Sermon Tone Analysis

*Intro* -- The church treasurer was paying bills when he opened an invoice for paint signed by someone named Christian.

But no one knew about the paint nor anyone named “Christian.”

So the treasurer called the store and said to the store manager, “I’m sorry, but there are no Christians here at First Baptist Church.”

No Christians here!

You know, my greatest worry is not that there are no Christians at our church, but that some who think they are, aren’t!

Luke 3:1-14 shows John the Baptist preparing the way for Christ to people who think they are, but aren’t.

Like many today, they are interested only in what He can do for them.

Hard, complacent hearts needed to be prepared for Christ.

To do that, so far we have seen

*I.

The Mess* (1-2a) -- Luke mentions six officials in Luke 2:1-2, 4 of whom 4 will later participate in Christ’s death.

They represent the sinful brokenness of life without Christ.

They demonstrate that we all need a Savior, one who is available in Christ, but one we will never find until we recognize the need.

*II.

The Messenger* (2b) -- The messenger is John – “Jehovah is gracious.”

The answer to the sinful heart that we all have is not our works.

The solution is all of grace.

It starts and ends with God.

*III.

The Mission* (4-6) – The mission is to clear hurdles and straighten the pathway to hard, apathetic hearts – to help them see Him, not themselves.

*IV.

The Message* (3, 7-8) – The heart of the passage is in Luke 2:3.

John was preaching a “baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins.

What softens hard hearts?

Repentance!

What makes way for Christ?

Repentance.

Not ceremony and not external connections, but repentance.

Jesus preached the same message.

Matt 4:17 tells us, “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” John and Jesus were in absolute synch on the message.

It wasn’t do good, serve the underprivileged or donate a little time; it was simply, repent.

It’s not ceremony.

Even the baptism comes after repentance.

Repentance and nothing else straightens the way for Christ to come and forgive.

That’s the message – simple, clear, clean and absolute.

Repent!

Now, today, the Motivation and Manifestation of repentance.

*V.

The Motivation (9)*

LUKE 2:9: “ 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 motive is judgment is coming!

Modern society hates this message because it implies accountability.

We must answer to someone for the way we live.

Modern psychology hates this message.

It offends peoples’ self-image.

All you hear in many churches is God’s love.

I love the love of God.

Nothing is sweeter than preaching the love, mercy and grace of God.

But we can never fully appreciate or appropriate, the love and grace of God until we see it against the backdrop of judgment.

A diamond seen against a light colored counter is beautiful, but it doesn’t dazzle until it is seen against the black velvet background.

Then we see every facet of its wonder.

And so God never hesitates to provide negative as well as positive motivation to turn to Him.

We need balance and we need both.

Now – note five symbolic elements of Luke 2:9.

First -- “trees” are the principle players.

They represent the people John is addressing.

Second, the trees are threatened with an axe.

That means one thing to a tree – the threat of extinction, right?

So, the threat of judgment is on the horizon.

Third, note the nature of the judgment.

Fruitless trees are cut down and thrown into the fire.

The Israelites were well aware of fire as a vivid image of judgment from OT passages like Isa 9: 18-19: “For wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

19) Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is scorched, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no one spares another.”

Or, Jer 4:4) “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”

These people knew full well what John was saying.

Judgment is coming.

The judgment of God.

And you are in the line of fire.

Fourth -- note the basis for judgment – “Every tree (person) therefore that does not bear good fruit” – Fruit, of course, refers to good works, service given in faith out of love for God.

The basis for judgment was lack of fruit!

Now, please note that these “works” are called fruit, not root.

Works are not the basis of salvation, they are the result of salvation.

They are not the essence of repentance, they are the result of repentance.

Do you see that?

The emphasis here is on fruit because God judges the heart by what it produces.

Lack of fruit indicates lack of heartfelt repentance.

Fifth, note the timing -- Even now.

Even now the axe is laid at the root ready to do its deadly work.

Judgment is imminent.

Not only is judgment coming, it could strike at any moment?

They are in danger NOW! John was well aware that the great OT judgment day of the Lord had not come yet.

It was in his future and ours!

But he speaks with urgency because he was not talking to Israel as a whole.

He was talking to individual trees, people as individuals.

They are in mortal danger -- NOW.

Their day of judgment is the day they die, and there are no second chances after death.

John did not subscribe to the Rob Bell school of theology.

Rob Bell is a so-called pastor who authored Love Wins, in which he supposes that the gates of heaven will remain always open in eternity and one can decide at any time to come on over.

He willfully ignores Heb 9:27, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”

God gives us chance after chance in this life, Beloved, but once death comes, that’s it.

Bell forgot that Abraham himself could not go to the rich man in Luke 16 who died and found himself in hell.

Neither could the rich man just “come on over.”

Rob Bell didn’t mention how Jesus describes hell in Mark 9:48, “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”

Rob Bell forgot Heb 12:29, “for our God is a consuming fire.”

Which is why the Bible warns in Heb 10:31 speaking to the unrepentant, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

The axe of judgment was laid at the feet of these people in the same sense it threatens us.

It was threatening that they could die that very day – and their fate would be sealed.

Their opportunity was NOW.

That’s all they had – just like today is all we have.