Make Straight the Way of the Lord

Read (a word about tonight)

John 1:19–23 (ESV)

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Opening Prayer

Introduction

Up to now we’ve been told about the nature, quality and personhood of whom the gospel is all about...

The eternal, always existing Son of God who became flesh...

The God-Man, Jesus the Christ.

Now, we begin the gospel story with the forerunner...

The one who was to prepare the way for the Messiah.

And, John begins here after Jesus had already been baptized by the Baptist.

We’re given more details about the ministry of John in the synoptics...

Luke 3:1–3 (ESV)

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 3:4 (ESV)

4 Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Mark 1:4–5 (ESV)

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Matthew 3:7–10 (ESV)

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

John’s ministry is huge.

He has massive crowds of people coming to hear him preach.

He’s preaching repentance of sins.

To acknowledge one’s sins is to acknowledge the need for a Savior.

Multitudes are confessing that they’re sinners.

Multitudes are acknowledging their thirst and hunger for righteousness.

Multitudes are being publicly baptized.

John’s preaching that the Christ is coming and will arrive soon.

The people are being awakened to the imminent arrival of the Messiah.

And, the way to be prepared for the Messiah is to be aware of your sin, and your need for salvation.

John’s ministry has been granted great success, a large following, and much popularity.

And, the religious leaders have taken note and are on the prowl.

Obviously, John is not intimidated by them.

He’s warned them of their false theology...

Their belief that being a physical descendant of Abraham is what they need.

The religious leaders are irritated with him...

And, just like Jesus they want to know by what authority he is doing the things that he’s doing...

The preaching, the baptizing, the claiming of knowledge of the Messiah.

And, implied in this questioning is this...

You don’t have permission from us...

So, tell us who has given you the authority to do these things?

How will John respond?

Has popularity gone to his head?

Has he shifted from an awareness that his authority comes from God...

To thinking that his authority is inherent within himself?

This is the blight of success.

It often gives you a sense of power and authority.

Just like any thing else, if we’re not watchful and prayerful...

Once we have it we want more.

Once we have it we deceive our selves into thinking authority and power is ours to have and to hold...

That some how God cannot get along without us.

Has John’s success gone to his head?

John’s Self-testimony

Who are you?

Immediately, with clarity, with a double confession...

John said, “I am not the Christ.”

The Prophet Elijah was thought to be one who would come back physically and personally to prepare for the day of the Lord…from Mal. 4:5.

John says I am not Elijah come back.

Jesus will later reveal that the Elijah that was not to come back personally and physically, but rather one like Elijah...

And, that John was that person, he fulfilled that prophecy, but he was not Elijah himself.

Another question, Are you the prophet?

John says, “No.”

He is not the prophet that Moses spoke of in Deut. 18:15...

That prophet is actually fulfilled by Jesus...

Jesus is the perfect prophet that Moses spoke of...

Who is to be heard, listened to, and heeded above all.

So, John denies the identities they question him about...

John is being absolutely clear that He is not the Christ.

John wants no part in some misconception that He is the Messiah or any eschatological person that has been misconstrued as the one to put your hope in.

John is being purposefully clear...

There’s one thing we cannot get wrong in this life...

And, that is the identity of the actual Christ.

John is not the Christ.

So, now they ask, Who are you then?

We cannot just go back with a, “No!”

So, what do you say about yourself?

And, John says that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3-5.

He is that voice that prepares the way of the Lord.

Isaiah 40:3–5 (ESV)

3 A voice cries:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

This is a prophecy of future comfort from the Lord to His people.

They’ve rejected God, abandoned Him...

But, God is still faithful to His promises.

He will bring blessings to the Nations through a Son from the Jewish people.

The creation of a road that is straight (3d), unmistakable (highway, or causeway, 3e), level (4ab) and smooth (4cd)

This is imagery that pictures a journey made without difficulty and therefore with certainty of arrival.

John preached repentance of sin and the need of a Savior.

The need for a spotless Lamb of God to take pay for the sins of His people.

John is making it clear that the way to the Lord...

Is the way of repentance of sin and faith upon the Spotless Lamb of God.

Faith in the Christ, who is Jesus.

John the Evangelist is showing us what an ideal witness to Christ looks like.

John the Baptist does not mince words.

He doesn’t leave room for doubt.

He doesn’t say things so that he can keep his following.

He doesn’t answer in a way that would draw bigger crowds to himself...

He’s not interested in the endorsement of the religious leaders.

He’s got one mission.

And that mission is pointing everyone to Jesus.

Preaching in a way that prepares the heart for the Savior.

Declaring the majesty and benevolence of God in providing a spotless Lamb to take away the sins of not only Jews, but Gentiles alike.

The Religious Leaders’ Utter Rejection of John the Baptist

The synoptics tell us that the religious leaders rejected John the Baptist.

They didn’t acknowledge him as a prophet sent from God.

And, the only reason they never made that public was because they feared they would lose their sway over the people because the people took John to be a prophet from God.

We know that the religious leaders rejected Christ, as well.

They plotted and schemed behind the scenes to get rid of Jesus.

They were jealous of his popularity.

But, they also had no room for him in their theology.

They had no room for them in their structured worldview.

They had no room for him in their structured box, if you will.

