Home Group Study

Sermon Date: 31 January 2020

Text: Luke 3:1-10

Opening Discussion: The first indications of constructed roads date from about 2000 BC and consist of stone-paved streets at Ur in modern-day Iraq and timber roads preserved in a swamp in Glastonbury, England. Unfortunately potholes are very common to see in modern day roads. What is your experience with potholes? Share your story of a road that wasn’t “straight”.

Summary:

Luke continues to set John and Jesus side by side as he describes the beginning of their public ministries. After chapter 3, John the Baptist disappears from Luke’s Gospel, except for one brief incident in Luke 7:18-23. The reason this happens is because Luke wants to focus exclusively on the person and work of Jesus from chapter 4 onwards. However, in chapter 3 John and Jesus are still connected together as they each began their public ministries.

There had been no word from God for 400 years, and the people of Israel knew that John the Baptist was not preaching his own word, but God’s word. They knew that he spoke the truth. Even though it offended the religious leaders, who left without submitting to God’s word through John (Luke 7:30), many received John’s message, repented of their sins, and were baptized. They knew that John truthfully spoke God’s word to them.

When we come to a portion of Scripture like this, we need to be careful. It’s easy to be offended by it, because it lays the axe to the root of our hypocrisy, self-righteousness, and pride. It doesn’t build our self-esteem to be called a brood of vipers! If we get offended and respond defensively, we will go away like the Pharisees and Sadducees did, comfortable with the veneer of our religiosity. But we will not be prepared to face the wrath to come.

Investigation & Interpretation:

• Read: Luke 3:1-10

1. What was John the Baptist’s basic message? v.3
2. What Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled by John the Baptist? v.4
3. What emphasis and words are repeated in verse 3 and verse 8?
4. What responses did John expect from his listeners? Why? v8-9.
5. How did people react to John’s message? v.10

Application

How must I change?

• Is there a Truth to be believed?

Many professing Christians think that it is not necessary to confess their sins and ask for forgiveness, because it is Jesus job to forgive them anyway. Is this a biblical view? Read (1 John 1:9, keeping in mind it was written to believers). And, is repentance and receiving of forgiveness simply a one-time action?

• Is there an Attitude to be fostered?

It is accurately said that there are two types of religions in the world, one that is based in faith, and all the others that are based in works. Why is it important to affirm that salvation is completely of the Lord, not at all from man? (Ephesians 2:8-9)

• Is there a Behavior to be changed?

John the Baptist addressed the motives of those that came to be baptized in verse 7. We see that these people where in the right place, doing the right thing but with a wrong motives. Can you list a few examples of wrong motives people have even when doing the right thing for the wrong reasons? Why is genuine repentance so important?

Conclusion

In the 1980’s, newspapers carried the story of Al Johnson, a Kansas man who came to faith in Jesus Christ. What made his story remarkable was not his conversion, but the fact that as a result of his newfound faith in Christ, he confessed to a bank robbery he had participated in when he was nineteen years old. Because the statute of limitations on the case had run out, Johnson could not be prosecuted for the offense. Still, he believed his relationship with Christ demanded a confession. And he even voluntarily repaid his share of the stolen money! 

Do you understand how powerful a demonstration of the gospel REPENTANCE is? Do you realize that it is precisely at the point where you have been wrong the most that there is the greatest potential for the display of the grace of God in the gospel? Do you realize that when the watching world sees us own up to our sins towards one another and towards them, they can only be shocked? Because they’re all about the blame game… somebody else's fault. They’re all about the talk-off (But there's a reason!); they’re all about denial (I haven't done anything wrong!) And when they hear someone own up to their sin and repent of it, it's shocking. It is an irrefutable manifestation of the power of the grace of God in the gospel in the relationships of human beings.

John is calling us to a life of that kind of repentance, where we own our sin, and because of the mercy of God to us in Jesus Christ, are able to accept it, acknowledge it, and ask forgiveness for it. John and Jesus call us to repent. True repentance recognizes the sinfulness of the heart and realizes that we are powerless to correct the situation because of the weakness and corruption of our flesh.

All we can do is cry out to God for a new heart, and He graciously provides what no one else can. He imparts a new nature to us that loves righteousness and longs to obey Him. He gives us His Holy Spirit to empower us to walk in His ways. Fruit that pleases God is observed by others, just as a tree bears fruit according to its nature, so the truly repentant soul begins to bear fruit according to this new nature.