Matthew chapter 3 beginning at
verse 1 we read these words. I want to read through verse
8. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness
of Judea and saying repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. That'll be the majority of our
conversation this evening, the majority of our study, the Kingdom
of Heaven is at hand. But I want to go on and read
the rest here. For this is He, it says in verse 3, that was
spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his
path straight. And the same John had his remnant
of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his
meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem
and all of Judea and all the region round about of Jordan,
and were baptized with him in the Jordan, confessing their
sins. 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. Bring forth therefore fruits
and meat for repentance. Now I wanna go back to verses
one and two because this is where, one, two, and three, this is
where we're gonna be really spending most of our time focusing this
evening. And Lord willing, we'll cover these other verses a little
bit more in depth next week. But it says, in those days, In
those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of
Judea. Now he was literally out in the
wilderness, and all around Jerusalem is just what you see in pictures.
It's pretty much desert, high desert like Nevada. I don't know
if they get much snow there, but it's desert. And when they're
speaking about wilderness, they're talking about an area, if you
look that word wilderness up, you'll find that it means dry.
Barren. So when he says he's out, he's
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, I think to myself, what a wilderness you and I live
in. What a dry and barren place we live in in this country. I
know we have the lushness of greenery around us, the trees
and so on. But folks, we're talking about
spiritual things. That's what God's word is. It's
spiritual. It's not meat and drink, it's
spiritual. And the Lord speaks to us about
spiritual things. And in that sense, we are in
a barren, wasteful land where very few places where you'll
find the water, the gospel, the good news of Christ. Very few
places. We know of one over in Yuma City. I know of another down in San
Diego. I'm not saying there aren't any more. I'm just saying we
don't know of any more. We don't see. We don't see the
lush greenery that comes with the gospel, the good news of
the gospel in very many areas. So in our handout, after reading
verses 1-8, John the Baptist was once again the fulfillment
of the Old Testament prophecy some 400 years before a messenger
of God. A prophet of the Most High wrote
these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He wrote,
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before me, and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come
to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight
in, behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. Now that's
Malachi. Malachi 3.1, and that was some 400 years before John
ever walked this earth, before John was ever born. And it says
in verse two of our text, and saying, repent ye, for the kingdom
of God is at heaven, or the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then
going on, and I wanna continue on now in our handout. Many years
before Malachi wrote, this is the second paragraph of page
one, The prophet Isaiah, also inspired of the Holy Ghost, wrote
these words. He wrote, 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, every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
Now that's in Isaiah 40 verses 3 through 5. This prophecy, this
fulfillment of prophecy that we're reading about here in Matthew
chapter 3 is declared fulfilled by Matthew in verse 3. Look at
verse 3. For this is he that was spoken,
see the fulfillment of the prophecy that we just read, those two
prophecies, by the prophet Isaiah saying the voice of one crying
in the wilderness prepare you the way the Lord make his path
straight. This prophecy is declared and
fulfilled by Matthew in verse 3. How appropriate How appropriate
it is that the first Gospel letter of the New Testament has so many
declarations of God's Word being fulfilled. This is the word of
the last of the Old Testament prophets, who all prophesied
of the coming Messiah. From the point of John on, the
apostles went on to prophesy of Christ and what he did. But
up until this point, all of God's prophets prophesied of the same
thing, of the Christ to come. This is the record of the last
of the Old Testament prophets who prophesied the coming of
the Messiah, John crying, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
his path straight. That's the message, folks, of
every preacher sent of God. There is only one way, and Christ
is the way. That's what we read in John 14,
6. He said, John saith unto him, I am the way, or Jesus saith
unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. The way, folks, is narrow, very
narrow. All the other religious religions
of the world are many and wide. There's all these different ways.
Those are all the paths of destruction. There's only one way to salvation,
and that's through the Lord Jesus. Last paragraph of page one. What
did John preach? What were the leading themes
of his ministry? With what message did he prepare
the way of the Lord? John the Baptist spoke plainly
about sin and repentance. Turn to page two. Brother Don
Fortner wrote this. He said, no man is faithful to
your soul or faithful to God who does not expose your sin
and proclaim to you the necessity of repentance towards God and
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we are all sinners, If
there is no repentance, we must all perish. We are all sinners
by divine imputation, as we read in Romans 5.12. Wherefore, as
by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. We are all sinners by birth and
nature, as we read in Psalms 51.5. Behold, I was shaped in
iniquity and sin And in sin did my mother conceive me. We are
all sinners by choice and practice, as we read in Psalms 58, 3. The
wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon
as they be born, speaking lies. In Romans 3, verses 9 through
19, we read these words. What then? Are we better than
they? No, in no wise, for we have before prove, both Jews
and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of Asp is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways, and the way of peace have they not known. There is
no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that what things
soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law.
