There was once a young man who opted out of society. He cut himself off from social life and chose to live in one of the most barren, desolate spots possible. He wore clothes taken from the animal world leather and camel hair clothes and he ate food from the insect world. He never cut his hair, not once, it grew very long and he never drank alcohol, he vowed not to even eat a grape. He lived a life of a hermit from his youth, yet he was never alone. Because he opted out of society and because he went to live in that place, where there was absolutely nothing to distract him, nothing to look at, nothing to do, no sports to play, no books to read, he had absolutely nothing but God.

So he spent his time with God and for maybe 20 years, God shared secrets with that young man. I wonder if God sent him into the wilderness because those secrets were so exciting, so tremendous, if God had told me these secrets, I would have been round to the next door neighbour to tell them. But this young man had to keep the secrets to himself and God went on showing him His, God’s, heart and mind. And this young man must have been bursting to go and tell people, but God said, ‘No stay here, stay here and wait my time. 

He was a man who, like Paul was taught directly by God, he had direct revelation from the Almighty.’

And like I was saying a couple of weeks ago, if you want to hear from God, if you want to know what God is saying to you, if you want to hear God’s secrets, the only way is by spending time away from distractions and with God. Quality time with your Bible, in prayer, with God, do it and you will hear. 

It was around the time of his 30th birthday when God whispered something into his ear; ‘Its time to tell: go’

And this man, who as you might have guess, we know as John the Baptist, appeared on the scene with a message from God. 

Now John the Baptist’s ministry was a simple one. It was to get people prepared for the coming of his cousin Jesus. So that Jesus’ ministry would be more effective.

John’ job was to preach repentance from sin, which means turn away from sin and turn back to God, so that people would surrender their lives to Jesus as their king. His message was ‘repent for the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God has arrived’. Jesus, God’s king had arrived and people needed to get in a right place in their minds, in their thinking, in their attitudes in order to bend the knee and submit to him as king. 

And if John hadn’t been effective in doing that and managing to persuade people to turn away from sin and back to God, then when Jesus came along a short time later, Jesus would have got much smaller crowds listening to him, he would have had fewer people following him, fewer disciples. Why? Because Jesus wouldn’t have come to a people who were prepared. Whose hearts were ready for him. Who were willing to receive him as their king and submit to his teaching.

You see sin is a blocker to Jesus. Sin will block Jesus moving in your life. Do you want Jesus to move in your life? You must get rid of your sin. You must repent.

John fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 40 where Isaiah says; ‘A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. ‘

If you go to Jerusalem today from the town of Jericho, you can go in 20 minutes today by car or coach. The coach goes straight up that road for 15 miles along a wide road that hardly bends. It was built by the Americans for King Hussein of Jordan, when that part of the country was in Jordan. If you go along that road, you can look out of the coach and see the old road up to Jerusalem that winds along and then even the very old Roman road that really does wind in and out of all the ravines as it goes up to the city. King Hussein wanted a road that would take him straight up, direct to the capital, so they filled in the valleys and brought the mountains low and made the rough places smooth and the highway was there for the king, leading right into Jerusalem.

John the Baptist went to the lowest river in the Earth, to the river Jordan which was about 200m below sea level. Far down. It is to me a symbol of the humility that is needed, to really get rid of sin. We need to get low, we can’t stay high and full of pride, we must get down on our knees on our faces, it’s a humbling thing really repenting of sin. The people confessed their sins, out loud in John’s hearing and probably in other people’s hearing and then he dipped them in the water. That is a very humbling thing to do to make your sins known to others, in public. But the people were hungry to get right with God. They were willing not to compromise but to get serious with God. To stop mucking around and doing their own thing, but to do real business with God.

Not all of them were. Some came along with false hearts, not ready to humble themselves and repent. Like snakes fleeing out of the woodland fleeing from a forest fire, the peoples’ religious leaders, the Sadducees and Pharisees were coming to hear John preach and watch what was going on. These were the leaders of religion, the people who were believed to be most serious about pursuing God and John calls them a brood of vipers! The religious establishment had got corrupt and God was bypassing it and organising a revival outside of the walls of the church you could say and out in the country.

John said; Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe 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.’

The Pharisees and Sadducees thought that because they were Jews and descended from Abraham, they were accepted by God. They had a false sense of security, they thought they were ok. But both John and Jesus said no- God is looking for fruit and if a person doesn’t bear fruit then they will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Every tree, every person who bears no fruit is in danger of that fate.

The mention of fire points to the reality of Hell. Heaven is real but Hell is just as real. While heaven is a place where God is near and enjoyed and which is absolutely heavenly. Hell is a place cut where people are cut off from God, and it is absolutely hellish. 

