Let's be turning to Luke chapter
3. Today we turn our attention to
the ministry our Lord gave to John the Baptist. Now in verse
1 we are told of the timing of John's ministry. It says, Now
in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. And
Tiberius Caesar, as I understand it, historically, he would have
been the third Caesar. And we saw that when John and
Christ were conceived, that it was Augustus Caesar, the second
Caesar. And so now the third one's here.
And in addition to him, there's Pontius Pilate being governor
of Judea, and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee. And that's basically
a succession of the most power down to the least there. And then there's some other men
named, but the point here that this is said to us is to tell
us that Israel was no longer in control of their own political
destiny, if you will. They weren't in control. They
weren't ruling themselves. They didn't have the governorship.
There wasn't a Jewish governor over them, but rather this was
someone of Rome, Rome's appointment. And we're told this so that we
understand no one in David's lineage has any authority over
the people of God at this time. And so this tells those who are
looking that this concerns the prophecy of Jacob who said that
it was when the scepter should depart from between Judah's feet,
from Judah, which David was of Judah, the tribe of Judah. Well,
then that's when Shiloh would come. That's when our peace would
come. That's when our Savior would be brought forth is at
this time. And so the Lord caused this to
happen and he sends John the Baptist now to prepare the people. And it says in verse two that
Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God
went right on by them. It just passed them by and it
came to a man named John, the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And so at God's ordained time,
he brought this ministry, he gave this ministry to John, to
John in the wilderness there. And this man was ordained of
God to send forth the word that the Lord had given to him to
go and preach to the people. He was a voice in the wilderness. He was a voice in the wilderness
to turn the heart of the people and to turn them from dead works
and empty vain religion. They were just going through
the motions. They hadn't heard a word of prophecy
for hundreds of years since Malachi. And they were, most of them,
many of them, not all, but many of them were just empty vessels,
just going through the motions at that time. And so he came
to wake them up, to shake them, to turn from dead works and to
look. to look because now is the time
when the Messiah would come, when Christ would come to his
people. He is near. And so, just as Judah,
what this says to us is just as Judah and Israel had been
taken captive and subjugated by Rome, it's a picture of us
in our nature who have been taken captive in Adam. And we've been
brought under the dominion of sin. And by nature, we go the
course of the world and are under the prince of the power of the
air. And we're dead in trespasses
and sins by nature. We're in bondage. We're spiritually
dead. Therefore, the Lord sends his
gospel word week after week. day after day throughout all
different days he sends his gospel word in every generation to prepare
the heart of his people for Christ that Christ would enter in to
the hearts of his people he's he's constantly shaking our man-made
things and the things that we build up thinking this is my
righteousness this is my confidence with God and his gospel word
comes and tears down those towers that exalt themselves against
the knowledge of Christ, and brings us into captivity to Him,
brings us into a knowledge of Him, and delivers us from that
kingdom of death and darkness, and brings us into the kingdom
of Christ, the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God's dear Son,
Jesus Christ. And so, how does a sinner know
when Christ has entered their heart? They believe. They believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's my Lord. He's my Savior. That's how you know when he's
entered the heart. Because faith isn't of the flesh,
it's of the Spirit. It's a fruit of the Spirit, not
a work of the flesh. So John was sent to awaken the
people and to speak to them according to God's commission that he gave
to them. And we're told in verse 3 that
John came into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins. I don't think it's by
accident and it's not just an interesting coincidence that
it began around Jordan. And that's where Israel first
entered into the land of promise. They came across Jordan. That's
where Joshua brought them. And they camped out on the one
side of Jordan, and the next day they crossed over the other
side of Jordan, and then eventually surrounded Jericho. And Jericho
was that first city to fall in that land of promise. And so
this is about Jordan. And this is where John the Baptist
is raised up, right around the area. of Jordan, and he came
preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
And so this ministry of John was to shake those vain confidences
that we latch onto by nature. To say, no, it's not in your
goodness, it's not in your works, it's not in your religion, or
just having faith in something, or whatever it is that man tells
you is salvation and pleasing to God. No. He sent the Savior. Salvation is in Christ. And so
John came forth to prepare the people to look to Him, to hear
what God would say in His Son, in Christ. And so this preaching
was used to prepare the hearts of the people to hear the gospel. because they weren't prepared.
