Good News Preached

Luke 3:1-20 - Riley Boggs

This past week our President, Donald Trump, made a very interesting statement, some of you may have heard it. He was discussing his attempt to bring peace between Ukraine and Russia, a war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. And in his talk about why he is trying to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, he said this, “If I can save 7,000 people a week from being killed, I think that’s pretty – I want to try to get to heaven if possible.” Then he kept going and said, “I’m hearing that I’m not doing well. I am really on the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”

Late that day, the white house press secretary was asked what Trump meant by this. The reporter asked, “I know the president said on Fox News this morning that he is partially seeking peace in order to get to heaven. Was he joking or is there a spiritual motivation behind his peace deals here?” The secretary smiled and responded, “I think the president was serious. I think the president wants to get to heaven, as I hope we all do in this room as well.”

When I heard all of this, I had 2 responses. The first one is a kind of thankfulness. I want our president to consider where he will go when he dies. I want that thought to dwell in the mind of all of our leaders. I much prefer it to our leaders thinking that there is no heaven or hell, but everything just goes dark when we die. And I am thankful that there peace is being sought in light of this. The second response I had was sadness. Sadness due to the fact of how absolutely wrong our president has this. And not just our president, but so much of our nation. Millions upon millions of people in our nation have been steeped in this idea that if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, then we will secure ourselves a spot in heaven. Is that true? If I do good things, even things that the Bible tells me to do, like love others as myself, will that get me to heaven?

One of the things that struck me about what our president said was that he admitted, not in a joking way, that he might not be doing well. He isn’t sure that he is going to make it. That struck me because I also think that this is the inner reality for most people who think along these lines. If getting to heaven is left up to our own deeds, then there is this never-ending worry that we might not do enough. And, on those days where your bad deeds outweigh your good deeds, you have a hard time falling asleep that night. 

This morning, we find ourselves in a passage that speaks directly against this kind of thinking. If you ever meet someone who thinks like this, bring them to Luke 3:1-20. If you yourself are tempted to think along these lines, consider what God has said in this passage. And my hope and prayer is that the Lord would direct someone to show even our president the truths that reside here in this passage. 

See the reason that this passage speaks directly against this idea that our good deeds get us into heaven is because in this passage we read of John the Baptist preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the true Gospel of Jesus Christ leaves no room for this kind of thinking. 

Our passage starts off by setting the scene a bit. Luke records who the leaders and where they are, so that we can locate this story in a certain time and place. And then, in the middle of verse 2, we read that, “…the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” You all know this already, but this is the same John that leaped in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary came near, carrying Jesus in her womb. This is the same John who Zechariah and Elizabeth never expected to be possible and the same John who has been prophesied about, not only by his father, but by Old Testament texts. 

In fact, Luke draws this connection for us and quotes the prophet Isaiah in verses 4-6. And in these words of the prophet Isaiah, we read the very task that John the Baptist has before him. We read, “The voice of the one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made law, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” And really, what we see in the rest of this passage is this prophecy being played out in the actions and words of John. It is played out in John’s preaching of the Good News, which we can see in verse 18.

This morning what I would like to do is try and convey what the Good News is that John is preaching. There’s a lot going on here and it’s easy to get lost in the weeds a bit, so rather than working through every small detail, I want to give you what I think are the main 3 points of John’s message. I want to answer the question, what is the good news being preached here? The first one is this.

1.) All people outside of Christ are under the wrath of God because of their sin

After you just heard me state that John is preaching good news several times, and then you see this point pop up on the screen, you might be thinking, “Umm… how is that good news?” Well, I think this has to be the starting place of the good news. And it seems John thinks so as well. If we are to properly understand what the good news is, we have to understand what the problem is. And yes, humanity faces many different problems, but the greatest of them all is we are sinful and under the wrath of God because of our sin. That is the chief problem, and it the problem that all of our other problems flow out of. And that is precisely what John recognizes. This is why John is preaching of a repentance of sin, so that people might be forgiven of their sin, and that is why it is good news. But I want to stay at the problem for a minute before we move on.

