Father, we thank you so much for the many blessings you bestow upon us. We thank you for Fellowship Bible Church and the fellowship that we have with each other and with you. I pray, Lord, we'd be very careful to maintain that. I thank you for the great love that we have shown for one another. And I thank you for Dalton in particular and excelling at his workbook and doing very well, paying attention. We thank you for William as well. And we thank you so much for the time that we have now to study your word. We thank you for the gospel of Matthew and the powerful truths that are contained within his message, as we just sung about, demonstrating that Jesus Christ is the King. And we pray, Lord, that your plan would continue to be Worked out through the church and we long for the day when your kingdom is established on the earth and perfect righteousness prevails But until then I pray we'd be found faithful. I pray for our time now I pray for the blessing of the reading and exposition of your word in Jesus name. Amen All righty, well if you have your Bible go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 3 Matthew chapter 3 kind of making some good progress into the book of Matthew. Granted, we will probably have some times during the series that we will enjoy getting bogged down with looking at some of the details. Chapter 5 through 7 in particular I think will be a good campsite for us to set up shop and explore the powerful truths in that passage. But for those who are visiting or haven't been for a while since we started Matthew, I would summarize the gospel of Matthew as essentially, why did the king come, but not the kingdom? And I know there's a lot of confusion around the world. Maybe you've said this or heard this, people saying, let's go build the kingdom. And that sounds fun, right? It's exciting. After all, Jesus Christ is our King, right? And anything that He does is influenced in this world, should that not appropriately be said to be His Kingdom. And it sounds fun, and it sounds good, but it's not biblical. We are not called to build His Kingdom. If you look at the concept of the Kingdom, God Himself will build it. And He'll do it quite handily, as I might add. And so Matthew deals with the question of, okay, if Jesus Christ is the King, why did He come, but not the Kingdom that we were promised after all He would bring to us? Where is that Kingdom? And so the Gospel of Matthew sets out to answer that question. Of course, much of that answer will come later. But as of right now, we've been looking at and focusing on The King has come! He's been born! He's here! This special baby boy, born through supernatural means, where a virgin was caused to conceive by the Spirit of God, has now delivered, and we have the King. But we take a major step in the narrative to where I believe we fast forward to the adult years, not necessarily dealing with Jesus in this immediate text, but a man closely associated with Jesus, John the Baptist. By the way, Baptist is not his last name. That's just his profession. John the baker, John the candlestick maker, John the warrior, warrior, not worrier. There's a funny story about that I'll have to tell sometime. The candy man. So with that, there's an outline of the book of Matthew. There's two main parts. The king has come chapter 1 through chapter 13. The kingdom has not. 13 through 28 sets out to answer that and explain why the kingdom did not come and namely because Israel rejected their Messiah. Now we're seeing the Incarnation in the preparation of the king. We're in the first section. There's seven sections that I'm following Dr. Stanley to Saints seven main divisions in his commentary, which is a phenomenal commentary and we're in that first main division of the incarnation and Preparation of the king the incarnation we've dealt with that's essentially God the creator of heaven and earth and taking up residence on this earth in the form of a fragile baby boy. What we just celebrated with communion is reflecting upon that, not just the connotation of the cross, which I appreciate Jonathan's comments on that, but the humbling himself by becoming a man. Taking on flesh setting aside the individual use of his divine attributes. What in the world does that mean? Well, we'll get to that more Ahead he's fully God and fully man and he's come to be the promised king But he's also come to be the Savior even though that truth is veiled to his audience right now the title of this message is being prepared for the kingdom and being prepared for the kingdom. It's good to be prepared, right? John the Baptist, his chief end, his main goal, his ultimate mission was to prepare Israel for their Messiah and their messianic kingdom. I think that even though Matthew is written to Jews, and it's written to Jews under a certain context about to receive their kingdom, and we are not necessarily Jews, some of us may be, I think Ancestry says I'm 5%. I don't know if that's enough to claim it. Even though we're not Jewish and there is currently not on the table an offer of the kingdom, this message I think has a lot of application for us. Are we being prepared in the ways that we should be prepared for the coming kingdom that God will establish on this earth? Are we doing what God has called us to do? that we might receive the rewards, our inheritance, when that kingdom arrives. We'll highlight those things as we go. There's four parts to this message. The messenger, verses 1 and 4 deal with that. The message, verse 2. The prophecy related to the messenger, verse 3. We know Matthew's made a big deal about prophecy. All these events that he's telling us about were something we were already told about centuries prior. And then we see the reception. What is the reception to this messenger of God? And we see that in verses five and six. So starting in with the messenger, verse one, just to read it. In fact, let me read the text in its entirety. 