Are You Ready to Meet the Lord? | Matthew 3:1-17

for me

ups and downs emotionally

quite appropriate some of the things

that went on this week with this

morning's text

are you ready to meet the Lord

I was thinking about this on Wednesday

evening I'm hearing my daughter's

symptoms

that meant I didn't know what it meant.

Symptoms of

high blood pressure

was another one. Headache migraines. My

father's been having migraines for days.

She's in the past of it. I didn't know

about the blurry vision that happened

Wednesday evening. Didn't know about the

high blood pressure. Wouldn't have

known. It was really providential that

Kathy had given them a blood pressure

test. And they thought, well, let's just

check it just to see her blood pressure

is skyh high. And I'm reading these

things and you know possible outcomes.

Wow.

My daughter

could die.

my old daughter could die.

And it's just, man, talk about emotional

like a couple days emotional

that that my daughter and my

granddaughter

could pass away.

And and it's just it's it's very fitting

to think about. It's very humbling. It's

like, Lord, you don't owe me my

daughter.

You don't owe me grandchildren. You

don't owe me another day. God does not

owe us our loved ones.

And I I told that to the Lord. I'm like,

Lord, I don't want to be testing that. I

I don't plan on turning my back on you

if things don't go the way I want. But

but God, I cry out, Lord. You're so

gracious. I cry out to you, for my

daughter and my granddaughter.

And uh it's just a very humbling

reminder that our our life is so

fragile.

We're all heartbeat away.

before the judgement

heart be

and and every one of us believers and

unbelievers need to think about being

ready to meet the Lord. Now as an

unbeliever

the main issue is

have you repented of your sins and put

your faith in Jesus Christ? Are you

trusting in him alone for your

salvation?

Not you are not ready to meet the Lord.

not ready, but also as believers,

are are we ready to go today in a second

way? Are we are we ready to go in the

sense of have you been living for the

Lord? Have you been living for Jesus?

Have you done all that you want to do

for Jesus?

I don't feel ready to meet the Lord.

I want I want to I want to do something

more for God.

my time here for the Lord. I don't just

want to have a nice life. I want I want

to do something for God. Yes, I'm in

fulltime ministry, but I don't I'm not

ready yet. I don't I don't want to go

not ready yet. I'm ready in the first.

I'm ready to meet the Lord. I know who

my savior is. I know my given, but I

don't want to go before him. I wise men

bring gifts when they meet the Lord.

Right? We read that in the last chapter.

The wise men bring gifts. When I

Lord, I don't want to come empty-handed.

I want to do things for you.

So, as we look at the text this morning,

we can think about getting ready for the

Lord, ready to meet the Lord. That

generation when John the Baptist is

preaching, he's preparing people to meet

the Messiah, the Savior, the Lord. He's

telling them how to get ready. Messiah

is coming. He's coming. You show up any

day now. We don't know the time. He's

going to show up. Are you ready to meet

him?

The point of this morning's text is

repentance, confession of sin, and faith

in Christ are essential to having peace

with God. Let's all read God's word in

Matthew 3.

In those days, John the Baptist came

preaching in the wilderness,

repent,

the kingdom of heaven is at for this is

he who was spoken by the prophet Isaiah

when he said, voice of one flying in the

wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord,

make his path straight. Now John wore a

garment of hair and a leather belt

around his waist and his food was broken

and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all

Judea and all the region about the

Jordan were going out to him and they

were baptized by him in the river Jordan

confessing their sins. But when he saw

many of the Pharisees and Sadducees

coming to their baptism, he to them, you

brought

our father. For I tell you, God is able

from these stones to raise up children

to Abraham. Even the raised tree. Every

tree therefore that does not bear good

fruit is cut down and thrown into fire.

I baptize you with water for repentance.

But he who is coming after me is I

sandals I am not worthy to carry. He

will baptize you with the Holy Spirit

and fire. His winnowing fork is in his

hand. And he will clear his threshing

floor and gather his wheat into the

barn. But the chaff he will burn with

unquenchable fire.

I baptize you for

Jesus came from the Jordan to be

baptized by him. John would have

prevented him saying I need to be

baptized by you and you come to me. But

Jesus answered him, "Let it be so th it

is fitting for us to fulfill all

righteousness." Then he consented. When

Jesus was baptized, immediately he went

up from the water. Behold, the heavens

were open to him and he saw the spirit

of God descending like a dove and coming

to rest on him. Behold, a voice from

heaven said, "This is my beloved son

with whom I am well pleased." Oh Lord

God, we thank you. The Lord Jesus Christ

has come to fulfill all righteousness.

God, you have made a highway, a way for

us to come to you with joy. rejoicing,

believing in the good news of the gospel

that our sins can be washed away that we

can come before you and have peace with

you knowing that we are forgiven and

that you love us and that you accept us

in Christ Jesus.

In Jesus name I pray. Amen. You may be

seated.

All right. So, as we've been going

through the book of Matthew, I've

highlighted that chapter one and chapter

2 have some things to them. The Torah

are the first five books of the Bible.

There's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,

Numbers, and Deuteronomy. In Genesis,

the word Genesis means

in Matthew 1, we read about the origins

of Jesus. We read about his genealogy

and the word genealogy is in Greek

genesis and we read about his birth also

the word is genapis

and there's a very strong theme in

Genesis we read about the first Adam

that brought sin into the world and his

genealogy starts with the book of the

book of the genesis Jesus, the last

Adam, the one who comes to take away

scene. In Exodus, Pharaoh kills all the

babies. In Matthew chapter 2, Herod

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

kills babies. And in Exodus, God brings

his children out of the land of Egypt.