They knew what they knew and if it didn’t fit in what they built...

Then it was wrong and not for them.

A box in which they viewed the world and it’s occurences through.

I like to think of it as a house that we build.

Made up of opinions, personal principles, our understanding of Scripture...

We build this house or box or template...

That helps us make sense of the world.

Helps us carry out our responsibilities in a perceived, effective way.

Helps us respond to unexpected events.

And, we all do it.

It’s very helpful to us.

But, oh how it can be so dangerous.

Because like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day...

That structure, that box, that worldview house can cause you to miss Christ.

Don’t Be Like the Religious Leaders

As Christians, we cling to Jesus for justification…

But we’re not as good at clinging to Jesus in our sanctification.

We need to cling to Him for both.

Maybe you’re a long time Christian,

you’ve studied the Bible for decades

you’ve attended church for years

you’ve attended Bible studies repeatedly

you’ve sat under preaching for years and years

And, you’ve built a structure...

A house that you’re very comfortable with.

As a matter of fact, your so comfortable with it that you dare not step outside of it.

And, the temptation for you is to turn off to teaching.

The thought becomes…

I mean what can be said that you don’t already know?

What can be said that will inform your heart of something new?

If this is you, you are in a dangerous place...

You’ve put God in your box…

You think you’ve gotten God, at least what you need of Him, figured out.

And, when that happens a lot of time you’re not so interested in worshipping God through the preaching of the Word...

You’re more concerned with the preached Word lining up within the structure of your ideological house...

And, you become so critical that you can’t enjoy it anymore.

Examine the Scriptures to see if what you’re hearing is according to the Word of God, YES...

But, examine the Word not your box.

That’s the dangers we face as long time Christians.

Our box becomes what we measure everything against rather than the Scriptures.

Our box is a nice clean structure of beliefs that we have mixed with principles we’ve concluded from our understanding of life and the Bible, opinions we’ve formed through the years...

Principles that help us make sense of our responsibilities that we face each waking day.

It’s helpful, but the box is not Scripture.

And, so we must not stop at the box to examine truth...

We must stop at the Scriptures to examine truth.

And constantly lay Scripture over our our box.

Another danger is that our discipleship becomes putting people into our box...

Rather than taking them to the Scriptures to create their own box.

That was the tragic reality of the disciples of the religious leaders.

They’d been trained to think inside their teacher’s structure...

Rather than think through God’s Word.

But, listen, our box must always be open to remodeling if the Word of God calls us to remodel...

And, the truth is…God is always calling us to remodel.

That’s what sanctification is...

Putting off and putting on.

Don’t become deaf to the call of God to remodel your structure of ideas/principles/opinions.

Don’t trust in your box, trust in God.

Depending upon your stage of life, your level of maturity in the faith, your personality...

We’re all at different levels of neatness to the structure of our boxes...

But, beware that you don’t get caught up admiring your structure...

And lose sight of the One who informs the neatness and structure of the box…God.

If you lose sight of God by admiring your box...

You will lose your joy in worship.

Maybe you’re not a Christian, and you’re ideas about God have been constructed by what the secular world says...

So, you have God in a box...

A box that’s parameters are constructed by our current cultural desires for God to be...

Which are never righteous, but built basically in the image of the culture and what the culture approves.

God calls you to allow the Word of God to inform your worldview.

God calls you to lean on Him and not on your own understanding.

God calls you to trust him and His Word for the structures of your worldview.

God calls you to remodel your ideologies and that your mind be renewed by His Word.

For you to be transformed by this renewing.

So, that your life becomes a picture of redemption.

Redeeming one room after another in the structures of your worldview.

Maybe you’re a Christian but haven’t been one long...

Maybe, you haven’t had time to build a box...

Maybe, your tearing down walls, applying new paint...

Adding rooms to your structure...

Make sure your structure is informed by the Word of God...

Constantly being examined by the Word of God.

Rejoice in the Word understood and applied...

Worship through the preached Word.

Worship through the proclamation of the Christ...

The spotless Lamb who calls us to come to Him...

And find redemption, the forgiveness of sin...

In Him.

We need to be a people who pray often for humility...

Really in a spirit of begging, begging God to give us humility towards Him, His Word, His people, our neighbors...

To be a light and to be hungry, worshipful recipients of His Word.

I thank God that this church is doctrinally sound.

I thank God for each of your care and attention to doctrinal purity.

It’s a gift from God and to be commended that a church care about doctrinal purity.

But, let’s not be a church like Ephesus who lost sight of their first love...

They lost their sight of Christ.

They stopped adoring Christ.

They knew doctrine. They could examine false doctrine.

But it had become cold, callous doctrine.

It’s easy to have a zeal for doctrine no warmth in your heart for people.

It’s a repeated truth throughout church history for a church to lose their love for the Word as a means of worship...

And, succumb to the temptation to only use it as an excuse to isolate themselves from unbelievers.

God calls us to east upon Him and His Word.

Worship the Lord through His Word proclaimed.

Love His word and let it direct us to a warm love for Him...

And a warm love for each other...

And, a warm love for our neighbors and unbelievers.

May we pray as a church for warm hearts towards Christ...

And towards our neighbors.

And, that we would be fervent/prayerful to keep a straight path for the Lord into our hearts.

Closing Prayer