Matthew | The Herald of The King

Well, good morning. Happy New Year.

Hope you've had a good Christmas, good new Year.

It's good to see you guys this morning.

Patricia sends her love. She wanted me to make sure I

told you that she's home with the kids.

They're all down with sickness. We've had a little bit of ear

infection, I think flu, pink eye.

And so our goal is to make it through all of it in a week so

that we can just enjoy the rest of the year, right?

I feel a bit like Neo and the Matrix just dodging sickness all

around me. But this is where we're at.

So if you have your Bible, please open to Matthew chapter

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

3. As you know, we've been walking

through the Gospel of Matthew together.

We've been doing that in this series.

We've called the King and his Kingdom.

The Matthew is showing us that Jesus is not merely a teacher or

miracle worker, but that he's the promised king.

He is God's anointed son, and he has come to establish his

Kingdom and the call of people to himself.

And so in chapters 1 and 2, Matthew showed us that the King

has come. We saw the birth of Christ

there. We saw his royal lineage.

We saw his miraculous birth. We saw God's sovereign

protection of him in the face of hostility.

There's a lot that happened in chapters 1 and 2, and the king

enters the world largely quietly.

He enters certainly humbly, and he enters all according to God's

plan. Matthew's been faithful to point

that out to us as he highlights the message of the prophets

throughout. And so now as we come to

Matthew, chapters 3 and 4, Matthew turns our attention to

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

what we might call the King's preparation.

The King's preparation over the next couple of chapters.

Now before Jesus begins his public ministry, which is

preaching, healing, calling disciples, before all of that

happens, God prepares the way for him and he does so through a

messenger. Now this messenger is said to be

one who is a voice crying out in the wilderness, a voice crying

out in the wilderness. And that's where our passage

takes us today. Matthew introduces us to John

the Baptist. John the Baptist is the

forerunner of the king. He, he's not drawing attention

to himself. John's ministry is not self

promotion. It's not about who he is.

It's not about his baptism. It's not about those things.

His entire ministry is aimed at preparing the people to meet

someone greater. All right, This is what John

wants us to see. And so his message is really

simple. His message is very urgent and

his message is searching. And I think that's where the

text is going to land with some weight on our hearts today is,

you know, God's word is said in Hebrews 4 to be living, living,

living and active, sharper than any double edged sword that it

pierces down to the inner man, the joints, the bone, the

marrow, those sort of things. And it reveals the intentions of

the heart. It it, it searches us.

And so that is always true. But sometimes when you read a

text, it's it, it's obviously true, right?

It becomes very obvious. And I think the text today is

that as you hear John the Baptist proclaim, repent for the

Kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then we explore the ways

that this is important for us to see.

I think you'll understand how it searches us today.

Now the passage is going to force us to ask a sobering

question. Are we ready for the king, or

are we ready for the king? Not religiously informed, right

not, not mere mental ascent, not outwardly respectable, living

moral lives, but truly prepared for the king in both heart and

life. Are we prepared for him?

As we hear John's message, we will see that the nearness of

the Kingdom demands repentance. It demands humility, it demands

a life that bears fruits in keeping with that repentance.

So with that in mind, if you're able, would you please stand as

we hear God's word from Matthew chapter 3, verses one through

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

12. Today I want you to listen

carefully to the voice of the herald who prepares the way for

the king. As we read this.

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness

of Judea. Repent, for the Kingdom of

heaven is at hand. But this is he who was spoken of

by the prophet Isaiah, when he said the voice of one crying in

the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths

straight. Now John wore a garment of

camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food

was locust 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 his baptism, he said to them,

You brood of Vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath, to

come bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

And 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 from Abraham.

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down

and thrown into the fire. 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.

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his

threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn.

But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you

each week for your word. We thank you, Lord, that we have

not been left without revelation, God, that you have

revealed yourself to us through Your Word.

You have revealed your Son to us through your Word.

You have revealed your work to us through Your Word, and so

much more. And so, Father, as we come to

this passage today in which we examine the ministry of John the

Baptist, oh God, would you search our hearts with Your Word

this morning? Would you help us, Lord, to see

clearly our own sin? Help us to see clearly our own

lives that we might examine them to see.

Are we prepared for the coming of the King?

Lord, we ask that you would help us in every way to be obedient

to Your Word. Lord, help us today to be active

listeners of Your Word. And God would you, by the power

of Your Spirit, apply these truths to our lives and help us

to live a life that honors and magnifies Your Son Jesus Christ

in every way. It's in the name of Christ I

pray. Amen.

Amen. You may be seated.

Well, in the ancient world, when a king was about to visit a

city, he he would not arrive unannounced, all right?

A herald would come ahead of him, be sent ahead of him.

Roads were cleared, obstacles would be removed, ceremonies

would be prepared. Be a lot going on.

And to ignore the herald was not merely rude, as you might

assume. It was dangerous that the King's

arrival demanded preparation. And the presence of the herald

was itself an act of mercy. It was a help to prepare the

people for the coming of the king.

Now, that is the role that John the Baptist plays in this

passage. Now, what we see is he's not

entertaining, he's not soft. He's not really even

accommodating. Rather, he's urgent.

