful.
Thank you, Joel.
And good morning, Covenant Bible Church.
Joel was gracious to push my sermon back a week.
I was originally slated to preach last week, but we had the birth of our daughter, and everyone's doing well, so we are saying praise God in our home.
So now it's good to be with you and in the pulpit this week.
If you would direct your attention to the text at hand, we'll be picking up where we left off in the Gospel of Matthew.
This week's text is Matthew 3, verses 1 through 12.
So if you have a Bible or those sermon notes with you, Would you follow along with me as I read the text?
And as I read it, would you stand with me in reverence for the word of God?
When I conclude reading the text, I will say, This is the word of the Lord.
And as a congregation, I will ask that we respond by saying, Thanks be to God.
So this is once more Matthew chapter 3, verses 1 through 12.
The Bible says this In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, He said to them, You brood of vipers, who warns you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
And do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.
For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
Even now, the axe 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.
I baptize you with water for repentance.
But he who is coming after me is mightier than I. Whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
You may be seated and join me now as I pray.
Father, we thank you for your word.
Your word is as a lamp shining in the darkness, it shines to us and shows us.
Your truth, what you have spoken.
We pray, Lord, that you would be glorified through the preaching of the word.
We pray that all who are in attendance this morning would be blessed in the hearing of the word and that it would strike them and move them to faith in Christ, your Son.
And we pray as your people, Lord, as Christians, those who possess faith in Christ, as was said this morning in the liturgy, we want to be those who bear fruit for you, O God.
We want to be those who are motivated by faith in Christ, seeing our sins forgiven.
And we pray that this would lead to a necessary response of gratitude and faithfulness.
And as we see in our text today, we pray that this would lead towards bearing fruit as we abide in Christ.
We pray these things in the name of your Son, Jesus.
Amen.
John Fulfills Old Testament Prophecy00:15:01
As we now begin the third chapter in the Gospel of Matthew, I want to briefly look ahead to the 11th chapter in Matthew's Gospel.
So we read in Matthew chapter 11, in verses 7 through 15, which are included in your sermon notes.
As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John.
What did you go out into the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken by the wind?
What then did you go out to see?
A man dressed in soft clothing?
Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
What then did you go out to see?
A prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is he of whom it is written Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.
Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.
Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
This text in Matthew chapter 11 gives us even greater insight into the man who is the subject of today's text in Matthew chapter 3.
At this point, I pray that it's fairly obvious to you that this man is none other than John the Baptist.
John's ministry and time in the limelight seem to be so short lived.
Especially in Matthew's gospel, where according to Matthew Henry, John bursts onto the scene as if dropped from the clouds to preach in the wilderness.
Next week's text, which is the conclusion of Matthew chapter 3, is in fact the last that we will hear of John the Baptist until this text that I have just read in Matthew chapter 11.
Despite this, John should not be seen as a flash in the pan or a one hit wonder.
Instead, John the Baptist is a pivotal figure in the New Testament with deep, eternal significance.
He was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.
His life and ministry represented the inauguration of the new covenant and the coming of the kingdom of God.
He baptized the Lord Jesus in order to fulfill all righteousness.
And as our Lord Himself stresses in Matthew chapter 11, may we too have ears to hear and eyes to see all that God intended and accomplished through the man known as John the Baptist.
So at this point, an important question to ask then is.
What specifically does the Lord say about John the Baptist through the writings of Matthew?
And even more specifically, what is to be understood about him from Matthew chapter 3?
In one sense, each of the four Gospels are Holy Spirit inspired and help to provide a comprehensive and complete picture of the events surrounding the birth and ministry of Jesus Christ.
John is present in each of these, and we learn even more about him from studying the Gospels in totality.
For example, in Luke chapter 1, we learn about John's parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and how uniquely intertwined John and the Lord Jesus were in the events leading up to and at the time of their birth.
Interestingly enough, according to Luke, we learn that John and Jesus' mothers were relatives, making John and Jesus cousins.
This is of incredible significance in our understanding of the gospel narrative.
But these events are not recorded by Matthew in his gospel.
Instead, Matthew cuts right to a fully grown John, a wild, woolly man preaching in the wilderness of Judea in verse 1.