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. No preacher, you know, I've been,
a dear brother had come to me once and said, do we have to,
do we have to point out, you know, every one of your messages,
you point out how bad the sin is. and how much sin is in us. Is that necessary that we do
that in every message? And I said, yes, it is. I said,
that's why I come to church on Sundays, because I sin all the
rest of the week. And I need to hear about my Savior
who's saving me from the sin that I do and I commit. Until
I leave this world, I have to fight this battle. And I need
the support and the strength of God. And the only way to find
that is in His word. going on at the second paragraph
to the bottom of page two. We're all sinners at heart. That's
what we read in Jeremiah 17 and nine. The heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Or Matthew
15, 19, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murderers,
adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies.
We are all so thoroughly sinful that even our righteousness must
be repented of. That's what repentance is. Isaiah
64, six, we read these, but we are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do
fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us
away. Isaiah 64 verse 7, we read these
words, and there is none that calleth upon thine name, that
stirreth up himself to take hold of thee. John the Baptist was
a preacher of repentance who faithfully exposed and reproved
the sins of his hearers. Listen to Matthew 3 verse 7 and
8 again. But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptisms, he said unto them, O generation
of vipers, who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come,
bring forth therefore fruits, meat for repentance. In other
words, bring therefore forth signs, actions that are meat,
that are worthy of calling repentance. He plainly declared the necessity
of repentance, warning religious men not to rest in their religious
privileges or their religious services. He was no less faithful
in preaching to the great and the mighty than to the weak and
the lowly. Over in Luke 3, verse 18 through
20, we read about him and his words to Herod. It says, and
many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people,
but Herod, the Tetriarch being reproved by him for Herodias,
his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod
had done, added yet this above all, that he shut John up in
prison." So he wasn't afraid even of kings. He wasn't afraid
of men at all. He was bold in speaking the truths
of God and God's sovereignty. After John the Baptist comes
the fulfillment of the scripture in Christ Jesus. And John's message
was repent. Turn from and turn to. Turn from religion. Turn from
works. Turn from death and turn to life. Turn to grace. Turn to Christ
Jesus. Repent means to turn from something
to something else. He tells us what we are to turn
to, to the Kingdom of Heaven. It is at hand. It is near. Listen to 2 Corinthians 6, verse
2. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. What is the Kingdom of Heaven?
Thirty-two times this phrase is used in its exact form, and
only here in the letter of Matthew. Other places in the Lord's Word
we see the phrase, the Kingdom of God, but only in the Book
of Matthew is this phrase, the Kingdom of Heaven, used. What
is this Kingdom of Heaven? Let us answer this through the
Holy Word of God, if you would turn to page four of your handout.
And there's, like I said, there's 32 times this phrase is used
throughout the Book of Matthew, and I'm not going to use them
all because I'd like to save some to cover as we get through
to them in other parts of other studies. But we'll use some for
now. We'll start with Matthew 5, 3.
It says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. So we see that this kingdom of
heaven, it belongs to, for theirs is the kingdom of God. It belongs
to them. It belongs to these who are poor
in spirit. Blessed are those whose spirit
has been made poor, is what this is talking about. It's not talking
about those who declare, oh yeah, woe is me. There's a lot of people
who claim that, but I made a decision, or I got baptized, or whatever.
No, this is talking about those who have been made poor. Blessed
are those who are destitute in spirit. They have nothing. They
have nothing to offer, nothing to present. Those who know their
condition before a thrice holy God, those who have been brought
to see, they have no righteousness in themselves. That's what this
is talking about, the poor in spirit. In Matthew chapter 5,
10, we see another one where it says, blessed are they which
are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven. Once again, The kingdom of heaven
belongs to a certain people. In verse 3, it was the poor in
spirit. In verse 10, it is those who
are persecuted for righteousness' sake. And we know that those
who are poor in spirit have no righteousness. They've been shown
that they have no righteousness of their own. Going on to the
paragraph right below that reading of 510, those who are part of
this heavenly kingdom are those who are tortured by their sin
and who trust in Christ and His righteousness alone for their
standing before God. The religious world, our own
blood kin, turn against us for glorifying the Lord in everything
that is. They hate a sovereign God and
they hate us for loving Him. In John 17.4, that's what the
Lord tells us plainly and clearly. He says, I have given them thy
word and the world has hated them because they are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. The world hates the
fact that we have no righteousness of our own. And they hate us
for declaring that our only righteousness, our only righteousness is Christ. We have none of our own. We'll
never have any of our own, it'll always be of Christ. Then we
read again in Matthew 7, 21, not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of the Father, which is in heaven. This is that
very thing the world persecutes you and I for. How dare you say,
they may say to us, how dare you say I am a sinner? I have
turned myself from those acts of sin, and now I choose to follow
Christ. That's what they say. Or they'll
say, how dare you say this? So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Quoting from Romans 9, 16, God's word says not everyone who declares
to be Christian will enter this kingdom of heaven. I have members
of my family who gladly declare Seventh-day Adventist to be Christian
brothers and sisters in Christ. You say, I don't believe anything,
I don't believe a lot of their gobbledygook, but I would rather
go to their church than your church down there in rescue.