And we have this verse that says, "Out

of Egypt, I have called my son." We also

have a bunch of prophecies that talk

about bringing the nations out of the

far countries, a new exodus, bringing

them the promised land. So this is a

strong theme in Matthewapter 2. So the

next book of the Torah is the book of

Leviticus. And the book of Leviticus is

means like it's a book for the priest

and it's all about how can sinners

approach a holy God. When God brings out

the land of Egypt, he brings them to

Mount Si and God's presence is manifest.

There's fire on the mountain top and the

people are terrified when they hear the

law and they say we cannot approach God

and God they are warned don't approach

the mountain don't touch it it's too

holy if you touch the mountain of God

you will you will die and so God reveals

himself in a very terrifying way God is

holy we are not holy God is good we are

not good is perfect we are sinners and

the book of Leviticus is all about How

can sinners, sinful people approach a

holy God? How can we come into his

presence? And God makes a way for them

through

a sacrificial system, through an

atonement system whereby their sins can

be forgiven. What do we see in

Matthewap?

a man named John the Baptist who as we

learn in Luke is a descendant of the

priest. And he's not in the temple. He's

out in the wilderness.

Why is that? Because presently the

priests that are occupying the temple

are a bunch of corrupt Sadducees who

don't believe in angels. They don't

believe in the supernatural. They don't

believe in the resurrection. They're

just kind of filling the office and

getting rich off of it. Josephus tells

us there was a group of people at that

time called the

out in the desert. The reason they were

out in the desert was because they saw

the priest as as so that they they they

knew that they needed a new priest. They

were looking for two messiahs. One to be

a descendant of David and one to be a

descendant of Levi. One to be a priest

and one to be uh the son of David.

Well, as I'll probably go into next

week, Jesus is our new priest. But we

have the last of these older priests and

he's an exile. He's in the wilderness.

He's not in the temple. He's not dressed

in soft rain. He's dressed in camel

hair. He's out in the wilderness and

he's what is he doing? He'sapt.

is where priests would go to get washed

before they would attempt to enter

God's presence. We see confessions of

sin in Leviticus chapter 5. We see John

Leviticus 5 · chapter mention

talking about confessing sin and it's

it's a theme of how can these sinners

approach a holy God. Well, John is from

the old order of priests. He's preparing

the road to meet the Messiah. He's

telling the people, "This is how you get

ready to meet the Messiah.

Confess your sins,

be baptized,

repent,

allow God to search your heart,

and wait in expectation because Messiah

is about to show up." That's the message

of John the Baptist. So, let's look at

it in verse one. In those days, John the

Baptist came preaching in the wilderness

of Judea. Repent for the kingdom of

heaven is at hand. So John the Baptist,

he's preaching in the wilderness. And

his message is the kingdom of heaven is

at hand. It's coming. They've been

waiting in the prophets for the kingdom

to come. I I mentioned few sermons ago.

chapter 10 right now of Matthew chapter

three. But the wise men, they had a

timeline that said the messianic kingdom

is going to show up and it showed them

when in the Roman Empire. They they

watched the timeline coming to pass over

the last 500 years. The time is

fulfilled.

The kingdom of God is at hand.

They've been waiting for it. And now

John is saying it is here. The time is

here. You have several different

timeline from Messiah this 490 year

period. They've come to the end of the

490 years. We're at the 483rd year. The

last the last seven years are here.

Those that know the book of Daniel know

what I'm talking about. A lot of you may

overhead. That's okay. But the point is

God gave prophetic timelines and the

time is fulfilled. And John the Baptist

is saying

because the kingdom of God is

not at home because Jesus is the king

and he's about to show up. That's the

message of John the Baptist. It's also

interesting that he's in the wilderness.

Where was the tabernacle that they would

make atonement? It was set up in the

wilderness.

What is he doing? He's calling out to

them in the wilderness and he's telling

them to repent. Repenta

Greek word means to have a change of

mind and heart. Change your way of

thinking.

Ask God to

ask God to find out if there's ask God

to there any idols that I'm

there more than I love you.

Is there anything that I can't live

without? God cleanse me from my idols.

He's telling them to repent and get

ready.

For this is he who was spoken of by the

prophet Isaiah when he said the voice of

him crying in the wilderness prepare the

way of the Lord make his path.

So Matthew quotes from Isaiah 40 and he

says this is the fulfillment of that

prophecy. The voice of one in the

wilderness prepare the way of the Lord

make his path straight. Now this um

makes

compared to a highway as we're going to

see and and the highway worker what what

do they do? Well they the trees that are

in the way they got to remove the trees

the hills that are in the way they got

to bring the hills down. The valleys

that are in the way they got to bring

the valleys up. So you take the hills

you put them in the valley. You make the

road smooth. You prepare it. John the

Baptist

has a message for the crowd.

The message of the crowd is

you may be rich, you may be beautiful,

you may be intelligent, you may have the

praises of men, but you're going to die

and you need to be ready to meet the

Lord. And for the valleys, for the

humble, for the people that feel like

their life is worthless, they have

nothing to live for. They feel like

failures. They feel they they know

they're sinners. He has a message, the

good news. Christ came to pay for your

sins. Christ came to make you again, to

make you new again. And so, he has a

message to the proud that brings them

down. He has a message to the humble

that lifts them up. He's preparing

people to meet the Lord. This scripture

that's quoted has a lot of interesting

context. I want to look at the context

in Isaiah chapter 40. Here's Isaiah 40

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

that's being quoted. A voice cries in

the wilderness. Prepare the way of the

Lord. Make straight in the desert a

highway for our God. Every valley shall

be lifted up and every mountain and hill

shall be made low. The uneven ground

shall become level and the rough places

of plain and the glory of Yahweh is what

all mean shall be revealed and all flesh

shall see it together for the mouth of

Yahweh has spoken. Now what's very

interesting here is I told you that you

got you got mentioned twice in Matthew.

