The Gospel of Luke: Turning Hearts Towards God

If you have a Bible, please turn to Luke chapter 1, starting in verse 13.

When you have that, please do stand for a reading of God's Word. Again, our text this morning is

Luke chapter 1, starting in verse 13. Hear ye this morning the word of the everlasting

God. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid,

Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you shall call his name

John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

For he will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the

Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the

Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and to make ready for the

Lord a people prepared. These are the words of the Lord. You may be seated. Let's pray.

Father, we do come before you thankful that you have given us in your Word a sure promise and a foundation for our souls and for our lives, that we, though fallen and mired by the fall, can come to you,

O Emmanuel, God with us, that we can indeed come before the fount of every blessing to receive thy good and gracious gift of eternal life and of grace and the grace that abounds.

Lord, we thank you that you have sent forth your Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to die for sinners.

We also thank you for the testimony of John the Baptist who came before him. We pray,

Lord, that this morning we would turn our hearts and attentions towards you and learn and grow even all the more in our most precious and holy faith unto the glory of God the

Son. Amen. Well, beloved, here we are in our second sermon in our series in the

Gospel of Luke, just like three or four more years to go. Amen? Amen. And but here we are at the beginning and we are examining the origins of a very important person of faith, one of the heroes of the

Christian faith indeed. In fact, it is John the Baptist. You see, when I got saved over 14 years ago now, one person asked me, so what church or denomination do you think you'll join?

And I said, well, I guess the only denomination that I know of in the Bible is

Baptist. So I'll join the Baptist denomination. And also because I listened to a lot of John Piper and I knew

John Piper was Baptist, so I thought that was good enough for me. I guess Baptist it is. And I also started going to a

Baptist church. I think I mentioned this church before, but it was a really interesting Baptist church. They had like a titantron and a titantron had numbers on them and it was a number of houses they had knocked on in the community.

And so that was a really interesting thing. And the preacher once gave a very stirring sermon on why, in fact, we should all be

Baptist. And his punchline was essentially this. He says, well, Jesus was baptized by John the

Baptist and John was a Baptist, therefore, we should all be Baptist. Pretty interesting hermeneutics there.

But I want to present to you the true story, the true origin of John the Baptist. And it's in God's word where we find in the origin story of John the

Baptist as his birth is being foretold by the angel of the Lord in verse 13. We see the angel says to Zechariah, who was a priest serving in the temple, who had been devoting his entire life to temple worship and also to the service of the one true

God, Yahweh. Him and his wife, Elizabeth, were barren. They were of old age.

And they just received a miraculous word from the angel of the Lord as Zechariah was standing in the altar, burning incense, serving

God in the temple. And this is what the angel says to John's father, Zechariah.

He says, do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard and your wife will bear a son and you shall call his name

John. The angel assures Zechariah of something of great importance.

It's that his prayer was heard. You can write that in the first line if you're following along.

The angel assures Zechariah that his prayer or prayers were heard. Do you have an assurance, brother and sister, that your prayers are heard?

Do you have an assurance that when you pray in the calmness or quietness of your heart or out loud in service, that there is one on the other side who is hearing your petition?

You know, it's not a given that God hears the prayers of every person.

There are prayers that God does not hear or listen to. When I say hear, God sees and hears all things.

But specifically in the way of attention, in honoring one's prayers,

God does not honor all prayers alike or the same. In fact, there are times in Scripture where we see that God turns his ear away from the prayers of his people because of sin, idolatry, immorality.

There are many times in Scripture where we see God turn his ear away even from the festive gathering of God's people.

It is not always a given that God hears your prayers, but there has been a new way made for us so that our prayers may be heard, and it is through the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Through Jesus, who is a new and a better way, we have access to the Father by grace in this grace in which we now stand, the

Scripture says. But in the old covenant, it was not a given that God would hear the prayers of everyone.

