The NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - The King’s Herald ｜ Matthew 3_1-12

00:00:00.000 Wonderful. Thank you, Joel. Good morning, Covenant Bible Church.

00:00:11.740 Joel was gracious to push my sermon back a week. I was originally slated to preach

00:00:15.600 last week, but we had the birth of our daughter and everyone's doing well,

00:00:19.380 so we are saying praise God in our home. So now it's good to be with you and in the pulpit this

00:00:24.240 week. If you would direct your attention to the text at hand, we'll be picking up where we left

00:00:29.660 off in the gospel of Matthew. This week's text is Matthew chapter 3, verses 1 through 12. So if you

00:00:36.680 have a Bible or those sermon notes with you, would you follow along with me as I read the text?

00:00:42.220 And as I read it, would you stand with me in reverence for the word of God?

00:00:47.920 When I conclude reading the text, I will say, this is the word of the Lord.

00:00:52.680 And as a congregation, I will ask that we respond by saying, thanks be to God.

00:00:57.380 So this is once more Matthew chapter 3, verses 1 through 12.

00:01:02.120 The Bible says this,

00:01:03.640 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

00:01:08.680 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

00:01:12.080 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

00:01:16.200 The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

00:01:19.120 Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

00:01:23.160 Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

00:01:30.620 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him,

00:01:35.160 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

00:01:39.980 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism,

00:01:44.020 he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warns you to flee from the wrath to come?

00:01:48.520 bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not presume to say to yourselves we have abraham as

00:01:54.700 our father for i tell you god is able from these stones to raise up children for abraham even now

00:02:01.180 the axe is laid to the root of the trees every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit

00:02:06.180 is cut down and thrown into the fire i baptize you with water for repentance but he who is coming

00:02:13.080 after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the

00:02:19.380 Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor

00:02:25.000 and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

00:02:30.460 This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated and join me now as I pray.

00:02:35.820 Father, we thank you for your word. Your word is as a lamp shining in the darkness. It shines to

00:02:44.980 us and shows us your truth, what you have spoken. We pray, Lord, that you would be glorified through

00:02:50.600 the preaching of the word. We pray that all who are in attendance this morning would be blessed

00:02:55.280 in the hearing of the word and that it would strike them and move them to faith in Christ,

00:03:00.260 your son. And we pray as your people, Lord, as Christians, those who possess faith in Christ,

00:03:05.820 As was said this morning in the liturgy, we want to be those who bear fruit for you, oh God.

00:03:10.020 We want to be those who are motivated by faith in Christ, seeing our sins forgiven.

00:03:15.200 And we pray that this would lead to a necessary response of gratitude and faithfulness.

00:03:20.300 And as we see in our text today, we pray that this would lead towards

00:03:23.200 bearing fruit as we abide in Christ.

00:03:26.080 We pray these things in the name of your son, Jesus.

00:03:28.460 Amen.

00:03:30.120 As we now begin the third chapter in the gospel of Matthew,

00:03:33.540 I want to briefly look ahead to the 11th chapter in Matthew's gospel. So we read in Matthew chapter

00:03:40.520 11 in verses 7 through 15, which are included in your sermon notes. As they went away, Jesus began

00:03:47.600 to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken

00:03:54.020 by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who

00:04:00.900 wear soft clothing are in king's houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you,

00:04:07.960 and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before

00:04:13.840 your face, who will prepare your way before you. Truly, I say to you, among those born of women,

00:04:20.920 there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom 1.00

00:04:26.280 of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven 0.90

00:04:32.740 has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied

00:04:39.500 until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to

00:04:46.200 hear, let him hear. This text in Matthew chapter 11 gives us even greater insight into the man who

00:04:52.840 is the subject of today's text in Matthew chapter 3. At this point, I pray that it's fairly obvious

00:04:58.920 to you, but this man is none other than John the Baptist. John's ministry and time in the limelight

00:05:05.520 seem to be so short-lived, especially in Matthew's gospel, where according to Matthew Henry, John

00:05:11.880 bursts onto the scene as if dropped from the clouds to preach in the wilderness. Next week's

00:05:18.700 text, which is the conclusion of Matthew chapter 3, is in fact the last that we will hear of John

00:05:24.240 the Baptist until this text that I have just read in Matthew chapter 11. Despite this, John should

00:05:31.000 not be seen as a flash in the pan or a one-hit wonder. Instead, John the Baptist is a pivotal

00:05:36.720 figure in the New Testament with deep, eternal significance. He was the fulfillment of Old 0.97

00:05:43.700 Testament prophecies. His life and ministry represented the inauguration of the new covenant

00:05:49.560 and the coming of the kingdom of God. He baptized the Lord Jesus in order to fulfill

00:05:56.040 all righteousness. And as our Lord himself stresses in Matthew chapter 11, may we too

00:06:02.560 have ears to hear and eyes to see all that God intended and accomplished through the man known

00:06:09.020 as John the Baptist. So at this point, an important question to ask then is, what specifically does

00:06:16.040 the Lord say about John the Baptist through the writings of Matthew? And even more specifically,

00:06:21.440 what is to be understood about him from Matthew chapter 3? In one sense, each of the four Gospels

00:06:27.340 are Holy Spirit-inspired and help to provide a comprehensive and complete picture of the events

00:06:34.360 surrounding the birth and ministry of Jesus Christ. John is present in each of these,

00:06:40.400 and we learn even more about him from studying the Gospels in totality. For example, in Luke

00:06:46.500 chapter 1, we learn about John's parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and how uniquely intertwined John

00:06:53.300 and the Lord Jesus were in the events leading up to and at the time of their birth. Interestingly

00:06:59.860 enough, according to Luke, we learn that John and Jesus' mothers were relatives, making John

00:07:05.220 and Jesus cousins. This is of incredible significance in our understanding of the

00:07:11.040 gospel narrative. But these events are not recorded by Matthew in his gospel. Instead,

00:07:16.420 Matthew cuts right to a fully grown John, a wild woolly man preaching in the wilderness of Judea

00:07:23.380 in verse 1. John was not dressed in the soft clothing of nobility, but was dressed in a

00:07:31.020 garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. He took residence not in the king's

00:07:37.180 palace, but in the wilderness of the Jordan River Valley. His diet consisted not of delicacies and

00:07:43.360 fine cuisine, but of locusts and wild honey. In describing John the Baptist, R.C. Sproul writes,

00:07:50.420 The camel hair that John wore was not the sort we find today in expensive outer garments.

