Matthew 4.12-17

Today’s passage serves as an important transition-point in Matthew’s gospel, so before we look at the text, let’s first review where we have already been. In the first two chapters of Matthew, we read about the birth and infancy of Jesus, and we see how, from the very start, he would not just be an ordinary person. Joseph is told that he would “save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). He is called Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Matt. 1:23). The Magi recognize him the “king of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2). And throughout it all, Matthew constantly reminds us how Jesus’ birth is a fulfillment of numerous Old Testament prophecies.

In Matthew 3 and 4:1-11, we read about the preparation for Jesus’ ministry. We are told about how John the Baptist paved the way for Jesus by telling people to repent and baptizing them as a symbol of that repentance. Then Jesus himself comes and is baptized by John, and a voice comes from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matt. 4:17). Then Jesus goes out to the wilderness for forty days and is tempted by Satan, but he refuses to give in to the easy way out.

So up to this point, Matthew’s gospel has been giving us little glimpses what’s coming in Jesus. It’s foreshadowing of the type of Messiah that Jesus would be. In Matthew 4:12-17, we finally see the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry as we normally think about it. Let’s check out what it says:

¹²When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. ¹³Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali—¹⁴to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

¹⁵”Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—¹⁶the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”

¹⁷From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

This passage begins with the somewhat startling revelation that John the Baptist has been imprisoned. Matthew will go into more detail about the circumstances surrounding this in chapter 14, so for now, we’ll just say that some of the power-holders (specifically Herod) didn’t appreciate John’s message, so they locked him up. 

There are two important aspects of Jesus’ preaching that are mentioned in this passage: the location of his preaching, and the content of his preaching. We’ll look at each.

First, the location. Matthew tells us that Jesus returns to Galilee in northern Palestine. This is unlike John the Baptist, who had been baptizing people in the Jordan River in Judea (southern Palestine). Instead of staying in that same area for very long, Jesus heads back north, and this is pretty interesting. 

One would expect a new teacher who wanted to gain a following to stay in Judea. Jerusalem, the capital city for the Jews, was in Judea, so it would make sense for Jesus to go there. In fact, a little later on, Jesus’ own brothers say to him in John 7:3-4, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 

If I were an aspiring actor, I wouldn’t spend my days in Nowheresville, USA, because I would know that I would never get discovered there. Instead, I would pack up my bags and relocate to Los Angeles or New York. In the same way, the natural assumption would be for Jesus to go to Jerusalem, where he can interact with the politicians and priests. But instead, he goes to Galilee and sets up camp in the village of Capernaum. To the Jews in Jerusalem, it would seem like Jesus moved out to the boonies. And Jesus would spend the bulk of his ministry in and around Capernaum, ministering to a mishmash of Jews, Gentiles, tax collectors, prostitutes, diseased, demon-possessed, and others. It’s a funny way for a Messiah to act.

And yet, that’s the kind of Messiah Jesus is. He loves to go to the people that the world doesn’t expect him to go to. He’s criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners instead of with the “religious elite.” He shows Gentiles the same compassion and love that he shows the Jews. He didn’t see people according to the barriers and divisions that society had created. He saw them instead as children of God who were in need of a Savior. And, just as in the prophecy that Matthew quotes from Isaiah 9:1-2, Jesus comes as a light to all those living in spiritual darkness. The location of Jesus’ preaching is noteworthy because it shows how he truly is the good shepherd that goes out looking for his lost sheep.

Secondly, the content of Jesus’ preaching needs to be looked at. Verse 17 tells us that Jesus preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Interestingly, this is the same message that John the Baptist preached in Matthew 3:2. First of all, Jesus preaches that people need to repent—they need to do a 180 in their lives, turning away from sin and instead following and obeying God. 

But why is Jesus calling people to repentance? “For the kingdom of heaven is near.” Now, the kingdom of heaven (also called the kingdom of God elsewhere) is a HUGE topic that deserves far more attention than can be given to it in the remainder of this blog post. For now, we’ll simply say that the kingdom of heaven refers to the kingly rule of God. The kingdom of heaven is more than just where Christians go after death. The kingdom is God’s reign, and that kingdom breaks through into the world through Jesus. John the Baptist preached the nearness of the kingdom because he was pointing people to Jesus. Jesus preached the nearness of the kingdom because that kingdom comes through his own life, ministry, death, and resurrection. This means that the kingdom is NOW, and we are a part of that kingdom if we recognize God’s rule in our lives. That’s the content of Jesus’ preaching.

