Matthew 3:1-12
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "
4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 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. 10 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.
11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 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.”
Who is John the Baptist? What do you know about him? (For a few more details, read Luke 1:1-25).
What was his role to be? (Look at Matthew 3:3).
This last week as the storms rolled in and the weather drastically changed from 80’s one day to 30’s the next, from sunny and dry to cloudy and icy, we all were warned to get ready. What did you do to get ready? Maybe you went shopping to get some of the essentials. You know, stuff like food, water, batteries, blankets, groceries, fire wood, salt, sand, shovels, water faucet covers. Who knows when we’re going to get out safely. Looking at the weather it may not be until Tuesday! Yikes. Talk about cabin fever. We prepared to be holed up for a few days, at least.
John the Baptist had one specific and major role. He did for us what the weathermen did for us. They told us, ahead of time, about the drastic weather change so that we could prepare. John’s role was the same. “Prepare the way for the Lord.” Jesus was coming. In fact, he was only about six months behind John the Baptist in terms of being born. Jesus was right on his heels. In fact, if you keep reading in Matthew (or keep watching), one of the things that John did during this time of preaching and baptizing was baptize Jesus. Jesus was almost literally right behind John. John’s role was to prepare the people for Jesus. John’s role was to get people ready for his coming.
What did you do to prepare for the storm?
What are you doing to get ready for Christmas? What does it look like?
What are you doing to get ready for Jesus’s coming (not just his coming at Christmas, but his coming at the end of the ages)? What does it look like?
In many ways, our whole home changes in its appearance as many people prepare for Christmas. A wreath may adorn the front door. Lights may sparkle in the eaves of our home. A tree may fill the space in our living room. A manger scene rests in a prominent place. An advent calendar hangs on our fridge. Perhaps, as we get closer to Christmas gifts will rest under the tree. In our house, we hang the Christmas cards that we receive on the wall. Each family has their own traditions as they prepare for Christmas. Each house looks a little different.
But what does it look like as we get ready for Jesus, as we prepare for his coming at the end of the age? When is that moment in your life when you can say, “I’m ready for you now? It’s probably that moment when we think to ourselves that we have our lives most in order, when we are most in line with what Jesus had done, when we feel like he would be proud of us for the way we’ve been living. “Look Jesus! I’ve gotten my life and house in order.” We, of course, will admit that there will always be things in which we can grow as followers of Jesus. But we’ve done the best that we can. We’ve changed our lives. We’ve reformed our actions. We’ve been rehabilitated.
The problem is - we’re still infected with sin and it has totally taken over our lives. What proof from your life can you give?
Look at the life of Adam and Eve. How did sin take over their life?
What happened to their relationship with God? (Look at Genesis 3:8-10).
What happened to their relationship with each other? (Genesis 3:11-12).
What happened to their lives on earth? (Genesis 3:17-19).
What happened to their bodies? (Genesis 3:19; Romans 8:22-23)
And the same has happened to us. Sin has completely and totally infect our bodies and our lives. It’s destroyed our relationship with God. It ruins our relationship with other people. Husbands and wives don’t live in perfect harmony with one another. The head/helper relationship isn’t what it should have been. Parents and children don’t walk together as God intended. Parents don’t reflect the love of their Father in heaven; and children don’t honor their parents as they ought to honor their Father. Sin makes life, in so many ways, miserable. By the sweat of our brow we bring home the bacon. Our bodies are subject to decay from the moment we’re born. Skin cells decay and die. We decay and die. We return to dust. And that’s just the effects of sin in our bodies and lives. That isn’t to mention the sins that we still commit on a daily basis. That isn’t to mention our sinful rebellion against God every time we don’t do what he has commanded or do what he has forbidden.
Here’s the problem. God doesn’t hang out with sin. And so if sin is still hanging on to you, even a little bit, you can’t get in. It doesn’t matter how hard you’ve worked to control your anger; it doesn’t matter how hard you’ve worked to repair your relationships, reform your life, and rehab your thoughts words and actions. It doesn’t matter if you’ve totally gotten rid of the effects of sin in your body.
