Luke 3:7-9

Luke chapter 3 and verses 7 to 9 for our text and study this morning. Then said he, meaning John the Baptist, then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance 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 now also the axe is laid under the root of the trees every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is ewn down and cast into the fire. May God bless to us is holy and sacred word this morning. C.H. Spurgeon, the famous Baptist preacher in London years ago, relates how his good friend of Mr. Haslam was converted by his own preaching. Haslam. became a minister. He had a congregation to whom he preached every week. And one day, he was speaking on Christ crucified when his spiritual understanding was opened, and he was actually converted listening to himself, preach. By God’s grace, he felt the force of divine truth and was saved. An unusual circumstance. But the scripture does tell us that the… the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation. To everyone that believe it. In these verses, you have a sample of how John the Baptist preached. And I think it’s important for us to consider his preaching, as the scripture has laid it out for us here. Now, we’ve already emphasized how John spoke to the people of their need for us. repentance and then baptized those who had repented of their sins. What should interest you today, however, and I hope that this is, as we look at this, this is what interests you, is the content of the preaching of John the Baptist. We have at least a portion of what he proclaimed here. He gives this remarkable testimony, Jesus does, of John, that he was a portion of what he was a proclaned here. He gives this remarkable testimony. He gives this remarkable testimony, prophet greater than any born of woman. What was the character who was preaching? What was it like? Shouldn’t I are preaching today, in some way, resemble the preaching of John the Baptist? Well, let me begin by looking at verse 7. Then he said to the multitude that came forth to be baptized to him, O generation of vipers, who hath war, you to flee from the wrath to come. Can I suggest you this morning that you need to hear about the depravity of man from this text of scripture? It seems that their parents before them were vipers, and therefore their offspring were just like them. It’s not too often you hear someone addressing a group of people with the, these are the words they begin with. A vipers, as we know, is a poisonous snake, deadly, of hurtful character. Calling people vipers is to portray them in the worst possible light. You call somebody a snake today or a viper today. It’s not a positive thing. Vipers are poisonous. They’re harmful to others. And they are deceptive. They sneak up on people. Take advantage of them and so forth. So human beings here are being portrayed as hypocritical and full of malice. Now, you must not think that calling people vipers here is just for the worst possible of mankind. It’s not that he singled out a particular group of people. In Matthew’s Gospel, these words are directed specifically to the Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew 3.7. But you’ll notice that in this text of scripture, it’s spoken to the multitude of large. He’s not just taking out the worst among mankind and say, were you’re vipers. No, the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they be born speaking lies. The poison of asp is under their tongue. Look at Psalm 58. you’ll see what the psalmist has to say. One day, Michelangelo was painting a piece of artwork for a church in Florence, Italy. In order that the figures might appear as death-like as possible, he got permission to open the caskets of the newly dead, bring them before him. And as he looked at the dead bodies in the dead bodies. the casket and he painted the picture from you know using their portrayals from the from the from the coffins an appalling expedient but successful in enabling him to reproduce the terrible effect of the debt in his painting if our preaching is going to benefit others we have to paint the same picture as scripture paints of man’s state before God off. Dead. Dead in trespasses and sin. Heart deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. The poison of asp under their lips. Their mouth full of cursing and bitterness. Feet are their swift to shed blood. No fear of God before their eyes. None being righteous. No, not one. None seeking after God. None doing good. Every imaginable. of the thoughts of man’s art are only evil continuing. You read what the scripture says, and we could give a whole list of character references with regard to man’s state naturally, and you will see that the Bible portrays man as being depraved in all aspects of his being. Friends, the scripture calls man by nature, vipers. unflattering, but a very spot-on statement. Assessment. Now, people need to hear the doctrine of man’s total depravity. It’s not something that’s taught very often today. That’s not very, you know, people won’t come back to church if you start talking like that. It has to be preached. Why would you need a savior if you didn’t see yourself as completely lost, depraved, and unable to do anything to save yourself. Full of corruption, wicked. So you’re