00:07:55.700 It was one of the roughest, most crude, and cheapest forms of outer garment of the ancient world.

00:08:02.080 John was not adorned with suede, but with the rough-hewn skin of the camel.

00:08:07.100 The honey he ate to survive was not the sort cultivated by beekeepers.

00:08:11.120 It was the wild honey obtained only at the risk of a thousand bee stings.

00:08:16.940 By today's standards, John would certainly not have been the kind of man found in a suburban

00:08:22.120 neighborhood or in the governor's mansion.

00:08:25.000 John was the type of man who is often derided with colorful pejoratives by the mainstream

00:08:29.140 media, backwards, uncivilized, radical, fire and brimstone, right-wing extremist.

00:08:37.760 John was, perhaps by the standards of many, the furthest thing from royalty.

00:08:42.540 We learn, though, from Matthew that he was a prophet and a preacher.

00:08:48.240 And ironically, though, he was not very kingly.

00:08:51.280 What was the subject that he primarily focuses on in his preaching?

00:08:56.020 In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

00:09:00.640 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

00:09:05.740 John preached about the kingdom of heaven because its king had come.

00:09:10.240 This king had been born years earlier in Bethlehem and had come to establish his dominion.

00:09:16.480 He would do it first by suffering and dying for the sins of his people

00:09:20.920 and dealing a death blow to the kingdom of darkness. 0.95

00:09:24.760 He would establish his church and rule and reign through it.

00:09:28.820 John saw this, and he knew this, and he sought to make the people ready for their king who had come.

00:09:35.620 What we see John doing then in Matthew 3, preaching and baptizing in the wilderness,

00:09:40.840 was in response to this great reality which was taking place.

00:09:45.060 He was preparing the way for the Lord and preparing the people to meet him.

00:09:50.740 John understood his role in the unfolding of God's plan of redemption.

00:09:55.420 He is particularly inspiring to us as an example because he was actively preaching,

00:10:02.120 baptizing, and prophesying for a short amount of time. He did not see it as an opportunity to ride

00:10:08.420 the coattails of the Lord Jesus or to profit from his time in the spotlight. In fact, he says later

00:10:14.600 in verse 11, he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.

00:10:22.560 Instead, he boldly and humbly accepted his assignment from the Lord to herald the kingdom

00:10:28.240 of God and announce the coming of its king. There is much the believer can glean from the person

00:10:35.720 and ministry of John the Baptist as Matthew records it here in Matthew chapter 3. In this

00:10:41.800 vein, there are many points that could be made from this text, but I endeavor to make three.

00:10:47.080 These are, point number one, John the set-up man and the fulfillment of prophecy. Two, two responses

00:10:54.660 to John's preaching, and three, the instruments of the Lord, his axe, and his winnowing fork.

00:11:02.340 In laboring to expound these points, I seek to, like John, elevate the Lord Jesus in your hearts,

00:11:09.260 minds, and lives, and make straight his path to rule in you personally, in your families,

00:11:14.940 and in our land as well. Our King has come, and he rules and reigns now. Will we be joyful

00:11:22.780 subjects to his dominion, or do we see Christ's kingship as a restraint? Christ is Savior, Lord,

00:11:30.860 and King, and he is a good King. May we, like John, rejoice greatly at the bridegroom's voice

00:11:37.720 and at his coming. So as we begin the first point, which is John the set-up man and the fulfillment

00:11:44.100 of prophecy, as we begin, I want to direct your attention back to the text and a key phrase which

00:11:49.580 is contained in verse 1. Verse 1 reads, in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the

00:11:57.360 wilderness of Judea. In those days. So we must ask of which days was Matthew speaking of? If you

00:12:05.200 remember that just last week, we concluded Matthew chapter 2, in which we learned that Joseph and

00:12:10.600 Mary had fled to Egypt, taking the boy Jesus with them, and that later they returned and settled

00:12:17.020 in Nazareth after the death of Herod. It would appear that from the day Joseph and Mary settled

00:12:24.120 in Nazareth to the day John began preaching in the wilderness, that at least some time had passed,

00:12:30.460 likely years. So when Matthew spoke of those days, he was not referring to the days that directly

00:12:36.600 followed Joseph and Mary's move to Nazareth, but of a later time. And yet Matthew also leads us

00:12:44.280 to believe that those days held a greater significance than being merely the days in

00:12:49.180 which John began preaching in the wilderness. Matthew Henry helps us to see that John the

00:12:54.400 Baptist came during the inauguration of a new age, a new day which had been long foretold.

00:13:01.220 He writes, we have here an account of the preaching and baptism of John, which were the

00:13:07.420 dawning of the gospel day. Observe the time when he appeared, in those days, or after those days,

00:13:15.320 long after what was recorded in the foregoing chapter, which left the child Jesus in his

00:13:20.420 infancy. In those days, in the time appointed of the Father for the beginning of the gospel,

00:13:27.200 when the fullness of time was come, which was often thus spoken of in the Old Testament.

