I had to pivot to get my water, and fortunately, I'm still in one piece. That's nice. We're in the Book of Luke, this morning, Chapter 3, verses 15 through 20. A more timely message? I don't know how there could be a more timely text. and message for you and I this Lord's Day. So we're happy to be here. We're happy to be preaching through the book of Luke written by this physician who did careful research, made sure the truth was laid out just just as it occurred, just as it took place, so that we would have all the facts, all the information, all the truth needed to understand who Jesus is and what he came to do. So it's all laid out before us, and this is a wonderful text. concerning the ministry of the word. Yes, it's John the Baptist, John the herald of the king, the forerunner of the king. He and Jesus' ministry are about six months apart. So John's going to begin six months earlier than Jesus arrives, but he is proclaiming Christ. He's proclaiming the coming of Christ. As an earthly king would have a herald who would go before them. and announced to various towns and cities, the king is coming. And they would make preparation for the king. That's what John the Baptist's job is. He is to proclaim the coming of the king. So here we are, right smack dab in the middle of his ministry. And he's already said a few things there in the previous verses. But we're going to anchor down here in 15 through 20. So we'll read the text. This is all about the ministry of the Word. And we're asking this question today. When I hear the Word of God preached, what should the effect be on my life, in my heart? I don't know that we get there that often or that we speak it out loud that often, but that's a pretty serious question. It's gonna be answered for us in three points this morning. Let's read the text. Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was the Christ, John answered and said to them all, as for me, I baptize you with water. But one is coming who is mightier than I, and I'm not fit to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So with many other exhortations, he preached the gospel to the people. But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, Herod also added this to them all. He locked John up in prison. the word of the Lord, Father in heaven, we trust you that through the public reading of scripture and through the explanation of that scripture, that you will do the spiritual work necessary in our lives. So Lord, if there is one here who does not know Jesus as Lord and Savior, we pray that you bring conviction to their heart concerning who Jesus is, that he is the son of the living God, that he is your son, and that you would bring them to saving faith, that they would be born again. And then, Lord, for those here, the many this morning that know you, that have trusted you for the forgiveness of sin and for new life. Lord, we pray that you would facilitate, by your word, our spiritual growth, that we would continue to grow in our understanding of who you are, and then our understanding of the fact that you are bringing us into greater conformity with Christ. that you are concerned with us becoming more like your son Jesus. It's in his name that we pray, amen and amen. So the question is, how does the word of God affect us? When we hear it, What happens or what should happen when we hear the Word of God? So John has a preaching ministry. He preaches the Word of God. He is announcing the coming of the King. Now I want you to notice here in verse 15, look at this. Now while the people were in a state of expectation, Oh, okay, so get the lay of the land here. John is not preaching this in Jerusalem, the big city. He's not in some metropolitan area announcing the coming of the King. He's out in the wilderness. He's out in the desert. He's out there where nobody goes. There's no traffic out there. But when he started preaching, the people would come from the larger areas to hear John preach. But it's a ministry of the word. And you notice right here, Luke tells us their state of mind after hearing John announce concerning the coming one. He says that the people, Luke tells us, the people are in a state of expectation. So they're thinking, they're anticipating, having heard John's word, the ministry of the word. And what? All, all were wondering in their hearts about John. Think about that. Who is this guy? This man who was raised in the wilderness, this man who wears the suit of camel hair and eats locusts and wild honey and then preaches like he does, who is he? So the word of God is having an effect. in their minds and on their hearts. And they're wondering about John. And what are they wondering? Listen to the last phrase of verse 15. They're wondering as to whether he, John, was the Christ. Oh, it's obvious the Lord's doing a work here. We got one rugged man out in the wilderness preaching about repentance and he's involved in a ministry of the word of God and all these people are there and the people are just wondering about this man and wondering about what he's saying. Is he the Messiah? Is he not the Messiah? How do we understand all this? Well, point number one is this. Whenever we hear the word of God, it should cause us to think or consider Christ. And this tells you as much as what the Word of God or the effect of the Word of God has on our own hearts as it does about the message preached. It should cause us to think about Jesus. Who is he? It should cause us to ponder or contemplate spiritual things. That's exactly what was going on here. The people are recognizing that God's doing a work, that God sent this man. He's preaching the gospel. What does it all mean? What should we expect? And when we hear the word of God, it