born a viper. Now, when we think about him speaking of people being vipers here, we should also think about the fact that you are aligned with Satan. How is Satan portrayed in Scripture? Isn’t Satan portrayed in the book of Revelation of that old serpent? the devil in Revelation 12, 9, going all the way back to the garden of Eden. Genesis 315, think about this a minute. Remember when God spoke about the seed of the woman we know is Christ, who’s the seed of the serpent there? The seed of the serpent are his offspring, his people. Many people are classified of Satan’s offspring, little vipers. Children of the old serpent. As Jesus said, ye are of your father the devil and the lust of your fathers is what you do. By nature, by birth, you’re like this. Friends, it does us no good to tell people we’re all children of God and he has a favorable attitude toward us all. He that commits sin, Jesus said, he that practices sin is the servant or to the slave of sin. Remember, Mr. Christian in Pilgrim’s progress by John Bunyan. He confessed at one point that he belonged to Apollion’s domain or the kingdom of Satan prior to his conversion. I used to be in your domain. But I’ve given my allegiance to another, Jesus Christ. People need to know that they have been taken captive by Satan as the book of 2. Timothy 2.26 tells us, you’re enslaved. Do you need to to be freed from this. So the faithful preacher is going to come and he’s going to be like John the Baptist is going to tell you exactly what God says. It may not be flattering. It may not be something you really like. It may be irritating, but it’s what God says. Is it not? So you need to hear the depravity of man being proclaimed. The second thing, I suggest you is this. You need to hear the danger of God’s judgment. and hell far proclaimed. You’ll notice verse 7 and verse 9. Then he said to the multitudes that came forth to be baptized to him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Verse 9. And now also the axe is laid under the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, which bringeth not forth, good fruit is ewn down and cast into the fire. Now let me begin. in by saying you can expect judgment in this life. You see that word now? In verse 9, it indicates to us that there is a judgment that can occur in this life. Talk about the judgment to come in a moment. The people of the nation here are portrayed to us as trees. Sometimes in scripture, the Bible uses things. in nature to portray human beings. In this case, trees. Remember Josom’s parable in the book of Judges Chapter 9 is the son of Gideon. He uses this idea. When all the sons of Gideon were slaughtered except for him, he said the trees, meaning the people of Shekham, went forth on a time to anoint a king over them. They went to the olive tree. They went to the fig tree. Those two refiq tree. Those two refused, but the lowly, lousy bramble bush gladly accepted. That was Abimelech, the murderer of Gideon’s sons. That lousy bramble bush, he decided he would be king. In Zachariah’s vision, in Zechariah chapter 11, you’ll notice that the nation of Israel is portrayed as various trees. The mighty and the powerful, the great among the nation are the oaks and the cedars, where the common people are called the common furter trees. Both John and Jesus used trees and divided the people of Israel into fruit trees, good fruit trees, and bad fruit trees. Those who are good trees are recipients of God’s grace and they bring forth good fruit. Those who are bad trees or those who by nature are still in their sins and therefore they bring forth evil fruit. But God’s judgment by an enemy power is his using an axe. So he says an axe is laid under the root of the trees here. Now can you picture a landowner which had many fruit trees which yielded bad fruit. So what does he do? Well, he gets out of his axe, he’s going to chop them down. They’re cumbering the ground. They’re They’re taking up the ground that I could be used for could be used for something else. Positive. God has, is looking over, let us say, the trees of the people of Israel. And what does he see? He sees bad trees, producing bad fruit. Sadly, most of the nation, needs to be chopped down. So God gets out his axe. In Scripture, God’s axe is often portrayed as an enemy nation which attacks and conquers Israel. I hold your place here, but look at Isaiah chapter 10 with me a moment. We see an example of this. Look at verses, I’m just going to look at several verses here and not read the whole section, but let me pick up verse 5 and read through verse 7 here. Just start. Chapter 10 of the book of Isaiah, O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against a hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither his heart thinks so, but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few. The Assyrian doesn’t realize he’s being used of God. He’s just out to conquer nations and gathered their wealth and bring them under the authority of the king of Syria. That’s what they’re doing. But God is saying, I am going to do, I am bringing you against my own nation. Notice verses 12 and 13. Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord have performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks. For he saith by the strength of my hand have I done it and by my wisdom for I am prudent and I have removed the bounds of the people and have robbed their treasures and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. I did all this. That’s what the Assyrian is thinking. Look how wise I am. Look what I am doing. And what does God say? Notice verse 15. Shall the axe boast itself against him that youeth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up. Or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood. Said, you’re just the instrument. You’re just the axe. I’m the one it’s wielding it. That’s what God tells Assyria. And if we put this into the light of the passage in front of us this morning, in the New Testament, the Acts of God, I believe is going to be the Roman Empire. It’s going to come in destroy the nation of Israel. obliterated, ruthlessly crush the Jews within a generation here, this generation, from 16. 6 to 70 AD we have the Jewish Roman War. The entire land is going to be devastated. Jerusalem, the temple, destroyed the people sold as slaves throughout the Roman Empire, slaughter everywhere. God is going to cut them down. Now what’s interesting, he says the axe is laid against the roots, the root of the tree. Now that’s serious. Do you remember the story of King Nebuchadnezzar? In the book of Daniel, chapter 4, God, you remember, had to stamp out his pride by taking his mind away from him, so he’s like a wild beast of the forest for a period of time. And then he restores his mind to him. Well, before that happened, you recall that he was given a divine dream, and he couldn’t understand it, and Daniel has to interpret it for him. And in the dream, he saw this magnificent tree. But it’s cut down, and only this stuff. and the roots remain. And when Daniel interprets the dream, he explains that because you can answer you hear the tree. And because of your pride, God is going to chop you down. He was going to teach him a lesson until he knew that the most high ruled in the kingdom of men and gives that kingdom to whomesoever he pleases. Now, a key factor in the dream was the stump and the roots remained. Here’s what Daniel says. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots, the kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule. This means after the king’s abasement, somewhere along the line, he’s going to be restored. And he gets the kingdom back. His mind is restored to him. He is then accepted by his fellow Babylon. and restored to the kingdom. Our text, however, is much different because the axe is laid to the root of the tree. What does that tell us? There is not going to be any recovery. Total destruction is what we’re talking about. This speaks of complete destruction. No hope of recovery or restoration. Remember how Jude talks about the wicked being plucked up by the roots. Same idea. Yeah. No recovery. in this life. If no sin were punished here on earth, you’d be tempted to think, well, there is no God, or it doesn’t matter how I live, and so forth. So every once in a while, you see the judgment of God being needed up in a very obvious manner. God’s present judgments are designed to cause you to fear him and flee from the wrath that is to come, which we’re going to talk about in a moment. You should view God’s earthly judgments as a foretaste of the punishment that awaits the wicked beyond the grave. When we look at the flood of Noah, we look at Sodom Gimor, we look at Cora and his followers being swallowed up in the earth, by the earth. The deaths of Ahab and Jezabel, Ananias and Safira in the New Testament, King Herod in the New Testament, eaten by worms. These are warnings. These are God giving out warnings. Pursue a sinful course in this life, and they’re going to be divine consequence. So you can expect a present judgment even in this life, and you can expect that there is a wrath that come in the next life. Flee from the wrath to come, and we see that these trees that are cut down are cast into the fire. 9. There is a final outpouring of God’s wrath in hell far. The Bible speaks of a lake of fire. In the book of Revelation is the final destiny of the wicked. Jesus spoke of hell as a place of everlasting punishment in Matthew 2546. A lot of people look at Jesus and the gracious gracious words that he spoke, but he spoke on hell more than anybody else. Jesus spoke about the place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Our Lord gave us the parable, the story, if you would, of the rich man and Lazarus to warn of the danger of hellfire. That the rich man dies, lifts up his eyes in hell being in torment. There’s no relief. Send Lazarus. That he may, you know, brings a little bit of water and cool my tongue. No, he cannot pass from this place to you and you can’t pass from where you are to him. This is an eternal suffering. Like Mr. Christian in Pilgrim’s progress, you have good reason to fear that that that great burden of sin in your back may sink you lower than the grave. That’s what he’s talking about. So you need, as the scripture says, to flee from the wrath to come. Fleeing here involves the repenting of your sins. It involves believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as the savior of sinners. Being justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Romans 