So then, the location of Jesus’ preaching is in Galilee, and its content concerns the nearness of the kingdom of heaven. But what does this mean for us? Here are a couple questions that you may need to consider: First, who is there in your life that you need to share the gospel with, even if doing so might be a little “unexpected”? It could be a co-worker that you’ve always thought wants nothing to do with God. It could be a neighbor that just annoys you to no end. It could be someone on your softball team that seems different from you in every way. But remember, Jesus went to those that no one expected him to go to, and he may very well be calling you to do the same.

Here’s the second question: Are you aware of the reality of God’s kingdom? Have you been living as though Jesus is both your Savior and your Lord? Or do you act as though he’s just there to give you your “Get Out of Jail Free” card when your life is over? God’s kingdom is now, and God is on his throne, and he calls us to follow him where he leads. That requires repentance, just as Jesus says. But when we do grasp this incredible truth of the kingdom, we’re able to convey the message of that kingdom to others as we minister and witness to them.

David Heffren

Exercise 2: Spiritual struggle

Today, since we just talked about the temptations of Jesus, I want to ask you, what sin are you struggling with the most?

Is it over eating?

Is it pornography?

Is it Judging others?

Lying?

Cheating?

Are you a gossip? a slanderer?

Whatever temptation or sin you are struggling with, write it down. And think, what is the real issue at heart? What is the issue that is causing the sin or the struggle?

If you are over eating, is it because you are depressed or don't like the way you look? If you are lusting or addicting to pornography is it because you are looking for an escape from the monotony of your daily life? Or is it because you have allowed your physical desires to rule your life?

Whatever the sin or temptation is, there is a deeper issue going on. Talk to your minister, friends, counselors, spouses, and figure out what the deeper issue is.

Is it as we saw in the temptations of Jesus, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh or a boastful and prideful life?  Whatever the deeper issue is, search for passages of scripture that speak against the issue. Find power in the word of God by putting relevant passages of scripture to memory to be able to resist those temptations when they come into your life.

I know there is a lot of leg work for you on this exercise, but I believe it will help you combat the attacks of the devil. And I believe, as you are able to defend yourself and keep yourself from falling to those temptations, you will be able to bless those around you.

Write down your sin, figure out the real issue, and search for Bible passages that speak to that real issue.

Exercise 1: Rest and Review

Today is a day of rest and review. If you have been keeping up with this devotion daily, give yourself a pat on the back. Great job!!!! Today, you can stop after reading this sentence.

Seriously, you don't have to read the rest.

You can if you want to.

But if you have fell behind on reading this devotion daily, I want to give you a review today over everything we have covered so that you can stop trying to catch up and start going back to reading this daily. So here is my summary of Matthew 1-4.11.

This section of scripture is all about the Presentation of the King. Matthew's plan is to present to us what kind of King, or Messiah, Jesus is going to be. And because he is both the son of David and Abraham, he is going to reign forever and bless the nations.

This king was saved by the obedience of a follower of God, Joseph. Joseph could have had his fiancee Mary stoned which was have killed baby Jesus, but he obeyed God and didn't. So we see that the way to  be the model disciple and follow God is to obey what God has commanded us.

Jesus as the new king was persecuted by Herod, the fake king of the Jews and was worshipped by the kings of other nations. How should we respond to King Jesus?

And Matthew presents Jesus' life as a reenactment of the nation of Israel by showing that Jesus was brought up out of Egypt, just as the Israelites were brought up out of the slavery in Egypt. This is the kind of King Jesus is going to be. He is going to free everyone from their own Egypt, from their slavery to sin, and he will do what the nation of Israel failed to do, he is going to bless the nations.

