PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD

Luke 3:1-38

Key Verses 3:2,3

In this passage John prepared people for the Lord by preaching a baptism of repentance and the good news of Jesus Christ.

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A Baptism of Repentance

Luke 3:1-38

Key Verse 3:3-4

He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him…”

Today’s passage describes the ministry of John the Baptist. In John 1:15, the angel Gabriel says to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, “[H]e will be great in the sight of the Lord.” Some people are great in their own sight. They look into a mirror and say to themselves, “Wow! You look great.” But if anyone is to be known as truly great, he must be great, NOT in the sight of man, but in the sight of God. As the angel prophesied, indeed, John lived a truly great life. In what respect is his life truly great? Seven things can be said of his true greatness.

First, the word came to John

We can find the first clue for his greatness in the expression “the word came to John.” Verses 1-2 say, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar–when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene– during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.” Here Luke lists the names of the political and religious leaders of the times. 

In the sight of the people in general these political and religious leaders looked great. However, Luke makes only a passing remark on them. After quickly mentioning their names, he starts talking about a man named John. 

In the eyes of the people of the world, John did not look great. He did not have a stable job. He did not own a car, a laptop, a DVD player, or a cell phone. Because he lived in the desert, the mailman had no idea where to deliver his mail. But, that was all right, because no one bothered to send an email, make a phone call, or write letters to him. 

In this way people of his day largely ignored him. They did not know even he existed here on earth. But God noticed him. In fact although no body ever tried to talk to him, God talked to him. Although no one sent an email to him, God sent an email to him. 

The word of God came to John! This expression calls us to stop and think. Why is it that the word of God came only to John? Why not to impressive looking people like the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar or the high priest in Jerusalem? We find an answer to this question in Luke 1. In Luke 1:14-15, we read, “He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth…” Luke 1:80 then reads, “And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.” These passages tell us that God’s word came to John only because, unlike the political or religious leaders of the times, John lived a pure life filled with God’s Spirit. 

John’s example teaches us that in our own generation as well, God regards people like John as more important than any impressive looking person like Tiberius Caesar. In God’s eyes they are real VIP’s of our generation. Let us pray that the Lord God would produce from among us God’s servants like John. Let us also pray to live like John who adopted a humble yet pure life, fully dedicated to serving the Lord’s purpose. 

Second, he went into all the country

We find the second clue in verse 3. “He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Here we find two powerful words that are action-packed: “went” and “preaching”. He “went into all the country around the Jordan…” “[P]reaching a baptism of repentance…” 

These words tell us that John made himself available for God’s kingdom purpose. He lived a pure life. God then spoke to him. God’s word moved him. He stood up and went out into all the country around the Jordan, preaching the message of repentance. 

In many places of the Bible, the Lord God describes man as an “instrument.” In Acts 9:15 for example the Risen Jesus calls the Apostle Paul as his chosen “instrument.” In many places of Paul’s epistles, he also calls man an “instrument.” In his epistles, Paul then categorizes people as either instruments of righteousness or instruments of wickedness, instruments for noble purposes or instruments for ignoble purposes. But unlike purely physical instruments such as a violin, human instruments have one great limitation: that is, God can never and will never use anyone who is not willing to offer himself to God for the good purposes God has in mind. (In cases such as Jonah or Moses, God saw in their hearts the desires to serve others, so that despite their seeming unwillingness, God still persuaded them to serve the purposes God had in mind.) This we call the issue of “availability.” And tons of people (Christians included) have the issue of availability. And this is a very serious issue because although God is Almighty, God cannot use anyone who says, “No, I am not available. Send someone else.” 

But John was different. He was available. Why? He was available because he made himself available. When we see anyone serving the Lord sacrificially we naturally think that that person might have been cut out to be that way, desires for the things of this world are not in their genetic combination. But this is not true. Like you and I, John is also a human being. Like you and I, he too might have had the desires for the things of this world. But, he denied himself. He chose not to love the things of this world. From his youth he decided to fully devote himself to serving God’s purpose. Then, when the word of God came, he went out into all the country preaching. 