5.9. And we read in 1st, Thessalonians 1.10 about Jesus, which delivereth us from the wrath to come. There is the hope you have. It’s in Jesus Christ. So we preach the depravity of man. We talk about God going to be judging man for his sin, but the remedy is Christ who takes away the sin and therefore spares us from the wrath of God. Once you die, indeed perhaps cut down earlier and you think by the acts of God, there is no escaping God’s eternal wrath. Now, while you have opportunity to repent, turn from your sins. That’s the message of Scripture. Now while you have the gospel promise before you that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life, believe on Christ. Throw yourself on the mercy of Christ. That’s what the scripture teaches. So you need to hear the danger of God’s judgment and hellfire proclaim. The third thing I suggest you is this. You need to hear God’s demand for spiritual fruit proclaimed. Notice verse 8 in the first part of it. Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. Now here’s the problem. Your religion can be hypocritical. We see that John the Baptist is baptizing people and they say they’ve repented and so forth, but he has some doubts about some of them here. He’s questioning whether their conversion is real. Isn’t he? Isn’t that what he’s saying here? If you have truly repented, bring forth fruits that match such a repat. A change of mind that you’ve had. John sees the coming to be baptized of those who were not truly converted. He says, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? He is suspicious. there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of change in their life. So John presses upon their conscience the need to thoroughly examine themselves with regard to have they truly repented and they truly believed in Christ. Sadly, being religious is not the same as being converted, as being regenerated by the grace of God. It’s not the same thing. Here are people who were hearing and preach. They had participated evidently in the ordinance of baptism. And yet somehow, rather, it doesn’t seem that they have true faith. It is vain to say with your lips that you have repented when your heart is still far from God. How can baptism help you when you lack the spiritual change? It portrays? Are you united to Christ? Can you claim a death burial and resurrection with Christ? to the old way of life? Are you willing to walk in newness of life? As Romans 6 speaks, Scripture says, don’t merely draw near to God with your lips when your heart is far from the Lord. Your religion can be hypocritical. Evidence of genuine conversion is spiritual fruit in your life. Look with me at John 15, verses 1 to 6. Jesus says this. I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me and I and you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine. Ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same, bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire. And they are burned. Christ here speaks about his relationship to his people, as it resembles a vine. God, the father is the husbandman or the farmer, if you would. And he is the appointer of Christ to be the head of his elect. Now, all those claiming union with Christ are portrayed here as branches of the vine. God, the Father, does the cultivating, the pruning of the vine, so that it will be fruitful. If a branch does not bear fruit, it’s removed. It is no longer considered part of the vine. If a branch bears fruit, God purges it. Cuts off the little, you know, the sucker branches so that it’s more fruitful. Anything that would sap the strength. Cuts the sin out of people’s lives, helps them to be sanctified in their lives. Now, a branch removed from the vine as fruitless, is cast into the lake of fire here. It’s cast in the hellfire. All of this teaches that some professing Christians, only have some type of external, artificial attachment to Christ and not a real one. They don’t abide in Christ, as Jesus states it here. They lack conversion. You may be baptized. You may join a church, but lack conversion. If you are such, you will be fruitless. This reveals your hypocrisy and your lack of union with Christ. What good is a branch with has all kinds of leaves, but no grapes? If you’re a grapevine. While no real saints totally and finally fall away from Christ, false professors do. The end of all of religious hypocrites is to be cast in the lake of fire. So you have to ask yourself several questions. The first thing you ought to ask is am I in Christ? do I believe the gospel? Are you trusting in Christ alone for the salvation of your soul? If that is true, then what will follow is some type of spiritual fruit in your life. You’ll be graces that will be developed in your life. Now, if you look at yourself and you say, you know, I have trust, I am trusting in Christ for the salvation of my soul. Then you have a hopeful sign. And indeed, you can see some type of fruit in your life. Oh, you may be disappointed and you may say, you know, I ought to be more fruitful this. Well, God’s working in your life. He’s going to continue. He knows that you could be more fruitful. He’s going to keep pruning and so forth. But you’re abiding in Christ. That is the key issue here. Are you abiding