“Getting Ready For Jesus!”
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Good morning, turn in your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 3. As you are making your way there I want to speak a moment about the importance of God’s Word.
The Preaching of the Word of God is the highest point of our Christian Worship. It is not because there is anything I do or anyone for that matter who stands here, but it is because of the Word of God that inspires us to worship God. We cannot worship a God we do not know, and so it is my desire and prayer to help you every Lord’s Day to get to know God better. We get to know the true and living God by divine revelation, not human speculation. And so, we know that God reveals himself to us through what we see on these very pages of His Holy Scripture. Here is what Paul said to the Church at Corinth.
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
To rightly know and worship God, we must hear and receive God’s Word. The Preaching of the Word of God is to be the main focus of our worship. As your Pastor, I have the privilege to lead us in the most important act of worship, the hearing of God’s Word. So, let us now turn our attention to that .
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
As we now come to chapter 3 we come to the public ministries of both John the Baptist and Christ. For many years in Israel we know that there had been silence. There was no word from the Lord and now John’s public ministry would mark the end of this silence. Verse 2 tells us “The word of God came to John.”
As the ministries of both John and Jesus began, we see that there was tremendous darkness on Israel. This was a very difficult time politically because of the oppressive rule of pagan idolaters. It was also a difficult time spiritually. The Jewish people were weighed down under a heavy burden of an apostate, legalistic, hypocritical religion that had become dominated by corrupt so called spiritual leaders.
However, there was hope. The Old Testament closed with a promise of the Messiah’s coming in Malachi chapter 3. And now Christ was here. There will be several things that are specific about John’s ministry that we will not only see today, but in the weeks to come.
1. First, John was to serve as God’s instrument in preparing the hearts of the people to receive their Messiah. (vs. 1-14)
In fact, before the Lord’s ministry began we see that there was someone who came before Christ to help prepare the way. Years earlier before John came to prophecy, his father Zechariah said this about him.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
2. The Second thing John must do is introduce the Messiah to the people. (vs. 15-17)
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
So, John, the first prophet in more than 400 years, appears on center stage to introduce the main character of our story, the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Third, we also know that John will publically baptize Jesus. We see this in verse 21-22. And so, all of these things will be part of John’s ministry.
There are several lessons that I want to share with you today from our text.
1. God Speaks.
1. God Speaks.
Verses 1 and 2 give us some public context as John begins his public ministry. John begins this ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar. Many historians believe that Tiberius’s reign as emperor began at the death of the predecessor before him who was Augustus Caesar, Rome’s first emperor. All of the Caesars were rulers of the Roman world. However, underneath these rulers were also governors like Pontius Pilate who ruled over provinces like Judea. The Gospels show us that Pilate was a proud and arrogant ruler. As governor, Pilate displayed insensitivity and brutality. There were also rulers who came underneath Pilate and they were known at tetrarchs who ruled various regions. A tetrarch was literally someone who ruled over people. They were like a petty prince or a chief. Phillip who was Herod Antipas’ brother ruled over Iturea and Trachonitis from 4 B.C. to A.D. 34. Little is known of Lysanias who ruled over Abilene. There was also Herod Antipas who ruled in Galilee, Jesus’s hometown area from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39.
Not only does Luke introduce to us the political side of things; he also tells us about the religious structure of things during this time. Verse 2 tells us that this all came during the time of the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas. The actual situation here was that both Annas and Caiaphas were in the drivers seat during the entire period of John’s ministry. Although Annas was no longer the High Priest and his son-in-law Caiaphas was, they both shared power on the religious matters for Israel.
It was into this world that Luke details all of this for us to help us see what was happening in the political and religious order of the time. As John and Jesus came proclaiming the Word of God, four of these men Pilate, Herod, Annas and Caiaphas, would play big roles in the drama of the Lord’s life, ministry and death. In fact, these 4 leaders symbolized the moral and spiritual darkness of this time.
In verse 2 we are given the location for the beginning of John’s ministry, the wilderness. This area was a barren and desolate region in Israel. Luke describes this as the wilderness of Judea. This area stretched from the hill country of Judah on the west to the shores of the Dead Sea on the east, and went as far north into the Jordan River valley.
We are told here that the Word of God came to John while he was there in the wilderness. This word from God came to him just as it had come to many throughout the Old Testament.
-Abraham in Genesis chapter 15 verse 1.
-Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 15 verse 10.
-Nathan. 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 4.
-Elijah. 1 Kings 17 and verse 2.
It was here in the wilderness that John was given the divine message to wake up the people of Israel for their need to repent. It was also in the wilderness where John was ordered to introduce the people to the Messiah, Jesus. Just as the Jews had wondered through the wilderness when they left Egypt before coming to the Promise Land, they would be required to return to the wilderness and be cleansed and baptized as John helped to prepare their hearts for Christ.
