Isaiah chapter 40. And I want us to begin here in verse
3. Isaiah chapter 40 in verse 3. the voice of Him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God." Now, we know this is John
the Baptist preaching. We know this is Him that's being
prophesied of, spoken of, predicted of Him. The Pharisees and the
scribes, they sent out some men. to John the Baptist. And John
was making some inroads into Jerusalem. And those scribes
and Pharisees were getting very upset with what he was preaching
and who he was preaching. And they sent out a group of
men, and they said, Who are you? Who are you? And here's what
he quoted to them. I am the voice. I am the voice
of one tribe in the wilderness. Look here in Matthew chapter
3. Hold Isaiah chapter 40. And look
here in Matthew chapter 3. It tells us exactly who this
is. And Matthew even quotes the passage
of Scripture that I read to you. Matthew chapter 3. And look in
verse 1. 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. For this is he that
was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of
one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord."
So this was John the Baptist. Very important to know that and
remember that, and we'll see that in just a minute. Another
place in Malachi chapter 3, don't turn there, but let me quote
this to you. But it's speaking of the same man and the same
work that he was called to do. And here's what's said about
him in Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1. It has a behold. The Holy Spirit said, Behold,
I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before
me. Before me. The Lord Jesus Christ
speaking of Himself, and He adds this word, Behold. That denotes
importance. This is something very important.
Behold, I send my messenger before you. Listen up now. He said,
look at this. Consider this in your heart.
Behold, I send my messenger before thee. Now, why does He add that
word, Behold? Well, here's what's said of John
the Baptist. There was a man sent from God whose name was
John. I tell you, you find a man sent
from God, behold. Behold. When God sends a man,
there's a message there from God. A message of grace or a
message of judgment. But it's important. It's important. A man may take on himself to
get in the ministry. and try to preach. And you may
not have to listen to a fellow like that, but when God sends
him, when God shuts a man up in the wilderness and sends him
to speak to somebody, he adds a behold to that. Behold, there
was a man sent from God. And listen to this, John the
Baptist's dad was speaking of this John the Baptist when he
was a babe, and he said, he shall be called the prophet of the
highest. God is going to send him to reveal
His mind. God is going to make His purpose,
His will known through this man. He is God's prophet. Behold! Listen up! Give attention to
this man. He is God's prophet. What was
John's business? It must have been terribly important.
What was his task? What was his calling? What was
he sent of God to do? Well, the Scripture tells us
that too. He was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. Behold, I send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. That's Christ said
that. All the way back over to the
Old Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is called our Jehovah,
He says He'll prepare the way before me. He's going before
me. Christ is coming. That's what
John said. Christ is coming. Believe on
Him that shall come after me. A virgin shall conceive and be
with child, and they shall call His name Immanuel. And John said,
I'm His forerunner. I'm coming to prepare the way
for Him. He's coming. He's coming to this world. He's
coming to His people. He's coming to His temple. And
John said, I'm preparing the way for Him. Behold. Behold. How does John do that? Boy, that's a good question,
ain't it? That's a good question. How does John prepare the way
for the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, he says here, he's going
to be a preacher. John was a preacher. He was a
man who testified, a man who bore witness. Witness to what? Preaching what? That's a good
question too, Eddie. What did John preach? What did
he do? Did he tell people they must
speak in tongues? Did he heal anybody? Did he do
any miracles at all? What did John do? What did he
preach? What did he bear witness to?
Well, the Scripture tells us that. Listen in John chapter
1. He came for a witness to bear
witness of the light. He was not the light. But He
was sent to bear witness of that light. Who is the light? He told
us. Christ is the light. Christ said
it Himself. I'm the light. I'm the light
of this world. John said, I've come to bear
witness of Him. They were talking to John about Him one day. They
said, John, you're really decreasing in your ministry, but He's increasing.
Your popularity is waning, but His is increasing. John said,
didn't I not tell you? I'm not Christ. I told you, I'm
not the Christ. I'm sent to bear witness of that
Christ that all men through me might believe. He must increase,
I must decrease. He that cometh from above is
above all. The Father has given all things
unto His hands. What did He bear witness to?