After thirty years had passed, then appears John the Baptist in this heated political climate of who is the true people of God and how are you the true people of God. Each political group, the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and Zealots all thought that they were the forerunners for the Messiah. They thought that they were doing what was right to be the people of God and cause the Messiah to come and rescue them. Yet John claims he is the forerunner, and he is calling the whole nation of Israel to repent of their legalism and of their idolatry and their sins of not blessing the nations and to be baptized.

Next thing you know, Jesus, all grown up, comes to be baptized by John. He does this to repent on behalf of his people. This was very common to the Jews of the 1st century. What was true of the leader of the people, was true of the people, like David killing Goliath. David represented the Israelites and Goliath represented the Philistines. When David conquered Goliath, that meant that the Israelites conquered the Philistines. So Jesus was repenting and being baptized on behalf of his people. And at his Baptism, the heavens were torn open, the spirit descended on him like a dove, and a voice spoke from heaven saying, "This is my son, whom I love with him I am well pleased." These were three signs that the Jews were looking for to point to who the Messiah was. And all the signs were pointing to Jesus.

Next Matthew didn't just want to show that Jesus was the Messiah, but he wanted to show what kind of Messiah he was going to be. So immediately after his baptism, Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. He had a choice, he could choose the "easy" way and receive immediate satisfaction and not go to the cross, or he could choose the "hard" way which required a ton of sacrifice and requires the cross. The easy way is Satan's way and the hard way is God's. Satan's way provided a shortcut for him to be king of the Jews, yet it did not promise that Jesus would reign for eternity, and the nations would not be blessed because Jesus would not have died on the cross for our sins.

This is what we are tempted with daily. And God's way does require sacrifice daily, it is very hard, but it promises eternal satisfaction, and that the nations will be blessed.

So that is what we have covered so far. Make sure to try to keep up with this daily. As we have seen in the last story of the temptations of Jesus, the way that he was able to resist the temptation is because he had hidden God's word in his heart. He had eaten the book instead of food and at every temptation, he quoted scripture to resist the temptation of the devil. He even said this, "Man does not live on bread alone but on the very word that comes from the mouth of God."

Eat your Bible.

Matthew 4.1-11

The baptism of Jesus showed us who the Messiah was, and the temptation of Jesus reveals to us what kind of Messiah he is going to be. Let's read this passage:

¹ Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. ² After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³ The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
 ⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’^[a]”
 ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ⁶ “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
   “‘He will command his angels concerning you,
   and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’^[b]”
 ⁷ Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’^[c]”
 ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
 ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’^[d]”
 ¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.


My favorite part of this passage is what is said in verse 2, "After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry." no duh. That cracks me up every time I read it. Anyway, let's examine this text. 


There are several observations that need to be made about the three temptations before we examine them individually.


1. Each of these temptations contain an "if". 


Satan is taunting Jesus in these temptations. In the first two, he actually says, "if you are the Son of God" basically saying, "Prove yourself, prove that you are who you say you are."


2. The three temptations parallel what is written in 1 John 2.15-17


¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.


We see three temptations that the world offers: 1. the lust of the eyes; 2. the lust of the flesh; and 3. the boastful pride of life. This also parallels the temptation of Eve in the Garden. See if you can pick these three temptations out in this passage: 


⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.


These are the three main ways that we are tempted, the lust of our eyes, the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life. At the foundation of all of them is the sin of selfishness. It is wanting what I want, when I want it, how I want it, and I am great. I, I, I, I and I. At the heart of every sin is the sin of self. And this is what Satan was tempting Jesus with. He was trying to offer Jesus an easier route for his Messianic ministry. Jesus knew what his mission consisted of, going to the cross and dying for the sins of the mankind. This was his task given by God, and yet Satan was trying to tempt him by saying that there is an easier way to show that you are the Messiah, there is an easier way for you to carry out your ministry of becoming king of the universe.


And so we have two paths here, God's path or Satan's path. When I put it that way, it seems easy to choose which path to take. But when we are tempted in life, these paths aren't seen this clearly sometimes. Emotions get in the way, our sinful nature, people's opinions and advice cloud the clearness of the fact that there are two paths in every temptation. We can follow God's path or the devil's. The hard thing is the devil's path tells you it is all about you, and that you will get what you want, when you want it, and how you want it. God's path says you have to sacrifice everything you want and live for God.