He's direct and he's unsettling, and that's because the situation

demands it, that the king who is coming is unlike any king

before. The king is not coming.

Someday, though, I want you to see that the king is at hand,

and that is where the text presses upon us.

If you're taking notes, here's the main point of the sermon

this morning. Write it down.

The nearness of the king demands real repentance and true

readiness. That the nearness of the king

demands real repentance and true readiness.

And what we don't see here is a demand for religious

familiarity. We don't see a demand just

merely for outward association. We don't see anything about

inherited privilege. The demand is hearts that are

turned, lives that are changed, and people who are prepared to

meet the king who saves and judges.

All right, so as we walk through the passage, Matthew's going to

show us four things about this herald.

The 1st is we're going to see the herald's identity, a man

sent by God to prepare the way for the king.

Secondly, we'll see the Herald's message, which is a call to

repentance. But because the Kingdom has

drawn near, 3rd we will face the Herald's warning.

The religious privilege without repentance invites judgments,

not safety. And 4th, we will hear the

Herald's testimony, but the coming King will baptize with

the Holy Spirit and fire, gathering his people and judging

the unrepentance. Now, this is not a gentle

introduction to Jesus, but it is a necessary one.

All right. But before grace is received,

hearts must be prepared to receive, All right, Before the

King is welcomed, repentance must take place.

A heart should be prepared. So the question before us is not

simply, do we know about the King?

Again, the question is, are we ready for him?

And so we're going to walk through the text now.

Point #1 The herald's identity. A man sent to prepare the way.

Let me read to you again, verses one through 4.

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness

of Judea. Repents, for the Kingdom of

heaven is at hand. This is he who was spoken of by

the prophet Isaiah, when he said, the voice of one crying in

the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight. Now John wore a garment of

camel's hair in the leather belts around his waist, and his

food was locusts and wild honey. All right, so Matthew doesn't

begin Jesus's public ministry with Jesus speaking first.

He begins with a herald. But because again, before the

king can be received, the people must be ready.

So John arrives in those days, as the text says, as God's

appointed messenger. Now Matthew's phrase in those

days may sound like a really quick transition from where we

just were with the birth of Christ, but I want you to

understand that it it covers a long silence.

All right. After chapter 2, we step out of

Jesus childhood and into the opening of his public work.

And what breaks the silence is not a new program, not a

political movement, not a religious trend.

Rather, God raises up a preacher.

He raises up a preacher to prepare the way.

John comes preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Now that location matters, right?

If you think about wilderness and you think about scriptures,

there ought to be a lot of stories that come to mind,

especially from the Old Testament, right?

The wilderness is the place of testing.

Even Jesus will go into the wilderness where He will be

tested after 40 days of fasting. The wilderness is a place of

dependence, and throughout Israel's history, the wilderness

has often been a place where God begins again.

Right. So it's as if God is saying, if

you want to meet my King, you must come out of the illusion of

self-sufficiency and stand before me with nothing but your

need right now. John is a Baptist not because of

a denominational identity or a membership at First Baptist

Judea, right? Although maybe he was, but

because baptism is the hallmark of his ministry.

It's an outward sign calling for inward change.

John is acting as a public summons.

The king is near. You must be ready.

He's preparing the way, right? So God's Kingdom, I want you to

understand, God's Kingdom is not accidentally drift into our

lives. God in mercy sends a herald

before he sends the king in power, right?

And Romans 10 explains this to us in some way where it says

faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We understand from that that it's the proclaimed word of God

that powerfully transforms lives.

There must be a herald, there must be someone who goes and

preaches, There must be someone who goes and evangelizes, one

who goes and spreads the gospel of Jesus Christ for lives to be

transformed. All right, So we should not

despise the wilderness. Let's say it this way.

We shouldn't despise the wilderness seasons of our lives,

all right? Those moments where you feel

dry, where, where you wonder if the Lord is still active in your

life. We shouldn't despise moments of

disruption, all right, where schedules get out of whack and

you know, we, we don't quite understand how to put our lives

back together. There's a lot of disruption, all

right. We shouldn't despise moments of

conviction where God is dealing in grace with our hearts by his

spirits. We shouldn't even despise

moments of humbling where the Lord brings us low.

As we saw last week with the story of King Uzziah, God often

does his best preparatory work in those moments of wilderness.

He's preparing us, right? We want to understand that God

is not being cruel. He's clearing the brush, so to

speak, so that you can see Christ clearly.

And so wilderness is not often a bad thing.

It's often very good for us. What we see also is that John's

life embodies his message. He's simple, he's serious, he's

set apart. And we see that there in verse

four that he wore a garment of camels hair and a leather belt

and all the men said ha ha ha, right.

And then he might lose us where he eats locusts and wild honey,

like have you ever heard of a cow?

But what we see is that Matthew describes John's clothing and

his food not as some sort of quirky trivia, all right?