00:13:32.860 Our text from the outset suggests just this.

00:13:37.060 The time of John the Baptist's preaching represented a deeply significant time and event in history,

00:13:43.400 the dawning of the Gospel Day, the beginning of the Gospel, the inauguration of the New Covenant.

00:13:50.800 That day had been long foretold by prophets in the Old Testament,

00:13:54.900 and at the proper time, the Lord brought forth John preaching this message, which we see in verse 2.

00:14:00.680 repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand meaning the kingdom of heaven was present

00:14:07.020 apparent and bringing healing in its wings as malachi 4 verse 2 says jesus had been born and

00:14:14.600 was growing and maturing and the time had come for him to begin his public ministry acting as

00:14:21.080 the mediator of the new covenant by which men's sins would be forgiven on the basis of repentance

00:14:27.420 and faith. We see similar language used by the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter four when he

00:14:33.540 states, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under

00:14:41.860 the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. In the

00:14:49.440 same way, at the proper time in those days, God sent forth John the Baptist to prepare the way for

00:14:56.020 his son in fulfillment of what had been spoken by the mouths of the prophets over 400 years earlier.

00:15:03.100 We see this in verse 3 of today's texts, which reads,

00:15:07.420 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, when he said,

00:15:12.440 The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

00:15:15.160 Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

00:15:19.460 In doing so, Matthew directs our attention to, namely, Isaiah 40, verse 3,

00:15:24.360 and states that at the proper time, this prophecy was fulfilled in John the Baptist.

00:15:29.560 He was the one who cried from the wilderness, from the valley of the Jordan River,

00:15:34.140 and declared the coming of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of God's king.

00:15:40.060 His day had long been foretold and was here.

00:15:44.300 At this point in our study through the book of Matthew, we have seen this occur already,

00:15:49.120 but is it any less spectacular to us?

00:15:52.720 In each of the chapters that we have read so far, Matthew makes it a point to reveal to us

00:15:58.020 each of the prophecies that were fulfilled in the coming of Christ. They were spoken of many years

00:16:04.720 earlier, and the Lord was faithful to fulfill and follow through by doing what he had promised. 0.95

00:16:11.060 Many have pointed out, and I believe correctly, that Matthew did this from a uniquely Jewish

00:16:15.400 perspective. He sought to confound his Jewish brethren, like the Apostle Paul, that God was 0.93

00:16:21.520 not doing a new thing, not creating two distinct paths of redemption, one in keeping Torah and one

00:16:28.540 through faith in Christ. Matthew urged his kinsmen to remember what God had said and rejoice at

00:16:35.040 seeing its fulfillment in the present day. In sending Christ, God was doing exactly what he said

00:16:42.120 he would do and accomplish through many prophecies and spanning many years. God's plan of redemption

00:16:49.080 was always in Christ, for no one can come to the Father except through faith in the Son.

00:16:56.200 And by including the prophecies, Matthew cannot help but say, see, it has always been spoken of

00:17:02.060 in this way, and God is doing exactly what he said he would. And Matthew speaks of John the

00:17:08.060 Baptist in the same way, as God's faithfulness to bear witness to and prepare the way for the

00:17:13.420 coming of his son. We have the unique benefit of reading these promises years later and marveling

00:17:20.300 at them. This is how Jesus speaks of believers who came after John. In Matthew chapter 11, we read,

00:17:26.820 yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he, than John. For we have the

00:17:33.820 witness of the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to see how God was true to accomplish all that he

00:17:40.180 said he would. Matthew, like John, knew that many would come to appreciate and marvel at God's

00:17:46.920 greatness in seeing the prophecies fulfilled. So, too, many others, especially amongst their

00:17:53.100 kinsmen, would reject their words and would reject Christ as their king, ultimately killing him as

00:17:59.540 they killed the prophets before him. And we'll discuss that more in the next point. In our text 0.82

00:18:06.080 today, Matthew shows us how John the Baptist fulfilled Isaiah 40, verse 3, which we saw in

00:18:11.420 verse 3 of today's text. We also see our preacher from the wilderness foretold in the book of

00:18:17.500 Malachi in chapters 3 and 4. So if you have a Bible with you, you can turn to the book of Malachi

00:18:23.180 now, or you can follow along with these passages as I read them in the notes. The first is from

00:18:28.900 Malachi chapter 3, beginning with verses 1 through 4, which reads,

00:18:35.760 Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me.

00:18:40.040 And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.

00:18:43.560 And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

00:18:49.120 But who can endure the day of his coming?

00:18:51.400 And who can stand when he appears?

00:18:53.620 For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap.

00:18:56.440 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine

00:19:03.760 them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings and righteousness to the Lord. Then 0.74

00:19:10.280 the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and 0.63

00:19:16.080 as in the former years. Moving ahead to Malachi chapter 4 now and beginning in verse 5.

00:19:23.860 behold i will send you elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the lord comes and

00:19:32.640 he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their

00:19:37.180 fathers lest i come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction these prophecies

00:19:44.260 spoken by malachi the prophet also find their fulfillment in john the baptist who was the

00:19:50.080 messenger and Elijah who was to come. He not only embodied Elijah in physical appearance,

00:19:56.820 but in his message as well, calling the people to account for their sins and urging them to repent

00:20:03.660 and turn to the Lord. His message came with a unique urgency, for the day of the Lord was at

00:20:10.940 hand. God had prepared for this day long beforehand and sent John to purify the people

00:20:17.160 by means of a baptism of repentance and confessing their sins.

