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So you're there in Matthew chapter three. And this chapter here is one of those chapters that is very often used to prop up false doctrine, when it comes to this repentance of sins doctrine that's out there for salvation and all this. So it seems like a really, you know, kind of small chapter and all this stuff, but man, did they take this stuff out of context. And so what I want to do is just go line by line down through this chapter. And obviously this is really a lot about John the Baptist. Until you get down to where he's baptizing Jesus, this is all about what John the Baptist is doing. And so, but in verse one there, I just want to dive right into this because I have a lot that I want to get to. And so some of this stuff I may just be giving you a reference and then I'll be quoting it because there's just so much that I want to try to hit on here. But in Matthew chapter three and verse one, it says, in those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet, Esaias saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way Lord make his path straight. So we see here that he's preaching in the wilderness and he's saying repent ye for the kingdom of God is at hand. Now notice that does not say repent of your sins. Okay. Now in other places where Jesus starts his ministry, it says, repent ye and believe the gospel. Okay. So when you're dealing with eternal salvation, the repenting is changing what you're putting your trust in or what you're believing in. Okay. So the same thing, John the Baptist, I'm just gonna say it straight up. John the Baptist is preaching the same gospel that Jesus preached and he's preaching the same gospel that they preached in the Old Testament. Okay. So this idea that John's preaching some other gospel or well, the gospel of the kingdom compared to the gospel of Paul, that's all just a bunch of dispensational garbage. Okay. Now, if you're reading this chapter without all that information, you know, without people saying that to you, you wouldn't have got that. You know, it's usually has to be put in from outside sources, but I do want to see here. Now, anytime that it says like it was spoken by a prophet or written by a prophet, we should always go back to where that's written. So go to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40 is where Isaiah is saying this, the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way the Lord make his paths straight. What's interesting about this is that if you know Isaiah, Isaiah is 66 books and chapter 40 is like this turning point and there's 66 chapters in Isaiah. There's 66 books in the Bible and you probably heard of the idea of like kind of the mini Bible in Isaiah and I definitely believe that that's there because there's 39 chapters in the Old Testament. What would be the next one that would be starting the New Testament? Chapter 40 and what's the very first thing we see in chapter 40? Verse one there, it says, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness prepare ye the way the Lord makes straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. The voice said cry and he said what shall I cry? All flesh is as grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field the grass wither it the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass the grass wither the flower fadeth but the word of our God shall stand forever oh Zion that bring us good tidings get thee up into the high mountain oh Jerusalem that bring us good tidings lift up thy voice with strength lift up be not afraid say into the cities of Judah behold your God. Now the reason I read a lot of that is because there's a lot of information in there so when it says you know a voice of one crying in the wilderness remember like we were talking about in chapter two sometimes you need to go back to the Old Testament to see what exactly is being said or it's kind of almost like if you want to look at it as a marker or in the New Testament a lot of times it'll say you know for example he that glories let him glory in the Lord you go back to Jeremiah and it says glorying in the knowledge of God and so you kind of see what that even means when he says that but here we see that what is he crying well if you go to first Peter first Peter chapter one this this whole thing about the grass wither the flower thereof falleth away now it says fadeth here but in first Peter it says falleth away this same terminology of what he's crying is in first Peter chapter one at the very end there and I want you to see something because in verse nine of Isaiah 40 it we're talking about bringing good tidings which is talking about the gospel okay so when he when he was crying in the wilderness he was he was crying and preaching the gospel for the kingdom of God is at hand and he's preaching the same gospel that's always been but in first Peter chapter one verse 22 it says seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently being born again not a corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man is the flower of grass the grass wither it and the flower thereof falleth away but the word of the Lord endureth forever notice this and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you so when you look at Isaiah 40 you see this and then it talks about bringing good tidings and again this is very similar to our moniker verse which is in Isaiah 52 in verse seven it says uh um I'm sorry how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bring good tidings that publishes peace that bringing good tidings of good that publishes salvation that saith unto Zion thy God reigneth that verse in verse nine of chapter 40 is very similar to that and it's talking about the gospel and that's where we get in in Romans chapter 10 uh how should they preach except to be sent and it says or I'm sorry um how should I appreciate reset as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things that's where this comes from and so and then it says uh they have not obeyed the gospel for Isaiah said lord who hath believed our report and so Isaiah 52 goes straight into Isaiah 53 which is what lord who hath believed our report you know and who's where uh uh the arm of the lord revealed now go to luke chapter 3 luke chapter 3 because uh matthew 3 luke 3 are parallel passages because it's dealing with john preaching and then baptizing jesus mark 1 deals with john the baptist as well but it doesn't go into as much detail but we're going to go to mark one as well to kind of show you but I just want you to really see here what did john preach he did not preach repent of your sins for eternal salvation he preached what we're going to see the bible calling here the baptism of repentance okay and I'm going to get a little more depth to that meaning that uh there's a difference between baptism with water and the bapt and preaching the baptism of repentance those are two different things in luke chapter 3 and verse 3 it says this it says and he came into all the country about jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins as it is written the book of the words of isaias the prophet saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way of the lord make his past straight every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough ways shall be made smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of