It's not just meant for us to look, look at and kind of gawk

and think, yeah, that's interesting or weird or, you

know, I need to keep that here for when I'm playing trivia with

the youth Group One day. Right now, John, John looks like

a prophet. He's in the wilderness preparing

the way, the Lord crying out, He's echoing the ministry of

Elijah and both appearance and posture and he's a living

rebuke. He's a living rebuke to the

generation that is drunk on comforts, image and applause and

he looks nothing like them. And John's whole life says this

world is not ultimate. God is near repent, prepare and

his whole life is saying that now when God prepares a people

for Christ, he often confronts them with a messenger and that

messenger typically lives a life that refuses and he preaches a

message that refuses to flatter their idols.

Right. And often this is how God does

his work is he tears down the idols of the day through the

messengers. It's it's good and right.

It's a good and right work, all right.

So we need to ask, as we look at John and we look at the people

coming out, what what dulls our readiness?

Like what? What hinders our readiness?

Comfort can numb us. All right.

If you're living a comfortable life, you might think I don't

really need the Lord. We saw this again last week with

King Uzziah. If success is happening around

us, if we're prospering, we might think, well, the Lord is a

nice addition to the rest of my comfortable life.

All right, so comfort can numb us.

I think busyness can desensitize us.

We, we can be so busy with life and all of its things that we

can become desensitized to our need for a king, to our need for

the Lord, right? Our heads just spinning in the

busyness and the whirlwind. And we're not really giving

thought to eternal matters, not really giving thought to the

condition of our heart or the condition of the hearts of those

in our household. And so we should be careful with

busyness. Respectability is another thing.

It can often disguise our need, right?

If you're a respectable person, right, you live a morally

upright life. For the most part.

You're looked on well by your Co workers and your boss and your

friends and your family. That respectability can disguise

your need. You can begin to convince

yourself and even become convinced that I'm not really in

need of anything and I'm not in need of a king.

But John, his severe life, reminds us that eternity is

real, right? That eternity is coming, The

King will come again. John's life reminds the people

then, and it really reminds us now that the King is near.

And so we ought to wake up, but we ought not be desensitized.

We ought not think that we're not in need, right?

Another thing that we see here about John is that he's not the

word. He's the voice, right?

Scripture defines his identity. Look at verse 3 again.

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he

said the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare the way

of the Lord, make his paths straight.

So Matthew is very quick to anchor John's identity in

prophecy. For this is he who was spoken of

by the prophet Isaiah. What does that tell us?

John is not self appointed, right?

You can look at the Gospel of Luke and see that John is not

self appointed. It was chosen by God to be a

forerunner. We also see that he's not self

branded, right? He didn't create this image or

this brand of ministry. No, he's, he's just imaging the

prophets who have gone before him.

He's doing the work of the Lord that God had given to him.

And so he is scripture shaped. He is scripture sent even.

All right, so Matthew quotes Isaiah, the voice of one crying

in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his path straight. So John is not the Word.

You know, in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, we see that Jesus is

John 1 · chapter mention

the word and that the word became flesh.

John is not the word. John is called a voice and he's

a voice. And so that means he has one job

and that's to make another heard.

His his job is to prepare the way of the one who is coming,

who is the word and who will speak so that people are ready

to hear him right. So Matthew Henry nails the

humility and the authority of it when he says that John is the

voice and that is all God is the speaker.

Amen. All right, so the Gospel of

John, even John the Baptist says there in the Gospel of John

John 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3. He must that Speaking of Jesus,

he must become greater. I must become less.

He is greater than I, and so His very clearly His ministry was to

announce the coming of the One who is great to not be great in

himself. Spurgeon says it similarly when

he says that John the Baptist is not.

I am the Word, but I am the voice, right?

Christ is the essential Word. Servants are only the voice that

carry Him. And notice what the voice cries.

Prepare the way. Make his path straight, right

the the picture is not mainly road construction, but heart

preparation. Obstacles are being removed.

Crookedness ought to be confessed, resistance to the

Lord ought to be laid down, and Calvin captures the idea when

the spiritual reality appears. John has, since Calvin says, to

remove obstacles, right? So preparation for Christ is not

simply cosmetic, it's not road construction, it's moral and

spiritual. It's hard work.

God does not merely ask for attention.

He is demanding full surrender, right?

A surrender to the lordship of Christ.

So this is where the main point again begins to press on us,

where we see that the nearness of the King demands real

repentance and true readiness. Straight paths are not about

tidying up your image. Right here in the Bible Belt, we

can be really good about thinking that things are mostly

moral and about our good works and about tidying up our image.

Straight paths are not about tidying up your image.

They're about turning from sin. They're about laying down

excuses. They're about yielding to the

lordship of Christ. So again, before we ever hear

John's sermon in Fool, Matthew has already told us what kind of

moment this is. God is keeping his promises.

Yet again, God is keeping his promise.

He's sending his herald, and he's clearing the way for his

King. And now the question becomes

unavoidable. If this is who John is, then

what is John saying? And that takes us to point #2

the herald's message. Repent for the Kingdom is at

hand. Look at verses 2 and then five

through 6. Repent for the Kingdom of heaven

is at hand. Verse 2.

And then verses 5 through 6 in 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.