Even for the Christian, this still rings true. And yet, Zechariah was a man who, we learned last week, was a man who feared the

Lord, was a man who was of good rapport, was a man who walked blamelessly and followed all the commandments and statutes of the

Lord. He was one who walked blamelessly, and the Scripture does not give that word to many people.

And yet, here was one man, Zechariah, who walked blamelessly before the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayer.

You see, faith requires to ask God for something.

What faith requires of us is that when we ask God for something, we have true faith and allegiance to the one whom we are asking.

We must approach this God, this awesome, fear -inspiring God with faith.

You think Zechariah approached Yahweh with faith in his petition?

Notice what he likely petitioned for. It doesn't tell us in the Scripture, but we know from the result of what the word comes from the angel, what it was that he was petitioning.

He was petitioning for something that was likely all but impossible. Him and his wife were of old age.

We don't know how old exactly, but we know they were further along in age, likely past the point of childbearing.

And Elizabeth was barren. And yet, Zechariah had the heart and the mind to ask

God for the impossible. Brethren, do you ask

God for the impossible? Sometimes as Christians, especially in the Western world, we tend to only pray for that which is reasonable.

We only pray for that which is more likely to happen or is at least more probable of happening.

And we treat God as almost a cosmic lottery, thinking that, well, the probability is high.

If I pray for it, maybe it'll increase my chances. But you know, true faith often means stepping out in faith and asking for that which is likely impossible, where the odds are so stacked against it that there's no way, earthly way, that you'll be able to receive or achieve without the providence and interference of Almighty God.

So I ask you, is your faith in the God of the impossible? Zechariah's was.

His faith was in a God who could raise the dead and who can bring in life even where there is barrenness.

Faith requires us, dear brothers and sisters, to ascend the mount of God's providence.

John Bunyan says this, he says, the hill though high, I covet to ascend. The difficulty will not me offend, for I perceive the way of life lies here.

Come pluck up, O heart, let neither faint nor fear. Better though the difficult the right way to go, than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe.

John Bunyan understood that to ascend God's providence, to ascend the mount of faith is something to be coveted, it's something to adhere to, something to strive for.

Though it will be difficult, the difficulty should not offend us. Though it will be hard and hard -pressed to trust in the providence and grace of Almighty God, we ought to pursue that whole dependence upon the sovereignty of Almighty God.

Because it's easier to trust in earthly things, to trust in luck, to trust in our own strength and our own abilities, our own natural instincts, yet we are called as a people to step out in faith.

Know and be assured of this, the prayer of the righteous is of much avail. The prayer of the righteous is of much avail, as it was in the case of Zechariah, the father of John the

Baptist, who prayed for a child and the Lord heard his plea, heard the plea of his heart.

So therefore, don't be afraid to step out in faith and ask God for the impossible. You know, there's three ways in which

God answers our prayers, okay, very simply. He usually says either yes, no, or not now.

And so what's stopping us from praying for things that may be difficult, that may be needed?

I'll give you an example. How many of us regularly pray for revival in this country?

I'll be honest, it kind of seems like the cards are stacked against us in many ways, especially here in California.

It feels like revival, that's never going to happen. That's not going to happen. There's just no way.

And yet, we see time and time again, God accomplishing the impossible in the midst of great difficulty from a natural perspective.

And today's message is indeed turning hearts towards God. And this was the ministry of John the

Baptist, and I believe this is the ministry of the church today. If we want to see a revival in this land, we want to see a revival in the state of California, here in the

Bay Area, it begins with the heart. And at first, it begins with your heart, and your heart to know

God, and your heart to even be in relationship with God, asking Him for the things that are difficult in life, knowing that He is our stronghold,

He is our strong tower, He is our sustenance in every way imaginable. Luke chapter 1, verse 13 and 14 says this again.

The angel says, Do not be afraid to cry out for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and he shall call his name

John, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

John's conception and birth was a cause for joy and gladness. Why don't you write that in there?

Joy and gladness. Now it is a joyful thing in any circumstance when a person is with child.