And John is warning the Pharisees and Sadducees that they are in danger of ending up there. 

In the end it is Jesus who decides who ends up in Heaven and who ends up in Hell. John tells us about the man who is coming after him, meaning Jesus:

‘His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

In Bible days, the winnowing fork was used to toss harvested grain into the air, allowing the wind to blow away the lighter chaff while the heavier grain fell back to the ground. It was done on a flat piece of ground called the threshing floor. 

The heavier grain was what was wanted, but the lighter chaff was no good, once it was separated it would be burned.

And what John the Baptist is telling us is that there is one coming after him Jesus, who will one day separate the good from the bad, the wheat from the chaff. He will take the chaff into his barn, into the Kingdom of Heaven, but the chaff, the rest will be thrown into the fire.

Here is a picture of what John describes.

There is a day coming when God will judge all the evil of this world through his son Jesus Christ. Jesus the Saviour of the World is also Jesus the Judge of the world. And God’s anger at all human wickedness will be expressed on that great Day and those who haven’t truly repented and turned will receive full punishment for their wrong doing. That’s the clear teaching of John the Baptist and Jesus himself and Paul and the apostles, its absolutely certain one day, maybe long after we have died, who knows, it will happen. The book of Hebrews tells us Chapter 9:27- ‘people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.’ 

And on that day of Judgement the wheat will be separated from the chaff. 

Its not pleasant to think about and many people find it offensive. People acknowledge that evil deserves punishment but they think the Bible punishment of Hell is too severe.Especially a Hell that lasts eternally, which is what the Bible preaches. How can a God of love send people to Hell they say?

But God is just as well as loving, he will only ever give anyone the punishment they deserve. Not anything more. He is not cruel, he is totally the opposite, he is merciful, but he isalso just. He is also righteous. He is also holy. And so the worst anyone will get at the judgement is justice. But the problem humanity has is that our sins are bad, worse than we imagine. And so God’s justice is more severe than we tend to think. 

Thank God he sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins, that’s all I can say. He offers all humanity a way out, for all who truly repent and believe and go on believing in Jesus we will face no condemnation on that great Day of Judgement. 

In the English village of Epstow in Bedfordshire in about 1650 lived a young, married man called John Bunyan. He was out on the village green playing a game having heard a sermon in the village church which stirred up his conscience, when he seemed to hear a voice coming from heaven which said: ‘Will you leave your sins and go to Heaven or have your sins and go to Hell?’ It came right into his heart and it was the moment he realised what was at stake. He tried heard to be good, but could never seem to be good enough. Until one day he heard some poor women sitting at the doors of their houses, ‘talking about the things of God’. They were speaking about how their own attempts to be right with God were not sufficient, and they emphasised the saving power of Jesus.

To John Bunyan this was a new idea. He had thought he could win his way to Heaven by his own efforts, but here he is hearing a different way of salvation, through trusting in Christ. So he began to spend time with these women and go to a church which preached salvation through faith in Jesus and his work on the cross. But poor John Bunyan could not find peace, he had what felt like a burden of sin and could never feel he was at peace with God. Until one day after reading a lot of scripture one verse in the Bible burst upon him and went from his head to his heart. The verse made that journey the 12 inches from his head to his heart. It was the words ‘My grace is sufficient for you.’

And at that moment he had confidence he had accepted the free gift of forgiveness by Christ, the gift of grace and was saved. A peace entered his heart, he had confidence in his salvation.

John Bunyan later in his life wrote a book called Pilgrim’s progress which was for many years the second most popular book in the English language after the Bible. 

Well back to Matthew and the preaching of John the Baptist. John prophesied something about Jesus which was that he would baptise people with the Holy Spirit and fire.

That word baptise means immerse or soak, or drench. So Jesus would soak people not in water but in the Holy Spirit. He will give us his Holy Spirit who will empower us to be Holy from the inside. 

Well the day came when Jesus himself came to the river Jordan to be baptised in water by John. And when John immersed Jesus in the water and Jesus had just come up out of the water and was standing on the bank of the river, the Holy Spirit came down upon him, gently like a dove descending and the voice of his Father sounded from heaven saying; ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’

Jesus was getting immersed, baptised by the Holy Spirit. He had just been baptised in water by John, but now his Father was baptising, immersing him a second time, with the Holy Spirit and at the same time his Father was affirming to Jesus and all who were listening how much he loved him and how pleased He was with him. 

When a Christian gets immersed in the Holy Spirit, then he or she often feels the same sense of affirmation from the Father. Romans 5 says ‘God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.’

It’s the Holy Spirit who shows us the love of God.

