Pastor Doug Henry tells this story: “I was in Wal-Mart a few months ago with a mission. It was the end of the summer season, so I went to the lawn and garden section to check out the sales on all the stuff you use to keep your yard and property looking nice. I went there with the intention of buying a weed eater if the price was right, and I wanted to see what else I could find a bargain on. As I entered into the lawn and garden section of the store, I noticed that they had already started putting out the Halloween decorations. It was nearing the end of September, so this was to be expected; however, I was soon to discover that Halloween was not the only holiday they were ready for. After two aisles of vampires, jack-o-lanterns, and ghosts, I ran smack dab into Frosty, Rudolph, Santa, and the rest of the Christmas gang. I looked at my wife and asked, “Do they really have Christmas stuff out already?” hoping that she would pinch me and I would wake up from a nightmare. Sure enough, Wal-Mart was ready for Christmas in September. It won’t be long until you walk in there to buy sparklers for the Fourth of July and you will have to walk past the giant inflatable snow globe to get them.”
How many of you, here, don’t start getting ready for Christmas until After Thanksgiving?
Wouldn't it be nice if we could take our holidays one at a time? Now there is nothing wrong with those of you who have been ready for months, but you may be suffering from Christmasitis, which is an addiction to the Christmas holiday.
Here is a test that can help you determine if you have contracted this disease.
Give yourself a point for every question you answer yes to.
1. Do you have more than five giant inflatable or wooden lawn decorations?
2. Do you buy next year’s Christmas presents at the after Christmas sales each year?
3. Do you leave your Christmas lights up all year and try to pass them off as lights to celebrate other holidays?
4. Have you ever bought an artificial tree because real ones don’t last for three months?
5. Do you rent or own a shed or storage unit because you have more decorations than your house can hold?
But seriously let me ask you a question: Are you ready for Christmas?
Normally when this question is asked we can point to a number of things that determine how ready we are.
a. Do we have our tree out and decorated?
b. Are all the decorations and lights hung?
c. Is our shopping completed?
d. Did we send out our Christmas cards?
e. Do we have everything wrapped?
After each step is completed, we can check off everything that gets done.
However, this is not what I mean when I ask the question, “Are you ready for Christmas?” I want to know if you are ready spiritually.
Do you remember our first message? We talked about the angel bringing the message to Zachariah that he and Elizabeth would have a son and he would be the forerunner of the Messiah. We call him John the Baptist and he came before Jesus Christ to give the people a message. His message was to get ready for the coming Messiah.
Let’s take a look at this message. Turn your Bibles to Matthew 3:1-10.
There are four key words that are spoken in this passage. We must heed these words if we wish to fully prepare for Him at Christmastime. This morning, I want to take a look at what John the Baptist told the people of Israel so they could be ready for the coming of the Lord.
1. The first word I want to look at is: Prepare
When we think about getting ready for Christmas, we immediately think about putting up the tree, hanging the lights, shopping, just to name a few.
But there is one thing that must be done before anything else. You have to prepare your house to receive these things.
In our house all the spots, where Suzanne places the snowman knick knacks, the snow globes, and even our Christmas tree are occupied by other decorations and furniture, during the rest of the year.
So, in order to have space to put ALL of her Christmas stuff out, we have to get the other stuff out of the way.
John the Baptist is the one whom Isaiah spoke about when he told there would be a voice calling in the desert. Listen to Isaiah chapter 40 beginning in verse 3.
A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
When we look at the word prepare closely in the Hebrew, we find that it refers to a clearing out. This refers to the ancient Near Eastern custom of sending representatives ahead to prepare the way for the visit of a monarch. Sometimes, they would even do work on the road to make it as smooth as possible. They wanted to make a road that was worthy of their King, even if that meant removing fallen trees or filling in holes to make the path as good as possible. But we’re not getting the street, in front of our homes ready, if we are preparing ourselves, spiritually are we? So what does this say to you and me?
If we are to prepare a smooth path for the Lord, we must be righteous. This means that we must clear out the sin and the stumbling blocks in our lives that make it impossible for God to come. By telling us to prepare, John the Baptist is saying that the King is coming, so we need to be sure we are ready to receive Him.
How do we do this? Well we start by understanding word #2.
2. John tells them to: Confess
I think that the importance of confession can be a forgotten thing to many of us. After all God knows everything we do, so why is there any need to confess?
When you go to God in prayer do you skip confession completely or just give some generic prayer like, “Lord, forgive me IF there is any sin in my life.
Let me just tell you a little secret…that is not really a confession.
To confess means to acknowledge or admit that you have done something wrong.
Praying some generic prayer is not admitting or agreeing with God about any sin in my life. To acknowledge or admit something, you have to be specific.
Let’s say you commit a crime and go down to the police station to turn yourself in. If the FCSO investigator comes to talk to you and all you say is, “I confess, I did it”, the investigator will quickly ask you another question. He might say to you, “Ok, what did you do?”
It’s not just good enough to be general in our confession. Confession, by its very definition requires us to be direct and specific.
Here’s a question that we often hear, in the ministry. “Why do I need to be specific or even confess at all if God already knows everything?”
The short and to the point answer is…“it is Biblical.” Do you need proof that it Biblical?
Look at 1 John 1:9. It says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Confession goes back to even farther than 1 John, it goes all the way back to the tabernacle back in Moses’ time.
Before you could enter in the holy part of the temple, you had a duty to do in the outer courts.
You had to be washed and cleansed at the laver before you could enter into the holy place.
But, before that could happen, you had to offer a sin offering at the altar.
This was an admission before God that there was sin in your life. And, your offering differed according to the sin that was committed.
So, the Israelites got specific about their sins and confessed them before the Lord by this public act in order to be cleansed so they could enter into the holy place of the temple.
