Prepare the way for God in our hearts.

Recently I found myself spending some time by the side of the road. This stop wasn't planned. In fact I was keen to get home. I was reasonable tired, because it had been a big three or four days. But for those who were here, and heard a children's story recently, you may know why I was stuck on the side of the road . . we ran out of petrol!

So as Nadelle went off to get some more - I waited by the road.

The road we waited beside, was as you can see reasonably isolated. It was long and straight and in reasonably good condition. Without much traffic - it allowed me to go and take a few photos.

But somewhere in the past, someone decided that there need to be a road there. Plan it, grade it tar it, paint it, maintain it.

When you stop and think about it, a-lot of thought, time, energy and money goes into roads. And rightly so - they enable us reach our desired destination. The better the more direct the road, the sooner and safer we arrive where we want to be.

In the Bible, one of the more prominent mentions about roads is when John the Baptist arrive on the scene. And when he did, all four gospels called him “The voice of one crying in the wilderness.” They also all record his message

“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” Or Prepare a highway for our God.

So the question I have this morning is.

How do you prepare the way for Lord? How do we prepare for him in our own hearts? What is our calling to encourage us to do it with others? How can God use us in this?

This is what we will look at today.

Prayer

Background.

In saying that John was the voice of the one calling in the wilderness, all four gospels - quote the from prophet Isaiah.

Lets spend time the Isa 40.

When we get to this chapter we see this is turning point in this book with the prophet

The first half of the book of Isaiah deals with how Israel has turn its back against God. The book opens with a message of rebuke to Jerusalem, pictured as “a besieged city” and a wicked one. Isaiah point out all the consequences and judgement, the reason for their exile.

Isaiah has found himself giving messages of rebuke, because Israel has turned its back on God. They have been lead away God, and from what God wanted for his people.

Yet all this changes from Isaiah 40 on-wards.

At this turning point the prophet foresee a time when the warfare is over.

God sends a message through his prophet and it has changed in tone and in theme.

* We move from a message of rebuke - to one of comfort and hope.

* the unrighteousness of the people - to the righteousness of God.

* from God’s people being drawn away from him - to the Lord showing the lengths he would go to to draw people back to him.

As chapter 40 begins God finds Israel in exile discouraged because of their failures as a nation.

Yet here God encourages them to look forward in faith to the glorious prospect of what lay ahead and who was coming.

THE VOICE OF PARDON

Isaiah 40:1–2 NLT

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.”

Whenever you see two of the same words together you know that they are there for emphasis. Here is a double imperative - this isn’t just something God wanted them to know, its something he wanted them to take to heart.

This opens with a message of comfort for the returning captives. The city had suffered more than enough. God instills in them reassurances, comfort and hope.

But note closely what the text says

“Comfort, Comfort (Who?) . . .MY PEOPLE.

Despite all that they have done, despite he number of times they turned their backs on God, they were not cast off.

Rebellious as they were, they are still God’s people! His chosen people. He still deeply loves them, he still deeply cares for them. And as the next phrase says, he says he is still “your God”

You can take comfort in that . . and also in this.

God tells Isaiah, to speak tenderly to Jerusalem because

your sad days (NLT),

your hard service (NIV),

her warfare is over (KJV).

That’s good news right there. But it gets even better. The very next line says

HER SINS HAVE BEEN PAID FOR !

They are pardoned, They are forgiven, they are gone.

And maybe right here - this is where we can start as we think of preparing the way.

How can God say that the sins have been paid for, that he has pardoned, or forgiven Jerusalem after all she has done.

Then again - how can God say that our sins have been paid for? The only way is if someone else has made the payment.

You see even before we begin clearing the site, marking out the road and pouring the tar to prepare the way for the Lord, we need to see Gods motivation - for why the road needs to be prepared in the first place.

Sin has separated us from God - so God has removed this obstacle, this barrier that has kept us from him. He wants us to understand what he his doing and what he has done so our response is a heart response.

God wants to start in our own hearts before anything else, because this is where Jesus wants to come in, this is where he wants to live. This is what he want to open, so that we can prepare the way for him to come into our hearts.

Christianity is all about the saving grace of God. God offers comfort through his forgiveness offers pardons for our iniquities, and sins, for the times when we have gone against him.