00:20:22.880 This would inevitably lead to an embrace of Jesus Christ as King

00:20:26.980 and a turning of the hearts of fathers to their children

00:20:30.380 and the hearts of children to their fathers.

00:20:34.640 John was truly a man's man, rough around the edges,

00:20:38.660 not one concerned with appearances or with the approval of man.

00:20:44.040 He would not be the one found in king's palaces.

00:20:47.160 or on the cover of grocery store magazines, but he was the one appointed by God to proclaim

00:20:52.380 his message. And John considered his assignment well, serving as the setup man for the Lord Jesus.

00:21:00.080 He preached an unpopular message, urging the people to repent, but he did so in obedience

00:21:06.860 to the Lord and truly out of love for his hearers. At that time, even the Lord's people were not ready

00:21:13.800 for his coming. Thus, John preached a baptism of repentance to prepare the way for the appearance

00:21:20.720 of Christ. As the apostle John says, John the Baptist came as a witness to bear witness about

00:21:28.340 the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness

00:21:34.660 about the light. As we move on to our next point for consideration, we will look at the responses

00:21:41.660 that we see in today's text to John's preaching and message. As we said before, the king had come,

00:21:48.600 but the house was not in order. Thus, John came as a fulfillment of prophecy to prepare the way

00:21:56.540 of the Lord and make the people ready for his coming. This was impossible without repentance

00:22:02.460 and by way of consequence, faith in the king, in Jesus. Knowing this, this is exactly we see the

00:22:09.260 message that we see John preaching as we read again in verse 2, repent for the kingdom of heaven

00:22:15.140 is at hand. His message was short, but to the point. All who wanted to be counted amongst the

00:22:22.560 kingdom of God and of his Christ had to recognize that they had been unfaithful to the covenant

00:22:28.980 and were in need of the mercy of God. This fact was also evident from a point that John makes

00:22:35.440 later in verse 7 to the Pharisees, as he says, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

00:22:43.480 In a real sense, the coming of the kingdom of God brought with it the certainty of God's righteous

00:22:49.300 wrath for sin, leading the truly repentant to appeal to God's mercy and the cleansing waters

00:22:56.300 of baptism. And so, in response to John's simple message in Matthew chapter 3, we see two distinct

00:23:03.840 responses. The first is that of humble submission, repentance, and faith, and is recorded for us in

00:23:11.640 verses 5 and 6. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to

00:23:19.600 him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. This first group

00:23:26.880 responded to John's message with contrition, with godly sorrow for their sin, and appealed to God

00:23:33.140 for cleansing. On these verses, Matthew Henry writes once more, they testified their repentance

00:23:39.020 by confessing their sins. A general confession, it is probable, they made to John that they were

00:23:44.900 sinners and that they were polluted by sin and needed cleansing. But to God, they made a confession

00:23:50.700 of particular sins, for he is the party offended. The Jews had been taught to justify themselves, 0.98

00:23:57.700 but John teaches them to accuse themselves and not to rest as they used to do in the general 0.94

00:24:04.300 confession of sin made for all Israel once a year upon the day of atonement but to make a particular

00:24:11.900 acknowledgement every one of the plague of his own heart. A penitent confession of sin is required 0.75

00:24:19.060 in order to peace and pardon and those only are ready to receive Jesus Christ as their righteousness

00:24:26.180 who are brought with sorrow and shame to their own guilt. As Matthew Henry states, there was

00:24:33.380 the understanding that both a covenantal and a personal confession of sin were required.

00:24:40.460 We see a similar confession undertaken by Isaiah as he cries in Isaiah chapter 6,

00:24:46.520 woe is me for I am lost for I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of

00:24:53.960 unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. For this first group, there was the

00:25:00.980 fearful reality that the Christ had come, and their unfaithfulness to the covenant, their sin, had put

00:25:07.860 them at odds with the Lord. They recognized their own guilt and their need for God's mercy. And so

00:25:15.660 in this first response, we see a large swath of the Israelites taking responsibility for their sins

00:25:21.740 and being baptized by John in the river. Now, an important point is that John's baptism was not

00:25:29.260 synonymous with Christian baptism, for John did not baptize these disciples in the name of the

00:25:35.460 Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as Christ commands us to do in the Great Commission,

00:25:41.260 and it came not with the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit. Remember that John says later

00:25:47.220 in verse 11 of today's text, I baptize you with water for repentance. He, that is Christ, will

00:25:54.300 baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. But insofar as John's baptism was an appeal to

00:26:01.480 God for cleansing and washing from sin, it should be seen as an evidence of true faith in the Lord

00:26:08.280 Jesus. Those who went out to John in the wilderness in faith had the promises contained in the old

00:26:15.680 covenant that bore witness to Christ's coming. And then they emphatically heard John declare

00:26:21.200 that the Christ had come. Though they had not seen him yet, they responded with faith to God's

00:26:27.860 revelation, repenting of their sins and being baptized by John as an appeal to God for cleansing.