So .1 showed us who John is, .2 now confronts us with what he

says, Right? And Matthew wastes no time

getting to the heart of it. John sermon is short.

I know many of you are like, why can't we just do this each week?

All right? Yeah, that's supposed to laugh

at that. That's that's like an Amen right

now I don't wear camel's hair and or camel's fur and eat wild

locusts either. So here we go.

John sermon is short, it's sharp, it's unforgettable.

There is no warm up. There's no introduction.

There's no let's get the people on board.

No, it's just direct and it's, he's proclaiming repentance, but

he, he gives the action and then he gives the reason for the

Kingdom of heaven is at hand, right?

There's no pleasantries, there's no attempt to soften the blow.

Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Now, this is not a suggestion. I don't want anyone in the crowd

today to hear this as a suggestion.

This is a summons from God through his preacher.

Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand all right now.

Repentance is the necessary response is what we see here.

It's the necessary response to the nearness of the king.

But the command is clear. Repent.

The reason is urgent. The Kingdom of heaven is at

hand. Repentance here is not merely

feeling sorry or resolving to do better.

Sorry, Lord. I'm sorry and I'll do better

next time. Repentance.

That the word literally means a decisive change of mind that

leads to a changed life. It's transformation.

It's turning from sin and self ruled living toward God and his

rule over your life. That's repentance, right?

John is not calling for religious adjustment.

Just change a few things about your life, change a few things

about the way you're living, then you'll be ready for the

king. No, he's saying be transformed.

He's calling for heart level transformation.

Right. And notice the logic doesn't

John does not say repent so that the Kingdom might come.

No, he says repent because the Kingdom has drawn near.

It's here. Repentance is not what brings

the King, brothers and sisters. It is what prepares us to meet

the King who has come right. This is where the main point

again comes into short focus. The nearness of the King demands

real repentance and true readiness.

John Piper once observed that repentance is not just the first

step into the Christian life, but the daily posture of the

Christian life. We daily repent.

We daily confess our sins to God.

We daily seek the mercy of the Lord, that the closer God comes,

if you've lived for the Lord, for, you know, just a even a

short amount of time, what you find is that the closer God

comes to you, the more clearly you begin to see him, the more

clearly you begin to see your own sin.

It's exposed, right? And so the more urgently

repentance is required, You've heard me quote Thomas Watson

before. Be as quick to repent as you

would be to have the Lord show you mercy, right?

So God's grace does not eliminate repentance.

It it makes repentance necessary and it makes it possible.

If not for the grace and mercy of God, there would be no

repentance. We we should understand that

clearly. So nearness to the King

intensifies your responsibility. It does not excuse your

responsibility. It doesn't take it away, right?

We often want nearness without change.

We, we want to be near to God and not have to transform our

life. This is why churches are filled

with people who will proclaim Christ and yet never live for

him, yet never live a life that honors God.

They they want the nearness to the miraculous.

They, they want the nearness to the holy right.

They want the nearness to the people of God and the

association that comes with that.

But they do not want to transform their lives.

They don't. They don't want to live

altogether different. They don't want to submit

themselves to the Lord right. They want comfort without

conviction. But John will not allow that.

John's message doesn't allow for that.

If Christ is near, something must give.

Either our sin will go or we will go.

Something must give. We also see here that repentance

is public, humble, and honest before God.

All right. Matthew tells us that people

from Jerusalem, Judea, and the region around the Jordan went

out to John. This is remarkable.

The religious center, the religious hub goes out to the

wilderness that the crowds leave the familiar, leave what seems

spiritually right, leave all of that to respond to God's call,

right? And how do they respond?

Well, they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing

their sins. Now, it's important for us to

understand what is happening here and what is not happening.

John's baptism was not the final Christian baptism that we know

today. Acts 19, one through 7.

You may just write that in your notes.

You can read it later, but but you see that in real time, the

conflict of John's baptism with Christian baptism that had been

instituted in that day. What we know about John's

baptism is it was a baptism of repentance.

It was a preparatory sign calling people to turn from sin

and make themselves ready for the coming king.

It pointed forward. It did not yet impart new life.

It just pointed forward to the one who would come to give new

life, right? John is washing repentance,

sinners, and anticipation of someone greater who is about to

arrive. And as we'll see John himself,

we'll be very clear that what he's doing is temporary and

preparatory because the king who is coming will baptize in an

altogether different way with Spirit and fire.

So what we see here in the text is that confession becomes the

companion for repentance, right? These people are not defending

themselves. They're not going out to John

and and arguing their case. Well, you don't understand.

I've attended the temple week in and week out.

I've heard the teachings. I believe them.

I've tried to live a moral, upright life.

All right. They're not the rich young ruler

who stands before Christ and says I've obeyed every one of

the commandments. No, they go out not defending

themselves, not minimizing their guilt, not blaming others for

who they are. They go out agreeing with God

about their sin. They're coming down into the

water as a visible acknowledgement that we are

unclean. We need cleansing, all right.

Matthew Henry helpfully notes that confession is the necessary

preface to pardon. Not because confession earns

forgiveness, We are not Roman Catholics, right?