So how were these temptations supposed to be easier for Jesus and his Messianic ministry? The first temptation, to turn stones into bread, was the temptation of the lust of the flesh. 


The Jews idea of what the Messiah would be like was that he would perform miraculous wonders for the prosperity of his people. This is exactly what turning stones into bread would have done. The general populace would have immediately crowned him as king and would have picked up arms to fight alongside him to overthrow the Romans, and they would probably be able to do it because they had an unlimited source of bread. So according to Satan's path, Jesus would have immediate support of all the Jews and would be a miracle worker for the rest of his life. And this path did not involve discipling the twelve disciples and dying on a cross. But would it bless the nations? Would Jesus end up being king over the whole world, sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven? No. so what is the next temptation?


The second temptation was that of the Boastful Pride of Life. Satan tempts Jesus by taking him to the highest point on the temple and asking him to jump off and allow the angels to rescue him. This would immediately make him popular among the people of that day. For there was a tradition that stated that the Messiah would miraculously appear on the top of the temple. Satan's path would allow Jesus to bypass a lot of "messy Ministry" and provide a shortcut for Jesus' popularity and kingship among his people. But would he bless the nations? Would he be king over the whole universe? The shortcut paths rarely allow you to do what God wants to do with you. They may provide immediate satisfaction, but they rarely bless the nations and provide long-term satisfaction. 


So now we come to the third temptation. Satan takes Jesus to a very high mountain and says,
"All this I will give you if you bow down and worship me." This verb in the original Greek means a one-time act of worshipping, not a repeating action. So Satan is tempting Jesus by saying, "Just bow down once, and I will bow out of the fight for the earth and all this will be yours." He was tempting Jesus with the lust of the eyes. Because isn't that what Jesus wants to do, to bless all the nations and rule over them? And this way, he wouldn't even have to go to the cross. He would just have to bow down. But would this bless all the nations? The nations need someone to act as a sacrifice to take their punishment for their sins. And this sacrifice could not have anything wrong with it, it had to be completely sinless. So bowing to Satan might bring immediate satisfaction, but it would not carry out the ultimate plan of blessing all the nations. 


The temptations of Satan are seen in three ways, the temptation of the flesh, the temptation of the eyes and the boastful pride of life. Satan's path offers immediate satisfaction with almost no sacrifice. But it doesn't bless the nations and provide long-term satisfaction. God's path is hard, it is narrow and few walk it. It provides long-term satisfaction, eternal satisfaction, but it requires a LOT of sacrifice. 


Which path will you choose? How did Jesus resist the temptations of Satan? 


He ate his Bible. 


With every temptation Jesus withstood that temptation by having studied and hidden the word of God in his heart and running to God's word in the midst of temptation. Look back and you will see Jesus respond to each temptation by quoting scripture. 


The way to resist temptation is to have our minds not focused on fleshy, worldly things but focused on heavenly, spiritual things. 


How do we do that?


We devour God's word daily. We read his Bible daily. We think about what we read all throughout the day. We remind ourselves everyday that we exist to bless the nations, that we exist to bring God and people back together. 


Choose the path of God. Eat the book and resist temptation. And today, Bless somebody. 

Matthew 3.13-17

Let's read the passage to start today:

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
 ¹⁶ As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

So why did Jesus get baptized?


What a hard question, just think about this for a little while. Why did Jesus get baptized? What was the purpose of his baptism?


Some have said that it was to set an example for us to follow. Is that it? Is that the only reason he was baptized? The text says that he was baptized, "to fulfill all righteousness." What does he mean by that?


This was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, yet Jesus hadn't done anything wrong.  He didn't need to repent, he didn't need to be baptized for his sins, he didn't have any. So was it all just for show? Was he just baptized by John as an act just to set an example for all of us, or is there something more going on here? 


We have a hard time understanding this passage because we are westerners, and as westerners we approach everything very individualistically. Whereas the Jews, which are easterners, would have understood what was going on. For Easterners, the leader of the people can repent on behalf of his people as a whole. He is their leader and so he represents them. So just as Jesus died on the cross for everyone's sins, he also repented and was baptized on behalf of his people that had drifted away. A number of the leaders of the Jews repented on their behalf, Daniel, Nehemiah, Moses and even Jeremiah. This was common. These leaders would take on the responsibility of the people's sins. This is what Jesus is doing. He is repenting on behalf of his people, and as their leader, this is what would be expected of him. 


