Everything Is Not Okay – 1/21/24

It was mid-February, when D. Rogozov felt a pain in the side of his of his abdomen. This is Dr. Rogozov. This sharp pain started coming and he knew exactly what it was because he had diagnosed it many times and actually performed this surgery of an appendectomy, which is removing the appendix from someone. But he was experiencing these pains himself. If Dr. Rogozov was in the civilized world, this would have been an easy peasy surgery, in and out. But Dr. Rogozov wasn’t in the civilized world. Dr. Rogozov was in the middle of Antarctica in 1961, and he was the only doctor on the expedition that he was a part of. This was, again, the middle of February, so just to paint the picture that there was no hope coming from the outside world: it took 36 days for him to get to this part of Antarctica on a ship from Russia, and no ships were scheduled to come for another year. The Antarctic Ocean is frozen at that time, and flying was impossible because of snow and because of blizzards.

So, he had two options in front of him: one was to not do anything and die or do something that had never been done in human history and perform an appendectomy on himself, take out his own appendix. I can judge from your reaction that we won’t go into much detail on this. He made a very detailed plan, and he actually had a mirror lined up so that he could see his own abdomen as he was performing surgery. A few minutes into the surgery, he realized very quickly that looking at something upside down while you’re trying to cut it is way harder than it sounds, so he ditched the mirror. He actually took off his gloves and needed to perform the surgery by feeling with his hands. This surgery took two hours. He finally got to the appendix, and at the bottom of the appendix was a horrifying thing: it was very black and stained. According to his expertise, he said he would have had about 24 more hours to live before that infected appendix burst and would have killed him. Thankfully, he completed it. Did the last stitch. Took some antibiotics and a sleep tablet, and then he went to sleep, a well-deserved sleep. Two weeks later, he was back to his normal duties.

With Dr. Rogozov and this remarkable story, in a similar way, the ministry of John the Baptist felt like a huge warning call. In a similar way, John the Baptist was letting the children of Israel know that everything might seem okay, but if something doesn’t change, it’s destruction. Everything was not okay. For Dr. Rogozov, it would have meant certain death. For John the Baptist, this was his main ministry, so we’re going to look at John 3:1 and look at two things: John’s ministry and John’s message.

We’re going to touch on John’s ministry. Look at verse one of chapter three. It says,

“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.”

So, pause for a moment. Notice how Matthew gives no context here. If you remember back in December when we started the Behold Our King study, chapter one was the genealogy and the birth of Jesus Christ. Chapter two was the flight to Egypt and the visit from the wise men. And then there’s no details given about John the Baptist’s life, about Jesus’s life, and then out of nowhere, here is John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness. So, we have to pick up a few things from other portions of Matthew, and then also from other gospels to get a fuller picture of John’s ministry, but there’s two main things amongst others that are true about John’s ministry.

Number one, it was a pointing ministry. And we’re going to see it’s a powerful ministry as well. But the first one is it’s a pointing ministry. Look down at verse three. It says this,

“For this is he [talking about John] who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.”‘”

So John’s ministry was pointing to one thing which is the coming Messiah. His ministry wasn’t an end in and of itself. It had a focus, a design which was to prepare the way of the Lord, prepare the way of the Messiah. In the book of John, we get a few quotes of what John said about himself and about his ministry. So, in John 3:28, it says,

“You yourselves bear witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’”

And then in John 3:30, it says,

“‘he must increase, but I must decrease.’”

So John’s ministry was, number one, pointing.

Number two, we see it’s a powerful ministry. John’s ministry was a powerful ministry. It was powerful in at least two ways. Number one, it was prominent. Look at 3:5. It says,

“Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to meet him.”

Imagine the whole region of Greenville, the upstate, all converging in one location to see one person preaching. Imagine the thirst that must have been felt by the people at that time that everyone was going to see John. Remember, 400 years leading up to this verse, there was silence. There wasn’t a word from the Lord. There was no scripture written. There was no prophets. So, people’s hearts and minds were hungry for a word from the Lord. And then, like a strike of lightning, out of nowhere, with a rumbling thunder, comes this guy John the Baptist, preaching, stirring up the hearts of the people, agitating the religious leaders at the time, and putting fear into Roman rulers, not knowing if this was going to get out of their control or not. So, we can see it’s a prominent ministry.

The second “P” here is it has the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Look at what the angel told John’s parents when he was born. In Luke chapter 1:15 it says,

“He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.”