And so, I remember when my wife, whose birthday is today, by the way, happy birthday, honey.

And so, I remember when she first told us, or told me, that she was pregnant with our first son,

Nehemiah, who is also sitting there, it was a very exciting thing. We had been trying to have a child for about the first year of our marriage, and we didn't know if we were going to be able to have kids.

And when we heard that we were going to be with a child, it was just so exciting and joyful.

And she had caught me in the middle of work, because I was working at my store at the time, and she told me while I was on break.

And so, the first thing I do is I go to the back, and I tell all my coworkers, because it was such a joyful thing that I was going to be a dad, and I was going to have a child, and it was an occasion of such great joy and gladness.

Isn't it true that when you receive a good word, when you receive good news, life -changing news, that you can't contain it?

You can't just keep it under a basket. You have to tell people about it. You have to tell as many people as you can, because it's exciting, it's a beautiful blessing.

And so it is, and so it was, with the conception of John the Baptist. This was cause for great joy, great celebration, but for not just the obvious reasons of life coming into the world, which is a beautiful thing in every circumstance.

We are a pro -life people. We believe in the sanctity of human life. We believe that every life is precious before God.

And yet, it was not only the case for John the Baptist, but more so, because the birth of this child not only was prophesied, not only was a child of promise, but it would lead to the child of promise,

Jesus Christ. You see, John the Baptist is the one who is to set the way, who is to prepare the way for the eventual

Son of Man, the true Son of God. And therefore, it is with great joy and with great gladness that the conception and birth of John the

Baptist was to be received with, because it is in his birth that we would find the birth of God's Son, and it is in God's Son that we'd see the birth of a new people called the church.

You and I are sons and daughters of the resurrection, sons and daughters of the age to come.

And so, it is with that expectation that we see with great joy and gladness the coming of John the

Baptist into the world. Can I just say this about John the Baptist to kind of go a little bit further into the future of our series?

But this is going to be a really big, important theme that I want you to catch on with regard to John the

Baptist. John the Baptist is the final prophet of the

Old Testament. You may be asking yourself, how do you get that? He's not in the

Old Testament, he's in the New Testament. Well, brothers and sisters, John the Baptist is the final prophet of the

Old Testament, of the Old Covenant, because he precedes the New Covenant inauguration.

And so, John the Baptist plays such an important role eschatologically with regard to the incarnation, the coming of Christ into the world, and the establishment of the

New Covenant that Jesus Christ has done and accomplished through His blood. And more interesting details emerge from this text of Scripture in regard to John the

Baptist. In verse 15, it says, for he will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink, for he will be filled with the

Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. You see the importance and the grandeur of this child, and of the importance of his ministry and life here in verse 15.

Not only is his life to be rejoiced over, because he is a miraculous birth.

He is not miraculous in the sense that Jesus was, but certainly miraculous in that his mother was barren, and yet God was able to produce life even under that circumstance.

And yet, he will be great before the Lord, meaning that he will play an incredibly important role in redemptive history, that he will play a role in bringing people to God.

And it says that he must not drink wine or strong drink. Now, if you've ever been in the

Baptist circles that I have, most Baptists that I've swam with don't really like drinking.

And again, this kind of comes from the tradition of John the Baptist, that if we're going to be Baptists in the strain and tradition of John the

Baptist, we need to abstain also from strong drink, from alcohol. And so many

Baptists that I used to hang out with, they don't drink, they don't smoke, they don't dance, they don't curse, they don't have a lot of fun, but they're fantastic people and they love the

Word of God. In the same way, though, we ought to have a heart that desires to have purity in all ways.

You see, the point of John the Baptist as being set apart in this instance of not having strong drink or wine is that he is particularly special in this regard because his life is to be wholly set apart, set apart from all worldly indulgences and passions and set apart totally for the kingdom of God, for the kingdom.

We see that John the Baptist was to be filled not with wine or strong drink, but he was to be filled with the

Holy Spirit. I want you to write that in there, John the Baptist was to be filled with the

Holy Spirit. Now this is a very similar scenario and wording that we see in other places in Scripture.