This is why Jesus got baptized, but what did this baptism accomplish? What was the result of the baptism? 


This baptism is the beginning of Jesus' public ministry as Messiah, and as you know, the Jews were anxiously waiting for the Messiah to come. There were certain signs that the Jews were looking for to show them who the Messiah was, certain prophecies, and three of those signs are found here in Jesus' baptism. 


The Jews were looking for:

1. The heavens to be opened
2. For some kind of glory or spirit to be poured out on him
3. This blessing came from the Father, maybe even from his voice

And as you can see, all three signs were present at Jesus' baptism. The heavens were torn open, the Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove and a voice from heaven spoke saying, "This is my son whom I love, with him I am well pleased."

Jesus' baptism was a very clear sign to all who were there that this was the Messiah, the new leader of the Jews, and he had just repented on their behalf. 

This serves as a transition from John to Jesus. John was just a voice preparing the way for Jesus, but now that Jesus has come and received John's baptism of repentance, and the three signs have pointed everyone to Jesus saying, "Here is the Messiah!!!", John now moves to the background and Jesus is now at center stage. And the first thing that he does is he repents for the sins of his people. He stands in as the representative for them, and all the way at the beginning, we begin to see a little foreshadowing as to what Jesus is going to do. He is going to take the punishment for everyone's sins on the cross, and he is going to bless the nations. 

And this is what Israel was supposed to do. Not necessarily go to the cross, but they were supposed to bless the nations. And did you notice where Jesus was baptized? In the Jordan River. The same place that nation of Israel crossed thousands of years before to enter the promised land and to bless all the nations. And they didn't do it. Now Jesus is acting as the new Israel, how the people of God were supposed to act originally, and he is going to bless all the nations through his work on the cross. 

And this is how we are to act, this is what we are called to do. To bless all the nations. And the tool that we use is a cross. We are to live self-sacrificial lives whose focus is on service and loving people who are hard to love, no matter what it means for us. We are the people of God, and we are called to bless the nations. 

Bless somebody today. 

Matthew 3.7-12

The last couple of days, we have talked a lot about the political climate behind what was going on with John the Baptist in chapter three. We have talked about the four different political parties: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and the Zealot, and we have talked about how each of them were trying to be the true people of God in different ways. And yesterday, we talked about what John the Baptist did that was bringing about all the attention he was getting from the religious rulers. We saw that he was wearing the right clothes, eating the right food, was at the right place and was doing the right things. Now we will see that not only his actions were causing a ruckus but also his message. And these six verses have to do specifically with what John's message was. Let's read his message:

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
 ¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  


In John's message, there are two actions that stand at odds with each other over and over again. Repentance and Judgment. If you remember, repentance is a change of mindset and heart/behavior. We repent when we decide to stop thinking and acting a certain way and start acting and thinking a different way. It is a U-turn, a 180. Judgment is ultimately what happens to those who do not repent. To be judged, is to be measured, or to have someone decide something about you. All of us will be judged before God, but his decision about us, whether we are guilty for our sins or innocent, all has to do with if we repented from our sins and accepted the sacrifice of his son. 


So in this context, in John's message, we either repent or are judged. Repentance is the positive term, and judgment is the negative term. And with that, we see specifically two illustrations as to who are being judged and what is going to happen to those who are judged, or in this case, condemned. 


First, in verse 7, John saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing people. And even before they can get a word out, John begins to condemn them. He says: 


“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 


And here we have what they were doing wrong, why there are going to be condemned, unless they repent. They weren't producing fruit. This may sound strange to some of you, but if you examine the illustration, it makes a lot of sense. 


Fruit is not the plant, but what the plant produces. Let's say I plant an apple tree. What grows is not the fruit, no first there needs to be some roots that grow, then the tree trunk, then limbs and leaves on the limbs, and then finally, when the tree is ripe, it produces apples. The fruit is the by-product of the plant. The same is true of good deeds in our spiritual lives. We aren't trying to make good deeds right off the bat, that isn't the means to the end of a happy life, working towards good deeds. But if we follow God, and allow him to make us a healthy person, we grow and produce fruit as a by-product of our relationship with God. 