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 locusts 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." Now this is a short passage, but there are so many concepts within this passage that need dealt with. What is repentance? What is the kingdom of heaven? What is baptism? And oh, by the way, speaking of baptism, we're taking the opportunity over the next couple weeks, since we're going to be talking about baptism in Matthew's commentary or gospel, that we would like to have a baptism service. There are some of you that have expressed the desire to be baptized, and so once we finish this teaching, while we're going through this teaching in chapter 3, if you would like to be baptized and never have been baptized, please contact me or one of the other elders, and we can get you set up. We want to take you through a study of baptism so that you know that baptism is not at all for salvation. If you have never been dunked under water, but you have believed, you are saved. Believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, of course. You are saved. Baptism does not save you. Baptism does not give you special powers. Baptism might clean you, right? Make you nice and washed and clean. But otherwise, baptism serves the same function as communion. It's a remembrance. It's a declaration. Communion, we declare the death of Christ for us. Baptism, we declare our new life in Him. Being crucified with Christ. Our penalty being paid by Christ. And His result being gifted to us as a free gift. Free for us, not for Him, right? And so, with that being said, if that is something you would like to do following the steps of obedience of believers' baptism, We would love to celebrate with you. And by the way, I know this time of year might not be exciting to talk about being dunked underwater, but we do have heated water. So our baptismal service behind me will be quite warm. So fear not. When we were on our internship in Michigan, we baptized a guy in Lake Superior. And even though it was summertime, the water never gets above 40 degrees. Just real quick We almost lost him So if you know anything about oceans or large lakes, there's waves, right? So me and my mentor pastor were baptizing this guy. He's a large fellow and We went down we you know I baptized you in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit and we went down as the waves went out. Oh We can't hold him that much longer. We got to go lower we go lower and guess what happens and Waves come back, bowls us over. Thankfully, we had some good footing, but we got them up quickly. And there's a lot of fun baptism stories I've heard from my professors at Frontier that over the course of my ministry, I'll share and we can laugh together. So the messenger of John the Baptist, first of all, we see the timing in verse one, in those days, Now, in those days is essentially a general time designation. It's not giving us a specific time. I don't think he's really looking at the relative nearness of in those days of him as a child. I think he's now jumping to the later part of or really the beginning of Jesus's ministry. Jesus is now an adult. John is now an adult. And we're now picking up on a new narrative path. And so with that, there's a lot of things that we might be curious about, right? What was it like for Jesus as a child? What was it like for Mary and Joseph? How blessed, right? A perfectly obedient child, sleeps through the night, who knows? I'm sure, being human, he had the same types of issues. Those things aren't necessarily sin. Although if you are a parent, you know and see the sin nature within your children. But that was not there for Christ. So what did it look like? What happened? Well, we're not told. So this is a general time designation moving us forward in history. And then we see the man, John the Baptist is his name. And then jumping down to verse 4, we get a description of this man. It says, now John himself was clothed in camel's hair. Okay, why are we hearing about his apparel? What does that have to do with anything? I would say everything. Because Matthew is very intentional about everything he shares with us. And what he's sharing with us now is that John was not well-dressed. John was not wealthy. John was not influential in the religious leadership sense. Much of what Matthew does is try to expose the foolishness of the religious leaders of that day. The hypocrisy of the religious leaders of that day. The unfaithfulness of the religious leaders of that day. They were worthless shepherds, as the Old Testament would call them. And so we get a glimpse of John. He was unassuming. He wore camel's hair clothes. We also hear that he, with a leather belt, had it around his waist. Now if you compare this with 2 Kings 1.8, for sake of time, we won't go there. But who is talked about in 2 Kings 1? Does anyone know? Elijah. Intimately related to the prophecy of the forerunner of the Messiah Elijah shall come and herald the kingdom and So I think in poetic beauty and perfection John fulfills that number three and his food was locusts and wild honey. Okay. Why do we have to know what he ate? Oh Locusts, that's a bug. That can't be permissible under the Mosaic law, can it? Certain locusts were. And wild honey was also, obviously, kosher, if you will. And that was his diet. In other words, we're getting a description that he was poor, but he also was very intent on living under God's law and obeying what was required of the Israelites at that point