Preparing a People For the Lord

I'm speaking on the subject,
preparing a people for the Lord. I'm going to read from the book
of Matthew and the book of Luke and the book of John. But I want
you to turn to the book of Matthew. We're going to be looking at
chapter 3 of Matthew in just a few moments. But let me make
a few comments before we get to the text. Now John the Baptist
was the forerunner of Christ. He was sent as the last of the
Old Testament prophets. to announce the coming of the
Messiah, the Redeemer. John wrote this about him, John
1 verse 6 through 8. There was a man sent from God,
whose name was John, and the same came for a witness of the
light, that's with a capital L, that's speaking of Christ,
that all men through him might believe. He was not that light,
but he was sent to bear witness of that light. He came as the
forerunner of Christ. He came to bear witness of Christ. He came to announce the coming
of Christ. Now in Luke chapter 1 verse 17,
Luke said this about John the Baptist. Luke said he was sent
not only to announce the coming of Christ, not only as the forerunner
of the Savior, to bear witness of the light, but he was sent,
in Luke 1.17, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." John
the Baptist was sent to prepare a people for the Lord, that's
what it said. He came crying, prepare ye the
way of the Lord, make his path straight. Now that's what Luke
said, he was sent to prepare a people for the Lord. Now that
may seem to you like a strange expression. And you may say,
well, preacher, that hardly sounds like a gospel expression or expression
of grace, and we're prone to set it aside at first examination. But saying, no preparation is
needed for coming to Christ, just as I am without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou didst me come
to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. There's no preparation needed
for coming to Christ, is there? Well, let's look at this a moment.
He was sent to bear witness of the light, and Luke said, to
prepare a people for the Lord. That's what he said, plainly,
to prepare. He came in the spirit and power
of Elias to prepare a people for the Lord. And I believe that
this is the missing note in evangelism and preaching today, right here.
This is the missing note. This is the cause of so many
false professions of religion. This is the cause of the absence
of true saving interest in Christ. People who have religion but
who do not have a real personal saving interest in Christ and
a vital union with the Son of God because we have omitted the
groundwork. We have omitted the foundation
work. And we tried to build a hope
for eternity and a hope for eternal life on a fleshly and not a spiritual
foundation. This is the missing note in present
day preaching. You hear the preachers, they're
all crying, believe, believe, believe, believe, and very few
are telling us what to believe. They're crying for us to come
to Jesus, come to Jesus, and they're not talking about the
preparation that's necessary for coming to Jesus, that which
John talked about. I want to show it to you now
in a few moments. John came to announce Christ, and we're doing
that. but he came to prepare a people for the Lord. My friends, any farmer knows
this. You have to go out with a plow
and a disc and break up that hard, fallow ground before you
can sow seed. You don't just go out and throw
seed on unprepared soil and expect to have a harvest And I'll tell
you that the Holy Spirit is going to have to break up the hard,
fallow ground of our hearts before the seed of God's Word is going
to bear any fruit. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart. You know anybody that's got a
broken heart? The sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit,
a humble spirit. Where are the humble spirits
among the proud, religious people of today? Why, there's more pride
in religion than there is in any other single profession.
The fig leaf apron of self-righteousness is going to have to be stripped
off before Almighty God is going to bring the robe of Christ's
spotless righteousness to cover our nakedness. That's right.
And the sinner is going to have to be slain by the law before
the gospel is going to bring him life. Paul said, the law
came and I died. I died. There's not going to
be any resurrection until there's a death. There's not going to
be any grace until there's some judgment. And men are not coming
to Calvary until they've been to Sinai. We are ministers not
only of the gospel, we're ministers of the law. And a man that doesn't
know how to minister the law doesn't know how to minister
the gospel. That's what's missing. The so-called houses are being
built on the shifting sand of humanism and fleshly excitement. There's no digging deep, preparation
work and ground work to get down to the rock. that that foundation
might be laid. A wise man will spend as much
time on the foundation as he does on the house. Because when
the wind of trial and cares and riches and persecution comes,
that house that's got a foundation will stand. The old idols have
got to be torn down. The objects of worship and adoration
have got to be dethroned before Christ is going to sit on the
throne and reign as Lord and Master. He's not going to take
his place beside these other idols. Somebody says, let Jesus
come into your heart. There's going to have to be some
preparation made. And then hands full of fleshly
sacrifice and human works are going to have to be emptied.
We're going to have to drop these things. and be able to say with
a songwriter, could my tears forever flow, could my zeal no
respite, no, these for sin could never atone, Christ was saved
and Christ alone, in my hands no price I bring, sent there
to the cross of Christ I cling. We are going to have to open
these hands. We are not coming to God with a clenched fist,
we are coming with an open hand, an open heart, empty handed.
