WEBVTT 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:07.200 Hey, welcome to the Haven City Church podcast. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:19.120 We're in the Book of Matthew, but before we jump into the sermon, I've been recording some street interviews with friends of ours that we serve in our food distribution line out of the Relief Center. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:23.920 And these are things that they've had to say about the Book of Matthew. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:27.120 What's your first name? 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:27.920 Fred. 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:28.559 Fred. 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:30.719 What do you know about John the Baptist? 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:34.399 Hey, there you go. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:39.920 Anything else? 00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:43.119 He was he was Jesus. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:49.920 I was born off Catholic. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:57.600 Like it seemed to me like he was number two Bible. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:02.399 Like religion. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:12.000 Are you sure what maybe should read the Bible? 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:51.840 Preaching on Matthew chapter three. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:53.200 You know, you know. 00:01:54.239 --> 00:01:54.400 Okay. 00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:55.920 John the Baptist. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:58.239 When I say John the Baptist, what stands out? 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:04.640 Well, John the Baptist was the one that came to over the way to Christ came to. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:06.400 You know, so we all know that. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:09.280 Don't forget, I got him already. 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:11.680 We're all John the Baptist, pro se. 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:18.879 We all for the go and open up and spread the word and allow the path to be clear. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:19.759 Yes. 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:23.439 What did baptizing have to do with clearing the way? 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:42.479 You shall get the holy spirit. 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:43.840 You can go there. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:46.719 And fucking the bottom. 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:47.840 Abraham did. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:52.080 Well, he passed on the blessings. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:53.039 Right. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:57.280 Now, we all can so wait to be in not in the Holy Spirit. 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:06.479 Are you ready to get into Matthew 3? 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:08.800 Are you ready? 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:11.680 I am having so much fun in Matthew. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:18.719 I don't know if it's gonna come across because it's just a mess in my head, but man, I am loving Matthew 3. 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:22.719 And and each week, like there's just so much there to cover. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:26.240 So uh turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 3. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:28.080 We're actually gonna just do 1 through 12. 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:32.080 I was gonna try to do the whole thing, but there's just it's just not gonna happen, right? 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:34.159 Matthew 3, 1 through 12. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:37.439 Next week we'll look at the baptism of Jesus. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.120 So, do you have your Bibles? 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:40.159 Get your Bibles out. 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:42.240 We're gonna cover a lot of Bible today. 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:44.719 Matthew chapter 3. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:48.719 Now, before we do that, do you know who this is? 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:51.439 Do you know who this character is? 00:03:52.479 --> 00:03:54.639 This is Roger Bannister. 00:03:55.120 --> 00:04:02.800 And up until 1954, nobody had ever ran a four a sub-four-minute mile. 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:10.560 And he decided that he would try to break the record, and he did a lot of planning and preparation. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:15.199 That's the keyword here, preparation to be able to accomplish this. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:18.720 He had a scientific uh method that he followed. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:26.480 Unlike many athletes of his time, Bannister applied a methodical, almost scientific regimen to his training. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:31.279 He balanced his medical studies with his targeted workout schedule. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:36.000 He also had a strategic team that worked with him of pace setters. 00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:44.720 Fellow runners Chris Bashir and Chris Chattaway helped him maintain the needed speed during his attempt. 00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:47.279 This was a strategic part of his preparation. 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:50.079 And then also psychological preparedness. 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:57.360 He prepared his mind, focusing on the goal, visualizing it, and refusing to let naysayers divert him. 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:05.040 And on May 6th, 1954, a small event in Oxford, Bannister did it. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:12.720 He broke the four-minute barrier, completing the mile in three minutes, 59.4 seconds. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:18.240 I want you to have in your mind this morning that idea of preparation. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:20.399 That idea of preparation. 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:21.680 You do this every day. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:24.560 You prepare for things every day. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:32.560 And this chapter, chapter three, is going to show us how God was preparing a nation for the Messiah. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:40.560 Let's read the text together, and uh, and then we will get into it and study it and see what the Holy Spirit has for us this morning. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:51.439 Starting in verse 1, he says, In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:06:03.839 For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said, A voice of one crying out in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:11.920 Now John had a camel hair garment with leather belt, a leather belt, around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:22.800 Then people from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the vicinity of the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:33.600 When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:42.079 Therefore, produce fruit consistent with repentance, and don't presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:48.639 For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:52.639 The axe is already at the root of the trees. 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:57.920 Therefore, every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:05.199 I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:11.120 I am not worthy to remove his sandals, he himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:23.519 His winnowing shovel 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 fire that never goes out. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:27.759 Lord, we pray that you would speak to us this morning. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:31.279 We give you permission to speak into our lives. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:34.000 Lord, we need help understanding the Bible. 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:42.480 Some of us have not spent a whole lot, a lot of time in Scripture, and now all of a sudden we've got a character wearing camel skin and eating locusts and honey. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:49.920 And we need you somehow to speak to us because we know we've heard that the Bible is important and it's God's word and it's food for us. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.399 And Lord, we just need you to work in our life. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:08:00.240 And God, we bring to you the mess of our life, the things that we're anxious and scared about, the things that we're upset about, and the hopes that we have. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:13.360 And Lord, we just pray that somehow by doing what we're doing right now of spending a little bit of time in your word, that we would have a spiritual experience that is transformative, that you would speak into our lives. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:27.279 I pray for the young people that are here, even down to the young kids, that Lord, they would know you as their personal Lord and Savior, that they would have a personal relationship with Jesus that would go with them, that that would go with them through their whole life. 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:30.319 Bless our time together, we pray in Jesus' name. 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:31.279 Amen. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:35.600 So there's going to be three sections that we cover this morning. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:43.360 I'm not, since we've read the uh text up front, what I will do is I will summarize and dip in and out of the text. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:51.679 But you've gotten this broad view that there's this character named John the Baptist, which we're going to spend a good bit of time trying to understand. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:56.240 Before we do that, though, what I want to put in front of you is just some tools. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:57.679 I know that the text is small. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:01.679 We used to have this slide on a big projected screen, and that's difficult to see. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:06.799 But this is, if you're new to the Bible, this is how the latter half of your Bible is organized. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:18.639 This is called the New Testament, and we have these first four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and those are called the Gospels, and those tell the story of Jesus. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:22.639 Each one tells the story of Jesus from a different perspective. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:24.399 And then we have the book of Acts. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:27.759 Acts is the history of the early church. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:30.000 And then we have a bunch of letters. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:52.320 We often call them epistles, but they're letters written by either Paul, he's got his letters there, Thessalonians, Galatians, Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon, Romans, Colossus, Colossae, Colossians, Ephesians, Timothy, Titus, and then we have the general epistles, Peter, James, Jude, and Hebrew, uh Hebrews. 00:09:52.480 --> 00:10:03.919 And so those are letters, and then we have the book of Revelation, which is in its own, it's the final book, and it is this image of the got the victory of Jesus at the end. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:10.480 It's all this great, beautiful picture that shows that Jesus wins the day. 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:10.960 Okay? 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:14.559 So we are looking at the historic part of the Bible. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.879 We're here in Matthew. 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:26.159 Another way, if we're just going to look at it on a timeline, the biblical history, going back to the very beginning, we have 2,000 years from Adam to Abraham. 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:29.360 We have another 2,000 years from Abraham to Christ. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:35.360 You see here this is Genesis 1 through 12, Genesis 12 through the rest of the Old Testament. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:39.759 And then we have 2,000 years from Christ to the present time. 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:41.519 That's another way for you to see it. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:46.000 And also one more just visualization here, just a timeline. 00:10:46.240 --> 00:10:48.720 Jesus, we see he's born in 3 BC. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:52.480 He starts doing ministry just before 30 AD. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:54.879 He's probably crucified around 30 A.D. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:58.399 And then we have Acts telling the story of the early church. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:01.600 There's where the epistles fit in, and we have the book of Revelation. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:08.159 I know some of you are just kind of getting used, getting a wrapping your head around how the Bible works and how it's organized. 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:13.039 And I thought I'd put that up there in front of you just to give you that visualization of where we're at. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:18.559 The X marks the spot of what we are looking at this morning in the book of Matthew. 00:11:18.799 --> 00:11:22.480 On a map, we're looking at this region here in Israel. 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:26.159 Um, Israel in the Mediterranean Sea. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:29.200 Really, kind of this is Israel over here on our map. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:42.240 This is the Dead Sea, this is the Sea of Galilee, and right there where it says Rama is uh close to Jerusalem and uh the Jordan River where John is baptizing. 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:45.200 Zoomed in, this again, this is kind of an older map. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:50.000 You probably have this at the back of your Bible, but here is the Bethany beyond Jordan. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:51.919 There's two possible spots. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:58.960 This is probably the area down here in the south, but there's also a Bethany beyond Jordan that's up there in the north. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:05.679 Um, but we're gonna say that John is down here close to Jericho, Jerusalem, and Bethany. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:06.399 Do you see that? 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:09.840 So that's where our story is occurring. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:19.440 And we get into this first section, Matthew chapter one, Matthew chapter three, one through six. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:23.360 It's the introduction of John, the preparer of the way. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:25.120 Do you notice I changed his name? 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:26.320 Do you see that? 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:28.399 Because what do we normally call him? 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:30.639 John the Baptist. 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:34.960 But that is not, that's just something he does, right? 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:39.840 He actually has a calling in life, just like you have a calling in life. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:43.039 And he's called to prepare the way. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:51.679 Now, he does baptisms to prepare the way, but I wish we could name him John, the preparer of the way. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.440 Again, there's that theme, preparation. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:04.000 Now, it says here in our text, let's go over to this phrase here. 00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:05.440 This is his message. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:11.360 He says, repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:22.399 Now, we look at the story of Luke and we find out about John's origin story that he's a cousin of Jesus, probably, he's related to Jesus. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:27.039 He's probably born six months prior to Jesus. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.240 And John, we he kind of rolls off the scene. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:37.039 He's a miraculous birth because his mom couldn't have babies, and then she she you know conceives of John. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:40.799 His parents are Elizabeth and uh Zechariah. 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:42.080 He's named John. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:54.080 It's this whole crazy thing, but he's given this command, which we're gonna see in the next verse, but he has this message: repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:01.360 The kingdom of heaven is one of the reasons why I was so excited to talk about Matthew. 00:14:01.759 --> 00:14:06.320 The kingdom theme goes all the way back to the beginning of the Bible. 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:09.200 Do you know where the kingdom theme first pops up? 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:13.679 I mean, I kind of gave it away there, but but what chapter does kingdom come up in? 00:14:17.039 --> 00:14:22.720 I would I would suggest Genesis chapter 2. 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:38.720 Genesis chapter 2, where God has already said he's creating humans in his image, but then he commands these humans to rule and subdue over the creation that he's made. 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:40.960 That's royal language. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:45.759 The the calling of humanity is different from the calling of animals. 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:49.200 Humans were entrusted, they were given the image of God. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:51.039 Animals don't bear the image of God. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:55.519 The word image, by the way, in Genesis chapter 1, it's the same word as idol. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:59.600 So humans are walking idols of God. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:02.879 They bear the image of God on earth. 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:09.440 They're God's representatives on the earth, and then they're told to do God's role of ruling. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:16.559 So literally, humans are created to take this authoritative position within creation and to rule and subdue. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:19.759 It's this royal appointment given to humans. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:21.759 Now, you know the Bible. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:24.559 Do humans keep up with that calling? 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:27.200 No, they turn away from that calling, right? 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:44.960 They stop obeying God, they forsake that authoritative position with God to reign and rule, they're rebellious, and they fall from their royal, uh they fall from royalty with God and they're estranged from God. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:58.559 And so the Old Testament continues to raise up kingdom-like figures and develop this kingdom theme because God's kingdom is always about to break out. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:04.960 God it's this is gonna be a kind of a disgusting um analogy, but some of you are in the medical field. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:13.039 Sometimes there's these diseases that are kind of subdermal, but then they break out, like uh, I think that's like psoriasis or that kind of thing, right? 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:17.120 It's this breaking out of something that's under the surface. 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:18.960 That's like God's kingdom. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:23.679 I know that's gross, but I can't think of a better, I can't think of a better analogy right now, okay? 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:26.799 It's this, it's like it's this interruption. 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:30.159 I'm gonna just break into history, God's ruling and reigning. 00:16:30.320 --> 00:16:38.480 It's been anticipated all the way back since Genesis chapter three, where God's saying, I'm gonna send something to crush the serpent's head. 00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:41.120 The seed of the woman is gonna crush the serpent's head. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:56.240 Then you have an Abraham figure, you have a Noah figure, you have these different characters where they're they're symbolizing this reigning and ruling, this authoritative acting on God's behalf in the midst of a totally broken world. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:06.720 But none of those characters, whether it's Moses or Abraham or Noah or David or Solomon, they all have failures. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:09.279 You're like, oh, maybe this is the guy. 00:17:09.599 --> 00:17:11.119 And then they fail. 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:16.559 And so there's this anticipation throughout the Old Testament, waiting for the kingdom of God. 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:23.839 And now here is John the Baptist comes on the scene and he says, Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:40.720 Now, Matthew tells us, he says that John did this because he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:42.160 So here's the interesting thing. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:44.880 We're going to look at Isaiah 40 in just a second. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:18:05.279 But Matthew says, John preached this message because Isaiah, Isaiah prophesied that there would be this one crying out in the wilderness, making, uh preparing the way of the Lord, making his paths straight. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:12.319 It's fascinating how John fulfills this calling. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:17.519 Now, let's look a little bit, let's look at this passage out of Isaiah. 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:22.799 Here's what Isaiah 40 literally says, because the quote you have in your text. 00:18:23.039 --> 00:18:29.279 In the Bible in front of you, you have Isaiah 40 verse 3 quoted in Matthew. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:36.480 But listen, listen, this is what Isaiah 40 1 through 3 actually says. 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:40.160 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:54.960 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to her that her time of hard service is over, her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:58.640 A voice of one crying out, Prepare the way of the Lord in the will. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:18:59.680 Do you see that? 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:03.200 Here it is in Isaiah, what Matthew quotes. 00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:07.359 This is happening seven, eight hundred years before Jesus. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:10.079 This is being spoken by Isaiah. 00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:15.759 Do you know that Israel, God's people, were taken captive into Babylon? 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:22.240 Because God's people had disobeyed God, and God said, okay, your time in the promised land, it's up. 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:26.799 I'm going to let you be taken captive into Babylon, into Assyria. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:43.680 But God raised up a generation of prophets, these different men who would speak on God's behalf to the nation and the surrounding nation, saying, Listen, yeah, things are bad right now, but you need to know that God is at work and this is his promise. 00:19:44.079 --> 00:19:52.240 The crazy thing is sometimes they would have these prophetic words from God that spoke of way in the future, 800 years. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:20:01.279 In fact, Isaiah prophesied of things that still to this day have not yet come to pass, about the second coming of Christ. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:21.759 But here in Isaiah chapter 40, God gives Isaiah this word about this one who's crying out in the wilderness, and his job is to make straight paths or straight highways for a God in the desert. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.559 It's this beautiful, beautiful image. 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:31.519 It's interesting to compare the explicit prophecies about John the Baptist with his practice. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:40.960 Notice how vague the prophecies are, and yet John are and John to figure out how to be, I don't know what happened to that sentence. 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:41.759 I apologize. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:44.160 This was me like brainstorming on this. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:49.599 The idea is that John gets this word out of Isaiah, right? 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:51.680 But what do you do with that? 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:52.799 What do you do with it? 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:59.359 When God's speaking to you and he gives you these principles, it's amazing just the humanity involved here. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:06.640 Because our character, John, he has to decide how to make the paths straight, right? 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:08.559 This is what it looked like in Israel. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:09.759 Notice all the rocks. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:16.880 When you had to make a Roman road at the time of John the Baptist, it primarily means just get the bunch of rocks out of the way. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:20.960 And that's the image here is that the Messiah is going to come on the scene. 00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:25.839 We got to clear the streets for, we've got to clear a path so that the Messiah. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:28.640 But is he talking about construction? 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:31.039 Is he talking about a literal road? 