Last weekend, we had a young missionaries’ retreat. It was not exactly a retreat, for to some it looked like a torturous session, involving long hours of Bible studies, listening to messages, mutual conversations, and prayer. To some it looked like just killing time. But to some it was a retreat, not into a nice area like a ski resort in Big Bear, but into the living word of God. After the retreat one missionary invited us to Zen Buffet at the Long Beach Town Center. The food was fabulous. But what impressed me most was not his generosity or the food there, but his spiritual decision. He decided to go out to the college campus not just a couple of days but Monday through Friday. Following his example other missionaries also decided to go out to the mission fields to preach the message of repentance and the good news about Jesus Christ. 

Third, a voice of one calling in the desert 

We find the third clue in verses 4-6. “As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: ‘A voice of one calling in the desert, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.” ’ ”  It has been said, “A snap shot never gives out the whole truth.” In order to accurately describe a car accident that took place at a cross section, a video clip shot by a man with his camcorder as he happened to stand nearby will give you better information on the accident than a snap shot taken by you. 

In the Bible the Lord God established a lot of prophets. One of the purposes the Lord God called them is to let them work as spiritual cameramen. They are like Missionary Abraham Song, the official man of video in Downey UBF. If you need any video clips on any events such as last Christmas’s play, you can ask him. In the passage, we see the name Isaiah. He lived about 8 centuries before the Christ (and before John the Baptist.) About 8 centuries before John the Baptist would come and serve, the Lord God already fixed the plan to send John. In fact, the Lord God released a video clip which gave Isaiah the preview of John coming to Judea. After watching the video clip (so to speak), Isaiah recorded the work of John in Isaiah 40:1-5. Let us open the Bible and read that passage.

This passage gives out one important word which helps us better understand why John’s ministry was largely successful. You know at the end of each semester, students evaluate their professors. I understand Shep. Jonathan got a good evaluation from the students of his class at APU, so he is going to teach again this coming semester. Likewise, everyone agrees that John did a fabulous job as a man of mission. What was the secret of his great success? In my opinion, the word “voice” gives out the answer. 

“A voice of one calling in the desert…” John did not present himself to the public as John. He came to the public as a “voice.” What is a voice? A voice is a voice. The expression “a voice of one calling in the desert…” indicates that his whole life itself became a voice. The point is that John was more a voice than a man. In fact the whole John was dedicated to generating a (living) voice – the voice of one calling in the desert, calling for repentance! 

We see examples similar to John in many places of the Bible. For example, Jonah lived as a living voice to the people of Nineveh. “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned!” 

Let us then pray that the Lord God would raise many living voices like John the Baptist at all 561 American college campuses. What does it mean to live as a living voice at a college campus? Does it mean to walk through a campus and shout, “Repent!”? No. If you do, the campus police may come and toss you out of the campus. All it means is that we must deeply study God’s word, receive His word, go out, fish one student who is ready for the Lord, and give out God’s word with a clear message, particularly the message of repentance. 

Fourth, you brood of vipers!

We find the fourth clue to John’s true greatness in the sight of God by the way he rebuked people. Look at verses 7-9. 

⁷John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 

John did not flatter men. Proverbs 27:5 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love.” As a Jew, John knew the problems of the crowds coming to him very well. Of all the problems, their pride was one of the most challenging problems, the pride as a chosen people. As descendants of Abraham, they took a great pride in having Abraham as their father. In fact even today a lot of Jewish rabbis continue to talk about God bestowing upon you, as a descendant of Abraham (by natural descent), this blessing or that blessing because of the merits of Abraham. Some even maintain that if you, a descendant of Abraham, die, and because of your sinful condition go to hell (called Gehenna), Abraham, who is sitting at the gate of Gehenna, will deliver you so that you would not suffer the eternal hell fire. But John boldly proclaimed that this is not going to happen. Abraham is not going to bail you out. He directly rebuked them. Each of them must examine his or her life based on God’s word, and repent of their own sins, and turn away from their sins. 

