Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello everyone and welcome back to the Point Church Podcast as we continue on. ⁓ and our readings for Lint series where we're doing forty days, forty podcasts to jumpstart this thing with Pastor Sam here. Thank you for joining us this ⁓ wherever you are. And ⁓ today we're starting in Matthew three. We're picking up where we left off. and this is where it's it's gonna get really interesting. We're gonna meet someone who is a vital part of this story. ⁓ So yeah, starting ⁓ chapter three of Matthew and verse one, it reads, In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near, for he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said, A voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord, make his path straight. So let's stop there and see. What insight you can give us, Pastor Sam? ⁓ yeah, insight that I would say is we're introduced to John, who Matthew doesn't tell us who he is, but the other gospel writers say he's Jesus' cousin. So he's one who is called by God. He's a new Elijah. He is a ⁓ reminiscent of the prophet of old that will be described as, you know, ⁓ in the next few verses. But Elijah's considered the The greatest of all the prophets. And John is like in that same spirit announcing the coming of what he calls the kingdom of heaven is near, but then he immediately so it's almost like he's describing the kingdom of heaven, and then he says, he. Again, linking that the kingdom of heaven and Jesus are like interlocked. Like you you can't understand the kingdom of heaven without understanding Jesus. And so it's not just like heaven, this ethereal wings and angels and things like that, but that the kingdom of heaven is the presence of God. And the presence of God incarnate has come and is near now. And John is telling everyone, get ready. Like he's here. Yeah. Yeah. And like to give context, about how old is Jesus now? ⁓ about thirty. About thirty. Yeah. Yeah. So about thirty years old coming into this. And as we pick up in verse four, ⁓ it reads Now John had a camel hair garment with a leather belt around his waist. And his food was locust and wild honey. I wanna pause there because lovely. This is yeah lovely diet. And yeah, this is important. And you know, just seeing this description, you're like, okay, he looks like you know, just a wild man. He looks like you. Yeah, looks like me. Yep. And so have I've been compared to. ⁓ but why is this so important? Why is this description of him so important? Yeah, so ⁓ obviously he's living a very aesthetic lifestyle. Like John is not living in an air conditioned house, he's not living in the city, he's out in the wilderness. he again is hearkening back to Elijah with the camel haired shirt. ⁓ even his diet is got some symb symbolism to it, where the locust was one of the ten plagues of Egypt, you know, again demonstrating God's wrath. Yeah. And then the honey, though, is part of the land of milk and honey, which was the promised land that ⁓ God was delivering his people out of Egypt, out of slavery, into Promised land. So again, John's diet in this description is like God's wrath, God's blessing mixed into one. That you know, there's someone coming who's gonna set things right. The way that God set things right in Egypt, and where he's taking you is so good you can't even imagine it. But like so you're getting symbolism from that Exodus story in his diet. So really you have two old testament Some like ⁓ one prophet of Isaiah and then now is some Elijah, ⁓ yeah, yeah. Yeah, and then one of ⁓ Isaiah says it, but he's dressing like an Elijah. Yes, correct, correct. Yeah. Yeah. So it's really cool. And then continuing on in verse five. Then people from Jerusalem, all Judeum, and all the vicinity of the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan W River, confessing their sins. So This is the first you know, the little bit of the Jordan River and why is that so important? If someone is reading this for the first time, you know, as you continue reading, you you will understand w why the Jordan River is important, or if you go back and read the old testament, you know. But if someone's reading this for the first time, why is that so important? Yeah, the Jordan River was a significant not only landmark or waterway, but it was significant to the story of scripture. Because after Moses dies, you have Joshua who succeeds him. And this is after the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, after being sent out of Egypt. ⁓ when they cross the Jordan River, it's Joshua who leads them across the Jordan River, and on the other side of the Jordan River is the promised land. So he's taking them. Finally the journey's over. If we get on the other side of the river is the promised land, the land flowing of milk and honey, and as you remember we talked about a few days ago. That Jesus' name, Yeshua, harkens back to Joshua. So this is a new Joshua, and it's in the river, and people are hearing of this message. Something is happening. God is on the move, and it's time to come to the river and be baptized. It's