For instance, in Judges chapter 13, if you can turn there for a moment, in the book of Judges chapter 13, starting in verse 3, we look at the story of Samson and Samson's mother in particular,

Judges chapter 13, starting in verse 3. Notice the similarities in the story between John the

Baptist and also of the birth of Samson. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her,

Behold, you are barren and have not born children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.

Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.

For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, and for the child shall be a

Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the

Philistines. And then the woman came and told her husband, A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the angel of God.

Very awesome. I did not ask him from where he was from, and he did not tell me his name.

But he says, it goes on to say, But he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean.

For the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the days of his death.

Very interesting similarities that we encounter in the story of Samson's birth and also with that of John the

Baptist. Now some have deduced then that John the Baptist was also called to be a Nazarite of sort.

We don't really know that for sure, and it's probably actually unlikely because there is no vow that's made, nor is there any discussion in regard to not shaving his head and things of that nature.

But one could make that conclusion, that one that I would personally make, but it would not be totally unreasonable.

But there are sure similarities here. So some again would deduce that John the Baptist was also called to be a

Nazarite. But again, this was never said in the New Testament, and in the absence of a reference to the hair also goes against it.

It may be better to see John as having a unique position, however. Neither a Nazarite nor a priest, though with points of connection with both.

See, John's life and his ministry would be set apart by the power and anointing of the

Holy Spirit. Similarly, how Samson was called even from birth, even from before birth in the womb of his mother, to be set apart, to be called distinct and to be holy and to be used for sacred service unto the

Lord. That's why there's power in the name.

The name that we decide to even name our children, there's importance to that. You see,

I named all of our children, and all of the children had particular names chosen for particular reasons.

My oldest, Nehemiah, his name means comforted by Yahweh. And we chose that name because we were comforted that the

Lord would give us a child, that the Lord would give us a son. And we also chose

Sophia because her name means wisdom, and she sure is wise beyond our years and we appreciate that.

And the Bible says that we are all to receive wisdom from on high. I also chose the name

Noah because that word, that name means comfort, and we were also comforting that we were going to have another boy. And then the last one, our daughter,

Abigail, we didn't really know what she would be. She was the last one to be born of our household so far, and we decided that we would not find out the sex until she was born.

And when she was born, and it was a girl, we had to wait a couple hours to find out what would be a good name for her because we didn't really have names ready as we did for the other three.

But as we got to see her personality, we got to see how beautiful she was and how smiley she was, even as a baby, as a newborn, she was very smiley.

And so I decided that we would name her Abigail, which in Hebrew means the father's joy.

You see, there's power in the name. There's power in the name of John and the name of Samson, and there is certainly power in the name of Jesus, amen?

There's power in that, to be set apart. When a name was chosen for a child, it was to set them apart for sacred service, to set them apart in a way that would honor

God, in the way that we should continue in that tradition, I believe, in the way that we choose names for our children, for our posterity.

And yet here we have with John the Baptist, one who would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb.

Now this is really interesting, that he would be filled with the

Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. Because normally in the

Old Testament and the New Testament, one isn't filled with the Holy Spirit until either the anointing or the conversion.

And yet John the Baptist is particularly set apart even from the womb. This is not said of many people throughout

Scripture. This is a unique thing. And yet it shows us the importance of the ministry of this man named

John the Baptist. That his ministry would be great before the Lord, and that he would have an important role in the redemptive history of God's people.

And we see the purpose of the anointing of the Holy Ghost even from the mother's womb in verse 16, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the

Lord, their God. John the Baptist has a life that was set apart, if you haven't written, write that in the notes already.

John the Baptist was to be filled with the Holy Spirit and was to be set apart for ministry. This is indeed a miraculous birth with a miraculous hope and a miraculous set of circumstances that will lead to a miraculous changing in the hearts of God's people.