in time in history. What are some other things that we can learn about John? Well, we'll have to go outside of this text to Luke. Luke gives us a lot more details. And in Luke chapter 1, 11 through 17, we get the angelic message to Zachariah, or Zacharias, the priest. And while Zachariah was functioning as a priest, He was praying, and I believe he was praying that he would be able to have a child with his son. And while he was praying, an angel appears, and it's at the right hand of the altar. Now there's a rabbinical tradition that said, you know, an angel appearing at the right hand of the altar meant certain death and destruction. And so when we see that Zacharias is initially scared, there's a good reason. Not only that this appearance of an angel, which we see other individuals are terrified, but he now knows, I'm about to die. Also remember where he's at in the temple. The holiness of God. He's thinking, I must have sinned somehow. In fact, they used to tie a rope to the high priest around his ankle so that when he went in and offered the offering on the altar, and he died because of his own sin, he could be pulled out and not desecrate the temple any further. And so that's a little bit of the background, but this angelic message, there's 10 points that the angel gives to him. Number one, do not be afraid. He has every reason to be afraid, but the angel says, do not be afraid. Essentially, what I bring to you is good news. Number two, your prayers are heard. That's encouraging, right? Would we love that encouragement, that our prayers are heard? They haven't been answered yet, but it's nice to know that they're getting through, right? Your wife will bear you a son. You shall call his name John. You will have joy and gladness. In other words, he also says, many will rejoice at his birth. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall not drink wine nor strong drink, perhaps alluding to a Nazarite vow that John would have been under. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. Now that's interesting, right? Even from the womb, filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. I think that word many is very interesting. Why didn't he say he will turn the children of Israel to the Lord their God? Perhaps God informed Gabriel the angel that not all Israel will turn to God. He will go before Him, that is the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. That is His job. He is a forerunner. He is a herald. And in the ancient world, kings had heralds. Heralds would go to the town or city before the king arrives and would make the place ready, proper for a king. One that welcomes a king, celebrates a king. That was John's mission. And we'll see him execute that mission. So we see the angelic message. We also know from the book of Luke that he was probably a second cousin to Jesus. How do we know that? Well, it says Miriam and Elizabeth. Miriam is the Hebrew name for Mary. And Elizabeth were cousins. It says relatives. Maybe they were second cousins, third cousins, fifth cousins, who knows? But likely they were relatives and that means Jesus and John were relatives also. He functioned in the role of a prophet, not a priest. So why is he baptizing people? Because he's a prophet and he's the forerunner of the Messiah. Not a member of the Essenes. Does anyone know what the Essenes are? So in the ancient world, in the first century rabbinical religious system, there were different sects of Judaism. One was the Pharisees. We're familiar with that, right? Often spoken of in scripture. The Sadducees. A little less than Pharisees, but we're familiar with that. And then there were also the Essenes. The Essenes were somewhat of a... I knew I was going to do this. I was thinking about it all week. It's not, is it asceticism? Is that the right word? I don't know if I'm using the right word. They were, they basically denied themselves pleasures of the world, you know, those types of things. And so some see the language of, oh, John was dressed with camel hair. He ate locusts and wild honey. He was an Essene, one of the ascetics, very holy. He wasn't. Similarity is not sameness, right? I've said that before. It's a very important rule. Just because something is similar does not mean it is same. He is not a member of the Essenes. But he is a prophet. And he's come to do and speak for the Lord. To declare his word to Israel. He came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Now, preaching isn't really a great translation of that word. The word really means declaring or heralding. It's not giving the idea that he was pontificating or sermonating. He was simply declaring, heralding the arrival of the Messiah. Preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Functioning, essentially, as the prophets of old did. Now, interestingly, the wilderness of Judea. What relationship does Israel have with the wilderness? That's where they came from, right? You could say perhaps born out of the wilderness, about to enter their promised land, receive the full promise of their blessings. I think that this is intentionally mentioned by Matthew, not only that John started preaching in the wilderness, but we're going to see in chapter 4 very interesting things with Jesus' temptation, which was where? Oh, the wilderness. There's some other highlights that I think are very worth highlighting and very intentional by Matthew concerning Jesus' temptation. And I think the connotation of the coming kingdom is very much on Matthew's mind. So he was functioning as the prophets of old did. And so to summarize and apply, Matthew now moves us into the near context of Christ beginning his earthly ministry. So we fast forward, I believe they would have been about 30 years old in the first century. 