This sermon delves into the ministry of John the Baptist as the forerunner of Christ, emphasizing the call to repentance and preparation for the coming of the Lord. John's austere lifestyle and message of repentance are contrasted with the prosperity gospel, highlighting the importance of acknowledging and confessing sins. The sermon underscores the need for humility and contrition in approaching God, rather than justifying or excusing sin.

All righty, let's keep looking at this amazing preacher, John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. In Matthew chapter three, verse number two, he preached, as we've talked about previously, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. There's so much truth that's packed into that one statement, and we've talked about that previously. Verse number three of Matthew three, for this is the one referred to by Isaiah, the prophet, when he said, quote, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Matthew, of course, was writing primarily to a Jewish audience, so he's always quoting from the Old Testament just to prove that everything that happened in the life of Christ fit right into the fulfillment of prophecy. You could be real picky and say, well, wait a second, John was preaching repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, but Isaiah said that he'd be the one crying out, make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Well, that's not what he said. He said repent. Come on now, let's not be as picky as that. That's the general gist of the message. You could use either one to paraphrase the other one. The whole point, once again, it's foretold that John's entire ministry would be to get people ready for the coming of the Lord. Now, were they expecting when John was preaching that, and those who believed in that, were they expecting the kingdom of heaven to arrive in this single, solitary, ordinary looking guy who all he does is walk around in sandals and preach? No, they were looking for some flaming fire and God descending upon the Mount of Olives and so on and so forth, and then setting up his kingdom in Jerusalem and the overthrow of the Roman occupiers. That's what they were looking for, but still, they wanted to be ready, and John didn't give them the whole picture. He didn't have the whole picture, but he gave them as much as he had. A little interesting tidbit here in Matthew 3, 4 about John. John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Those of us who like to eat natural foods, well, we should really appreciate our friend John the Baptist here. The point is, he wasn't a prosperity preacher, now was he? Wasn't living some extravagant lifestyle, telling people, you too can be rich like me if you will just sow into this ministry that God is using to touch millions around the world and so on and so forth. No, John the Baptist was the exact opposite of a prosperity preacher. Let me say that again. John the Baptist was the exact opposite of a prosperity preacher. He wasn't telling them how they could get more. When they asked him what they should do to show that they repented, he told them to give up some of what they had. He was living a very, you could consider it an austere lifestyle, but a very simple lifestyle. He's not into fashion, is he? Not a slave to fashion. He looks like a pretty rough guy from wilderness, and he's not dining on delicacies. Oh no, he's got his locusts and his wild honey. I always like to think that hopefully he was dipping those locusts into the wild honey. It was wild honey sauce to make those locusts go down a little bit easier, but I have to confess, I've met people in different parts of the world who eat bugs, and they don't dip them in any sauce whatsoever. I haven't tried it yet. He was out there by the Jordan River, which is a good journey from Jerusalem. It's basically all downhill, taking the road to Jericho, and then winding up from there a little bit. But it says in verse number five that Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins. So again, this was all about repentance, and repentance is turning from sin. In order to turn from sin, you have to acknowledge your sin. You've got to face up to it. And here's the big problem with everybody who hasn't repented yet, that is they're not acknowledging their sin. They're making justifications for their sin. They're providing excuses for this. Well, everybody does this. Well, I'm not so bad as so and so. Well, I have to do this because, well, this is how God made me, and so every sin has its justification. But can you justify it when you stand before the Lord? Well, he accept your excuse. When Adam and Eve were caught in their sin, they gave their excuses. It doesn't seem like God accepted too well their excuses, and he doesn't accept anyone's excuses really. When he gives commandments, he expects people to obey them. And so this all starts with proud people humbling themselves because God only gives grace to the humble, the scripture says. So this is all part and parcel of responding properly to the proper gospel. Can you see how the modern gospel doesn't motivate proud people to humble themselves? It doesn't get people to confess their sins. People don't even need to confess their sins. They're told, just accept Jesus as your personal savior, and he'll give you the abundant life. Folks, that is not the gospel of John the Baptist or Jesus. When you see people concerned about their sin and confessing their sins, saying, God, I am a sinner, be merciful to me, then you're seeing the components, the initial components of true salvation. Amen. Say amen out there if you can. All right. Now, verse number seven, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Now, if they had been coming humbly and confessing their sins, he wouldn't have said that. You see? He's looking for contrition, true. Bible says a broken heart God will not despise. And so when God sees contrition and humility, he has grace, but he resists the proud, and that's the reaction you're getting from John the Baptist. These folks, these Pharisees and Sadducees are just kind of like joining the crowd, doing the most popular thing right there, but not really as sincere in their hearts. Okay? Out of time. See you next time.