00:26:35.880 On the other hand, we see quite a different response taken up by the Pharisees and Sadducees,

00:26:41.360 and we see that in verses 7 through 9, which I will read. But when he saw many of the Pharisees

00:26:47.300 and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee

00:26:52.860 from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not presume to say to

00:26:59.600 yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise

00:27:06.280 up children for Abraham. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the Jewish leaders of the day, 0.92

00:27:13.180 also make the journey into the wilderness to hear John's preaching. And almost immediately, 0.86

00:27:19.240 without even speaking a word, we learn their attitude towards John's message and the coming

00:27:24.920 kingdom of God by virtue of how John responds to their presence. He showers them with rebukes,

00:27:31.220 exclaiming, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? John discerned

00:27:38.360 that their presence was insincere at best and unfriendly or sinister at worst. This was because

00:27:45.420 the religious leaders came not to confess their sins or to be baptized, but to act as spectators

00:27:51.900 to all that was taking place. They held legitimate positions of power and esteem, but were privately

00:27:58.660 sinful and hypocritical, emphasized the traditions of man over the perfect law of the Lord, and were

00:28:06.020 secretly in alliance with the civil authorities of the day, who sharply opposed the establishment of 0.90

00:28:12.780 another king, even if that king was God's own son. Remember how viciously Herod pursued the boy Jesus

00:28:21.100 in the last chapter, which we heard just a couple of weeks ago, and how he ordered all boys under

00:28:26.480 two years of age to be slaughtered in Bethlehem. The Pharisees and Sadducees were allies to tyrants

00:28:33.100 and wicked leaders such as these, and likely had gone to the Jordan in hopes of providing a report

00:28:39.760 to the authorities. By and large, the Pharisees and Sadducees had much more in common with Saul

00:28:46.700 in his pre-conversion days, who breathed out threats and murder against the disciples of the

00:28:53.280 Lord and were quite unlike Nicodemus, who seemed to genuinely approach the Lord at night in John

00:29:00.120 chapter 3. John the Baptist knew this, which is why he powerfully exposed them on the banks

00:29:06.620 of the Jordan. He does not stoop to name-calling, but levies a true accusation of them. You brood

00:29:14.440 of vipers, he exclaims. As Texans, we have a special appreciation for the viper. Within our

00:29:22.180 state are both the rattlesnake and the cottonmouth, two famous pit vipers which possess all of the

00:29:29.040 same characteristics as other snakes but pack a lethal venomous bite. In the same way John the

00:29:36.180 Baptist highlighted that not only were the Pharisees and Sadducees crafty and full of deceit 0.85

00:29:41.540 but were uniquely poisonous to Christians. They had no intention of repenting and turning back 0.80

00:29:48.900 to the Lord, but actively sought to do harm to the Lord, Jesus, and his followers. In the case of our

00:29:55.980 text today, they had gone out to the Jordan to scoff, to draw the true children away, and to 0.99

00:30:02.700 undermine the hope of the coming king into the world. And despite this, John, though clearly harsh

00:30:09.520 towards their sins of self-righteousness and deception, he bids even them to repent. He pleads

00:30:16.440 with them to confess their sins and get right with God, ultimately turning to Jesus, the coming king

00:30:22.460 in faith. Having faith in Christ, John understood that if the Pharisees and Sadducees were to repent

00:30:29.180 of their sins and profess faith in Christ, they too would be received and welcomed into God's

00:30:35.920 kingdom. It may not have seemed a likely outcome, but John did in fact have the earnest expectation

00:30:42.480 that if God were to change their hearts, they too would turn to Christ and be baptized.

00:30:49.560 He shares the same hope that we do, knowing that by a sovereign work of God,

00:30:54.580 even the most unlikely of converts can become his sons.

00:30:59.500 The gospel of Christ is fierce in its opposition to sin,

00:31:03.600 but always hopeful and welcoming in pursuit of the repentant.

00:31:08.440 In the case of John the Baptist in Matthew 3,

00:31:10.760 faithful preaching leads many to repent of their sins and place their faith in the coming Messiah,

00:31:17.120 while the Pharisees and Sadducees, sadly, are hardened in their sin and in their poisonous

00:31:22.300 doctrine. This is true at face value, this fact, that there will always be those who accept Christ

00:31:29.800 and those who reject him. And so in regards to this, I want to draw out two applications

00:31:34.580 from the text in regards to speaking to these two responses. The first is in regard to those

00:31:40.900 who went out to John in the wilderness and ultimately were baptized as a sign of true

00:31:45.780 faith. As I spent time preparing this week and thinking about this first group, I couldn't

00:31:50.900 but help but think about the many exhortations given in scripture to seek the Lord. This is

00:31:56.880 what we see this first group doing. Now, I'm hesitant to refer to them as seekers just because 1.00

00:32:03.220 I believe that term has been wrongly applied in the church, especially in recent years.

00:32:09.080 And like any good Reformed Christian, I distinctly remember Paul's argument in Romans chapter 3,

00:32:13.980 where he states clearly that in man's fallen state, no one understands. No one seeks for God.

00:32:21.460 But despite this, we actually see this first group going to the Jordan to seek the Lord

00:32:26.780 and prepare themselves for his coming. An important distinction to make then is that

00:32:32.440 no one seeks for the Lord while simultaneously nursing their sin. Put another way, a crucial

00:32:38.700 prerequisite for anyone who seeks after the Lord is faith. Any person who earnestly seeks the Lord

00:32:45.220 must be born again. This is the crux of what is said in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6. And without

00:32:52.660 faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists

00:32:58.860 and that he rewards those who seek him. It is through faith in Jesus that Christians draw near

00:33:06.640 to the Lord. And Christian faith causes us not only to believe that God exists, but that he will

00:33:13.280 reward and bless those who seek him. He forgives our sins, washes and cleanses us to the core,

00:33:21.280 changes our wills to desire what is good, calls us sons and daughters. He feeds and clothes us

00:33:30.100 and satisfies us with rich blessings, both in this life and in the life to come. This is the

00:33:37.120 attitude of those who went out to the wilderness to be baptized by John. They knew they were guilty

00:33:43.420 of sin, but they had faith in God's own son who had arrived. They sought him out and they found

00:33:51.180 the friend of the bridegroom, the one who was preparing his way. And like a bride making

00:33:57.140 herself ready, those who went out to John in the wilderness and were baptized were assured that

00:34:02.520 they would be ready when their king and savior came. So as God's people, as Christians, we possess

00:34:09.320 this same hope and assurance. God first seeks the sinner, and his call is effectual to grant 0.55

00:34:16.720 life to the dead, to subdue and transform the rebel, to bring the prodigal home. In response, 0.74

00:34:25.260 God's people seek him and have his promise that those who seek him in faith will never come up

00:34:30.720 empty. The Lord himself will be found by those who earnestly seek him. You have said, seek my face.