John was not dressed in the soft clothing of nobility, but was dressed in a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist.
He took residence not in the king's palace, but in the wilderness of the Jordan River Valley.
His diet consisted not of delicacies and fine cuisine, but of locusts and wild honey.
In describing John the Baptist, R.C. Sproul writes, The camel hair that John wore was not the sort we find today in expensive outer garments.
It was one of the roughest, most crude, and cheapest forms of outer garment of the ancient world.
John was not adorned with suede, but with the rough hewn skin of the camel.
The honey he ate to survive was not the sort cultivated by beekeepers.
It was the wild honey obtained only at the risk of a thousand bee stings.
By today's standards, John would certainly not have been the kind of man found in a suburban neighborhood or in the governor's mansion.
John was the type of man who is often derided with colorful pejoratives by the mainstream media.
Backwards, uncivilized, Radical, fire and brimstone, right wing extremist.
John was perhaps, by the standards of many, the furthest thing from royalty.
We learn, though, from Matthew that he was a prophet and a preacher.
And ironically, though, he was not very kingly.
What was the subject that he primarily focuses on in his preaching?
In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
John preached about the kingdom of heaven because its king had come.
This king had been born years earlier in Bethlehem and had come to establish his dominion.
He would do it first by suffering and dying for the sins of his people and dealing a death blow to the kingdom of darkness.
He would establish his church and rule and reign through it.
John saw this and he knew this and he sought to make the people ready for their king who had come.
What we see John doing then in Matthew 3, preaching and baptizing in the wilderness, was in response to this great reality which was taking place.
He was preparing the way for the Lord and preparing the people to meet him.
John understood his role in the unfolding of God's plan of redemption.
He is particularly inspiring to us as an example because he was actively preaching, baptizing, and prophesying for a short amount of time.
He did not see it as an opportunity to ride the coattails of the Lord Jesus or to profit from his time in the spotlight.
In fact, he says later in verse 11, He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
Instead, he boldly and humbly accepted his assignment from the Lord to herald the kingdom of God and announce the coming of its king.
There is much the believer can glean from the person and ministry of John the Baptist as Matthew records it here.
In Matthew chapter 3.
In this vein, there are many points that could be made from this text, but I endeavor to make three.
These are point number one, John, the set up man, and the fulfillment of prophecy.
Two, two responses to John's preaching.
And three, the instruments of the Lord, his axe, and his winnowing fork.
In laboring to expound these points, I seek to, like John, elevate the Lord Jesus in your hearts, minds, and lives.
And make straight his path to rule in you personally, in your families, and in our land as well.
Our king has come, and he rules and reigns now.
Will we be joyful subjects to his dominion, or do we see Christ's kingship as a restraint?
Christ is Savior, Lord, and King, and he is a good king.
May we, like John, rejoice greatly at the bridegroom's voice and at his coming.
So, as we begin, the first point, which is John the set up man and the fulfillment.
Of prophecy.
As we begin, I want to direct your attention back to the text in a key phrase which is contained in verse 1.
Verse 1 reads In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.
In those days.
So we must ask of which days was Matthew speaking of?
If you remember that just last week, we concluded Matthew chapter 2, in which we learned that Joseph and Mary had fled to Egypt, taking the boy Jesus with them, and that later they returned and settled in Nazareth after the death of Herod.
It would appear that from the day Joseph and Mary settled in Nazareth to the day John began preaching in the wilderness, that at least some time had passed, likely years.
So, when Matthew spoke of those days, he was not referring to the days that directly followed Joseph and Mary's move to Nazareth, but of a later time.
And yet, Matthew also leads us to believe that those days held a greater significance than being merely the days in which John began preaching in the wilderness.
Matthew Henry helps us to see that John the Baptist came during the inauguration of a new age, a new day which had been long foretold.
He writes We have here an account of the preaching and baptism.
Of John, which were the dawning of the gospel day.
Observe the time when he appeared in those days, or after those days, long after what was recorded in the foregoing chapter, which left the child Jesus in his infancy.
In those days, in the time appointed of the Father for the beginning of the gospel, when the fullness of time was come, which was often thus spoken of in the Old Testament.
Our text from the outset suggests just this.