But because forgiveness is only meaningful to those who know

they need it. True repentance brings sin into

the light because it trusts God's mercy more than it fears

exposure. All right, The apostle John and

his first letter, first John 1, five through 10, he writes this.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to

you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in

darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have

fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us

from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we

deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US.

Verse 9 Listen closely. If we confess our sins, He is

faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from

all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we

make Him a liar and His word is not in US.

Brothers and sisters, we live in an age that is highly skilled at

concealment. We live in an age that is highly

skilled at image management. All right, there are people

again professing Christ, who are just seeking to manage their

image and not really surrender themselves to the Lord.

Now, it's true that we live in an age that cares nothing about

concealment or image management as it pertains to right and

wrong and what is sinful and what is righteous.

But those people are not also confessing Christ typically.

All right. John's baptism reminds us that

readiness for Christ begins with honesty before God, a confession

that I am not God, I am not the Lord, I have no rights of my

own. I've sinned against the holy,

just, righteous God, and I deserve hell.

So hidden sin, if you're carrying hidden sin in your

heart today, if you're trying to conceal that thing and keep it

for a little while, I want you to understand that hidden sin is

not a small problem. You might think it's small

because you feel like it's only affecting you and you can kind

of get away with it. But hidden sin is not a small

problem. It's a preparedness problem.

All right? We need to make straight the

path. We need to confess our sin to

God, bring it into the light, and trust that He is merciful

and just and will forgive us all sin.

I think what this passage also shows us is that repentance is

not merely an emotion, all right?

It's a turning that prepares the heart.

Look at verse 6 again. And they were baptized by him in

the river Jordan confessing their sins.

So John's ministry shows us that repentance is not merely inward

or momentary. It is decisive.

And hear me, it's directional. It transforms the heart.

It transforms the life all right, the the people come out,

they confess, they submit to baptism and and that movement

accompanies conviction. Now later in the message or the

passage, John will demand fruit in keeping with repentance.

But but even here the shape of repentance is clear.

It moves a person from comfort and what they think is

stability. It moves them out of that toward

God and away from sin. John Calvin warns that

repentance without life change is a contradiction where where

repentance is real, readiness follows, obedience follows.

The heart is being cleared, it's being leveled, it's being

straightened to receive the king in our repentance.

So repentance again is preparation.

It clears the rubble so that Christ might reign over our

lives. What should I ask yourself

plainly? What is repentance costing me

right now? What is repentance costing me

right now? Ask yourself, if it costs

nothing, then it may be nothing all right.

Real repentance loosens that grip that you have on your sin

and it tightens your submission to Christ.

Imagine that you're told a surgeon is about to enter the

room for a life saving procedure that you need, but you refuse to

remove the infection. You welcome the surgeon's

presence, He's allowed in the room.

Why not? But you reject the necessary

operation. Well, let's not trust.

That's self deception, right? John is saying the great

physician has arrived. He's here, repent, let him do

his work. But not everyone who heard John

welcomed this message, right? Some came confidently, secure in

their heritage, their status, their religious credentials.

And to them John delivers his sharpest words.

Which leads us to point #3 the Herald's warning.

Religious privilege cannot replace repentance.

Look at verses 7 through 10 yet again.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming

to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of Vipers, who warned

you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

And 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.

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

Every tree, therefore, that bears or that does not bear good

fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Hope. To this point, John's ministry

has drawn crowds. It's stirred conviction.

But now the tone sharpens. Matthew tells us that the

Pharisees and the Sadducees, those religious leaders of the

day, they come out to John's baptism and instead of welcoming

them, John confronts them. This is a reminder, just kind of

a side note here. This is a reminder that the

Gospel does not only comfort the broken, it also exposes the self

assured. John exposes false confidence

with prophetic clarity. He sees the religious leaders

coming to his baptism and immediately addresses them in a

really nice way. Brood of Vipers.

It's not name calling for shock value.

I do want you to understand that it's, it's not the Christian's

job to name call for shock value, but it is the Christian's

job to proclaim truth and to confront evil and to call

evildoers to repent. And sometimes that requires a

really sharp diagnosis of the problem.

It's a spiritual diagnosis. Snakes flee danger

instinctively. And so John is saying you were

running from judgments, you're not running to God, right?

They, they want the symbol without the substance.

They they want safety without surrender.

They want external participation that does not equal internal

transformation. Again, just think Bible Belt

culture. We must ask ourselves honestly,

why do I come? Why do I come out to the Lord?

Why do I come to see the Lord? Why do I show up to worship week

in and week out? Why do I attend a Home group or

Sunday school or participate in biblical manhood?

Or why do I do any of what I do? Is it because I want God?

Or is it because I want what God can give without repentance?

The the warning is clear. Religious proximity can mask

spiritual danger. We can begin to feel comfortable

because we're around religious people.

This is why you you cannot in your mind right now, immediately

start pointing fingers and thinking of someone.

You know who this is talking about.

You have to, brothers and sisters, examine your own heart

against the word of the Lord. You.

You have to start there. John goes on to say that true

repentance is evidenced by fruits, not pedigree, right?