A side note on today, which is Sanctity of Life Sunday, that the Holy Spirit was working in him even before he was born. We know that John leapt in his mother’s womb when he was around Jesus, even before he was born. This is a huge side note for us on this Sunday: God’s plans for us don’t start the moment that we’re born. God’s plans for us start before the foundations of the world. Isn’t that incredible? Just a side note about John’s life.

Then look at the other part of the pouring out of the spirit in John’s life. It’s Luke 1:17, it says,

“He [talking about John] will go before him [talking about the Messiah] in the spirit and power of Elijah.”

Notice in verse four that he was wearing camel hair and a leather belt, he was eating locusts, his diet was locusts and wild honey, and he was preaching in the wilderness (that’s where he lived). We know that from verse one. Get that description in your mind of this guy, and then picture him in downtown Greenville on a Friday night and you and your family on date night, walking down, encountering John. My thought when I would see this guy would be, he’s got a screw loose, and to walk on the other side of the road. What’s fascinating—remember the 400 years of silence—is that when the children of Israel would see him, they would think, “Oh, that’s the same description of Elijah. That guy reminds me about what I know of the prophet Elijah.” They would have a completely different view of him. So, that’s just a snapshot of John and his ministry.

What was John’s message? And this is where we’re going to park today. What was John’s message? What was John’s message to Israel at that time? And then what in John’s message does God want us to hear today?

To sum it up succinctly: everything is not okay. Just like that pain shooting up in the abdomen, everything was not okay. Israel was not okay, and John exposed two things: their current condition and then the second thing was the coming catastrophe. Their current condition, and then the coming catastrophe.

John exposed what things were really like now, not what they seemed. What were they really like? Look down at verse two, just some observations from John’s message. He tells them in verse two,

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

You don’t tell somebody to repent— which is an old-school word for “turning” that we’re going to look at here in just a few more details in a moment. You don’t tell somebody that unless the direction that they were heading was the wrong direction. He’s telling them, repent.

Number two is in verse three:

“Make his paths straight.”

Again, you don’t have to make something straight that’s already straight. It was crooked. There was something wrong that needed to be fixed.

Look at verse seven. He calls them a brood of vipers, speaking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. That’s like calling them a nest of venomous snakes, is what John greets them with. These are the religious leaders that were used to being called Rabbi, a term of respect. These were the same guys that were used to getting the best seats, the prominent seats up front at any gathering. This is how John greets them, and it’s the same way Jesus greeted them in Matthew 12. It’s like John was saying, you look good on the outside, but don’t be mistaken, you’re working against the kingdom of God. Your heritage, your background isn’t going to get you anywhere. Your heritage in your current state isn’t Abraham primarily. Calling them a brood of vipers is like saying you’re offspring of Satan. You’re working against the kingdom of God. That’s your heritage the way you are right now.

Look at verse nine. He says,

“Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’”

John was making a preemptive strike. It’s like saying, I know what you’re going to say. You think because Abraham is your father and because Abraham promised to bless the whole world through the offspring of Abraham, that you are indispensable to God’s plan, regardless of your response to God. You think you’re indispensable. You have a really high view of yourself and a really low view of God. He goes on to say in verse nine,

“God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”

What’s fascinating is it’s quite possible that John would have been pointing to the 12 stones at the river Jordan that the children of Israel set up when they were crossing into Jordan as a representation of the 12 tribes of Israel, pointing to those and saying, you think you’ve figured God out, but he’s able to accomplish his plans and purposes in an unimaginable way, far beyond what we could conjure up in our own minds. They might have thought they were okay, but John is giving them a warning sign. He’s trying to shoot the pain signals to them and letting them know that something is drastically wrong. They either couldn’t feel it, or they were ignoring it and so callous to the current condition that they were actually in.

Then we also see not just the current condition but why is this such a dire situation? It’s because of the coming catastrophe, which John talked about. Look in verse seven. He called it the “wrath to come,” that there’s a judgment coming.

Verse 10,

“Every tree therefore that does not bear fruit is cut down and is thrown into the fire.”

There’s many pictures, there’s many ways to understand—that are all true—about who Jesus is. One of these pictures is that the Messiah is coming to reign, and that there’s coming a day when we are going to be looked at, and it will be decided, are you one of mine? Are you not? Are you full of my life, or are you not full of my life? This is a sobering picture where the Messiah is actually going to cut down every tree that’s not bearing fruit, that doesn’t have his life in that life.