And that's going to happen. We're going to have to preach
so that sinners will lay down their weapons of warfare. We're
going to have to preach so that all the fleshly foundations are
swept out from under a fellow. He has nothing to cling to and
to rest upon and build upon and hope in, except Christ. Lord save me, I perish. That's
right. Isaiah 55, 7 says, Let the wicked
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. and let him
return to the Lord. Why? Our ways are not God's ways,
and our thoughts are not God's thoughts, and that's what we're
going to have to work on in our preaching. We're going to have
to work on man's ways so he sees the error of them and he's willing
to lay them down. We're going to have to condemn
even a man's thoughts so he sees the evil of them and lays them
down. Our ways are not his ways. Our
wisdom is foolishness to God. Here we bring our our wisdom,
and we think it's something. God says it's all foolishness,
except you be converted and become as a little child. And that's
the place we don't relish too much, is it? Except you become
as a little child. We think the gifts of God are
on the higher shelves, and the more degrees we get, and the
more credentials we get, and the more prominence we get, and
the more personal dignity we get, the higher we climb. That's
not so. You become as a little child,
you're not even going to enter the kingdom of God. That's what preparing a people for the Lord.
And you want to know what's missing? I'll tell you what's missing.
It's not what men are saying, it's what they aren't saying. It's
what they're leaving out. They're leaving out the groundwork,
the foundation work. And I'm going to point out six
things that are necessary in preparing a people for the Lord.
I hope you'll listen to this message carefully. First of all,
we prepare a people for the Lord when they are made by the Spirit
of God through the message, through the preaching, to realize their
sins. Now turn to Matthew 3, and let's
look at several verses. Verse 6, Matthew 3, now this
is John's message. John came to announce the coming
of the Lord and to prepare a people to receive him. And he says in
Matthew 3, 6, and they came and they were baptized in the Jordan,
confessing their sins. confessing their sins. Now I
don't know, my friend, what it'll take to convince you, that's
right, you, that you're a sinner. I don't know what it'll take
to convince you that you're a fallen son of Adam, that you are a fallen
daughter of Adam, that you are in the sight of God ungodly,
unclean, depraved, wretched, fit for needing forgiveness,
needing cleansing. I don't know what it'll take
to convince you. You may never be convinced. You may perish
defending, as Job did for a long time, your righteousness and
say, I won't give it up. But I'm telling you this as clear
and as plainly as I can tell you, Christ came into the world
to save sinners. Not righteous people, not moral
people, not religious people, not good people, not folks who
do the best they can. He died for the ungodly. The
Son of Man, he said, has come to seek and to save the lost.
The Pharisees were criticizing him for eating with publicans
and sinners, and our Lord knew their thoughts, and he said,
you listen to me. The well do not need a physician, but they
that are sick. Now you go learn what that means.
And then he told them what he meant. He said, I'm come, not
to call the righteous, folks that think they're righteous,
but sinners to repentance. I'm come to call sinners to repentance. Paul said this is a faithful
saying, this is a true saying, it's worthy of acceptation by
all men. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I'm chief. And then in Romans 5,
6, the scripture says Christ died for the ungodly. Our Lord's
words of forgiveness, they were always for sinners. the harlot,
the publican, the thief. Our Lord's words of condemnation
were always for the religious. He said, Woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! You may clean the outside of
the cup, while within you are full of extortion and excess.
Publicans and the harlots enter heaven before you. You are going
to find yourselves shut out and then in the kingdom of God, rejoicing
in the mercy and grace of God. Oh, the painfulness of Holy Spirit
conviction. Oh, the painfulness of seeing
ourselves as God sees us, but oh, the necessity of it. Oh, the painfulness of seeing
our thoughts and imaginations and seeing as God sees them.
And let me tell you something, seeing is not only the presence
of hate, it's the absence of love. That's right. Seeing is
not only to take what's not yours, but failure to give what is yours. Sin is not only to do evil, it's
to know good and do it not. Sin is not only an act of the
hand, it's a thought of the heart. And oh, the painfulness of it.
But oh, thank God, when a man sees it. But that's the first
thing. That's the first foundation work.
That's what John did. In preparing a people for the
Lord, they came confessing their sins. It was a universal confession. All have sinned and come short
of God's glory. we prepare a people for the Lord
when the Holy Spirit condemns their religious offices and their
religious work as so many filthy rags. Now this may hurt you,
but will you listen? In Matthew 3 verse 7, And when
John saw the Pharisees, that was the religious leaders, officers,
teachers, preachers, and Sadducees, he said to them, O ye generation
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come."