John commands them plainly bear fruit in keeping with

repentance. Repentance is not proven by

claims. It's not proven by credentials

or connections, right? My grandmother was a Baptist.

My grandmother wasn't literally. But I'm just saying we can't say

religious pedigree. We can't use religious pedigree

as something that makes us welcome before the Lord.

You can't stand on the shoulders of other Saints in this way.

Repentance is not proven by any of those things.

It's proved by a changed life. How do we know when someone's

truly repented and given their life to Christ?

Is it because they go into the the waters?

No, that's just the outward sign of something they're saying has

happened inwardly. It's a confession before the

church that I was once a Sinner of.

Christ has saved me and I'm committed to live for him.

But when we know that they've truly repented, you might see

some of it in that. But true repentance is observed

in the life that they live after.

This is why we have the Lord's Supper weekly.

This is why church discipline exists in the Scriptures.

There's all sorts of reasons for that, right?

So John strikes at the heart of their false security.

He says, do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham

as our father. They're trusting their lineage,

right? That their confidence rested in

covenant heritage rather than in covenant faithfulness.

They're looking backward at what they come from rather than

forward at what all those things they came from are pointing to,

which is Christ. And they're not living a life

faithful to the Lord at all. They're living a life faithful

to themselves, faithful to what's best for them.

So John's response is devastating.

But I'll, I'll have you know, it's not even as clear as what

Christ will be later in Matthew. It's going to get worse for the

Pharisees and Sadducees, but it is this, it is devastating in

the moment. God, He says God can raise

children for himself from stones.

In other words, ancestry does not impress God.

He is not dependent on bloodlines or traditions to

accomplish his purposes. Charles Spurgeon once warned

this. He said that resting in

religious privileges, like leaning on a shadow, it cannot

bear weight. Matthew Henry notes that many

who make a fair show in the flesh still remain strangers to

repentance. Right.

So God's promises are never an excuse for complacency.

Covenant privilege increases responsibility from us.

It does not diminish it. It does not eliminate the need

for repentance. Again, this word lands close to

home in the culture that we live in and the county that we live

in. Church membership, baptism,

history, faithful parents, years of attending church, these

things cannot substitute for a repentant heart.

The question is not where have you been or where do you come

from? No, the question is what fruit

is being borne in your lives now?

The urgency of repentance is underscored by impending

judgments. John doesn't just provide this

urgent message of repentance, he underscores it with impending

judgments. John closes the warning with a

sobering image. Even now, the axe is being laid

to the root of the trees. It's not being laid to the

branches. It's being laid to the root.

Judgment is not hypothetical, brothers and sisters.

It is imminent. A fruitless tree is not merely

unhealthy. A fruitless tree is condemned,

and John makes the standard unmistakably clear.

Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down

and thrown into the fire. Now, this is not a denial of

grace. It is a proclamation of reality.

Grace does not make fruit optional.

It makes fruit possible. Amen.

And where there is no fruit in the life of a professing

believer, there is no evidence of true repentance and new life.

Martin Lloyd Jones, my grandfather?

Not really, but he often emphasized that the Gospel never

leaves a person unchanged. The gospel never leaves a person

unchanged. If Christ is near, neutrality is

not an option. That the nearness of the Kingdom

brings both opportunity and accountability, right?

Delay is dangerous when the King is at hand, so this is not meant

to drive the repentance to despair.

Not at all. It's meant these words here are

meant to be an awakening for the self sustained right That the

question before us is simple, but it is searching.

It's it's it's this is where I said earlier, the text is going

to search your heart this morning, if you'll allow it.

Is there fruit in my life in keeping with repentance?

Is there fruits in keeping with repentance?

Not perfection, not perfection, but direction.

Is it clear in my life that I'm living a life unto the Lord?

Again, Not sinlessness, not perfection, simply submission.

Have you submitted your life to Christ?

And is that evident by the fruit that it bears?

Think of an apple orchard. You think long enough, you get

kind of hungry. An apple orchard does not argue

its case. All right, How do you know it's

an apple orchard? There's apples on the trees.

There's fruits. A tree does not explain its

intentions, right? It just becomes what it was

created to become. And so fruit tells the truth.

And over time, the absence of fruit speaks just as loudly as

there being fruit presents. The absence of fruit speaks just

as loudly as there being fruit present.

John is saying God is not fooled by your appearances.

He inspects your roots, not your leaves.

And so John's warning leaves us unsettled and intentionally so.

If repentance is necessary and judgment is near, then we must

ask, is there any hope? If the king has come near, and

judgment is imminent, and my religious pedigree is not

enough, my good works are not enough, then is there any hope?

And if so, where does the hope come from now?

That is where John turns our eyes away from ourselves and

toward another, the one who is coming after him, who will not

merely call for repentance, but he will bring salvation and

judgment in full point #4 the Herald's testimony the coming

King will save and judge. Having confronted false

confidence and warned of coming judgment, John now does what

every faithful servant of God must do.

He points away from himself and toward Jesus Christ.