Jerusalem, it's the city, it's the surrounding suburbs, and it's like the countryside. Everyone's getting this message. This this man, John, is proclaiming something is here. Something's happening. And the river is such a beautiful part ⁓ with baptism, especially back then because it's washing away the sins downstream. Yes. And so that's you know, putting that in your mind is great. and verse seven continues when he s when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Broad vipa vipers who warned you to flee from the coming wrath. There for produce fruit consistent with repentance. Yes. So throwing out some stuff. Yeah. So this what John is doing in the river is how we as Christians tend to think about baptism more. Yeah. But at that time that's not how they they wouldn't have used the language of baptism. What they would have used in that culture would have been from the Torah where it talks about ceremonial cleansing. ⁓ there were certain ⁓ times in people's lives where you had to be ceremonially clean in order to come and worship God in the temple to to be ready for worship. And ⁓ for those of you who've ever seen the show The Chosen, there's a scene at the end of one of ⁓ I think it's season three, where Eden, ⁓ Peter's wife, has just had a miscarriage. And she goes into the it's called the mikvah. She goes into the mikveh, which is a bit almost like a bath in the ⁓ synagogue, and this is her processing her grief, this is her processing the loss of a child, and this is in step with ⁓ becoming ceremonially clean. So there is this understanding of water that cleanses you, but it's a ritualistic cleaning. What John is doing is offering a spiritual cleaning, a spiritual purification. Come, repent of your sins, turn to God, and let those be washed away. Now, he's getting this audience, because like we said, it's Jerusalem, it's Judea, it's the surrounding vicinity of the Jordan. Everyone's coming. And if you can believe it, some of these religious leaders are a little threatened by the competition. They're a little threatened that his star is rising and theirs isn't. So they're like, let's go check him out. Let's go see what he's all about. And he calls them a brood of vipers, which is Harsh language. ⁓ because a brood of vipers were the children of a mother viper, and the way they were born was they devoured their mother from the inside out. So he's like, That's what you all are like. You're you're like so wicked. Again, to the s imagery of a snake and the gar he's like, You're you're like that. Like you're div you're devouring God, essentially, with your actions in order to get this fame, keep your power, all this stuff like that. And he says, Who Told you to run from the coming wrath. Yeah. Like it's basically like they heard the message too, that God's coming, He's gonna set things right. And the people who are most in trouble are the religious leaders because they were not doing what they were supposed to be doing. Maybe they weren't breaking the the commands, the commandments, but they certainly were not helping the people in their faith journey. So he has got some very, very harsh language for them. And did we say we read up to Verse eight. Verse eight, yeah, we're about to pick up in verse nine. So verse eight talks about ⁓ therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. This is again John's overall message is repent, repent. The kingdom of heaven is here. That when you as a human being come into the presence of God, when you have a encounter with the living God, it should change you. It should mark you. your heart should be softened. You should it's like falling in love. You should act differently. That's what repentance does. It's ⁓ the same thing we tell our kids. Like you have to say sorry, but then also like act different. Like if you just go and do the same thing again, how sorry are you? Yeah. And what John is saying is don't just become ritualistically clean, become spiritually clean. When you're spiritually clean, you're gonna do things differently. You're not gonna act the same. And he's like, produce fruit in your life, proof of action that your heart has been changed. And he's telling that to the religious leaders. Yeah, so like the top dogs. Yeah, like he's slamming them. And he is coming out with looking like a wild man. Yeah. And so it's yeah, that dynamic of like these powerful men and then this w wild guy. Yeah. The ultimate outsider basically. The ultimate outsider talking. It's a it's a scene. Yes, and but it's beautiful because he's not condemning them to say, you missed it. He's like, Repent, even you. Yeah. Even you, you still have a chance to repent. Giving that option. Yes. And Jesus does that over and over and over in his ministry later on. He's like, ⁓ I just wish that you people like you have all the zeal, but you don't have the heart. Like, and you've fallen in love with the wrong things. But he's like, But I've still come to even save you. So good. And picking up in verse nine, it reads, And don't presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. The axe is already