John picked out these renowned, scholarly, moral leaders and
called them a generation of snakes. Now I'm sure that this was very,
to most people, disrespectful and shocking. And I imagine that
he lost many of his people in his audience because they were
appalled at his uncharitable attitude and his harsh words. But John is preparing a people
for the Lord. He's not preparing for himself
personal glory. He's not seeking men's praise.
He's preparing a people for the Lord. And he's trying to show
these people that being a preacher and being a deacon and being
an elder, and being a Sunday school teacher, and praying long
prayers, and reading their daily Bible reading, and tithing, and
giving alms, and studying doctrine wouldn't save them. That's what
he's saying to them. Salvation is a hard work. It's
a new birth. Paul was a religious man. Listen
to Paul. Why, he said, I was circumcised
the eighth day of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews,
as touching the law, a Pharisee. concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, as touching the righteousness of the law, I was blameless.
But all these things that at one time were gained to me, important
to me, everything to me, I counted them but dumb, nothing, that
I may win Christ and be found in Him." My friend, your early
training and your godly parents and your infant sprinkling and
your confirmation and your daily catechism, and your adult profession,
and your adult baptism, and your good works, and all your prayers
are not going to put away your sins. Now that's so. It's the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, that cleanseth us from sin. And all of your religious
offices and works and service to God will do you no more good
than all the blood that was shed on Jewish altars, which God said
cannot put away sin. Christ must save, and Christ
alone. I once was lost, but now I am
found, and by God's grace I am heaven-bound. But my only plea,
my only hope, my only plea, is that when he died, he died for
me. And we prepare a people for the
Lord when we cause them to empty their hands of any hope but Christ
Jesus, not their religious work. Also, now you listen to this,
Matthew 3, we're still there, verse 9. This is John's message.
He's preparing a people for the Lord. And in doing so, they confess
their sins, they recognize their sins. He condemns their religious
offices and works. He says they're nothing. And
then, in preparing a people for the Lord, the Holy Spirit turns
their eyes away from their denominational heritage, their tradition, and
their ancestors to Christ. Listen to Matthew 3.9, and John
said to him, now he said to these religious officers and leaders
and preachers, he said, you generation of vipers, who warned you to
flee from the wrath to come? Now listen to the next verse.
And think not, he went on, to say within yourselves, we have
Abraham to our father, why God is able of these stones to raise
up children to Abraham. As soon as this maverick You
know what a maverick is? That's an unbranded calf. And
this was an unbranded preacher. Nobody could claim John the Baptist
who wanted him. He was an unbranded prophet,
an unbranded preacher. He belonged to God. He didn't
belong to anybody. He's God's servant. And when you start preaching
this message of the cross and of salvation by grace and of
salvation by blood, why, they said, we don't have to listen
to you. We've got Abraham to our Father. We don't have to listen to you.
We've got Abraham. And John destroyed their confidence
in their religious ancestors and denominational privileges
and religious heritage. He says there's no glory in boasting
of having Abraham in your house and lineage unless you've got
the faith of Abraham. Somebody said one time, people
who brag about their ancestors are like turnips. The best part
is under the ground. Thank God for Luther, thank God
for Calvin, thank God for Knox, thank God for Westley, thank
God for Spurgeon, but I'm telling you, the faith of these men will
do you no good if you do not have for yourself, in your heart,
the faith of Christ Jesus. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth and believe in thine heart, God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. We prepare people for the Lord
when we preach to them that salvation is a hard work. Now look at verse
10. Matthew 3, 10. We're going right
down the line. This is the next thing John said. He said every
tree, down in the last part of verse 10, see it? Every tree
that does not bring forth good fruit is going to be cut down.
What's he saying here? He's saying that this religion,
which does not produce the fruit of the Spirit, And that's what
we've got today. We've got a loose religion that
gives a man a hope of eternal life. He never worships God.
He doesn't love God's word. He doesn't love God's people.
He has no joy in his heart. He has no evidence of faith.
He has no grace. He's got no humility. He's a
proud, arrogant, covetous, evil person. Nobody can get along
with him. And they say he's on his road
to heaven. He's eternally secure. He's saved. No, he's not either.