Because they're such nice people down there. And they don't talk
about others like you do. My mom used to, She flat out
came right out and told me that she was upset at Gene Harmon
because Gene always beat up on other religions. She truly believed
that other religions were just as Christian as you and I are.
Folks, our Lord doesn't deal in lies. He is truth. And truth, in truth you cannot
have lies to teach God's people. You must teach them in truth.
So we go on continuing in our handout here. God's Word says
that not everyone who declares to be Christian will enter into
the Kingdom of Heaven. So we see this Kingdom of Heaven
is for some, but not others. Isn't that what we read in Ephesians
1 verse 4? According as He hath chosen us
in Him, in the Son of God, before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him. Isn't that
what we read in Ephesians? not all who declare themselves
to be Christians will see this kingdom of heaven. Last paragraph
of page four, what is the will of the Father? You remember back
there just a moment ago in Matthew, we read in Matthew 7 21, not
everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven." So those who do the will of the Father. So my question
is, down in that last paragraph, what is the will of the Father
which is in heaven? That all whom He gave to His
Son would come to Him. That's the will of God. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. Or in John 6, 40 verses
41, and this is the will. This, you can't, this is God's
word, folks. This isn't me interpreting God's
word, saying what that means. This is the Lord's will, plain
as can be. And this is the will of Him that
sent me. What is the Father's will? That
everyone which seeth the Son and believeth, Did you catch
that? Everyone that seeth the Son and
believeth on him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up
the last day. The Jews then murmured at him. The world doesn't like this.
They don't like the truth of the gospel. They don't like the
fact that our Lord God chose us before the foundation of the
world. They want to have their own way. Well, I decided. I made
a choice. I, I, I. Page 5. Going through these verses, reading
the Word of Truth, we see the Kingdom of Heaven is a group.
It's a group of those who will do the Father's will. Those who
will believe. Those who are chosen in the righteousness
of His Son, the Lord Jesus. Those who will be persecuted
for His name's sake. What is the Kingdom of Heaven?
It is the people of God for whom God has made His Son Lord of. Not that Christ is not Lord of
all already, for He is Lord of everything, but that He has made
it known unto us. His, He is Lord. We know Him now as our Lord. We know Him as our King. Where we once thought ourselves
to be Lords, Through grace the truth has been revealed. This
is the message of every preacher of truth. We are saved by grace
through faith, as we read in Ephesians 2. Salvation is of
the Lord, not of works, lest men will boast. John describes
himself as the voice of one crying in the wilderness in John 1. Christ is the Word of God. This
is what he's crying, the revelation of the triune God. No man hath
seen God at any time, the only begotten sign, which is in the
bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. A gospel preacher
is simply a voice conveying the word of God, a voice echoing
the message God has given. And what is a voice? Ask Robert
Hawker. It is a non-entity, a mere sound,
light as air, and so short, it's being and existence, if you can
call it that, if you can call it by such a name, that when
it hath performed its office, it dies away in the air, is dissolved,
and is known no more. Such said John am I when considered
in any comparative view with my Lord and my Master. Yet the
voice is not indifferent. He is found crying in the wilderness,
it says. arousing and awaking sinners
with the claims of God. His garments were plain and simple,
as the gospel is. His diet was plain and simple,
as we read in Matthew 3, verse 4. And the same John had his
remnant of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his loins,
and his meat was locusts with wild honey. Page 6. Like John,
God's servants are ordinary men. They're not pampered, self-serving
men of luxury and ease. Our message is the same in all
places to all for whom God chooses. It's repent. Repent. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. How can I be in this Kingdom
of Heaven? Look, I've got it here in the
handout with me. Matthew chapter 18, beginning
at verse 1, we read these words. Now the question here, remember
to keep this word Keep this question before you, how can I be in this
kingdom of heaven? Our Lord declares very clearly
here to you and I, at the same time came the disciples unto
Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And
Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst
of them. So here we see the picture, all the disciples sitting around,
who's the greatest? Well, you talk about the nature, of men. And folks, the preachers
of God, the messengers of God, we're not unacceptable to those
very same things you are. to the very same things all of
God's people are, to sin, to sinful thoughts is this. Who's
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And the Lord brings in
this little child, in verse two, unto him and set him in the midst
of them and said, verily I say unto you, except ye be converted. Now, when I read those words
there, the first thing that pops into my mind is what he said
to the Pharisee. Oh, I can't think of the name
at the moment. You must be born again. except ye be converted,
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven. Nicodemus, verily I say unto
