December 4 Sermon: Straightening the Path

When company is coming, we know that we need to get ready. Even if your house is spotless and everything is in good order, you still prepare things for those guests that are on their way to spend time at your home. You not only want to get things just right, but we also consider the people that are coming, those that are on their way to visit us. Your home isn't a hotel, so you're going to do more than just lay out towels and have some miniature soaps and shampoos waiting for them. You will consider what some of their favorite foods are, what some of their favorite beverages might be. You will take extra steps to make sure that some of the comforts of home that they enjoy are available to them. You not only straighten things up, you go out of your way to find out what they enjoy. And you try to make the experience the best that it can be for your guests. Now, the big theme of Advent is more than just a chance for us to get a calendar that has four weeks of chocolates that we can open up and eat every day. 

That's more than just that. The theme of Advent is more than that. It's more than a holding pattern until we get to open our presence. The idea of Advent isn't a pre-Christmas waiting period. Instead, it's one of anticipation as we prepare to celebrate the first coming of Christ at Christmas. The idea here is that our minds are going to be drawn to getting ourselves ready for the second coming of Christ. And that is more than just straightening up a little bit to be prepared for Christ's second coming is a call to repentance. It's a call to consider whether we are conforming our lives to the call that Jesus has put on our lives. It's a call to consider our sins and to turn away from them. So this is why Advent passages are typically, typically prophetic passages from the Old Testament, and the reason we see John the Baptist always making an appearance at some point in the New Testament passages we read during the four weeks of Advent. Now, if you stop and think about the appearance of John the Baptist here, and maybe you've thought about this before, it's kind of odd on the surface to have the ministry of John the Baptist in a lead up to Christmas, isn't it? 

Because we know from the Gospel of Luke that John isn't much older than Jesus. And when we come to John in the Gospels, his ministry is leading up to the public ministry of Jesus. And Jesus doesn't start his public ministry till he's roughly 30 years old. So John isn't out proclaiming in the wilderness. Get ready for the birth of the Messiah because he's going to be in Bethlehem in a few weeks. Get ready. You've got four weeks. And then next week we'll add another candle. You got three weeks. That wasn't what John was doing out in the wilderness. John was a full grown adult. Jesus was a full grown adult. What John the Baptist is doing is he's preparing people for the teaching ministry and the healing ministry of Jesus. He's preparing them to hear the message of the kingdom of heaven. So we understand this, that the focus of Advent is on repentance. So the appearance of John the Baptist in our text during this time only makes sense because, as we've seen before, john the Baptist is a throwback, isn't he? He's like the prophets of the Old Testament. He comes with a harsh word of judgment to prepare the people to hear the message of the kingdom of God, the message of the kingdom that Jesus is going to bring. 

As we find ourselves in the third chapter of Matthew this morning, we're going to consider four of the statements that John the Baptist make. So we're not going to go through the passage verse by verse, but we're going to think about four cutting statements that John the Baptist makes. And we're going to consider how these statements should be heard living in light of our lives and how we live them in light of the second coming of Jesus. So the first statement that we're going to look at this morning is the statement to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The second is, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. The third statement we'll look at today is to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And finally, we're going to look at the statement about John's baptism being of water, but there's a baptism coming of the Holy Spirit and of fire. So let's look at our first statement here as we look at Matthew, chapter three, verse two. Now, this isn't a particularly difficult sentence to understand, is it? Each of those words is easy to pronounce and each one of them has probably been a part of your vocabulary for a very long time. 

But at the same time, this is a hard sentence because it's a strong call. It's something that is hard for us to hear because the word repent is a very strong word because it requires something of you and I. It means a change of mind. But it's more than just an intellectual assent to some sort of idea. To truly change our mind about something requires action on our part, doesn't it? Let's imagine that you and I are riding down the road and we're headed to have ourselves some dinner at a restaurant on one side of a city. We're headed there and I think this is the best place to get barbecue, so I'm taking you there. And while we're driving. You convince me that there's a place on the other side of town that is much better. They use better cuts of meat. They guarantee that their meat is fresh and never frozen. And you even have samples of their sauce for me to try. And I have some there licking it off my fingers in the car. And I agree with you that place is better. You pull up their menu and you convince me even further because you show me that not only are the portions bigger, but it's cheaper. 