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:32.240 No. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:35.440 He's talking about the hearts of the people. 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:37.599 He's talking about the hearts of the people. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:40.799 And this is the question for you and I this morning. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:47.279 Is like, if you were listening to John, would your heart be ready for the Messiah? 00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:56.000 And so, John, what he does is he's baptizing in the Jordan River. 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.759 He's saying, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:08.559 It's just this fascinating method to accomplish the purpose of God spoken 800 years in advance. 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:21.279 And I think the thing that gets me excited about this is that God is wanting to bring about his work in your life and in my life. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:28.640 And he has a way of getting our lives ready for the reign and the rule of Jesus. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:34.640 And so there may be things that you're encountering that seem like, man, what is going on here? 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:36.720 Why is this happening to me? 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:47.759 And if you're a follow- if you're a disciple of Jesus, it the disciple of Jesus, being a disciple of Jesus means that Jesus paid for you with his blood. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:59.039 And so he's not going to just trash your life. 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:06.960 When you've become a follower of him, he now has access and he wants to give you a life that he designs. 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:13.039 And so he is free to orchestrate the activities of your life. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:26.960 I don't want to use the word mess with you, but in a sense, he is in charge of really beautifully designing your life so that your heart is prepared for the Messiah. 00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:29.440 So we have this guy, John. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:31.279 Let's talk a little bit about him. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:38.720 The identity of John was perplexing and oftentimes enmeshed with Jesus or Elijah. 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.599 They're kind of confused with each other. 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:45.440 The accounts themselves are in tension with each other. 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:54.880 Jesus refers to John the Baptist as Elijah in the Gospel of Matthew, but in John's Gospel, John the Baptist denies that he is the prophet. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:57.680 Now, here's what he's talking about. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:01.440 In Matthew 17, Elijah, this is Jesus speaking. 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:10.079 Jesus says, Elijah is coming and will restore everything, he replied, but I tell you, Elijah has already come and they didn't recognize him. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:17.119 On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him in the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:21.519 Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them about John the Baptist. 00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:29.599 Do you remember what we were talking about last week about the layering and how there's this repeated patterns in the Bible and things map on to each other? 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:38.400 Here, this text is saying John's life maps onto the image of Elijah, and John was the Elijah. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:42.880 John was the Elijah, but then there's an Elijah that's also still to come. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:49.200 Now, John the Baptist himself, over in John 1.19, he says this. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:55.920 This was John's testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, Who are you? 00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:58.000 Here's what John said about himself. 00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:02.160 He didn't deny it, but he confessed, I am not the Messiah. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:04.400 And they said, What then are you? 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:05.599 Are you Elijah? 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:07.039 He said, I am not. 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:09.200 Because remember what happened to Elijah. 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:11.759 Remember, he got taken up to heaven, right? 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:15.359 So there was always this anticipation, well, maybe Elijah's gonna come back. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:20.799 Because Elijah and who's the guy in the beginning of Genesis that didn't die? 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:24.160 Enoch. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:25.359 Enoch, yes. 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.279 Enoch and Elijah are the two characters in the Bible that didn't experience death. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:33.599 Maybe Moses would be a third one, possibly, but that's debatable. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:36.000 So there is, they ask him, Are you Elijah? 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:39.039 Are you kind of come back from heaven to us? 00:25:39.200 --> 00:25:40.319 He said, I am not. 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:42.079 And they said, Are you the prophet? 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:43.039 He said, No. 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:47.200 Now, this, what you know, what is he talking about when they ask, are you the prophet? 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.039 This goes back to Deuteronomy 19. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:50.799 Deuteronomy 18 and 19. 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:55.039 Moses told the nation, there's going to be another prophet like me that's going to come. 00:25:55.200 --> 00:25:57.119 You need to discern, is he the prophet? 00:25:57.359 --> 00:26:00.160 Moses was talking about uh the Messiah. 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:08.960 So you see that these individuals, these religious leaders are testing and uh trying to figure out who does John think he is? 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:12.079 And they he said no, and they said, Who then are you? 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:17.119 And they uh they asked, uh, we need to give an answer uh to those who sent us. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:19.119 What can you tell us about yourself? 00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:31.279 And so um I didn't add the rest of the, I don't know why I didn't add, but this is where he says, What we're gonna read in a little bit, where I'm not um I'm not worthy to unloose his shoes. 00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:34.960 So that's John the Baptist, okay? 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:42.480 John is this fascinating character that again repeats some earlier ideas. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:43.680 Now, he's there. 00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:51.759 What I I just the the main thing that I'm hoping that you see is this idea of preparation. 00:26:53.119 --> 00:27:04.079 Because God is over and over again in the old and the new testament, is just doing this work of preparing his people, preparing the scene, right? 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:05.119 What did Moses do? 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:06.720 Did he just go and take Israel out? 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:24.720 No, he had this whole work of like, I'm gonna go to the Pharaoh, and he the whole like soil, spiritual soil of the land is like churned up because Moses is doing this thing with the ten plagues and the you know the calamities that come on Pharaoh and Egypt. 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:27.039 It's this whole preparatory work. 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:28.559 Same with Joshua. 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:31.279 There's a whole preparation that happens with Joshua. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:35.759 Um and so it's this repeated idea. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:41.680 And I would suggest that God is doing that and does do that in our own lives. 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:44.480 Now, let's look at this second section. 00:27:45.359 --> 00:27:51.680 John's message and confrontation with the religious leaders in verses 7 through 10. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:28:00.960 Now we've already seen, we've already seen that the message that John preached was this repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:05.680 But now he encounters these religious leaders. 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:10.880 So we get to kind of drill down on some of the preaching of John. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:22.720 When he saw many of the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath. 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:43.119 We're gonna move through this because I read this to you, and I just want to help you kind of give you give you a framework for the Pharisees, because these guys are the um the uh primary bad guys of the gospels, right? 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:50.880 It says the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to John, they're in the crowd, and so here's who the Pharisees are. 00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:57.599 The name is stems from a Hebrew word, Perusium, which means separatists. 00:28:57.759 --> 00:29:12.079 It's developed out of the Hasidim, the pious ones of the Maccabean period and were closely connected to the oral tradition or the official interpretation of the Torah for that day. 00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:19.759 They were teachers of the law and advocated a scrupulous observance of purity and piety regulations. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:27.200 They saw themselves as building a fence around the law so as to help the common people keep its rules. 00:29:27.440 --> 00:29:39.279 Now they were developed in the Maccabean period because remember, I told you a second ago that the children of Israel rebelled against God and they God allowed them to be taken captive to Babylon. 00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:40.640 They went into exile. 00:29:40.880 --> 00:29:47.200 When they came back after 70 years, there was this zeal that we see in Ezra and Nehemiah. 00:29:47.359 --> 00:29:48.559 The people were zealous. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:54.720 Never again do we want to fail God by going into adult um idolatry. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:30:07.680 And so there was this passion that became the Pharisees and other responses of that kind, but we see that it becomes misguided. 00:30:07.839 --> 00:30:21.839 It becomes a legalism where these individuals are so concerned about drawing this fence around the law that they completely miss the idea of the Messiah. 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:24.720 Here's a picture of John. 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:27.920 This is not actual the actual John. 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:36.000 This is just a drawing, an artistic rendering of John engaging with the Pharisees and Sadducees. 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:56.400 The Pharisees were the party of the common people, but the Sadducees, the name probably coming from the priest Zadok in 1 Kings 1.8, they were the party of the aristocrats, consisting of many chief priests and the upper class. 00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:04.079 So we do have John saying to them, You are a brood of vipers. 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:05.920 He's calling them out. 00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:15.680 I don't know what a Palestinian viper was, but in Africa, a viper was always feared because it would hide on the side of the path and it would jump out. 00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:22.400 It had this uh ability to kind of spring out and just grab you uh by the heels. 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:30.079 And this is what John says of these Pharisees you are a brood of vipers. 00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:40.640 But he continues with his picturesque language and he calls them to bear fruit or to produce fruit consistent with repentance. 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:42.400 Consistent with repentance. 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:52.559 Listen, Paul came and he said in a pretty zealous way, you need to repent. 00:31:53.200 --> 00:31:54.559 You need to repent. 00:31:56.079 --> 00:32:07.680 All throughout the Bible, even back in Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve failed in the garden, God came to Adam and Eve, and what did he say? 00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:11.680 What was the first question that God posed to Adam and Eve? 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:15.440 Where are you? 00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:17.680 Yeah, where are you? 00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:18.480 You know? 00:32:19.359 --> 00:32:27.519 He's posing these questions, not because God doesn't know, but because God is inviting Adam and Eve to repent. 