The time of John the Baptist's preaching represented a deeply significant time and event in history, the dawning of the gospel day, the beginning of the gospel, the inauguration of the new covenant.
That day had been long foretold by prophets in the Old Testament, and at the proper time, the Lord brought forth John preaching this message, which we see in verse 2 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Meaning, the kingdom of heaven was present, apparent, And bringing healing in its wings, as Malachi 4 2 says.
Jesus had been born and was growing and maturing, and the time had come for him to begin his public ministry, acting as the mediator of the new covenant by which men's sins would be forgiven on the basis of repentance and faith.
We see similar language used by the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 4 when he states, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son.
Born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
In the same way, at the proper time in those days, God sent forth John the Baptist to prepare the way for his son in fulfillment of what had been spoken by the mouths of the prophets over 400 years earlier.
We see this in verse 3 of today's texts, which reads For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.
When he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
In doing so, Matthew directs our attention to, namely, Isaiah 40, verse 3, and states that at the proper time, this prophecy was fulfilled in John the Baptist.
He was the one who cried from the wilderness, from the valley of the Jordan River, and declared the coming of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God's King.
His day had long been foretold and was here.
At this point in our study through the book of Matthew, we have seen this occur already, but is it any less spectacular to us?
In each of the chapters that we have read so far, Matthew makes it a point to reveal to us each of the prophecies that were fulfilled in the coming of Christ.
They were spoken of many years earlier, and the Lord was faithful to fulfill and follow through by doing what he had promised.
Many have pointed out, and I believe correctly, that Matthew did this from a uniquely Jewish perspective.
He sought to confound his Jewish brethren, like the Apostle Paul, that God was not doing a new thing.
Not creating two distinct paths of redemption, one in keeping Torah and one through faith in Christ.
Matthew urged his kinsmen to remember what God had said and rejoice at seeing its fulfillment in the present day.
In sending Christ, God was doing exactly what he said he would do and accomplish through many prophecies and spanning many years.
God's plan of redemption was always in Christ, for no one can come to the Father except through faith in Christ.
The Son.
And by including the prophecies, Matthew cannot help but say, See, it has always been spoken of in this way, and God is doing exactly what He said He would.
And Matthew speaks of John the Baptist in the same way, as God's faithfulness to bear witness to and prepare the way for the coming of His Son.
We have the unique benefit of reading these promises years later and marveling at them.
This is how Jesus speaks of believers who came after John.
In Matthew chapter 11, we read, Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he, than John.
For we have the witness of the Holy Spirit, who opens our eyes to see how God was true to accomplish all that he said he would.
Matthew, like John, knew that many would come to appreciate and marvel at God's greatness in seeing the prophecies fulfilled.
So too, many others, especially amongst their kinsmen, would reject their words and would reject Christ as their king.
Ultimately, killing him as they killed the prophets before him.
And we'll discuss that more in the next point.
In our text today, Matthew shows us how John the Baptist fulfilled Isaiah 40, verse 3, which we saw in verse 3 of today's text.
We also see our preacher from the wilderness foretold in the book of Malachi in chapters 3 and 4.
So if you have a Bible with you, you can turn to the book of Malachi now, or you can follow along with these passages as I read them in the notes.
The first is from Malachi chapter 3, beginning with verses 1 to 4.
Faithful Preaching Leads to Repentance00:15:52
Through four, which reads Behold, 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?
And who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap.
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.
Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in the former years.
Moving ahead to Malachi chapter 4 now, and beginning in verse 5.
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 a decree of utter destruction.
These prophecies spoken by Malachi the prophet also find their fulfillment in John the Baptist, who was the messenger and Elijah who was to come.
He not only embodied Elijah in physical appearance, but in his message as well, calling the people to account for their sins and urging them to repent and turn to the Lord.
His message came with a unique urgency.
For the day of the Lord was at hand.
God had prepared for this day long beforehand and sent John to purify the people by means of a baptism of repentance and confessing their sins.
This would inevitably lead to an embrace of Jesus Christ as King and a turning of the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.
John was truly a man's man, rough around the edges, not one concerned with appearances or with the approval of man.
He would not be the one found in kings' palaces or on the cover of grocery store magazines, but he was the one appointed by God to proclaim his message.
