Luke 3:10-18 (Sermon for the week of December 17th)

Gospel
Lk 3:10-18

The crowds asked John the Baptist,
“What should we do?”
He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,

“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them,
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”

Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan 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.”
Exhorting them in many other ways,
he preached good news to the people.


SERMON:

John the Baptist was the one sent to prepare the way of the Lord. Born to parents who were unable to bear a child until the Lord manifested John's birth, the Lord sent John into this world SIX MONTHS prior to the Lord Jesus coming through the womb of His mother Mary after conception by the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist was to be the one to prepare this world by Baptism by water after Repentance. Repentance is the changing of one's current way or path and giving up control and direction to the Lord. The passage this week are John's spoken words BEFORE the Lord Jesus Christ was ministering. There is a six month difference in age between John the Baptist and Jesus Christ...at this time the preparation began through John BEFORE the Lord found the Apostles and before the Lord was crucified. So, let's look at the beginning verses more in-depth:

The crowds asked John the Baptist,
“What should we do?”
He said to them in reply,
“Whoever has two cloaks
should share with the person who has none.
And whoever has food should do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized and they said to him,

“Teacher, what should we do?”
He answered them,
“Stop collecting more than what is prescribed.”
Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”

The people of this time KNEW that the Messiah was coming via the prophets and the time period that John is Baptising coincides with the expectations that John may be a candidate for the Messiah. Now is a good time to take a look back at some of the prophecies that Jesus fulfills. Do you know that Jesus fulfills over 300 Old Testament prophecies? NO ONE can claim to even come close to 10% fulfillment of these prophecies! NO ONE!

Let's read an excerpt from the writings of Mr. Pete Benson found at
http://www.unityinchrist.com:

"The scribes and Jewish religious leaders knew the time that the Messiah’s ministry would come on the scene, right to the year, just as they knew the town he would be born in. Daniel 9:24-26, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore [margin: build again Jerusalem] and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince [reference to the Romans] that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary [this happened in 70A.D.]; and the end thereof shall be with a flood [prophetic term in the Bible for an army], and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined.” From this prophecy the Jewish leaders and teachers of the Law knew the Messiah was coming-down to the exact year of the start of his ministry. In prophecy one prophetic year is equal to 360 prophetic days. One prophetic day is equal to one normal year. In verse 25 where it says “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build [rebuild] Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks:…” This commandment to restore Jerusalem and the temple is the very same commandment spoken of in Ezra 1:1-11 and II Chronicles 36:22-23. This commandment is dated as having gone out in 457BC, the first year of Cyrus the Persian and is recorded in Ezra 1:1-3, which states “Now in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, ‘Thus saith Cyrus the king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah…”

Now lets figure this out. It is really simple. 7 weeks + 62 weeks = 69 weeks. 69 weeks times 7 [converting weeks to days] = 483 days. 483 prophetic days = 483 years. Going 483 years forward in time from 457 B.C. is done by subtracting 457 from 483 which = 26. But since there is no year zero, you add 1 to the 26 giving you 27 A.D., the year Jesus started his ministry. By this calculation his death was in the spring of 31 A.D. Some disagree, making their calculation dating from another decree from another later Persian king to go and rebuild the wall, received by Nehemiah. But dating from the later decree doesn’t really fit the instructions found in Daniel 9:25. So in the year 27 A.D. Jesus was walking up to John the Baptist to get baptized. If the scribes had been on the ball, they would have known to be on the lookout for him. Isn’t this amazing? The Creator God inspired these prophecies to be penned many hundreds of years in advance of their being carried out, from the year of the start of Jesus ministry, to the eventual destruction of the Romans in 70 A.D., it all happened. In verse 26, the word “prince” is referring to the Roman prince, and not the Prince of Peace. Verse 27 takes us up to the beginning of the tribulation when a world superpower will step onto the scene in Jerusalem after the Jews have built a temple or tabernacle and restarted the “morning and evening” sacrifices. Verse 27 states that this “he”, referring to the leader of this restored Roman system, will cause “the sacrifice of oblation to cease…” stopping the evening and morning sacrifices being carried out by the Levitical priesthood yet to be set up by the Jews sometime in the near future [they’re working on setting this all up right now]."

This is the same knowledge the Jews had as they anticipated the coming of the the Messiah...AND the Messiah did come...Jesus began his ministry in 27 AD...and He was sacraficed for Our sins...what more do the unbelievers want?

