Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord is a sermon teaching us that we need to prepare our own hearts for the Lord’s coming and then we need to prepare the hearts of others.

Key verses:
Matthew 3:1-17

 

I’m going to ask you to take your Bible and turn with me this evening to Matthew chapter three and to begin with, I just want to read the third verse. Eventually, we will go back and read the whole chapter. Don’t worry about it being long. It’s just a short chapter. There’s a great deal in it, and I think it will help us to look at it this evening.

Matthew 3:3: “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

I want to talk to you this evening about “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.”

The Coming of the Lord

Isaiah 40:3:” The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

That’s where Matthew 3:3 comes from. But in Malachi:

Malachi 4:5: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:”

Malachi 4:6: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

Now, both of these are talking about the coming of the Lord. We have been, in the month of December, looking at different passages of scripture talking about the coming of the Lord, and how he came to this earth 2,000 years ago. We talked this morning about how he came to be Emmanuel, God with Us, and how he came to be the Savior named Jesus because He shall save his people from their sins – Jesus, meaning Jehovah is Savior. And we looked at various aspects. This morning I was speaking from Matthew chapter one, and last night brother Chris from Matthew chapter two, and tonight I want to talk to you on Matthew chapter three.

Repent Ye

Now, let me share something with you. The events of Matthew chapter three take place approximately 30 years after that first Christmas day. So, why are we talking about it tonight? Because it all ties together. There are some very important things in this chapter that I want you to see.

If we were to go to Luke’s Gospel, in Luke chapter one, we read that the angel came to Zachariah. He came to Zachariah, the priest, while he was in the temple doing the duty of a priest, and he came to tell him that in his old age and his wife’s old age, they were going to have a son. This son would be a great preacher and would be preparing the way for the Lord to come. Take a look, if you will, at verse one:

Matthew 3:1: “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,”

That’s the son promised to Zachariah and Elizabeth. John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus was born, and they are cousins. Mary and Elizabeth are cousins, so John and Jesus are cousins. They grew up in different parts of the country. We know that from Luke chapter one, where Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, and it was quite a journey for her. But they are close relatives, and John played a great part in preparing people for the coming of Jesus. So, take a look at verse two, John says in his message:

Matthew 3:2: “And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Now, that is quite a statement. He says, “Repent you.” You need to repent. The people of that day in Judea and throughout all the nation of Israel, it would be Samaria at that time, Galilee, and throughout all the area, they needed to repent. They need to turn away from their sins. They need to turn to God. You know what? In 21st-century America, people need to repent. We need to turn away from our sins. We need to turn to God.

Our national motto is “In God We Trust.” It’s a good motto and one we ought to hold to. And then we sing that great song, “God Bless America.” I’ve told you this story before, but some of you weren’t here to hear it, and I want to tell it again. We had an evangelist here years ago named Layton Sampson. I talked to him earlier this year, and he’s still going, still preaching. He’s up in his eighties, and he was about 80 when he came here and spoke.

He was here on a Sunday, and it was September 11th. After the service, I took him up here to Woolbright Road to the Cracker Barrel for lunch. We were sitting in the restaurant there, and he said to me across the table, “You know, it’s September 11th. Do you think it would be okay if I stand up at the hearth in the restaurant here and sing [he’s a great singer] in front here and sing ‘God Bless America’?” I said, “I suppose it would be, but I think you ought to ask the manager before you do that.”

So, the waitress came by, and he asked the waitress if it would be alright. She said the same thing I did, “Well, I think so, but let’s check with the manager.” She checked with the manager and came back and said, “Manager said go ahead.” So, he did. He got up and stood on the hearth there and just started singing “God Bless America.” And you know what? The whole restaurant began to sing with him. And then afterward, he came back to our table and sat down. And we could barely eat our lunch for all the people who came over wanting to talk to him and thank him for singing.

Now, that’s a great story and a true story. But if we really want God to bless America, we need to honor God. It makes it difficult for him to bless us when we don’t honor Him, when we reject Him, when we turn away from His Word, and when we knowingly and purposefully violate His Word. So, if we want God’s blessing, we need to do what John the Baptist said. We need to repent. We need to turn back to God.