30 years old is when essentially people's careers began. Prior to that, it was somewhat of an apprenticeship type society where you would apprentice under a father or another person and learn the trade. And then at 30, you either branch off and start your own trade or something of that nature. And so it's interesting that Jesus, being an apprentice of a carpenter, doesn't become a carpenter. He becomes a teacher, a rabbi. It's really interesting to think about, because the rabbis have been training their entire lives for this. And Jesus didn't go through that same type of training, necessarily. Same time, he didn't have to, right? But we do see glimpses of some of the questions he asks, Right? When he spends time in the temple and confounds the wise rabbis. John the Baptist prepares the way for the king. That's his mission, that's his job, and that's his goal. John the Baptist led a humble life. John the Baptist was a prophet. John was completely devoted to God. entirely. I think we see that in the Nazarite vow, perhaps Nazarite vow. He doesn't drink wine or strong drink, not because wine and strong drink are sinful, but because according to the Nazarite vow, those were restrictions so that they would be devoted entirely to God. John was not associated with any of the religious leaders or the rabbinic groups. That's very important to get, by the way. Because as we make this transition to the earthly ministry of Christ and the earthly ministry of John, we're going to start to see the sites, if you will, focus on the religious leaders. They are enemy number one. They are leading the Israelites astray. They are what stands in the way of the kingdom, essentially. And we're going to see that become more in focus as we continue. So now we see the message, the message of John, verse 2. Well, starting in verse 1, it says, And saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So there's two parts to his message. Repent, and then the reason for the repent is for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What does repent mean? Metanoeite is the word, it's the imperative form the verb form of metanoeo. It's a present active imperative second person plural, if that impresses anybody. But the imperative means it's a command. The second person is talking to them, someone other than himself. Plural means it's more than one. So it's literally all, you all must repent is his message. It's a command. You all must repent. Okay, but what does repent mean? Well, BDAG, Bauer, Dank, Art, and Gingrich, the Greek lexicon, their first lexical gloss is change one's mind. Their second is a bit more theological, and it means to feel remorse, repent, or be converted. Not as much as some other lexicons like to do with this word. But what I'm alluding to is that this word, I think, has suffered probably the most abuse of any Greek word in scripture. What does repent mean? You know, you've all seen the movies or TV shows of the guy on the sandwich board sign. Repent, the world is ending. What does that mean? How do I do that? Lidell and Scott, also a Greek lexicon, they also look at kind of more of a historical, maybe etymological approach to words. Perceive afterwards is their first gloss. Change one's mind or purpose is their second gloss. And their third one is feel remorse, repent, and be converted. So very similar to BDAG. The basic idea of the word I think very much is change one's mind or literally it's to think again. Some say perhaps a better translation is reconsider. Now the issue with what is the right translation of this word is words don't work that way, unless it's a technical term. And very few technical terms exist, and I don't think repent is one of them. It might have some technical baggage to it, but otherwise it's like any word. It has a basic definition, and the second half of that definition is supplied by what? Context. Always context. Always. context is king, always. So what does repent mean? Well, what is the context? And we'll look at that. Old Testament usage is by majority used of God repenting. So whatever our understanding of repentance is, we have to understand that this word is used of God doing it in the Old Testament. So if we're talking in some pardon my language, knuckleheads, like to say that repent means turning from sin. Now it might, if the context alludes to that, but the word itself doesn't mean that. And if we say that's what repentance means, we're saying that that's what God did. God turned from sin? Nonsense. Often the Old Testament usage means simply return, and has the covenant obligations in view. And that makes good sense, right? The Old Testament prophets go and declare to Israel, repent, or in other words, return. In what way, prophet? To your obligations. You made a covenant with God and you broke them. Return now to your God and follow Him. Return. And I think this is a very important contextual point in consideration of how John uses the term. New Testament usage is only speaking of a changed behavior when the context clearly alludes to that result of a changed mind. Now, we'll look at next week that I think this context, at least when John applies it to the Scribes and Pharisees, does bear fruit worthy of repentance. In other words, why are you here, you brood of vipers? Go bear fruit that demonstrates that you're here for right reasons. But John knows that they're not. More on that next week. But the context must determine if a turn or burn type of understanding of repent is included. And oftentimes that context just simply isn't there. And if it is in a salvation context, I believe repent can essentially be synonymous with believe. You're considering