So, the people ask John the Baptist: "What do we do in the meantime?"
And John the Baptist singles out groups of people by their profession and tells them this; "DO WHAT IS RIGHT! DO WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE!" For their works can only be the works of man and not God until the One who is the Messiah comes and is sacraficed amd redeems those who have Faith in Him!

The "works" John the Baptist speaks of are:

Soldiers also asked him,
“And what is it that we should do?”
He told them,
“Do not practice extortion,
do not falsely accuse anyone,
and be satisfied with your wages.”

...these "works" are not guidelines for living in which we "try" our best not to break. These are works of mankind living in this world for a short duration that should be done at all times. The Good Works of God are done by God and those who live in God are tools of God. If you were a soldier in these times of John the Baptist, you were paid a very small wage. What would a soldier do if this world began to bother him and he lived outside of a life devoted to God? He would abuse his power in order to "get more". Get more of what? GET MORE MONEY TO FURTHER HIMSELF IN THIS WORLD. Note that money is not used in God's Kingdom...it is used HERE...in this world only. A soldier could create a lot of problems for you if you upset him. All a soldier would have to do is demand the money...the person would quickly hand it over! Not taking money from people that you are suppossed to be protecting has nothing to do with God. Not abusing your power in order to get money is what you should always do on this planet. It is basic, it is acting like a person willing to live their life in ANTICIPATION for GREATER WORKS! These "Greater Good Works" come from God only when you are with God. You are with God when you accept and turn over your will and your life to Jesus and thus the Son brings you to God and you are able to fulfill the Good Wirks of God planned for you to do! There are works of man and Works of God...mankind can do the works of man but can only do the Works of God when you have handed your will over to God. This is the act of faith in the Son, Jesus Christ! Without Jesus, you can't do ANY GOOD WORKS of God...unless you are somehow able TO BE PERFECT in this life and found "worthy in GOD'S EYES" , not worthy mankind's eyes, and become a worthy being apart from the redemption given by the Son Jesus Christ!

Now we have better insight into the reason behind John the Baptist's answer:

Now the people were filled with expectation,
and all were asking in their hearts
whether John might be the Christ.
John answered them all, saying,
“I am baptizing you with water,
but one mightier than I is coming.
I am not worthy to loosen the thongs of his sandals.

John knows why he is here and why he is baptising. He know the Messiah is alive in flesh. He knows that he is paving the way. The people don't know...

John indeed is baptising by water...and He is not worthy to loosen the sandals of the Messiah. NEITHER ARE WE! Don't confuse this cliche out there that we need to be more "Christ like" and fall into the worldly thought that we can act ANYWAY like, or ever come close to being ANYTHING AT ALL "Christ like"! Humility is the word needed to be reflected on. You can act as good as you want...there is no good acts unless they are acts of God. As Jesus tells us, "Only God is Good!" (Mark 10:18) This "Act like Christ" motto floating around is foolishness unless one is clear on the difference between mankind's good works and the Good Works of God! How many people believe that they can do Good Works without having any faith in Jesus? MANY! Too many!

Now for the warning to those living apart from Jesus:

His winnowing fan 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.”
Exhorting them in many other ways,
he preached good news to the people.

Jesus did and is seperating those who are His, and those who are NOT His. The winnowing fan is used to seperate the wheat from the chaff.
Those who are Jesus' people are the wheat and those who are not are the chaff. (See Matthew 13:24-30 the Parable of the Weeds)

What happens to the chaff?

"THE CHAFF HE WILL BURN WITH UNQUENCHABLE FIRE"

That can't be good!
Alas! Are you with Jesus or without Jesus?

For you have two options:

1) Live perfectly and do it all on your own.
If you slip ONCE, GOODBYE!

2) Repent that you are not perfect, seek the salvation of Jesus for that is why He suffered and died...it was FOR THOSE WHO REPENT AND REALIZE THEY ARE NOT PERFECT AND NEED SALVATION, and turn your will over to Him! Test it and watch what happens to your life!

The second choice is another way of looking at the last line of this week's Gospel lesson...for indeed this is the meaning behind:

"he (John the Baptist) preached good news to the people."

The Good News is choice #2, and the Bad News is choice #1.

What's your choice?

God Bless you and your families this week!

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