god so notice that in luke it kind of extends a little more about what's said in isaiah but that last verse there it says all flesh shall see the salvation of god is actually in isaiah 52 now in isaiah 40 it's similar so if you want to see two parallel passages in isaiah you see isaiah 40 and 52 there's a lot of similar stuff that's being said as far as dealing with the gospel salvation and all that but isaiah 52 and verse 10 it says this it says the lord hath made bear his holy arm in the eyes of all nations all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our god now i know i'm moving kind of quick okay because this point is really i just want you to see that when he was preaching in in the wilderness he was preaching the gospel he's preaching the same gospel that's preached in romans chapter 10 because it's quoting back to that and what's preached in romans chapter 10 if thou shall confess with thy mouth the lord jesus and shall believe in thine heart that god hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for whosoever shall call upon name lord shall be saved so that's been the gospel since the beginning and so i just want you to see that and when you when you cross reference this stuff it's very clear that he's preaching uh believe now you don't believe me john 336 he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of god abideth on him do you know who said that john the baptist okay now we use that verse out soul winning all the time and when you're reading john 3 sometimes you get this idea that it's just jesus speaking the whole time but it switches in john chapter 3 where john is saying hey he must increase but i must decrease he is from above he is from heaven above you know and he goes through this whole thing and then he ends with the fact that he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of god abideth on him so what did he preach salvation by faith in the son of god that's what he preached now i'll go to mark chapter one because i do want to show you this differentiation between baptism of water and preaching the baptism of repentance okay because this is something that gets confused meaning that people say well it's the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins and therefore it's baptisms you know what you know water baptism gives you remission of sins okay that's pretty much where people go with that right well mark is going to really separate this very clearly for us mark one in verse one it says the beginning of the gospel of jesus christ the son of god as it is written in the prophets behold i send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare you the way the lord make his past straight notice in verse four john did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins notice how there's a difference between those two so the baptism of repentance is not the baptism of dunking people underwater okay and this is very clear and i don't have time i'm not going to go into all this but there's the bat the spiritual baptism that happens when you get saved okay when you're buried with them in death and you're raised with them in the spirit and and it likens the same thing with circumcision there's a circumcision that's made without hands and there's also the baptism that is not a physical baptism meaning the moment you get saved you are crucified with christ spiritually and you're raised with them you're baptized okay spiritually the water baptisms obviously a picture of that and so we're baptists so obviously we baptize people in water but being getting saved is different than getting baptized in water okay and the water does not wash away your sins or give you remission of sins and go to act chapter 19 because we're going to see this phrase baptism of repentance but keeping in mind mark chapter one where it says that john did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins and so those are two things that he's doing now in acts chapter 19 he's going to clarify what he preached when he preached the baptism of repentance notice in verse 4 it says then said paul john verily baptized with the baptism of repentance saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on christ jesus so before jesus was baptized of john to where he knew that he was the christ he was saying hey there's one coming after me he's the one that you need to put your faith in when jesus when he was baptized of him he's saying this is him okay behold the the lamb of god that taketh away the sin in the world so he once he identified the son of god as jesus then he was pointing everybody to jesus does that make sense but it's the same gospel it's not like he changed what he's preaching he just knew exactly who it was when when uh when jesus got baptized by him but it also notice that it says baptized with the baptism of repentance now this lines up perfectly when you look at the fact that the ethiopian eunuch said what doth hinder me to be baptized and he said if thou believes with all my heart thou mayest he said i believe that jesus is the christ the son of god that has to be accompanied with someone getting baptized because because that's the requirement that's a prerequisite the prerequisite is that you believe so the baptism of repentance is what the believe on him which should come after him that is on christ jesus and so when john was preaching in the wilderness they he was not baptizing people unless they were believing okay now obviously in that chapter which we'll get to later there were false converts meaning there were people that did not believe but they were baptized of him now that happens it still happens okay meaning that you know we can't see the heart we can only go off what people say and so there's obviously i guarantee people and especially you know i'm a it's we're a young church but i guarantee there'll be someone that all baptized that didn't actually get saved you know through the course of time i mean it's just gonna happen and there's gonna and listen there's people that you pray with at the door that didn't really believe okay i guarantee it you know and so uh but that's what john 19 is dealing with now the interesting thing is is that the the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins notice that it keeps saying that well that makes sense when you look at the fact that it's what's the baptism of repentance to believe on the lord jesus christ that's what he was preaching and notice there's a couple places where it talks about how you receive the remission of sins go to acts chapter 10 acts chapter 10 verse 43 and then also romans 3 and verse 25 this is definitely a bible study tonight uh not more so not as much hard preaching but really just i i want to dig into this and i want you to know exactly what these verses are saying and what they're not saying on on top of that but in acts chapter 10 and verse 43 notice what it says it says to him give all the prophet's witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sin so how do you get the remission of sins believing on the lord jesus christ all that lines up with act chapter 19 it's just the fact that when you're looking in mark one and you're looking in matthew three it doesn't spell it out as much right it gives you the baptism of repentance but it doesn't define it okay this is why you need to study