10/05/2026
Luke 3:1-22 JOHN THE BAPTIST
John’s Arrival. John’s Appeal. John’s Arrest.
The word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
Question: When God wants to get someone’s attention, does He always wait until life is comfortable and public, or does He often speak in the quiet, obscure places first?
1. John’s Arrival
God didn’t call John in a palace or the temple. He called him in the wilderness. If God wants you, He’ll find you—even in the quiet, hidden seasons when nobody else knows your name. John preached by the Jordan, the place of transition from old to new, pointing everyone to Jesus. When you think about Jordan, you think about the Old Testament story of crossing the Jordan River, then the walls of Jericho. This is where Israel took their first possession. This is where Jesus Christ would start His first steps of ministry. Everything in the Old Testament was shadows of things that Jesus was gonna do. It was the first area where there was a transition from Moses to Joshua. This is the first transition of all time in our Testament from old to new. And John the Baptist literally is pointing everybody to this new dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Who is Joshua? YESHUA. A picture of JESUS.
His job was clear:
Prepare the way of the Lord. Make the crooked paths straight. Fill every valley. Bring every mountain low. Clear the stumbling blocks so people can see Jesus.
We cannot make the gospel hard. Our calling is to make the path plain and simple. It’s important to have a clear path and a plain simple Gospel to preach. We cannot make it hard for others to come to Christ. Our job as preachers and messengers is to make it so plain and make the path so straight and easy to be understood that they know they’ve got to come by the way of Jesus, by the way of the Cross, by the way of removing everything else and only seeing Him. That is the narrow way. That is the straight path.And for this specific crowd, it was the land of Judaea, the children of Israel, who were very religious and had to accept something new and not completely forsake something old, but just not trust in their fathers for salvation and their religion.
It’s important to have a clear path and a plain, simple Gospel to preach. We cannot make it hard for others to come to Christ. Our job as preachers and messengers is to make it so plain and make the path so straight and easy to be understood that they know they’ve got to come by the way of Jesus, by the way of the Cross, by the way of removing everything else and only seeing Him. That is the narrow way. That is the straight path.And for this specific crowd, it was the land of Judaea, the children of Israel, who were very religious and had to accept something new and not completely forsake something old, but just not trust in their fathers for salvation and their religion.
2. John’s Appeal
John looked at the crowd and called them a “generation of vipers.” Not just the religious leaders—everyone. We’ve all been bitten by sin, and we carry its poison. Our attitudes and choices hurt others and grieve God. True repentance starts in the heart and shows up in how we treat people, handle money, and use power. It produces fruit.
Verse 8: “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Don’t assume you’re saved. Stop claiming your great heritage and lineage. Until you’re born again and you’ve come to God, don’t claim Abraham as your father for salvation.The axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Why? Because you’re not gonna produce spiritual fruit until there is a brand new tree planted.They ask,
“What shall we do then?”
Too much of the talk of genuine salvation and genuine repentance is focused on what shall they do. But when you are getting your relationship right with God and trying to come to Christ God’s way, it matters not what others do—it matters what you do. What is God convicting you of?
Repentance practically tells you how to treat others and deals specifically and differently with different heart issues of pride or sin.
To the people: Share your coats and food.
To the publicans: Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
To the soldiers: Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
Contentment in Christ.
More things is not the answer—more, more, more. I’m not saying you shouldn’t pray for promotion and in America strive for more excellence and for people to notice your worth as a worker. But when you’re done with all that, you are in the perfect spot right now.
Baptism
John the Baptist points away from himself and points all things at Jesus. “I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.”
John’s water baptism is the baptism of repentance—an outward sign. He could only baptize with water. By that I mean, he could do no more than baptize with water. In other words, we always try to place emphasis as Baptists on the fact that the water baptism doesn’t cleanse from sin, but that we believe it is a picture of cleansing from sin. Only Jesus could baptize you and cleanse your soul with the Holy Spirit of God. When you were saved, Jesus baptized you with the Holy Spirit. And now you are clean.
God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Axe is Laid at the Root!
Stop trusting in your background, your family name, or your religious heritage. God can raise up children from stones. John pointed away from himself to the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire—the One who will one day separate the wheat from the chaff.
3. John’s Arrest
John told the truth about sin in high places, and it cost him his freedom.
Faithfulness is not measured by how long the crowds keep coming.
Sometimes the straight path leads straight into opposition. Still, he never stopped pointing people to Jesus.
Luke 3:18 – “And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.” That is quite the etcetera. You know we need to preach the whole Bible. And you’re not gonna remember everything that I preach. I can’t even remember everything that I preached last week. But I will say we need to learn more and more—a lot to learn about God. One sermon doesn’t suffice. And as much as we are in a state where we don’t have tons of services, I want to encourage you to come to more stuff that we have here. Thursday night Bible study. And when we’re having church on Sunday, be here. I see some of you taking notes down and that’s a blessing because honestly, there’s so much to learn about Jesus—we’ll never scratch the surface, but we need to learn more about it.
John was: A passionate preacher
A practical preacher
A popular preacher
A preacher that pointed people to Jesus
A preacher that had a plethora of things that he preached about
A preacher that preached personal holiness
Today’s challenge:
What roadblock are you still holding onto that’s making the path to Jesus crooked—in your own heart or for someone else?
Clear it. Point to Him. Let the Spirit burn away what doesn’t look like Jesus.All flesh can still see the salvation of God… if the path is made straight.