The Christ. to Christ, His sacrifice, His
sovereignty. He that cometh from above is
above all. He bore witness of the Son of
God. You know, brothers and sisters,
if you and I want people to come to Christ, then let's preach
Christ. If we want to present men perfect
in Christ Jesus, then let us preach Christ. If we want men
to know Christ, let us preach Christ. That's what John did. He preached Christ. Behold, I
prepare the way before me. He shall prepare the way before
me. You know what Paul said about
salvation? He said even to this very day,
men cannot believe in Christ if they've never heard of it.
Ain't that amazing? He said all who believe in Him
shall not be ashamed. For all who call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved." And then he said this, how shall
they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And then he
asks another question, how shall they believe in Him of whom they
have not heard? And then he asks another question, how shall they hear without a
preacher? And then he asks another question. How shall they preach
except they be sent? There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. And you know the way that you
can know if God sent a man? He's going to preach Christ.
He's going to preach Christ. There was a man sent from God
and he came preaching Christ. I'll tell you something else
he preached too. He preached repentance. In that verse I read
to you there in Matthew chapter 3, John came preaching in the
wilderness saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. How does repentance prepare the
way for the Lord Jesus Christ to come into the heart? And that's
what it does. John preached repentance and
that prepared the way for Christ. It prepared men for Christ. What
does repentance do in regard to Christ coming to the heart?
It turns us from our sin to God. That's what repentance is. It's
a turning from sin, from self, to God. It's a turning from the
love of sin and from the practice of sin. It changes our attitude
about sin. It changes our attitude about
God. Repentance is a sorrow of heart
over our sins against God. And repentance prepares the heart
to be washed, to be washed from its sin. You know what the biggest
problem with most people today is? They don't have a need of
Christ. They don't have a need of the blood of Christ. When
God begins a work of repentance in the heart, that changes all
that. He said, they that are not sick, they don't need a Savior.
The whole don't need a physician but the sick. And what repentance
is, it brings a man to see his sickness and brings him to the
physician. Where sin is loved, where sin
is served, Where sin reigns in the heart, the way for the Savior
is blocked up. Repentance clears the way. Repentance puts the sinner smiting
up on his chest, saying, God be merciful. God be perpetuous. God wash me, the sinner. And
what John does in his ministry, he warns men that if their sins
go unrepented of, It will bring the judgment of God. You know,
when you preach Christ, you just don't get up and use the name
of Christ. Really, you just don't tell what Christ has done and
who Christ is. The way for the Savior has to
be prepared in the heart. Repentance breaks up the foul
of ground. Here's what John said, Who hath
warned you to flee from the wrath that cometh? He preached there's
a wrath coming. Repentance wakes men up to that
fact and they flee from it. That's repentance. I turn him
from it. John said his fan is in his hand
and he will thoroughly purge his floor and he'll gather his
wheat into the garners, but listen to this, he will burn up the
chaff with unquenchable fire. We don't hear much about the
judgment anymore, do we? We hear a lot about Christ died
for you and God loves you, but nothing about the judgment. Repentance
changes all that, you see. The axe is laid unto the root
of the tree, John said. It's laid into the root of the
tree. It's not that the Lord has raised
it and ready to come down and slice the tree. But He says it's
laid there. It's laid there. Here's where
a sinner without Christ is. The axe of God's justice is already
laid there at the root of the tree. It's as though it was ready
to be cut down and withered and perish in hell. That's where
the axe is. That's what John said. The axe
is laid unto the root of the tree, and every tree that bringeth
not forth fruit is hewn down." Fruit of what? Repentance. Fruit
of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. John warned men of the necessity
of repenting of their covetousness. He said, if you've got two coats,
you keep one and give it to the man who Don't have one. What's
that all about? What's that all about? Covetousness.