This is why he was set apart from the womb, filled with the Holy Ghost, so that he will turn the many to God.

That's his mission. That was his calling in life. And as we go on later on to see some instances in the life of John the

Baptist, we see that his life was wholly dedicated upon preaching the coming kingdom of God.

Remember last week when we opened up the series in Luke, we looked at two of the main themes in the gospel of Luke.

One of them is gonna be the arrival and palpable presence of God's kingdom in the world.

And John is the one who's setting the road to that.

He's the one who is setting up this expectation. He's the one who has prophesied and has said of him that he would make way for the

Lord. And so we see even in this instance here that his ministry would be to turn people's hearts to the

Lord, Yahweh, their God. And it says in verse 17, he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the

Lord a people prepared. Now we see, we come to fruition with this clear vision of what this

John would do with his life. You know, we don't know what our children will do and accomplish in life when a child is born and you hold that child for the first time.

You think of all the highs and lows this child is gonna have in his life. You think of all the things that they will accomplish, that you hope for them to accomplish.

But we don't really know whether our children will accomplish great things or terrible things or things in between.

Yet there was an assurance with the life of John the Baptist. This was a man who would be set apart early, even in the womb, and that he would indeed be great before the

Lord. I wish we could all have that assurance of the things of our children, our posterity, that we could say with great certainty that our children would be great before the

Lord. But we don't have that clarity or certainty because we don't have the mind of God.

And yet here God is revealing to us his mind, his heart for this particular man whom he set apart from the womb.

And John the Baptist plays again an important role in all of redemptive history because he is the promised forerunner.

I want you to write that in there. John the Baptist was the promised forerunner to the

Messiah. He was the promised forerunner to the Messiah. Now, why is that important?

It's important because God, who spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament, made a promise.

And you'll find that promise in the last book of the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi. You can turn there. Just a couple of books before in Malachi chapter 4, the very last verses of the

Old Covenant. Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 says,

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the

Lord comes. And he will, get this, 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 or desolation.

Yahweh promised that he would send forth a promised prophet that would indeed be

Elijah. Now, many debate, have debated this and will continue to debate. Who is he referencing here?

Even within the Christian church, there are those who still ponder, will Elijah come back?

Many even theorize that maybe Elijah will come back in the last days and maybe he'll be the second or one of the two witnesses in the book of Revelation.

And he, in that way, this will be, this verse will be fulfilled. But I submit to you and I tell you this, Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 and 6 have been fulfilled and they're fulfilled in John the

Baptist. The eschatological expectation is this, that Yahweh will send forth one like Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the

Lord comes, before the land is decreed for destruction and desolation.

Which land are we talking about? Well, this is the land of Jerusalem, the land of Israel. And decree of desolation came upon them when the

Lord Jesus on the Mount of Olives preached and declared onto them, chapter 23 and 24 of Matthew, where he says, upon them all the righteous blood will fall upon them and on that generation, that the day of the

Lord will come awesome and fearfully for them into the destruction of the land and destruction of the holy temple.

And Elijah did come and he came in John the

Baptist. Now we don't believe in reincarnation as Christians and so we don't believe that Elijah was reincarnated in some way or fashion, but rather that in John the

Baptist there is the power and anointing that accompanied

Elijah's ministry is now accompanying John's ministry as the forerunner to the blessed

Messiah, even the Lord Jesus Christ. And the promise in Malachi is that he, this

Elijah to come, will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.

This is a restorative work that this prophet would partake in and would indeed lead in.

And we see this very early on in the gospel narratives, very early on in the life and ministry of John the

Baptist, where he is practicing this rite of baptism. He is baptizing people for the remission of their sins, for the forgiveness of sins.

