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.

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 the titantron had

numbers on them, and it was the 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, and 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, if the

probability is high, if I pray for it, maybe it'll increase my chances.

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 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, remains.

For 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 revival in this land, we want to see 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, for your prayer has

been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will be your son, and you 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's 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 child, it was just so exciting and joyful.

And she had caught me in the middle of works.

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 a sense like 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, not 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 it's 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 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 is 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 comforted 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 of 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 and 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 of 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 going to 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 going to 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, 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 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 unto 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 in 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 doubts, hear it from the Lord Jesus Christ himself

in Matthew chapter 11, starting in verse seven.

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 has 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 then, 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?

Is because again, John is the last of the Old Testament prophets.

He is not a new covenant recipient.

And yet, verse 12 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 in 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 for 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.

And it's prophesied that the voice that comes to prepare a way is preparing the way for

the Lord.

The Old Testament, when 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.

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 the 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?

The heart 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, died the death that you and I deserved as a criminal next to two other criminals,

and yet God did not forsake his son in the grave.

He raised him 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 unto death and into eternal life.

Lord Jesus, be with us and grant us this peace.

In your name we do pray, amen.