When you heard me say that those not in Christ are currently under the wrath of God, you might have wondered whether or not I said that correctly. And that’s because often times when we think of the wrath of God on those who are not in Christ, we think of it only as a future thing. And that is true, we see that in John’s message a handful of times. In verse 7 he mentions the wrath that is to come, future tense. In verse 17 he says that he will, future tense, burn the chaff with an unquenchable fire. All of that is certainly true. When we die or the Lord returns, we will either be found in our sin or in Christ. If you are found in your sin, then you will face the wrath of God for all eternity. That is a future reality for all those who do not turn to Christ.

However, there is also a present reality of God’s wrath for those who are not in Christ. Ephesians 2:1-3 describes it like this. Paul writes, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Notice that he says that those not in Christ are children of wrath. He doesn’t say that they will be, but that they are, currently. 

Okay, but now you might be thinking, what are the implications of that? You don’t have to turn there, but I think the implications are laid out at the end of Romans 1. In that Paul writes about how the wrath of God has been revealed against all ungodliness and all those who aren’t in Christ, and he says that the way this plays out is that people reject God and resolve to simple continue in their evil ways. He lists what these ways are in verse 29. He says, “29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.” This is the life lived when one is under the wrath of God, when someone rejects Christ and remains in their sin. And this, even in John’s preaching, right before Christ’s ministry begins, we see these very truths laid out. John knows that in order for the good news to be good, people must know the state that they are currently in. That is, a state of sinful rebellion against a Holy God, and one that warrants the current wrath of God in how they live and the future wrath of God in eternal punishment.

Here’s the difficulty of this. We will all gather together and proclaim this truth. We acknowledge to one another, and we are hesitant to agree about it. But when we talk to someone who doesn’t know Christ, who thinks that their good deeds will get them to heaven, we might be tempted to not mention this. It feels unkind or unloving. We don’t want to tell someone that they are currently under the wrath of God being handed over to their sin. We don’t want to tell them that there if they don’t repent, they will suffer in an unquenchable fire for the rest of their lives. Here’s the issue with this. People will not see the Gospel as good news if they do not see why, it is good news. We cannot present the Gospel as a solution to things like loneliness or sadness. It is a solution to those things, but that is not what makes it good news. It is good news because we are being saved from the present and future wrath of an Almighty God. 

I mentioned this in small group on Wednesday, but often times when we think of what exactly Christ bore on the cross, we think that Christ only bore our sins. And that is true. Christ bore the sins of all those who would repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ. But He also bore something else. He bore the wrath of God towards those sinners who will be forgiven. He bore the sins and the wrath, because we needed to be saved from them both. And this is what Jesus prays and asks the Father to let pass by Him, the cup of wrath. Why? Because He knows it a terrible thing, a fearful thing. And yet, He submitted to the Father entirely and bore our sins and the wrath of God towards us because of our sin.

The question is, how can we have our sins forgiven? And how can we be spared from this wrath?

2.) In order to be saved from the wrath of God, we must repent

John, in no uncertain terms, lays out how people can be saved from the wrath of God. We see it most clearly in verse 3, where Luke tells us that John we out, “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Now John isn’t preaching that the water baptism itself is going to be what grants forgiveness, that isn’t what he is preaching. John is preaching that one must repent of their sins so that they might be forgiven, and the baptism that is simply a representation of this happening. I think he makes this point clear in verses 15-16. People were wondering whether or not John is the Christ and so he responds by saying no, I am not the Christ. And then he elaborates by saying that Christ, who is soon to come, is far greater than himself. Why? Because Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit, while John is only baptizing with water. In other words, this water baptism isn’t what truly cleanses you, but rather it is an outward expression of the inward baptism that only Christ can bring.

