Follow Me - Can the King Get Your Attention?

Can the King Get Your Attention?

Matthew 3:1-10

Intro:

• Can the King (God) get your attention? In Luke 7:24-30, a group of people were gathered unto Jesus, but there was a line that divided them – a line described in Luke as "the baptism of John." Those who had received the baptism of John could hear the voice of God and justified God. But those who rejected John’s baptism were unable to hear what the Lord was saying. They could not be moved from where they were to the place that Jesus was calling them to.

• The difference between the two groups of people was that those who had embraced the baptism of John, recognized that their lives had fallen short of all that God intended. In contrast, the others resisted change and instead embraced a form of godliness, that ultimately kept them from all God had for them. Can the King get your attention?

I. The Message of the Herald:

a. (Matthew 3:1-3) The message of John was a baptism of repentance – one where we acknowledge, “I must die, and Christ must live.” When John said to "make His paths straight," he was talking about a repentance that clears the pathway for God to come to you (Luke 3:5-6).

II. None Doeth Good:

a. Psalm 14:3 says, “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” As John preached in the wilderness of Judaea, people poured out of the cities in response to his call. John proclaimed, “Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance!” That means no more attempts to justify certain habits in our lives; no more excuses for the things that we have neglected to do. God has the right to take the axe to the root of every tree inside of us that must go, and it is our privilege to allow Him to do just that (Matthew 3:8-10).

III. Much More:

a. (Luke 7:24, 26-28) John had a measure of the Spirit given to him for the calling that was upon his life – to announce the coming of Christ. However, today, we do not have merely a measure of Christ, we have access to the full life of God in Jesus Christ! John could only point to Him; we can know Him.

IV. Repentance is a Command:

a. We must realize we will not be able to stand in the coming days if we do not fully commit ourselves to obey the Lord. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30). God commands us to have a true change of heart; to abide in Him and turn from sin. Can the King get your attention? Can God go after that issue of the heart; that idol in your life; that sense of self-righteousness? Or will you reject His counsel and end up locked out of His power to do His will? If you come to Him in humility of heart and with a willingness to obey His Word, God will bring down the mountains and raise the valleys and create a clear pathway between you and Himself.