Look at verse 12. He goes on to explain the Messiah’s

“winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear the threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

The Messiah, according to John, is pictured here as a farmer. Right now, the current state, the fields are not harvested. There’s wheat, and then there’s also something called chaff. The wheat is nutritious, it’s full of life. The chaff looks the same but has no life inside of it. Right now, they all look the same. They all look like they’re going to have the same outcome. Jesus is pictured here as a harvester who’s going to harvest the whole field and have his winnowing fork (which is like a rake), take the wheat and the chaff and throw it into the air. The wheat falls down because it’s heavy. It’s full of life and nutrition. The chaff blows away. He’ll gather the wheat to himself and the chaff, it says here, is gathered and then burned with the fire. An unquenchable fire. This is eternal separation from our creator. It seems like everything’s okay, but when the harvest comes, the real condition is manifest. It’s very clear.

The truth is, immediate life change needs to happen now—is what John was calling them for—in light of the ultimate coming of the Lord of the harvest. Because of what’s coming, we need to change now. That was true of Israel back then, and it’s true of us today. Remember, Peter last week explained that we’re no better than anyone else. All humanity is in the same boat. Israel was not okay, and in our natural state, we are not okay. Those same principles, that same message applies to us. Consider the words of Jesus from Luke 13. This was when there was a national headline in the Middle East. There was a large tower that collapsed and lots of people were killed in that calamity. People were asking Jesus,

“Jesus, what caused those specific people to die in that calamity? Were they worse sinners than other people?”

What Jesus didn’t do was go through the list and say, “Well, that guy, he was really, really bad. So that’s why he died. And this person, this is what he didn’t do.” He told them what they needed to know. This is how Jesus responded. In verse five of chapter 13 he says,

“unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

And look at Jesus words to the church in Revelation 3:16-17. He says,

“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, I need nothing, not realizing that you’re wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”

He says, “You are poor and wretched.”

Our current condition without Jesus is very dire. And in many ways, we’re no different than the children of Israel. Some of us sitting in this room right now may have a Jewish heritage and could be similar in offering that as a defense. But even if we don’t, like myself (don’t have any Jewish heritage in my blood), we definitely go through the same motions of offering these defenses to God on why we’re better than we look. Here’s just a few of them that came to mind, and it’s definitely not an exhaustive list, but coming from a Christian home. It’s easy to think I’m in already with the family of God. I don’t need to do any change in my life. Also, coming from a Christian school. Maybe we think we don’t have a criminal history or we’ve not murdered anybody. Maybe it’s easy to think I’m way less dysfunctional than my family. “If you think I’m bad, you should see my family and you would think I’m great.” Maybe we subconsciously tell God we’re not as bad as we used to be. Or there’s others that are way worse, so we’re not going to be held in judgment that much. And the last one I jotted down here is “my doctrine is correct.” Or I believe the right things. So, there’s no way that I’m not in the family of God because my doctrinal statement is airtight.

John’s message for Israel, at its core, is the same message for us that if we’re pointing to anything else to make our case before God other than Jesus Christ, we need a major wake-up call this morning. Many of us aren’t even aware of the callousness that’s building in our hearts. Just like what John explained that there were two groups in this picture, there was the wheat and the chaff. The wheat were children of God, and it was hard to decipher between the chaff and the wheat. This morning, if there’s callousness growing in our hearts, then action needs to happen today because of the coming reign of Jesus. If we’re sitting here hearing this message and we’re not in the family of God, John would have put that person in the chaff category of “they’ve never handed over their life to Jesus Christ,” action needs to happen this morning. If nothing changes, the coming judgment doesn’t change, Jesus will reign and it’s up to us— how do we respond to his call?

Whether you’re a follower of Jesus or whether you’re not in the family and you’re contemplating it and thinking about it, action needs to happen. And the beautiful part about John’s message is that dire warning that he just gave is 100% applicable to us, and also the welcome that he gave is 100% applicable to us as well. So, we’re thankful this morning that Israel wasn’t okay, we’re not okay, but it’s very clear from John’s message that Jesus made a way for us to be okay before the Lord. Like Peter mentioned last week in Romans 3:24-25, he said, we’re

“justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation [which it means to appease the wrath of God] by his blood, to be received by faith.”