the show thyself approved unto god a workman that needed not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth but comparing spiritual things with spiritual this whole idea and listen when i when i debated james white or whatever this is what his big thing was against me is that i was going to all these other passages to prove that passage that's the way the bible is intended to be though you can't just go to one passage and just hope to get everything out of that passage and you know you either need to be going back to the old testament where it's quoted from to help you out but also you need to be looking at all the other references if it says remission of sins you need to look up every place remission of sins is mentioned and see what's what's what's going on with that and same thing with baptism you know if you're looking at baptism look up all the places that baptisms was mentioned you'll realize real quick that it's not always talking about water baptism jesus said i have a baptism to be baptized with and how am i straightened until it'd be accomplished that was way after he got baptized here what was he talking about the death barrel and resurrection the true baptism the actual baptism that saves us all and so uh this isn't a whole sermon on baptism but i do want to kind of hit that now romans chapter 3 you don't have to turn there but roman chapter 3 and verse 25 it says whom god has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of god to declare i say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in jesus very consistent meaning you get the remission of sins by faith in jesus christ and it's interesting in act chapter 10 where you see that it says to him give all the prophets witness all the prophets that means jonah that means zechariah that means every single prophet gave witness that it was by faith in his name that they received the remission of sins and you say well it doesn't say it in jonah yeah well it doesn't say that it was written in jonah remember that a lot of times it says it has spoken by jeremiah the prophet or has spoken by the prophets he shall be called a nazarene but you know what that means is that even though they didn't write it in the the writings that are now that are canon in the in the bible they were speaking it that means jeremiah was saying believe on the son of god believe in his name whosoever shall call upon him lord shall be saved that's been preached by every prophet from from able to moses to joshua to all the prophets down the line they've been preaching the same thing to him all the prophets give witness and it clarifies to what whosoever believe in him shall receive remission of sins and so it doesn't change it's not like you get into john the baptist all of a sudden now remission of sins is by getting dunked under water okay now it's always been by faith but in order to get baptized by water in order to do that that commandment that we are command to get baptized you had to believe it had to be with the baptism of repentance he would baptize with baptism of repentance because he would preach the baptism of repentance they believe and then he baptized him now go back to john or matthew chapter three matthew chapter three and i'm just going i want to hit this real really quick here about what john the baptist was wearing so in matthew chapter three and verse four that's what it says it says in the same john had his raman of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wild honey so this guy was pretty rough okay now this is something that's brought up by jesus later on that he was not wearing soft raman and if you go to luke chapter 7 it mentions this and luke chapter 7 verse 24 it says and when the messengers of john were departed he began to speak unto the people concerning john what went ye out into the wilderness for to see a reed shaken with the wind but when what went you out for to see a man clothed in soft raman obviously not because he was wearing camel's hair and a leather girdle behold they which are gorgeously apparelled and lived delicately are in king's courts but what went you out for to see a prophet yea i say unto you and much more than a prophet this is he of whom is it is written behold i send my message before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee for i say unto you among those that are born of women there is no not a greater prophet than john the baptist but he that is least in the kingdom of god is greater than he now the reason i went to luke is because in other places it'll say there that are born among women there's not a greater than john the baptist here it clarifies what it's saying so it's not just saying like he's the best person that's ever been born okay what it's saying is that there's not a greater prophet than john the baptist so it clarifies a little bit that we're talking about prophets and he was the greatest prophet obviously besides jesus jesus is the greatest obviously but we're talking about humanly speaking john the baptist was great that's that's a high mark think greater than moses greater than elijah well he came in the spirit and power of elijah so that makes sense but you know that's a big statement to make but it talks about you know that he's a prophet and that he didn't come in soft raiment now if you want to you can go to zechariah chapter 13 but i'll just read this real quick it says in verse 4 it says and it shall come to pass in that day that the prophet shall be ashamed every one of his vision when he hath prophesied neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive but he shall say i am no prophet i am a husband man for for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth now what this is now i'm not going to get into the zechariah and what this is actually talking about what it means is that prophets wore rough garments if you remember elijah the prophet and he wore a leather girdle as well and so like they were kind of known for wearing these rough garments they weren't uh dressed real real nice now this you know you say well why are you wearing a tie and all this stuff you know shouldn't you be up there in like camel's hair and a leather girdle well so obviously what this is teaching though if you go to matthew chapter 11 it's talking about prophets now matthew 11 and verse 13 it says for all actually you guys go to hebrew chapter 1 i'm going to read matthew 11 matthew 11 verse 13 it says for all the prophets and the law prophesied until john okay now we know that jesus jesus when he died the old testament was done okay so there is a reformation that's going on here this is the time of reformation dealing with uh from the old testament new testament um and there was other types of reformations that were going on with you know how they would uh you know even when they went into the old testament it's kind of a reformation you know to to not eat certain things you know they kind of had dietary laws and things they would wear and all this stuff but the reason i say you know it says for all the prophets in a law prophesied until john because notice what it says in hebrew chapter 1 and verse 1 it says god who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake and time passed unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto this by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds so john was pretty