And John considered his assignment well, serving as the setup man for the Lord Jesus.
He preached an unpopular message, urging the people to repent, but he did so in obedience to the Lord and truly out of love for his hearers.
At that time, even the Lord's people were not ready for his.
His coming.
Thus, John preached a baptism of repentance to prepare the way for the appearance of Christ.
As the Apostle John says, John the Baptist came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.
He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
As we move on to our next point for consideration, we will look at the responses that we see in today's text to John's preaching and message.
As we said before, the king had come, but the house was not in order.
Thus, John came as a fulfillment of prophecy to prepare the way of the Lord and make the people ready for his coming.
This was impossible without repentance and, by way of consequence, faith in the king, in Jesus.
Knowing this, this is exactly what we see the message that we see John preaching as we read again in verse 2 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
His message was short, but to the point.
All who wanted to be counted amongst the kingdom of God and of his Christ had to recognize that they had been unfaithful to the covenant and were in need of the mercy of God.
This fact was also evident from a point that John makes later in verse 7 to the Pharisees, as he says, Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
In a real sense, the coming of the kingdom of God brought with it the certainty of God's righteous wrath for sin.
Leading the truly repentant to appeal to God's mercy and the cleansing waters of baptism.
And so, in response to John's simple message in Matthew chapter 3, we see two distinct responses.
The first is that of humble submission, repentance, and faith, and is recorded for us in verses 5 and 6.
Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
This first group responded to John's message with contrition, with godly sorrow for their sin, and appealed to God for cleansing.
On these verses, Matthew Henry writes once more They testified their repentance by confessing their sins.
A general confession, it is probable, they made to John that they were sinners and that they were polluted by sin and needed cleansing.
But to God, they made a confession of particular sins, for he is the party offended.
The Jews had been taught to justify themselves, but John teaches them to accuse themselves and not to rest as they used to do in the general confession of sin made for all Israel once a year.
Upon the Day of Atonement, but to make a particular acknowledgement, every one of the plague of his own heart.
A penitent confession of sin is required in order to peace and pardon, and those only are ready to receive Jesus Christ as their righteousness who are brought with sorrow and shame to their own guilt.
As Matthew Henry states, there was the understanding that both a covenantal and a personal confession of sin were required.
We see a similar confession undertaken by Isaiah as he cries in Isaiah chapter 6 Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
For this first group, there was the fearful reality that the Christ had come, and their unfaithfulness to the covenant, their sin, had put them at odds with the Lord.
They recognized their own guilt and their need for God's mercy.
And so, in this first response, we see a large swath of the Israelites taking responsibility for their sins and being baptized by John in the river.
Now, an important point is that John's baptism was not synonymous with Christian baptism, for John did not baptize these disciples in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as Christ commands us to do in the Great Commission, and it came not with the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Remember that John says later in verse 11 of today's text, I baptize you with water for repentance.
He, that is Christ, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
But insofar as John's baptism was an appeal to God for cleansing and washing from sin, it should be seen as an evidence of true faith in the Lord Jesus.
Those who went out to John in the wilderness in faith had the promises contained in the old covenant that bore witness to Christ's coming.
And then they emphatically heard John declare that the Christ had come.
Though they had not seen him yet, they responded with faith to God's revelation, repenting of their sins and being baptized by John as an appeal to God for cleansing.
On the other hand, we see quite a different response taken up by the Pharisees and Sadducees, and we see that in verses 7 through 9, which I will read.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
And do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.
For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
The Pharisees and Sadducees, the Jewish leaders of the day, also make the journey into the wilderness to hear John's preaching.
And almost immediately, without even speaking a word, we learn their attitude towards John's message and the coming kingdom of God by virtue of how John responds to their presence.
He showers them with rebukes, exclaiming, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
John discerned that their presence was insincere at best and unfriendly or sinister at worst.
This was because the religious leaders came not to confess their sins or to be baptized, but to act as spectators to all that was taking place.
They held legitimate positions of power and esteem, but were privately sinful and hypocritical, emphasized the traditions of man.
Over the perfect law of the Lord, and were secretly in alliance with the civil authorities of the day, who sharply opposed the establishment of another king, even if that king was God's own son.