Not our background, not a correct doctrinal statement, not our family lineage, not the things that we do. This gift of God is received by faith and faith alone, and there’s no justification that we can add to that. That increases or decreases Christ’s finished work on the cross. It doesn’t matter how good of a background we come from or how bad of a background we come from, we all come to Jesus in the same gateway. Billy Graham used to say the foot of the cross is level ground. It’s the same for every human being who’s ever lived. So, John’s warning was the same and John’s welcome, his call to respond, was the same.

To remember John’s call from this text, we’re going to use the acronym. Try not to chuckle: M.M.A.

The first “M” is for mind. That’s taken from verse two when John says to repent. Repentance can be defined as a change of mind. It’s our minds realigning with God’s truth. If you’ve not met her before, she’s a wonderful woman, her name is Heather Stemann, and she told me something about three years ago that didn’t click for me then but has been sinking in slowly over the past three years. She said, “Any time we sin, there’s something off with our theology.” Any time we sin, there’s something off or incorrect about what we believe about God. Let me give you a scenario:

Every time I’m rude or irritable to my wife, Tammi, I’m not just being rude and irritable. Down, down, down at its core, there’s something off and incorrect about what I believe about God. For instance, in that moment I’m believing that my opinion, my desires, my thoughts are much more important than Tammi and her thoughts and her needs. And that God, even though I wouldn’t articulate it like this in that moment, I believe that God values me and my priorities way more than her. So, what repentance looks like in that specific scenario is me realigning my mindset with the truth that God is way bigger. It’s his plan, his power that’s in control, and I just get to be a part of that, that God views me and my wife on the same level playing field when it comes to the way he values us. But in that moment, I’m buying that lie that my priorities are way more important. I’m buying it hook, line, and sinker and it’s affecting her, it’s affecting my children, and until there’s a realignment of that truth, I’ll just continue in this sin. That’s one instance of a changing of mind and what repentance can look like. So, that’s the first “M.”

Then in M.M.A., the second “M” is for mouth. We get that from verse six, which is confessing their sins and being baptized. Confession was a major part of what John was calling the children of Israel to do, and what he’s calling us to do even today. There’s a pastor who was a former cop in Washington, D.C., and he described this concept of confession in a really helpful way. He said when they would have a suspected murderer, they would bring him in, and they would have the evidence against him and witnesses against him. They needed a confession. So, they would sit him down in a room, give him a piece of paper and a pen, and say, write your confession. Write down what happened. Tell the truth about what happened. If he did that, that would be a confession.

If that same guy took the piece of paper and wrote down, “I’m really, really, really, really sorry. And I promise to never do it again.” That could be like remorse, and there’s absolutely a place for remorse, understanding how have we impacted other people with our sin, but when it comes to confession, that’s telling the truth to God. Part of that in James 5:16 talks about confessing our sins to each other as well, not for forgiveness, but in James 5:16 it says, “for healing,” that there’s something healing about that. Confession isn’t purely an obligation and a command, it’s a gift that God gives us to free us from what’s been enslaving us. It’s a gift, like Antone Goyak taught a few months ago, the gift of repentance, the gift of confession.

Sitting in a men’s group about ten years ago, the question came up when one of the guys asked, “How much should I confess?” And I remember thinking, that’s a good question. How much should I confess? The wise answer from the leader was not telling him, “Confess this, don’t confess that.” The answer was, how much do you want to be free? Let that determine how much you confess. So, that’s the “M” for repentance, the change of mind. The other “M” is a mouth telling the truth about what we do to God. And then the “A” is for action.

Action. Look at verse eight. John says,

“bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

This whole process can’t just be lip service. It has to be a change of mind, telling the truth in confession and then a change of lifestyle. Paul knew this in Ephesians chapter 4:28. He said,

“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”

Bearing fruit and keeping with repentance isn’t simply not doing the bad thing anymore. Bearing fruit and keeping with repentance, according to Paul, is using those same talents, skills, strength, energy to be a generous person, to use what God’s given you to bless those around you. Instead of being a thief, becoming a source of life, a source of giving, a source of generosity. That’s what repentance would look like in that situation.

This also aligns with what Jesus said about Zacchaeus. You remember Zacchaeus, the wee little man. “The wee little man was he.” When he put his faith in Jesus, it didn’t stop there with a prayer. He went back and gave four times back to everybody he stole. When Jesus was witnessing the change in Zacchaeus, his life, this is what he said in Luke 19:9. He said,

“Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.”

