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Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3, we're going to
read the first six verses, is the passage of scripture that
the Lord has set in my heart and pray that we might be able
to share something with you that would be of help to you in your
walk with the Lord if you know Him. would be of help to you
if you don't know Him to spur you towards seeking Him and finding
Him for yourself. We've looked at the first two
chapters and we want to begin now chapter 3 of the Gospel of
Luke. Luke writes, In the fifteenth
year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being
governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and
his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Etchuria and Trachonitis,
and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene. During the high priesthood of
Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son
of Zechariah, in the wilderness, and it went to all the region
around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book
of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the
wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low. And the crooked
shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level
ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." I feel it important to continue
to remind us as we make our way through this book of Luke, and
truly I don't know if we'll go all the way through the book
or not. We want to leave that with the Lord, but As we make
our way through it, and as far as we might make our way through
it, I feel it important to always remind us of Luke's intended
purpose in writing. And you know this, we've talked
about it many times now, but his intention was so that Theophilus
might be certain. He states that openly in the
beginning. So everything that you read in the Gospel of Luke
is within the context of Luke talking to Theophilus, in writing
to him, and of course by extension to us, as God has preserved this
Gospel of Luke down to us today and has been deemed, and rightly
so, inspired by the Holy Spirit. And Luke, in writing though,
he says, Theophilus, my desire is that you would be certain,
that you would know, I think that's important to say and important
to remind us, because in much of Christianity it can, and maybe
we might say has become the idea, there is this idea within the
broader context of Christianity that our religion is one about
which one can't be certain. That faith is something that
is nebulous, that is something we can't really grab onto. But
Luke writes differently here, and he says, Theophilus, I'm
writing this so that you can be certain. The Hebrew writer tells us that
faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of
things not seen in chapter 11, verse 1. So you see, there is
a reality to the Christian faith that has at its core a certainty. a certainhood, a confidence. And many today, I think, are
living in a Christian culture that has certainly been attacked
in many ways. Science has been proclaimed to
be at odds with the teaching of the Bible. I don't accept
that premise and we don't have time to get into it today. But
we have this idea that there is that that we can be certain
about in the material world. And somehow over the years, because
this has not always been true, but over the years it has become
the idea that the spiritual world is something that we can't be
certain about. But that's not at all the idea
and the mindset of Luke. He says, Theopolis, I'm writing
these things so that you can be certain. And so we start out
again from that same foundation today in our thought. And if
we had a title today, it would be The Prepared Way of the Lord. The Prepared Way of the Lord. And it is a way about which we
can be certain. And Luke, in writing here again,
notice he spends time referencing, he references the secular rulers
of the day. He says to Theophilus, he's going
to now tell us about John the Baptist. He's going to begin
to write to Theophilus and tell him about him and about the message
that he brought, which was the prepared way of the Lord. But Luke begins and says, Theophilus,
it's when Caesar was in his 15th year. You remember, it's when Pontius
Pilate was governor of Judea. Herod, the son of Herod the Great,
is tetrarch of Galilee. His stepbrother, Philip, is tetrarch
of the region of Etruria and Trachonitis. And Lysanias, tetrarch
of Abilene. By the way, all three of those
areas ruled at one time by Herod's father, Herod the Great, the
one who would put all the babies two years old and younger that
were mailed to death. Well, he's passed away, and now these three,
his sons, are in charge of the area that he was in charge of. And so Luke writes and says,
these are the secular rulers that were in position of power
when John the Baptist came, proclaiming the gospel of the Son of God. And he ties them to that, and
he brings in that historical record. But not only the secular
rulers, Luke references the high priests. And these are things,
again, that can be coordinated back, and study can be done,
and we can find out when this happened. And some have wondered,
about this high priesthood, how can there be two, Annas and Caiaphas? And I don't know that I've got
it all straightened out in my mind, but Annas was the high
priest and Caiaphas was his son-in-law. Annas is still alive. Caiaphas
holds the official office of high priest, but it's much like,
one example we might say here is, it's much like when one of
our presidents of the United States leaves office, we still
call him Mr. President. He still holds that
title in a sense. And Annas is not the high priest,
but he's in a position of great authority and power still. He's
not officially in the role of high priest. Caiaphas is, but
Caiaphas is Annas' son-in-law, and if anybody's ever read anything
about how that might be construed, Annas is probably really the
guy in charge, but Caiaphas is holding the office. And so Luke
is telling Theopolis This is the time that John the Baptist
came and proclaimed the gospel of the Son of God. Now, why did
he do this? Why is this significant? I think
there's an important thought here for us to consider. Why
did Luke and, by the way, so many other writers of Scripture,
why did they take the time to tie their message to a specific
set of historical facts in times and places? Why did they name
specific people? Why did they name specific times
and places? Was it merely to give us a historical
record? No, I don't believe that's why.