You got out of Egypt. Exodus alluded to

very strongly in Matthew chapter 2. The

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

name for the book of Leviticus is uh and

he called or

taken from the first line of the book of

Leviticus.

the word the same root word is used here

in the word ply a voice

and then the next book numbers is also I

find very interesting the name of the

book of numbers in Hebrew means in the

wilderness it's very fascinating that

you've got an illusion to the title of

the book of Leviticus and you got the

name of the book of numbers in the next

verses and we're going to see that theme

continue on in Matthew

and and and what's this voice doing?

Write the book of Leviticus. It answers

the question, how can approach a holy

God? How can we unholy people, sinners,

guilty sinners approach a God so holy

and so righteous as Yahweh? And he's

going to prepare the way. And so, uh,

he's preparing the way for the for the

Messiah to show up.

More context. A voice cried says, "Cry."

And I said, "What shall I cry?" All

flesh is as grass. And all beauty is

like the flower of the field. The grass

withers, the flower

of the Lord blows on it. Surely the

people are grass. The grass withers, the

flower fades, but the word of our God

will stand forever.

Stop there for a moment.

Empower those Valentine flowers.

Are they brown yet?

Are they dead yet? Have you thrown them

out yet? The little additive that you

put in the water, did it keep them

looking good? What shall you cry? Tell

them that all

as grass. What's the analogy here? We're

like grass for a little time. It grows

up.

It's green. It's beautiful. And then one

day the flowered

the flower

and the grass wither and it's dead and

it's dry. And what do you do? You take

it, you

burn it. We went for a walk the other

day on Wednesday. Went for a walk and

nature reserves and they they burned the

fields out there to make way for new

growth coming up. But all those

beautiful grasses that we walked through

last summer last spring, we were walking

through that same field picking flowers.

My wife likes to pick the flowers. My

daughter Eliza likes to drive them

and then save them. But all those

beautiful flowers now the field is

burned and you're walking over the

billionaires

celebrated geniuses Nobel Prize winners

former beauty pageant winners.

All flesh is as

James says this. I think also

the flower

let the rich man let the poor man

rejoice and it is exalted with the rich

man that he is made low as the flower of

the field.

Whatever it is that you take most joy

and pleasure in about yourself, young

man rejoices in his strength. Well, if

God brings you a long life, you'll feel

it subside. You feel yourself weakening.

You'll feel pain

before. Whereas before you can fall down

and get up and not even think about it

anymore, now that little trip will hurt

you for the next month.

And the young beautiful girl

She takes delight in her beauty that

beauty is going to fade

and and intelligence

a long life we all have a decline in our

mental faculties

all the brown hair turns gray

face wrinkles

the body

grass withers the flowers

the word of God forever. This is true of

men. This is true of women. This is true

of nations.

Great Britain used to be the empire in

which the sun never set

all over the globe. There was always the

sun was always shining on the British

Empire. It was so vast and so huge. That

little island, that little foggy island

controlled

good deal of the world.

Powerful.

over

of Rome, true of Egypt and Babylon, true

be true of America, too.

We love our country. We want it to be

sustained,

but you will fade as the glass. This is

what Isaiah said that the way maker, the

highway man was surprised. Why? Why such

a foolish preacher? I didn't show up to

you this kind of stuff. supposed to be

insulted by a preacher today. I bet

you're supposed to make people happy.

No, I'm supposed to help you consider

the fact that you will meet God.

Are you ready to meet the Lord?

Who's in charge of your life?

Is it you? Are you behind the wheel of

the car?

And also, what are you trusting?

John the Baptist going to prepare people

to meet the Lord. And it's a painful

message, but it's an important message

because we want to be ready to move. We

want to look forward to it. We want to

rejoice in it.

Verse four, it says, "Now John wore a

garment came and leather belt around his

waist and his food was wild honey." It's

a very strange verse. It seems kind of

out of place. I'm sure it wasn't out of

place for the original audience. It's

like you don't tell us too much about

what the apostles were. Why are you tell

us what John the Baptist? And there's a

couple of mysteries. One is that that

there was like um that Elijah may have

wore.

That may be correct. It may be correct.

But I think it's to highlight that he is

not like the priests in Jerusalem

who were dressed in fine clothing. He's

an up like the in he does not fit in

with the others. He is separate. He is

in the wilderness. He's called out in

the wilderness. He is like a priest in

exile and and he's wearing camel's hair

a garment of

and a leather belt around his waist and

he's eating locust and wild. He's not

eating the fat of

his father.

Luke starts off with with Zechariah

giving a vision as an old man that his

wife who was elderly would conceive a

son and this son would turn people to

the Lord. The same kind of thought here

and he would be a Nazerite from

So he had long very long hair because he

never cut his hair was never cut. You

may not think of John Bapt that way but

his hair like like the Old Testament

would have been all the way down his

back probably and uh and he was would

have had a very bushy beard and he's

wearing camel's hair which was not which

was unusable clothing which like

mentioned not what everybody wore and it

wasn't wealthy clothing. It was made out

of camel's hair and he's eating a was

ceremonially cleaning 11. It was

something you're allowed to eat and it's

usually what people would eat if they

had nothing else to eat in very hard

times. It's not it's not food.

He's out in the wilderness. He's

separated. He's driven from his unlike

his father who served.

Uh in the year 86, the Romans said the

priesthood is just too powerful,

too.

So the Roman government started to

appoint the priests and the first one

was a man named

the first priest would have five sons

because all five of them at some point

in their lifetime would be would be

high priest and the bizar

was called the bizar of the five sons of

they were very corrupt.

