The Way of the Lord

This is Darren Kuhn with the Masculine Journey Podcast, where we search the ancient paths to find ways that God brings light into a dark world and helps set men free from the struggles that we all face on a day-to-day basis. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it.

Share it. But most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Do you feel like you're on a religious treadmill? Do you feel like Christianity is just a system of rules and regulations?

I can do this, but I can't do that. Do you feel like your efforts to reach God, find God, and please God are futile? Do you feel like your faith is dead or alive? Today, Pastor Russ Andrews will walk us through Scripture to answer these questions. Join us on Finding Purpose, a local triangle ministry glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living.

For more information and to connect with Russ Andrews and Finding Purpose, you can visit us online at findingpurpose.net or connect with us on Facebook. Now let's listen to Russ Andrews as he teaches us how to be a Christian without being religious. Now take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 3. Are you all enjoying the study of Luke? I think it's great.

We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 20 and I've entitled tonight's message, The Way of the Lord. Niagara Falls is considered one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world. 540 million gallons of water flow every hour over the falls and drop 165 feet to the rocks below. As the river flows towards the fall, it actually gains speed going from about 5 miles an hour to 40 miles an hour by the time it gets to the upper falls and then up to 68 miles an hour when it actually goes over the falls.

And so you can see it's picking up momentum. Locals consider the North Grand Island Bridge which is about 4 miles from the falls as the point of no return. There's actually a sign that says, the point of no return. And once you pass this sign, the momentum of the river has you in its grip and your destiny is sealed. One day not too long ago, six men from a foreign country who were not familiar with Niagara Falls were floating down the river enjoying the view and relaxing in the sunshine.

They were about 5 miles from the falls when they passed a man wearing a clerical collar. This man grew up in the area and was very familiar with the dangers that lay ahead. He had read all the material available about the river. He knew about the point of no return. And surprisingly, he looked out at the men and with a huge smile on his face shouted, Enjoy the day men. God loves you and He wants you to enjoy your life.

So go on your way and have a merry old time. The men felt good about themselves after hearing this encouraging message coming from such a respected religious man. And so they paddled on down the river unaware of the danger that lay ahead. A few hundred yards down the river they passed another man. He was bald but he was very good looking.

He was from a town called Bethel but he happened to be visiting and touring Niagara Falls and he had seen the falls and he'd walked up river. And when he saw the men, they saw that he had a very concerned look on his face and so he ran over to the edge of the water to get as close as he could to the men and he shouted, Turn around now. There's danger ahead. Don't go any further. Listen to me. If you don't turn around now, you will go beyond the point of no return and you will be without hope. The men looked at each other in that raft and they were totally confused and one of the men said, You know, that bald man sure seemed intense.

What is he so worked up about? I don't like what he had to say and I don't think I like him a whole lot. The minister we passed seemed so nice and more caring. I say we continue on.

Have a good old time. And four of the men agreed with him. However, the sixth man did not. He said, I think we should listen to that last man. He looked very smart and he was actually very good looking and he seemed to be speaking the truth even though it was not pleasing to hear.

I think we should do what he says. Heed his warning and turn around. Sadly, the majority ruled. They paddled on. Gradually, the sixth noticed the speed of the river picking up. As the momentum continued to increase, the men tried to turn around but they could not.

They had just passed the sign that said the point of no return but it was too late and they were never seen again. That is a true story by the way. You all don't believe that, do you? Men, I'm going to get serious now. The world is headed towards a great fall. The speed of our descent into rebellion against God is gathering momentum. All you have to do is look out at the world and there are competing voices all over the place shouting conflicting messages. One voice says, God loves you and everything is going to be okay because in the end, love wins. Didn't that sound pleasing to the ear? The other voice is shouting, turn around.

Go in the other direction. There's danger ahead and that danger is the wrath of God. Listen men, God does love us but his wrath one day is going to burn with all of his fury against a rebellious world. He's going to bring evil to an end. People say, why didn't God bring evil to an end? Well, he's going to but the reason he lets the world go on an open rebellion is because he is so patient with us and more men and women will be saved tomorrow if he doesn't bring the world to an end right now.

So let me ask you something. Which message are you listening to particularly on Sunday morning? One day in the not too distant future, heaven will stand open and the whole world will see a white horse. I believe this is symbolic. This is coming from Revelation chapter 19. And so John sees a vision and he sees that door to heaven open. He sees a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True.