00:34:40.040 My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek.

00:34:43.600 Psalm 27, verse 8.

00:34:46.020 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

00:34:50.460 Jeremiah 29, verse 13.

00:34:53.480 Ask, and it will be given to you.

00:34:55.820 Seek, and you will find.

00:34:57.980 Knock, and it will be opened to you.

00:35:00.600 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds.

00:35:05.800 And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

00:35:08.160 Matthew 7, 7 and 8. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.

00:35:16.660 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that

00:35:24.060 he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55, 6 and 7.

00:35:32.340 as for the second application on this point i want to focus on what john says to the pharisees

00:35:39.760 and sadducees in verse 9 which reads and do not presume to say to yourselves we have abraham

00:35:46.920 as our father for i tell you god is able from these stones to raise up children for abraham

00:35:53.780 in saying this john does not deny that the pharisees and sadducees were physical sons

00:36:00.600 of Abraham. The outward covenantal blessings given to the Jewish people were not insignificant.

00:36:07.820 They were truly the descendants of Abraham and possessed the oracles of God. These were a

00:36:13.480 tremendous blessing given to the Jews and not trivial in the least, so I pray that you hear that.

00:36:19.400 But ultimately, it would be the sons according to the promise and not according to the flesh

00:36:25.180 who would be the beneficiaries of such blessings. The Father sent Christ not to save merely Jews 0.89

00:36:31.580 according to the flesh, but Jews, Greeks, Chinese, Americans, and all kinds of people groups alike

00:36:39.100 according to the promise by faith in his Son. John urges the Pharisees and Sadducees not to

00:36:45.880 use their position and lineage as an excuse for their sin. In fact, he goes one step further by

00:36:52.340 saying that they were replaceable. God could break down these sons of Abraham and craft new ones for 0.75

00:36:59.420 himself out of the very rocks, and it would be of no account to him. Such is the power and righteousness

00:37:06.100 of our God. Now, to bring this application home, a little over a month ago, I had the opportunity

00:37:12.700 to lead a small group of Christians in a Psalm Sing event at the Texas State Capitol. I believe

00:37:18.380 some of you that are here may have been there as well. And this text, John chapter 3 verse 9, was

00:37:24.280 one that I used in urging our civil magistrates to use their lawful office and authority to

00:37:30.940 legislate godly standards of morality. Senators and congressmen and women do hold legitimate

00:37:38.140 authority. This position has been given to them through the wisdom and providence of God. But all

00:37:45.160 earthly authority is a delegated authority. On that day, I made the point that our civil

00:37:50.960 magistrates should not cling to their office as justification to preserve themselves or to

00:37:56.380 propagate unrighteousness. For the Lord himself sees and knows and is able to make new civil

00:38:03.000 magistrates for his people out of the very limestone cliffs that line the Colorado River.

00:38:08.900 So how are we to serve the Lord in the various offices and positions that we hold as fathers?

00:38:15.160 husbands, and men, as mothers, wives, and women, as children, as employees and business owners,

00:38:24.480 as Texans, as Americans, as civil magistrates, and as pastors. First of all, we are to receive

00:38:31.740 such appointments with thankfulness and honor. We should never carry ourselves with presumption

00:38:38.200 or see these as badges of self-righteousness, but gifts from God, which they are. We should make it

00:38:45.680 a point to thank the Lord in our prayers and in our service and carry ourselves in such a way that

00:38:51.420 God is praised in our duties. Secondly, we should seek to use such opportunities in the way that God

00:38:58.300 would desire us to. God has said much in his word about how Christian fathers, mothers, citizens,

00:39:05.280 and legislators, for example, should act. The word shines and directs us to how we ought to

00:39:11.820 serve the Lord in each of these respects. In seeking to be obedient, we should also strive

00:39:17.700 to build upon and make a return with the opportunities the Lord gives us, desiring

00:39:23.340 to make the five talents into ten and the two talents into four. Let us tremble lest we think

00:39:29.860 these powers as opportunities for unrighteousness or laziness. Apart from the mercy of God, how

00:39:37.860 quickly we too might find ourselves replaced. And so our third and final point for this text is the

00:39:45.680 instruments of the Lord, his axe and his winnowing fork. And we'll focus mainly on verses 10 through

00:39:53.160 12, which I will read for you once more. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

00:40:00.660 Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I

00:40:07.180 baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I,

00:40:12.960 whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His

00:40:19.980 winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the

00:40:26.600 barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. From these verses, we see John the Baptist

00:40:33.820 highlight these two instruments, the axe of the Lord in verse 10 and the winnowing fork in verse

00:40:40.080 12. As we discuss both of these, it is important to remember that it is John who speaks of them,

00:40:48.160 but the Lord who wields these instruments, these tools. As we remember this, let us direct our

00:40:54.600 attention to the first instrument that John speaks of, the axe. In the last point, we spent

00:41:01.620 time focusing on John's call to the Pharisees and Sadducees to not cling to their status and 0.71

00:41:06.940 lineage as physical sons of Abraham. John reminded them that in the kingdom of God,

00:41:12.400 this paled in comparison to being sons of the promise. As Jesus says in John 4,

00:41:18.360 the time had come when true worshipers would worship the Lord in spirit and truth. Though of

00:41:25.160 great significance, bloodline and genealogy could not atone for one's sins. Only faith in Christ,

00:41:32.540 in the King, could save and justify the sinner. In this, John urges the Pharisees and Sadducees

00:41:39.660 to repentance and faith, and warns them of the danger of trusting in their lineage for salvation.

