The Only Way- Matthew 3:1-12

Introductory Comments:

Who’s the “planner” in your family? Who’s the care-free, spontaneous one?

In our family, I’ve learned that Wendy is the planner. She really wants to know the plan, and she is excellent when we “know what we are doing”. Sometimes, I tend to be much more free and improvisational, which as you can imagine, has led to some stress (for both of us) through the years.

Have you ever had an event in your life that required some unique preparation? Perhaps it was a medical procedure, an athletic event, or maybe a long trip. Maybe a new job, or moving...

Today- as we continue our sermon series called “Only One” I want to take us to a time in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, when the people of that time were not ready for him to reveal himself.

There was a man that came to prepare others for something significant.

In this morning’s passage in the book of Matthew we will hear about a strange man named John the Baptist, who was doing preparation for the coming ministry of Jesus. In many ways John is a “Herald”— a person or thing viewed as the sign that something significant is about to happen!”

Let’s take a look at the passage together.

Matthew 3:1–12 ESV

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ” Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 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? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 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. 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. “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Now, about 30 years or so have passed in the gospel timeline since the birth of Jesus, and now people begin to hear about a man named John the Baptist.

Just for the record, John was not a “Baptist” like some folks today who attend a baptist church— there were no distinctions in different churches or faiths like that back then.

John was really John the “Baptizer”. That is, he baptized a lot of people.

We also know from the other gospel accounts that John was the cousin of Jesus, although it doesn’t appear that they were hanging out much at grandma’s house.

However, John did seem to be familiar with who Jesus really was. He knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

John was the fulfillment of a key prophecy about Jesus:

Malachi 4:5–6 ESV

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”

That was written about 400 years before John and Jesus were born!

Through his ministry, John sought to point people to Jesus.

This morning, let’s see three ways that John pointed people to the Messiah

John the Baptist alerted everyone that Jesus was coming, instructed them in true repentance, and clarified the work that Jesus would complete.

1. John alerted the world that Jesus was coming. (vv. 1-3)

We see that John came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

What was his message? Well, his message was two-fold:

First, repent. John was calling all people to repentance. We’ll talk about that in just a moment.

Second, he was pointing people to the coming of Jesus.

He was pointing people not to Jesus’ birth, because Jesus is already an adult man at this time. He’s pointing people to the coming of Jesus as the Wonderful counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

John the Baptist wants his hearers to know that something special is about to happen.

Matthew 3:2 ESV

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 3:3 ESV

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ”

Matthew, the writer of this account, points to both John’s and Jesus’ fulfillment of the words of Isaiah, which come from Isaiah 40:3.

Isaiah 40:3 ESV

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

Matthew says that John is the voice crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way for the Lord. Jesus is the Lord! It wasn’t that John was the actual person of Elijah reincarnated— but he was raised up by God with the same power and in the spirit of the OT prophet Elijah— he even dressed and ate like him:

2 Kings 1:8 ESV

They answered him, “He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

The words of the prophets from the Old Testament are what the people would have had access to learn throughout their lives. Think of all that people would have to process during that time!

John says to prepare the way for the Lord, His kingdom is near.

What does the phrase “His Kingdom” mean to you? I think many today might consider it to be heaven. But although that's part of it--- The kingdom of God is the establishment of God’s rule and working out of His will on the earth and in heaven.

John basically says, “Look, God is doing something amazing and new here as He is working out His rule and will on the earth!”

John is alerting people to the coming of Jesus.

2. John instructed people in true repentance. (vv. 4-10)

Matthew 3:4–10 ESV

Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 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? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 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. 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.

Just to be clear, John was a pretty odd fellow. Even back then, a man living outside town in the wilderness was kinda weird.

He had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt holding it together.

He ate bugs and wild honey.

He was a wild, and rugged man.

Yet, people left Jerusalem and all over Judea to come to where he was, out in the wilderness, and hear his preaching.

This was his message: Repent!

The first word that Matthew records from John is “repent.”

Sooner or later, the religious establishment was bound to show up, right? The Pharisees and Sadducees are the teachers and leaders of the time. They were a very dignified and “proper group” steeped in the law and “how things should be”.

John gets to the heart of what kind of repentance he’s talking about when he addresses the Pharisees and Sadducees.

First of all, he calls them “brood of vipers,” basically saying, “you snakes!”

A snake is not a favorable mascot, right? Think back to the garden of eden. A snake or serpent is the form that Satan takes when he deceives Eve and Adam.

John says, “ . . . don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.”

What he means is this: “Don’t say that just because you’re Jewish, because you’re God’s chosen people, everything is going be ok.” He further states (and I’m paraphrasing), “God can make chosen people out of these rocks if He wants to! He doesn’t need you!”

We need to get this, church! Just because we have a heritage of faith in our family, doesn’t mean that we are truly followers of Jesus.

Just because our loved ones help found a church, or build a building, or left a large donation, or were pastors, or whatever, that doesn’t mean we are genuine followers of Jesus Christ.

Just because we were baptized, or grew up in Sunday School, or walked the isle at some point, that doesn’t mean we are truly devoted to Jesus Christ.

Just because someone attends a church, doesn’t make them a Christian.

John says, “Produce fruit consistent with repentance.”

