Welcome back in your Bibles today
to Matthew chapter 3. I brought my message last Sunday
from an Old Testament prophecy, which we will see being fulfilled
in this chapter. That prophecy was from Malachi
chapter 3. Behold, I will send my messenger
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom
you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant which you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. And we spent most of the time
last week looking at the Lord Jesus Christ as the messenger
of this everlasting covenant. We know that he's the mediator
of the covenant, he's the surety of the covenant, and he's also
the messenger of the covenant. Now the covenant that God made
before the foundation of the world covenant in which he secured
the salvation of his people. This covenant was revealed more
fully told out by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
today I want us to look more at the first part of the prophecy
which goes, Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare
the way before me. Two parts to the message. First
of all, the Lord's messenger and his work in the first 12
verses. The Lord's messenger was John
the Baptist and his work was to prepare the way before the
Lord. That's easy for everyone to understand. The prophecy was, behold I will
send my messenger. That is John the Baptist, and
he shall prepare the way before me. Now several things I want
to point out to us about John the Baptist and his work. First
of all, I would remind us that John the Baptist was the subject
of at least two Old Testament prophecies. Actually three, but
from two different prophets. As I said, that prophecy in Malachi
that we looked at last week, but notice here in the text we
are referred to a prophecy that's found in the book of Isaiah.
In verse number three it said, for this is he, that is John
the Baptist, this is he that was spoken of by the prophet
Esaias, or Isaiah. I want you to look back, if you
will, keep your places here, but turn back with me to the
book of Isaiah chapter 40, where this prophecy is found. In Isaiah chapter 40, and verse 3, we read the voice
of him that crieth in the wilderness. When Men came to John, official
men, from the religious leaders in Jerusalem asking him, who
are you? Here he was out in the wilderness
preaching, baptizing, and they wanted to know, where did you
get this authority? Who are you? They didn't recognize
him. He wasn't from their schools.
They didn't know who he was. Who are you? But you remember
John confessed that he was not the Christ. But he said, I am
the voice. I am the voice. And here this
passage tells us, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert
a highway for our God. What did the prophecy say? Behold,
I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before
me, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no question that Jesus
Christ is God. He is God-man. When we worship the Savior, Jesus
Christ our Lord, we are worshiping God. He is God. And this voice, John the Baptist,
his ministry was to prepare a way before him. And it's interesting
here in Isaiah where this voice, this man asks the question, what
shall I say? What shall I cry? And he's told
two things that he is to cry. And the first thing is all flesh
is grass. Notice that in verse 6, the voice
said cry and he said what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. Now the Apostle Peter quotes
this in his first epistle, and he says, For all flesh is as
grass, and the honor of men is as the flower of the grass. What's the message there? All
flesh is as grass. Well, just like the grass springs
up, it just Our grass is pretty well died back now, frozen back,
isn't it? But in just a few days, the sun
and the temperature and the grass will spring up. It'll all be
green. But then it won't be many months
until once again it's dead. And that's your life. That's
my life in this world. All flesh is as grass. And the
flower The honor that some men attend, some men obtain, rather,
is as the flower of the grass. It, too, lasts for just a little
while. Men spend their lives, spend
their lives, I should say, working to achieve the honor, the riches,
the things of this world only in just a few days, to leave
it all behind. What shall I cry? Cry, all flesh
is grass. And number two, cry, behold your
God. Notice that in verse nine, O
Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain,
O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with
strength. Lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God. And just a few days, maybe a
few weeks after what we're studying here in Matthew chapter 3, John
the Baptist said, Behold your God. the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sins of the world." Back in Matthew chapter 3, he
was the subject, as I've said, of several Old Testament prophecies. A second thing I would point
out to us was his habit or his demeanor, and this served as
a reminder You notice in verse 4 it says that John had the raiment
of camel's hair. Camel's hair. That's pretty rough. Camel's hair. And a leather girdle
about his loins. And his meat, his diet, was locust
and wild honey. Now, when they saw this man,
dressed as he was, eating what he ate, it was to remind them
of another prophet. Another prophet who was to come
before the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was that? Elijah. Elijah,
that John the Baptist so looked alike by his demeanor, by his
dress, by his food. If you turn back just a few pages
into Malachi, the very last words of the Old Testament, Malachi
chapter 4, In verse 5, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord,