See this is why John comes preaching Christ, not Himself. The word, “repent” literally means “turn”. So, rather than saying, “Repent of your sins”, we could say, “Turn from your sins.” And John knows that if he is preaching that people must turn from their sins, they must turn to something else, and that, is Christ. This is the full Gospel, the full good news. If we simply preach “turn from your sin” over and over again, but we neglect to tell people where to turn, can we claim to have truly preached the Gospel? 

Let me give you an example of what I mean. The Bible is altogether clear that homosexuality is a sin. That truth isn’t contextually bound, nor has it been misinterpreted from its original meaning. No, the Bible is clear on this, to live in a same-sex relationship is to be living in sin. And it’s not news to any of you all, that this sin is not only popular in our current culture, but it is celebrated. This means that it isn’t if we will find ourselves haven’t to address it, it is when will be find ourselves having to address it. This means that we need to be prepared to approach a person who is living in this specific sin the right way, the way that the Bible would have us address it.

I think, because of examples set before us or because we’re unsure of what to do, we can be tempted to address it in 2 specific unbiblical ways. The first one is that we might be a bit too dismissive of it being actual sin. We don’t speak clearly, sort of blur the lines a bit, because we don’t want to be that person. We don’t seem unkind, unloving, and all the rest. I think that’s an unbiblical approach. And if you’re tempted to that side of things, I want you to look down at verses 19-20. We have an example of what it cost John to stand for the truth. Herod Antipas had divorced his wife and married his niece, who had been married to his brother. John called him out, said that this was sin, and was imprisoned because of it. Standing for the truth of God’s Word is going to cost you at times, that much is clear. 

That’s the first error, not being fully honest about the truth. The second unbiblical way we might be tempted to address this sin of homosexuality is by offering up heterosexuality as the solution. Here’s what I mean. If you have someone in your family who is in a same-sex relationship, you’re goal cannot be for them to be in a heterosexual relationship. That’s not the goal. When are not asking them to repent, to turn, from their sin to heterosexuality. No, we are asking them to repent, to turn, to Christ. Why? Because what they need is not simply behavior change, they need forgiveness for their sins. They need a heart that desires obedience to God more than it desires the sinful things of their flesh. And this can only happen if they repent of their sins and place their faith in Christ, whereby God will grant them the ability to withstand those desires by the power of the Holy Spirit in them.

When we preach repentance, we are preaching a turn from sin and a turning to Christ. No matter the sin, this is what is needed. Without Christ, people will continually find ways to sin. This is why we do not preach behavior change, but rather we preach the Gospel. The good news that you if you turn from your sin, you will be forgiven of your sin, you will no longer be under the wrath of God, and you can have true victory over sin in your life. That is the good news that John is preaching here.

Now, some of you might have noticed verses 10-14. After hearing John talk about this judgement of God, where trees with no good fruit are cut down and thrown into the fire, they ask him a question. They ask, “What then shall we do?” And what John response seems like he is telling them to just start doing good deeds, to just change your behavior and all will be well. But that’s not it. Rather, John is showing what true repentance looks like, which is the final thing I want you to see this morning.

3.) The fruit of true repentance is a changed life

There are some who have claimed to be exempt from all of this, we can see that in verses 7-8. Those who are in the line of Abraham are under the impression that they don’t need to hear what John is saying. But the reality is, and we see this in John’s response, is that all people outside of Christ are under the wrath of God. To those who claim to be of the line of Abraham, John responds that God can raise up children of Abraham from the stones. All people, no exceptions made, outside of Christ are under the wrath of God. That’s the first point we looked at. Not only that, but all people who repent of their sins will be saved from wrath of God. John preaches that all must turn from their sin and turn to Christ, and in that they will be forgiven and saved from God’s wrath. And now, lastly, he urges them to, verse 8, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.” This is what John is laying out in verses 10-14. 

They hear all of this, and they ask, “What then shall we do?”. And John says, starting in verse 11, “’Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.’ 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ 13 And he said to them, ‘Collect no more than you are authorized to do.’ 14 Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And he said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.’”