Who's that rider? Jesus. And it says he will be dressed in a robe dipped in blood which is just a symbolic of the fact that he died. He shed his blood for you and me. And his name will be the Word of God. The armies of heaven will be following him dressed in white. Out of his mouth will come a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations because he's going to divide us. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh this name will be written.

King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You see the first time Jesus came, he came as a baby wrapped in a manger. The second time he comes, he's going to become as a conquering king full of God's wrath. Because at that point, God will be fed up with evil.

Thank goodness. Don't you want to see evil destroyed? Don't you want to see the Hitler's of the world get what they deserve? And aren't you glad that we're not going to get what we deserve if we're in Christ? When Jesus appears, there will be no more second chances. There will be no more warnings.

The point of no return will have passed. The day of grace will be over and on that day hundreds of millions of people, probably in the billions, who refuse to listen to the warnings will go over the falls and they will never be seen again. The reason why I'm going to give you this John the Baptist like message tonight is because it's the truth. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 4 says, love rejoices in the truth.

That clerical collared priest on the bank, he might have looked like he loved him, but it was the bald-headed guy who really loved him. Because the bald-headed guy was the one who was speaking the truth and it's the truth Jesus said that will set us free. And I think that's why you come here. You want to hear the truth. I told the guys Monday, the 25 to 30 guys from NC State, the K's and I think it's the Deeks that are coming over to listen to this bald-headed guy. I said I think young people really want to hear the truth. They're fed up with what they hear from dead churches and they're fed up with what they hear from politicians and they're fed up with what they hear in the universities. Can you believe that these guys drive across Raleigh on a beautiful day at 4 o'clock Monday afternoon?

What were you doing at 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon when you were in college? I wasn't doing what they were doing. I told them that. With all that said, that brings us to Luke chapter 3 beginning with verse 1. I was coming over here tonight and I was listening to Billy Graham and I kind of said, Russ, who are you kidding?

You all don't follow that line of thinking. He is such a gifted preacher and I just love listening to him on the Billy Graham Network on XM Radio, but he read the Scripture with such power and I hope that I can come close to that tonight. Because the Word of God is the most important thing that will be said tonight. So here's what Luke writes, In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Aturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene. In the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the Word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. And he went out into all the region around the Jordan, that was all a desert area, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, divorce of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight, every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made load, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. And then from this passage, I want to answer three questions tonight. First, how did John prepare the way of the Lord? Secondly, why did John proclaim such a foreboding message filled with warnings? And third, why do we not hear similar messages today from the pulpits of America's churches with warnings of the same coming judgment? Because guess what? It's still coming.

It's in our future. I'm going to take these questions one by one. So let's look at the first question. How did John prepare the way of the Lord? Well, if you look at the text, John the Baptist proclaimed a two-fold message. First, he preached a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And then secondly, he followed that with a warning of coming judgment and wrath. Now, before we look carefully at what John's message was, I want us to look at these first two verses in Luke, which gives us the historical setting. Somebody, it was Phil tonight, told me that he loves Luke because he's getting so much history. He helps you understand the context, the environment that John the Baptist was living in and also Jesus. So remember that Luke, he's not only a physician, he's also a historian. And Luke has given us this historical information because remember, he set out to give us an orderly account. He wants to document what really happened because he wants us to have the evidence, upon which to rest our faith because as we said the first week, Christianity is a reasonable faith.

That is, our faith rests upon real facts, evidence. When John began his public ministry in the desert, Rome had in place these leaders, Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip, and Lysanias. These were pagan rulers and they were evil. They were bad dudes. And they created a culture that was dark and evil and they maintained power by the Roman military. That's why Rome was known as the Iron Empire.

They had that military that was suited in iron. But listen, not only was the political climate evil, but so was the religious climate, which was ruled over by Annas, the high priest, and eventually his son-in-law, Caiaphas. These guys were corrupt.

Remember, they were stealing money in the treasury. And then in Matthew 26, we learned that Caiaphas is the high priest at the time when Jesus is put on trial. And remember, when Jesus basically admits that he's the Messiah, he tears his robe in two and accuses him of blasphemy and then they call for his execution. And so this is the atmosphere in which God calls a man by the name of John to go out into the wilderness and to preach a message of repentance and a warning of pending judgment. So why do you think God sent him out into the wilderness?

I think it's a picture of Israel's spiritual condition. They were like a desert. Remember Jeremiah accused them of building of digging cisterns that were dry and what they needed were cisterns that produced real water. And their cisterns that were dry was basically false religion. It's just dead.