These religious teachers were just doing deeds and were skipping the relationship with God part. They were trying to be the people of God without God. And so they weren't really producing the correct fruit of love and mercy. And this is what John was accusing them of in verse 8. He goes on to show what they were relying on instead of God for the spiritual lives. 


⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 


These Jews were relying on the fact that they were descendants of Abraham. They were thinking, "because my Great great great great great great great great great great grandfather was a man of God, so am I. It's like those people who try to get by on the coattails of their parents or grandparents. And instead of pursuing a true relationship with God, these religious leaders were counting on who their daddy was to determine that they were the people of God. And John says this ain't gonna cut it. And he gives an illustration of why it won't work. Let's keep reading:


¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.


John is saying, even though you are children of Abraham, you aren't producing the right kind of fruit that children of Abraham should produce. And because you aren't producing fruit, you are liable to be cut down and judged, condemned. It doesn't matter who your daddy is, if you aren't producing fruit you will be condemned. This was John's message, and the Jews didn't like it. But his message wasn't over. This is why he was preaching at the Jordan River, he was saying we can start over. Although we have been messing up and not producing fruit, we can change our minds, we can repent and start doing the right thing. And this was the purpose of his baptism. This is what he says next:


¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”  


John compares his baptism with someone who is coming after him. He is saying that I baptize as a symbol for us to stop living our old way of life, a life without producing fruit, and to start living a new life. But there is one coming after me that will baptize with the holy spirit and with fire. John's baptism wasn't complete, it was pointing to another baptism that was to come, Jesus'. And Jesus' baptism did two things, it gave the Holy Spirit to those who repent, and punishment to those who didn't repent. That is what the fire is standing for, the judgment and punishment of the unrepentant. And John ends this somewhat confusing statement of a baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire with an illustration that makes a lot of sense. He begins to talk about farming. 


The threshing floor was a place where you would gather all the wheat and use a big pitch fork, called a winnowing fork to pick up the wheat and throw it up into the air. The threshing floor was an open area so that the wind would blow through and blow off all the unwanted chaff off of the wheat, leaving only the stuff you wanted. The farmer would keep on tossing up the wheat so that all the chaff was off, then he would take the pure wheat with no chaff on it and put it in the barn, and he would burn up all the chaff that was left over. This is what will happen to the repentant and the unrepentant. When Jesus judges the world, those that repent are those that produce fruit, like the wheat. Jesus is going to sift through and divide all the repentant from the unrepentant, and the repentant will be gathered into the barn, which is heaven, to live forever with Jesus. The unrepentant, those that do not produce fruit, will end up like the chaff, separated from the wheat and punished. 


The key is this, those that repent and produce fruit will be gathered up with Jesus and will receive his baptism of the Holy Spirit. Those that do not, will be divided like the chaff and will receive his baptism of fire, which is punishment in hell. 


John's message is quite simple. The Jews can't just rely on who their daddy is to get them into heaven. They must repent and produce fruit by having a relationship with Jesus. If they do they will receive the eternal life, if they don't they will be condemned to hell. 


So my question to you is are you producing fruit? Are you allowing Jesus to transform you so that you look and act and think like him? And if you do that you will produce good fruit, or deeds. Are you allowing Jesus to use you today for his purpose to bless the nations? 


This is what following Jesus means, producing fruit. 

Matthew 3.4-6

Let's start off by reading the passage:


⁴ John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
 ⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
 ¹¹ “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”


After talking yesterday about the different political parties that were in existence during this period, now we see a new man, one who no one really knows where he belongs. John the Baptist did everything right to create a stir.


He wore the right clothes. 


In verse 4, it said that his clothes were made of camel's hair and he had a leather belt around his waist. This kind of outfit resembled that of another famous prophet in the Old Testament named Elijah. And, according to Malachi 4.5-6, the Jews were waiting for "Elijah" to come again. This is what it says:


⁵ “See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. ⁶ He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.”