Covetousness. He warned men of open and profane
sins. He went right up to her and said,
it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. You've got
another man's wife. It's not lawful for you to do
that. He warned men of self-righteousness, of a dependency upon what they're
doing and who they are. He told the Pharisees, don't
think to say within yourself, we have Abraham to our father. God is able of these stones to
raise up children unto Abraham. And what he's telling them there,
God don't need you. God don't need your ceremonies.
God don't need your genealogies, your heritage, your tithing,
and your fasting, and your morality. God needs you on your face acknowledging
your need of His Son to save you. And that's where repentance
puts us, on our face before Him. Spurgeon said one time that self-righteousness,
open and profane sins, he said, has slain its thousands. But
self-righteousness has slain its tens of thousands. And what repentance does, it
brings us to acknowledge our sin. I'm not talking about two
or three sins. I'm not talking about categorizing
a sin or two and say, I'll quit doing that. Repentance brings
us to acknowledge the principle of sin. That which is against
God. That which God hates. That's
what repentance turns us from. If a person has one sin, that
they're delighted in, one sin that they love, you can bet this,
repentance has never begun in that heart. Because a repentance
is a repentance, it's an acknowledging of the principle of sin. God
hates sin. And that's what repentance does.
It turns us from that which God hates to that which God loves. Paul was writing to the Thessalonians,
and he said, you turn to God from idols to serve the true
and living God. It's just turning from self to
sin to God in Christ. Notice what he said back over
in my text. That's what John was doing. Prepare ye the way
of the Lord. And how do we do that? We preach
Christ. We preach the judgment of God.
We warn every man, Paul said, and teach every man in all wisdom
that we may present every man perfect in Christ. We preach
repentance. We prepare the way for the Lord
Jesus Christ. I'll tell you what's happened
in our day, and we've all seen it. We've got these flimsy little
professions. If somebody comes to church over
a couple of times, You either think they're Christians or you're
going to get them on a profession of faith. You can't just preach
the gospel and shut them up to Christ and leave them there.
We've heard this stuff about you can have Jesus as your Savior,
and sometime later down the road, if you please, you can have Him
as your Lord. We've got all these flimsy professions
of faith, and the reason is, We've not just patiently and
boldly and plainly declared the Word of God to men. Shut them
up to Christ. Let the Spirit of God do His
work that He's pleased to do. I'm preparing the way before
the Lord. I don't need any church members.
I don't need to baptize anybody in water. I don't want to see
some profession of faith. That's not our business. That's
not the church's business. The church's business is to tear
down every barrier that Christ comes to the heart. Prepare the
heart for Christ the Lord. And he makes another statement
here in my text in verse 3. He says, you prepare ye the way
of the Lord. And then he makes this statement.
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. This word straight. Webster says it means passing
from one point to another by the nearest course, not deviating
or crooked. Give Christ a straight shoot
to the heart. Don't deviate. Don't make His
way crooked. Christ must be received immediately. Christ must be received honestly. Christ must be received with
a sincere heart, wholeheartedly. He says, My son, give Me your
heart. He won't settle for anything
less than that. And I tell you, men may try to
put Him off. Men may try to deceive Him. But
He knows. He knows. And a man might as
well make a straight way. Get off of these crooked mountain
paths and make a straight way for Christ to come to the heart.
No sense making excuses. No sense making promises. No
sense procrastinating. Make a straight path. What's
the quickest way the Lord of glory can get into your heart?
That's the only way He's going to come. I know what it is to
deceive yourself. I did that for years. Promising
the Lord these things and trying to deceive Him. And finally he
just broke me and let me know. No, it don't work that way, buddy.
You have me, and I've got all of you. I've got access to all
of you. Immediately. Immediately. Make a straight path. It takes the Holy Spirit to bring
a man there now. It takes the Holy Spirit to bring
man there. That's why I often say, when a man can come to give
himself up to Christ, lot, stock, and barrel, he's a saved man.