Just like today. It's just a dry cistern. It doesn't give you real water.

Remember the woman at the well? Jesus said if you drink that water, you will thirst again. And then he said everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water, I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Listen, when the Holy Spirit's in you, look at Jeff. He's fired up because the Holy Spirit's in him.

He's got this living water pouring out of him. Listen, when you try to satisfy the longings of your heart with the things of this world, you will always come away empty. But once you place your trust in Jesus, you will discover that he is the Prince of Peace and that he will satisfy the deepest longings of your heart. And it will all begin to make sense.

You will have peace and joy no matter what you're going through. Now look at verses 2 and 3 again. Luke writes, During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Now what I want you to notice here, it says the word of God came to John. Thus, when John opened his mouth and began to preach, his audience was actually hearing the word of God.

How do we know this? Well, 2 Peter 1 21 says, For prophecy, and this word prophecy, it can be forth-telling or foretelling. This one is forth-telling. In other words, it's preaching. For preaching never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were what? Carried along by the Holy Spirit. See, if Jeff knows the Scripture, what's wrong with you guys? So tonight, guys, when we read Scripture, when I read Scripture to you, when you pick up your Bible and read it, you're actually reading God's Word. And He will speak to you. You think, well, that's crazy.

No, it's not. Listen, if you don't believe me, try it. Read the Bible. I remember when I was reading the Bible as a 13, 14-year-old. It was the J.B. Phillips paraphrase. It was a real easy-to-read paraphrase of the Bible. I was in my bedroom at night, and I didn't read it every night, but I read it a lot.

I just read the Gospels, and I kind of read through the New Testament. And I sensed like Jesus was right in there talking to me. And He walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me what?

I'm His own. Do you want to hear God talk to you? It's not going to be audible, but you will sense Him talking to you, and He will guide you, men, through life, through all the difficult decisions that you're going to have to encounter. The Bible is God's Word.

There's every single word in it. That's when you open the Bible and begin to read it. God is speaking to you. The question is, are you listening? Are you actually picking up the Bible and reading it?

Are you waiting until the last minute to do your lesson, and you don't really get it done? That's kind of giving God your leftovers. John preached a message of repentance. What does it mean to repent?

Here's what it means. It means to look squarely into the mirror and see the deep-seated sins in your heart, and then just say, God, I agree with you. That is sin, and I want to turn away from it. With your help, I will turn away from it. That's what it means to repent.

Company march, company halt, about face, forward march. You're going in this direction, and then you turn around, and you're going in this direction. That's what repentance means.

It means to turn around and go the other way. And listen, repentance is absolutely necessary if you want to prepare the way for the Lord to enter your heart. That's what John is talking about. When he's talking about prepare the way for the Lord, he was trying to prepare the nation of Israel's heart to receive the Messiah. But when he's talking to you and me, he's asking you and me to prepare the way so that the Lord can enter your heart.

And so how do you do that? You see, when you repent, a straight path is prepared for Jesus to enter your heart. When you repent, you lower yourself in humility. See, that's the problem a lot of people have with admitting they're sinners.

They're not willing to admit it. They're not willing to say, yes, I'm lost and I need a Savior, because that takes a humble spirit. But when you humble yourself, it's actually an invitation for Jesus to enter your heart. When you repent, the rough places in your life that are caused by your sins are made level. As Christ enters your heart and your heart becomes His home. Would you like for Jesus, for your heart to be His home?

Receive Him into your heart, John 1-12. When Christ lives in you, your life will be changed. And all that's around you will see the salvation of God.

That's what he's talking about. And all will see the salvation of God. Because they'll see a man who's got a changed life.

And they won't want to have what you have. Listen, not only did John preach a message of repentance, but do you know who else did? Jesus. You can look at all the gospels in the first couple of chapters that says that Jesus went around preaching a message of repentance. And guess who else preached a message of repentance? Peter and Paul. In fact, in Acts 3, 19-20, Peter's out there preaching to the Jewish crowd.

There were probably Gentiles there too. He said, How about that, man? He promises to refresh your heart. And the reason why I can go to bed at night and not have any guilt or shame, is because I have so much guilt that I've got a gun to my head.

But the reason I don't, is because I have a piece of God. He just sets you free from your guilt and your shame. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to what?

Save it. Romans 10-13 says, For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be what? Saved. Saved from what? Saved from sin. Saved from God's wrath.