John’s rebuke, “The axe is already at the root of the trees,” is particularly poignant. Nowadays one line that is favored among Christian leaders is: “Everything is gonna be all right.” They help people to recite after them a sinner’s prayer that normally lasts about a few seconds. Then, they say, “You are all set.” If a man is guilty of a sin, confesses, but does not turn from it, what will he be like? What I mean is, is it really true that everything is “gonna be all right” with him? If everything is gonna be alright, why does John say, “You vipers! Produce fruit in keeping with repentance!”? 

You brood of vipers! John was not interested in adding to the number of the ministry. For fear of losing membership, a lot of religious leaders cautiously avoid using the word “sin” in their sermons. What Jude says in Jude 1:16 is true of them, “they flatter others for their own advantage.” 

You brood of vipers! Practically, however, it is not easy to rebuke people as John did. In the first place, many of the people who came out to John did not look that bad. Many of them were Pharisees and Sadducees. Indeed on the surface they looked gorgeous. They had tons of Bible knowledge. They did not commit terrible crimes such as felonies. And they were largely successful in the society. Some of them held important positions. Yet, John still rebuked them, “You brood of vipers!” How could he do that? The answer is clear. He saw them from God’s point of view, not from a man’s point of view. And he prepared people for the Day of Judgment! And he could rebuke people like this because he truly loved their souls. He loved them more than himself.  

Fifth, what should we do then?

We find the fifth reason for John’s greatness in God’s sight. Look at verses 10-14. Let us read this passage. In this passage we see various classes of people (the rich, the tax collectors – those with a political clout - soldiers – the power figures such as the U.S. Attorney General or the Downey Police Chief) coming out and asking questions, and John giving answers to them. The repentance topics John gave them are very well known sins of John’s day. Nowadays a lot of people have addiction problems to pornogragy, drug abuse, and domestic violence. Had John been in Downey, he could have touched these problems and given instructions on these problems. 

What is amazing then is this: when John showed his true love as their shepherd, they all recognized John as their own shepherd. They then began to behave like a loving child to a mother. So they asked, “Mom, what should I do? Dad, I am sorry, what should I do?” Then, in tender love, he gave a specific direction for them to follow. From this Bible passage we learn that in our own generation as well, people are in desperate need of good shepherds like John. On the surface it seems people do not like any shepherd who honestly points out their problems. But this is not true. Once they recognize that you are a man of God, they start behave like a lovely son or daughter. May the Lord bless us so we would all grow and serve young college students after John’s example. 

Sixth, one more powerful than I

We find the sixth reason for John’s greatness in verses 15-18. Let us read this passage. Here, John demonstrates the importance of self-effacement. He made himself nothing. But he presented Jesus as the Lord and Savior who would save people through His Holy Spirit. 

They say that this generation is the generation of self-advertisement. Both young and old, clergy and laymen, male and female, all are out to advertise themselves. The other day I went to a market. I saw a teenage boy talking to a girl. The girl looked cute. With an effort to make himself look good to her, he said a lot of good things about himself, and he said, “Go to such and such a place on the internet, I have my own website.” Apparently he loaded up a lot of good stuff on his web page. The girl seemed impressed and said, “Wow! You have your own website! Sure, I will go and visit.” 

When you think about it, imbedded in everyone’s nature is the desire to make him or herself look great. But John denied this desire. He practiced the call to live purely for the glory of God! No wonder that Jesus said of him that he is one of the greatest men. 

Seventh, he locked John up in prison

We find still another, the seventh, reason for John’s greatness in verses 19-23. Here, we see that after working so hard for Jesus, and as the reward for living fully for the name’s sake of Jesus, he got a prison term. This indicates that he gained nothing for sacrificing everything. What does this mean? Only one thing is true of him: that is, he truly practiced what Jesus said, “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). 

One word: a baptism of repentance

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