Just like John Bunyan on that day had an experience of the grace of God and he could relax, knowing he was saved, the Holy Spirit shows us when we are accepted, children of God and loved by him and pleasing to him.

And God wants all of us to get to that place. 

Do you know that love of God in your heart? 

The Holy Spirit is the one who will reveal it to you. When you get baptised in the Holy Spirit you will feel it. 

Back in October 2020, during the days of Covid, we got a visit from a couple called Helen and Steven Anderson. And Helen got a prophecy for this church. 

And she said that she saw this church as a building site and we were working, excavating the ground. 

She felt the Lord say ‘you have been a faithful people, you are digging in good soil [that means the soil of peoples’ hearts are good] and your roots are strong and you are building strong foundations. 

Then she saw that we had uncovered a steel pipe in this excavation site, but it was blocked. The she said, look what do you see? Shine your light and as the light was shone, it was obvious that the pipe was blocked by mud and small stones. Then Helen heard these words; ‘I heard, remove the rubble, prepare a highway for the Lord. Then there was a bubblingstream which started to flow through the pipe and it burst forth like a fountain.’

What does that mean, what was the Lord saying?

It means that we as a church, as we are building and we have been rebuilding over the five years since that prophecy was given, we as a church need to release the flow of living water. The pipe is blocked. The flow isn’t happening. The water in the prophecy refers to the Holy Spirit. And the flow of the Holy Spirit is being blocked by small stones and mud. Not big stones, only small stones. 

Remember John the Baptist. He was called to prepare a way for the Lord, remove the obstacles. Well God is saying the same thing to us, remove the obstacles, the sin, the wrong ideas that are stopping the Holy Spirit flowing in this church. 

The Lord wants the fountain of the Holy Spirit to spring up in this church! 

One thing that is stopping more of the Holy Spirit flowing is fear of the Holy Spirit. I know that some of you in Hong Kong were taught to be very cautious, even fearful of spiritual things or supernatural things. I understand that you were taught that you could be led astray by false prophecy or you could maybe be misled by people using the supernatural to impress. From what I understand you were taught that supernatural manifestations like tongues, or prophecy or healings, these things might be from the devil, demonic and therefore they are best to be avoided. 

And so in Hong Kong many churches have avoided the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit because you are scared that maybe opening up to the Holy Spirit would result in opening up the demonic, to wrong spirits. 

Am I correct? 

Now it’s true that there are demons and bad spirits around. And we need to be careful. And sometimes people do use demonic spiritual power to impress others and even heal and predict the future. That happens and we need to be aware of that. 

But let’s not throw out the good with the bad. There is an old phrase in English- ‘on’t throw out the baby with the bath water.’ Babies used to get washed in a tub of water and then afterwards the dirty water would be thrown out in the back garden or wherever. But you kept the baby! You didn’t throw the baby out as well as the dirty water!

Don’t throw out the Holy Spirit, just because you are nervous about dirty spirits. 

Jesus said your heavenly Father is a good father, and he only gives you good gifts. He said in Luke 11:

 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

If you ask God your Father to fill you with the Holy Spirit, for the love of God to poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit, you are not going to get an evil spirit, you won’t get asnake when you ask for a fish!

And regarding prophecy and other spiritual gifts: Yes Satan counterfeits the things of God. Satan will send an antichrist to lead people away from the true Christ. He sents false teachers to take people away from true teachers and teaching. He does sent false prophets who might do impressive signs. But we shouldn’t reject the genuine just because there is a counterfeit, don’t reject Christ because there is an antichrist, don’t reject true teachers just because there are false teachers, don’t rejecttrue prophets and true prophecy just because there is false. 

The Bible tells us eagerly desire spiritual gifts especially to prophecy 1 Corinthians 14:1. 

The church in Corinth was misusing the spiritual gifts, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But Paul never told them to stop using them, he never shut them all down form prophesying and speaking in tongues. Instead he told them to use the gifts of the Holy Spirit properly. 



Its actually disobedience to the Lord not eagerly desiring the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, because the Bible tells us to eagerly seek them. 

You see what I am trying to do. I am trying to remove one of the stones in the pipe that is stopping the Holy Spirit flowing in this church. And it’s the stone of fear. Fear of the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. Don’t be afraid. Trust your good Father ask him for the good gift of the Holy Spirit and He will give it to you. We in this church need to be saturated, soaked in the good Holy Spirit. We need to know the Father’s love. We need the holiness that come from being full. There are gifts of prophecy and healing and tongues and faith and miracles that God wants to give people here, but we must not be afraid but rather eagerly desire the Holy Spirit. 

After the service, if anyone wants to receive the Holy Spirit or be refilled by the Holy Spirit. I will stand here and pray for any who want.