much the last of the law and the prophets and then jesus and then jesus brought in a new testament he's the mediator the the new testament and so we're not i'm not out in the wilderness wearing a leather girdle crying in the wilderness does that make sense like there is a difference in the new testament as far as how it was before then and how god would speak audibly to these prophets now hebrews 1 is actually in matthew 11 and hebrews 1 is more so a really good passage to disprove to the mormons and to to the the muslims that there's no other prophets after jesus meaning that you know you think of mohammed you know coming later and he was like this prophet that came later right after jesus and and then mormonism you know joseph smith you know supposedly the prophet and then they have all these apostles and prophets and all this other stuff right well this completely debunks that because all the prophets and the law prophesied until john but it's not like now we have his son so nowhere in here does it say his son and then also we're gonna have some more prophets after that okay so i've oftentimes taken mormons and uh and muslims to this passage and say see here it says and obviously i'm taking him here too to show him that jesus god because it says but unto the son he saith thy throne oh god is forever and ever so that's definitely a good passage in there in hebrew chapter one but anyway i just wanted you to see that that's kind of a side you know with his why he was wearing camel's hair it wasn't on accident it's not like he just didn't have anything else to wear okay he was doing that on purpose and obviously he was living in an austere life meaning that even the pharisee said you know john came neither eating or drinking and you said he had a devil and and then you know then then you call jesus a wine bibber and a glutton because he came eating and drinking so obviously jesus wasn't you know crying in the wilderness with a leather girdle and camel's hair okay so he obviously there's a difference between john the baptist and jesus there but i just want you to see that with that rough garment and zechariah kind of hits that as far as why was he wearing that because he's a prophet and they were kind of known like well who's the prophet all the guys over there that's wearing like some really rough garment but uh but going back to matthew chapter three matthew chapter three in verse five there that's what it says it says then went out to him jerusalem and all judea and all the region around about jordan and were baptized of him in jordan confessing their sins now like i said the false teachers will pick this passage apart you know like you got to repent your sins you got to be baptized to be saved to get the remission of sins and you got to confess your sins okay now i'm going to i'm going to uh teach something here as far as what i believe about this what i believe is that what was going on is they would hear the gospel they get saved they get baptized and then they would confess their sins to god and get right with god okay now i'm going to use i'm going to use paul as an example here go to acts chapter 22 acts chapter 22 now what i believe about paul as far as when he got saved may uh be different than it's not different than what i've heard people believe what i believe on this um i believe paul got saved on the road to damascus before he got to ananias okay i'm going to show you why i believe that but i think that really kind of helps understand acts chapter 22 and verse 16 because a lot of times you'd read this and be like man that seems backwards the way it's saying it okay um and again this doesn't change the cost of tea in china so if you believe he got saved from ananias that doesn't change like this isn't like this would be like oh no you got to get baptized or something um but what i'm saying here is that i think this helps understand that when you see the progression of things in matthew 3 and all that acts chapter 22 verse 16 it says and now why terrace thou arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the lord now this is john ananias is saying this to uh paul not john he's saying this to paul and you'd say well well if he if he's getting saved based off an ananias then why is it saying be baptized then call upon name lord now either way you look at this to wash away thy sins is associated with the calling on the name of the lord not the baptism okay but it does seem kind of out of order if you're going to look at it that way like like he's getting saved here because why is it saying be baptized and then wash away thy sins calling on name lord wouldn't it be the other way around okay now the reason why i believe it's written this way is because i believe the washaway thy sins calling on name the lord is not talking about getting saved but more so talking about confessing your sins uh and i'm going to show you that in first john when that's obviously confessing our sins to god is something that we're supposed to do on a daily basis not for salvation but for cleansing in the flesh um but go to galatian chapter one because i do want to show you why i believe paul was saved when jesus appeared to him okay there's other reasons i mean it says brother paul received thy sight he calls him brother now you can say well you know they were both jews um and so you could definitely kind of explain that away a little bit and say well it's just more brethren of the flesh kind of thing but i'm going to show you why i really believe this and and um you know if you don't subscribe to this it doesn't change anything but in galatian chapter one and verse 11 that's what it says it says but i certify you brethren that the gospel which was preached to me is not after man for i neither received it of man neither was i taught it but by the revelation of jesus christ that's why i believe that it was jesus who gave him the gospel there and you say well that kind of seems out of the ordinary well he was the last to be called an apostle it was kind of he was born out of due time as it is meaning that jesus had already risen and sitting at the right hand of the father after the day of pentecost when paul became an apostle so all that's kind of out of due time as it is anyway and so i think it's very clear because he's talking about this gospel and he's making a point saying listen i didn't even i didn't receive it's not after me it's not according to man and he's making a point saying listen i didn't even receive it a man neither was i taught it by man but by the revelation of jesus christ to me that that tells me that it was that when he saw the light when jesus was talking to him that he believed it and when he went to ananias you know obviously he he was kind of given the the the you know where he couldn't see and they had to lead him by hand this is really you know if you kind of think about you get saved let's say you were you know really you know you're a sinner you know you're just in a lot of sin when you get saved your flesh is still sinful and you still have consequences for those sins even if you get it's not like okay you know someone's like really simple and then they get saved and then it's all under the blood and there's no consequences that's not the way it works okay because you know you just just you know kind of do all that stuff before you get saved and