He's baptizing individuals throughout Israel, turning the hearts of the people toward God, making the hearts of men fertile so that they may receive the

Lord Jesus Christ, the one who truly forgives sins, the one who baptizes not just with water, but with fire and the

Holy Ghost, amen? This Jesus fulfills all the law and the prophets, and before his coming, one must declare it in John the

Baptist. And so here's what I believe, if we can turn to one more book of the

Bible, in Matthew chapter 11, I again submit and believe that Jesus teaches that John the

Baptist was the Elijah to come, and if you have any doubt, hear it from the

Lord Jesus Christ himself, in Matthew chapter 11, starting in verse 7.

This is in relation, in regard to the ministry of John the Baptist. It says, as they went away,

Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see, a reed shaken by the wind?

What then did you go out to see, a man dressed in soft clothing?

Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. What then did you go out to see, a prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. Let me just stop there for a moment.

You see, they're asking about John, and Jesus is responding, what did you go to the wilderness to see?

That's where you'll find John the Baptist. He's the voice in the wilderness that is crying out, make straight the path of the

Lord, and he says, when you went out to the wilderness, when you went out to encounter this man, what were you expecting to see?

What were you looking for in particular? He says, did you go out to the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind?

Or did you go to see a man dressed softly, in soft clothing? That certainly doesn't fit

John's MO. If you remember, John the Baptist was kind of a wild -looking man, probably looked a little bit like the man

Pastor Colleen was referencing earlier, whose name shall not be named. Kind of a weird, odd -looking man, and yet, he goes on to say, you went to see a prophet?

Yes, yes, he's a prophet, but more than just a prophet.

This is of whom it is written, verse 10, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.

Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the

Baptist, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

So, notice the importance that Jesus relates to the life and ministry of John the Baptist. He said, there's been no one born more righteous than John, with likely obvious exception of himself, he who is without sin, the

Lord Jesus Christ, and yet he says, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Why would he say that? Why would Jesus say that? If John the Baptist is so great, if he's more than just a prophet, how can those in the kingdom of heaven be, the least of those in the kingdom of heaven be greater than he?

It's because, again, John is the last of the Old Testament prophets. He is not a new covenant recipient, and yet, verse 12, it says, from the days of John the

Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, he's the last of the

Old Testament prophets. And if you're willing to accept it, he is

Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

John, indeed, was the Elijah to come. Now you see why his life is so precious, why his life was of such great value that it was set apart even from the womb.

He was the final prophet of the Old Testament. He is the one of whom the prophets testify until the coming of the

Lord Jesus Christ. And he is one who is operating in the spirit and mantle of Elijah.

So if you haven't written that in there yet, go ahead. John the Baptist was the promised forerunner to the

Messiah who operated in the spirit and mantle of Elijah. And yet, it doesn't end there.

There's more beautiful truths that we can deduce from Luke chapter 1 and verse 17, where it says again, he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the

Lord a people prepared. John's ministry was to turn hearts toward God, but more specifically towards the

God of Israel, towards the God of the Old Testament and the same

God who is the God of the New Testament. Please turn to Isaiah chapter 40, this will be our last verse.

Isaiah chapter 40, and notice the word of the

Lord as it says in verse 3 to 5 and then verse 9, a voice cries, in the wilderness prepare the way of the

Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

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

Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Verse 9, go up on a high mountain,

O Zion, herald of good news, lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news, and lift it up and fear not.

Say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. John the

Baptist was not just preparing the way for another prophet, John the Baptist was not just preparing the way for another good man,

John the Baptist was not preparing the way for another good teacher, he was preparing the way for God.

Because Jesus Christ is God Almighty, veiled in human flesh.

This is the doctrine of the God -man, that Jesus Christ is fully man, fully human, yet also fully

God and divine. It is prophesied that the voice that comes to prepare a way is preparing the way for the

Lord. The Old Testament, every time you see in the ESV or other major translations, you see the word, the

Lord, capitalized, L -O -R -D. This is a reference in the Hebrew to what's called the

Tetragrammaton, the Tetragrammaton being the four letters of the Hebrew name of God, Yud -Heh -Vav -Heh, and that is often translated today as Yahweh.