2. John Preaches.
2. John Preaches.
3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
John’s message of repentance and forgiveness is the one message that we must tell other’s about. It is a message about God’s truth and good news that provides real hope for our sin-cursed world. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus explained that no one can earn salvation by keeping the law since the only way to do that was by perfect holiness to God. Those who are counting on self-righteous achievements to earn their salvation were like the foolish people building their house on the sand, however those who place their trust in Jesus and turn from their sin will inherit the kingdom of God.
There are several lessons that we learn from John’s preaching.
-First of all, John’s message offered hope of forgiveness of sins. As I mentioned earlier the Jewish people had been caught up in this system of trying to work their way towards heaven. They were taught, that keeping the law, observing traditions, and performing all the rituals would help them to gain Salvation. In fact all of these things just put a heavy guilt on them. Jesus said this to the religious leader’s in the gospel of Matthew.
4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
What is so interesting here is that the Jewish people knew that the New Covenant promised real forgiveness.
34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
David wrote about God’s forgiveness in the Psalms.
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
John the Baptist preached the message of God’s forgiveness. His message offered hope to those who lived under fear, guilt and oppression. But, forgiveness could only come to those who acknowledge their sin and turn from it. This leads us to the second lesson we learn from John’s preaching.
-John also preached the need for repentance. Clearly the Jewish people understood this from the prophets. The prophet Isaiah said this to the people.
6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
This was a call for the people to turn from their sin and turn towards God. Repentance is not just an intellectual change of mind it is a radical turning from sin, or a turning from the old way of life and turning to God for salvation. You are either a slave to sin and the devil or you are a slave to Christ by following Him. Those who come to Christ broken in spirit, humble, and mourning over your sin will experience God’s forgiveness. The opposite of that however is that many people never see anything wrong with their sin and they continue in it hardening their hearts while never trusting in the work of Christ.
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are dead in our sin and so that is why we must repent and turn towards God. If you have never done this today call out to the Lord, confess your sins to Him and ask Him to save you. True Repentance produces a zeal or passion to live righteously for the Lord and causes sinners to have a hatred for sin.
-John also proclaimed baptism. The baptism pictured here is not a Christian baptism, which symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The reason why is because it had not yet been instituted. Nor did John’s baptism produce forgiveness, for no ritual can accomplish forgiveness. This only happens through the blood of Christ. Up to this point there were several different ceremonial washings for the Jewish people, but there was no baptism of Jews. However, the Jews did baptize the Gentile converts who were coming into Judaism. So, those people who were coming to John in the wilderness to be baptized, confessed their sins. They were publically acknowledging that they were no better than the Gentiles. Their sins separated them from a holy and righteous God. Unfortunately, many of those who came to John were truly repentant because we know shortly that many of them would reject Jesus because he was not the political leader they were looking for. So, how do we know what real repentance looks like? What evidence will there will of those who were repentant? Look down at verse 8.
8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin 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.
As God Spoke and John Preached we see why.
3. To Help People see God’s Salvation.
3. To Help People see God’s Salvation.
This leads us to the person John was preparing people to meet. This of course was Jesus who came to save us from our sin.
As we come to verses 4-6 we see that Luke is quoting here from the Prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 40 verses 3-5 this symbolically pictures the approach of Jehovah for the purpose of leading the procession of Jews who were returning joyfully to their homeland after many long years in captivity. God was leading His people back to Israel, however they would journey through the Syrian desert between Babylon and Palestine, the way must be prepared for the Lord’s coming.
This would mean that there would be a herald who would cry out or shout out to the people like what we see here in verse 4.
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
This figure in Isaiah of the herald is now put into the Gospels and is applied to John the Baptist. John is the herald of Christ. This shows us that the deliverance from captivity granted to the Jews during the later part of sixth century B.C. and after they returned to their homeland, was but just a type of something far more wonderful in that Christ Jesus came to liberate us from our sin. So, Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the voice of the one crying out in the wilderness is a total fulfillment now of not only John the forerunner but also the Lord himself as they both arrive on the scene.
Conclusion:
The words of Isaiah here help to serve as a picture of the importance of what John was preaching. REPENT! The wilderness here in verse 4 pictures the wilderness of our sinful hearts, and yet when we repent, this involves bringing to light the deep dark secrets that we keep bottled up inside of us. This is pictured here by filling in the ravines, and humbling human pride as we see pictured from the mountains and hills being brought low. The crooked, deceitful perverse things in our lives must be made straight, and any other rough places in our hearts must be made straight. What are these things that need to be made straight?
-We love ourselves more than God.
-The love of Money.
-We love the things of this world.
-The lust of the flesh.
-Or your unbelief.
All of these things need to be smoothed out by the Lord. Only then can we truly come to a place of true repentance and see the salvation of God.
(Close in Prayer)
(Turn over for Communion)