John prepares the way
Matthew 3:1-12
Are you ready to meet Jesus? How do you help others to prepare to meet Him? If you had been sent as the front man for Jesus to come into town, what would you do to make sure that hearts were ready to receive Him and His message?
For 400 years God had been silent. No prophet had brought a message from God in that time. Anticipation and desire for a word from the Lord were high. Life was hard. People had to struggle all the days of their lives living in poverty, serving a cruel taskmaster who didn’t care about their everyday needs.
During this 400 year period the Jewish people had divided into camps. There were the religious fundamentalists who believed that their way was the only way. They preached a religion of intolerance and legalism. Anyone who did not do it their way was wrong and destined for hell’s fire. Then there were the spiritually hungry who desired to please God, but did not know how. And lastly there were those who did not care for God, and who lived only for life here and now.
In the midst of this very confusing and difficult time, God sent a bridge, a prophet who would once again speak for God and prepare the hearts of the people for the message of the Messiah. John the Baptist stands as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments.
His birth was miraculous. He lived as a young child dedicated to the Lord’s service as a Nazarite, one set apart as Holy unto the Lord. He grew into a man, whom Matthew identified as the promised forerunner of the Messiah. Using the words of Isaiah 40:3 he wrote:
“A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.”
The roads in the ancient world were full of ruts and rocks. When a king was about to approach the city, servants would be sent out to clear the pathway, to make a level road for the King to ride upon. John was that servant sent before the King of kings, and His message, his voice was the way the road was cleared for Christ to be received.
The prophets had said that before the Messiah could come, Elijah would come first to prepare the way. Jesus had said that John was the fulfillment of that prophecy. Elijah is described in 2 Kings 1:8 as:
“A man with a garment of hair and with a leather belt around his waist.”
John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord. His message is one that we should study and understand so that our hearts are prepared to meet Jesus, and so that those we seek to help also understand.
Turn with me to Matthew 3:1-2
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ’Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.’
"4 And John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ’We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
1. The pathway of repentance
There was no room for confusion about John the Baptist’s message. It was bold, loud, clear and simple. He cried out these words over and over again to the people:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
This message had a profound impact on the people of Judea. People from all over the region of all types and backgrounds, from the very religious to the common sinner, came to hear John preach. And when he preached they responded. Whole groups of people publicly confessed their sins and stepped into the river Jordan to declare their repentance.
The word ‘repent’ is a simple, and yet a profound word. The simple meaning of the word is to change one’s mind or to turn around. Its religious implications meant that a person would pour out their heart to God like water, confess sin and cry out for forgiveness. It involved a change in one’s attitude toward God and in regard to the conduct of one’s life.
Repentance always involved change!
Repentance was not a call to simply feel remorse. Many people feel remorseful about the things they have done. They wish they could turn back the hands of time and do things differently. Everyone feels at one time or another sorrow over things they did they shouldn’t have done or things they didn’t do that they should have done.
Repentance does not require tears. Many people have knelt at an altar in a church and shed tears over their sins. They’ve cried out bitterly over missed opportunities or failures in their lives. But many times those same people will get up off their knees and go right back to living the same way and doing the same things they have always done.
Repentance is not just a resolution to try harder. Lots of us have made promises, especially at this time of the year, where we resolve or vow to do better. But as we all know, those resolutions fail most of the time. They fail because we have tried to change behavior without changing our thinking, and without changing our hearts. Repentance flows out of a change that has occurred in a person’s heart and mind.
To repent is to change!
What needs to change in order for a pathway to be cleared in our hearts and in our lives for Jesus to come?
We must repent of the love of the world in order to love God.
We must repent of self-centered living in order to see God and to serve Him.
We must repent of pride, of self-sufficiency in order to humbly receive His grace and power for living.
We must repent of our indifference to Him and His will and live instead a life of full devotion.
Let me say it again. We have not repented if we have not changed!
Saying you are sorry is never enough. The question is: “Are you sorry enough, to stop?” Saying you’ll try harder is not enough. You can’t do better on your own.
Don’t you grow tired of those who tell you they are sorry, and then they continue to do the thing they apologized for? They say they won’t be late again, but they are. They say, they will call you, but they never do.
I have many examples in my life, as I am sure you do also. For example, someone may say to me: “I’m sorry I’ve missed church so much.” But then they don’t come. And so I ask myself. Were they really sorry, or did they just tell me what they thought I wanted to hear?
You see, we understand commitment, and yet when it comes to our commitments to the Lord we feel it is OK to not fulfill them. None of us would think that we could simply refuse to pay our bills late month after month and that a simple sorry would be enough to get us off the hook. Why do we feel that God won’t care?