Remember how viciously Herod pursued the boy Jesus in the last chapter, which we heard just a couple of weeks ago, and how he ordered all boys under two years of age to be slaughtered in Bethlehem.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were allies to tyrants and wicked leaders such as these.
And likely had gone to the Jordan in hopes of providing a report to the authorities.
By and large, the Pharisees and Sadducees had much more in common with Saul in his pre conversion days, who breathed out threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, and were quite unlike Nicodemus, who seemed to genuinely approach the Lord at night in John chapter 3.
John the Baptist knew this, which is why he powerfully exposed them on the banks of the Jordan.
He does not stoop to name calling, but levies a true accusation of them.
You brood of vipers, he exclaims.
As Texans, we have a special appreciation for the viper.
Within our state are both the rattlesnake and the cottonmouth, two famous pit vipers which possess all of the same characteristics as other snakes, but pack a lethal, venomous bite.
In the same way, John the Baptist highlighted that not only were the Pharisees and Sadducees crafty and full of deceit, But they were uniquely poisonous to Christians.
They had no intention of repenting and turning back to the Lord, but actively sought to do harm to the Lord, Jesus, and his followers.
In the case of our text today, they had gone out to the Jordan to scoff, to draw the true children away, and to undermine the hope of the coming king into the world.
And despite this, John, though clearly harsh towards their sins of self righteousness and deception, he bids even them to repent.
He pleads with them to confess their sins and get right with God, ultimately turning to Jesus, the coming King in faith.
Having faith in Christ, John understood that if the Pharisees and Sadducees were to repent of their sins and profess faith in Christ, they too would be received and welcomed into God's kingdom.
It may not have seemed a likely outcome, but John did in fact have the earnest expectation that if God were to change their hearts, they too would turn to Christ and be baptized.
He shares the same hope that we do, knowing that by a sovereign work of God, even the most unlikely of converts can become his sons.
The gospel of Christ is fierce in its opposition to sin, but always hopeful and welcoming in pursuit of the repentant.
In the case of John the Baptist and Matthew 3, faithful preaching leads many to repent of their sins and place their faith in the coming Messiah, while the Pharisees and Sadducees, sadly, are hardened in their sin and in their poisonous doctrine.
This is true at face value, this fact that there will always be those who accept Christ and those who reject him.
And so, in regards to this, I want to draw out two applications from the text in regards to speaking to these two responses.
The first is in regard to those who went out to John in the wilderness and ultimately were baptized as a sign of true faith.
As I spent time preparing this week and thinking about this first group, I couldn't but think about the many exhortations given in Scripture to seek the Lord.
This is what we see this first group doing.
Now, I'm hesitant to refer to them as seekers just because I believe that term has been wrongly applied in the church, especially in recent years.
And like any good Reformed Christian, I distinctly remember Paul's argument in Romans chapter 3, where he states clearly that in man's fallen state, no one understands, no one seeks for God.
But despite this, we actually see this first group going to the Jordan to seek the Lord and prepare themselves for his coming.
An important distinction to make then is that no one seeks for the Lord while simultaneously nursing their sin.
Put another way, a crucial prerequisite for anyone who seeks after the Lord is faith.
Any person who earnestly seeks the Lord must be born again.
This is the crux of what is said in Hebrews 11, verse 6.
And without faith, it is impossible to please him.
For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
It is through faith in Jesus that Christians draw near to the Lord.
And Christian faith causes us not only to believe that God exists, but that He will reward and bless those who seek Him.
He forgives our sins, washes and cleanses us to the core, changes our wills to desire what is good, calls us sons and daughters.
He feeds and clothes us, and satisfies us with rich blessings both in this life and in the life to come.
This is the attitude of those who went out to the wilderness to be baptized by John.
They knew they were guilty of sin, but they had faith in God's own Son who had arrived.
They sought him out, and they found the friend of the bridegroom, the one who was preparing his way.
And like a bride making herself ready, those who went out to John in the wilderness and were baptized were assured that they would be ready when their King and Savior came.
So, as God's people, as Christians, we possess this same hope and assurance.
God first seeks the sinner, and his call is effectual to grant life to the dead, to subdue and transform the rebel, to bring the prodigal home.