They they uh they did they were not

believers.

So here they are in the temple making

intercession for the people. They don't

believe in the resurrection. They don't

believe in angels and they think when

you're dead you're just kind of dead

asleep. So they're liberal theologians

is what they

don't take theible serious

and and here is the son of priest.

He likely should have been the high

priest in the temple.

He's driven from his office. He's out in

the wilderness. He's wearing a garment

came and leather belt around his waist.

What did priest wear? Exodus 28 near you

and his sons with him from the people of

Israel to spare me and sons

and you shall make holy garments for

your brother for glory and for beauty.

You shall speak to all the skillful whom

I have filled with the spirit of skill

that they may that they make Aaron's

garments torate him for my priesthood.

Well, that's not what John is because

John is alienated from the priesthood

priest. Instead, he's out in the

wilderness later.

What did you see

in the

What did you see?

No.

What did you prophet? Yes.

It says, "Then Jerusalem and all Judea

and all the region about the Jordan were

going out to him and they were baptized

by him. the river confessing their sins.

All of Jerusalem, all of Judea. One of

the things that said that next verse

I forgot to read verse n. This is that

after the grass wither says, "Go up on

high. Go up to a high mountain. Herald

the good news." That is the gospel. Lift

up your voice with strength Jerusalem.

Herald the good news. Lift it up. Fear

not. the cities of Judah, behold your

God. He's there to reveal who the

Messiah is. And the Judah, Jerusalem,

and all Judea, all that region about the

Jordan

in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah

40, all the cities of Judah coming out

to beapt

Sinners would go when they had sinned

like we read in Leviticus the third

book. They would go and confess their

sins. We see it in Leviticus 5 verse one

says if anyone sins

down when he realizes his guilt many of

these and confesses the sin he has

committed. He shall bring to the Lord as

his compensation for the sin that he has

committed a female from the flock, a

lamb or a goat for a sin offering and

the priest shall make atonement for him

for his sin. So when people became aware

of their sin, they're supposed to go to

the priest and they're supposed to

confess their sin.

Leviticus chapter one they would lay

their hand on the head of that burnt

offering or in this case sin offering

confessing their sin

and they would slay it before the Lord.

What's that picture of? It's a picture

of you bring this you bring this sheep

you lay your hand on his head.

The offerer having confessed his sin is

laying his head on the hand head of the

lamb. Confessing his sins as if his sins

are being imputed put on the account of

the sheep, the lamb. And the innocency

of the lamb without blemish is being

transferred to him. It's a picture of

exchange. The sin is laid on the lamb

and the innocence of the lamb is put on

the offerer and atonement is made. And

God says in Leviticus 1, you shall do

this that you may be accepted.

Confession of sin is necessary to be

accepted.

And it's not about us accepting Jesus

there. It's about God accepting us. And

so when when when John the Baptist, a

priest, is saying to confess your sins

to God, he's preparing them

to meet the lamb of God. Back in John's

gospel, he says we see Jesus coming. We

don't read that here, but he says,

"Behold the lamb of God

of the world."

The lamb of God. So we have this priest

out in the wilderness and he's calling

people to confess their sins.

Take aven.

Consider whether you have any idols. God

first.

Consider how are you treating

your neighbors?

Husbands, how are you treating your

wives? Do you love the church?

Wives. How are you treating your

husband? Do you reverence them? Do they

feel

nagging them?

A guilt

Children, are you honoring your mother

and father? Do you obey with a good

attitude?

Are you kind to others? And a lot of

times we think about all the sins to

confession. We think of the big about

lying.

Think about adultery and maybe say, "Oh,

okay. I'm pretty good on all that. I'm

good." But how are we in the kindness?

Do do people do people People see us as

ambassadors of Christ, approachable

cares about people. You know, that's a

caring about ourselves more than we care

about others. That's a sin, too.

Being rash with our words,

talking,

putting people down on Facebook, right?

Insulting people even at the level of a

child. Especially when mom and dad's not

around. That's all my sweet little boy

and girl, they wouldn't do that. I know

other kids do that. My little boy and

little girl wouldn't do that. Wow. We

don't know. Little children, you know.

You know, you know how mean you can be,

how selfish you can be.

Well, John was calling people to confess

their sins. He was telling the soldiers,

"Do violence to no man. Be content with

your wages." There's one consentment.

We're called to be content. If we're

murmuring and complaining and grumbling,

it's it's in gratitude towards God. It's

a sin John the Baptist would call people

to repent of their sexual immorality,

their covetousness, their anger

problems,

their lack of self-control, lack of

self-government.

And he's telling them, "Confess your

sins. If God brings it to mind,

let it go."

What does he say?

But when he saw many of the Pharisees

and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he

said to them, "You brood of vipers,"

that's a poisonous ven or a venomous

snake. Something say poisonous. A

venomous snake, a viper,

who warned you to flee from the wrath to

come bear fruit in keeping with

repentance. Now both of these, the

Pharisees and the Sadducees, that the

names are religious orders.

The priests at that time who were in

control of the priesthood, the ones that

were actually in control of things, the

high priest were Sadducees.

As I told you before, they didn't they

rejected the resurrection.

They thought when you're dead, you're

dead. They didn't believe that there's

consciousness after death. But Jesus

very clearly teaches in Luke 16 that

when we die, we remain conscious. We

remember things. We remember people.

that that some go to a place of torment

waiting for the resurrection and some go

to a pleasant place

and uh the didn't believe in any of that

because there the the ministry can be

very lucrative.