Other translations such as Jehovah or Yehovah are also appropriate, and yet it says in Scripture that John the

Baptist was to prepare the way for Yahweh, that it was Yahweh's glory that will be revealed.

It would be Yahweh who would be declared, and it is indeed the cry and the good news that is to be preached not only to Jerusalem or to Judah, but to all the world, behold your

God. That's the word. That's the word. We are to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Now you see the importance of John's ministry. It would take a great man to prepare the way for a great king, but it takes an even better man to prepare the way for God, which is why, again, from even in the womb,

John was set apart by the Holy Spirit. It's the importance. It's not because John is so great, but it's because of who he's preparing the way for, who is greater than he is.

For even when John the Baptist saw the Lord Jesus Christ coming to him to be baptized in the waters of the

Jordan, he says, I am unfit to even tie your sandals, because he knew he was in the presence of the

Son of Man who was prophesied in Daniel 7. He knew he was in a presence of true holiness, and John knew that this one who is to come, of whom it is prophesied in Scripture, he would baptize not just with water, but with the fire of the

Holy Spirit. The last part of our teaching, the ministry of John the

Baptist will be to turn the hearts of men and to prepare a people for Yahweh, for Yahweh.

You see, God works marvelously in the redemption of His people by changing the human heart.

We ask ourselves, why is humanity so wicked? Why is there so much sin?

Why is there so much issues in our politics, in our societies, in our homes, in our families?

Part of the problem is the problem of the heart. And it's that which the gospel addresses beginning with John.

John begins that ministry of the gospel of the kingdom by beginning to change, preaching the change of heart that will come through faith in Jesus Christ, who is indeed

Yahweh. Jesus is not only God, He is

Yahweh, Jehovah God, veiled in flesh. The one who is prophesied and the one who proclaims, like John, a baptism of fire and of water, but also a gospel of repentance, a gospel of repentance.

And that is the gospel that we preach and proclaim to you this morning and this day, that there has been one who has paid the penalty for your sin, one who has made a way for us to be made right with God, and one who has made a way for us to approach

God, the sovereign of the universe, by faith. And it's through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

Friends, the Bible calls us to repent of our sins, to trust in Jesus. John the Baptist came, and when you read about his preaching and about his ministry, he preaches a gospel of repentance because the kingdom of God is nigh, it's near.

Well, behold, I tell you today, repent for the kingdom of the gospel is here.

It's here. It's not only near, it's arrived. Therefore, all the more we ought to repent of sins and trust in God's king,

Jesus Christ. It is this king who I present to you today, the one who is sinless, the one who is without sin, the one who is without blame, this

Jesus who lived a life that you could not live, holy, perfect, and blameless, and set apart in every way by the death that you and I deserve as a criminal next to two other criminals.

And yet God did not forsake his son in the grave. He raised them on that glorious third day and seated him upon the right hand of majesty, where he now lives forevermore, interceding for our sins so that we can now approach the true and everlasting triune

God through faith in the shed blood of his son. So come on to Christ. Come on to this

Emmanuel, this God with us, not just for the sake of the season in which we are in, but for the sake of your souls.

Come on to Christ. Let me pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the gospel cry that came in the mouth of John the

Baptist. Who came to prepare a way for the Lord, to make straight a highway for the people of God, so that the hearts of many would be turned to God, so that the wayward child will be restored to his father, and the wayward father to his child.

Lord, may we all come to you, the fountain of living water, and help us to forsake all things that would so easily entangle us and remove us from thy kingdom glory, and help us,

Father, through the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost, the same Holy Spirit that was alive and active in the life and ministry of John, alive and active in the ministry of Christ, who even raised our

Lord Jesus from that tomb. Work in us that which is pleasing in your sight, so that though our hearts may be prone to wander, we would trust and rest in the altar of your grace.

Lord, help us to ascend this mountain of God's providence, this mountain of faith, this hill in which we find

Calvary's cross, so that we have a forgiveness of sin, but a power to accompany us onto death and into eternal life.