at the root of the tree, therefore every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. This is John again speaking to the Pharisees. Yeah, because what they would say was their big claim to fame, if you will, what qualifies them as godly special people was Who their ancestors were. Mm-hmm. ⁓ hey, we came from Abraham, and Abraham made the Yeah. God made his promise to Abraham and therefore, hey, we get to enjoy the blessing too. And John's like, Hey, quit it. Like God's family is expanding. Yeah. And what he's looking for are not people who are blood related but show no faith, show no heart, show no love for God. He's looking for more like people like the wise men that we talked about, who are not Abraham's descendants. Yeah. They come and they worship and they give gifts to God, like to Jesus. And so ⁓ like ⁓ John is very clear. He's like, just because and we it speaks to us today, just because you might have grown up in the church, just because your parent might have been a pastor or Sunday school teacher, or you went through confirmation class or whatever, that ain't gonna do it. Yeah. That's not gonna cut it. God is looking for your heart. He his family is one of people who Want to be in the family, not just writing on religious coattails of their family, their parents, or their church attendance. He's like, No, I want your heart. And he's like, So even the most religious people, he's like, No, give me a relationship. Give me your heart. Yeah. He's a relational God. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's so good. Continuing on in verse eleven, it says, I baptize you with water for repentance. Again, that spiritual cleansing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove his sandals. And here we I mean we could put the context together. He's talking about Jesus. Yeah. But why is that what is he trying to tell them here? ⁓ this the person coming after me is so incredible that the lowest job that you could do as a servant or a slave was to remove the sandals. of the master or the homeowner or the special guest because they're open toed, you know, generally and you've been walking around in the dust and the dirt and everything that goes with it. And he's like, I he's so high that by comparison, I'm not even worthy to touch the lowest part of his sandals. And the amazing thing is ⁓ but what do we see Jesus doing? And I know we're not there yet, but right before he dies, he takes the bowl and And he takes the towel and he removes the sandals of his disciples. So it's like Jesus' level of humility. It's like he's all the way up here, but his humility is so low that he takes on the lowest, lowest job to serve his disciples. So amazing. And you know, I'm gonna throw this one to you because I know you love this next part. So I'm gonna let you read it and let you take it off. Yeah, absolutely. So it picks up. ⁓ it says, He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Again, that comes back to and when we're not there yet, we're jumping ahead a little bit, but Acts, you know, the tongues of fire falling, and that's the Holy Spirit's arrival. But verse twelve really gets my heart ⁓ enraptured. It says, His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out. ⁓ It's beautiful, beautiful language. It doesn't seem very beautiful language, but what he's talking about is a winnowing shovel, or others might say winnowing fork is a ⁓ pitchfork. Yeah. So a big tool that you would have out on the farm. And what you would use the pitchfork, the winnowing fork for in those days and still today is you would have a threshing floor. Threshing floor is several feet wide, ⁓ and you throw every bit of the grain that's been cut down out in the field, you throw it in there, and then you have a winnower who is taking the winnowing fork, scooping it up, and throwing it into the air. If you go to subparts of the world today, that's still how they do agriculture. And the and the reason they do that is because you throw everything up in the air and it begins to separate and pull apart. So the chaff is all like what you don't want to eat. That that gets blown away by the wind. So you did it during a certain time of the day when his wind is blowing. And what comes down because it's too heavy is the wheat, the pureness. It's the grain. It's it's like what you would want to eat, what you would want to consume. And the the threshing floor was just like the place where it got separated. The the good gets kept and the bad gets blown away. And it's most prominent in the book of Ruth, where ⁓ they're in a famine in the book of Ruth. This is again David's ⁓ great grandma and this is Jesus' ancestor, she's mentioned Matthew one, but during this famine she's working at the threshing floor, and the author seems to put that as an example in Ruth's story, and then John uses it here to say what God will do is he will separate the wheat from the chaff. Now What that means for us today is when we experience trials, tribulations, trouble, difficult times in life. ⁓ I thought I'd be married by now, you know, thought my life would look