Saved from hell if you want to get graphic. He's saving us, because Jesus knows more about hell than anybody. And by the way, hell was not created for us.

Who was it created for? Satan. Satan and all the demons. The problem is, if you don't repent, you're pushing God into a corner when you die, because He's a God of justice. And you're saying, God, well now you've got no choice. And He has no choice at that point. And He's got to send you in there with Satan and all the demons, where you'll live for how long? Forever. Can you imagine that, guys?

I've thought before about what would it be like if Russ Andrews died, and I really somehow had missed it. And I faced an eternity, where I can never change that. That's a very scary thought. See, Jesus sets you free from your fear. He gives you blessed assurance. God's message was first and foremost a message of repentance, but it was also a message, warning of coming wrath and judgment.

Look at verses 7 through 10. Okay? Y'all with me?

You tracking with me? I think this is interesting. I think I'm interesting. Don't y'all? I'm kidding. Look at verses 7 through 10.

Actually, I don't. I used to read the Bible at night when my kids were in middle school, and Chrissy said I was so boring that she said, would you give me the Bible? Because I was about to fall asleep.

So I hope I don't put you guys to sleep. Luke says, Luke writes, he said therefore to the crowd, I'm talking about John the Baptist, that came out to be baptized with him. You brood of vipers. How much would you like to go to church, and that's the first thing that comes out of the minister's mouth. You brood of vipers.

What were y'all doing last night? Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 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. And the crowds ask, guys remember this question, what then shall we do?

See, they were convicted. See, I'm reminded too right here, when they would say, well we have Abraham as our father. Franklin Graham, well he could have said, Billy Graham's my father, but you know what Billy Graham told him one time, not out of any kind of pride or arrogance, he said son listen, you can't get in on my coattails. This was when he was 22, he was running around Europe in a TR6 with a fifth of bourbon in his car. He was a rebel, and then God got hold of him after his father had a nice little chat with him.

Maybe you need to have a chat with some of your sons. And he became a rebel with a cause. And Franklin is a rebel, that's why I like him. The Jews believed they were God's chosen people, which in one sense they were, but they believed it because they were the physical descendants of Abraham. And they pointed to circumcision as outward proof. Now don't we as Gentiles do the same thing? What do we point to? Our good moral behavior.

I'm not as bad as that guy on death row. We point to our church membership. We point to our good works.

Don't we do that? But remember what God says, 1 Samuel 16 and 7, but remember the Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at what?

What does God see when he looks into your heart? You see the Jews were sinners just like the rest of us. We're all sinners. And this is why John the Baptist baptized both Jews and Gentiles. And the Pharisees were like, you gotta be kidding me. We don't need to be baptized. We're Abraham's descendants. Now I want you to notice that John did not mince words, did he? In fact if he were right he'd say, Russ why don't you just step aside, let me take it from here. But since he's not, I'm gonna try not to embarrass myself. So why did John the Baptist call his audience vipers?

Well Kent Hughes, who I've referred to a lot this year, he's got that great commentary on Luke, you all should buy it. He writes, He was saying they were like snakes fleeing a brush fire, trying to escape, but having no intention of allowing their evil natures to be changed. And see that's what a lot of men do. I've been observing men. I'm not the judge by the way guys. I don't stand in judgment of anyone. But I do discern, I make judgments about what I see.

We're all supposed to do that. And I've been observing men for 40 years, who are members of churches and come in and out of Bible studies that I've led and that Johnny Evans has led and that Joe Knott's led. But we've had thousands in Raleigh go through these Bible studies. And they say they believe.

But their lives do not show evidence of any change. You see when a man truly repents, that is when he really recognizes the depravity of his heart. And he turns away from it.

You think people aren't going to notice that? That's why the Bible says that you become a new creation. You see, God has to do an inside job. He's got to change us from the inside out. And the only one who can do that is the Holy Spirit. Here's question number two. Why did John proclaim such a foreboding message with so many warnings?

Do you know why? Because he loved people. And he wanted to tell them the truth. Being a Christian is not about being religious, but about having a dynamic, alive relationship with Jesus Christ. You've been listening to Finding Purpose with Pastor Russ Andrews, a local triangle ministry glorifying God by helping men find their purpose for living. You can discover more about finding your purpose in life by checking out the resources at findingpurpose.net or connect to Finding Purpose on Facebook. Pastor Russ would also like to extend a special invitation for you to join him and over 300 other local triangle men to study God's Word together every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in downtown Raleigh. Find out more at findingpurpose.net.