Mar 12, 20228 min read

John the Baptist Prepares the Way for Jesus Christ. Bible Study. Luke Ch 3

Here is a teaching on chapter 3 of the book of Luke. If you want to check out previous Bible studies and chapters going forward, join our group here. Once you get added into that Facebook group, you can go to the "units" tab and you'll see all of the chapters and their study guides as they are being taught.

First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Please give us knowledge and understanding to know exactly what it is that we're reading and the wisdom to implement it in our daily lives. Lord, please lead, guide, and direct us through every aspect of our lives. Please open up our eyes, our ears, our hearts, and our minds to you Lord. I pray that whatever it is that each person is supposed to receive from this Bible study, they receive it and they implement it in their daily lives. I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Luke Chapter 3:

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Phillip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene-- 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. 3 He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet:

"A voice of one calling in the desert,

'Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.

5 Every valley shall be filled in,

every mountain and hill made low.

The crooked road shall become straight,

the rough ways smooth.

6 And all mankind will see God's salvation.' "

7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

10 "What should we do then?" the crowd asked.

11 John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"

13 "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.

14 Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?"

He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--

be content with your pay."

15 The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. 16 John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." 18 And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.

19 But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the other evil things he had done, 20 Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.

Alright, so I'm going to stop right there and discuss these verses with you guys here. So in verses 2-3, it was time for John to start preparing the way for the Lord

so he went into all the country around the Jordan and he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In verses 4-6, this scripture is from Isaiah chapter 40 verses 3-5. So John was preparing the way for the Lord Jesus and was preaching about repentance and forgiveness of their sins. In verses 7-9, John saw these crowds coming and he referred to them as a brood of vipers. It says in Matthew chapter 3 that whenever John saw the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming is when he called them the brood of vipers. So john was saying this to the religious leaders. John was very outspoken, he always spoke the truth, and he knew that these religious people were full of hate and greed. He was preaching a baptism of repentance and they had to truly repent and with true repentance,

you produce fruit, which one of the fruits of repentance would be love.

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In verse 8, John wanted to make it clear that being a descendant of Abraham doesn't lead to salvation and they weren't entitled to anything because they were descendants of Abraham. Jesus is the only one that can save us and they had to turn their lives around and turn away from sin and turn towards God. They couldn't just continue to live their lives the way that they did and expect to just be saved because of their forefathers and that they were descendants of Abraham. They had to repent and truly change their ways and turn towards God, and then they could be saved by Jesus Christ. In verse 9 where it says "the ax is already at the root of the trees," God's wrath was ready to be against them if they didn't show repentance and turn away from sin.

In verses 10-11, they asked what they should do and John was telling them to show kindness and compassion to others and love and serve others. In verses 12-14, tax collectors and some soldiers asked him what they should do and he was telling them to live an honest life. Then in verses 15-18, the people were wondering in their hearts if John could be the Christ, so he denied being the Christ and he said that the Christ will come and he will baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ would baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit and his fire would purify and destroy all the things that are lacking. Whenever we're saved by Jesus and were baptized, he washes us whiter than snow and he purifies us and all of the sinful things, the things that are of this world, and the things that are in the sinful nature he destroys. We are dead in our sins and alive in Jesus.

Then in verses 19-20, John was locked up in prison for rebuking Herod and all of the evil things he had done. Herodias was his niece and he had seduced her from his half-brother and married her. Whenever John had confronted him about this and spoke the truth of this, he locked him in prison to shut him up.

21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

23 Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought of Joseph,

(and I'm going to skip through all these other names and just go down to verse 38)

38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God."

Alright, so those are all the verses of chapter 3 of the book of Luke, but I'm going to discuss these verses with you guys here. So in verse 21 we see that John baptized Jesus. Jesus didn't get baptized because he was a sinner, but he did this to identify with the sinful man. Jesus was perfect. He was fully man and fully God and he lived a sinless life. But he came on this earth to save sinners and he loved and served sinners and wanted to completely identify with the sinful man. In verse 22, at the moment where the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in bodily form and a voice came from heaven, this is showing the Holy Trinity altogether. God the Father in heaven, speaking to God the Son (Jesus Christ,) and God the Holy Spirit which was in the form of a dove.

Verses 23-38 show the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Mary, Jesus's mother was engaged to be married to Joseph. So Jesus's worldly father was Joseph and Joseph was a descendant of David. Also, we see that he was a descendant of Adam, which was the son of God. In Genesis, we see that God made Adam from the dust and that was the first man that God had ever made.

Here are 3 takeaways to write down:

1. John the Baptist preached a baptism of repentance

- He baptized with water and he prepared the way for Jesus.

2. Salvation only comes from Jesus Christ

- It doesn't matter who we come from, where we come from, or who our forefathers are, we can only be saved by asking Jesus to come into our hearts and forgive us of our sins.

- Jesus Christ is the only one that can save us.

3. Jesus completely identifies with sinful men

- Jesus walked on this earth and lived a sinless life, but he didn't only associate with righteous people. We're all sinners and he identified with sinners.

- He loved and served sinners and preached and performed these miraculous signs and ultimately died on the cross to forgive us of our sins so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life in heaven with him and God the Father.

Luke Ch 3 Study Guide

What did John the Baptist do to prepare the way for the Lord?
Why did John the baptist call the Pharisees and Sadducees a brood of vipers?
What kind of baptism did John preach?
Salvation can only be attained by?
In verse 22, what is this showing?
What is your biggest takeaway from this Bible study?

So that concludes this Bible study on chapter 3 of the Book of Luke. Tomorrow we're going to go into chapter 4 part 1, so make sure you stay tuned for that.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

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