I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The title for today's message is The Preacher, John the Baptist. And our text is taken from Matthew chapter three, verse one to 10. We are looking at three sub-headings this morning. The first sub-heading is The Voice, The second is the revival. The third is the religious leaders. Let's go to the text, Matthew chapter three, verse one to 10. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was low-cost and wild honey. Then Jerusalem, all Judea and all the region around the Jordan, went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, He said to them, brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees, Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. The Gospel according to Matthew continues to give us evidence that Jesus Christ is the long-awaited Messiah of the Jewish people. After 400 years of silence, from the last book of the Bible, God decided to speak again through his prophet, John the Baptist. He was a voice that was crying out in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his path. This was one of the greatest revivals of all time, where God was bringing spiritual awakening in the life of a nation that has been spiritually bankrupt, and that we are going through dry ritual and ceremonial religion. Now, during this time in the history of the church, the temple was there, the scyandrine was there, which is those Pharisees and Sadducees that were in charge of the religious affairs or the affairs of the Jewish people. You have the synagogue, People were going in and out of these places. But there is no spiritual content and faith in the life of the church. And sometimes even in our own generation, we like to look at revival from the outward point of view, not the inner spiritual. blessing that is enjoyed by the people themselves to whom the revival has come. Sometimes we look at the church, the people are coming, we look at mega crusades, and we are quick to say this is revival. But revival can only be a true revival when the spirit of God comes into the life of the people. and leads them to repentance and faith and to a practical life of Christianity. Sometimes you have people who know the scriptures and they can quote very well. Sometimes you have pastors who can preach the Bible. But are they living the life of what they are preaching? Are they walking the ways of the Lord? That is true revival. For 400 years of silence, God did not send a prophet to Israel. And all of a sudden, he decided to speak to this Palestinian nation. It is like the 16th century Reformation. The Reformation had a motto. which was in Latin, post tenebras lux, which means after darkness, light. The reformers were bringing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the light of the day because it has been smuggled and destroyed by religious leaders. This was the kind of thing that is happening here in this text. After 400 years of silence, God was using the prophet John the Baptist to bring the light of the gospel to the full light of the day. And so today, as we look at our first subheading, which is the voice, I want us to go back to the text in Matthew chapter three, In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was low-cost and wild horny. John the Baptist was a prophet of God called to proclaim the coming of the Messiah to a nation that has not had the voice of a prophet for over 400 years of silence. He came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. This is between the ill country of Judea and the Dead Sea. This was a desert land with few bushes here and there, pebbles, stones and rocks, which must have been inhabited by dangerous reptiles. Surviving on low cost and wild honey, imagine living in shorter rugged condition. a desert, and at the same time preaching the gospel with passion and urgency. Most people today will be gravitating towards comfort and relaxation. John was preaching in a desert. The conditions of his environment did not deter him from his mission. Because I know most of us are not familiar with the word locust but to bring it down to our understanding they are like grasshoppers and John the Baptist was feeding on them and you imagine eating grasshoppers that must have been a very limited meal and feeding on honey while preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This was a call of repentance. He was calling the people of Palestine to repent and turn to God, which must have been a change of mind that will result into a change of action. That is the true meaning of repentance. In Acts chapter 26 verse 20, the Bible says, but declare first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea and then to the Gentiles that they should repent, turn to God and do works befitting repentance. Repentance has to be followed by the fruits of repentance. We are not saved by the fruit, but salvation is always accompanied by the fruit of repentance. The Bible says that we can know a tree by its fruit. And this was what John was preaching to the people in Palestine. He was telling them that you have to come to faith in Christ Jesus and your faith has to prove itself by producing the fruits of repentance. In verse three it says, for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. The coming of John the Baptist was foretold 700 years. before John the Baptist came to the scene by Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 to 5 John as a special ambassador of God was proclaiming the coming of the Messiah and calling on his people to repent when you read the text in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 to 5 it reads The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth. The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it altogether. Now, in ancient times, and even now, dignitaries are given a warm welcome by rolling out a red carpet. In John's day, they will announce it and blow the trumpet in preparation towards the coming of a great king. Now, this text has two fulfillments. One, in Azar's day, it took place at the Jewish return