should affect us the same way. You know, it's a good day and it's a good thing when men and women, boys and girls, hear the word of God and stop to consider Jesus. That's a good thing. Great strides are made when that takes place. And that's the effect the word of God should have on us. And we should not be afraid to talk about that. We should not be afraid to ask questions. Who is Jesus? What is God's will for my life? What does he want from me? This is critical to us. What is he doing? Now, let's say this, just thinking and pondering and contemplating, asking questions, conversing about spiritual things, It does not equate to salvation. But I think we should understand that salvation would include those former things that we're asking, we're interested. So when we hear the word of God, this is the bottom line, we should be prompted to think and consider Jesus, God. We should ask questions like this. Is there a God? If so, what's he like? What does he do? Well, we can answer those questions. Of course there's a God. I mean, we've got a created order here that doesn't just come about because of a big bang. It comes about because of a supernatural power, a loving God who desires fellowship with man. So we ask those questions and we find the answers. Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And then who am I? Have you ever thought to ask that question? Who am I and why am I here? I mean, we seem to be one of many, many people. So what is the purpose of my life? Well, the Bible says that we are created in the image of God. and were created for His good pleasure, that He created the garden way back when, and the Bible says He placed man in the garden. Why? Well, it's really simple. God placed man in the garden for fellowship with Him. God wants fellowship with His creation. So those questions, and then who is Jesus? And where am I accountable to God? What is my standing with God? How do I obtain a right standing with God? These are subjects of eternal consequence. And we are, the better, the more we ask, the more we think, the more we search out the scriptures for answers to those questions. So, first of all, the effect of the word of God on my heart, it should prompt me toward a greater interest in Jesus and spiritual things. That's the first effect. I would say this, thoughtlessness characterizes the unconverted. Those who hear and the gospel, the word of God is like water off a duck's back. They hear it and go and never a word, never a thought about eternity. Never a thought about Jesus, never a thought about spiritual things. So the more we hear, the more we're brought into a point of contemplation of who God is, specifically who Jesus is. Secondly, we read on down. Notice the people are asking, they're wondering, they're in a state of expectation as to John's true identity, as to whether he was the Christ. You have to think this was the buzz, this was the talk. This is not just what was going on in their minds, they were talking about it. What do you think? What about this character? Can you believe it? Here we are out in the wilderness. How far did you travel to get out here? And they're all caught up in this moment. And it's a huge moment because Jesus is soon to show up. But notice John's answer. John answered and said to them all. So we think John knew what they were talking about. John knows that these folks are wondering about his identity. Is he the Christ? Is he the Messiah? He's obviously spiritual. He's obviously got a word from God. He's speaking boldly. So what's the answer? And so John, knowing this, answered and said to them all. I love his answer. As for me, I baptize you with water, but one is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals. We'll stop there. So the second point is Not only should hearing the Word of God cause us to consider Jesus, who He is, and what He came to do, but the Word of God should cause us to exalt Jesus Christ. We want to exalt Christ. The word is summed up in Jesus. And I love what John said to them. He settles the issue. He says, as for me, I baptize you with water. But in that little conjunction, there is a huge contrast. but one is coming who is mightier than I. And I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals." So John says two things, there's one coming that's stronger than I am. that's mightier than I am. There's not even a comparison between, in John's mind, John and this one who is coming, this Jesus who is coming. John is emphatic when he says, I'm not the Messiah. I'm a man. I'm baptizing in water, but there's one coming. He's coming after me. He is stronger than I. He says, I am not fit to untie the thong of his sandals. So he is not fit to do the most menial task for the one who is coming. So John puts a great difference between himself and Jesus Christ. John says there's no comparison. John, as any sober-minded minister would ever do, refuses to take the credit for any spiritual good that will take place. All the credit, all the glory, all the blessing goes to one. that one who is strong, that one who is mighty, that one who alone can do the spiritual work, and that is none other than Jesus Christ. Let us always be careful to give God the glory. Not only in sermons preached, but in the way we talk and the way we live, day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment, let us be careful, ever so careful, to give God the glory. Anything good in your life? Anything good going on? I'd look up. I'd give him the glory for that good going on in your life. You have a settled sense of peace and security in Christ and the knowledge that your sins are forgiven. I'd be quick to give him all the glory for what he has done. I love what he says. Look at this. As for