And none of us are prepared. There's nothing that can prepare
you except God himself. It's like those people who think
that couples, new couples, when they want to have a baby, they
get a pet. Well, that pet is never going to prepare you for
having a child. There's just no comparison to
it. Well, there's nothing that can
prepare you for Christ, but when he comes, you know it, because
he comes with power. And he comes and turns you from
all the vain confidences we hoped in and puts them, fixes them. Christ and that's what we need
it's a gracious powerful dynamite work of God to to destroy and
just blow up everything that we're trusting in that we might
find our all and our foundation in Christ that we would stand
upon the rock of God the Lord Jesus Christ and fly to that
rock that we just sang of and that last hymn and we fly to
Christ he's the rock of God and so the Lord is showing us that
our hearts are desperately wicked and this is what it takes it
takes a new birth it takes the Spirit of God seeking us out
because we're lost we don't know who God is we might be worshipers
of a God of some idol God and think we know him, but when Christ
comes, then we know I don't know anything. I didn't know anything,
Lord, but you saved me and delivered me graciously. And so he does
that through a new birth by his spirit, and it's because of the
blood of Christ. It is because Christ came and
went to that cross as our sacrifice, as our mediator, as our surety,
as our substitute and laid down His life to set us free in His
grace and power by His Spirit to live and walk under the grace
of God by His Spirit, in faith, in faith that looks to Him. And
so John's coming was the beginning of that work when Christ would
come and redeem His people. This was the hour, this was the
day in which grace was coming. And so John signaled a new dispensation. The New Testament was now being
written. All those scriptures, all that
the law and the prophets were speaking of, all those types
and shadows and pictures that they spoke of was now about to
be made plain in the light of God. revealed in Christ. It was
going to be made plain in Him. It was going to be unsealed so
that sinners would hear and know this is salvation. And not just
a few, but many, many would hear. Now, as a testimony that John
was commissioned of God and sent of Him, we see that His coming
was in fulfillment to Scripture. The Lord gave us these Scriptures
in the Old Testament so that we would know, oh, this is Him,
this is John, and this is Christ, and this is what our Lord was
speaking of. That's what we see in the Old Testament. It's all
testifying of Christ, not just nice historical stories about
morality. They're to tell us of Christ.
They're to show us that this is Christ. And that over there
is not. That's not salvation. Christ
is salvation. So, turn over to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40, this is a passage
that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all write, and even it's touched
on in John, but they all write of this passage. They all quote
this about John in verse three, and Luke goes on to include verse
four, but we'll read it from Isaiah 40. This is speaking of John the
Baptist, that he is 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. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And so there's
a voice now crying out in the wilderness, and it's the voice
of John the Baptist. He's speaking here to the people
of Judah. And when asked, who are you?
Why are you coming here doing this baptism? Who are you? And
he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make
straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. That's
what John said about this. John. So all the gospel writers
touch on this about John. And he's telling the people,
make a straight path to your heart. Make a straight path to
your heart, that you would hear this word. Come and hear the
word. Evaluate yourself of the gospel
when it's preached. Open your Bible and read it.
Pray and beg God, Lord, teach me. Show me. Because I know without
your grace, I don't know nothing. I don't know anything. I don't
know how would I know what the salvation of God is except you
show it to me. And he shows his people in Christ. He teaches his people in Christ. And so that's what he's saying
here. He's saying your God is coming. He's coming. He's right
behind me because I'm the harbinger of Christ. I'm the one who's
foretelling that he's here. And here I am declaring the gospel
and Christ is right behind. And then in verse 9, at the end
there, he says, say unto the cities of Judah, behold your
God, because Christ is God. He is your God, your Savior,
your Lord, your salvation. He has come to save you. This
is God manifest in the flesh. The fullness of the Godhead dwells
bodily in him, and he has the Spirit of God without measure,
Look to Him. What He says, do. Whatever He
says, do it. Believe him and follow him and
trust him and stay upon him flee to him and Luke tells us that
he We look to him because he's the one that shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost. I can say things and and and
Encourage you that believe come be baptized with water, but it's
Christ that gives the Holy Spirit It's Christ that baptizes with
fire. It's Christ that turns our hearts and fires us up for
Him. It's Christ that does that, not
me. We can do things, we can go through
motions, but if the Spirit of God's not in it, it's just vain
repetition. And the watchman watcheth but
in vain, except the Lord keep the city. And so we're praying
for the grace of God to do this in our hearts. But he says these
words because they stir us up. Because we are sinners. They
stir us up. They show us our need. They show
us that I've got an issue. I've got a problem. I'm a sinner
and God is holy. How am I going to stand before
holy God? How can a sinner be just with
God? He shows us that by nature we'll
strain out gnats. We'll take out the gnats and
do the things that we can get our hands around, but we swallow
camels all day long and don't realize it. And so we need His
grace. He shows us that our free will
isn't free at all. It's in bondage. We don't have
a free will that men boast of and talk about all the time.