In fact, I would say this, history is tricky and it's written by
the way and recorded by all kinds of different people, but I believe,
again, under the heading and the context of remembering why
Luke is writing, To give Theophilus certainty, or at least so that
he might have an opportunity to be certain, I believe these
facts and figures, these dates and times and places and people
and rulers, both religious and secular, it was to encourage
Theophilus to know he can be certain. Go back and reference
it, he might say. Again, we've spoken about this
before, but here's the thought that underlies this in my mind
that I want to present to you today. I believe there is more
involved here than merely providing a historical record. Though it's
helpful, and though it does allow us to go back and retrace the
steps of the New Testament, the reason that these things are
there, I believe, is for a greater reason. You see, the way of the
Lord, which is a prepared way, the way of the Lord is about
more than just a set of ideas and practices. Let me try to
connect that, if I can. You see, if Christianity, the
way of the Lord, we might call those two things the same. In
fact, at one point it was called the way, Christianity. But if
Christianity was merely about ideas and principles, if that's
all it was about, if Christianity was only about bringing to light
the best way for people to live, the best ideas upon which to
base a life, then my proposal to you today, my thought for
you and for me today is that if that's all Christianity is,
then this focus on the historical record in my mind would be largely,
if not entirely, unnecessary. And stick with me in this thought.
I'm going to struggle getting it across, I feel, but we ask
perhaps that the Lord might help us to do the job that's called
upon here. Many religions, this is my point
here, many religions in the world have ideas and practices. Many
do. In fact, probably all of them
do, of course. I don't know how you can have
a religion without ideas and practices that underlie that
religion. But many, if not all, frankly,
of those religions outside of Christianity do not depend or
reference really even a specific time or a specific person. Their ideas and practices are
either all they have or are considered of far greater value than any
historical person or place or time. But here's the point, Christianity
the way of the Lord, which is a prepared way. We are told in
Scripture that at the exact time that God intended for Jesus to
come, at that exact point in history, Christ was sent. You
see, Christianity is about the person of Jesus Christ, the resurrected
Son of God, who is at the right hand of God at this very moment. Jesus gave us in the scripture
many ideas and a number of practices, but he was clear in telling us
that the point of all of those ideas and practices was him. Him. He is the point of Christianity. Christianity is not a mere moral
set of standards. It's not merely an ethical standard,
though it certainly contains elements of both. Christianity
is about Christ. And yes, it is about the ideas
that He presented, but it's only about those ideas because they're
ideas He presented. and that He is the end and the
point of it all. For 4,000 years, God had given the ability for man to see that
there must be a sacrifice in order for sins and offenses against
God to be forgiven. You see that all the way back
in the Garden of Eden. You certainly see it in the entire
law of Moses and the law of the sacrificial system and the feast. It all pointed forward to Christ. But those types and those sacrifices
of the Old Testament the Passover, the sin offerings, and all that
followed the Law of Moses, they all looked forward, and without
Christ, they would be without substance, they would be without
meaning, and they would be without point. And today, we look back
to that same time when Jesus Himself truly died for man's
sin on the cross of Calvary. It's all about Him. It isn't
about the ideas merely. It's about Him. Again, Jesus
does provide many ideas, but He is the point of them all,
and He makes this very clear to us. And I believe that there's
a connection here. Luke writing to Theophilus, and
again, by extension, you and me, and he says, these historical
facts were in play. This is a certain time, and he's
pointing us to the idea that we are looking. He's talking
to us here about John the Baptist, who himself was looking to the
Lamb of God and looking for Him. Jesus Himself makes this clear
that Christianity, if you are to follow Jesus, and here's my
point as I begin today, if you are to follow Jesus, it is Him
you must follow, not merely a subset of His ideas. There's a difference. John, over and over we have these
I am statements of Christ. I want to read them for you today.