He tells them to produce fruit consistent with repentance. Well, what does that mean? How about we list what it’s NOT: It’s not the fruit consistent with the Law— It’s not the fruit consistent with the world. It’s not the fruit that is consistent with selfish gain, worldly power, wealth, or anything else on earth.

Repentance— That word. What does that word mean?

Repentance (metanoia) = Reconsideration

“A change of self (heart and mind) that abandons former dispositions and results in a new self, new behavior, and regret over former behavior and dispositions.”

It means to demonstrate the true change in your heart and mind by the way that you live your life.

He also makes a remarkable statement that is extremely applicable to us today in the culture in which we live. If we have changed— we need to Let it show!

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

If God’s truly changed your life, it’s going to show, we need to let it show by the way we live!

It reminds me of the teaching that Jesus brings in the Beatitudes.

This was John’s message to those in the wilderness of Judea, and it is his message to us in the pews of Walnut Creek Mennonite Church: produce fruit consistent with repentance.

We also see that John was baptizing. Well, what kind of baptism was this?

The baptism of John the Baptist was the same type of baptism that we practice here in churches today. It was a public display of the repentance that the person was professing.

(vv. 6): “They were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sin.”

They were not actually baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. They were baptized because they were confessing their sins and they were seeking “repentance”.

The confession of their sins and the baptism was their testimony of the change they were making.

Those baptisms were a significant symbol and outward sign of the inward change that God had brought about in their lives.

Wasn’t it pretty cool that John was doing all this in the Jordan River? What significance does that have for the people— this same Jordan river represents the “crossing point” where Joshua finally led them INTO the promised land. The imagery and connection here is very deep.

In the same way, we today, are baptized as a sign and symbol of what has happened to us on the inside! We are committed to a changed life because our hearts are changed by God. Our baptism signifies that.

Notice the consequences of a lack of true repentance.

John says in verse 10:

10 The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

To whom is he speaking at this point? He’s speaking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

These are the Jewish religious leaders of the day. If anybody thought they were safe because of their pedigree of religiosity and birthright, it’s these people. Yet, John says just the opposite.

He says just because you have Abraham as your father doesn’t mean you get a “get into heaven free card”.

No! You must produce fruit, and if you don’t, the ax is at the base of the tree ready to cut it down.

Some of you might say, man Pastor Charlie, that's pretty intense. Well, John is being kind of intense here. This is a very serious matter. Remember that last week we established that Jesus is the Only Saviour, that he is both fully God and fully man— and how we respond to Jesus is the most important decision we will ever make.

3. John clarified the work that Jesus has come to accomplish. (vv. 11-12)

Matthew 3:11–12 ESV

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

John tells us four things he knows about Jesus here:

A. Jesus is more powerful than him.

There’s something special about John and everyone knows it. They travel from all over into the wilderness to see him. Yet, John says Jesus is even more powerful than him, thus Jesus will be really special.

B. John is not worthy to remove his sandals.

Feet were a disgraceful part of the body to the Jewish people, yet John basically says, “I’m not even worthy to touch his feet.” John attributes a supreme worth to Jesus that exceeds any normal human being.

There is an aspect of worship here. I think of the story of the woman Mary at the feet of Jesus, pouring out precious ointment/perfume on Jesus’ feet.— And that powerful image of Jesus bending down to wash the feet of his disciples— in an act of love and service.

C. Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

John baptized with water, but Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. What does this mean?

Well, again, John’s baptism was symbolic of an inward change. The baptism was not the change itself. The power was in what took place in the heart.

When we give our lives to Jesus, and He changes our hearts, we have access to the power of God through His Holy Spirit, and He changes us so that we can live new lives.

We are washed from our sin, we are given a new heart, and we are filled with God’s Holy Spirit. And as a result of the change, we bear fruit.

What a miracle!

D. John also says Jesus will baptize with fire.

I believe John is referencing here Jesus’ work when He will return back to the earth.

Most often, when we hear of fire in the Scriptures it speaks of judgment. When Jesus returns to the earth He will come to bring judgment.

In verse 12 John says that Jesus will separate the wheat (the good part of the crop) from the chaff (the bad part of the crop that is no good) and he will throw the chaff to be burned in a fire that never ceases.

That’s some strong language. Jesus will keep His wheat (those who have truly repented and followed Him) and He will destroy the chaff (those who did not truly repent and turn to Him).

Bottom Line: Jesus is the only way for you to experience genuine change.

Have you been changed? Have you made repentance a part of your life?

Challenge yourself this week in the following ways:

Challenge for this week:

Describe what Jesus has done in your life.

What kind of change has taken place?

What would your life be like without Jesus?

Share your testimony with someone!

Just like John the Baptist did, share with someone else about the change that Jesus brings.

Share with them how Jesus has changed you.

I’ve heard it said that “You may be the only “Jesus” that someone may ever see.”

We can follow in the footsteps of John, alerting people that Jesus has come, instructing them on repentance and God’s forgiveness, and the work that Jesus has and will do in the future.

A wonderful sister in Christ gave me a little slip of paper last week that encouraged me: It’s a famous quote by Fern Bernstein:

“Only God can make:

A mess into a message

A test into a testimony

A trial into a triumph

A victim into a victor”— Fern Bernstein

Let’s go let our lights shine for Jesus each day!