We don't have a free will. It's in bondage to sin. It's
dead. It's in darkness. And we're only
set free by Christ. He's the one who brings his light
in. He's the one that smashes the shackles and knocks down
the prison door and calls us into the light saying, sinner,
show yourself. Come forth. Come out of that
darkness and come into the light. I'll show you the truth. I'll
put the truth of God in your hearts. I'll teach you in your
heart. And you'll walk by faith. I'll
give you my spirit and you'll know of me. And you'll know the
mind of God because I give you my spirit. And that's what the
Lord does for his people graciously. And so the voice of John says
four things here that are happening when Christ is exalted in the
preaching of the gospel. When he's declared. First he
promises that every valley shall be exalted. The Lord when he
brings his gospel word he humbles his people. He brings us low
in ourselves. That's why he's showing us what
the scriptures conclusion is that all are under sin. That's
why he's very honest with us in the scriptures about the men
and women of God. He shows us our faults. because
he's humbling us. He's bringing us low in this
flesh because naturally we're quite proud and arrogant and
boastful and even when we think we're humble, there's still a
tremendous amount of pride. There's still a lot of pride
and arrogance in this flesh. And so he brings us low through
the preaching of the gospel that he may exalt you by that same
word. That same word that humbles and
strips and brings low is the very word that lifts up that
one who was brought low in themselves. They shall be exalted because
they're in the valley and God brought them there. He put them
there that he may exalt them and raise them up in grace by
his power. Second, he promises by this word
that every mountain and hill shall be made low. That is those
who are proud, those who hear it and say Yeah, that's for them,
those sinners there, but I've got this. God's pleased with
me. And we're so confident in ourselves
and believing that God is pleased with our works and we condemn
others, he says, they'll be made low. If they continue in that,
they shall have a miserable day in the day of judgment because
they think they've pleased the Lord by their works. Lord, didn't
we do all these things? didn't we do everything you said
to do didn't we cast out devils in your name and and and do all
these works in your name and he says depart from me ye workers
of iniquity I never knew you showing that you can do religious
works and they're still works of iniquity. They're called wicked
works because it's done without the grace of God in the heart. It's not done in faith. Without
faith, it's impossible to please God. And then third, he promises,
the crooked shall be made straight. These are sinners whose way is
crooked before God. But Christ, through the preaching
of Christ, he's the one that straightens out that crooked
sinner. by turning their eyes to Christ
by showing them Christ by hearing that word preached repeated to
us over and over again just as it was repeated to Abraham over
and over again He gives us this word to turn us to Christ. To turn us from the flesh and
to turn us to Jesus Christ. To hear his word, to believe
him, to see, I need that grace. I need his mercy. I need the
compassion of God. I thought I was fine and now
I see my need. And he does that through the
preaching of Christ. He makes the crooked straight
because Christ leads his sheep as a shepherd. he leads his sheep. And at fourth, he says, the rough
places shall be made plain. That is, all these obstacles
that men, religious men typically, put in between you and God and
say, well, you've got to do this, and you've got to jump through
that hoop, and you've got to start doing this, and you've
got to put that away, then you can come to Christ. No, all those
obstacles are removed in the preaching of Christ. He'll straighten
out the crooked. He will instruct. He will chastise
his people. He'll teach them He'll comfort
them through that same word that's stripping one sinner. It's exalting,
it's raising them up in Christ and another. And that same word
that causes one sinner to tremble, he's comforting another sinner
with that same word. He's applying it severally as
each of us has need of in that hour. He's teaching and instructing
us in his sovereign wisdom. grace and power and so he's saying
the rough places those things full of obstacles and rocks and
ditches and holes that people that we dig and put there between
you and God he says in the preaching of Christ it just gets level
it just gets clear And every time, you know, all we grew up
in life and thought, well, wait a minute, I got to do this first.