This is the high point of the passage, brothers and sisters,

that the herald fades to the back so that the king might rise

on the horizon. John's warning was severe, but

it was not hopeless. Judgment is coming, but

salvation is coming with it because the King himself is

coming. Now John, you'll see in verse

11, he gladly diminishes so that Christ may be exalted.

John begins with humility and clarity.

He says I baptize you with water for repentance.

John here is stating the limits of his ministry.

He's clear about it. His baptism is real, it's

meaningful, it's necessary, but it is not ultimate.

It is preparatory. It can call people to

repentance, but it cannot give them new life.

And then comes the contrast. But he who is coming after me is

mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.

Now, in the ancient world, carrying sandals was the work of

the lowest servant. And just think about it, all

right? Doesn't seem like a job a lot of

people sign up for. Leather sandals.

Dusty feet. Sounds stinky.

It's the work of the lowest servant.

Here's my sandals. You carry these.

John is saying. I am not even qualified to take

the lowest place in the presence of this king.

I can't. Not qualified.

I want you to know this is not false humility from our dear

brother. This is theological accuracy.

The closer a servant stands to Christ, the more clearly he sees

Christ's greatness and his own smallness.

Big headed, egotistical Christians ought to be an

oxymoron. A church is healthy when it's

leaders, it's preaching, and it's ministries consistently

point beyond themselves to Christ Jesus.

That's where churches become healthy.

If people leave impressed with the preacher, if they leave

impressed by the ministry or by the songs or by whatever, if

they leave impressed with anything other than Jesus

Christ, then something has gone wrong.

Now the crucial distinction is that John's baptism prepares.

Jesus's baptism gives new life. Now here's where John makes the

distinction explicit. And this is where we must be

clear for the sake of the church.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, John says.

So John's baptism was by water for repentance.

Jesus's baptism is with the Spirit unto new life.

John's baptism called sinners to turn.

Jesus's baptism literally transforms sinners from the

inside out through regeneration. You may write Titus 35 in your

margin. So John could wash the body as a

sign, but only Christ can give the Spirit who regenerates

hearts. This is why we must not confuse

John's baptism with Christian baptism today.

John's was forward-looking and preparatory.

Christian baptism looks back to the finished work of Christ and

testifies that a person has been united to Christ by faith

through the Spirit. Right.

So repentance prepares us for Christ.

You're doing good, brother. But only Christ gives life.

Only the Spirit can make us new, right.

This protects us from 22 errors. All right, This protects us from

2 errors. First, we do not trust in

outward rights to save us. Wait.

We don't trust in baptism to save us.

We don't trust in the Lord's Supper to save us.

We don't trust in our attendance to weekly worship to save us.

We don't trust in our own good works to save us.

We don't trust in outward rights to save us.

But second, we do not minimize repentance as optional.

Repentance is not optional. John prepares the way Jesus does

the saving. And notice the word fire here.

Baptized with the Spirit and fire.

Fire speaks both of purification and judgments.

But the same Christ who pours out the Spirit on his people

will also execute judgement on the unrepentance the the King

brings final separation, salvation for some, judgement

for others. Look again at verse 12.

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his

threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn.

But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

So John ends with this sober agricultural image.

His winnowing fork is in his hand.

Now the the image is clear. Wheat and chaff grow together

for a time, but separation, separation is inevitable.

The wheat is gathered into the barn with the winnowing fork.

It's tossed. The chaff falls out until the

chaff is burned. Now, this is not some harsh

rhetoric from John. It's loving honesty, right?

The king does not merely invite, He decides.

He does not merely warn. He judges.

Jesus is not only the Savior, He is the judge.

And Grace does not cancel judgment.

It provides a way for us to escape it.

So again, neutrality toward Christ is impossible To refuse

repentance, to say I do not need the Lord, I do not need to

submit my life to Him. I will carry on as I am.

I'm doing fine, preacher. To refuse repentance is to

remain chaff, but to turn to Christ in repentance through

faith is to be gathered as wheat into his barn.

So you might think of John like a signpost on a road that says

bridge ahead. The sign is necessary, but the

sign will not carry you across. Christ is the bridge Himself.

If you stop at the sign and you never crossed the bridge, you

miss salvation entirely. John has done his job.

He is prepared the way, He is warned the proud.

He's called the Sinner, and he is exalted, the coming King.

And now the question comes to us with full force, If the King is

this great, this holy, this near, am I ready for him?

Because the nearness of the King still demands real repentance

and true readiness, and Christ himself is the only one who can

save us and make us new. So John's voice fades from the

scene in Matthew's Gospel, but his message does not fade with

him that the herald has done his work.

He's announced the king. He's exposed false confidences.

He's made clear what is required to meet the King.

And now the message stands before us with the same force it

carried in the wilderness. The King is near.

And that reality leaves no one unchanged because the nearness

of the king always demands a response.

So my call from the text today to believers is this Live as a

prepared people. If you belong to Christ, if

you've been brought from repentance to new life by the

Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus, then this passage calls

you to live as a people who are ready for Christ to come again,

not complacent. Repentance, brothers and

sisters, is not something you leave behind at conversion.

It's not something that stays back there in the distance.