then get saved right you know no it it you still have consequences in the flesh and go to first john chapter one because we are supposed to confess our sins and calling on the name of the lord is not always for eternal salvation okay i could prove this six ways to sunday because of of abraham himself abraham believed god and it was imputed on him for righteousness well he left his country by faith but then later on he built an altar and called upon the name lord not only once but multiple times he was calling upon the name of lord so calling upon name lord obviously we need to call upon name lord when we believe for eternal salvation right but then there's also just physical salvations that you would call upon name lord for or calling upon name lord as far as confessing right now as far as going to heaven we don't need to confess our sins but we do need to confess that jesus is lord right if thou shall confess with thy mouth lord jesus which i believe in thine heart that god hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved and it says for whosoever shall call upon name lord shall be saved so obviously that applies to eternal salvation but i believe when we're talking about what's going on with paul and act chapter 22 we're more so dealing with the fact that hey he got saved he got baptized and now he's dealing with his sins and kind of getting right with god physically speaking because if you remember in the old testament when they would do these sacrifices it was for the purifying of the flesh that's all those sacrifices that were done in the old testament were just for purifying the flesh never it never made the conscience perfect and never took away sin spiritually but physically speaking doing those sacrifices did that well now we don't need to do that now we come boldly onto the throne of grace and in first john chapter one that's what we're dealing with here in verse six it says if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship one with another in the blood of jesus christ his son cleanses us from all sin if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness that's what i believe is going on in acts chapter 22 is that he was already he already got saved he's getting baptized but then he's getting cleansed from all unrighteousness physically by confessing his sins and you say why did you how did you get into that because in matthew chapter three it says they were baptized of him in jordan confessing their sins meaning that this same progression you see at the very beginning here you believe you get baptized you confess your sins and that's something that you know i'm i would say that we you know you think about when someone gets saved what's the first thing you say hey you need to get baptized well there's a lot of things we should do you know like confessing your sins definitely one of them and reading your bible getting in the church like all these things are there but i see a clear progression of get saved get baptized confess your sins to the lord and obviously believing on christ is the only thing that takes to get to heaven if you didn't get baptized and didn't confess your sins you're still saved okay but this is a progression that i see here especially in matthew chapter three and you see this in mark one you see this in luke three the same thing and uh and this is you know why in luke chapter go to luke chapter three luke chapter three there's there's this passage and this is where people get mixed up and try to think that this baptism of john is something different than than what we have now now that doesn't make sense on many reasons because if you think about it when when the apostles were looking for the 12th apostle after you know judas obviously fell and he killed himself and obviously he was a devil when they were looking for him remember they said we need someone that was from the baptism of john because none of the apostles got re-baptized and jesus didn't baptize anybody and john chapter four is very clear it says that you know jesus baptized more than john though jesus himself baptized not but his disciples so you know what were they baptizing themselves you know after john if there's some other baptism besides john's baptism that means that all the apostles all the 12 that inner circle were baptized by john and they did not get re-baptized because even when they were looking for the 12th they said we want the one we want to find somebody that's been since the baptism of john okay and so there's no difference as far as the baptism what we do today but luke chapter three is where people kind of get questions go to verse 10 there and this is what it comes down to is that there's many things that we should do after we get saved there's many things you should do after you get saved and then get baptized and notice the terminology that's used here in verse 10 it says and the people asked him saying what shall we do then well i could think of a lot of things you should do and what you see here in these next few verses is just he's kind of just telling different people depending on what they do as a profession what they should do okay so at first he's kind of appealing to everybody in verse 11 it says he answered and saith unto them he that had two coats let him impart to him that hath none and he that hath meat let him do likewise so it'd be kind of like if someone got saved and then they're like what should we do now well love your neighbor you know like there's there's a lot of things you should do that shall love thy neighbor as thyself and that's the fulfilling of the law right so you know give someone a coat if they need one give them food if they need it right you think of uh james chapter two with uh having profitable faith right is the fact of what you're supposed to give to those that have need but then you go into verse 12 and it says then came also publicans to be baptized and said unto him master what shall we do does it say what must i do to be saved here no it's just saying you're saying what should we do and he said or it says in uh in verse uh 13 it says and he said unto them exact no man or no more than that which is appointed you so he's just basically saying hey don't be a don't be a thief you know basically be be honest then it says in verse 14 and and the soldiers likewise demanded of him saying and what shall we do and he said unto them do violence to no man neither accuse any falsely and be content with your wages so he's basically just telling hey you know you're a soldier just be content with your wages don't do violence to anybody right and then the publicans he's just like be honest you know don't be an extortioner and so it's really simple though when you look at this as far as what he's doing here because john didn't just preach the gospel he also told harrod that it wasn't lawful for him to have his brother philip's wife so you know that that's what it comes down to we're not just to preach the gospel and people are like oh you know it's all about you know just preach the gospel it's like no we're supposed to preach the all the whole council of god and that that includes preaching against adultery that includes preaching that you shouldn't be an extortioner that includes that you should help out your neighbor and that you should give to those that have need and so and that includes doing no violence