you, except ye be converted, and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever there shall
humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. What's the, when you hear the
Lord speak of this, unless you come as this little child, I
can just imagine the tender passion that he has in his voice when
he's saying this. And he's got this child, maybe even sitting
on his lap. Unless you become like this,
could you imagine what those grown adults were thinking? Same
thing as Nicodemus. What are you talking about? How
can I, am I to enter into my mother's womb once again? How
can I become, as this little child, simple? That's how. Simple. Trusting. Believing. You know, I don't
know about you folks, but I believed everything my father said, until
I got old enough to find out it wasn't true. But when I was
a little kid, my dad could tell me anything and I would believe
it. That's the simplicity of a child. We didn't know any better
then. We had no reason not to trust. Well folks, we have no reason
not now, this very moment, not to trust our Lord and Savior
in everything that He says. Because He is truth. Back in
our text there in the handout at page 6, verse 4. Whosoever
there shall re-humble himself as this little child, the same
is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Verse 5. And whoso shall
receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. Oh, listen, isn't this wonderful? I think I mentioned this the
other day. who say, you know, we don't have
blind faith. I don't know about you, but my
faith is blind. It's blind. I don't look with
these eyes and believe because of what I see with these eyes.
I believe because of God's Word says so. We see by faith, not
by sight. Verse 6, But whoso shall offend
one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better
for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, about
his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea. That's
what the Lord thinks of our enemies. That's what the Lord thinks of
your enemies, Roger. Anybody who would offend you,
anybody who would offend you, the child of God, it would be
better for them that a millstone be tied around their neck. And
then it jumps over to Matthew 18, verse 10. take heed that ye despise not
one of these little ones for I say unto you that in heaven
their angels do always behold the face of my father which is
in heaven for the son of man has come to save that which is
lost repent turn from your religious wicked ways of the works of men,
and turn to the grace of Christ." This is what that's talking about.
For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost. Verse
12, How think ye, if a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them
have gone astray? Doth he not leave the ninety-nine,
and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone
astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you,
he rejoiceth more that that sheep than the ninety-nine which went
not astray. Even so it is not the will of
your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones
should perish." Child-like faith. Believing child-like belief. That's what that's all about.
Verse, page 7. After considering all those,
I put these words on the last page to share with you some thoughts. This child-like belief, this
child-like faith that God's people have. I believe God when He says,
I did not choose Him, He chose me. That's John chapter 15, 16. I believe God when He says there
are none righteous, no, not one. And I believe that applies to
me in Romans 3, verse 10. I believe God when He says He
by Himself purged my sins. I believe God when He says that
because I know I can't do it myself. And you can read about
that in Hebrews 1, 3. I believe God when He says He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. There's my sanctification. I know there are those who believe
in what's called progressive sanctification, that we get better
and better as we go about through this life. Folks, that's not
true at all. That's not true at all. We're already 100% holy
as you can get. You can't get any holier than
you are in Christ Jesus. He's perfect and holy in every
way. We're sanctified, made holy in
Him. He is our sanctification. I believe
the Lord Jesus when He says, I have been perfected forever.
Hebrews 10, 14. I believe God when He says, My
sheep hear My voice. That's in John 10, 27. I cannot
explain to you, I cannot explain to you His grace to me, but I
know it is so. His Word says so, and that's
good enough for me. I know He was gracious in manifesting
Himself in the flesh for my sake. I know He was gracious to me
in establishing righteousness in that flesh that He was made,
always doing what pleased the Father for my sake. I know He
was gracious in being obedient even unto death for my sake. I know He was gracious in laying
down His life, shedding His own precious blood, dying for my
sake. And I know He is graciously sitting
right now at the right hand of the Father, the throne of grace,
for death could not hold Him, making intercession on my behalf. I can't explain why other than
grace and love. Matthew 19, verses 13-14, we
read these words, Then were there brought unto him little children
that he should put his hands on them and pray. And the disciples
rebuked them. But Jesus said, suffer little
children and forbid them not to come unto me. How can I, how
can I be in this kingdom of God? Suffer little children and forbid
them not to come unto me. For of such is the kingdom of
heaven. What is the Kingdom of Heaven?
It's God's chosen blood-bought children who believe because
of His graciousness to them.