It becomes the rhythm of the Christian life.

A prepared people are a repentant people.

And John's warning reminds us that fruit matters.

It doesn't matter as the root of your salvation.

It matters as the evidence of your salvation.

So the question doesn't become again whether we are perfect,

but whether our lives are being shaped by the reign of Christ

Jesus as Lord. So let me ask you a few

questions. Just introspective style.

Are there sins that you excuse instead of confess?

Are there paths that you refuse to straighten?

Are there comforts that dull your alertness to eternity?

Believer, let me encourage you with this.

The King you love as both Savior and Lord live in such a way that

His coming would not embarrass you, but delight you.

Bear fruit in keeping with your repentance.

Walk humbly with your God. Confess quickly so that you

might receive mercy quickly. Obey Him gladly, cheerfully.

Let your life testify that Christ truly reigns.

But if you are not in Christ, you're an unbeliever.

If you're relying on familiarity with Christianity, I know the

name Jesus. I know that Jesus died for my

sins. I know that there's probably a

God in heaven who sent him to do that.

Unfamiliar with the terms repentance and faith.

If you're relying on familiarity, if you're relying

on moral efforts, look, pretty sure I'm not, I'm not like a

great man or woman, but you should see some of the people I

work around. I, I do better than they do,

right? I, I give occasionally to

ministries. I, I take my family to church

most of the time. I was even baptized as a child.

All right, you've got moral efforts if you're relying on

religious background. My grandparents were Christians,

my parents were Christians. I was raised to to live this

life. If you're relying on association

with the church, I've attended church most of my life.

I've always been a part of the church.

I understand that I should show up for weekly worship and

participate in some fashion. If you're relying on those

things and John's message comes to you with urgency and with

mercy, Brother and sister, repent, for the Kingdom of

heaven is at hand. This is not a call to clean

yourself up before God will receive you.

How many times have we heard this?

How many times have we said it? There's still time.

I'll get myself cleaned up, then I'll show up.

No, this is not a call from John, from the text to clean

yourself up before God will receive you.

It is a call, a very clear call, for you to turn from your sin

and turn to Christ while there is still time.

Let Christ do the cleaning through his spirits.

Let him wash you in the waters of regeneration and

sanctification. The King who is coming is

mighty, and he is merciful. He baptizes with the Holy

Spirit. He gives new life so that you

become new creations in Christ. Old man passing away, Newman

becoming more evidence. As you look to Christ, you

become more like Him and he welcomes to himself repentant

sinners. Christ says if you seek me, you

will find me, so do not delay. John has told us the axe has

already been laid to the roots. The winnowing fork is already in

his hand. Today is the day of repentance.

Today is the day to flee from judgment and run to Christ, my

final word for all of us. John has prepared the way.

Christ has come, and one day Christ will descend the heavens

and he'll come again. So hear the herald's voice this

morning and respond rightly. The nearness of the King demands

real repentance and true readiness.

And may you and I, may we, be found ready by grace, through

repentance, and by faith in the King who saves.

Would you bow your heads with me as we pray?

Heavenly Father, we come before you today, having been humbled

by your scriptures. We've seen clearly the call of

John the Baptist as he prepares the way for the coming King.

And so, Lord, would you help us faithfully respond to your word

today, Whether that's as believers as we seek to live

lives or we do not hide our sins where we do not try to protect

those hidden diseases within us, But we welcome the surgeon's

scalpel. We welcome the work of the

Spirit in our life. We welcome true change,

transformation from the inside out.

God, would you help us to live as those who are ready for the

King to come again. Help us to not be complacent in

our lives, but help us every day, every day to take up our

cross and to follow Him. Father, I pray for any

unbelievers in here. I pray that it is true that You

have shown them Christ through the Word today.

I pray that it is true that you are calling them through Your

Word by Your Spirit unto repentance and faith.

And Lord, I pray that nothing would hinder them from coming.

Not self assurance, not self-reliance, not good works

theology, not any of those kinds of things.

Lord, may they humble themselves before you, seek your face, be

found by you, and be saved eternally from their sins.

Today. Let me give you a moment.

Now they're in your seat to seek the Lord in prayer, to respond

to the word preached and the word read, to respond with

faith, with obedience. Maybe you need to confess your

sins this morning. Maybe you need to seek Christ in

obedience to Him in a new way. Maybe it's sure of you that you

have an unbelieving heart and the Lord is showing you,

revealing Himself to you, the way of salvation.

Would you respond in faith and repentance this morning?

Heavenly Father, again we come before you and we thank you for

your mercy and your grace. We thank you for the forgiveness

that belongs to us in Christ Jesus, that you send him to die

the death that we deserved. He incurred on himself the wrath

that was rightly ours, so that we might become the

righteousness of God, so that we might inherit Christ.

So, Lord, today, would you help us to believe in Him?

Would You help us to trust Him with all our heart and all our

mind and all our soul and strength?

Would You help us to be committed Christians, men and

women and boys and girls who love the Lord above all else and

strive to live a life that would honor and glorify Him unto the

good of those around us and His glory forever?

It's in the name of Christ I pray.

Amen.