John said that's not so. That's not so. He said a tree
that does not bring forth fruit is going to be cut down. The
axe is going to be laid to the root. Over and over again, the
scripture declares that fruitless religion is nothing but a tree
with only leaves, and God curses it. What is the fruit that John
is talking about here, the tree that doesn't bear fruit? Well,
turn to Galatians 5.22. This is it. The fruit of the
Spirit is love joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith,
humility, temperance. If these fruits are not evident
to some degree, I'm not saying that all of God's people are
mature, fruit-bearing branches that bring forth the essence
of mature fruit at all seasons. I'm saying that there's evidence
of the presence of that fruit. And it will be there in degrees,
and we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus our
Lord. But a man who professes to be a tree or a branch that's
connected with divine Christ Jesus and bears no fruit, why
John said it's not so, will be cut down and cast into the fire.
Fifthly, we prepare a piece, see this foundation work, it's
got to be done. Our men are going to come and
hear us say, don't you want to go to heaven, you don't want
to go to hell, walk out, shake my hand, you're saved, meet you
in the promised land. And they go off saying, well,
there's nothing to this, I'm fixed up, but there's nothing
there. And what's wrong is there's no
foundation work, there's no preparation work. John didn't do that, he
came to prepare people for the Lord. And we prepare people for
the Lord when we shut them up to holy spirit conviction, and
Holy Spirit awakening, and Holy Spirit teaching. Now listen to
verse 11, Matthew 3. John said, I baptize you with
water, but he cometh after me who was before me, whose shoes
I'm not worthy to tie. He's going to baptize you with
the Holy Spirit and with fire. John says, I baptize, I preach
to you and I exhort you, and I warn you, and I plead with
you, and I baptize you, but only the Holy Ghost can bring you
to Christ. Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,
with all thy quickening power, and kindle a flame of holy love
in these cold hearts of ours. See how we labor here below,
fond of these trifling toys. Our souls can neither fly nor
go to reach the heavenly joys. God the Holy Ghost has to do
for you what I can't do. I can preach it to you, and I'm
going to, and I can tell you the truth, and by God's grace
I'm going to try to. But only God can quicken you,
only God can convict you of sin, only God can reveal the words
of this book. Only God, the Holy Ghost. It'll
just be words on paper to you till the Holy Spirit makes it
last. Only the Holy Spirit can convince me of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Only the Holy Spirit can take
the things of Christ and show them to you. Only the Holy Spirit
can give you eyes to behold the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ,
and ears to hear His voice, and a heart that beats in tune with
Him. Only the Holy Ghost can do that. Preachers can give you
religion, they can give you professions, they can give you experiences.
Satan can give you experiences. Satan can give you feelings,
feelings sometimes of joy. But only the Holy Spirit can
reveal Christ. And he's the one whom to know
is life eternal. And then last of all, we prepare
a people for the Lord when we point them to Christ, the substitute,
the sacrifice. And all this work is done when
a man's convinced of his sins, and he's laid down all of his
fleshly works, and he's disowned any hope as a result of his ancestry. And the Holy Ghost has come and
plowed up the field, and tore off the fig leaf apron, stripped
him, and knocked his foundations of flesh out from under him.
He's got nowhere to turn. He's without help, and he's without
hope, and he's without God. Oh, John turned and said, Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away all sin, every sin. Behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. There's
your hope. Turn your eyes on Jesus. look away from yourself,
turn your eyes on him, look full in his wonderful face. But you're
not ready for that message until you've heard this other message.
You're not ready for the shoes of Christ Jesus until you've
been stripped of your own rags and of your own robes of righteousness. You're not ready to cling to
him until you've thrown off everything else. But the true messenger,
he sees Christ for himself. And the true messenger, he declares
Christ to be sent of God, the Lamb of God. The true messenger
declares Christ to be the substitute. He taketh away our sins because
he took them in his own body on the tree. He bore them and
paid for them, and by his stripes we're here healed. And he declares
Christ to be the only object of faith. I pray to God that
we might in this day experience a revival, but we're not going
to have true And we may have religious excitement, and religious
commotion, and religious emotion, but we're not going to have a
true revival, a return to God, till we get back to the message
of this book. Until we preachers start not looking always for
harvest, but somebody goes out, as Paul says, and does some plowing,
and some watering with tears, and some tearing down of the
old Paul's foundations, and pushing out of the rubbish. And some
sinners start crying, men and brethren, what shall we do? We're
telling people what to do before they even ask us. You don't hear
anybody asking for help, do you? What must we do? And when we
start doing this groundwork, we're going to hear those voices.
What must we do? Now, these messages can be had
by writing to us. They're on cassette tape. There'll
be a small charge. We'll let you know when you write.
The address is given at the close of the broadcast. God bless you,
everyone.

Preparing a People For the Lord

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Preparing a People For the Lord

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