How can God do that . . .

A few chapters on, Isaiah give us this clear picture of how God can do this when he says. . .

Isaiah 53:4–6 NIV

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

This text clearly points to Jesus. It points to what he did no the cross.

Jesus is our substitute - He paid the price , when we could not.

- He received no pardon, to give us pardon.

-The iniquity of us all, was paid by Jesus.

And it was Jesus on the cross, who originally prepared the way for us to be reconciled back to God.

The message is this - You can have the God who pardons you, through the work of Jesus in your life today.

The text back in Isa 40 says that Jerusalem received a double for all her sins and now this time is over. But what did this doubling mean?

Once commentary I read suggested that maybe the idea of this double came about when there was an indebtedness or mortgage on a house in Israel. That this was written on a legal document, and put on the doorpost so that all their neighbors and friends would know that they had a mortgage on their place. Another copy was kept by the one who held the mortgage. When the debt was paid, the second copy, the carbon copy, was nailed over the other doorpost so that all might see that the debt was paid. (Thru the Bible Vol 23).

Jesus had paid our debt. Our God is a God of Pardon. He has made forgiveness available through him. His love is the motivation of why we want to prepare the way for God to enter into our hearts.

We have the God of pardon and the God of Promise - a promise of what, or better who is to come.

Turns out God is coming and he just wants to be with his people. So a call goes out to prepare the way.

PREPARING THE WAY

Verses 3-5. Prepare the way.

Isaiah 40:3–5 NLT

3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! 4 Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. 5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!”

I love the imagery that is painted here. When word got out to a certain place that their king was coming, the people in that Provence would pull out all stops to ensure that their king could get there and that this would be a great visit. This would include repairing and even creating roads so that the king travelling in his chariot can travel in safety and not be delayed.

The preparing of the ancient highway for the king, making sure the road was straight and that everything was in order.

As we have already said this verse has been applied to John the baptist.

We see can also see him not so much as a construction worker working on the roads, but as one who was calling upon people to prepare their hearts and lives for the coming of Jesus.

Isn’t this something that we also need to prepare for today? Just as Jesus came the first time, isn’t he also coming again? Don’t we have a similar message to prepare? Don’t we have a similar path to ensure it is ready?

How do we do this? Lets look at some of the terms used here.

The NLT says - Clear the way

CLEAR THE WAY - through the wilderness for the Lord

In the middle of the year,our family found ourselves in the middle o the wilderness.

We went right up the the top of the Flinders rangers and went to a place call Arkaroola. Some 130 km on a rough dirt road from Leigh Creek.

Arkaroola is know for a couple of things. One is its observatory. Being so far out of the way from anything the night sky is just amazing, and as a family we loved looking at some of the amazing stars, galaxies, constellations, nebula, planets and the like that God has created.

But Arkaroola is also know as a great place for four wheel driving. Which would be great if we had a four-wheel drive! As some of you know we have a Territory but the clearance this gives is nowhere near what you get in a 4 wheel dive vehicle. But when in this region we had to try it.

We decided to go on a track that would take us to some radiation springs.

The road was full of rocks, and we would drive some 50 meters, someone had to hop out the the car move a rock so we could continue on our way. Hmm is there a better way?

We got the kids involved, they would stand on the ledges of the car. I would drive until we came to another rock or stone that needed to be removed, the kids would jump from the car - and run to the stone and then throw them off the road.

They actually enjoyed it and had alot of fun as they cleared the way. We came up with a nickname for them - the Rock Removal Specialists.

In a similar way, to prepare the way from the Lord, we have clear out, remove the barriers that we have placed in our lives. Ask for help to remove the ruble of sin in our lives.

Let me ask you, What is currently hindering you in your relationship with God. What is in the way? What need to be cleared?

MAKE STRAIGHT - a highway for our God.

The quickest way to get from point A to point B is a straight line. But how often do we veer off the path, or take detours that make it longer to get to our destination.

To get a straight line - fix your eyes on the goal and continue towards it. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Stop taking all these detours.

Every now and then I am in conversation with people and either I ask or they share with me, that they don't feel as close to God as they use to? And as I reflect on this, often times I see that really they haven't been making God a priority. Maybe they haven’t been coming regularly to church, where God is lifted high, or there have been distractions and detours, that take up their time or the Sabbath, and they are beginning to walk down different paths, that take them in different directions

How many detours do we tend to make away from God. The message here is clear.