Kingdom of Heaven

And then, in verse two, John said, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That is a statement “kingdom of Heaven” you will only find in the Gospel of Matthew. There are 66 books of the Bible, and the other 65 books do not have the statement “kingdom of Heaven.”

You will often see the phrase “kingdom of God.” You will see similar phrases, but you will not see those exact words “kingdom of Heaven” except in the Gospel of Matthew. There is a good reason for that. It’s not that the other writers don’t believe in the kingdom of Heaven, but Matthew wrote his Gospel particularly to the people of Israel to tell them that the Messiah was coming and has come and is going to come again. That’s what the Gospel of Matthew is all about. And there is so much evidence in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus is indeed the Messiah.

Stay with me on that. So, as he is writing, he’s writing that phrase “kingdom of Heaven” about the time when the Messiah, who is the son of David as we looked a couple of services ago, the Davidic covenant. The Messiah, who is a descendent of David, who is at the same time Emmanuel, God with Us, will reign on the throne of David from Jerusalem over all the earth.

That song we sang this morning, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” talks about it as well. And “Joy to the World” is what that song is all about. I think we’ll probably sing that song next Sunday. Christmas will be over, but I think we’re going to sing “Joy to the World” again because of what it means and what it’s talking about.

The kingdom of Heaven refers to the earthly reign of the Messiah. Revelation chapter 20, verses 1-6, tells us that He will reign on the earth from Jerusalem for a period of 1,000 years. Where did I get that? Once again, Revelation 20:1-6, you’ll find it there. The kingdom of Heaven refers to that 1,000-year reign, and John says the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent, turn back to God, and get ready because the Lord, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior is coming.

400 Prophesies

Now, back to verse three, where we started out:

Matthew 3:3: “For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”

Now, that again is Isaiah 40:3 that he is quoting, and Matthew demonstrates how the coming of the Lord fulfilled so many prophesies of the Old Testament. It is estimated that 400 prophesies was fulfilled by Jesus’ coming, His life, including His crucifixion, His resurrection, and His return to Heaven. Over 400 prophesies. The last of those prophecies was in the Book of Malachi, and we are going to come to that book in just a moment here.

The Book of Malachi was the last book of the Old Testament written. What we read there and what we read in the Gospel of Matthew over 400 years have passed. During that more than 400 years, there was no Word of God given, so we call it the 400 silent years. Think about that. Over 400 prophesies, and the last one, the latest one, was written 400 years before Jesus came. That’s a long time. The earliest prophecies were written thousands of years before Jesus came. To have 400 prophecies written hundreds and thousands of years before Jesus comes is nothing short of miraculous. Those prophecies in the Old Testament do not speak in vague generalities. They cite specific prophecies, and Matthew and the other Gospel writers give us the fulfillment.

John the Baptist

Take a look now at verse four:

Matthew 3:4: “And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.”

I want you to picture that if you can. His clothing was made out of camel hair. Camel hair is thick and coarse and not like most garments that we would wear today. A lot of what we wear is synthetic today. And what isn’t synthetic is generally made out of cotton or maybe flax. Flax is made from linen, but a lot of it is just synthetic material. In those days, most people wore linen, but not John. He wore camel hair clothing, and he had a great leather belt.

But notice something else there, “his meat was locusts and wild honey.” I’ve eaten wild honey, but I’ll be honest with you, I’ve never eaten locusts. I don’t much think I want to. There is a scene in a movie that I like where there’s a fellow out in the desert, and he has to eat locusts to survive, and he says it’s not too bad once you get past the legs. I’m going to take his word for it. I’m really not sure I want to eat locusts.

But John did. Now, why is that? He’s just this weird guy wandering around and dressed funny and eating strange things. No, I don’t think so. I think he did it because he was living purely off the land. He was living a life of poverty. Not that he had taken a vow of poverty or anything like that, but he didn’t come to do anything in his life but to prepare the way of the Lord. That’s what mattered to him. That’s what was most important to him.

Later on, near the time of John’s death, Jesus said that John was the greatest man who ever lived. What made him a great man? Singleness of purpose. He had one purpose, he had one goal in mind, and that was to what? Prepare the way of the Lord; get people ready for the coming of the Savior.