And I really like that. And so I agree with you. I'd like to save money. I'd like to have better food. I agree with you that the establishment that you like is a better choice. We should go there now. Imagine that after that discussion, my agreeing with you completely, if I kept on driving to the place I was heading to in the first place, then I drove all the way the wrong direction, got there, got into the car and expected better food, better sauces, cheaper prices, better portions at a place that doesn't have that. But I just kept going the wrong direction. I didn't turn around. You would think I was crazy, because if I want the thing that's behind me that's better, I have to turn around, I have to physically go the other way and acquire it. In order to get something better, you have to head away from the thing that isn't better. You have to go the other direction. But yet what I'm describing, and as silly as what I just said and described is what I'm describing there, is what we're prone to do when we hear the call to repent, isn't it? 

We do that. We hear the word of God, we intellectually acknowledge that we are in sin, that we are headed in the wrong direction, but yet we keep going the same way that we've been going, expecting different results. The call to repentance is more than just deciding that our sin is sin. It is also a call to flee from our sin, to head the other direction. And this is what John the Baptist is calling his audience to do. And there's a sense of urgency to this call of repentance as well, isn't there? He says that they should repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, it is near to them. In other words, the Messiah is coming and they should turn from their sin now because the reign of God is on the way. He's telling them that it's going to be among them soon. So this statement by John is a loaded one. We could parse so many details of this one sentence, but we want to get through three more statements today. So I'm going to put this in terms that I think cut to the chase of what John is saying here. 

Repent because the king is coming. The king is coming. The idea of the kingdom of Heaven is going to be proclaimed. This whole thing, this is what has been anticipated by the prophets. The prophets were looking for the reign of God to come and now John is telling the people that what the people of old were waiting for. It's more than just on the way. It's basically here, the King is coming, he's very near. The time of waiting is over. That's what John is driving home here. And so this is more than just that old bumper sticker that you probably saw years ago that was attempting to be funny. I think you'll know which one I'm talking about when I say it. You probably saw it too. Jesus is coming. Look busy. That's not what John the Baptist is saying here because the idea Jesus is coming, look busy, that isn't actually funny. It was an attempt at humor, but it's not funny enough. It's funny at all because the King of Heaven and Earth comes not to just see how we look or to think that we're busy, but he comes to judge the thoughts and the actions and intentions of men. 

So, we need to do more than just look busy. John isn't telling them out in the wilderness, the Messiah's coming, look busy. He's telling them to consider their lives. And so, these words being spoken to the people in the wilderness come to us. You and I are being called to consider our lives and to hear the call to repent. And we're to hear this call with gravity, the gravity it deserves. Because we never know when we are going to be called to account because the coming of the king is at hand. And so, we should turn from sin and we should seek to do justice and mercy in God's world. Repent. The king is coming. And so, the second statement that we're looking at today is from verse seven and it continues this urgent language that we've been talking about. John the Baptist means business here, doesn't he folks? It's a harsh statement and it's interesting that this statement here is to the religious leaders, the statuses and the pharisees. These are the people that are looked up to as the example of how they should live. But John sees through them long before we hear Jesus preaching against them, doesn't he? 

Jesus is going to preach against their hypocrisy later on in the Gospels, but John lets us know about it right now, right here at the beginning of Matthew, we get the idea of who the bad guys are going to be in the Gospels. And we have this statement in several of the Gospels. In fact, we saw it in the Book of Luke when we were going through that. Right here we see that they are a brood of vipers. Now the idea here is that they are the offspring of poisonous snakes. Not exactly the way that you would greet people. I mean, this is not a friendly greeting. Someone comes out to hear you speak and you basically say they're the devil. That's not a way to win friends and influence people. Just so you know. This is harsh, but the language that is used here is justified. I pointed out previously that the Pharisees are they're actually relatively well intentioned, the Pharisees had good intentions in mind because the religious life of the Jewish people at this time had been diluted by the repeated dispersion of their people away from the land. They would be sent out in judgment and in exile. 