And I was told that this is how you come to God. And what about
this? And how come you don't have incense
and candles or whatever it is, you know, stained glass and things
that people get caught up in religion. And just preaching
Christ just smooths all that out. And you're taught, wow,
we didn't need all that stuff. We didn't need all the fancy
robes and and the special music and this or that, whatever it
is, our Lord does it. He smooths it out with the preaching
of the gospel. He does that. And so those in
religion, When we level ourselves up, we see that those that are
most self-righteous are the ones that are most offended by the
simplicity of Christ. And that's really made evident
in John's day and in the preaching of Christ in our Lord's ministry. Because Christ came to save sinners. And that's humbling to the flesh. That's humbling to the flesh.
And He comes and encourages the sinner. His word encourages the
sinner not to sin, but to look to Him, to believe that He is
gracious, that He has put away their sins, that God does receive
sinners in Christ who are made righteous by His blood and have
His Spirit. And we see that Christ's yoke
is easy and his burden is light and the Pharisee despises that
word of grace because why? He's invested so much already.
He's already sacrificed everything. He's given up everything in life
and he's spent and labored and gave and then he finds out that's
not his righteousness. And that angers the Pharisee,
because he doesn't want that all to go to waste. And so he
doesn't believe. He says, that can't be. It can't
be that simple in Christ, that Christ saves sinners. It's impossible.
And he won't believe it because the Pharisee says, well, if she's
going in that gate and he's going in that gate and they're wicked
sinners, they're publicans and whores and sinful people, I ain't
going in that same gate. I should go in the special gate
because I'm already ahead of all them. But if you're not a
sinner, you're not coming to Christ at all because that's
who Christ came to save, sinners. That's whom He saves, sinners.
They come to Him, and the self-righteous don't. So back in, we see this
as we look here in John's ministry. Look at Luke 3, verse 7 and 8. Then said He to the multitude
that came forth to be baptized of Him, O generation of vipers,
who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Luke describes
this group as a multitude of people. 8 Bring forth therefore
fruits worthy of repentance, and begin 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. from dead sinners that have no
life, he raises up his children. He raises up sons and daughters
of Abraham who believe God, who come to him by faith. And what we see here, the way
Luke describes it as being a multitude, there's tares among these wheat,
among the wheat. There's a lot of tares among
the wheat that are coming to him to be baptized. and to hear
what he's saying here. And John gives this argument.
He says, begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to
our father. And don't hear this as just one
little direct argument. But rather, this thing here describes
all the arguments that man uses as an excuse not to hear the
word of God, not to hear the salvation of God in Christ. And they put off the hearing
of Christ because they say, well, I've already taken care of that.
I've already done what I needed to do. And so Abraham's lineage
was just the reasoning that they were using. to say, well, it's
what we say. When you speak to someone, you
as a believer, and you speak to someone that you love, and
you're declaring the gospel to them, and they're just saying
things like, everything's gonna work out, don't worry about me.
I've already taken care of that, and I don't need to hear that.
But the reality is, we do that ourselves too at times. There's
times when we hear the word, and we say, I don't wanna hear
that. I've already got that covered. I've heard that enough and that's
fine. I don't need to hear that. And
so whatever it is that allows a sinner to feel self-confident
and self-righteous in themselves and complacent, that's just doing
what the Jews did. They were trusting in their election
in Abraham. And election is true. God does
save by election. He did choose a people to save
whom He will. And those whom He chose will
hear and will believe. They will be instructed of the
Lord. All who are chosen of the Lord will hear. And what John
is saying is he's shaking those who have confidence in their
knowledge, right? Confidence in what they know,
but there's no life is what he's saying. There's no salvation. There's no light there. And you're
trusting a vain argument that has no relevance to you. You
need to hear. That's what he's saying. You
that are coming to me need to hear this word. And every one
of us needs to hear the word. Every one of us needs to be instructed
because as we saw time and time again we're all sinners. in need
of His grace. And there's always something
going on in this flesh that needs to be brought down and instructed
by the Lord. And we always need to be kept
by the Lord. You know, John's ministry is
meant to stir us up. It is. It's meant to shake us
out of our complacency. It is. It's meant to trouble
those who are not hearing the word of God for whatever reason.
That's what it's meant to do. It's meant to open the ear. It's
meant to shake those arguments we hide behind, not to hear his
word. But on the night in which our
Lord was betrayed, when the Lord said, one of you is going to
betray me, every one of them said, Lord, is it I? And that's
what his word is meant to do. It's meant to bring us to see,
Lord, I'm capable of that. Am I the one that's going to
fall away? Am I the one that's going to
just go off into sin? And Lord, that you don't grant
repentance to. Lord, is it I? And he does that
at times to bring us low in ourselves to see our need of his grace. to show us the corruption of
our own heart. And so he speaks to us, and when
he speaks to us in his word, and we come to passages like
this, because it's very easy to read by them, oh, this was
John, let's just blow on by John, but what he's doing here is it's
meant to break the hard heart. It's meant to melt that cold
heart. It's meant to take, to show us you're being indifferent.