And this man, John the Baptist, was not only dressed like a prophet but resembled that of Elijah. Now, not only did he wear the right clothes, he ate the right food. 


his diet was locusts and wild honey. This is the kind of food that a desert dweller would eat. But not only that, this kind of food and the fact that he was living in the desert, points to a sort of denial of one's own physical desires. Men who would call other men to repentance, to change the way they were living because they were in sin, would require some right to be able to call people to repentance. He needed to be ultra-spiritual, in the eyes of the Jews. So John the Baptist was wearing the right clothes and eating the right kind of food. 


He was also at the right place. 


He went out in the wilderness, and was baptizing people in the Jordan River. Now why would he go to the Jordan River, all the way out in the wilderness to baptize people?


If he was concerned with finding a good watering hole for people to get baptized in, the northern Sea of Galilee would have been more convenient. If he was trying to draw larger crowds, then Jerusalem would have been a better location as well. But these were neither of his purposes for baptizing people in the Jordan River. The reason he went there, was he wanted to draw on the image of a new entry into the Promised Land, into Israel at the Jordan River. 


You see, Jesus is paralleling what happened to the Israelites all the way back in the book of Exodus. If you remember, that is why he went down into Egypt after he was born, so that God could call him out of Egypt the same way he called the Israelites out of Egypt. And now, John the Baptist is saying to the people of Israel, "We need to start over. We need to go to the very beginning, when we came into the land after wandering through the desert for 40 years, and we need to try this again."


This reminds me of those times when I would say something stupid to my wife, or treat her with a really bad attitude out of nowhere, and she would say, "Let's try this again." And so we would go back to the beginning of the conversation and start it over and both try to handle the situation better than the time before. 


This is kind of what John the Baptist is doing. He is saying, let's do a redo. And he is calling the people of Israel back to the Jordan River, the River that they crossed thousands of years ago to enter the promised land, and he is saying that the last time we were to bless the nations and live in the promise land, we messed it up. But things are starting over. The Messiah is coming and he is making a new covenant with us, so we get a chance to redo what we messed up last time. 


So not only did John wear the right clothes, eat the right food and go to the right place, but he did the right thing. 


He was baptizing people. 


Now where did this idea of dunking people in water come from? Doesn't that just seem strange? Well it all started with the fact that there were many washings in the Old Testament that the priests and even the people would do to cleanse themselves from impurities. This transformed into the practice that Jews wold baptize, literally immerse, Gentiles who wanted to part of the Jewish religion. It was more of a baptism of entry into a community than a baptism of repentance like we have here. This Jewish baptism was a lot like pledging to a fraternity. Before you are a part of the fraternity, you got to do these things, then you are in. Also, the Essenes, that monastic community in the desert, practice baptism as well. But it was not a one time deal, it was something that you did on a regular basis to keep yourself clean and pure. 


So this idea of water being spiritual had been around for awhile, but there was something very different about this baptism of John's. It wasn't just a cleansing act, and it wasn't initiation into a community, it was for repentance. 


Repentance is a big word to some of us, and sometimes we throw it around and don't really know what it means. The basic idea is that there is a change of mind and heart. You thought and did one thing, and now you repent, and think and do something else. This is at the heart of John's baptism.


The Israelites thought and did one thing, maybe thought that the Pharisees were right in how to be the people of God, or maybe the Sadducees were, or the Essenes or maybe the Zealots, but whatever you thought or were doing, John is saying that you were wrong. And his baptism was saying that I'm changing my mind and behavior from that old way of life, to a new way of life. 


John created quite a stir. And let me be frank with you for a second. When we truly repent, and call others to repentance, we create quite a stir. 


As you will see tomorrow, the religious leaders of the day came all the way to see what he was doing. the whole region of Judea went out to see him!!!! 


So why aren't we creating quite a stir?


Why aren't we baptizing people daily and calling people to repent, to leave their old lives and live new lives? Why aren't the religious leaders of our day coming out to see us baptizing people by droves in rivers and creeks?


Maybe, just maybe, we haven't truly repented of our old way of life. 


Repentance is a change of mind and behavior, it says that my old life was junk, I am no living a new, completely different life. 


Have you truly changed your old way of life before Christ? What are you holding on to? 


As Christians, we are called to create stirs. Are we doing that through our repentance?