or reconsidering or turning and considering Christ and believing in Him. Maybe it's a change of mind in the sense of your understanding of Christ. Change it to who He is, really. What He did for you on the cross. The basic meaning is change of mind and the context determines what mind change is in view. Now the second part of His message, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Well, the context of repent is contained within the context of the kingdom. Matthew does not provide any definition of the kingdom of heaven. That's interesting. It's kind of an important term, right? Whenever you come across an important term, maybe you're reading a novel and an important word is used by the author, they almost must define it for you, right? Or else you're lost the entire time that he uses that word. Matthew doesn't do that. Is it because the kingdom is what you make it to be? Whatever you want it to be, whatever your wildest dream is, that is the kingdom. My kingdom is... Is that what he intends to do? No. You don't provide a definition unless you're talking to people that don't know, right? So I think the context of the kingdom is already known by his Jewish audience. He doesn't need to define it. When he says the kingdom of heaven is at hand, they know what he means. And that's because his primary audience is Jewish. No definition is needed because it is supplied by the context of the Hebrew Scriptures. The message of repent, or I would say better, return, is intertwined with the future Kingdom of Israel. And to demonstrate this, go to Deuteronomy chapter 30, if you will. Deuteronomy chapter 30. Deuteronomy is the book of the land covenant or the real estate covenant. Giving a brief history or overview, God made a covenant to Abraham, land, seed, and blessing. God makes a covenant with the nation of Israel with the Mosaic Law. It's a conditional covenant. Attached to that, and a sibling covenant is made with the wilderness generation that's about to enter the land, and it's spoken of in the book of Deuteronomy, where the law is repeated. And they make a covenant with God. And this covenant is in addition to the Mosaic Covenant. It's got conditional and unconditional qualities to that. It makes it somewhat challenging or confusing for us if we're trying to get everything right in our thinking. Essentially, the book of Deuteronomy lays out that the land is unconditionally Israel's, given to them by God. That's why there's an issue in our world today right now, right? But I like to emphasize, it's not Israel's land, it's God's land. And He's given it to them. Now, Deuteronomy talks about how Israel will experience the blessings of living in the land. And that is if they obey the Mosaic Covenant. If they obey, God will bless them. If they disobey, God will punish them. If they continue to disobey, He'll continue to punish them. If they continue to disobey to the fifth degree, He will kick them out of His land. They are evicted. And that happened to Israel on a couple different occasions. But now they're back. And listen to chapter 30 verses 1 through 10. 28 through 30, by the way, is what lays out the blessings and the cursing. I think it's really important for us to understand, but there's a prophetic significance to this. And notice it as you listen, as I read, starting in verse 1 of chapter 30. Now it shall come to pass when all these things come upon you. the blessings and the curse which I have set before you and call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you and you return to the Lord." That word is the Hebrew equivalent of the word repent. You return, shub I believe is the Hebrew word, to the Lord. to the Lord your God and obey His voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children with all your heart and with all your soul. That the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and that you may live. Verse 6 there is alluding to another covenant that God will make, has not made yet, but has promised it, called the New Covenant. That covenant has not been made with Israel. Because that covenant is made with Israel. It hasn't happened. It's spoken of here. Verse 7, Also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, and on those who hate you and persecute you. And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all his commandments. Why? Because the New Covenant, which I command you today. The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as he has rejoiced over your fathers if you obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law and if you turn same word that the word repentance comes from to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul So the message of repentance is intimately related to this message of calling Israel to return to their covenant obligations, to return to their God. And if they return to their God, what happens? Well, at this point in time that Moses is speaking of, God will initiate the new covenant. He will circumcise their hearts. He will write His law on their heart. They will have the supernatural ability to obey the law. That, I believe, is the context of John's message. That time, I believe, was available to the nation of Israel in the first century. But they rejected. And we'll talk more about that as we go through. This message would have been a sharp confrontation with the rabbinical teachings prevalent in Jewish society, hence the Sanhedrin investigation in verse 6. What are you talking about Sanhedrin investigation? Well, verse 7, going back to Matthew. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, why were they there? We'll talk about this next week, but Arnold Fruchtenbaum talks about that this was a major event that was happening in Israel. It had a spiritual connotation. The Sanhedrin overseeing spiritual affairs in Israel were obligated to investigate. So they sent ambassadors to go see what in the world is going on. Why are people being baptized? And they go, and I think they're perhaps trying to play dumb, blend in a little bit, and John sees right through them. Who warned you, brood of vipers, to flee from the coming wrath? I'm excited for next week, by the way. But this message would have been a sharp confrontation. The rabbinical leaders, the teachers, they thought, we're doing good. We are righteous. And this is the context, by the way, of why Jesus says your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Well, how can we possibly have righteousness that exceeds it? Well, by first realizing true righteousness and where it comes from. And the only way to get it is by faith. Summary application, John announces that the prophesied kingdom is at hand. The necessary Jewish preparation for the kingdom is to repent or to return. Which again, that's why it's a sharp contrast. They think they're fine. They think they're God's people doing everything right. And they're going to have a rude awakening because John now is declaring return. And they'd be thinking, return from what? Now we're going to look at the response. I think it implies that they know. They know. Not all of them, but some recognize. Yeah, we've wandered. We're not where we should be. We need to return. The Jews are being called to return to their covenant obligations and prepare for the Messiah and the ensuing blessings contained in the Abrahamic Covenant. I believe that what Moses spoke of in Deuteronomy 30 is describing that when a future generation of Israel returns to the Lord with their whole heart, The new covenant will be made and the full blessings of the Abrahamic covenant will be actualized, realized, instituted, fulfilled. And I believe that's the very heart of Jesus' message of the Sermon on the Mount. We'll talk about that, of course, in a few weeks from now. The prophecy concerning John the Baptist. We see the forerunner, verse 3, for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. And then the forerunner prophecies. First of all, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. It speaks to that herald ministry of, we make the way clear, ready for a king. This quote is from Isaiah 40 verse 3, but I want to go to Malachi. So if you go to the book of Malachi for a moment, where some say the first Italian prophet, Malachi, I want to just give a summary of Malachi 3-4. First of all, a review of chapter 1. If you have a Bible that has headings, you might see something to this effect. We see God's great love for Israel, spoken of in chapter 1. And yet we see Israel's polluted offerings. The context of Malachi's message and book is so similar to the context that John and Jesus are speaking of. Which I think that's why I wanted to go here. I think that's for a reason. John is the promised forerunner. Chapter 2 talks about the corrupt priests. Now that didn't happen in the first century. None of the priests were corrupt, right? When we get to Jesus' crucifixion, we're going to highlight every single area that they broke the law. And it was many. It also talks about national disloyalty. They abandoned their God. Now we come to chapter 3, and I want to read verses 1-7, and just understand the context of Matthew, and everything I've said thus far. This is God speaking, Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in the former years. And I will come near you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners, and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien. Because they do not fear Me, says the Lord of hosts. For I am the Lord, I do not change. Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you." That is the concept of repentance. This is exactly the context of John. He's preparing them. And it's interesting. We'll talk about this more. Yes, it's all exciting. The king is here. But do you know what that also meant for the Jewish mind? The kingdom can't come unless the day of the Lord. So if he's the herald of the kingdom, the day of the Lord is about to happen. And I believe the day of the Lord could have happened in the first century upon Israel's acceptance. And I believe that the remnant of Israel, the believers within Israel, would have been saved and preserved and delivered from the physical judgment. But then the great refining would have also taken place where all the unbelieving Israel would have been judged. God's wrath poured out. But because the nation didn't accept, the remnant was still delivered and preserved. There was a judgment on that generation. But the day of the Lord was postponed to a later period of time that is yet future even for us. But that's the context here. Now I want to go to chapter 4. Real quick reading verse 1-6. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven. And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly, will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear my name, the Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings, and you shall go out and grow fat like a stalled-fed calf. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this, says the Lord of hosts. Remember the law of Moses. We'll come back to this. I think this is important in light of the context of the Sermon on the Mount. Verse 4, Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children of the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." So this is the context of John's ministry. He is this promised forerunner. And that's why when the religious leaders come out, he asks them, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? I've got a letter here from God about the coming wrath, and guess who it's addressed to? You. Unless you return. And so we're seeing these types of foreshadowings by Matthew brilliantly written in his book. All that to say, Matthew connects John with the promised kingdom herald. Another fulfillment of prophecy given centuries before the birth of this baby John, who grew up and to do exactly what the prophecy said he would do. Summary application, John is the forerunner to the Messiah. John, as forerunner, prepares Israel for her Messiah. Preparation involves returning to the Lord and His law. Remember that passage in Deuteronomy 30. The law is related to Israel's return. Returning involves the symbolic significance of baptism. Jesus will deal with the law in Matthew 5-7. Then we get the reception. The people, verse 5, then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan, the response went out to him, and were baptized by him in the Jordan. There are different types of baptism. We'll discuss this more in the coming weeks, but I want to just focus here on this one. This baptism signifies identification and it symbolizes cleansing, ritualistic cleansing. But the key there is identification. The ones being baptized are essentially identifying with John's ministry and who he will announce as the Messiah. That's why the explanation between why Jesus had to be baptized by John was crucial. And why Jesus says this is to fulfill all righteousness. You are the herald to the Messiah. You will identify who the Messiah is. I must be baptized by you. And then God will reveal to you who the Messiah is. And oh, you see that with the Holy Spirit descending like a dove upon him. And then the voice from heaven speaking, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. and confessing their sins. This baptism also signifies the recognition of their need to be purified in light of the coming kingdom and preceding day of the Lord. Again, the context of Malachi. This signifies their desire to return to the Lord. Those being baptized are trying to do that. They want to return to the Lord. And with the corrupt priesthood and the corrupt religious system, this was necessary. So in conclusion, the initial response in Israel to the Messiah was enthusiastic. All in Jerusalem, all in Judea, all the countryside, they were coming out and being baptized. That's why the religious leaders said, we gotta get on top of this, send men now, go see what's going on, we're losing them. They were excited, until they weren't. And we'll investigate, why did they stop being excited? Some of it had to do with some of the teachings of Christ. Similar to downstairs, right? The dream of Joseph. We like God's word when it has good things, but what if it's things that are hard to hear? What's our response? Their initial response was enthusiastic. Don't forget, though, what Matthew has already foreshadowed. Right? Herod, the Magi, Gentile response to the birth of the king, the Jewish response. There's already been some foreshadowing that's alluding to things aren't probably going to go as we might expect or might hope. The civilian populace appears to be willing to return to the Lord. They're being baptized. They're confessing their sins. They're recognizing their need to return. Challenge for us under the doctrine of fellowship that the church dispensation believer is under do we quote return I? Think there's an application there for us We're saved by faith alone in Christ alone You're eternally secure in him congratulations, I don't know if you knew that or not you need to as Believers we can either enjoy fellowship with God or not and And our fellowship is enjoyed when we do what God says in His Word. What is required of us. Not for salvation, but because of it. And the blessing of fellowship follows that. It's what's meant by abiding in Christ. And so under the doctrine of fellowship that we are under, do we return when we break fellowship with God? Do we confess our sins? Because that's all that's required, right? For us to return. If we break fellowship with God, we walk in darkness, and we want to walk in the light, what do we do? Bring our sin into the light. We confess our sins, which literally say the same thing. And He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Another challenge to this, how can we prepare ourselves for the coming kingdom? A lot transpires from the context of Matthew to our understanding now of God's kingdom program. But we understand that apparently the church will rule and reign with Christ, and that's dependent upon the deeds done in the body. Are we preparing for the Kingdom? Are we doing what God has called us to do? Again, not for salvation, but for rewards in Heaven. And more importantly, for glorifying our Savior and our Creator. It's all about Him. As we looked at downstairs, we have to get this mindset that's automatically by default in us that we think it's about us. It's not. You have a Creator that loves you. He sent His Son to die for you. He longs to establish His perfect righteous kingdom, so that all this stupid nonsense that we as wicked human beings do on this earth will stop. But we have an opportunity, friends, to share the Gospel with our fellow stupid human beings, and save them, and save others, and save others. Do we do that? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this passage. We thank you for Matthew. We thank you for revealing yourself to us through your word. And we thank you for your great love. And I pray, Lord, that we would learn loyalty to you and to walk in obedience, thanking you for the free gift of eternal life through faith alone in your son. It's in his name we pray. Amen.