The the apostles had people selling

their houses and laying money at their

feet

and it was it was needful because there

were a lot of people coming from parts

of the empire. They were hearing the

gospel, believing the gospel and they

were to disciple. They needed a place to

stay and they needed food and they only

brought so much for their short trip to

Jerusalem. So, people were being very

generous. They were selling their

possessions. That's why that's why the

early church had all things in common.

They weren't communist. There was a a

dramatic need as God was gathering the

house of Israel, as God was bringing

these people to saving faith. There

there was a need for money to take care

of all the people, all the widows that

were coming. And and so people were

selling what they had, giving it

apostles. Well, for a Judas, for a

covetous man, there's opportunity to

make money. Ministry can be very

lucrative. And so these Sadducees, they

didn't believe

in the resurrection. They didn't believe

in eternal life,

but they were utilitarians. You know,

religion is good for the people and it's

very lucrative. So, they filled that

position. There's a lot of denominations

like that today.

You know, Wesley is credited with whose

theology I don't all together agree

with, but he was a mighty man of God. He

really was.

He said people asked him one time,

"Wesley, why do why do people show up to

hear you preach?" He says, "I just get

on fire and people come to watch me

burn."

And and and Wesley and Whitfield

preached the gospel and England was

transformed by it. Some think that

England would have had like revolution

except for the great awakening that

happened under Wesley and Whitfield

and there was a great awakening in

America as well. was a great turning.

People had become very intellectual and

heady in their faith. But through the

preaching of Whitfield in particular, a

little bit of Wesley but more Whitfield

in America, Jonathan Edwards, multitudes

came the saving faith in Jesus Christ

brought a rebirth in America.

Well, today what's the Methodist

denomination

embraces? We got women pastors,

homosexual pastors.

Many of them deny the virgin birth.

It's like where's where where's the

where's the authority of the word of

God? Who gave me the authority to change

what God has written?

And churches go little. It's not not

just methods. There's a lot of

denominations started by that that that

were movements started by people who

love Jesus and they love people and they

believe God's word and God did a work

through them and and and so when people

die, they leave a bunch of money to the

church and they build glorious

buildings, but eventually it's all about

the building and and listen, having

having a wonderful place like this to

meet is such a blessing. So grateful for

it. But if we just become a white washed

supper or burn it down,

the church is the people.

Well, the Sadducees, they're in the

temple. They've got the smells and bells

and uniforms, but they don't have a real

faith in God.

But they do come out to John the

Baptist.

And John the Baptist calls them vipers.

Then there's this other group, the

Pharisees. The Pharisees, unlike the

Sadducees,

they were conservative.

They believed

that God inspired the synergy.

They believed in the resurrection. They

believed in miracles. They believed in

angels.

Paul the Apostle said as as touching the

law, he said he called himself a

Pharisee in terms of the doctrinal

statements of faith in God's word. Now,

in addition to their faith in the word

of God, they also had a bunch of

traditions of men

that they held as equally valid. And if

you look at what Jesus criticizes the

Pharisees for, which we'll get to later

in the book of Matthew, um it was their

covetousness is one of the big ones,

their hypocrisy, and also the fact that

they exalted their human tradition above

the law of God. He does not criticize

them for loving the law of God.

He criticizes them for the traditions of

man that they exalt the traditions of

man over the word of God.

But at least they believe in the

resurrection and things of that nature.

And it's been noted that Jesus was

harder on the Pharisees than he did the

Sadducees. Probably because he

identified more with the Pharisees than

he did the Sadducees. The Ses not even

believers. The Pharisees have become

faithful.

This churches

aren't going to stick around very long.

I don't believe

where's our biggest ditch that we have

to be aware of at this church.

At least for now. Um,

if I quit believing it, I'm going to

quit preaching.

I'm not I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not

gonna I'm not going to stay in the

pulpit. If if something happens where I

woke up at the Sadducees, I I I leave.

Where's our danger? Our danger is

falling into traditions and losing that

love for God, love for neighbor, love

for the poor, love for the lost,

self-righteous,

faking it, going through the motions.

Now, that's even easier to do than we'd

like to think because it happens by

degrees and gradually.

That's why reason why it's very

important that every Sunday we have a

time of renewal. We come to the Lord's

table. Allow God's law. Allow God's word

to search your heart. Like David, he

said, "Try me. Know my thoughts. Search

me. See if there be any wicked way in

me. Confess it to the Lord and come to

the communion table and freshly give

thanks and appreciation for what Christ

has done for you and walk out of here

with a desire to do something for

Jesus."

Because it's very easy to keep your

conservative beliefs. I'm talking even

scripturally conservative

and and draw near with your lips, but

your heart is far from God. This is

always a danger. We have to constantly

come and renew ourselves before the

Lord.

And so the Pharisees and the Sadducees,

they're two types of vipers. John the

Baptist criticizes both and he warns

them to do what? Bear fruit in keeping

with repentance.

Many times these people will say a tree

is known by its fruit

is known by its bark and leaves also but

fruit is very from a long distance you

can look over and you can see I see

apple my blurry vision that's an apple

tree if apples were being born and if

it's a thorn a thorn bush you can tell

what that is too a tree is known by it

fruit and so he says if you're

professing faith in Christ if you're

professing faith in God and produce the

fruit that comes logically from a living

faith in the living God. It should

produce living words. He says something

else to the Pharisees and Sites, all

Jews. He do not presume to say to

yourselves, we have Abraham as our

father. For I tell you, God is able from

these stones to raise up children for

Abraham. What's the danger here? The

danger is for the Pharisee, they were

all Jews, to say, "We are descendants of

Abraham. Therefore, God accepts

This is a current concern. A lot of

people say, "Well, we're Jews are

accepted because we're Jews or Israel's

accepted because they're descendants of

Abraham." Not according to John the

Baptist.

He says, "Don't don't say we have

Abraham for our father." Don't say that.

