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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning comes from the Gospel meeting primarily, that we will quote the Old Testament and the Epistle as well. You may be seated. This morning is the transition, the transition from the Old Testament into the New Testament. John being the last prophet of the Old Testament. For all of the prophets of the Old Testament pointed to whom? To Christ, who was to come. John was the one who baptized Christ, and in that baptism did the Father come from above and speak the words, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” And thus began Christ’s ministry and John to death.
But what John the Baptist proclaimed about repentance and forgiveness was not a new thing. That was what all the prophets of the Old Testament spoke about. Repent, return, come back to the Lord, and be saved, be forgiven. So what John was preaching was nothing new. And the hearts who heard these words were not new either. They were the same kind of hearts that he preached to far in the Old Testament, through those prophets, no different than this morning, here in the text, and no different than the people with whom we are all apart, gathered here this morning. So let’s gather around John the Baptist and hear his words.
Because John didn’t come just preaching the law to condemn, to completely nullify us, and we have no hope. Because the text says very clearly, “With many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.” Good news follows the message of repentance. Good news is what sustains your and my heart, so that we do not fear, so that we have confidence to stand before a holy God. As the choir sang, he shields us with his mercy and with loving words draws near. We don’t have to wait for the other shoe to fall. Christ bore that for us on the cursed tree, did he not?
But one of the points that John came preaching, John speaks about this way of the Lord. Prepare the way of the Lord. He talks about make his path straight. The valley shall be filled. Every mountain and hill shall be brought low. The crooked shall become straight. And the rough places a plain. Those are strong words saying the one who repents has let go of his vanity. The one who repents has released his pride. The one who repents does not see within himself righteousness from within, but righteousness from outside of himself in Christ Jesus, who bestows it upon us by faith in that great gift.
But not everybody that John preached to did repent. That’s nothing new. Not everybody that Malachi preached to in the Old Testament reading this morning repented either. Malachi said, he’s going to come to his temple. He is the temple fulfilled. And he did come to the temple, proclaiming himself to be the temple. “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it in three days.” Malachi goes on, “Who can endure the day of his coming?” For the repentant, as the choir sang, he shields us with his mercy. He draws near with loving words. For the hardened of hearts, indeed, who can endure his coming?
So what is this way of the Lord that John is saying to prepare? It is the way of the cross. It is the life of Christ. It is that which God set you on that path when you came to faith. In your baptism, did God make you His child and set you on that path? And your entire life has been one of hearing that word again and again and again. No different than the children of Israel, who did not know God, were claimed by God and set on that path as well, from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. You too have been freed from slavery to sin to the promised land which we are heading toward.
But on that path, on that way, just like the children of Israel, we begin to deal with our own pride and our own vanity and our own self-righteousness. And we are so quick to point it out into everybody else who is proud and who is vain and who is self-righteous. And we get very angry when someone points it out within us. John goes on about this way of the Lord, this way of receiving mercy and giving mercy. He says, bear fruits in keeping with repentance. The fruits that come from repentance start first with this. Not what you do, but receiving what he did for you. That’s where fruits begin first to be borne. Not what you do for anybody, but what he does for you that you receive by faith.
Because your pride says, I can’t without him. Your vanity says, I am nothing without him. Your self-righteousness reeks to high heaven without him. Then, having received mercy, can you then give mercy? Now, it’s interesting, because the people ask questions of John’s preaching. They’re gathered there. They’re in class, as it were, and John is teaching and proclaiming these truths. And they ask the perfect question. After he says, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance,” and he talks about don’t claim anything other than what God gives you, not what you have, not what you were born with, not any lineage or bloodline, but what God gives you.
They then ask the obvious question: “What then shall we do?” What then shall we do? If we have received such mercy and forgiveness, if he has crushed our hearts and brought us to repentance and lifted us back up, not with self-righteousness, vanity, or pride, but with his blood and his sacrifice and his glorious resurrection for you and for me. If he has done that, then the question that we all are asking, what does this mean? How then can we do this? What shall we do?
Paul talked about it in a different way, didn’t he? Paul talked about it in this way: “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Christ Jesus.” He’s saying, I began the good work in you when I created in your heart faith. Having brought that good work in your life, I did it in you, I will bring that good work to completion. It will bear fruit along this way that we are walking to heaven. I will do that in you, Paul says very clearly of what Jesus speaks. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion, the same God.
But then we have to ask the question, then what shall we do? Producing fruits in keeping with repentance are nothing more than deeds of mercy. Producing fruits in keeping with repentance are nothing more than deeds of mercy. When the crowd asks that, look what he responds. “Whoever has two tunics…” He also doesn’t want us to get so wrapped up in holding on to our own pride, giving forgiveness to those whom we deem ought not to have our forgiveness, giving mercy to those whom we deem unworthy of our mercy. It’s not just physical things. It is also spiritual things. The two are tied together, aren’t they?
Then John has two other groups of people that Luke mentions. And they are the poster children of damnable people. They are the sinner of sinners: tax collectors and soldiers. Look at the text. Tax collectors and soldiers. Tax collectors were the leeches of society. They got their living by overcharging you the taxes. You had no idea whether they were overcharging you because they were the ones who had the record. Right? They overcharged you so that they would get money and then pay their leader that which was owed him. So you hated to see that man come around. For if you did not pay what he told you to pay, you were thrown in jail. Tax collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus, whose God’s mercy changed their lives. The mercy that they received, the good work that was begun in their heart, changed their lives like it’s changed your life.
But on this way, the path that God is leading us, we come into very close contact with our flesh. We come to terms with our own pride and vanity. We come to terms with withholding mercy when we ought to be giving it. And we come to terms with even doubting God’s mercy and lifting up our own self-righteousness instead. Repent. Trust in that mercy you’ve received.
The second category of men or sinners that we can relate to are soldiers. Now today soldiers are governed by what’s called the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or an acronym UCMJ. They don’t do the many things that were done by soldiers at this time, whose only justice was basically brutality by the leader over them. So in their pillaging and rampaging, they would extort money. They would get more things than what they were due. So what does he say to them? “Collect, do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations, and be content. Be content with your wages.” Contentment doesn’t mean mediocrity. Contentment means not envying and coveting.
All of this basically goes back to these things that they asked for answers: what shall we do? And John leads them ultimately back to the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. He’s basically saying, live out the life that you’ve been given. If you’ve had a work begun in you, Paul says that he has. All of you who have believed and are baptized have had this work begun in your life. If you’ve had this work begun in your life, and you have, live it out. If you’ve received mercy, give it. If you’ve received forgiveness, and you are right now as we speak, share it.
But don’t hold on to your possessions and your pride. Let them go. They are nothing more than weights around your neck that choke you and drown you. It is God who frees you continually in his forgiveness and mercy to give it.
It’s very interesting indeed. Remember, John did not come to rattle cages and to offend. He came to do that, yes. But he also came to preach good news. The text says very clearly. And John’s good news draws us all back to what is received with a repentant heart. For you see, a hardened heart, a hardened heart sees no one in need of what you have except those whom you as God choose to receive such mercy, such forgiveness, and such possessions.
And it is God who opens our eyes to see just as we have been forgiven much, we ought to forgive as well. Just as we have received mercy, ought we to give it to those whom we deem unworthy of such mercy. Producing fruits in keeping with repentance is nothing more than two things: receiving mercy first and giving it away. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. On the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, we together are all partakers of his grace so that we may abound more and more in love for our neighbor, as Paul said.
In the name of him, Jesus, whom John preached to you today, amen.