in him? So you need to hear God’s demand for spiritual fruit to be proclaimed. And lastly, fourthly and lastly, you need to hear dependence upon natural dissent is useless to proclaim. Notice verse 8 here of our text. He says, and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father, for I said you that God is able of these stones to raise up children on Abraham. The Jews were confident and boasted in the fact that they were the offspring of Abraham. And therefore, they thought very confidently, well, certainly we are the people, God. It’s almost, you know, if you’re born in the right family, your God’s going to accept you. Were they not included the Abrahamic covenant? Weren’t they children as children assured of God’s favor and God’s blessing upon them? Do you remember how Jesus responded to those who said that they were Abraham’s children? He said, if you were Abraham’s children, you’d do the works of Abraham. He believed on me. You ought to believe on me, too. If you were Abraham’s children, you’d do the work. You may be his natural descendants, but you’re not really his true children. John 839. So John warns those who are hypocritical that God is able of stones to raise up children unto himself, followers. we must not think that if they reject Christ somehow rather God is going to not have a people. Jesus is saying, God is going to have a people. John is saying God is going to have a people. There’s no question about it. I don’t know if he’s looking at some stones there along the Jordan River or whatever. He just points them out and says, well God, if he wants to me, he can take these stones and make children out of them. God can make spiritual children any time he polices. God can easily convert sinners by his grace and make them sons of Abraham. Look with me at Romans 9 once again. We looked at this last Sunday night, but let me just or two Sunday nights ago, but let me take this passage, because this is a really key passage of scripture regarding this matter. Versus 1 to 8. Paul writes here, I say the truth of Christ. I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my art. How could I wish, for I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brother and my kinsman according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption and the glory and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is overall God, blessed forever, amen. Not as though the word of God have taken on effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Now, the Israelites were privileged that were given to them the law of God, the covenants, the worship of God, the divine promises. We think of all the benefits that the nation had. Indeed, Christ came as the true seed of Abraham in fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. Now to Abraham and his seed where the promise is made, he said, not the seeds, as of many, but as of one, thy see which is Christ. The promise of the Abrahamic covenant, and indeed all the covenants, that promise was not made to all the offspring of Abraham, but in particular to Christ and to those who were in Christ. If he be Christ, then are ye Abraham seed and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 329. This is why Paul says that not all the physical offspring of Abraham, Abraham were Israel. Verse 6. He tells us this. This is an important statement because he’s saying it’s not as if the word of God fell to the ground. It’s not if the word of God never came to pass. As if God couldn’t bring the past what he said. You’re not understanding it right. Many were only of Israel. They were just connected outwardly with the nation. Where they weren’t connected to Christ spiritually by faith. Only some of Abraham’s offspring were to be regarded as true Israel. And who are those? Well, the elect, those chosen in Christ. Now this should be obvious because Abraham had two sons. Did he not? He had Ishmael and he had Isaac. But only Isaac was called, you see. Ishmael was not included in the covenant and the spiritual benefits of it. Only some of Abraham’s children, those chosen in Christ were the children of the promise, verse 8. The rest were just children of the flesh. The point is this. Don’t count on the faith of your parents or your grandparents to be the assurance of your acceptance with God. You must repent of your sins. You must retrust in Christ. No one can do that for you. Well, Spurgeon’s good friend, Mr. Haslam, was converted by his own preaching. A true proclamation of what God says, and his word aided by the spirit can change lives can bring salvation to people. John the Baptist here was a faithful preacher. And here’s the message. He spoke about the depravity of man. He spoke about the danger of God’s judgment and hellfire. He spoke about the demand for God, of God for spiritual fruit, and he spoke about the dependence upon natural descent being useless. This is the message. This is the same kind of message we have to be preaching today. The same kind of thing. This is the message God uses to convert souls, to deal with hearts. If we don’t preach the same message, how can we possibly expect God to work? Let us keep this in mind when we think about our own witnessing and speaking to people about their souls. Well, let us close with a word of prayer.