That's a danger for us too. Very easy.

Young young children growing up in your

parents household, you too need to

examine yourself and say, "Do I really

believe what

mom and dad

The evidence is there. Many, many young

people go through their high school

years and don't come to a saving faith

in Christ and as soon as they go to

college, they're living like the world.

This is a fear I have as a pastor. I've

been thinking about it a lot lately.

Thinking about it a lot. I I we we don't

you

am I responsible? Am I going to give an

account? Yes, I am. But fathers,

mothers, you're going to give an

account, too.

And so I I urge you to don't just be

Christians in church.

Make sure Christ is brought into your

home. Teach him the word of God in your

home.

Teach them to learn scripture.

And also teach them apologetics.

Read books about the defense of the

faith. Read learn give them a biblical

worldview. There's a lot there's things

I want to do about that in the near

future. I think on a regular rotation

every few years, we need to as a church,

we need to be hitting something that

apologetics, something that deals with

having a right heart before the Lord,

something has to do with worldview,

something that has to do with right now,

we're kind of on a systematic theology

thing. If you're in the small groups,

we're going through, we started studying

the the foundations of the Christian

faith and we're starting systematic

theology. And that's very important to

know how to think rightly about God and

what his word about a variety of about

all sorts of topics. But Satan has

different attacks. He attacks he he'll

attack he'll attack our appetite and try

to draw us into sin. If God gets us

caught up

in sin, our mind will justify what our

lust want to do.

It's not all intellectual.

One reason why atheists are atheists who

used to call themselves Christians is

because they want to fornicate. And

atheism is justification to do whatever

you want to do. Right? So the heart is

important. You can't just find but but

the mind is important too. We're to love

God with all our what? Heart, soul,

mind, strength. The mind.

Can you em can your heart embrace what

your mind rejects? No, it cannot.

Now the Bible or or or God's word and

logic and reason, we have answers for

the atheists. We have answers for other

religions

because God God is all knowing and he

revealed himself in the word and he is

true. And so it's important that we

learn what God's word says. And it's

also important that our children learn

how to defend. But back to our text, we

have Abraham for our father. God is able

to use stones to raise up children for

Abraham. Now I having studied the Hebrew

Old Testament and knowing the word

stones and the word for children. I I

asked AI to confirm my suspicion. I

asked AI something along the lines of um

if John the Baptist was preaching in

Aramaic, is there a play on words

between stones and children of Abraham?

And it confirmed my suspicions that I

don't know any Aramaic or very little

anyway. And said, "Yes, what is that?"

Well, the word for stones in Hebrew, you

can hear it eban. Evan

Evan there's the boy name it means stone

or rock be a rock for Jesus stone

the word for son is now here it says

children but the word even in Greek is

son but it means more than sons it's a

general term for children okay but it

means son and so he says god is able of

these

stone to raise up

son. It's a play on words.

A house, a physical house is built out

of stones. A a family is built up of

sons, children. And so John John the

Baptist in Aramaic and in Hebrew, if he

was preaching in Hebrew, it would be

evident that he says, "God is able of

these to raise up Ben. He's able to

raise up sons. A house is built with

stones. And in the Old Testament, it

talks about building your your family

name. The word the word to build is

banana.

So you build a physical house. You ban

physical house out of eban stone. It's

all got the same root. And so he's

making a play on words. And he's saying,

"Yeah, you're you're proud that you're

sons of Abraham. God can take a rock and

turn them into a

That's a play on word in Hebrew here.

God is able to take if God is able to

take a rock and make it a son like he

took dust and made it Adam his first

son. Then then God can take Gentiles.

God can take Rahab the harlot. God can

take

God can take Caleb in the Old

God God can take the Gentiles and he can

make them st and that's an important

theme of the book of Matthew as we've

covered multiple times with Gentile

inclusion. Gentiles are included. God is

drafting Gentiles into the house of

Israel. He's bringing them in to the

house of Israel. He's drafting us in the

read of Christ. All right. Verse 10.

Even now, John Bapt says, "Even now, the

axe is laid to the root of trees. Every

tree, therefore, that does not bear good

fruit is cut down and thrown into the

fire." Remember, he's a he's a highway

maker. Think about the pioneers when

they went wet.

And they had to make carts for they had

to make roads for the cart to go on.

What are they doing? They're chopping

down trees, filling in holes,

and and tearing down mounds to make a

highway for people to go west. Well, uh

here here John is saying, you know what,

the axe is out. God's looking at the

fruit. He's not just listening to what

you say. He's not just making sure

you're saying the right things. He's

looking at your fruit. And if the tree

is not producing the fruit of

righteousness, what's going to happen?

The Lord is going to cut it down the

root. But Dax has already laid at the

root of trees. Today's work has begun

and he's starting to chop down the

trees. It's a warning to the Pharisees

and the Sadducees. You better be

producing the fruit of your profession.

Verse 11, I baptize you with water for

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.

Now John baptized with water as priests

would do in the Old Testament ceremonial

mikvah uh washings to as a visible

picture of washing away sins and also

when when non-Jews would want to become

Jews they would get baptized in water

and the men would get circumcised and it

was a picture of you're dead to being

Gentiles now you're alive to Jewish

no longer gent Gentile, you're now a Jew

and your gentile filthiness is washed

away and you are accepted. It was part

of it was something you would do for a

gentile. You wouldn't do it for a Jew.

John the Baptist is doing it to his

fellow Jewish people. And he says, "I am

baptizing you with water,

but another one who's mightier than I

whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry."