Repentance = change
Now how does a message of repentance help prepare the way of the Lord?
a. It brings me to a place where I am willing to admit my sin. (All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is none perfect, none who always do right. Not one.) These individuals confessed their sins to one another and to God. They did not hide the fact that they were sinners. To confess is to agree with God’s pronouncements on my behavior. What I have done is wrong and it offends a Holy and Righteous God and deserves His punishment.
b. It softens my heart to the reality that I need help in changing. When the people responded to John’s message to repent, they were quickly confronted with their sin. As soon as some of them came out of the waters of baptism, they would have been confronted with ‘how to change’. I want to change, but ‘how do I change’. This prepared the way for Jesus who challenged even the most liberal readings of God’s Word. It wasn’t good enough to just love your friends and family, you needed to love your enemies. You weren’t successful just because you never acted on your impulses and cheated on your wife, you were an adulterer if you even looked at a woman lustfully. The hearts of the people were softened to understand they needed a Savior.
c. Repentance brings us to a place of needing God’s amazing grace. It is interesting that when Jesus started to preach, his message was changed slightly. He called people to repent (change), and to believe (receive God’s grace). Repentance without faith in God’s grace is doomed to fail.
Have you repented? I’m not asking you if you are sorry for your sins. I am asking you if you have truly changed in your heart and mind. Do you look at yourself, at life, and at God differently? Do you hunger in your heart to be like Him? Have you turned your life away from the world and towards Jesus Christ? (a halfway turn is not true biblical repentance!)
Are there things in your life right now that you need to repent of? Have you been playing games with God and in your Christian faith, saying one thing out of the side of your mouth and living differently? Remember repentance equals change!
Today, do you need to say to God: “Jesus, forgive me. I’ve been saying that you come first in my life, but my actions do not prove it. I’ve promised I will make you more of a priority in my life, but then I don’t change at all. Forgive me and help me now to live a different kind of life, the life of a fully devoted disciple!”
Don’t just say you’ll come to church more often. Come. Don’t just say you’ll serve the Lord more. Serve Him. Don’t just say, you’ll stop doing x. Stop doing it. And lean upon the grace of God to fulfill your desire to please Him.
2. The proclamation of baptism
Baptism was a practice of Judaism long before it became a Christian rite. From the earliest days God had instructed his people to wash themselves ceremonially so that they would be ready to worship Him and to serve Him. In Exodus the people were told to wash their garments. The priests would wash their hands. It was a symbol of purification from sin and of entrance into a new and holier life.
Converts to Judaism were circumcised and were also baptized to signify that they were forsaking the old way of life so that they might be identified with the people of God and with the covenants of God.
And so they understood Baptism, but John’s baptism was different. It was unique.
It wasn’t just a baptism to purify those who were in religious service. It wasn’t a baptism for Gentiles to now be converted to and identified with Judaism. It was a baptism for all the people.
Even the religious Jew needed to be baptized. This was significant, because the thought of the day from the rabbinical schools was that all Jews were spared from the fires of hell by their connection to Abraham. Because Abraham was their father, they were assured a place in the afterlife.
This is why the Pharisees and the Sadducees were insulted by John’s words that their physical heritage was not enough. Just because they were children of Abraham physically, did not make them children of Abraham spiritually.
So many people make the same mistake today. Just because a person grew up in a Christian home, or went to church, or lived in America, does not mean that person is guaranteed entrance into heaven. Salvation is an individual event. Individuals are saved, not races or ethnic groups.
So why did the Pharisees and Sadducees come out to see John? Was it mere curiosity? Did they come out to ridicule him? Did they come out to arrest or mock him?
Interestingly enough, the original Greek text does not support this theory. The Greek tense of the verbs indicates that they came to be baptized by him.
Whoa! Wait a minute! If that is true, if these religious leaders came out to be baptized by John, then why did John react the way he did? What message can we take from this?
Notice what he says in verse 7
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
This is an interesting choice of words. When a field was about to be harvested and the reapers would pass through the field in their formations, often the snakes would run and scatter to get out of their way.
Satan took the form of a serpent or snake in the Garden, and the symbolism of a snake throughout history has been used to describe those who through treachery and outward appearances try to deceive and trap others.
These religious leaders thought that outward shows would put them in good standing with men and God. If they went to John and went through the motions of baptism, they would appear righteous and holy. But there was no real repentance in their hearts, because they saw themselves as the chosen one, the children of Abraham.