Matthew 3:5: “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,”

Jerusalem, as you know, is a city, a capital city. Judea is the region around it. But then it talks about people coming from across the Jordan River, that is, at that time, the area called Ijumaa, but today we would call it the country of Jordan. The country of Jordan wasn’t called that in those days. It hadn’t been established as the country of Jordan. But that’s the area we are talking about. So, the people of Ijumaa, or Jordan, came, everybody from the surrounding area came, and the people of Jerusalem came out into the wilderness to listen to John preach.

Has anything like that happened since then? Sure has. In the colonial days of this country, lots of people came from Europe, as you know. One of them was a man named George Whitfield. George Whitfield was a close associate with John and Charles Wesley. We mentioned earlier “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” was written by Charles Wesley, among other hymns too.

But George Whitfield was a close associate of the Wesleys and Benjamin Franklin. He and Benjamin Franklin were close friends. But Whitfield was a powerful preacher. They say while he was here in the colonies, he would go out in a cow pasture with no one around and stand on a tree stump, and he would just start preaching. As he began preaching, hundreds of people would come to the cow pasture to listen to him.

I tell you that story because that’s the kind of thing that was going on with John the Baptist. John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness, and huge crowds of people would come out to listen to what he had to say. Why? Because as Pastor Chris mentioned last night, they knew, according to Daniel’s prophecy, they knew it was about the time for the Savior to come. They come listening to John, and they want to hear about the Savior who is coming. Some of them even asked him if he was the Savior, and he said that he was not. He said that he was not even worthy of bowing down and loosen his shoes. Let’s go back to verse five to get the flow of thought:

Matthew 3:5: “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,”

Matthew 3:6: “And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.”

Now, that’s important. They were baptized as they confessed their sins. There was a requirement for them to be baptized, and it was that they confess their sins. They just didn’t come down, and all these people put in the water there. “That looks like fun. I’ll do it too.” It wasn’t like that.

Many years ago, when I was in that area, there were folks there that wanted to get baptized in the Jordan River. There is a place in the Jordan River where they have it all set up for people who want to be baptized there. Somebody asked me, “Are you going to get baptized in the Jordan?” I said, “No.” They asked, “Why not?” I said, “I got baptized once and don’t need to do it again.” And I don’t. There is no reason to. But other people perhaps hadn’t been baptized, or they just wanted to get baptized in the Jordan.

But I’m telling you, that is not how it was with John. With John, you had to confess your sins before you could be baptized, and they did. I emphasize that so you can understand what happens in the next verse.

Meet for Repentance

Matthew 3:7: “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

“O generation of vipers” – that is kind of a rough way to talk, isn’t it? You poisonous snakes – that’s what he said.

Matthew 3:8: “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:”

Matthew 3:9: “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.”

Do you know what he is saying? Don’t come to me to be baptized unless you are willing to repent of your sins. If you are not willing to repent – why did he emphasize that? Because they didn’t think they needed to repent. They thought they were righteous people. They didn’t see any reason to confess their sins. They didn’t think they had any – that is like a lot of people today.

If you were to go out in our country and talk to a lot of people, they’d say, “I don’t need to hear about all this repent of sin stuff. I’m a good person. I’m probably a better person than you.” Can I share something with you? If somebody says, “I’m a better person than you,” you know what I don’t do? I don’t argue with them. I don’t try to tell them that I’m better than them because maybe I’m not.

“Wait a minute, you are standing up there preaching to the rest of us, and you’re saying you’re not better than us?” That’s exactly what I’m saying. I am a sinner saved by grace, and I’m nothing more than that. And the truth of the matter is, it’s wrong for us to go to people and say, “Well, I’m better than you are.” So, that is not what John is saying. What John is saying is that you need to repent of your sins. But again, they didn’t think they had any, didn’t think they had any reason to repent. There are so many folks in our country today that think that way themselves. They are self-righteous.

Baptize by Fire

And then, in verse 10, John says:

Matthew 3:10: “And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

Pay close attention to verse 11:

Matthew 3:11: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:”

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance,” – John’s baptism is a symbol of repentance.