He's saying, "I'm not even fit to be

Messiah's lowest slave. The lowest slave

of the household would be the one likely

a little child not skilled in other

things. Master comes in with dusty feet

walking the roads walking where there's

the roads were filthy. There was horse

feces everywhere, dog feces everywhere

and and human feces everywhere because

they didn't have the sewer systems that

we do today. So it was customary

everybody when they came in the house

would get their feet washed and Who got

that job? The lowest slave of thousands

would unlatch the shoes of the master

when they would come home.

I'm not even worthy to unuse this

sandal.

I'm not even fit to do this. So John the

Baptist whom Jesus calls the greatest

born of women had a sense of awareness.

He had a sense of awareness. I am a

sinner.

I need to be baptized of him which he

will say. I need his baptism, too. I'm

baptizing you, he says, with water to

repentance. I'm getting you ready. But

when he shows up, it's not just going to

be water. He's going to baptize you with

the spirit and with fire. I want to

focus on the Holy Spirit first because I

think this has to do with regeneration.

I can take you, John is like John, I can

take you through this religious ritual

getting ready to meet the Messiah. I can

take you through the exercise of

thinking about sin and confessing sin

and telling you to get ready for

Messiah, but he's going to baptize you

with the spirit,

the new birth,

regeneration. He's going to make you new

creatures. He will baptize you with the

Holy Spirit and fire. All right. Now,

what's the baptism of fire? A lot of

songs about refiners fire and getting

baptized in fire. I heard somebody

preach one time. He's like, "Well, you

may have been baptized with the spirit,

but haven't you been baptized with the

fire yet?" I like, "Yeah, that sounds

exciting." You know, fire.

You don't want to get baptized in fire.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit

and fire. His winnowing fork is in his

hand. He will clear his threshing floor

and gather his meat into the barn, but

the chaff will burn your entrenchable

fire. What's the illustration here? says

his winnowing fork. What's that? It's a

pitchfork. We call it a pitchfork. Why

is it a pitch fork? Because you pitch,

you pitch the

got wheat, you got the stalk, you got

the the grain, and they cut the heads of

the tunnels off. Then they beat the

wheat. They beat it with the pestle on a

mortals called mortar. They put it out

on a on a floor. I saw it done in

Romania at one time, not with wheat, but

with beans. Actually, my my my wife's

grandma's sister in Little Village, she

had her her she had some sheets laid out

on the ground and she had these beans

with pods and she put them in a pile and

she took the stick and she was beating

the bean pods. So that the the pods

broke open and then you got this mixture

of pods and beans. You want to eat the

beans, you don't want the pod. So she

would eat the dried pods and the beans

would come out. Then what do you do?

Well, you take your pitchfork, whether

it's wheat or bean pods in my

illustration, and you pitch it up in the

in the air and someone with a fan,

usually a different person, would take

the fan and would blow it, unless it was

a windy day. The wind would do it for

you. Um, but you would you would pitch

it up in the air and the wind would take

the lighter husk and blow it into one

pile and the beans, which are heavier,

would fall down into another pile. So,

the wind and the pitchfork would

separate the bean from the husk. the

wheat from the chaff. Messiah is coming.

He's got a winnowing fork in his hand

and he will clean his threshing floor.

Threshing is where you beat the wheat

and gather the wheat into the barn. And

the picture here is he's he's got a fan

and he's got a

the fork and if it's a windy another

gospel says he has a fan here says he

has winnowing fork to winnow. The wind

would blow. You'd have a pile of husk

and you'd have a pile of beans. You take

the beans with the wheat. wheat. Now,

I'm not talking about my grandmother,

but you take the wheat, you gather it

into your barn, and what's left over in

the house? It's not good raven. So, what

do you do? Kindling. You burn it. You

don't want to be baptized with fire. You

want to be gathered into the barn.

You want to be synagogued into the barn.

The chaff you will burn with

unquenchable fire. There's many

scriptures that refer to this analogy.

Um, but I think Psalm one is most in

mind. I'm just Read the whole thing real

quick. Psalm one, it's short. Blessed is

the man who walks not in the counsel of

the wicked, nor stands in the way of

sinners, nor sits in the feet of

scoffers, but his delight is in the law

of the Lord. And on his law he meditates

day and night. What's he like, David? He

is like a tree planted by streams of

water. It yields it fruit in its season,

and it leaf does not wither. In all that

he does he prospers. So you've been

hearing a lot about bringing forth fruit

need for repentance. Very reminiscent of

the righteous in Psalm one. The wicked

verse four are not so but like the

chaff. The chaff that the wind drives

away. Wherefore the wicked will not

stand in the judgment nor sinners in the

congregation of the righteous. For the

Lord knows the way of the righteous but

the way of the wicked will perish. You

got cont. The righteous are like trees

planted by water that bears fruit and

sees them. The wicked are like the

chaff. The wind drives away. And John is

saying Messiah is coming up. He's coming

here and he's going to thoroughly purge

the Lord.

Everyone's going to have to stand before

him and he's going to touch.

Now the Lord shows up. Verse 13. Then

Jesus came from Galilee to Jordan to

John

to be baptized with him.

John would have prevented him, saying,

"I don't need to be baptized by you, and

do you come to me?" But Jesus answered

him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is

fitting for us to fulfill all

righteousness." Then he consented. And

when Jesus was baptized, immediately he

went up from the water, and behold, the

heavens were open to him, and he saw the

spirit of God descending like a dove and

coming to rest on him. Behold, a voice

from heaven saying, "This is my beloved

son. whom I am well pleased. I'll

probably make this the text next week, I

suppose. Who knows? Um there's so much

to say about these verses, but I'll just

point out why did he get baptized?

Because he fulfills the law that all of

us have broken.

We've all broken God's will. We've all

fallen short of the glory of God. None

of us have measured up. None of us

measure up to the glory of God. Jesus is

the beloved son with whom the father is

well pleased.