and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come
and smite the earth with a curse. When our Lord was transformed
on the Mount of Transfiguration, as they were coming back down,
Peter, James, and John, after witnessing that, they asked the
Lord how it was that they said that Elijah would come before
the Messiah. And our Lord said, Elijah's already
come. Elijah's already, how? In John
the Baptist. Not Elijah raised somehow from
the dead after thousands of years of period. No. Elijah, John the
Baptist, was Elijah. If, our Lord said, if you will
receive it. Concerning his demeanor, I want
you to listen to what our Lord later said to some of those who
heard him preach. He said, for John came neither
eating nor drinking. Here's a man dressed as he was,
kind of wild looking, wasn't he? Lived a life of austerity,
eating honey and locusts. He came preaching. What did people
say about his preaching? Well, they said, he has a devil. He has the devil. And then the
Lord Jesus Christ goes on to say, the Son of Man, that is
Christ, He came both eating and drinking. And what did they say
about Him? They said He's a gluttonous man,
a wine-bibber. But, the Lord goes on there to
say, but wisdom is justified of her children. You see, man's
problem It's his problem. It's his heart. Now, he may put
it off on the preacher. I don't like that preacher. I
don't like the way he preaches. And then he might say, well,
I like this other preacher. I don't like this preacher. The
problem isn't the preacher. The problem is man loves darkness
rather than light. John the Baptist, he didn't eat
or drink. The Lord Jesus Christ, he both
ate and drank. It wasn't the messenger, it was
the message that called man to break, to cut from their sins
and follow Christ. That's what man didn't like.
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Number three, how
did John go about his work? How did he go about this work?
His work was to prepare the way before the Lord. Well, the scripture
says he came preaching. Notice that in verse 1. In those
days came John the Baptist preaching. How did he go about his work?
He preached. He didn't argue. He didn't debate. He didn't say, let's all sit
around in a circle and all of us express our ideas and how
we feel about this. Oh, no. No, he preached. He preached. That's how he went
about his work. And let me say this, when the
Lord Jesus Christ Later in the Gospel of Matthew,
he sent out his 12 apostles. He told them, as you go, preach. And after his resurrection, he
commanded his disciples to go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth,
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Now,
was Paul saying baptism isn't Important? Of course not. But
in comparison between baptism and the gospel, there is no comparison. Man must hear the gospel and
must believe the gospel in order to be saved. We know of several
examples of men who were saved who were never baptized. It is
important, and we'll get to that in just a moment. But in this
matter of salvation, what is all important, how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? Yes, he went about his work preaching
the Lord Jesus Christ. He began. As we will see in a
few weeks, the Lord will him. And he began to preach. He said, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. The gospel means good news. And
the gospel is good news to the poor. You say, you mean people
who are broke? Well, maybe. People who are spiritually
broke. I mean people who recognize that
if salvation costs one penny, I'm not going to be saved. If
God requires anything on my part, then it's not going to happen. No more than a camel can go through
the eye of a needle. With man, it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. And to the poor, those who are
spiritually poor, who see themselves as sinners, who have nothing
to give, nothing to offer, nothing to pay, gospel's good news. Come and buy wine and milk without
money and without price. Oh, that's good news to the poor. Now notice his message. Repent. Repent ye for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. Now it should be obvious, it
should be, that a kingdom that men can only enter by repentance
is a spiritual kingdom. Let me say that again. A kingdom
that men can only enter by repentance has to be a spiritual kingdom. Now, to the Jews that John was
preaching to, and especially these Pharisees and Sadducees
who came out, their idea of the kingdom, yes, they believed that
a king was coming, Messiah was promised to come. But he would
be a king after the order of David. He'd be the son of David,
and therefore, in their mind, he would be a mighty ruler like
David, like Solomon. And his kingdom would be of this
world. And men would enter it, they
thought, they believed, they taught, if you are a son of Abraham. If you are one of his physical
descendants, then automatically you're going to be in this kingdom. And John says, repent. Repent
for the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom that the Messiah is going
to bring in is a spiritual kingdom. That's the reason he said don't,
later in this passage, don't you Pharisees and Sadducees start
talking about how your heritage that you can trace your lineage
all the way back to Abraham. Because I'm telling you, John
said, God's able of these stones. No doubt there were stones lying
there on the ground or on the river bank. God's able of these
stones to raise up children. It's not because you are born
into the nation of Israel that you are a Jew. No, a person must
be born again. It was to a religious leader
that the Lord Jesus Christ said, Nicodemus, verily, verily, I say unto thee.