“But he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:” – Now that is important. He is talking about the one who is coming. And the one who is coming is coming with His baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire.

What does he mean by that? He’s talking about the power of the Holy Spirit, which, as we saw this morning in Acts chapter two, comes upon the believers and indwells the believers.

Verse 12, he says:

Matthew 3:12: “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

“Whose fan is in his hand,” – what does that mean? Did he come with a fan to fan himself? No, that is not what it is talking about at all. “Whose fan is in his hand” – in that day, when they went out to harvest wheat, they would cut the wheat and bring it to an area called a threshing floor. At the threshing floor, they would take there and separate the grain of the wheat from the husk of the wheat. Then they would take a fan, which we call a broom, and brush away the husk, which wasn’t of any value and keep the grain which was of value.

So, what John is saying here is He’ll come with the fan or the broom in his hand, and He’s going to get rid of all the husks, all that that’s not living, all that that’s not productive, all that that’s not worthy. How do we know that is what it means? Well, read the rest of the verse, “

Matthew 3:12: “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

“And gather his wheat into the garner;” – He’ll keep the wheat “but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

What will they do with that, those husks that they swept away with the brooms or the fan? They burned it. “Do you think, preacher, he’s talking about people going to Heaven and people going to Hell?” I am sure that is what he’s talking about. Those who put their faith in the Savior would be forgiven and saved. And those who did not would be lost swept away into eternal fire. “That’s not what I wanted to hear on Christmas night.” I understand that but stay with me.”

Before we move on to the next verse, I want to share this with you. Back in David’s day, he had sinned against the Lord, and he wanted to get right with the Lord. And this was late in his life, and he wanted to make an offering to the Lord. He came to a man who had a beautiful threshing floor, and he said to the man, “I want to buy your threshing floor, and I will make a sacrifice unto the Lord.” The man’s name was Araunah. And Araunah said, “No, King David. If you want this threshing floor to worship God, I will give it to you.” David said, “No, I will not offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing.” So, David paid him a fair price for the threshing floor. He built his altar there and made a sacrifice.

What does that have to do with this story? Well, first of all, John just gave us the illustration of the threshing floor, but secondly, he was on that threshing floor. David’s son, Solomon, built the first temple on the property that David had bought to give an offering to the Lord.

With all this story so far, John the Baptist coming in his rough clothing and with his strange diet and preaching in the wilderness with people coming and listening to him, and people getting baptized, he rebuked the self-righteous. He talks of the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, and the day of judgment.

Then Cometh Jesus

With all that as the backdrop, then cometh Jesus. We’ve been talking all this time to come up to this simple phrase. “Then cometh Jesus,” Jesus came. Why? Because John had spent his entire life preparing the way for the Lord. Don’t you think that’s what He wants you and me to do, prepare the way for the Lord? Prepare the way for people to come to the Lord. Prepare the way for people to see that He is coming so that they can put their trust and faith in Him and be saved. It’s what John did. Verse 13:

Matthew 3:13: “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.”

Matthew 3:14: “But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?”

Jesus came to John and said that He wanted to be baptized. John said, no, no, no, and that if anybody is going to baptize, Jesus should baptize him. John knows who Jesus is. They first met when Elizabeth was six months along in her pregnancy, and Mary had just been newly conceived. They greeted each other, and Elizabeth said the little baby, John, leaped in her womb when he heard Mary’s voice. It wasn’t magic with Mary; it was the Savior who John recognized.

So, now, Jesus comes to John, and he asks to be baptized. Now, you’ve got to stop and ask yourself, as John was asking, why would Jesus want to be baptized? Let’s talk about that very quickly. First of all, He didn’t get baptized to wash away His sins. He didn’t have any sins. Of all the people in this story, He’s the only one who didn’t have any sins. I guess He got baptized to go to Heaven. That’s silly. He came from Heaven. Do you suppose for one second that before He could return to Heaven, the Father would say, “Wait, you didn’t get baptized. I can’t let you come back.” What a ridiculous idea. That has nothing to do with it.

Why did He get baptized? Don’t miss this. This is towards the end of John the Baptist’s ministry. This is toward the beginning and at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. We spent all of this month talking about how Jesus came to this world. Why did He come? He came to be the Savior. So, Jesus, at the beginning of His ministry, says this, verse 15:

Matthew 3:15: “And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.”