Jesus said in John 6, verse 35, I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life. He doesn't
merely provide the bread of life. He is the bread of life. He's
not merely a kind of manna, He is the manna. It is by Him that
we live and move and have our being. It is Him, He says, Jesus
does, I am the bread of life. Not merely the ideas that I espouse
for you, but I myself am the bread of life. In chapter 8,
verse 12 of John, Jesus says this, I am the light of the world. I am. Not merely what I say,
but I am. I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk
in darkness, but will have the light of life, because Jesus
would say, I am the light. In chapter 10, verse 9, Jesus
says, I am the door. I'm the door. I don't merely
point you to the door. I don't merely tell you that
there is a door. I don't merely show you the door. I don't merely bring you to the
door. I'm the door, Jesus says. I am
the door. Heaven, the doorway to heaven,
is only as wide as Jesus, because He is the door. He is the way. He is how we get from here to
there. From here, fallen, sinful man
on this side of eternity, to there, heaven with God and His
people. It's Jesus. John 10, just two
or three verses later, in verse 11, Jesus says, I am the Good
Shepherd. I am. Not merely the way of life
that I give to you, but I am the good shepherd. I am the one
who lays down his life for the sheep. Me. Jesus says. And Luke, writing to Theophilus,
we do connect these two ideas and these thoughts in my own
mind. They came together. Why is he so meticulous? And
why aren't so many other writers meticulous about writing the
history? It's because it all grounds the
reality of the truth is in this person, Jesus Christ. Because you see, if it weren't
about that, you wouldn't need historical detail. If it were
merely about a set of ideas and ethics and morals, you simply
would espouse those ethics and morals. But here, Luke is saying,
no, I'm talking to you about John the Baptist here in chapter
3, who himself is pointing not to merely ideas, but to the Son
of God, Jesus Christ. And there's more at play here.
I think then we could fully understand it without much more time to
discuss it, but let's move on. John 11, verse 25, Jesus said,
I am the resurrection and the life. Me again. I am the resurrection
and the life there in John 11, 25. Whoever believes in me, though
he die, yet shall he live. Believes in what? Him. Believes in Him. Believes in
that Person, the Son of God, who was all man and all God in
the incarnation, come to the earth to be the sacrifice for
sin. And He says to us, I am the resurrection
and the life. And if He could, has not been
plain to this point in John 14, verse 6, He clears away all confusion,
and I believe any argument contrary to what I'm trying to present
to you today, when in John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. I am. Luke is writing and giving these
names. He's talking about Annas and Caiaphas. He's giving you
15th year of Caesar's reign, and Pilate was there, and Philip,
and Lysanias. He's giving these names because
it roots it to the reality of the man Jesus of Nazareth. born of a virgin. At 12 years
old, we've already read about that experience. Just shocking
the teachers of the day with his knowledge. And he's about
ready to come on the scene. But Luke is presenting this and
talking about the prepared way of the Lord. And we'll get to
that in a moment. It is a prepared way, but he's
rooting it in reality. He's rooting it to a person. He's not anchoring it merely
to a set of ideas and principles. You can grab a hold of the ideas
and principles and never grab hold of the person of Jesus Christ.
It's possible. Lastly, in John chapter 15, verse
1, he says, I am the true vine. I am. Now look, it is true that Jesus
taught many ideas and values. Don't misunderstand me. Ideas
matter, words matter. That's why the preacher ought
to strive to speak words to be understood, to present the ideas
that Christ himself presented, because indeed, that's what we've
been told to do, is to go and to teach all the things Jesus
taught. And what Jesus taught, you want
to sum it up, it's more than just words and ideas. He said,
meet You teach them about Me. You tell them, I am the way. Not merely a set of ideas, and
though He gave them to us, and we ought to value them, and learn
them, and understand the ideas He gave, and the practices, by
the way, He gave us to observe. We ought to, and here in one
week we're going to observe one of those practices. If the Lord
delays His coming, we'll be here next Sunday to observe the Lord's
Supper, and that's a practice He gave us to observe. But that
practice and those ideas that He said and that He taught were
to present Himself to us. You know, let's think about this
together for a minute. You can possess a number of the
values and ideas of Christianity and not be Christian. Look, you can be an honest person
and not be Christian. You can be a generous person
and not be Christian. You can be a person of integrity
and not be Christian. You can be a kind person and
not be Christian. You can be, in many ways, aligned
with the ideas and principles of Christianity and miss Christianity
because it's about Jesus and knowing Him and following Him. And we could say the same things
about a number of practices. You can be baptized, a practice
we've been given that Jesus himself submitted himself to. You can
be baptized and not be Christian because it's about the practice
and not the person. Maybe it's about the idea and
not the person. Maybe it's about this or that.