You're being a careless here. You're not listening to what
the Lord is saying. It's meant when we have need. It's meant
to come that way to us when we're discomplacent and content in
ourselves and not content in the Lord. Being content in Him
is good. But there's a lot of times when
we're content in our flesh. And so Paul, we see this, Paul
instructed the Ephesian brethren over in Ephesians 4, verse 20
through 24. He tells them, he said, you guys
were without understanding at one point. You guys were alienated
from the life of God. because of spiritual ignorance,
because you had no light in you. You were blind in your heart.
But he encourages them now because they're brethren. And he exhorts
them now in this truth. And he says, but you've not so
learned Christ. You continue to hear him. You
don't go back to those ways of ignorance. You continue to hear
him. If so, be that you have heard him and have been taught
by him as the truth is in Jesus. And then he says that you put
off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts, those works which are born and
wrought out of unregenerated flesh, this yet sinful, weak,
corrupt flesh. And he says, be renewed in the
spirit of your mind, that which is born again, which is regenerated
of the spirit, that ye put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and true holiness. And what we see
here is, we can't do that. We don't put on the new man,
but it's a faith. He tells us this because it shows
us this is what the Lord says. This is what I see in me. Lord,
be merciful. Lord, teach me. Instruct me. Lord, lead me. Don't let me go
astray. Don't let me become hard and
complacent and indifferent to your word. But teach me, Lord.
Give me your spirit. Refresh me. Keep me. Keep my
brethren. Bless us, Lord. Pour out your
spirit upon us because we need your grace. because it's so easy
to walk in the old man of flesh and impossible for me to walk
in the new man of your grace, except you help me, Lord. And
he gives us the word, not because we can do it, he gives us the
word to show us we need him. We ever need him. And to stir
us up, to call out to him and pray to him for that grace that
he would draw us to himself. because he says, begin not to
say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. And the
fact is we're children of faith and we're saved by faith. And
so we're always gonna see our shortcomings. We're gonna see,
we're gonna struggle and we're gonna be brought low and we're
gonna see our weaknesses and our infirmities in order to cry
out to him. and to ask him for his grace
and his mercy because the Jews were hiding behind what they
knew. I'm of Abraham's lineage, so
I'm good. I don't need anything more than
that. I can have my cake and eat it too. And so today, these
words from Paul here and what John said wouldn't be here except
that we need to hear them. Not because we can keep it, but
because it stirs us up and shows us the need that we have of His
grace every day, every hour, to cry out to Him, and so that
we wouldn't ignore what is being said to us. And so it stirs up
those who are born again that we would beg God for grace, and
beg God to keep us, and to grow us in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and that that would never
change. and that we would always come
to him. Now, we see who the vipers were in the crowd, because you're
gonna see, there's a people that do hear and there's a people
that don't hear. If you turn over to Matthew three, Matthew
three. This is where Matthew's writing
of this, of John's ministry. And Matthew uses some very direct
words in verse seven. But when John 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.
Bring forth therefore fruits, meat for repentance." And the
way Luke words it, it's that in the multitude of people, there's
wheat and then there's tares. And they don't all come looking
like Pharisees and Sadducees with robes. But he's saying,
you're out there. They're in the multitude. There's
Pharisees, and there's Sadducees, and there's scribes, and there's
people who say to themselves, we have Abraham to our father. And so we don't need to hear
this. And he says, 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. And
now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, that is fruit
which is born of the spirit, It's not just about putting on
good works just because you think that's your righteousness. No.
It's fruit born of the Spirit. It's a work of faith. Well, that
which isn't of faith is hewn down and cast into the fire.