right and violating people and so that that's very simple honestly when you look at it and people twist this type of saying say see it's not just believe you got to do this too right or they'll say well there's going to be works you're going to have to show works to be saved and all this stuff now but go back to matthew chapter three because i want to get into this fruits meet for repentance so there's actually a couple things here the the two last things that i really kind of want to get into is this whole fruits meet for repentance and being baptized unto repentance okay i want to kind of explain these two phrases here because this is where people kind of twist this stuff but matthew chapter three and verse seven it says but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism he said unto them oh generation of vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance and thank god 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 and now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good for you to sheen down and cast into the fire and i don't know if i had a nickel for every single time someone said that you have to have fruits you know to prove that you're saved i'd be a wealthy man probably you know and you know well nickel doesn't take you that far anymore right but anyway i don't want to be a liar because maybe i'd have like 20 bucks or something i don't know but anyway all that to say is that first the first thing to realize here is that fruit doesn't equal works fruit is the product of something now it's just a vague term to mean a product you think of a produce stand right what's that a produce team fruits and vegetables right so fruit is a product of something it's not the work itself you think of the fruit of your labor and even in the bible says the fruit of your works now what it's saying here is the fruit meat for repentance what does that mean meat for repentance well you think about the very probably the first mention of meat m-e-e-t is when you think of uh adam and eve was made to be a help meet for him now what does that mean it means it basically fit you know someone that's that's kind of fit for him you know and the bible says in luke chapter 3 you don't have to turn there the same kind of thing that's going on there in verse 8 it says bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance so you kind of see worthy meat but it just think about like uh you know he that there was no help meat for him when he made all these animals and that's why he made woman because she fit right she was uh you know it was the right fit to it right so that's all that means but you say well what is this talking about fruits well in that that whole passage air he starts talking about children so you think about the fruits of the fruit of the womb it's his reward talking about low children are inherited unto the lord the fruit of the womb is his reward so we think of children like physically speaking that's fruit so this lines up though because what are we dealing with we're dealing with a generation of viper he's talking to you first of all i have to realize who he's talking to he's not just talking to everybody he's talking to a certain group of people the scribes and the pharisees came to him wanting to be baptized of him and he says bring forth therefore fruits worthy or meat of repentance right now this phrase this is going to help you understand what's being talked about here that phrase oh generation of vipers is only mentioned in three places now four if you count the parallel so in luke chapter three it says it as well but it's a parallel passage right but it's all in matthew other other than luke three which is paralleled you have it in matthew 12 and matthew 23 and let's see if that little uh signifier of o generation of vipers will help us understand what's being said there go to matthew chapter 12 verse 33 what i believe he's talking about is converts basically you'll know them by their fruits they're false prophets it was just straight up that's what it's talking about in matthew chapter seven we'll see that that he knew these people were false prophets by their fruits by their converts because they were bringing forth thorns and briars and he said bring forth fruits therefore me for repentance meaning that he wasn't going to baptize them why because he baptized with the baptism of repentance he's basically saying i'm not baptizing because you're unbelievers you're false prophets and that's why he's rebuking them but in matthew chapter 12 verse 33 it says either make the tree good or his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit o generation of vipers how can ye being evil speak good things for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak it so there's two things that we see with false prophets is one is the fact that they have this fruit that's going to be shown that you kind of kind of know them the tree by the fruit but you're also going to notice by their mouth meaning that the abundance of the the heart the mouth speaketh now a lot of what this comes down to is that a lot of false prophets will say right things they're always mixing in poison there's always the seat behind it there's always because the worst false doctrine is that which is closest to the truth and so you that's the ones you always got to watch out for that's why you got to watch out for the calvinists you got to watch out for these people that are really close to the truth because those are the ones that are going to deceive you it's just like the wolves in sheep clothing the wolves are dangerous but the most dangerous are the wolves in sheep's clothing and so that's what we're dealing with here and and and uh but matthew 12 we're dealing with the good the tree with good fruit and the tree with corrupt fruit uh and he's calling them generation of vipers go to matthew 23 matthew 23 is the only other place that this is mentioned and if you know matthew 23 this is where jesus is throwing down he is throwing down on the scribes the Pharisees the hypocrites and this is one of my favorite chapters honestly when when holly and i when we were dating before we were married we were reading the bible together and uh and every time we get the matthew 23 she's like you can take that one because we would kind of take turns just reading to each other and stuff like that and uh because i just really love i love that jesus spoke with authority and i love when jesus because jesus is meek and lowly and you know uh you think about when he was here on the earth he was basically just spat upon and just kind of put into the dirt and this was kind of where that point where he just kind of you know where the son of god is just taking control of what's being said here and i just love the passage because he's just really letting them have it but in matthew 23 in verse 33 notice what it says ye serpents ye generation of vipers how can ye escape the damnation of hell so i wanted to show you that phrase but go back up to verse 15 because of who he's talking about here verse 15 i get i believe tells you what we're dealing with when we're dealing with the fruits okay in verse 15 it says woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for ye can pass sea and land to make one proselyte and when he is made you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves the proselyte that's their fruit so when when he sees these false prophets come up and all their fruit is a bunch of you know unsaved reprobates you know it'd be kind of like you know we we think about the you know let's let's say someone came in and be like oh you know i'm i'm a preacher and i'm you know all this stuff i preach the gospel and then all his converts are a bunch of pedophiles and homos and stuff like they'd be like what in the world like no you know or you think of rock rockman peter ruckman and all his all his minions are all a bunch of unsaved people they all believe like unbiblical things about salvation and you're just like you know them by their fruits and that's what we're seeing here now in matthew chapter seven is the most famous passage probably for dealing with false prophets and this kind of brings it all together so when you're dealing with matthew chapter three he's talking about these generation of vipers and in the other places that mentioned it talks about a tree with fruit whether it's good or bad you'll know right and then also this proselyte you know the twofold more the child of hell than yourselves well matthew 7 verse 15 says beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves you shall know them by their fruits do men gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit a good tree cannot bring forth good evil fruit neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is shewn down and cast into the fire sounds familiar that's exactly what matthew chapter three says wherefore by their fruits you shall know them so why is he saying this to them because he's basically saying i know you i know who you are by your fruits and that's why he's rebuking them because they're false prophets and the key here is that it says that a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit this cannot be talking about works because a saved person can still do bad things david's and i mean everybody in the bible is an example of that but if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us you know that we obviously have sin and so this can't be just talking about keeping the commandments this is talking about what you're bringing forth and to take this a little further in your homework because i i don't have the time to really get into this hebrew chapter six would really hit this hard too because what are you dealing with it says bring forth therefore fruits meet or worthy of repentance why is he saying because certain people cannot repent there are certain people that are past feeling that are given over to a reprobate mind they're ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth and that's what it's dealing with and hebrew chapter six it says for it is impossible for those who are once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy ghost and have tasted of the taste of the good word of god and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify themselves the son of god afresh put him to an open shame so we're dealing with people that it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance and what is said right after that in verse seven it says for the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh off the pond it and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed receive a blessing from god but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected as nine to cursing whose end is to be burned so what do you have right after it says that you have good fruit and you have evil fruit and you're dealing with people that it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance so you know matthew three it seems a little cryptic when you're reading that as far as what's going on there but when you compare scripture with scripture it's very clear that he's saying hey i know you break forth therefore fruits me for repentance meaning that your fruit is evil it's corrupt it's thorns and briars you want to be baptized and and there's another place where it says they came to be baptized of him so why is he saying this to him because they came to be baptized them the pharisees and the scribes they didn't just come to hear them they said they came to be baptized of him and he's saying bring forth therefore fruits me for repentance and why is that because you shall know them by their fruits and he's basically saying you're a corrupt tree and you're going to be hewn down and cast to the fire that's what he's saying and of course that's what he says later too he says the axe is laid to the root of the tree and because they were basing it all off their lineage second timothy says this too it says in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if god prevention will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth so there's obviously people that have lost that opportunity now we're not calvinists so we believe that everybody had that opportunity we believe that god so loved the world that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life so it's not that these people like never had a chance it's just the fact that there are people that god has given over and therefore they've lost that opportunity but matthew chapter three going back to matthew chapter three i'm gonna try to uh try to hit this last point um so bear with me sorry i had so much stuff that i wanted to get to in this sermon and i could probably take whole sermons for these all these topics um but matthew chapter three and verse 11 notice what it says it says i indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but he that cometh after me is mightier than i whose shoes i am not worthy to bear he shall baptize you with the holy ghost and with fire whose fan is in his hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire now this phrase i baptize you with water unto repentance now when you read this you may look at this and be like so i'm getting baptized in order to get repentance you know it kind of seems that way the way it's worded um go to act chapter 19 but i'm going to explain this and so the word two has a lot of definitions depending on how you use it okay okay one way that too is used it's a preposition a preposition and it's used to an expressing reference relation uh reaction or relation to something you say well what do you mean by that i'll give you an example uh i dance to music now did i dance in order to get music or was i dancing because of the music or i was dancing it you know basically in reaction to the music or in relation to the music does that make sense so when he says he's i baptize you with i baptize you um or baptize you with baptism or i'm sorry i'm reading the wrong thing with water unto repentance or to repentance the repentance is is not what they're getting but more so what they're getting baptized to does it make sense and it's it's something that when you're reading that you don't really see it that way because you're normally thinking like how you get something or unto something like it's kind of like unto salvation or something like that's how you get it but in this case i think acts chapter 19 kind of clarifies this this phrase but again it's kind of like you know i'm dancing uh to music what are you doing you're dancing with the music so what are they what's he doing i'm baptizing you with water with the repentance meaning that remember in act chapter 19 that's what he says