The people are all over the known world. The Jewish people are everywhere in the world. They're a long ways from Israel. And so you can imagine that the people's adherence to the tenets of their faith have been watered down over time. And so the Pharisees show up here in history and they want the people to return to following God. They want the people to keep the law. Again, like I said, their motivation was a good one, but they had become obsessed with lawkeeping. They've become obsessed with creating new rules to make sure that the law is being kept. They would come up with all these new ideas on how people could keep this new law so that maybe they wouldn't break the other law. Their hearts were concerned more with the keeping of the law than with the spirit of who God was. But despite their good intentions of bringing the people back to their faith, john correctly identifies them as this brood of vipers. Because, as I said, they're not about grace. And as we see throughout the Gospels, they are continually coming after Jesus. And so, what is interesting is that here we see these people who are concerned with the restoration of the religious practices of their people, and yet John doesn't think they're on his team. 

Their call for people to return to the faith, this call that the Pharisees have for people to obey the law, clearly isn't the same as John's call to repent. And we see, as he does, more than just call them snakes, because he has a question that is a very powerful question. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? In other words, how did you figure out that the message of repentance is out here in the wilderness? It's about time you snakes figured out that you self-righteous people need to hear the message of repentance. So this harsh statement is a good one for you and I to hear as well. This isn't just a good statement for the Pharisees and the Sadducees. We need to hear this during Advent because one of the greatest dangers to us as believers is for you and I to have a Pharisaical attitude because we can get caught up in self-righteousness and we can have judgmental hearts. It's vital that we hear this message and we evaluate ourselves. Do we think that everyone else needs to hear the call to repentance and we're okay? Or are we going to let the word of God and the Holy Spirit work in our hearts to convict us of our sin? 

Will we hear the call to flee from the wrath to come? Or are we going to ignore it? This is a very important question for us to ask ourselves as we prepare ourselves for Christmas and for the second coming of Jesus. And the third statement that we're looking at this morning is John telling the Pharisees and Sadducees to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. This comes from the previous statement here. This flows out of this. And this is an important statement because it goes to the heart of the theme that comes out of this text for us today. And this is what we expect of people when we hear the words that I agree with you that I'm wrong. We expect them to actually change, not keep doing what they're doing. If we say that we have a desire to turn from sin, we should turn from sin. It's one thing to say that we don't like what it is that we're doing. It's an entirely different thing to actually change our lives. It's hard. We get this. I'm guessing there isn't a one of us who has been convicted of an area of sin in our lives, and then we find it to be an even harder struggle than it was going forward because we are really trying to do something about it and we're tempted even more. 

And we know that this is the way things go. We know that what we should do is turn away from our sin. Because as individuals, we all know how it feels when someone tells us they're going to change the way that they do something and then nothing changes. We know how we don't like that. We don't want to be that person. But yet it's so hard. So this is why John tells the Pharisees and the Sadducees to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. He just doesn't want them to renounce their sins with their mouths. He's calling them to actually turn from their sin. Basically, he's saying, look, you've come out here to hear what I have to say. My words are calling you to change your lives, not just say that you agree with what I'm preaching about out here in the wilderness. You actually have to do something. You actually have to turn from sin. And it's important that we see the imagery that John is using here. He talks about bearing fruit. Now, we know this this is simple stuff, but a fruit tree is not like a produce section in the grocery store, is it? 

We don't walk up to one branch of a tree and expect to get apples and then go to another branch and get an orange and then walk around to the other side of the tree and pick out a banana trees bear fruit based upon what kind of a tree they are. You plant an apple tree, and you expect apples, not kiwi. Again, this is pretty simple. Each year when you have a tree, you don't go, gee, I wonder what's going to be on my apple tree once the blossoms start to bear fruit. You know, an apple tree bears apples. In the same way. You and I need to be mindful that if we want to bear good fruit, we need to be a good tree. If we want to bear good fruit, we need to pursue inward righteousness. If our thoughts and our desires are not directed toward the things of God, what makes us think that we're going to bear Godly fruit? And we see here that John lets the Pharisees know that they are not the children of God because their genetics are correct. John lets them know that if God wanted children, he could even make stones to be children of Abraham. 