You can attend church, a practice we've been encouraged to do.
Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner
of some is. We're not to forsake this, this
practice of assembling together to worship the Lord and to hear
from Him. But that practice is to bring
us to the person. And if we stop at the practice,
we've missed the person and thus missed the point. Jesus taught
us these things. You know, you can read your Bible,
which is a practice we've been taught, and the Scriptures encourage
us to do. You can do that and not be Christian. I just want to make that point
as we begin here, as we move forward, and we'll move forward
quickly. Luke writing to Theophilus and
bringing in these historical facts, he only brings them in
to establish the veracity of his report because he's going
to talk and present to us Christ himself. He's not going to just
leave Theophilus with a bunch of moral virtues to try to live
his life by. It's not what he's going to do.
If that's all he was doing, would he have needed any historical
fact? He says, no, Theopolis, you should be an honest person.
He could have taught him that without talking at all about
Herod, about Caesar, about Annas. Theopolis, you should be honest.
You should be a man of integrity. You should be one that people
can depend on. He could have done all of that.
He wouldn't have needed to bring in any historical context, I
don't believe. And that is a thought that I
want to present to you today. Now I want to talk to you about
this prepared way of the Lord. And I would ask you, as I frequently
do, to examine your own heart, not before me. It is not going
to be me that one day, sooner or later, you will stand before.
So don't examine your heart before me, but examine it before the
Lord, and maybe even we might say it this way, before yourself,
and be honest. Because this way of the Lord
is a prepared way, it was a prepared way both in its bringing initially
with John the Baptist, and I believe, spiritually understanding it,
the way of the Lord is prepared in our own hearts as well. Luke quoting from Isaiah chapter
40 verse 3 through 5 in the last half of verse 4 through verse
6, and we want to read what Isaiah said. Isaiah chapter 40 verses
3 through 5, a voice cries, In the wilderness prepare the way
of the Lord. make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted
up, and every mountain and hill will be made low. The uneven
ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. The
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." If one was sent like John the
Baptist, or as John the Baptist, we should say, if one was sent
as John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord, then it
stands to reason, does it not, that a preparation was needed,
something needed to be done to prepare the way of the Lord. And I would say to you today
that in your heart and in mine, same or a similar activity follows. There is a preparation that is
needed And the first, as we see, the message that John the Baptist
came proclaiming, let's read it together in verse 3 of our
scripture lesson. John, he went into all the region
around Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness
of sins. That is the message that John
the Baptist came to prepare the way for the Lord, a baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins. There has been unending
debate around that Hebrew word, baptismo or baptistos. The idea, though, seems clear
to me. that the idea behind that word
baptism, baptisma, baptistos, is an immersion. It is the idea
of being completely covered by something. It is to be entirely
engulfed, it's to be consumed, it's to be totally overwhelmed
with something. And so when you have that word
and have that understanding, it's the idea of complete and
not partial immersion into something. And then he says this baptism
into repentance, and repentance has been defined in a number
of ways. I want to read to you. A couple of definitions from
Greek language helps, one you're very familiar with, strongs,
and then launida, Greek lexicon. Strongs defines the word repentance
in the Greek this way, a change of mind, and many have stopped
the definition there. A change of mind. But that is
not where the definition stops. And this is where the rubber
meets the road. Repentance is not just a change of mind. It
is a change of mind that results in a change of life. Laonita says this about this
word, Repentance is to change one's way of life as a result
of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin
and righteousness. That's a lot more than just merely
changing your mind. That's, my life has changed. Your mind was changed, yes, but
the evidence and the demonstration of that change of mind is shown
in a change of life. And I'm not talking works, salvation,
but I'm talking this, it changes you. This baptism of repentance. So let's put these thoughts together
When taken together then, we can read this as an immersion
into repentance for the purpose of finding forgiveness. And so
then, beyond that, to be or to become a Christian, one must
be immersed into a change of mind and heart, we would add,
that leads to a change of thought, because I don't believe you can
have a change of life without a change of heart as well, that change
inwardly, That change of mind that leads to a change of thought,
attitude, and way of life as a result of finding forgiveness
for our sins. That's what John the Baptist
was preaching. That's what he presented to prepare
the way of the Lord. And it's what every preacher,