Baptism, therefore, was just a ritual with no spiritual significance. But John warns them that this is no show. You are only to be baptized if you truly are repentant. Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change of heart, anything less is a lie and a deception.
This is why we practice believer’s baptism. We do not baptize people to wash away their sins or to get them saved. We baptize those who have had a true change of heart, who have truly repented of their sins, and now want to show this change through submitting themselves under the waters of baptism.
Have you been baptized in this way? Or was your baptism done with a different heart? I believe that some still are baptized for the show of ‘religion’. Others are baptized with no knowledge of their own sinfulness and their need for a savior. But real baptism waits until the person is truly repentant and by faith has turned their life over to their savior, Jesus Christ.
Maybe you were baptized differently in the past. I would like to challenge you this morning to show the world your repentant heart and your desire to follow Christ alone, by submitting yourself in obedience to the sign of baptism.
I was baptized as an infant, but when I finally understood how my life of sin had separated me from a holy God, and how I desperately needed Christ in my life – I submitted myself in faith to the rite of baptism again. Some in this room may need to do the same.
Again, baptism does not save you – but is a sign for believers of a repentant and believing heart. Was that true of you in your baptism?
Notice too, that John says: “I will baptize you with water. But after me comes one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is for all those who place their trust in Christ alone to save them. This baptism signifies the purification of a life cleansed by the blood of Christ, and the acceptance of God demonstrated by the presence of God coming to dwell in the body of a man. You become His holy temple.
Fire is a purifying agent. The tongues of fire cleansed Isaiah’s lips, and the disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit and tongues of fire were seen above their heads.
But Christ is coming again to judge the world, and He will come with fire.
This leads me to my third and final point.
3. The produce of good fruit
When John rebuked the religious leaders for their ‘showy religion”, he challenged them to produce fruit to demonstrated that an inner change had occurred in their hearts and minds. They were to produce fruit in keeping with righteousness.
He then gives an illustration of a threshing floor filled with wheat grain and with chaff. This was a familiar image to the Jewish people. Jeremiah had said in Jeremiah 15:7
“I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways.”
In Amos 9:9 we read:
“For I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble will reach the ground.”
Using this imagery John the Baptist speaks of the Messiah coming with a winnowing fork in his hand. He will separate believers from non-believers. Believers will be gathered into his barn, but non-believers will be cast aside.
Jesus often used similar imagery. He talked of the weeds being allowed to grow alongside of the wheat until the final harvest when they will be separated, the weeds to be burned and the wheat to be brought into the barn (Matthew 13:30). He also spoke of the sheep and goats being separated at the last judgment when Christ returns. Let’s look at that passage to get some insight into what John means by producing good fruit in keeping with righteousness.
31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ’Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ’Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ’Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ 41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ’Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they also will answer Him, saying, ’Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, saying, ’Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Jesus had instructed his disciples that to live this kind of fruit bearing life is impossible for the person who is separated from Christ. Any good deeds done apart from Christ come out of motives of the flesh and are like filthy rags to God. But righteous deeds done under the power of the Holy Spirit and from the presence of God working in our lives, those deeds are done in the Lord, and are to His praise and glory.
Remember the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This fruit impacts the way I live my life and the way I interact with the world around me. It is a fulfillment of the commandment to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus had said: “If you want to bear fruit, you must abide in the vine. Apart from a close dependence and connection to me, you can do nothing!”
Do you see evidence of Christ at work in your life? Do you see fruit flowing from Christ’s Holy Spirit residing in your heart and directing your steps? I’m not saying are you free from sin. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory.
But I am saying, is their evidence of God at work in your life? Can you point to Him changing your heart and mind and the way you interact within the world. Is there fruit as evidence of your repentant heart? Can you praise Him today for the good things He is doing within and through you?
For too long people have accepted a gospel which says: “I believe in Jesus, but it doesn’t mean my life has to be different.” That life is a lie. Real repentance brings about real change and real transformation in a person’s heart, mind, and life. Our actions speak louder than our words as to what we truly believe in the core of our being.
Have you given your life to Christ? Have you truly repented? Are you living for Jesus today? Is their evidence of this? Have you followed the Lord in obedience and been baptized? Are you growing closer to Him or closer to the way of the world?
We began today’s worship with the song: My life is in you, Lord.
If today, that song is not fully true of you, then perhaps you will want to make a change. We are going to close with the song; “Change my heart, O God.” Why not take that step today. We don’t have a river for you to be baptized, but you can come and give your heart to the Lord anew on these steps. You can declare your desire to follow the Lord. You can commit to being baptized at the earliest possible opportunity. You can make a change.
Will you?