from exile. The ultimate fulfillment of this text is John the Baptist himself who was crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his path. Calling on the people to prepare the way of the Lord and to make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. I have seen a lot of people use this verse to speak of their own mountains. While John was actually speaking or describing the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not in our poor view as Christians to speak to mountains. I've seen a lot of Christians when they pray, instead of asking God to remove the mountains, they themselves will be engaging the mountains. as if to say they have power to remove mountains by the word of their mouth. But John was not actually referring to, he was not speaking to mountains, he was actually describing the condition of Jesus' ministry, how the ministry of Jesus Christ will look like in the lives of the people in Palestine. And it was not talking about how the rules in Palestine are going to be changed. John was talking about what will happen to people as God comes to them. Those high mountains refer to the proud and arrogant who have exalted themselves and appear as high mountains. God is going to humble them and subdue them to himself as the King of kings and Lord of lords. Then all flesh will see it. and see the manifestation of the Son of God. In these four verses, we learn a lot about John the Baptist. First of all, John the Baptist is a faithful preacher, a faithful preacher that cannot be quieted by the religious leaders of the day. Imagine him talking to the Cyandrine, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, calling them, you brother vipers. What zeal and enthusiasm in the life of a prophet that is faithful to God and is ready to carry out his mandate despite the harsh conditions and the spiritual bankruptcy of the people that he came to. He was able to speak to them the undiluted word of God. Remember there was a case of Herod marrying his brother's wife, his late brother's wife. John was very bold to speak to that situation and rebuke the king for that abominable act. He was not afraid to speak to kings. He was not afraid to speak to the religious leaders of the day who would have asked the Romans to arrest him and beat him up. He damned the consequences and decided to preach the gospel with boldness. He's a faithful preacher. He was faithful in delivering God's calling upon his life. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter four, verse one to two, he said, let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. In Luke chapter three, verse one to four, where we have the account of John the Baptist also preaching the baptism of repentance to Jews. The baptism of repentance to Jews is a very ridiculous thing to them because Jews only baptize proselytes. In other words, people who decide to become part of their religion, Gentiles who want to become part of their religion. So they see them as unclean people, dirty people who should not partake of the ritual rites of their religion. And so they will baptize them and pronounce them clean before they will be accepted into their religion. And John was actually speaking to the Jews and telling them about baptism, a baptism of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That was boldness and faithfulness in his preaching. But he did not relent. Even while the Pharisees and Sadducees came, instead of compromising with them, he told them the hard truth. He told them their need for repentance. He told them their need to put their faith in the coming Messiah or else they will perish with their sins. John the Baptist was a bold preacher. and he demonstrated his boldness by preaching to every nook and cranny, to every man and woman, to everyone that comes before him, whether mighty or low. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 28 verse one, the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. Are you bold in your delivery of God's mandate? Are you willing to take the gospel to where you are despised and rejected? Sometimes we look at our nation, we look at our children, we look at our people, and we give up hope on them. We say, when are these people going to come to Christ? When is this nation going to bow the knee to Christ? We look at our relatives and we become discouraged and say to ourselves, have I prayed in vain? But may we never lose courage in the advancement of the gospel, for the kingdom of God is built by God alone. The Bible says the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. He is the author and finisher of our faith. Even in our darkest moment in the history of the world, God was faithful to show up and brought a great revival. in a nation that was spiritually bankrupt and stagnated. God can do it for Gambia. He can do it for West Africa, East Africa. He can do it even for those nations where we seem to see the darkest cloud of unbelief. God can break through. and bring light because he is the owner of the church. He builds the church. He calls people to faith. Our duty as Christians is to preach the gospel and leave the result with him. Now to our second point this morning, the revival, which is in verse five to six. I read from verse five to six, Matthew chapter three, verse five to six. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. This was a great revival. After a long period of darkness, suddenly there was light. God is able to turn darkness into light. After so long a period, many people in this region of Palestine were grouping in darkness with a corrupt political system, while the church is in the hands of unbelieving Jewish religious leaders. But see what happened. John's ministry, the Bible says, grew in popularity. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan, confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. It's easy for man to give up. It's easy for us to recount on the failures that we have passed through in life. But God can turn our darkness into light God is able to do immeasurably abundantly more than all that we think or imagine. Never will we allow our imagination to limit what God can do. Even in the worst of circumstances, He is able to do immeasurably abundantly. May we never give up. May we never put our trust in God. in him away because of the circumstances that are surrounding us. The mark of a true revival is delighting in the holiness of God and hatred for sin. This hatred for sin becomes increasingly bitter while longing to be like Christ. They came confessing their sins. That is a mark of a true revival. And how did John the Baptist go about this? John the Baptist carried out his mission by preaching the unadulterated word of God. The church has been in its lowest point in history whenever we try to substitute the pure preaching of God's word with gimmicks, entertainment, and compromise with the worldly systems of the world. That is when the church has been in its lowest. Sometimes we look at the ordinary means of grace that God has appointed to save sinners, which is the preaching of the gospel, as something that is not effective. And so churches nowadays are full of programs, entertainment, and all kinds of Activities justice to make people lively While the essence of coming to church is actually to come and worship him and be fed through his word The word of the Lord should be that the preaching should be the centrality of the church Preaching the gospel Should not be substituted by any other thing in the church But today we have so many things people come to church you have testimony time you have drama time you have all sorts of activities and a very little time is given to the word of God to the preaching of the word of God to the reading of scriptures because people are looking for ways to bring the world into the church but we should not look for ways to bring the worldly system into the church. We should bring the church to the people, the gospel to the people. And when they are converted, truly converted by the Holy Spirit, they will not leave the church. Because it's a spiritual regeneration. It is the walk of the spirit in the heart of the believer. And the supreme head of the church, the king of kings and the lord of lords will subdue them to himself by his power and cause them to stay in that ministry with love and obedience. So you don't need gimmicks or any kind of programs that are unbiblical to keep them in the church. This is the preaching of the word of God. The ordinary means that God has appointed to save sinners, we must not neglect it or substitute it with ungodly programs. Borrowing from the world and trying to bring it into the church. John the Baptist did not borrow from the religious leaders and he was not afraid to speak to them, to tell them the truth. He was an uncompromising preacher of the word of God. Today, people have resulted into many, many, many kinds of things in order to grow the church, such as religious syncretism, blending of so many beliefs together in the name of Christianity, so that they can be popular, so that they can be accepted in society. They say, oh, we are one. We are the same. And that is not the demands of the gospel. The demands of the gospel is exclusive. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to me. No one comes to the father except through me. John chapter 14 verse six. Jesus did not say there are other ways to go to God. He says no, I am the way. In Acts chapter 4 verse 12, it says salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. That is exclusive. It is not syncretism. It is not pluralism. Pluralism actually is to accept two or more religions. as the way of salvation. Some people believe that every other way would lead to God, but Jesus says no. The Bible is exclusive in its terms and conditions for salvation. I am the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way except Jesus Christ. Do not blend religion with pagan culture. Some come into church and they are blending their religion with the culture around them. But John the Baptist was ready to preach the unadulterated word of God. He was not ready to compromise it with the religious leaders of the day. He was not ready to blend with the tradition of the day. He was not ready to compromise his faith. He was bold. And he was ready to die for the gospel, to go to prison for the gospel. He was a man, a faithful preacher of the word of God. Finally today to our final point, the religious leaders. Let's go to verse 7 and 10. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Brood of vipers, who want you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourself, we have Abraham as our father. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. John called the Pharisees and Sadducees, coming to his baptism, a brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bear fruit worthy of repentance. I do not think you have Abraham as your father. God is able to raise up children to Abraham from the stones. The axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down. Now this is a very strong uncompromising rebuke coming from John to the religious leaders of the day, who might as well would have imprisoned him or put him through serious punishment. After calling them a bunch of snakes and that they have the poison of snakes under their lips, he now warned them to flee from the wrath to come. He concluded by saying this, bear fruit worthy of repentance. The ax is laid to the root of the trees. In other words, the only way to escape this wrath of God is to repent and to put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. in the coming of the Messiah, and bear fruit that are worthy of repentance. This is not only true for the unbelieving religious leaders of the day. All who come to be baptized by John must also take heed of this one. The Bible says that the wrath and curse of God abides on unbelieving, unrepentant sinners, in Romans chapter one, verse 18. They say, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. John's symbolic baptism is pointing to a cleansing from sin and forgiveness to those who would repent. The