Honoring Civil Magistrates with Gratitude00:04:10
In response, God's people seek him and have his promise that those who seek him in faith will never come up empty.
The Lord himself will be found by those who earnestly seek him.
You have said, Seek my face.
My heart says to you, Your face, Lord, do I seek.
Psalm 27, verse 8.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29, verse 13.
Ask, and it will be given to you.
Seek, and you will find.
Knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Matthew 7, verse 13.
Seven and eight.
Seek the Lord while he may be found.
Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55, 6, and 7.
As for the second application on this point, I want to focus on what John says to the Pharisees and Sadducees in verse 9, which reads And do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.
For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
In saying this, John does not deny that the Pharisees and Sadducees were physical sons of Abraham.
The outward covenantal blessings given to the Jewish people were not insignificant.
They were truly the descendants of Abraham and possessed the oracles of God.
These were a tremendous blessing given to the Jews and not trivial in the least.
So I pray that you hear that.
But ultimately, it would be the sons according to the promise and not according to the flesh who would be the beneficiaries of such blessings.
The Father sent Christ not to save merely Jews according to the flesh, but Jews, Greeks, Chinese, Americans, and all kinds of people groups alike according to the promise by faith in his Son.
John urges the Pharisees and Sadducees not to use their position and lineage as an excuse for their sin.
In fact, he goes one step further by saying that they were replaceable.
God could break down these sons of Abraham and craft new ones for himself out of the very rocks, and it would be of no account to him.
Such is the power and righteousness of our God.
Now, to bring this application home, a little over a month ago, I had the opportunity to lead a small group of Christians in a psalm sing event at the Texas State Capitol.
I believe some of you that are here may have been there as well.
And this text, John 3, verse 9, was one that I used in urging our civil magistrates to use their lawful office and authority to legislate godly standards of morality.
Senators and congressmen and women do hold legitimate authority.
This position has been given to them through the wisdom and providence of God.
But all earthly authority is a delegated authority.
On that day, I made the point that our civil magistrates should not cling to their office.
As justification to preserve themselves or to propagate unrighteousness.
For the Lord Himself sees and knows and is able to make new civil magistrates for His people out of the very limestone cliffs that line the Colorado River.
So, how are we to serve the Lord in the various offices and positions that we hold as fathers, husbands, and men, as mothers, wives, and women, as children, as employees and business owners, as Texans?
As Americans, as civil magistrates, and as pastors.
First of all, we are to receive such appointments with thankfulness and honor.
Warning Against Fruitless Pride00:12:43
We should never carry ourselves with presumption or see these as badges of self righteousness, but gifts from God, which they are.
We should make it a point to thank the Lord in our prayers and in our service and carry ourselves in such a way that God is praised in our duties.
Secondly, we should seek to use such opportunities in the way that God would desire us to.
God has said much in His Word about how Christian fathers, mothers, citizens, and legislators, for example, should act.
The word shines and directs us to how we ought to serve the Lord in each of these respects.
In seeking to be obedient, we should also strive to build upon and make a return with the opportunities the Lord gives us, desiring to make the five talents into ten and the two talents into four.
Let us tremble as we think these powers as opportunities for unrighteousness or laziness.
Apart from the mercy of God, how quickly we too might find ourselves replaced.
And so, our third and final point for this text is the instruments of the Lord, his axe and his winnowing fork.
And we'll focus mainly on verses 10 through 12, which I will read for you once more.
Even now, the axe 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.
I baptize you with water for repentance.
But he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
From these verses, we see John the Baptist highlight these two instruments the acts of the Lord in verse 10 and the winnowing fork in verse 12.
As we discuss both of these, it is important to remember that it is John who speaks of them.
But the Lord who wields these instruments, these tools.
As we remember this, let us direct our attention to the first instrument that John speaks of the Acts.
In the last point, we spent time focusing on John's call to the Pharisees and Sadducees to not cling to their status and lineage as physical sons of Abraham.
John reminded them that in the kingdom of God, this paled in comparison to being sons of the promise.
As Jesus says in John 4, the time had come when true worshipers would worship the Lord.
In spirit and truth.
Though of great significance, bloodline and genealogy could not atone for one's sins.