and so act chapter 19 you're dealing with these people that didn't believe um and he's rebuking him for that but in verse one there says and it came to pass that while apollos was at Corinth Paul having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples he said unto them have you received the holy ghost since you believed and they said unto him we have not so much as heard whether there be any holy ghost now when we get to this do you understand how ridiculous that is considering what do we just read in matthew chapter three that he that comes after me is going to baptize you with the holy ghost and with power or with fire right so to say that we don't even know if there is a holy ghost you obviously don't understand who god is and you didn't understand what john preached notice what what said in verse three it says and he said unto what then were you baptized and they said unto john's baptism then said paul john verily baptized with the baptism of repentance saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on christ jesus when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus so obviously they weren't saved and they did believe that when they heard it therefore they got baptized again this is the only place that you'll see people getting re-baptized by the way and it's clear they weren't saved they clearly didn't understand uh salvation because they didn't remember that the holy ghost was even mentioned okay when john was preaching but notice says unto what then were you baptized well that goes back to matthew chapter three it says that i baptized you with water unto repentance so what did they not do they didn't repent they didn't believe the gospel so uh but i hope that makes sense you know as far as that that term to or unto sometimes if you take off the un because unto and two is the same word just so you know it's just more poetic sometimes to say unto and then two so if you just say you know i baptized you with water to repentance you can kind of see how it's kind of like dancing to music it's not to get the music but it's it's with it so that's what that's talking about and so and the last thing i want to show you is just in the ending here where john where john baptizes jesus and verse 13 there matthew chapter 3 it says then cometh jesus from galley to jordan unto john to be baptized of him but john forbade him saying i have need to be baptized of thee and cometh out of me and jesus answering said unto him suffer to be so now for thus it become with us to fulfill all righteousness then he suffered him and jesus when he was baptized went up straight way out of the water and lo the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the spirit of god descending like a dove and lighting upon him and lo a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased the first thing i want to say with this is that this is a great trinity passage here because you see the son of god going into the water and when he's baptized the spirit of god comes down upon him and then you have the father from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased so you have all three persons of the trinity in this passage in this one spot here and so uh this is a great passage to show people to show all of them and it kind of puts this modalism stuff to bed too because i mean they're obviously not he's not talking to himself here you know if you imagine like jesus saying i'm i don't i don't know how you say that right this is my beloved son in whom i'm well pleased if i'm that person that's saying that it doesn't make any sense but it also does not say that this is when he got eternal life or this is when he became god and if you remember the sermons before dealing with the fact that he was the king of the jews from his birth and that he was lord from his birth that he was the son of god from his birth it's not like this is where he got his deity okay this is just where his ministry started he was about 30 years old he started his ministry and the spirit was not given by measure unto him meaning that this is where he was the spirit of god you know he was going out to his ministry now in isaiah 42 the last thing i'll show you is where you can see this from the old testament the prophecy of this so isaiah 42 there's so much more i could show you there with that i mean obviously too he got baptized to fulfill all righteousness so baptism clearly isn't about washing away your sins the water baptism because jesus didn't have any sins to be washed away but isaiah 42 and verse one it says behold my servant whom i uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth i have put my spirit upon him he shall bring forth judgment to the gentiles he shall not cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street a bruised reed shall he not break and the smoking flax shall he not quench he shall bring forth judgment unto truth and both verse two and three are all quoted in the new testament talking about jesus but in verse one there we can clearly see in whom my soul delighteth and this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased and the fact that his spirit came upon him and and isaiah 42 one so um just i always think it's cool to see that type of stuff where it came from and that that was prophesied even that whole thing with him being baptized in the spirit of god coming upon him you know that was all prophesied in isaiah so i know that's a lot i know i thought i showed you a lot of stuff there and hopefully uh some something stuck there with that if you have any questions about that let me know um it's a lot of deep stuff to get into um but it's all there the answers are there and when you cross reference this stuff it really isn't that complicated it really is just believe in the lord jesus christ you get baptized in water you're supposed to confess your sins to god and that should be something that we don't just do after we get baptized but on a daily basis and being good fellowship with god and just very clear that we're dealing with false prophets that have corrupt fruit and obviously we're not supposed to baptize false prophets and you know so that's what's going on with john and so um matthew chapter three 17 verses but a lot in there um and so i really like matthew and it's gonna probably be really hard i'm just gonna have to not be able i'm just gonna have to preach to other sermons on stuff when i get into like the sermon on the mount you know there's just so much in there um and i i'm gonna stick with just a chapter a night okay i know some they they'll break it up and have different things i don't want to get into that i'm just gonna do a chapter tonight and if i don't get through it all i'll get it next time so let's end with the word of prayer generally father we thank you for tonight and i do pray to be with all those that aren't feeling well and just pray that you'd uh heal them and and give them health and and lord just praise you be with us throughout the rest of this week pray that you uh be with the forte family as they're traveling and just pray to get them safe travels and lord just bless them as they they make the move out there and and pray to just help them with that transition and lord just uh pray again that you'd be with us this week help us to bring glory to your name and lord we love you and pray also in jesus christ name amen