That's the only way Christ is going to come in. Lot, stock,
and barrel. Make a straight path. Behold, behold, John the Baptist
preparing the way for the Lord. Look here now in verse 4. Matthew Henry's got a comment
he made on this, and I want to read to you what he said. 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. Here's what Matthew Henry had
to say about this verse. He said we must get our hearts
leveled by divine grace. Those that are hindered from
comfort in Christ by their dejections and despondencies are the valleys
that must be exalted. And those that are hindered from
comfort in Christ by a proud conceit of their own merit and
worth are the mountains and hills that must be made low. The ground around Calvary, it's
level, ain't it? It's level. It brings those who
are dejected and unbelieving up, and it brings those who are
proud and self-righteous down. And it puts us all on the same
level. There's but one exalted at Calvary,
and that's Christ the Lord. And here's what He said about
these other people. Those who have entertained prejudices
against the Word of God and the ways of God, and who are stubborn
and unyielding, and disposed to thwart and contradict even
that which is plain and easy, and they do so because it agrees
not with their corrupt inclinations and secular interests, are the
crooked that must be made straight, and the rough places that must
be made plain and smooth. The high is brought down. They
come off of their high horse. Those that's despondent has to
be brought up. Those that's using all these
excuses, they'll have to be made plain and smooth. And all of
us are brought up. I don't care brothers and sisters
what. I don't care where we're from. I don't care what our culture's
been, what our disposition is. We all meet on one level. All of us are saved the same
way in Christ. And when we come there, like
Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened, probably verse 5 is what's going
to take place. See this? "...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." Therefore, we'll
see Christ's glory, His redeeming glory. When we come off of our
high horse, when these things we've argued
about, resisted, accused God of, when those things are finally
laid aside, And we just come to Christ the Lord. That's where
we'll see His glory. That's where He reveals His glory. We tell men to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. We know all along that
they can't believe apart from a revelation. We tell men you
must know Christ. You must know God. But at the
same time, you cannot know Him apart from a revelation. In that
day the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Revealed. And all kinds of people see it,
don't they? All kinds of flesh. Not all flesh, but all kinds
of flesh. God has shined in some of your
hearts, hasn't He? You've seen the glory of God
in the face of Christ. Verses 6 through 8. The voice
of the Lord cried, The voice of the Lord said, Cry. And the
prophet said, What shall I cry? He said, Cry this. All flesh
is grass. All flesh is grass. And all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass
withereth, and the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withers, the flower
fades, but the word of the Lord shall stand forever. Ain't this
amazing that this is in the context of Comfort She, Comfort She,
My People? Ain't that amazing? Comfort She,
Comfort She, My People. Lord, how you want me to comfort
them? Tell them what sinners they are. Tell them how they're
fading. Tell them that their goodness
is like the flower of the grass. The sun rises upon it, and it
just wilts. You mean that uncomfortable?
Me and Brother David Pledger were talking about last weekend. We were talking about, you see
people come to the worship. You see God's children come in,
and sometimes, boy, they're just dragged. They've had a terrible
week, and you can see them just sit there like somebody's been
beaten up on. And you start telling them what sinners they are. And
it ain't long until they perk up. And they leave much differently
than they came in. They come in so discouraged,
and they leave and they're so up, rejoicing. I said, David,
how is that? That people drive so far to get
told what awful people they are. And he said, I think it's this.
I think it's this. We get to thinking sometimes
that there's nobody as bad as we are. I'm the worst sinner in the world. And he says, when we come in
and we sit and the preacher starts telling every one of us we're
in the same boat, he said, oh, thank God I thought I was here
by myself. I thought I was the worst sinner in the world. Nobody
was like me. Now we've got a whole room full
of people just like me. Are you getting any better in
your own eyes? I asked a dear old preacher one
time, I said, does it get any better as you get older? He said,
it gets worse. It gets worse. Your goodliness just fades and
it fades and it fades. And I tell you, if we didn't
have a Savior outside of ourselves that was a mighty One and a gracious
One and a loving One and a faithful One, we'd despair, wouldn't we? But it seems like to me, and
you may have found this so too, the lower you get in your own
eyes, the more He's magnified. I don't mind that, do you? I
don't mind that. Comfort you. Comfort you, my
people.