a little different, thought I'd have that job. I thought so and so was gonna come through, whatever. Just the disappointments, the heartache of life that we sometimes don't know what to do with that. Our world is terrible about understanding suffering. And pain. We just live a we just live lives of comfort and distraction because we're like, it shouldn't be like this. I should never hurt. I should always be happy all the time. But what the Bible does is actually give us this beautiful idea of suffering, which is James Jesus' half brother says, consider it pure joy when you face, you know, suffering of all kinds. Because what it's doing is that that winnowing, that throwing up in the air, is like your life being blown up. And it's very painful. Like no one's like Hey Jesus, can you blow up my life and make it very, very painful? I would love if you answered that prayer. He's pretty good at answering it, but just be careful if you do pray it. But it's pure joy because it's getting rid of the chaff. That's the only way to get rid of the chaff in your soul. It's the only way to get rid of the chaff in your heart, the chaff in your life is saying, like, God, I submit to you because I've lost total control. I feel like we literally use the phrase, everything's up in the air right now. We do. We use that all the time. And then it's like or I feel like part of me is being blown away. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But it's the it's it's your sin. It's it's the part that's destroying you. It's the part that that God does not need you to hold on to any longer. And that only comes through suffering. People typically only change if they're under enough pain. Yeah. And but in our pain is when God shows himself often most clearly. In our suffering is when we come through on the other side being like, you know, I would have never wanted it. I would have never picked it. Mm-hmm. But I'm so grateful because it got me here. Yeah. And I have a deeper trust in God. I've I've turned away from the distractions or the things that were pulling me away from God. And so this winnowing fork goes exactly with the message of ⁓ the tree with the axe. It goes exactly with a call to repentance. It's saying, God Are you willing to blow away the chaff in my life? And am I willing to let you do that? I'm gonna come into a relationship with you where you're going to wreck my life, but I trust you enough to do that because I want to follow you. And I want everything that's not of you to get blown away. And that's a scary prayer. Yeah. But I really wonder if that isn't what we're missing. in our world today. Yeah. Is people willing to pray the prayer, God, I trust you. Mm-hmm. There may be chaff in my life I don't even realize. Mm-hmm. But I do know I want the goodness of you. I want the wheat. I want only what's beneficial for me. And I know that comes only from your hand. But I also know it's gonna be painful. But again, Emmanuel God with us, you will do no more than you have to, but you will do it. Yeah. And so I I think something for us to consider is I I'm not gonna say anyone needs to pray the prayer like God make me suffer more, but I would say perhaps a question for us to wrestle with is are we willing to let him throw everything in the air? Yeah. Are we willing as Jesus followers to say, I repent of my sin? I don't even know all the sin I have. It's probably ⁓ worse than I think it is, but I've seen something from you and I've experienced love that's greater than anything I've ever experienced. I'm willing to go through this process of becoming more like you. And it's gonna look like threshing and it's gonna look like pain, but on the other side, it's gonna be so worth it. So I I really wonder like, is there areas of our lives, dear listeners, we're like, I need to trust God with this. I need to let Him throw this up in the air and anything that comes back to me. Is from him and I can trust it and it's good and it's beautiful. And anything that he blows away, okay. Yeah. I trust the process. Yeah. And you know, as we close out this episode, there's a key word that you said in there is when. It's not if. Yep. When those bad things come. Yep. It's kinda up to you to decide. Yeah. Do you want gotta be with you in that or are you gonna try to do it yourself? Because that's the thing, like the world will throw you up in the air whether you want it to or not. Yeah. It's the way Only when Jesus gets the fork will He send the wind again the Spirit to blow away. Mm-hmm. So your suffering can either be a chance for you to become bitter. Mm-hmm. I was supposed to be happy. I was supposed to be this, this, that, whatever. Or you can hand the fork over to Jesus and say, Okay. Yeah. So your suffering can either be the greatest opportunity for new life and growth. And beauty and refinement, or it can be an opportunity just to become an angry, bitter person. Mm-hmm because you never fully gave him control. Amen. Well, with that we're gonna close out today and we'll catch you back tomorrow where we'll pick up in Matthew thirteen. Thanks for tuning in.