October 10 – How to Prepare for Jesus – Luke 3
John the Baptist addresses the importance of repentance when a person is saved from Hell. A large group of people came to John to be baptized. Baptism is just an outer display of what happened on the inside of a person. John called out the hypocrisy of these people. They wanted to be baptized, but had never repented of their sin. John listed several groups of people that struggled with true repentance, and pointed out that true repentance in each group would change certain actions in their behavior. He talked about the general public taking care of the poor, the tax collectors not over charging for personal gain, and the soldiers exercising mercy, not falsely accusing, and being content with their wages. These actions should have been by-products of a repentant heart. It is very interesting that these are some of the same social issues that plague our society today. True salvation from God will bring social reform. What would happen to all of our social issues if revival swept across America and millions of people repented of their sin and trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour?
A person does not get saved by cleaning up their life and trying to obey the Bible. A person that repents of their sin, and trusts Jesus Christ as their Savior will experience the effect of true repentance in the form of trying to obey the Bible.
John called out the fake Christians by their actions. Many Christians today will experience the judgment of Hell displayed in verse 17. The process of “winnowing” is mentioned. This involved throwing grain in the air with a fan, so the wind would catch the chaff and blow it away. The chaff is the worthless husk that covers the wheat. The unquenchable fire mentioned in verse 17, is referring to the eternal lake of fire known as Hell. Only God knows when someone has truly trusted Christ as Savior and is born again, but it will be surprising to many when we all stand before God and find out just how many “Christians” will be sent to Hell because they had never truly gotten saved. This is the chaff that is being burned with fire mentioned in verse 17.