00:41:47.560 By doing so, they would soon see a day when the rocks would take their place, when the mighty

00:41:52.760 trees would be chopped down and cast into the fire. The axe had been sharpened and presently

00:41:58.520 been laid to the root of the trees, because they had not genuine repentance for their sin,

00:42:04.280 and they had not borne any fruit. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit

00:42:10.720 is cut down and thrown into the fire. In speaking on this verse, Matthew Henry gives this

00:42:18.100 interpretation. It is now declared with the axe at the root to show that God is in earnest in

00:42:25.520 the declaration that every tree, however high in gifts and honors, however green and external

00:42:31.560 professions and performances. If it bring not forth good fruit, the fruit's meat for repentance

00:42:38.460 is hewn down, disowned as a tree in God's vineyard, unworthy to have room there, and is cast into the

00:42:46.100 fire of God's wrath, the fittest place for barren trees. What else are they good for? If not fit for

00:42:53.780 fruit. They are fit for fuel. So one of the distinct markers of a Christian is that he or she

00:43:03.080 will bear fruit. He or she will bear good fruit. Our Lord himself says you will know a tree by

00:43:10.400 its fruits. Such fruits come from faith in Christ. The one who has faith in Christ,

00:43:17.080 who has been born again, loves the Lord and what is true, good, and beautiful. He desires to seek

00:43:25.140 the Lord and do what is pleasing to him. His very life, his attitude, his thoughts, his actions,

00:43:32.220 his home, and so on all reflect the fragrance of a changed heart and are evidence that the fire

00:43:38.380 of faith is burning within. The believer seeks to abide in Christ, to commune with him, and it is

00:43:45.900 through this that much fruit is born. In John chapter 15, verses 4 and 5, our Lord says,

00:43:53.180 abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the

00:44:01.960 vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides

00:44:11.060 in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.

00:44:18.900 How sweet these words are to our souls. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. We can do no

00:44:26.940 enduring work for the kingdom of God apart from repentance and faith in Christ. But if we abide

00:44:34.560 in Christ, we will bear much fruit. We will bear much fruit because God has given us faith to

00:44:42.180 repent of our sins and trust in Jesus. And the harrowing reality is that if we don't, we too

00:44:49.000 will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Our Lord also speaks to this. He curses the fig tree

00:44:56.580 in Matthew 21 for its lack of fruit. It says just one verse later in John 15 6,

00:45:03.920 if anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are

00:45:11.280 gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. What good is a peach tree, for example, if it doesn't

00:45:19.320 produce peaches? Would apple orchards be as splendid in the fall if they didn't grow any

00:45:25.540 apples? Could you imagine visiting an apple orchard without apple cider, apple donuts,

00:45:31.860 or apple pie? We are not outraged when the oaks bear not fruit, but fruitless apple or peach trees

00:45:39.020 are even more disappointing because we expect to taste their fruit. On the same token, what good

00:45:45.800 is a Christian who does not bear fruit? I would venture, and I believe that the Bible does too, 0.95

00:45:52.380 that there is no such thing as a fruitless Christian. If you are currently struggling 0.92

00:45:57.620 with sin and seeing little fruit in your life, fret not. Remember that God has given you faith

00:46:04.660 in his son, and even that small spark is evidence of fruit. God does not intend to keep you in this

00:46:12.760 place forever, that is true, but if you have evidence of even meager fruits or are barely

00:46:19.240 clinging on to Christ. He will keep you and promises not to break you or snuff you out.

00:46:26.140 But if we, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, find ourselves pridefully boasting in our fruitlessness

00:46:32.300 like tall green trees which refuse to bear fruit, let us be warned that such a tree,

00:46:38.920 such a person, is only fit to be cut down and burned in eternal fire.

00:46:43.340 the second instrument in the Lord's hand which John speaks of is the winnowing fork by which 0.60

00:46:50.720 the Lord clears his threshing floor reading again from verse 12 we read his winnowing fork is in

00:46:58.100 his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn but the chaff

00:47:04.660 he will burn with unquenchable fire speaking on this verse we read this from R.C. Sproul

00:47:11.400 The fork John mentions here is the winnowing fork that Jewish farmers used to separate the good 0.99

00:47:17.140 wheat from the chaff. With the fork, farmers tossed the wheat into the air. The chaff was so light 0.96

00:47:24.000 that even the slightest current of wind would carry it away, but the good wheat would fall to

00:47:29.820 the floor. At the last day, Jesus will separate true church members from false. He will gather 0.61

00:47:36.940 his wheat into his father's house, and the rest will be burned with unquenchable fire.

00:47:42.880 John first spoke of the axe, but now he speaks of the winnowing fork, by which the Lord would

00:47:49.440 use to separate the wheat from the chaff, the righteous from the unrighteous. In one hand,

00:47:56.500 the Lord uses the axe to chop down and discard the fruitless tree, and with the other, he uses

00:48:02.240 the winnowing fork to carefully sort and separate. While trees without fruit were more easily

00:48:08.440 identifiable, the existence of the wheat with the chaff required the meticulousness and diligence

00:48:14.840 of the patient farmer to do the hard work of sorting. In speaking of the coming king of Christ,

00:48:21.760 John warns of his powerful and careful judgment against sin and the unrighteous. We see a similar

00:48:29.120 image used in Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in

00:48:37.160 the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the

00:48:44.360 Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night, while the wicked are not so, but are like chaff

00:48:52.640 that the wind drives away. The Lord himself would do this work of sorting with the winnowing fork.