me, I baptize you with water. It's like John says, this is all I can do. And you know, when you think about it, a lot of people can baptize in water. I mean, I reckon you could dump somebody and not even be saved. But one, he says, one's coming, he's gonna do more than that. He's gonna do a lot more. He's mightier than I, he's stronger than I. I'm not even, I can't even take his shoes off. And then notice, that's point two, point three. We're getting there, we're moving along. In fact, you will be encouraged to know, I had four points, but then I thought I wanna encourage the people, so I took off that fourth point and made it my conclusion. So anyway, we're getting there. But point number three, when the word of God is preached. There should be no doubt in anybody's mind the difference between, now listen carefully, the difference between what the preacher man can do and what only Jesus can do. There's a difference and John points it out for us. I want you to hear this. This is all time. He says, he tells us right there, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Yeah, so what John has said is, I can baptize in water, but he's gonna do what nobody can do. Most anybody could baptize in water, But only Jesus can baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Now you know what I find very interesting? John's language. John's language concerning what Jesus can do. and many times, oftentimes, how different our language is regarding salvation than John's language is. What's John talking about? He's talking about the Lord doing a spiritual work of salvation. So John is saying, listen, I'm a man. I can baptize in water, we can take that on out. Okay, so what can man do? Man can preach sermons, man can pray, the preacher man, preacher man can preach sermons, pray, baptize in water, administer communion. Organize, encourage, empathize, love, praise God. That's what the preacher man can do. But the preacher man can't do what Jesus can do. Only Jesus, listen, and here it is. Salvation is summed up right here. John sums it up for us. Jesus, he's saying we'll do two things. Salvation involves these two things. Number one, he'll clean you up. He'll clean you up. We quote the verses, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sometimes I think we quote that and we forget that we're part of the all. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. I can tell you, the preacher man can't forgive sin. But Jesus forgives sin. When we humble ourselves before him, when we repent, when we say to ourselves, God, we say to ourselves, when we say to God, I've been going the wrong way, I've been going the wrong direction, I've been trusting the wrong things. I am indeed sorry for my sin. Will you forgive me of my sin? I believe that Jesus Christ paid the price for my sin on Calvary's cross by shedding his blood for me. On that basis, the basis of his death, burial, and resurrection, would you forgive me, Lord? He'll clean you up. You can't clean yourself up and the preacher man can't clean you up. But there's a second part. I get excited about the second part as much as I do the first part. He will put His life in you. He'll change you. He'll change you. Now this is foreign to you. I feel really bad that we've gotten this far and we're just finding out that not only will He forgive you of your sin, but He will put His life in you. His life. What did Jesus tell Nicodemus? You must be born again. You must be born again. You must come to the place where you repent of your sin. He cleans you up. And this is all one. This is salvation. This is it. This is salvation in a nutshell. He cleans you up and he puts his life in you. What did Jesus say? That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Jesus says to Nicodemus, there's no other way. You must be born from above. You must have the life of God in you. The preacher man cannot give you an inner transformation any more than he can forgive your sin. Only Jesus can forgive your sin and only Jesus can put his spirit in you. And I want to say this, not only can he do that, he will do that. When you humbly come before him in repentance and faith, God will bless you with salvation. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. So there's two sub points under this. John's telling us who Jesus is. First of all, look at this. This is so encouraging. We just talked about it. He's our Savior. So we can say it this way. Jesus saves. Only Jesus saves. There is salvation in no one else other than Jesus. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is alive. No one gets to the Father but by Him. The only way to live forever in eternity is with Jesus. He's the only one that can get you from here to glory land. He's the only one. But I want you to notice the second thing. So he's our savior, but he's also, listen to this, and it's right here in this text. He is our judge. He is our judge. Look at what John says. Right here at the end of that verse, we do need to, we need some understanding on this. He's talking about one baptism, not two. How do we know? It's based on the original language. He says he'll baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. That's one baptism. What's that mean? Well, it's one baptism with two consequences. The first consequence of receiving the Spirit of God is the salvation He gives us. The salvation He gives us. That's what He's talking about. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. As a result of receiving the Spirit of God and being born again, There is, well, for lack of a better word, friction that occurs in this life. Because not everybody knows Jesus. Not everybody is convinced of Jesus. And so there is friction. There is the consequence of not knowing Christ, which is His judgment. And we know that by verses 17 and following. Look at this, verse 17. His winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor. So the idea is wheat and chaff. Chaff is the dusty stuff that blows away. Wheat is the fruit, the kernel, the grain, the nourishment. And the comparison or the contrast is the chaff is the unbelief, the unbeliever. The grain is the believer. So he says, his winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. So I would just say this morning, make sure you're God's wheat. because one day he will gather you into the barn, but the chaff will be blown away and it will burn up with unquenchable fire. And that is a final judgment because it says he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor. He will leave nothing behind. So Jesus saves and Jesus is our judge. I want you to know you will give an account. You and I both will stand before God one day and we will give an account of the life we lived down here in the flesh. Everyone, no one. And listen, we need to understand this. We don't come to him on our terms. We come to him on his terms. And these terms are clear from this text. So the Bible says in verse 18, so with many other exhortations, he preached the gospel to the people. This is good news, that Jesus saves. And then in conclusion, I didn't want to forget that, but when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, which Herod is supposedly the Jewish king, Remember, it was Herod that wanted to kill the baby boys when Jesus was born. It was that family. But they were really in cahoots with the Romans. So there's a, Herod was a, anything goes. I mean, he was the original party animal, so to speak. That was Herod. And the Bible says, Herod also added this to them all. He locked John up in prison. So this man is preaching, this man is announcing the coming of Jesus. Herod had John locked up in prison. So in conclusion, don't expect your heavenly reward in this life. Just don't do it. because you'll be disappointed with that mindset. Look what all John did. John was, he was a forerunner of the king. He was preaching the gospel. He's putting it out there. He said all the right things to glorify God. The bottom line, Herod had him locked up and most of you know the rest of the story that John was soon to be beheaded by Herod. because of what he stood for and who he stood for and what he preached and who he preached. So, how should the Word of God affect us? Listen, we should be drawn with a great interest in the things of God. Secondly, we should exalt Jesus. Those of us that know him should want to exalt him and praise him and give him all the glory and all the credit for what he is doing in our midst. And then thirdly, we need to forevermore distinguish between what the preacher man can do, which is limited. And hopefully the preacher man is doing this by the life of the Lord, through the word of the Lord, but only Jesus, listen, only Jesus can save you. Only Jesus can forgive you. Only Christ can put his life in you. Only Jesus can get you to heaven. He said, well, I went to church all my life. Good. Good. But only Jesus can save you. Well, my name's on the church roll. I have this question for you. Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit for salvation? Well, I've been active in the church. Maybe my relatives are really spiritual people. And maybe there's a preacher man in your family. That's all wonderful and well and good, but only Jesus can save you. Only Jesus can forgive. Only Jesus can impart new life into you and bring you into a whole new world and a whole new existence lived under him. And so often, and I'm gonna mention this and stop. But so often, we are slowed down in our walk because we don't ask the right questions. You know, Warren, I'll tell you something I hear a lot. I'm telling somebody, maybe they were turned off by religion, or maybe they were turned off by Christianity. And so their focus is on the followers, are those who say they're followers of Christ. And they say, well, they let me down, or they did this, and that wasn't right. They just sound, they sound a lot like that high priest that questioned Jesus before he was crucified. It's amazing, he never asked Jesus about his miracles. You know what he asked him? What about your disciples? They stumble a lot. They look silly. And some people are slowed down because their eyes are not on Jesus, their eyes are on those who say they're disciples. Hey, listen, disciples aren't perfect. And some of them who claim to be disciples may not even be disciples. Focus on Christ. for who he truly is and what he can truly do and be saved. Be saved. It's not about everybody else. This message is personal to you. And if I had the opportunity, I'd love to sit down over a cup of coffee or a drink of water, whatever, and just say the same thing. Has the word of God had this effect on your life? Has it? Does it prompt you towards spiritual things? Does it cause you to exalt Jesus? And are you aware of the fact that Jesus can do so much more for you than the preacher man can do for you? I hope those are settled in our hearts today. Father in heaven, thank you for the day. Thank you for your people. Thank you for Luke chapter 3, verses 15 through 20. Lord, use it in our minds and hearts. Draw us close to you. And Lord, forevermore, glory to you. All credit All glory, all honor and blessing be to you. In the name of Jesus we ask, amen. We'll stand and turn to 451. 451. In moments like these I sing out a song, I sing out a love song to Jesus. In moments like these, I lift up my hands, I lift up my hands to the Lord. Singing, I love you, Lord. Singing, I love you, Lord. I love you. Lord bless you.