John the Baptist Preaching Repentance
Luke 3:1-14
3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,[a]
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin 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. 9 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.”
10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics[b] 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.”
Intro- Use verses 1-6 to intro John the Baptist coming on the scene and his one and only message.
Message Titled: The fruit of repentance
Who is this sermon for?
- Unbeliever that is coming to repentance
- Genesis 3:14-15
- Unbeliever who thinks they are a Christian, but really they are not
- Luke 13:22-30
- For the believer to audit themselves
- Psalm 26:2
- 1 Corinthians 11:27-32
- 2 Corinthians 13:5
- For the believer to be encouraged and more fruitful
- Philippians 1:9-11
John the Baptist Preaching Repentance
Lets define Fruit & repentance
-
- Verse 8a-9
- Fruit & trees
- Fruit is the lifestyle that reflects the condition of the heart
- This includes thoughts, actions, will
- Only God can truly see the fruit completely
- Verse 8a-9
- Bear fruits in keeping with repentance
-
- Bear or produce a lifestyle that reflects
- the condition of a heart of repentance
- Repentance-truly renounce sin & return to God with all your heart
- Psalm 51
Bear fruits in keeping with repentance
- With true repentance God gives us a new heart which allows us to bear fruit in keeping with repentance
- Ezekiel 36:27
- What does this look like?
- Verse 10 What then shall we do?
- [emphasize] This is the question of a heart bearing true repentance
- Tax collectors asked what then shall I do?
- Soldiers asked what then shall I do?
- If we are true believers we never stop asking this question
- Teachers what then shall I do?
- Retirees, students, coworkers, biz owners, teenagers, husbands, wives, homosexuals, live in couples, lazy people, politicians, drug users, for the rest of our lives we say God, shall I do?!
End with John 15:1-11 use this to tie sermon all together
Speak again to the 4 groups of people
