Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Have you ever thought about how roads are cut and planned?

I am reminded about the new corridor of route 35 between Putnam and Mason counties.

It is amazing to see all of the work that was done.

Valleys were filled in.

Mountains were brought low and cut into.

What seemed like an insurmountable task gradually became more and more realized.

Now, a four lane road exists and a new path was created for travelers.

Today we are going to see John the Baptist work at preparing the way for the Lord.

He will be working on cutting a straight path in the midst of an evil world.

Read Full Scripture:

Prayer

Today we will see how John prepares the way for the coming Messiah - namely Jesus Christ.

The first is…

I.

The Way of the Lord is Made Straight… Among an Evil Empire (1-3)

Note the physician’s thoroughness as he starts off this section!

He notes the Roman supreme ruler (Tiberius Caesar), the governor (Pontius Pilate), and the kings in the area (Herod Antipas, Philip, Lysanius).

These last three kings are called tetrarchs meaning four rulers.

One name of tetrarchs is missing - likely because he was already deposed for ruling unjustly (that being Herod Archelaus).

Here we see the first group of evil empire rulers.

Of these rulers, Herod and Pontius Pilate appear in the Scriptures the most because of their involvement in the crucifixion of Christ.

Lysanius and Philip are lesser known historically-speaking although Philip makes another brief appearance in the Gospels when his wife leaves him for his brother Herod the Tetrarch (also known as Herod Antipas) mentioned here.

For those of you who are history buffs, there is plenty of information you can look up about these leaders of the evil empire.

But we will move forward and see that it was not just the government that was ruled by evil men, but also the religious system of Israel as well.

See verse 2:

We are given two high priests mentioned here.

Annas and Caiaphas.

Interestingly, there was only one high priest who ruled at a given time but Luke includes both of their names here because being a high priest was considered a lifelong office.

Yet, the overarching control of Rome had turned the high priest position into nothing more than a puppet of Rome.

These men were not known for being holy but instead for their greed and lust for power.

Annas was actually deposed from his position in around AD 15, yet continued with great power after his son-in-law, Caiaphas, took over the position as the official high priest.

Here we see even the priesthood of Israel was part of the evil empire.

But in the midst of this evil empire, the word of God came to John in the wilderness.

If you recall, the last time we saw John was in Luke 1:80:

We are unsure at what point John went into the wilderness to live.

We do know that his parents were very aged, and it is likely that they died when he was fairly young.

So likely being without family any longer, he grew up in the wilderness.

It is traditional prophetic language that Luke starts off with describing John in the way he does.

Prophets were normally described by starting off mentioning the rulers present at the start of their call to give the chronological context of their ministry.

And we have had just that so far.

And then there is a time when the Word of the Lord comes to the prophet which we have just seen.

But what exactly did John do with that word?

See verse 3.

John took that word to the people of Israel around the Jordan.

That is what any of us should do with the Word of God.

We should proclaim it.

We might not have a word directly given to us by God in the same way John and the other prophets did, but we do have the Word of God that we can read and share with others!

Let us emulate and follow John in proclaiming the word to others - or proclaiming the Gospel to others.

Luke is actually the only Gospel writer that emphasized the preaching ministry of John.

And his ministry involved preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Note a clear distinction that John makes here.

Repentance is clearly associated with the forgiveness of sins.

That is true even for us today who can look back at the sacrificial death of Christ.

Baptism, even for John, did not bring about forgiveness.

Baptism was done for those who were repentant.

Although this baptism was not the same baptism that we do today as we symbolically are buried and raised with Christ, it was similarly a symbolic representation or a sign that one was repentant.

Interestingly, John’s baptism did not have any previous parallel in the history of Israel for true Jews.

Yet, as Leon Morris asserts, it seems certain that by this time the Jews had begun using proselyte baptism.

This was a ceremony that was done to cleanse converts to Judaism from the defilement they saw characteristic of all Gentiles.

Do you see the humility that John was calling Israel to?

He was calling them to participate in an act of baptism that had only been known to be used for outsiders!

They were to humble themselves to the point that they identified with Gentile sinners in order to truly repentant.

My friends, unless we humble ourselves like this and see ourselves as undeserving sinners - we can never be saved.

Salvation requires us to see ourselves as we truly are.

We bring nothing to the table with us.

There is nothing good in us, naturally speaking.

We are all sinners.

Listen to Paul as he quotes the Psalmist in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 when he says:

Only when we see the hopeless state that we are in without Christ can we truly be saved.

Because it is only then that we can truly repent.

So far, we have seen the way of the Lord being prepared and made straight among an evil empire.

Next we see that…

Scripture References: Luke 1:80; Romans 3:10-12; Psalm 14, 53

II.

The Way of the Lord is Made Straight…Among an Evil Environment (4-6)

I love the figurative language of environmental reshaping here.

We see valleys filled, mountains and hills made low, crooked ways becoming straight, and rough places made level ways.

The imagery that is brought to mind is incredible to ponder.

That is why I started off with the introduction involving route 35 today.

Considering a straight path (albeit not perfectly straight in this illustration!)

along route 35 being completed really helps to consider what is being imagined here.

Each of these visual descriptions shows seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Filling in a valley or laying low a mountain was even more mind-boggling in John’s time.

They didn’t have huge excavators then.

Yet, it is still mind-boggling to me to watch them do it today!

But all of this imagery is given to show that even though the worldly and corrupt environment surrounding John and Jesus Christ is evil, God will use John to prepare the way of the Lord.

Luke quotes Isaiah 40:3-5 when referring to John the Baptist.

All four Gospel writers actually quote this Scripture but Luke is the only one who includes all three verses (John 1:23, Mark 1:3, Matthew 3:3).

This inclusion reminds us that John’s coming was a fulfillment of prophesy from long ago.

The figurative and image bearing language used may have also had some metaphorical components as well.

Every mountain and hill made low likely refers to humility.

This is likely an image of repentance.

To be made low is literally to be humbled.

Consider Jesus’ words in Luke 18:14:

If you wish to be accepted by God, you must first humble yourself before Him.

Next we also see...

The crooked shall become straight may be a figurative reference to a corrupt generation understanding the straight path for salvation in Christ.

We will see John point all of his followers to Christ as he acknowledges the supremacy of Christ.

There is only one path that can straighten out the corrupt.