How do you ensure your make your paths straight?

Proverbs tells us

Proverbs 3:5–6 NIV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

FILL IN THE VALLEYS

- Once you have cleared the way. Emptied yourselves and cleared the barriers that have been in the way, you then have room to fill up that space with the things of God.

Pray everyday to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Fill your life with the things God would want you to.

Instead of saying fill, your translation may say

- LIFT UP - or every valley shall be raised up!

To prepare the way in our hearts

Lift up each other. - encourage each other.

Lift up Christ.

John 12:32 NIV

32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

This is a way of preparing ourselves and also others.

LEVEL THE MOUNTAINS AND THE HILLS - (Hills and Mountains be made low).

Uneven ground is hard to walk on. In fact recently I found my self walking on a stony road barefoot for the first time this season, and it hurt.

In preparing a highway for the Lord the road is to be level. Raising up the valleys and making the mountains lows - has a leveling effect.

An interesting thing happens when we lift up and encourage others. When we lift up Christ. At the same-time attention is taken from self to Him.

John the baptist said it best.

John 3:30 ESV

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”

We have already talked about - Straighten out the curves, the last part in constructing this highway is

SMOOTH OUT THE ROUGH PLACES.

Where is you character are things a little rough? Are there places that you need to work on. As we are called to be disciples we are called to be more like Jesus in every way.

Philippians 2:5 NLT

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

This is a constant thing we need to work on as we prepare for Jesus to come in and continually change our hearts. Were do you need to ask Jesus to work on parts of your character?

John the Baptist - Highway Maker

In Preparing the way for the Lord, John the baptist became a successful spiritual highway maker.

* He cleared the way and Prepared peoples hearts

* Make straight paths to God - by declaring about Jesus that this is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

* Lifted up Christ, took self out of the picture by saying - there is one coming is greater than I.

I am unworthy to tie his shoes

Created a on ramp for others to receive Jesus

God used him in such a powerful way - that Jesus called him the greatest of the prophets.

But lets not loose sight of why he did this, and why we need to do the same.

The way needs to be prepared. .

Because God is coming.

Isaiah 40:5 (NLT)

5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together!

The glory of the Lord was revealed in Bethlehem, it was revealed at the cross. It can be revealed in our hearts, and it will be ultimately be revealed what Jesus comes a second time.

This is the whole reason why the way needs to be prepared. Verse 3 tells us that this highway is for our God.

God is Coming.

He is coming ready or not.

God is on his way. He isn’t waiting for you to find him, he is coming to you. Nothing will be in His way

* If there is a valley we are going to fill it in

* If there is a mountain we are just going to knock it down and take it away.

* We are going to make the whole place flat.

* God says I’m not going to let anything come in the way of me coming to you. Anything that looks like an obstacle I’m taking out of the way.

I just have to be with my people. I have offered them forgiveness and salvation. Accept it

Gods attitude to us - I am coming to get you and nothing is going to stand in the way of this God and the people he is coming to be with.

He wants to be with his people and his glory shine.

This is good news that can be counted on.

Let me close with these words.

WORD OF THE LORD

Isaiah 40:6–8 NLT

6 A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”

What is said here is true. I am coming, you have my word on it! My word can be trusted, it will happen.

If I haven’t mentioned it before, let me mention it again, I just want to be, to dwell with my people. I want to be with you to live in your heart. And I’m and going to come back so we can be together face to face. I am true to my promises.

Everything else may fade away - but I am giving you something eternal, my word will last forever.

Come with Might and Peace.

Isaiah 40:9–11 NLT

9 O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!” 10 Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

We have good news to share.

Our God comes with might and power. He comes with forgiveness and love.

God who offers Comfort, Encouragement and look at that last picture of God carry his lambs close to his heart. Its a picture of peace.

The reason he came the first time and the reason he will physically come again - is the same. He comes for us. This is where his heart is. But we can also be with God right now. Because he has come.

Whatever you have done you are still my people. Accept his forgiveness and his love.

And prepare the way in your heart for him. And make straight the path for others.