Only faith in Christ, in the King, could save and justify the sinner.
In this, John urges the Pharisees and Sadducees to repentance and faith and warns them of the danger of trusting in their lineage for salvation.
By doing so, they would soon see a day when the rocks would take their place, when the mighty trees would be chopped down and cast into the fire.
The axe had been sharpened and presently been laid to the root of the trees, because they had not genuine repentance for their sin, and they had not borne any fruit.
Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
In speaking on this verse, Matthew Henry gives this interpretation It is now declared with the axe at the root to show that God is in earnest in the declaration.
That every tree, however high in gifts and honors, however green in external professions and performances, if it bring not forth good fruit, the fruit's meat for repentance is hewn down, disowned as a tree in God's vineyard, unworthy to have room there, and is cast into the fire of God's wrath, the fittest place for barren trees.
What else are they good for?
If not fit for fruit, they are fit for fuel.
So, one of the distinct markers of a Christian is that he or she will bear fruit.
He or she will bear good fruit.
Our Lord Himself says, You will know a tree by its fruits.
Such fruits come from faith in Christ.
The one who has faith in Christ, who has been born again, loves the Lord and what is true, good, and beautiful.
He desires to seek the Lord and do what is pleasing to Him.
His very life, his attitude, his thoughts, his actions, his home, and so on, all reflect the fragrance of a changed heart.
And they are evidence that the fire of faith is burning within.
The believer seeks to abide in Christ, to commune with Him, and it is through this that much fruit is born.
In John chapter 15, verses 4 and 5, our Lord says, Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.
For apart from me, you can do nothing.
How sweet these words are to our souls.
Apart from Christ, we can do nothing.
We can do no enduring work for the kingdom of God apart from repentance and faith in Christ.
But if we abide in Christ, we will bear much fruit.
We will bear much fruit because God has given us faith to repent of our sins and trust in.
In Jesus.
And the harrowing reality is that if we don't, we too will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Our Lord also speaks to this.
He curses the fig tree in Matthew 21 for its lack of fruit.
It says, just one verse later in John 15:6, If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers.
And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
What good is a peach tree, for example, if it doesn't produce peaches?
Would apple orchards be as splendid in the fall if they didn't grow any apples?
Could you imagine visiting an apple orchard without apple cider, apple donuts, or apple pie?
We are not outraged when the oaks bear not fruit, but fruitless apple or peach trees are even more disappointing because we expect to taste their fruit.
On the same token, what good is a Christian who does not bear fruit?
I would venture, and I believe that the Bible does too, that there is no such thing as a fruitless Christian.
If you are currently struggling with sin and seeing little fruit in your life, fret not.
Remember that God has given you faith in his Son, and even that small spark is evidence of fruit.
God does not intend to keep you in this place forever, that is true, but if you have evidence of even meager fruits or are barely clinging on to Christ, he will keep you.
And promises not to break you or snuff you out.
But if we, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, find ourselves pridefully boasting in our fruitlessness, like tall green trees which refuse to bear fruit, let us be warned that such a tree, such a person, is only fit to be cut down and burned in eternal fire.
The second instrument in the Lord's hand, which John speaks of, is the winnowing fork by which the Lord clears his threshing floor.
Reading again from verse 12, we read, Speaking on this verse, we read this from R.C. Sproul The fork John mentions here is the winnowing fork that Jewish farmers used to separate the good wheat from the chaff.
With the fork, farmers tossed the wheat into the air.
The chaff was so light that even the slightest current of wind would carry it away, but the good wheat would fall to the floor.
At the last day, Jesus will separate true church members from false.
He will gather his wheat into his Father's house, and the rest will be burned with unquenchable fire.
John first spoke of the axe, but now he speaks of the winnowing fork by which the Lord would use to separate the wheat from the chaff, the righteous from the unrighteous.
In one hand, the Lord uses the axe to chop down and discard the fruitless tree.
And with the other, he uses the winnowing fork to carefully sort and separate.
While trees without fruit were more easily identifiable, the existence of the wheat with the chaff required the meticulousness and diligence of the patient farmer to do the hard work of sorting.
In speaking of the coming king of Christ, John warns of his powerful and careful judgment against sin and the unrighteous.