And that's a bold statement there, because they think that they're going to bear Godly fruit simply because they're from Abraham's tree. But now John is saying, with the coming of the Messiah, the axe is being laid to the root. In other words, it won't matter which one of the children of Jacob you are descended from, guys, anyone could be a child of Abraham. And so, the call here is to bear fruit that they might not be cut down and thrown into the fire and be replaced. The idea here, and it's a strong idea, is that judgment is coming and so repent and bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Now, all of this is convicting not just to first century Pharisees. This is also convicting to us here in the 21st century because we so easily fall into the trap that the Pharisees fell into. We're doing the right things externally, and so we believe we must have everything right on the inside. And so, the call for us in Advent is to evaluate who we are internally with the goal that our external fruit would match the righteousness that we are seeking on the inside. 

And so, with that convicting thought, we moved to the fourth statement of John the Baptist from our passage here in Matthew. Now, as the people of the first century, we're anticipating the Messiah. Many of them were baptized. This was a visible sign of their desire to be cleansed or to be washed for their sins. Basically, the idea was an idea of cleansing. There isn't anything in the Old Testament about being baptized, is there? So, this baptism of John was a symbol of being washed, being cleansed of your sins. So, you can imagine how this would take place with a fiery preacher like John the Baptist, can't you? He says some of these convicting words here like we've been looking at today, and you hear it and you're convicted of your sins, and you want to do something. You know, you hear this and you naturally want to do something. How can I prove that I agree with John here? And so, you want to be clung to your sin. What better than to have this water come over you? I'm guessing people were lining up in droves to have this done. As I've mentioned many times before, in a world without Netflix, a world without Major League Baseball, somebody like John the Baptist is great entertainment. 

I mean, people are coming out in droves to see him and you hear these words cutting you to the quick of how you are not following God's law. You know, that people were lining up to be baptized. And so this passage closes up to talk about this idea of baptism. John says that he's doing this baptism with water, but there is someone coming who's greater, and John here is acknowledging that he is not the Messiah. So what does all this mean? Are we doing baptism wrong here by having a baptismal funk with water? Should we have a blowtorch instead? Should we have something like that? Would that be better? Is the idea that we're going to actually use fire to baptize people? No. The idea that is being spoken here by John is that the Messiah is going to do more than just a ceremonial washing for purification. The idea of fire is burning away that which is bad and cleansing it down to the depths. And so that's the theme ultimately here for the entire passage we've been looking at today, isn't it that we need something more than just the external appearances, that things are okay? 

We need something to be done deep within us. We need to be fully cleaned. We need something that is radical. We don't just need a paint job on the outside to make our appearance improve. We need a complete remodel of the heart. As we consider the season of Advent, the season of Christmas, and ultimately the second coming of Jesus, this is what we need to dwell on, this change within us. And the question we ask is how can we prepare our hearts that we might be ready when Jesus returns? So, as we journey towards Christmas, our lives are so often centered on the externals, aren't they? Because we decorate, we make things look just so. We seek to buy gifts. And our emphasis is usually to get the right item and to make things look perfect. We want things to be just so. We might even get festive by dressing up for parties in our best clothes. Or maybe we might even jump on that new trend. It's not that new anymore, but that trend of the ugly Christmas sweater. We're very always focused on externals, but at the end of the day, Christmas is about the coming of the Savior of the world, the one who took on our flesh. 

And his appearance, his external appearance was nothing out of the ordinary. And in fact, when Jesus took on the wrath of God for our sin, his appearance on the outside was something that you and I would have looked away from. So, the coming of Jesus is about a cleansing within. It's about being given a righteousness that is not our own, and then in gratitude, desiring that our lives would reflect the righteousness that we've received from Jesus. So, as we move towards Christmas, we will see these external reminders of the season of Christmas. We're going to see those. We see them in here. They're beautiful, wonderful things. And so, as we see those things, may those visible sights and may those visible sounds of Christmas remind us of the word of God that we've heard from John the Baptist today. And may these convicting words be used by the Holy Spirit to convict us of areas of sin. And may our hearts truly desire to be changed. May we desire to repent and turn away from our sin. May we be a people of repentance who are prepared for Christmas, and we're also prepared for the second coming of our Lord in faith. 

May we long for his appearance, and may we continually bear fruit in keeping with that repentance that the Holy Spirit gives to us that we might bless the name of Jesus, that he might be glorified when he returns. Amen.

This message was delivered on December 4, 2022 by Pastor Mark Groen at First Reformed Church in Edgerton, MN. First Reformed is a congregation in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.