And later he said, are you a master in Israel and you don't understand
these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born again, he cannot see. the kingdom of God. It's a spiritual kingdom. His
kingdom was not of this world. Now here's the last thing I want
to say about John. John knew his limitations. Let me explain what I mean by
that. He knew his limitations. You notice in verse 11, he said,
I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. I can do that. I can do that. I can take you
down into the Jordan here, and I can put you under the water,
and I can bring you back up. I can do that. But listen, there
stands one among you I can't do His work, because He will
baptize you in the Spirit. In other words, the new birth,
the spiritual birth that you need, only God can accomplish. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth,
and he said, you know, I planned it. I could do that. I could
take the word of God, which is the seed of God, and I could
come to Corinth and I could begin to preach. I could plant. And
Apollos, after I left, he came along and he could water that
word, and he did. But he said, only God can give
the increase. John knew his limitations. He
said, I baptize with water, but I want you to know there's someone
here standing among us. who will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and with fire. Now, here's the second part of
the message. I want us to see how that the
Lord's servant, that is Jesus Christ, how he was identified
at his baptism as the servant of Jehovah. In Isaiah 42 and
verse 1, We read, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in
whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. This servant of Jehovah, this
one in whom God delighted, as he testifies here, a voice from
heaven, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, in
whom I delight. and whom John saw the heavens
open and the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, descending in the
form of a dove and remaining upon the Lord Jesus Christ. God is here identifying, publicly
identifying His servant, one that He had called His elect,
in whom His soul delighted. He identified Him through this
baptism. And it was now with His baptism
that the Lord Jesus Christ begins His public ministry. Before this time, the Lord Jesus
Christ, we've seen He was presented at the temple. He came suddenly
to the temple at about six weeks of age. We read of Him being
in the temple again at 12 years of age. We read that Joseph was
warned in a dream and carried Mary and the Lord Jesus into
Egypt and then called him back and he turned into Nazareth.
And for this long of time they had remained in Nazareth. But
now the hour, the hour had come. His appointed hour. When we think about an hour,
of course it's time, the time of his birth, the scripture says,
in the fullness of the times. When we think about his baptism,
he was about 30 years of age. When we think about his death,
his resurrection, and his ascension to the right hand of God, everything
was appointed by God. everything. His time had come. His appointed hour to be baptized
by John and to be presented, if you please, to the public
as God's servant, as the servant of Jehovah. The second thing
we see here when he approached John to be baptized, of course
John had already said There's someone here, and I want you to know, I'm not
even worthy to unlatch his shoestrings. And when the Lord came, of whom
he was speaking, John didn't want to baptize him. You can
understand why. He said, I have need to be baptized
of thee and come you to me. And our Lord said this, suffer
it to be for we must fulfill all righteousness. The Lord Jesus
Christ in bringing in a justifying righteousness, a righteousness
that God would accept And a righteousness when it is imputed unto those
who believe in him, make them also justified. In doing that, he had to fulfill
all righteousness. Now, this was the Father's will. To fulfill all righteousness
is to do perfectly. the Father's will. You say, well
that means to keep the law. Yes, no doubt it did. But it
also meant to be baptized. Suffer it to be so. It was written of him, Lo, I
come to do thy will, O God. And this was God's will for the
Lord Jesus Christ. To be baptized of John. He that hath sent me is with
me, the Father hath not left me alone, for I do always, and
this is one of those always, I do always those things that
please Him. This pleased His Father. This
was His Father's will. Suffer it to be so. Then we also see the revelation
of the Trinity. People sometimes will tell you,
well, the word Trinity is not in the Bible. No, it's not. Neither is the word missionary.