We see a similar image used in Psalm 1.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night, while the wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
The Lord himself would do this work of sorting with the winnowing fork.
Both the axe and the winnowing fork were in his hand, and the time had come for chopping wood and separating wheat from chaff.
These instruments revealed that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, and its king was going to do the difficult work of judgment.
Therefore, the Jews needed to get themselves ready.
They needed to repent of their sins and turn in faith to the one who made them and held redemption.
Both the axe and the winnowing fork revealed that the Lord would be coming and had come.
And was going to execute judgment on the house of Israel first.
To their surprise, these instruments were to be used on Jews, on the Old Covenant people, as they made way for the coming of the New Covenant.
Many did come to be baptized by faith, which is why they made haste to the Jordan to confess their sins and be baptized.
But still more were hardened in their sin and would be revealed to be fruitless trees and chaff, which the Lord would expose by wielding his axe.
And his winnowing fork and clear his threshing floor.
In one sense, John speaks of both instruments being presently in his hand, but I believe that we could also accurately say that the axe's work was more immediate than the winnowing fork's.
The axe was used to fell many trees in the days leading up to Christ's crucifixion and resurrection and refers to the judgment that came swiftly to the Jews, culminating in the destruction of the second temple.
Many trees were chopped down and many branches. were broken that other branches would be grafted in.
The Lord desired sons of Abraham who would worship his son and trees that would bear fruit.
In regards to the winnowing fork, this could be understood to be referring to the last days and the final judgment.
It is said elsewhere in the scripture that weeds grow amongst the wheat, and even so, true churches and majority Christian nations will have those among them who do not really belong to Christ.
With these, the Lord is patient to bear with them even unto the end.
So, as not to do harm to his true children.
Great Delight in Serving Our King00:03:52
As the people of God, we ought to note God's kindness to us in this, but also remember his wrath for sin.
If any of you find yourself waking up to the reality of present sin, do not hesitate to seek the Lord.
Get up, flee to the Jordan, and confess your sins to him.
He will abundantly pardon.
If you have never trusted in Christ and have never repented of your sins, Do not excuse yourself any longer.
His acts and his winnowing fork will indeed find you out.
So, as we close for today, I wanted to end with just one last thought.
As I prepared for this sermon, I was reminded of an experience that I had during a theology class in college.
One of my professors in that class had read us an argument from a theologian that suggested if Christians wanted to be more loving in their displays of the gospel, they should not make it a point to mention the need for repentance.
Back then, I had only been recently persuaded of the doctrines of grace in the Reformed tradition and was less mature to humbly and adequately engage the professor and the class.
I don't remember making a scene in the class, but I remember faintly thinking, wouldn't Jesus have said differently?
After going back to my dorm, I remember reading in Mark chapter 1, where the scripture says, Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent and believe in the gospel.
These words preached by our Lord seem eerily similar to what we saw John preaching in Matthew 3, verse 2.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
These texts remind us that Christian faith is impossible without the repentance of sin.
This was John the Baptist's message, and it was also Jesus's.
John preached not a rogue message in the wilderness.
He came not to exalt his own ministry or prepare his own way, but the Lord's.
John's words directly correlate with Jesus's, and he was sent by God to bear witness about the light and make the people ready to receive him.
No one can receive the King without first fleeing to him as Savior.
May we pay attention to John's words and heed his warnings, and let us find great delight in worshiping and serving our King.
King Jesus.
Would you pray with me?
Father, we thank you.
Reading back in that day, I'm always astounded by John the Baptist, his humility, his zeal and affection for what is good, the truth, and John as an example for us, O Lord.
We pray that we would take great delight in the Son.
We pray that we would remember Christ and his worthiness and take great delight in repenting of our sins, seeing your forgiveness in the gospel, but also in serving our King, King Jesus.
He came in those days, Lord, and sits at your right hand, is ruling and reigning now.
And so we pray that we would never lose heart.
We pray that we would never grow despondent or too dejected by what we see happening in the current day, Lord.
You are ruling and reigning now.
You came then, you rule now.
And we pray that we would rejoice in that, O God, that you are a good king.
And it is you that we worship and serve with changed hearts, O God.