Think back with me: we saw the M.M.A. The mind needs to change in repentance. The mouth needs to tell the truth with confession. And then our actions need to align with bearing fruit and keeping with repentance. So, with John’s message in mind, go back with me to the Dr. Rogozov story because, in some ways, we’re like him. We’ve got a problem. We’ve got an issue. Maybe we’re callous to it at the moment, but we’ve got an issue. The main difference between Dr. Rogozov and ourselves is it’s not just our appendix that’s in a bad state. It’s our whole soul, isn’t it? And the truth is that we have some options like he did. We could do nothing and just continue on our path that we’re on and change nothing, and we know the outcome of that. Some could choose to try to fix themselves like he did, which really isn’t an option because it’s not something we can do in and of ourselves. Or the third option, which is submit ourselves to the only one who can truly heal us. In this picture, that would be the equivalent of not trying to take the scalpel to ourselves, not trying to make justifications for ourselves, but actually hand over the scalpel to the only physician who could truly heal us in a way much deeper than just a one-time surgery for true healing. The truth is that we need to make life change now, in our immediate future, because of the reign of Jesus coming.

Sitting in a room like this, I’m confident that there are people that John would call wheat, that are followers of Jesus, and people that John would consider chaff. All looks the same, but there’s coming a day where it’s going to be really clear. When Jesus makes that separation and makes that decision and that judgment, they will be cast away. John’s plea is the same plea we’re making today: take action. Don’t let this be a time where you just let it go in one ear and out the other without doing anything about it. Today, the offer of salvation is available to you. Not to do anything. Not to give any money. It’s simply to put your faith in Jesus. Hand over your life to him and receive his gift of salvation. What he did on the cross, believing that it’s true not just in general, but it’s true for you specifically, hand over your life to him and allow him to be the Lord of your life. He promises that once you’re in the center of his hand, nobody can ever take you out of the center of his hand. How amazing is that? If that’s you, take action. Make today the day.

Also, if you’re sitting and you’re like, I’m a follower of Jesus, but I can feel a callousness in my heart. I would just encourage you to consider asking the Holy Spirit— and we’re going to be able to take time in just a few minutes. We’ll have extended time where you don’t need to sing. They’re going to be singing over us. Ask the Lord a few questions. Where does the Holy Spirit want you to change? Is there a conversation that needs to happen today between you and someone else? Maybe you’ve hurt them, you’ve sinned against them, or vice versa, and the conversation shouldn’t be put off into the future. What truth do you need to be honest about with God?

We’re going to have time to respond here and be thinking about that mind, mouth, actions. The M.M.A. Is it possible that you’re believing a lie today, this morning, and need to be honest about? Okay, what do I actually believe about God. If I’m acting like this or if this emotion is overwhelming my life and affecting those around me, what do I believe about God? Have I thought about that? Does that lie need to be challenged with God’s truth and then live in that truth? Being honest about it with God, confessing with our mouth, saying it to God. And then with our actions, is there something that needs to change? Very practically, with the way that we’ve been living. Or things that we’ve been taking in that we’re okay with and have been callous toward that. As we prepare our hearts to respond here in just a few minutes, I want to close in a word of prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to help us with this. Let’s pray.

Lord, we’re just grateful that you’re so gracious that you don’t allow us to just go on living the way that we naturally live but you give these gracious warning signs. It’s your grace that we’re in need of. Without your intervention in our lives, we know we’re dead in our trespasses and we’re dead and our sins. I lift up North Hills in this moment and ask God that you would help us to not ignore the warning signs that you’re giving, not ignore the voice of the Holy Spirit saying, this thing needs to change. This relationship needs to change. This action needs to happen today, and it’s not a heavy hand from you. This is a gracious gift from you to us to not only escape the future judgment, but to escape ourselves. Right now, you want to free us from ourselves. You want control. You know how to operate on us. You know how our lives should really be lived.

So, help us, God, to fix our eyes on you and allow everything else in this world to fall into the periphery. As we come to you in the next few minutes, I just pray that whatever action needs to happen right now would happen. That if there’s somebody in here who doesn’t know if they’re a follower of Jesus, that they would go ahead. Even though it might be awkward to slip out of the aisle, come up front, talk with me, that they would talk with Tim Wadsworth up here on the front row and just hand over their life to you. I pray that this would be the morning that they would do that, and they don’t put this off any longer. And God, if there’s any confession, if there’s any repentance that needs to happen, that this morning would be the morning in which that happens, that they wouldn’t leave this auditorium in the same state in which they came, but that they would just lay everything out before you here this morning and allow your life and your light to shine brightly into their lives. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.