There are several words that are not in the Bible, but the
truth is in the word of God. Now, you don't see the word Trinity,
but what you do see, if God gives you eyes to see as you read through
the Word of God, you see that there's three persons who are
proclaimed to be God. And yet, emphatically, there's
only one God. And yet, the Father is God, the
Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. The Apostle John in 1
John wrote, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. It was the Word here, the eternal
Word, the second person in the Trinity. And when we use those
terms, and we do, first, second, third person in the Trinity,
don't ever think of it like this. Think of it like this if you
must. Because the first person, we're talking about the Father.
The second person, the Son. The third person, the Holy Spirit.
But one is not above the other. Each is God. Each is co-equal,
co-eternal. And all the attributes of deity
is true of each and every one of the persons in the Godhead.
But what we see here is the son, the second person in the Godhead
who was made flesh, Jesus Christ. He's the one that John put under
the water and brought back up. And don't, don't pay any attention
to those people that say, well, Sprinklin. No, Sprinklin's not
baptism. Never was, never will be. Baptism
is immersion. There's no doubt about it, no
question about it. And our Lord, we shouldn't, people
shouldn't make pictures of the Lord anyway, but I know you've
probably seen some pictures I have, drawings, paintings, whatever
you want to call them. Looks so funny to me, they've
got supposedly the Lord Jesus Christ standing in the River
Jordan up to about his ankles, and John pouring a cup of water
on his head. Nothing could be more foolish
as far as I'm concerned. He baptized, he immersed, and
when the Lord Jesus Christ was immersed, we have the second
person who is God, man, the servant of Jehovah, And we have God the
Holy Spirit presented in the form of a dove coming. John saw
the heavens open and the Spirit of God coming upon him. And remember
what that prophecy said was, I have put my Spirit upon him. The Gospel of John tells us,
and remaining upon him. That's important. And then we
have God the Father who spoke from heaven and he said, this
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. The word beloved
also might be this is my only begotten son. God has many sons
by adoption, but he has only one son who is his only begotten
son. Now let me close with this. I want to ask two questions and
make one comment. The first question is this. Is
repentance to be preached today? That was John's message, wasn't
it? Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. Is repentance to be preached
today? Well, if you would look at what
we would generally call the Great Commission after our Lord's resurrection
when he sent out his disciples to preach in all the world. As
it's given to us in the Gospel of Luke, it is that repentance
and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all
nations beginning at Jerusalem. Repentance is part of the message
that we preach. Repentance in regard to the forgiveness
of sins is that sense of sin, that conviction of the Holy Spirit,
that sense of sin that causes a sinner to flee, flee from the
wrath to come and to trust only in God's ordained remedy, Jesus
Christ. I don't know about you, but I
see people, you see people, you work with them, you talk with
them, visit with them. They don't have a concern in
this world, apparently, about eternity. They just don't. They're living
their lives for now, and that's it. They live as though there
were no God. As if sin was not a real thing. As if sin is not hateful to God. As if God will not punish sin. When a person, by the power of
the Holy Spirit, is brought to realize, I've sinned against
God. And God is angry with the wicked
every day. And outside of Christ, God is
a consuming fire. And it's just a few days I'm
going out to meet him. Man repents. He changes his mind
about himself, about Christ, about God, about eternity. And he flees. He flees to Christ. believe in Christ without repenting,
and you cannot repent without believing. They go together. So yes, repentance is to be preached. The second question, is baptism
important? Let me ask you this, is any command of Christ not
important? Hmm? Is there any command of
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that's not important? I don't think so. Is baptism
important? Absolutely. Not in order to be
saved, but when a person has been saved by the grace of God.
It is God's way that is given to us in the Word of God for
us to publicly identify with Christ and His gospel. My last
comment is this. When you read this and you hear
the Lord, think about this, you just close your eyes just a moment,
picture in your mind the scene and hear that voice from heaven.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. What a word
of comfort to every one of God's children who are in Christ. Because he says that very same
thing about you. You were chosen in Christ, loved
in Christ, redeemed in Christ, accepted in Christ. This is my
Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Or the Apostle Paul
said, To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He, God,
hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Yes, what he said
that day. about Christ. He says about each
and every one of us who are in Him. May the Lord bless this
word to those of us here today.