And and he came to do what? To fulfill

all righteousness. The beloved son fills

fulfills the law. He fulfills the

requirements of the law

so that

we can be given the gift of

righteousness by grace.

And so

Isaiah 40 going on to the next verse

that I quoted earlier says a voice says

cry and I said what shall I cry? All

flesh is as grass. There's that burning

analogy. And all its beauty is like the

flower of the field. The grass withers

the flower fades. When the breath of the

Lord blows on it, surely the people are

grass. The grass withers, the flower

fades. But the word of our God will

stand forever. Go on up to a high

mountain, O Zion, herald of good news,

lift up your voice with strength, O

Jerusalem. Herald of good news, lifted

up. Fear not. Say to the cities of

Judah, behold your God.

We have here the baptism of Jesus, the

father, God the father, God the son, God

the holy spirit. The chapter ends like

Isaiah 40 verse 9. Behold your God.

Isaiah 40:9

Behold your savior. Behold the one who

came to redeem you. As it says in John

1, behold the lamb of God who came to

take away your sins.

I want to go to one more place briefly.

2 Corinthians 5. As I'm summing up and

I'm thinking about the question, are you

ready to meet the Lord?

2 Corinthians 5.

So we are always of good courage. Paul

is speaking. We know that while we are

at home in the body, we're away from the

Lord. For we walk by faith, not by

sight. Yes, we're of good courage. And

we would rather be away from the body

and at home with the Lord. So whether we

are at home or away, we make it our aim

to please him. That's the goal of the

Christian is to please the Lord.

For we must all appear before the

judgment seat of Christ, that each one

may receive what is due for what has

done in for what he has done in the

body, whether good or evil. Therefore,

knowing the fear of the Lord, we

persuade others. But what we are is

known to God, and I hope it is known

also to your conscience. While I was

sitting in the hospital the other day

waiting to hear about the birth of my

baby granddaughter,

uh someone in the church texted me about

this verse. What does this mean? We must

all appear before the judgment seat of

Christ. Actually, the question led me

thinking about this passage. This is not

the great white throne judgment. This

this seat was called the bema seat. This

this seat was like a race platform that

athletic contestants would be judged

from. This isn't a court of law. This is

a court where people were evaluated for

how they played in the games. And we

must all appear before this judgement

seat. We all got to stand before the

judge. And the idea here is that even as

believers,

we're gonna we're going to stand before

the Lord and our lives are going to be

evaluated.

What did you do for Jesus?

Now, the final judgment, the wicked are

going to be judged at if you haven't

turned from your sin and put your faith

in Jesus Christ,

then an awful future awaits you.

As believers, we don't have to worry

about that anymore.

But we do need to be Let me ask you, do

you want to come before the Lord

empty-handed?

I want I just want to impress upon you.

You want to be ready to meet the Lord.

One sense, I'm ready to meet the Lord.

I'm ready to meet the Lord. Um my sins

are forgiven. I'm accepted. I've trusted

in Christ. I know he's my savior. I'm

ready to move forward in that sense.

This other son, I'm not ready to go yet.

I I pray he gives me more.

I want to see more people come to

Christ. I want to see more people

walking in God. I want I want to do

something with the life you live. I I

hope and pray, church, that you're

living for something more than what you

can get down here entertainment wise,

wealthwise, because that's that's all

draft stuff and it's going to fade away.

do something for Jesus. The final thing

he says is knowing the fear of the Lord.

We persuade other ugly. Why are we

trying to win people to Christ? Not

trying to earn brownie points so we can

make it to heaven. We want other people

to know our savior.

We want other people to come to a saving

knowledge who he is. We we know what it

is to be forgiven. We want them to

experience forgiveness.

But John, he says, "I'm not even worthy

to sit down and latch your shoe." We

should have such humility as believers.

Not like the

Knowing the great debt we've been

forgiven with compassion and love and

mercy, we should talk to the unbelievers

and try to persuade them. Knowing to

fear the Lord, we persuade others. So

later in the chapter, he says,

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for

Christ." God making his appeal through

us.

We be we implore you, talking

unbelievers, we implore you on behalf of

Christ, be reconciled to God. For our

sake, he made him to be who knew no sin

so in him we might become the

righteousness of God. What it's saying

is Jesus is the lamb that came to die

for your sin. If you're an unbeliever,

we implore you on behalf of God

reconciled to God. How do you get

reconciled with God? You turn from your

sins.

You you give up who's running your life.

Who's in charge?

If you're if you can't say Jesus is is

in charge of my life, then you're yet to

turn from your sins. And the second

question is, what are you trusting in?

If you died right now, what would you be

hoping is your ticket to heaven? If it's

something you've done or who you are,

that is a vain hope. It will not get you

into heaven. That is wood and stubble.

That is chap stuff.

The only thing that can get us into

heaven is the righteousness

of the beloved son of God who died on

our death.

So we implore you unbeliever be

reconciled to God. Come to him. Confess

your sin. Confess your need and put your

faith in him for the forgiveness of

sins. Let us pray. Lord God, we thank

you that you are so gracious to us that

we could be here in this room this

morning reading from your word, hearing

so clearly what your word says to us.

God, we confess this morning that we are

sinners.

We confess our need for you, God. Give

us tender hearts of compassion towards

the lost. Even the jerks in our lives,

even the difficult people, God, give us

hearts of compassion for them.

That we would love them like you loved

us because before your throne, we're all

children.

It's it's your grace that makes the

difference.

Give us hearts of function,

God. Give us enthusiasm

to live our lives aiming to please you,

our Lord and Savior, that you would be

our delight, we would rejoice in you,

and you would be