Luke 3.15-18 John and Jesus
Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter three. Today we are going to look at verses 15-18, that’s page 858 in the pew Bibles. Today we are going to continue to examine the remarkable character of John the Baptist and how he stands as a model for preachers.
15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.
Let’s pray.
A few weeks ago we talked about John the Baptist and the strength of his one point sermon: Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. This, I think, is a model for all preachers to follow. Keep it to one point.
John gave a couple other types of examples for preachers to follow as well.
Alistair Begg said, and I’m paraphrasing, “It’s hard for preachers to preach on preaching because the people listening might say, ‘Why don’t you follow your own advice?’”
Believe me, I share his conviction.
The people who were coming out to the wilderness to hear John preach and maybe be baptized by him knew that he was not just another ordinary guy. Apart from the weird way that he dressed and his wilderness diet of locusts and wild honey, his message was powerful. It was full of conviction and authority.
People weren’t used to that at this time, they were used to the same old same old teaching of the Pharisees that was devoid of life and power because it did not offer neither life nor power. But along comes this hippy in the hills who spoke the Word of God and crowds were gathering to hear him preach and be baptized by him. He was extremely effective and popular.
And because he was an effective and popular preacher the people started to do what people tend to do to effective and popular preachers, they started to idolize him, to think that he was more than he was.
15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ,
The Apostle John, in his Gospel, said:
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
John the Baptist was not the Light, he was not the Messiah, but people being people started to think that he was more than he really was. Instead of a witness to the Light that was coming, they started to think that he might just be that light himself.
This is honestly the struggle for preachers. When a preacher is effective people start to make more of him than he really is. The temptation that preachers face is to think maybe they’re right.
John did not submit to this temptation and therefore gives another example for all preachers to emulate, he took the focus off himself and pointed people to Jesus.
15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.
Again from the Apostle John’s Gospel,
19 And this is the testimony of John [the Baptist], when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
John exercised humility and deference, he pointed away from himself to Jesus, saying that His power, His rank, and His baptism were all greater than his own.
The hardest thing that preachers face, at least in my view as a preacher, is accolades.
No good preacher preaches just to say something, good preachers preach because there is something to say. The messenger is nothing, the message is everything!
THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT ANY PREACHER COULD RECEIVE IS FOR THOSE WHO LISTEN TO HEAR AND OBEY THE WORD OF GOD.
John told the people, “I’m just baptizing you with water, the One you want is still on His way! He is mightier than I could ever be, I’m not even worthy to unbuckle His Berkenstocks!
Even the slaves that were tasked with washing the feet of guests weren’t required to actually untie the sandals of the people’s feet that they were to wash, even that was too menial a task for a slave. But John said that he wasn’t even worthy to do that!
Again from John chapter one and verse 15:
15 (John [the Baptist] bore witness about [Jesus], and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)
John said in Luke 3 and verse 16, “I baptize you with water… But He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
John recognized and pointed out to his hearers that even his baptism was less than that of Jesus. Messiah Jesus’ baptism can accomplish what John’s baptism was powerless to produce.
JP Lange wrote, “[Jesus] will, so to speak, wholly immerse you in the Holy Ghost, and in the fire. The baptism of the Spirit, which produces renewal, is contrasted with the baptism of water, which can only represent it. The baptism of fire is appointed for the unconverted, as that of the Holy Spirit is for believers. As Simeon had announced that Christ was set for the fall of some and the rising of others, so does John here describe Him as coming with a twofold baptism. Some are renovated by His baptism, others are buried in the fiery baptism of final judgment.”
John testified that Jesus’ rank, His power, and His baptism were all greater than his own, he pointed away from himself to Jesus, the constant task of preachers.
But deference and humility are not the only John had to say in our text, he didn’t JUST point away from himself, he pointed to Jesus, and what did He say about Him?
First, and I touched on it already, Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Warren Wiersbe wrote, “It is unfortunate that the term “baptism of the Spirit” has been divorced from its original New Testament meaning. God has spoken to us in Spirit-given words which we must not confuse. The baptism of the Spirit occurs at conversion when the Spirit enters the believing sinner, gives him new life, and makes his body the temple of God. All believers have experienced this once-for-all baptism [as seen in 1 Cor. 12:13]. Nowhere does the Scripture command us to seek this baptism, because we have already experienced it and it need not be repeated.
John Calvin also wrote, “To men has been committed nothing more than the administration of an outward and visible sign: the reality dwells with Christ alone.”
The baptism of the Spirit which produces renewal, being born again, happens at the point of faith in Jesus Christ. When we baptize a new believer it merely an outward representation of this, already happened, inward occurrence.
The second baptism John mentions is the baptism of fire.
I used to think that this was a kind of refining fire for the believer, but after examining the context here it is actually something quite different. As I already quoted from JP Lange, “The baptism of fire is appointed for the unconverted, as that of the Holy Spirit is for believers. As Simeon had announced that Christ was set for the fall of some and the rising of others, so does John here describe Him as coming with a twofold baptism. Some are renovated by His baptism, others are buried in the fiery baptism of final judgment.”
John the Baptist said in verse 17, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
This is a picture of the practice of separating wheat from chaff. Individual kernels of wheat are surrounded in this light and fluffy, useless stuff called chaff. And after treading out the grain on the threshing floor, where an ox would walk around on top of the wheat in order to separate the two, the farmers would take their winnowing fork and throw it all up in the air, and the kernels of wheat which were heavier would fall straight down and the light and fluffy chaff would blow off to one side in the breeze.
The useless chaff would be burned up and the kernels of wheat would be gathered into the barn.
This is the picture of the coming judgment of Christ. This is the bad news.
In this picture, the kernels of wheat are all those who put their trust in Jesus. The chaff are all those that reject Him. There is no third option.
The question that every person must answer is: am I wheat or am I chaff?
Have I trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sin and received the Holy Spirit, or have I rejected Him, am I rejecting Him and stand waiting for the baptism of fire that is eternal judgment?
There is no third option. I beg you… please… trust in Jesus.
With John I say to you: repent of your sin, Jesus is coming soon!
Amen.