And so when John is speaking to the crowd, to the multitude,
he has an eye toward addressing those who have a pharisaical
and a spirit of the Sadducees, a pharisaical spirit. And Luke
describes these elsewhere as those who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous and despised others, Luke 18, nine. That's the pharisaical spirit. You don't have to be a Jew under
the law to be a Pharisee. is what I'm getting at and what
John is getting at. We all have a pharisaical spirit
by nature. Every one of us judges others
and thinks we're good. That pharisaical spirit can excuse
itself and justify itself and condemn others for the very same
thing that we excuse ourselves for. That's what the Pharisee
does. Now go back to Luke 3. Luke 3. I want you to see this
so Luke says and the people now verse 10 Luke 3 10 and the people
asked him saying what shall we do then and he says well be charitable
whatever you have to spare give it to others verse 12 then came
also publicans to be baptized and said unto a master what shall
we do and he says well You're Republicans, but you can keep
the job. Just make sure that when you
do it, don't add on your own burden to take money from the
people. You just take what you're required to take according to
the government. And then verse 14, and the soldiers
likewise demanded of him, saying, and what shall we do? He says,
well, don't abuse your position of authority. Your soldiers,
your keepers of the peace, don't abuse that. And so we see here,
Luke says that there's people, there's publicans, and there's
soldiers. Who are the one people that we
never hear? Who are the group of people that never come to
John and say, what shall we do? The Pharisees and the Sadducees,
they never come to John. They never say, what can we do?
better, what do we need to do here? And so that's the group
that's lacking. Of all the multitude, right,
it's not, don't think of just Pharisees, but he's saying in
the multitude, there's people that are legalists and lawmongers
and think that they are something when they're nothing. And they
think, I don't have any more grown to do. A believer doesn't
say that. And if they do, the Lord will
instruct them and show them, don't say that, because I'll
show you that you do have growing to do. I'll show you your weakness.
And so the Lord does that in grace. And so we always say,
Lord, keep me, help me. because I'm lost without your
grace. I have nothing without you. And so the Pharisees and
the Sadducees, they didn't come and inquire because they trusted
in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.
They said, that's for others and not for me. So remember,
this word of John was given to prepare the hearts of the people
to receive Christ, to welcome him in their hearts and minds
with a new heart and a new spirit. And that's a work of God. That's
a work of God. It's of the grace of God that
we hear. The heart is only circumcised
by the Spirit of God, because we can't touch the heart. We
can circumcise the flesh, and we can cut things away in the
flesh, but we can't touch the heart. We can't open our ear.
We can't open our eyes. It's to show us, Lord, be gracious
and merciful to me, a sinner. That's what the, when he comes
there in Luke 18, that's when There is, there's that, the publican
and the Pharisee went up to the temple to pray. And one said,
I thank you that I'm all that and more. And the other one said,
be merciful to me because I'm nothing. And that's the spirit
that he gives his people. And so I'm reminded in Isaiah
40, the way that chapter opens up in verse one and two is, comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins. In other words, you don't receive
judgment for your sins, you're blessed of God. You're kept of
God. You've been given an inheritance
in Christ, not because you earned it, but because God would be
merciful to you for Christ's sake. And so, what I'm getting
at is we find our comfort in Christ. The Pharisee can look
at their works, can look at their flesh, and find comfort in what
they've done and what they've brought to the Lord. The child
of God finds comfort not in what I've done, but finds comfort
in Christ. And that's what he's bringing
us to see. When we look at John's ministry
there, it shakes us. It shows us. I've got a gap. I can't close the gap on what
I need. I don't have to pay what I owe
to God in righteousness. I can't do it. But Christ has
come. Look to Him. You and I can't
do it. Christ came to obtain and did
obtain eternal redemption for His people and He gives it freely
to all who need Him. To all who see because He shows
them. To all who He's shown were sinners. I don't have the righteousness
I need. That's who Christ came for. Save
the sinner who has nothing the one who's sick and dead and has
no righteousness of their own that's who Christ came and that's
who he's made righteous by the death of himself and so The comfort
for us is that You know the same you that believe you know who
the Savior is that's the comfort We don't look at the flesh and
say, I've done it. I've arrived. We saw this morning
with Abraham. He hadn't done that sin in 20,
25 years, and yet it came back. The comfort isn't because we
think we've arrived in the flesh. The comfort is God has made known
to us his salvation, the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
comfort is that when I have sinned, that He brings me to Christ and
I confess my sin and cry to him for mercy and grace to heal me
and to keep me and not turn me away. As John the Apostle said,
1 John 1 8 and 9, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. And so, If you're stopping at
your works and hearing the gospel, if you're stopping at your works
and your flesh, you've not heard. You've only heard it as a Pharisee
and a Sadducee. The ministry of John the Baptist
and the ministry of the gospel is to deliver you from looking
to the flesh and to make you see Christ, that Christ is the
very salvation of God. That's what the ministry of John
the Baptist was meant to do. to say, brethren, we need salvation. And he's come, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look to him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved. Amen.