Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

CBS news ran a remarkable story a couple of weeks ago—this is what it said:

“A Buddhist temple in central Thailand has been left without monks after all of its holy men failed drug tests and were defrocked, a local official said Tuesday.

Four monks, including an abbot, at a temple in [FETCH-a-boon] province's [BUNG SAHM FAHN] district tested positive for methamphetamine on Monday, a district official told the [American Foreign Press].

‘The temple is now empty of monks and nearby villagers are concerned they cannot do any merit-making,’ he said.

(Merit-making involves worshippers donating food to monks as a good deed....) The official said the defrocked monks had been sent to a rehab facility, and more more monks were being sent to the temple to allow villagers to practice their religious obligations.

(Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monks-meth-temple-thailand/

Accessed 11/20/2022)

The villagers believed they were “making merit” for themselves by donating food to so-called “holy men” who, as it turned out, weren’t so holy after all… It is a stark reminder, isn’t it, that there is a world of difference between looking holy and being holy.

Those monks in that temple were able to pull off the illusion of their holiness for a while, but eventually it all caught up with them, didn’t it?

That is what John is trying to get across to the crowds that were coming out to see him in our passage this morning:

Luke 3:7 (ESV)

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?

John’s statement here is a direct follow up from his call to repentance in verse 3:

Luke 3:3 (ESV)

3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

But not all of the people who were coming out to see him were interested in repentance—some came out of curiosity, some came believing they had no need of repentance, that their record of good deeds or religious background meant that God already approved of them.

But John’s announcement of the coming of the Kingdom was accompanied by a warning—a warning that self-righteous refusals to repent and self-deluded assurances of personal goodness would not survive the coming of this Kingdom.

That you can pull off the illusion of a right relationship with God only for so long—eventually, it will catch up with you.

So, as we consider John’s message this morning, we need to hear his warning:

Only TRUE REPENTANCE will stand at the appearing of Christ

In verses 7-9 we see

I. The CALL for true repentance (Luke 3:8-9)

Luke 3:8–9 (ESV)

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.”

We’ll look in a few moments at what John means specifically when he calls on his hearers to “bear fruits in keeping with repentance” (v.

8).

But first notice with me here that John accompanies his call for repentance with two warnings, two facts that his hearers must understand about the condition they are in.

John is trying to “wake them up” to their predicament, and the first warning he gives them (and us!) is:

Don’t TRUST your ROOTS (v.

8)

John says at the end of verse 8:

Luke 3:8 (ESV)

8 ...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.

The majority people who were coming to hear John were likely Judeans—Jews who had been living there since the return of the exiles with Zerubbabel and Ezra centuries earlier.

And for them, hearing that the Kingdom of God was at hand meant that things were finally going to start going their way!

They simply presumed as a matter of course that when the Messiah came, He was going to affirm them, that He was going to be on their side.

They had grown up their whole lives with the assumption that they were God’s people; His own chosen race.

The pagans around them had no real understanding of who God was or how to relate to Him, but they had been taught the prayers and songs and Scriptures, they were already on the right side of a relationship with Him.

Repentance was for Gentiles— for outsiders—they were Jews; they were “in”.

And this is the complacency that John was trying to wake them from—contrary to their self-confident assurance, being descended from Abraham did not automatically put them into a righteous relationship with YHWH.

I don’t know how many times when I have asked someone about their relationship with God their first answer is, “Oh, my grandmother was such a wonderful Christian—she used to pray and read her Bible every day!” Being a grandchild of a pious woman does not impress God.

Being a child of Abraham does not impress God since, after all, God created Abraham and all his children!

He can make children of Abraham out of the rocks on the side of the road!

John wanted his hearers to understand that only true repentance would stand at the appearing of Christ—they must not trust in their roots to make them right with Him.

And in verse 9 John warns them to repent because

There is no TIME to LOSE (v.9)

Luke 3:9 (ESV)

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.”

The image John uses here is meant to express how close the judgment is.

Over the summer one of the things our family likes to do is go to Parker Dam for the Wood Hick/Wood Chick competition—along with all of the competitive events there is an exhibition from professional lumberjacks.

When they are ready to begin chopping, they lay the edge of the blade right against the spot they are aiming for—measuring their swing.

When the razor-edge of that axe touches the wood, it is only moment before the main force of the blow is coming.

This is what John is saying here— “You don’t have time to think any longer about this; the axe is about to bite into the root of all of your confident assurance!

It may have been four hundred years since you last heard the voice of God speaking through His prophet, but time has run out!

Come in repentance now, before it is too late!”

As John is announcing the arrival of the Kingdom of God, he is intent on waking his hearers out of their complacency, calling them to confess their sins before God and call on Him for forgiveness, coming down into the waters to be baptized as a demonstration of their desire to be cleansed from their sins.

Only true repentance will stand at the appearing of Christ and His Kingdom; in verses 7-9 we see John calling for true repentance.

In verse 10 it seems as though the people begin to grasp the seriousness of his message:

Luke 3:10 (ESV)

10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?”

And so, in the next five verses John describes

II.

The APPEARANCE of true repentance (Luke 3:10-14; cp.

Luke 6:43-44)

Luke 3:11–14 (ESV)

11 And he answered them, “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.”

Now, at first glance, it sounds like John is just telling the people to change their outward behavior, as if repentance just means that you stop doing one thing and start doing something else.

Instead of hoarding your clothes, give some away.

Instead of embezzling tax money, be honest.

Instead of extorting money, be content with your wages.

But, as we will see in a few moments, what John is calling his hearers to do is far more than just a superficial change.

But here in these verses notice two characteristics of the kind of repentance that will stand at the appearing of Christ and His Kingdom.

First,

True repentance will be OBVIOUS (cp.

Luke 19:8-9)

A heart that is “playing” at changing while still wanting to hold on to that old behavior is likely to change in modest ways: “OK, I suppose I should be more generous—tell you what: I’ll loan my neighbor my extra cloak for the afternoon.

Unless it gets really cold...” “Well, I suppose instead of charging 200 percent of their tax bills, I’ll only charge 150 percent this year...” That kind of “change”—tapering off, indulging in that sin less than you used to, trying harder to stop—that isn’t what John was calling his listeners to.

John says that true repentance causes changes in behavior that would have been, frankly, shocking to observers of the day.

Tax collectors were notorious for charging exorbitant rates over and above what was owed so that they could pocket the rest.

An “honest tax collector” was, as your grandma used to say, “as scarce as hen’s teeth!”

This is exactly what happened, for example, in Luke 19, in the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector:

Luke 19:8–9 (ESV)

8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.

Jesus could say that salvation had come to Zacchaeus because his repentance was remarkable, obvious, and total.

No half-measures, no “tapering off”, no modest, low-risk changes.

True repentance—the kind that will stand at the appearance of Christ and His Kingdom—is obvious.

And not only so, but John indicates in his statements to the people in Luke 3 that

True repentance will be LASTING

It is easy to make a temporary change to your behavior, isn’t it?

Millions of people will make a change to their behavior when on New Years’ Day they start their diet, right?