Pharisees and Sadducees thought they had attained heaven by association with Abraham. their religious rituals and spiritual attainment in the past. The way of sinners to be saved is through genuine repentance and faith. They lived a self-righteous hypocritical denial of their sinfulness, and John warned them. He said, you better repent, fast. This is a matter of urgency. Here is the ax is laid, ready to cut down fruitless trees. Do not delay your repentance. That was what John is saying here in essence. In 2nd Corinthians chapter six, verse two, the Bible says, for he says, in an acceptable time, I have heard you. And in the day of salvation, I have helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now, this kind of scenario is not far from us. People who grow up in Christian homes, who have Christian parents, sometimes who comes from a family that is very Christian, may tend to think that my Christian heritage or background is enough to guarantee my salvation. That is a lie of the devil. You have to personally put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for you to be saved. The Jews are thinking in this direction. They said we have Abraham. We have the covenant. We have the blessing. And so therefore, we are highly favored. We cannot miss the blessings of Abraham. They are ours by blood as well as by inheritance. And so they will always follow us. But that is by the way, if you live an unrepentant, unbelieving life, there is no heritage for you. There is no blessing for you. Unless you repent, the Bible says, you shall likewise perish. And so therefore, I want to call upon you this morning to repent, like John is calling upon the people of Palestine. his own brothers, the Jews, to come to faith in Christ Jesus, to turn away from their sins and to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. Do you love your sin so much? Do you want it so much so that you don't want to give it up? But if you desire so much to put it away, God will grant you grace to do so through his son, Jesus Christ. I want to employ you this morning. Come to him now. The axe is laid under the tree, under the foot of the tree. And what do you do to fruitless trees that do not bear? You cut them off because they are not useful. If you are in the church and you are not bearing fruit. If you are in the church, you have not repented. That is a very dire condition, a very terrible condition that will warrant God any time and any day to cut you off because you are not bearing fruit. A true spiritual man is a man that will not go through the motions of religion. the rituals and the ceremonies that will come with faith and repentance to God, believing and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ daily for his salvation, a true spiritual man. We'll forgive each other even as Christ forgave us. We'll love the brethren even as Christ loved us and shed his blood for the remission of our sins. They will not be like the Pharisees who were putting the people in bondage. They are bringing loss to them that they themselves are not able to keep. But God in faith and repentance will bring you to a place of obedience to God. True preaching of the word of God, when it comes uncompromisingly, will bring people to Christ. And when those people come to Christ, they will bear fruits of repentance. They will show forth that fruit in their relationship with one another, in their relationship with the world, and in their relationship with their families. They will love one another and they will carry out the mandate that God has given to them. You will not have to force them. You will not have to compel them. It will come from their heart because their hearts have been transformed. They have been changed. They have repented and they will always gravitate towards a desire to please God and to love Him. Even when they fall, God will raise them up and put them on the path of obedience. That is why Jesus would say, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. You would hear the voice of God and you would follow him when you have truly repented. and it comes through the preaching of the word of God. May we never neglect our preaching. May we never look at it as some kind of dull means of grace that is not efficacious to salvation. Let God through the word and the spirit throughout the history of the world, it has always been through the preaching of the unadulterated word of God that revival has come out. Without this preaching of the word of God, when the church decides to compromise its values, its tenets of faith, and what they believe in, it will go down under the ceiling and unbelievers will capture it. That is what has happened to many churches today in some other parts of the world that have been captured by unbelievers, some of which have been turned into pubs because the people are no longer holding to the truth of the gospel. They have compromised it. They have gone into syncretism, into pluralism, believing in other religions that do not speak the same truth, compromising their faith, putting away the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, compromising with the world, and so thereby losing the church entirely to unbelievers. May we never, never compromise our faith with the world. May we look to Christ daily, the offer and the finisher of our faith. And may God give us grace to preach the gospel like John the Baptist, who was an uncompromising preacher, faithful preacher, obedient to God and his word, and was ready to preach the gospel under any condition, was ready to tell the truth to kings, to religious leaders, and to all and sundry. May God help us, in Jesus' name. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We ask for grace to take heed of all your commandments, warnings, promises, and good examples to follow. Give us today our daily spiritual bread and give us grace to forgive at all times. We thank you Lord Father for your faithfulness to your promise and your loving kindness. These and many other masses we ask through your son's name and for his sake. Amen.