I want your life to change. I want you to control you anger and the other sins you commit. I pray that your relationships would be healed, that you would reform your life, and rehab everything about it. I want your body to be whole and healthy. But unless you totally evict sin from every part of your life, you can’t get in because God doesn’t hang out with sin or sinners. God doesn’t hang out with sin. God doesn’t hang out with sinners.
But, God does hang out with the repentant.
See, that’s part one of John’s sermon. We have just a snippet here: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” In this one sentence we have a summary of his sermon. In fact, in the one word “repent” we have a summary of his sermon, of every Christian sermon.
What does it mean “to repent?” What things does it include? What things does it not include?
Repentance has two parts. Part one of repentance is sorrow over sin. Repentance means to confess we’re not who we should be; it means to confess that we can’t be who God wants us to be, not on our own; it means to confess we’re broken and crushed because of the sin that infects us and the sin that we commit. Part one of repentance is to be crushed and broken because of our sin.
That’s how David felt. Psalm 51:17 - “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” He said to God, “I can’t bring you a changed life. I can’t bring you a changed heart. I can’t bring you a sin free body or life. My best offerings are filthy rags. I’ve got nothing. But I bring a broken heart and a crushed spirit. I am a beggar at your feet begging for mercy, for grace, for love, for compassion.”
And that’s what John is calling for when he preaches: “Repent!” He’s calling us to see our how broken and crushed we are by sin. That’s where the Pharisees weren’t listening to his sermon. They were pretty well convinced that their lives were pretty well in order. They were in a bad place because they didn’t see how sinful, how broken, how crushed by sin they really were. And if that’s where you’re at, if you’re not crushed and broken by your sin and your sinfulness, then listen to John’s call: “You brood of vipers! You’re not as good as you think you are. You’re not as safe and as secure as you think you are. The ax is already at the root of the trees!”
Why is this a warning that each of us, especially those of us who have been in the church for a long time, need to hear?
John wants each of us - I’m praying that each of us - will be on the floor broken and crushed by the weight and condemnation of our sin. But more than that, he wants us to be healed; he wants us to be redeemed and rescued from that condemnation. He wants to lift us off the floor - not crushed or broken any more - but bound up and healed.
And that’s the other part of repentance. To be healed, restored, rescued, redeemed by Jesus. To believe that he is the Messiah who came to bind up the broken-hearted. Part two of repentance is to believe that Jesus redeemed and restored us. God will hang out with the repentant because they are redeemed by Jesus. God will hang out with the repentant because they are restored by him. God will hang out with the repentant because they are forgiven by him.
John’s message and the assignment given to him by God was simple. It was the assignment given to Isaiah. It was the assignment given to John. God called him and said: Isaiah 40:1-2 “comfort my people…speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for…” John was proclaiming the about-to-be-finished work of Jesus. And what was Jesus about to do? He came to bind up the broken hearted (Isaiah 61:1-3).
What does it mean that your sin has been paid for? How does it relieve your conscience?
How does this make us ready for Jesus to come back?
We live in a country, in a society, in a world that demands remuneration and pay back. Sure, we can all find examples of people, of times and places when pay back wasn’t expected. Yet, whenever anything happens, we’re all wondering when the other shoe is going to drop; we all wonder what the catch is; we all wonder what’s hidden in the fine print.
But that’s not forgiveness. That’s punishment. Punishment is eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. Punishment is payback for a wrong that’s been done. Punishment is retribution. That’s what happened on the cross. God paid back Jesus for all the wrong that we committed. God paid Jesus for all the sins we did. God paid Jesus for all the sins the world committed. Did you catch it? God paid Jesus back! God treated Jesus as your sins deserve.
And because the payback was made, forgiveness is yours. The guilt is gone. The debt is paid. The sin is forgiven. God will not treat you as your sins deserve. You are forgiven. You are healthy and whole. You are ready for Christ to return. But not because you’ve been rehabbed or because you’ve reformed your life. That’s what’s next. That’s the fruit that will come because you’re forgiven, because you’re repentant. That’s what’s next. But before all that - you already stand ready for Christ to come; you already stand ready for Christmas because your sins are forgiven. Believe it because it’s true.
God grant to each of us a changed heart, a repentant heart, which is both broken and healed, both contrite and believing. Amen.
Let’s pray:
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son. By his coming give us strength in our conflicts and shed light on our path through the darkness of this world; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen.