00:32:28.079 --> 00:32:34.880 An aspect of this idea of the fruit of repentance is this word that we have called confession. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:48.559 If you grew up in a Catholic tradition, you know that confession has been formalized into something you do with a priest, where you literally go into a little box and you confess your sins. 00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:52.559 Now, whether or not that's good or bad, I don't know. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:58.160 I don't think it actually hurts because in James chapter 4 it says that we are to confess our sins to one another. 00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:06.559 There's a healthiness about confession, but God's not just concerned about our lips, but he's concerned about our life. 00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:09.920 And but God's always inviting his people to repent. 00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:11.200 He's inviting us this morning. 00:33:11.279 --> 00:33:14.319 If you feel far away from God, he's inviting you to repent. 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:19.200 That's not a scary thing, it's a it's the beginning of relationship. 00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:21.920 Is there's this breach, and you need to repent. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:33.119 You need to come and agree with me on what I say is right and wrong in the world, and you need to align your life with those, that value system. 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:34.480 Repent. 00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:49.839 There was this crazy story that happened in Corinth where there's a church, you know, like our church, and there was a guy in the church, and he was sleeping with his father's wife, like his stepmom. 00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:53.279 And the church was like permitting this to go on. 00:33:53.440 --> 00:33:58.559 It was uh it was just completely, Paul says, this isn't even something that the heathen do. 00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:00.720 I mean, this is gross immorality. 00:34:00.880 --> 00:34:02.960 Like, why are you doing this? 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:11.760 And the church is told you need to get this guy out of the church until he repents and uh turns. 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:13.599 And so he does. 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:22.400 And in 2 Corinthians, Paul writes a follow-up letter to the church, and he uses the same language. 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:30.079 He says, Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved when I wrote that first letter to you about the situation. 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:40.719 He's like, I'm not happy that I got you upset when I wrote that letter, but I but I'm rejoicing because your grief led to repentance. 00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:47.039 For you were grieved as God willed, so that you didn't experience any loss from us. 00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:58.159 For godly grief, there's that word again, produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly grief produces death. 00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:07.920 For consider how much diligence this very thing, this grieving of God's God's will, has produced in you. 00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:17.199 And he begins to list out all of the ways that they're demonstrating the fruit of repentance as a church. 00:35:17.440 --> 00:35:21.840 They it's it's producing them this desire to clear themselves. 00:35:22.079 --> 00:35:24.159 In other words, we're totally in the clear. 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:25.920 We're not guilty of this anymore. 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:33.360 We're not just welcoming in completely immoral people and just saying, yeah, yeah, that's good, God's okay with that immoral life. 00:35:33.679 --> 00:35:34.960 What indignation. 00:35:35.119 --> 00:35:41.039 It produced in them this like indignation and fear of like, man, we don't want that ever to happen again. 00:35:41.199 --> 00:35:43.760 What a deep longing, what zeal, what justice. 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:48.719 In every way you showed yourself to be pure in this matter. 00:35:49.199 --> 00:36:05.599 So John the Baptist has as an audience, I imagine him, he's in there in the Jordan River, baptizing people and preaching to the audience on the banks of the river, and he's saying, You brood of vipers, you need to produce the fruit of repentance in your life. 00:36:05.760 --> 00:36:15.039 And this is all in line with what Isaiah said about John, that he's there to prepare the people for Jesus the Messiah. 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:15.920 Do you see? 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:18.559 Think about that road where the rocks are. 00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:27.840 God, in order for God to work in your life, in my life, there has to be this like reckoning, this day of reckoning where it's like, you know what? 00:36:28.079 --> 00:36:30.000 This junk needs to go. 00:36:30.239 --> 00:36:36.800 These rocks need to be moved out of the way so that Jesus can come and have his full way in my heart. 00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:43.039 It's not just for salvation, but listen, you can give your life to Jesus, but leave a rocky path there. 00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:44.480 We read that in Hebrews. 00:36:44.639 --> 00:36:55.920 In Hebrews, he says, listen, mend the broken out-of-joint bones, clear the path, so the valleys are brought up high and the hills are brought down low. 00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:59.679 So that's a smooth path for God's work in your life. 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:01.840 The path is prepared. 00:37:09.440 --> 00:37:12.239 And he's he is not messing around. 00:37:12.480 --> 00:37:18.079 When you start calling people snakes, you're not not messing around. 00:37:18.320 --> 00:37:22.079 Third section, John's description of the coming Messiah. 00:37:22.320 --> 00:37:24.239 This is the last two verses. 00:37:24.559 --> 00:37:31.760 He says, This, I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:34.400 I'm not worthy to remove his sandals. 00:37:34.639 --> 00:37:49.039 He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, his winnowing shovel in his hand, he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out. 00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:51.599 He's continuing with the imagery. 00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:57.360 He's saying, These sandals, I'm not worthy to even undo the sandals. 00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:08.000