Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text for this evening is the Gospel Lesson just read, from Matt. 3. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- Lots of people, principally Christians, are looking forward the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in His glory. We tend to do this when we see great evils and insurmountable troubles gathering all around us. We grow sick and tired of all the challenges, the negativity directed against God, the mockery of our seriousness when it comes to good, and of course all the misery and suffering that the stupidity of sin brings into this world.
- The Last Day will certainly be a good day for Christians – for those who are truly repentant, humbled by their own sin, and grateful to God for His gracious forgiveness and mercy. But it will also be a terrible and frightful day for the unbelieving and the impenitent – and the reality described in Holy Scripture should give all of us pause for thought, and perhaps a good bit of discomfort and concern.
- Regardless, it has been the message of Holy Scripture, from the beginning, that a day of reckoning is coming, that God has planned for the wretchedness and misery of sin to come to an end. So in our text John the Baptist, a true servant of God’s Word, also pronounces not only God’s salvation in Christ Jesus, but also “the wrath to come.”
- During Advent we prepare not only to celebrate Christ’s birth, His first coming, but also His second coming, His return in great glory and power for judgment. So:
I. In Preparation For His Coming, Let Us Remember His First Coming And The Blessings That Are Ours Now – That In Christ Jesus We Have Forgiveness, Life, And Salvation
John 1:29 “Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.”
John 3:16 “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Eph. 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
Rom. 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Statement: This is the real will and purpose of God – that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. This is why Jesus came the first time, and why He will come the second time – to fulfill the joy and blessedness of His people, those who believe in Him.
Application: There is nothing more important for a human being than to grasp this, and to rejoice in the clemency and mercy that God has provided for us in Christ Jesus. If we have Jesus we have forgiveness, life, and salvation. Everything will ultimately be well for us no matter what we have to suffer in this life.
Transition: While this is the most heartening, comforting, and strengthening reality, things will not be well for the unbelieving – and it is important for us to also fully grasp this. So let us also:
II. Remember What Befalls The Impenitent And Unbelieving, Including Especially The Hypocrites
Text: “When John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. . . . 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.”
Statement: The principle fruit of repentance is confession of our sins, and the proper humility that comes from knowing that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” and that “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” In other words, the proper good fruit of repentance is utter humility and confidence, peace, and joy only in God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus. Any arrogance, any trusting in one’s own goodness, any comparing of ourselves favorably with others is grotesque hypocrisy – and brings the axe to our very root! Those who refuse to utterly repent, those who joy in their “goodness,” those who compare themselves favorably to others are headed directly into the fire.
Application: The fact that we have forgiveness, peace with God through Jesus, and eternal life, does not establish any basis for thinking ourselves better than others. All of this goodness and blessedness is God-given, “not of yourselves, lest anyone should boast.” So also anyone who condemns others, or even thinks of himself as better than others, is in danger of hell.
The only thing that we can say of ourselves as believers is that we are “better off” than others, having taken refuge in God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness. This same blessedness is offered to all – and would to God that all would receive it. It is a dismal thing that awaits those who refuse, reject, and repudiate God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness – given to us in the bitter sufferings and death of His own beloved Son!
Transition: The unbelieving don’t believe that any trouble or difficulty is coming their way, that there will be no Last Day. Sometimes we act and live as if we believe the same, that all that matters is this life. So,
III. Let Us Remember That Jesus Will Surely Come Again To Fulfill His Word
Text: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Statement: You see that He loves you, that He has given you the Holy Spirit. You know that He has chosen you for salvation, having brought you to faith and new life. It is sure and certain that even now you have eternal life and salvation, even if you are among those who experience earthly death.
It is equally certain that even though He loves the world, those who do not repent and who do not believe in Him will not see life, but God’s wrath abides on them. Therefore it is certain the He, the Lord Jesus Christ, will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire!
Application: So be sure that you are not among the impenitent, the hypocritical, the unbelieving. Cling to Christ alone, rejoicing humbly in His gracious mercy and love, confessing your sins and unworthiness, praising His glorious grace alone.
And while we lament the dire and damnable outcome that is headed toward the impenitent and unbelieving, let us have no question or any doubts about what is coming for them. To the degree that we doubt His righteous anger and the truthfulness of His Word, to that same degree we are also degrading, doubting, and repudiating His gracious mercy and forgiveness. May it never be for any of us!
At the same time, let us not drift into any of kind of hypocrisy which compares ourselves favorably to others. When we think of the unquenchable fire into which the impenitent and unbelieving are cast, let us remember that this is precisely what we have earned and deserved with our own sin and darkness. This will keep us properly grateful for just what Christ has done for us in saving us from such a fate when He died for our sins on the cross!
Conclusion: Then we will be prepared to properly celebrate the day of His return, confessing our sins, rejoicing in God’s love and gift of salvation, and eager for the time when we will no longer be burdened by the wretched influence of our sinful nature.
Let us also pray for others, and do all that we can to warn them and urge them to the salvation that has already been prepared for us in Christ Jesus, remembering that they are just as worthy as we are, just as loved as we are, and that God desires their repentance just as much as He desires our own repentance.
It is sure and certain that He is coming and that He will impose the judgment. It will be a glorious day for all of those who are even now baptized with His Holy Spirit and with fire. Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.