00:49:00.620 Both the axe and the winnowing fork were in his hand, and the time had come for chopping wood

00:49:06.420 and separating wheat from chaff. These instruments reveal that the kingdom of heaven was at hand,

00:49:13.820 and its king was going to do the difficult work of judgment. Therefore, the Jews needed to get 1.00

00:49:19.980 themselves ready. They needed to repent of their sins and turn in faith to the one who made them 0.99

00:49:25.800 and held redemption. Both the axe and the winnowing fork revealed that the Lord would be coming and

00:49:33.020 had come and was going to execute judgment on the house of Israel first. To their surprise,

00:49:39.420 these instruments were to be used on Jews, on the old covenant people, as they made way for the 0.82

00:49:45.800 coming of the new covenant. Many did come to be baptized by faith, which is why they made haste

00:49:52.920 to the Jordan to confess their sins and be baptized. But still more were hardened in their

00:49:59.300 sin and would be revealed to be fruitless trees and chaff, which the Lord would expose by wielding

00:50:05.560 his axe and his winnowing fork and clear his threshing floor. In one sense, John speaks of

00:50:13.160 both instruments being presently in his hand, but I believe that we could also accurately say that

00:50:18.680 the axe's work was more immediate than the winnowing forks. The axe was used to fell many

00:50:23.880 trees in the days leading up to Christ's crucifixion and resurrection and refers to 0.93

00:50:29.640 the judgment that came swiftly to the Jews, culminating in the destruction of the second

00:50:34.440 temple. Many trees were chopped down and many branches were broken that other branches would

00:50:41.000 be grafted in. The Lord desired sons of Abraham who would worship his son and trees that would

00:50:48.840 bear fruit. In regards to the winnowing fork, this could be understood to be referring to the last

00:50:54.980 days and the final judgment. It is said elsewhere in the scripture that weeds grow amongst the wheat

00:51:00.820 and even so true churches and majority Christian nations will have those among them who do not

00:51:08.220 really belong to Christ. With these, the Lord is patient to bear with them even unto the end, 0.99

00:51:15.380 so as not to do harm to his true children. As the people of God, we ought to note God's kindness

00:51:21.100 to us in this, but also remember his wrath for sin. If any of you find yourself waking up to the

00:51:29.000 reality of present sin, do not hesitate to seek the Lord. Get up, flee to the Jordan,

00:51:36.640 and confess your sins to him. He will abundantly pardon. If you have never trusted in Christ and

00:51:44.620 have never repented of your sins, do not excuse yourself any longer. His axe and his winnowing

00:51:50.960 fork will indeed find you out. So as we close for today, I wanted to end with just one last

00:51:58.140 thought. As I prepared for this sermon, I was reminded of an experience that I had during a

00:52:03.100 theology class in college. One of my professors in that class had read us an argument from

00:52:08.740 a theologian that suggested if Christians wanted to be more loving in their displays of the gospel,

00:52:15.320 they should not make it a point to mention the need for repentance. Back then, I had only been

00:52:21.180 recently been persuaded of the doctrines of grace and the Reformed tradition and was less mature to

00:52:27.800 humbly and adequately engage the professor and the class. I don't remember making a scene in the

00:52:34.100 class, but I remember faintly thinking, wouldn't Jesus have said differently? After going back to

00:52:40.000 my dorm, I remember reading in Mark chapter 1, where the scripture says, now after John was

00:52:45.720 arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, the time is fulfilled

00:52:54.120 and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. These words preached by

00:53:02.340 our Lord seem eerily similar to what we saw John preaching in Matthew 3 verse 2. Repent for the

00:53:09.300 kingdom of heaven is at hand. These texts remind us that Christian faith is impossible without the 1.00

00:53:16.740 repentance of sin. This was John the Baptist's message and it was also Jesus's. John preached 0.94

00:53:23.780 not a rogue message in the wilderness. He came not to exalt his own ministry or prepare his own way,

00:53:30.300 but the Lord's. John's words directly correlate with Jesus's, and he was sent by God to bear

00:53:37.680 witness about the light and make the people ready to receive him. No one can receive the king without

00:53:45.180 first fleeing to him as savior. May we pay attention to John's words and heed his warnings,

00:53:52.720 and let us find great delight in worshiping and serving our King, King Jesus. Would you pray with

00:53:59.040 me? Father, we thank you. Reading back in that day, I'm always astounded by John the Baptist,

00:54:07.220 his humility, his zeal and affection for what is good, the truth, and John is an example for us,

00:54:14.100 O Lord. We pray that we would take great delight in the Son. We pray that we would remember Christ

00:54:20.520 and his worthiness and take great delight in repenting of our sins, seeing your forgiveness

00:54:26.240 in the gospel, but also in serving our King, King Jesus. He came in those days, Lord, and sits at

00:54:33.580 your right hand, is ruling and reigning now. And so we pray that we would never lose heart. We pray

00:54:39.960 that we would never grow despondent or too dejected by what we see happening in the current

00:54:46.020 day, Lord. You are ruling and reigning now. You came then, you rule now, and we pray that we would

00:54:52.920 rejoice in that, O God, that you are a good king, and it is you that we worship and serve with

00:54:59.260 changed hearts, O God. Thank you for rescuing us from our sin. Thank you for saving us. Thank you

00:55:04.520 for adopting us into your kingdom. We glorify you and praise you, for you are good. We pray all

00:55:09.740 these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

The NXR Podcast - August 19, 2024

THE SERMON - The King’s Herald ｜ Matthew 3_1-12

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