Then he baptized Him.

Matthew 3:16: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:”

“And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water,” – Can I share a little simple logic with you? Jesus could not have come up out of the water unless He was first down in the water. Does that make sense? It does, doesn’t it?

They didn’t get down in the Jordan River so that John could pour a little water on Jesus’ head. He didn’t need to do that. They could have done that standing on the shore. What am I saying? I’m saying that John was baptizing by immersion. He was taking people, placing them under the water, and bringing them up again. Why? So important. Jesus, at the beginning of His ministry, is showing people what He is going to do. How that approximately 3-1/2 years later, He was going to be crucified, die for our sins, be buried, and rise again. That is why Jesus got baptized.

Why do people get baptized today? Same thing, not to wash away our sins. All the water in the world cannot wash away your sins. Just like the old hymn writer says, “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.” Not to wash away our sins, and we don’t get baptized to go to Heaven. Again, it’s silly to think you can’t come to Heaven unless you get baptized.

Let me give you a Bible illustration. Again, approximately 3-1/2 years later. Jesus is hanging on a cross, and two thieves are with Him. They both mock Him at first, but as time goes on and they all three are dying, one of them repents, and he says to the other one [paraphrasing], “Don’t you see we’re all dying here. How can you mock this man, he’s done nothing wrong, and we’re here justly. We should be here.” And he turned his head as best as he could on that cross to Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus didn’t say, “Yes, I’ll remember you.” He knew what was in that man’s heart, and He said, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

Let’s ask a logical question. When did that thief climb down from that cross and get baptized? He didn’t. He couldn’t. If he had wanted to, he couldn’t have done it. If he had said to the Romans around there, “Would you let me down off the cross, I need to get baptized before I die.” They wouldn’t have done it, and yet Jesus said, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

What’s your point, preacher? My point is we don’t get baptized to wash our sins away, and we don’t get baptized to go to Heaven. Why do we get baptized? Because we are showing people who see our baptism that we believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins, He was buried and rose again. And we believe that when we die, He will resurrect us. And according to Romans chapter six, we are going to leave off our old life, die to self, leave our old life of following self in the world, and we are going to start a resurrected life following Jesus. Where do we get that from? Romans chapter six. Read it. You’ll see what I’m saying.

Matthew 3:16: “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:”

Matthew 3:17: “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Do you know what you have there? You have the Trinity. Here’s the Son who has been baptized, here’s the Holy Spirit coming down upon Him, and here’s the Father speaking directly out of Heaven. You have the Trinity there together.

And after this, in chapter four, Jesus has his temptation of Satan, and then He calls His apostles, and in chapter five, he begins His preaching and teaching ministry. This is the beginning of it. This is why we celebrate Christmas. This is why this little baby was born in a stable and put in a manger. This is what it’s all about. He came to save this world from its sins.

And in John 6:47, Jesus says:

John 6:47: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

So, here we are on Christmas night. We sang beautiful songs, and I said earlier this month that the most beautiful music ever written has been written about Christmas. I stand by that. We celebrate, and we have decorations, and we give gifts, and that is all wonderful, part of the celebration. But why? Because the Savior came. That’s it. That’s what the whole thing is about.

I told the children in the camp the other day there are nice stories told around Christmastime, fun stories like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and “Scrooge.” I like the story of Scrooge. I think it is a good story, I really like it. But none of those stories are true. None of them are true. The first two don’t really have much to do with Christmas. They are nice little stories but don’t have much to do with Christmas. Even the story of Scrooge doesn’t really tell you how to be saved.

But the true story is that the Savior came. As the angels said to the shepherds, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord.”

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Let’s pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we can come together even this Christmas night in the name of Jesus. And thank you, Lord, that we can read in your Word what that coming is really all about. And Lord, as you know, our hearts help us to repent. Help us to know that you’re coming again is at hand and that we need to prepare the way of the Lord. We need to prepare our own hearts, and then we need to prepare the hearts of others. Lord, help us, strengthen us, empower us, we pray. Lord, we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen

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