Here’s the crazy part… this was public confession. This was before God and whole nation.
I wonder what would happen if I said to you this morning, “If you sinned this week, please raise your hand,”
I wonder how many of you would actually raise your hands. Now, I might actually see most of the hands in the air, BUT how many of you would be willing to stand up and before God and those present here today, tell me what sin you committed?
You might stand up but you would most likely say “that’s just getting downright personal.” The reality is that most of us would be uncomfortable doing that. After all, you probably feel that is between you and God. But, is it really? James tells us in. James 5:16 tells us, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
That tells me that confession is to be more public than we make it out to be. I don’t believe that we broadcast our sins all over the church, but we need to find other brothers and sisters in Christ that we can confide in and confess and pray with them about our trouble spots.
I personally know just how difficult this can be. How many times have I spoken in confidence with a fellow believer only to have my words twisted and broadcast to others? It is only through confession that true healing can come. It is because confession is very freeing and brings healing to the soul.
Maybe we need to take a page out of the book of the Israelites. As they stood in line to offer their sacrifice, they could get a good idea of what the people around them had done just by looking at their sacrifice. It was a confession to God that they had committed a certain sin, but it also acted as a confession to those around them. And, to a certain extent, I think it was very encouraging to the other Israelites. They could see that others struggled with the same things they did, and they could find comfort in the fact that they were not alone in their sins.
I know this is not an easy teaching. It is hard to get specific in our confession, and it is even harder to confess to each other. But, it is incredibly freeing when it happens, and the devil will do all that he can to keep you locked up in the prison of unconfessed sin. He knows the power of confession, and it is time we understand its importance.
3. John tells them they need to: Repent
Now, I know what many of you are thinking. “You just got done telling us to confess and now you’re telling us to repent. Isn’t that the same thing?”
Not really. You see repentance is the taking confession to the next level, and it is the next logical step to prepare yourself for the coming of the King.
How many of you have kids that ALWAYS obey what you say?
Then you should be able to relate to this story.
Let’s say you have a son who always hits his younger brother. You have told him numerous times that it is wrong and that he needs to stop it, but it still is a problem from time to time. One time, you catch him in the act, and you say, “How many times have I told you not to hit your brother?” Then, the child comes to you with a tear in their eye and says, “I’m sorry I hit my brother.” You immediately forgive them, but then, before you know it, the boy goes over and smacks his brother again. How does that make you feel? Is the child going to be in trouble again? You bet he is.
This shows us the difference between confession and repentance. This child absolutely, confessed his sin, but remember what I said, repentance is taking the next step.
To repent literally means to turn back or to change. It means that you see that what you are doing is wrong and you actually do something to change your behavior.
By the time we get around to confessing our sins to the Lord, we are, most often, guilty of not doing a single thing to change our behavior. We confess and go right back to doing things the way we have always done them.
I wonder if God looks upon us the way we look at our kids who swear they are sorry and then go and do the same thing we just yelled at them for. We say, “I’m sorry I did that ABBA,” and then we go out and do the same thing we just confessed. That must be frustrating to Him. That’s why I believe that heaven gets so excited over repentance.
Do you remember the story about the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep to find the one that was lost in Luke 15:7? “I tell you that in the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
You see, confession is not enough. God and the angels truly get excited when repentance happens. Confession is the first step. Repentance shows that we truly mean we are sorry.
4. Finally John says that they are to: Produce
John the Baptist had these words for those coming to be made ready for the coming of the Lord. He said this, v8 NIV “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
There is one more logical step to prepare for Christ. First we confess our sins. Then, we repent and change our ways.
The third step is that we produce fruit but not just any fruit. I believe that John is referring to the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5. True confession and repentance will lead to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control naturally flowing OUT of our lives.
How many of you have ever met a person who called themselves a Christian but was mean, bitter, unhappy, and a miserable person to be around?
Most of the time, this person is one who has gone to church all of their lives. Their parents went to church and their parents before them.
Instead of relying on confession, repentance, and producing fruit, these people are banking on church attendance as their way to be with the Lord.
Well, these Pharisees were doing the same thing, and John saw right through them. They were Jews, which meant that they were descendants of Abraham. We know from Scripture that God had made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants that He would be their God, so most of the Jews relied on this to save them.
But John the Baptist explains that this pact was not necessarily with the physical descendants of Abraham. It is with everyone who acts and believes like Abraham did.
Then, John says something sort of strange. He says that the Lord is ready to cut down every tree that does not produce good fruit. To me, God is saying that church attendance and family history does not save you. You must produce.
Think about the real world. How long will you last if you have a job and don’t do anything? You are going to be fired, before your first 90 day evaluation
John is telling us that if we don’t produce fruit in our Christian lives, He is not going to have any part in our lives. That, for me, is extremely hard to hear
So let me ask you, once more: “Are you ready for Christmas?”
Are you ready to meet the Savior and Lord in an up-close and intimate way? You must start by preparing and clearing out all that is in the way. You do this by confessing your sins both to God and to your fellow man. Then, this confession must result in repentance or turning from our old ways and avoiding the same traps. Finally, we produce fruit in keeping with our repentance.
I don’t know where you are at this morning, but I do know that there are those here that need to seek the Lord this morning. Maybe you are not a Christian or don’t know if you are saved. You come this morning to clean out the things in your life that are in the way from you meeting Jesus. Maybe you are a Christian and have unconfessed sin in your life, come and confess before the Lord. You may want to bring someone with you to pray with you. Maybe you are here and you are tired of the game of confessing the same sin over and over again, come and repent. Or maybe you just need more help from the Holy Spirit to produce more good fruit. If God is calling you to come, don’t miss the best part of the service which is meeting God here. Let’s pray.