Do you see what he is saying here? He is saying that true repentance, a true turning from your sin, means that your life will change. The man who has a lot, will give to those who do not have a lot. Those who have do business, will do business with honesty and integrity. Those who have authority, will not take advantage of others for their own gain. John isn’t saying that these things will save you, but he is saying that true repentance will be shown in a changed life. 

Let’s go back to the example of the person who is living in a sin because they are in same-sex relationship. Let’s say you share the Gospel with someone in this situation. They listen to you, and they say, “You’re right, I need to repent of my sin. I am going to turn from this relationship that is disobedient to God, and I am going to turn to Christ for forgiveness.” They say that, maybe you don’t see one another again for a while, and then you reconnect 5 months later. And as you begin to talk to them, you realize that they are still in that same sinful relationship. So, you start to address it, and they say, “No, you can’t say that! I repented of my sin and have been forgiven, I’m fine. I’ve been reading and Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus, which I have, it’s not about all of the stuff we do.” What’s the issue with this kind of thinking? The issue is that repentance means turning from sin and this person has clearly not done so, so we are led to believe that they did not truly repent at all.

This is true for all people. If someone claims to know Christ, but refuses to obey Him, red flags should begin to pop up. It is clear from not only this text, but the Bible as a whole, that we must bear fruit in keeping with our repentance. Verse 9 tells us that if there is no fruit, the wrath of God remains. And let me be clear on this. This is not a call to perfection. John isn’t saying you must never sin or struggle with sin again. That’s not his message. Rather, his message is that if you claim to have turned from sin, that needs to be noticeable.

And all of this is inextricably connected to baptism. What is baptism? It is the public proclamation that you have turned from your sin, you have repented, and are now trusting Christ for salvation. John’s message is that if you are baptized, you have professed repentance, and you now must show that to be true in the way that you live. And this is also why baptism is inseparable from the church. When someone is baptized, they are being baptized into the church globally, and should be being baptized into a church locally. The reason that you should be baptized into a church locally is because you need a group of believers who are committed to holding you to the profession you made in baptism. They watched you, visibly, show yourself to be identified with Christ, having turned from your sin, and now they are going to help you bear the fruit of this repentance. They are committed to encouraging, and when necessary, calling you to repentance, pointing you to the proclamation you made.

The Christian life is simply bearing fruit of our repentance. Sometimes those who hold to the perseverance of the saints, the idea that you can’t lose your salvation, are criticized of making a way for Christians to sin. They say, “If you can’t lose your salvation, then you can just sin all you want and be fine!” But that’s a false claim. When we say that we hold to the perseverance of the saints, what we are saying is that true repentance always results in a changed life. It might be a slow and painful process. It might take drastic life changes, or it might be subtle ones. But no matter what, your life will be transformed. Evidence of you repentance will be found. And what we know, with absolute confidence, is that those who have truly repented of their sins and are bearing fruit of this repentance, will be kept by God until the very end, undoubtedly. If someone professes faith, but continues to live like nothing has changed, what are we to think? Are we to think that they have lost their salvation? No, we are to think that their profession was not true, and we should call them to further repentance.

As the church, we must proclaim all that John proclaims in this passage. That all people are born in sin, and that apart from Christ, all people are under the wrath of God, and that included us. But, God being rich in mercy and grace, made provision for us in the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son. Now, if you repent of your sin and turn to Christ, you will be saved. And this is what we have done, and we have shown that in our baptism. Now, we live our lives showing the evidence of this. Our lives look different than they did before, because by the power of the Spirit at work in us, we are seeking to put to death our fleshly desires and walk in the likeness of Christ. We continually fail, continually have to repent, but nonetheless we continue to grow, little by little. We bear fruit of our repentance. And we trust that God will keep us and sustain us until the very end. This is the good news that John preached, and it is the good news that we preach.