through time, has done. If they've done their job well
at all, it's the same. It's to prepare the way in the
hearts of those that would hear, and to prepare them with that
idea. We're looking for repentance, for the forgiveness of sins. which is made possible only through
the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. In fact, in Acts 20,
verse 21, We read this, Paul says to the
Ephesians, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance
toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who paid
our penalty and offers us forgiveness, the person of Jesus Christ. Listen, an idea can never forgive
you. a moral principle can never wash
away your sins. A mere ethic worldview cannot
die and shed blood to pay the penalty of sin established by
God himself. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. and an idea and a principle and
a Christian mindset, even Christian upbringing, these things, if
they miss Christ Himself, miss the entire thing. And I will say this as well about
that. You and I, we haven't offended
an idea. We haven't broken an idea's commandment,
a moral commandment. We've not broken a commandment
of that merely. We have broken and offended the
person of God. And it is through the person
of Jesus Christ that we can find forgiveness for the breaking
of his law. But try as you might all your
days long, you try to live by Christian virtues alone without
finding Christ and knowing Him. You've missed it. I say this as we come toward our
close today in preparing the way of the Lord. So many beautiful
pictures here in the scripture, both certainly in Isaiah when
it was originally written and Luke as he quotes it. He says,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of
the Lord, make his paths straight, every valley shall be filled.
What is he saying there? Every valley is going to be brought
up. No matter how sinful, no matter
how destitute, or no matter how hopeless one might feel, the
message of the gospel fills every valley and brings it up. so that
the Lord's way might be prepared. I don't care how far you might
think you've gone and you think you're too far and too sinful
and too destitute and too wicked and too evil. I would say to
you that you're not far from the kingdom if you recognize
that about yourself. It is those who we're going to
talk about next that I fear are even a further distance from
you, though you may not feel that way. It's those that are
proud on the mountaintop. If you've been low in the valley
and you realize you're destitute and that you're hopeless, then
the gospel, the prepared way of the Lord, will bring the valley
that you're in and fill it in and lift it up to where the gospel
message can be prepared in even your heart. Every valley is going
to be brought up, He says. It shall be filled and every
mountain and hill shall be made low. Now listen, the prepared
way of the Lord to those who might be successful and proud
and admired by others in this life. And no matter how successful
you might be or become in this life, the message of the Gospel
reveals to us our sin and humbles us to a point where we can find
what He said, forgiveness of sin through immersion into repentance
and faith. Every mountain, every proud person
is going to be brought low. Listen, I'm going to leave you
with this. I don't know exactly. I spent some time trying to figure
out how to unravel this idea. It's been in my mind for some
time. You kind of have two choices. You're not going to end up proud.
You're going to be humbled or you're going to be humiliated. There's no end for the human
being for pride. It's going to be destroyed. It's
going to be ripped right out from underneath you when the
King of Kings and the Lord of Lords comes again. That's our
choice. The mountain's gonna be brought
low, the valley's gonna be filled in, and now what do we have?
We have those so low and destitute and brought up to the point that
they can see that Christ died for them, the proud have been
humbled, and guess what? Both of those people now are
on a level playing field, are they not? This is what the prepared
way of the Lord does. It brings those high, low, and
those low, high, and brings them together. The crooked, we're
told, the crooked shall become straight. The word crooked in
the Hebrew, the way it was said there in the Old Testament and
in the Greek, it's winding. These winding paths. There are
many crooked paths in life. There are. You can take them.
Maybe you have. Paths that weave and change.
Again, likely many, if not all of us, have followed one or more
of these winding paths that the enemy would set before us, but
the prepared way of the Lord gets rid of the winding path
and makes it straight. The message of the Gospel provides
for us a straight path, one that is certain, and one that is a
path by the way straight to heaven. And this is the path that we
go to. And so we live our lives in this way, the prepared way
of the Lord, when it's been prepared in our own hearts, we realize
that we're headed to heaven. And that path is from point A
to point B. And there are all kinds of crooked
ways that we can get involved in in life that wind around.
And by the way, they wind and they go this way and that way. And there's some new thing that
some new star or some new starlet, some new idea, some new social
media platform, some new thing that winds you around and winds
you around. And after a while, if you live
long enough, you're going to find yourself in the exact same
place you were when you started. No better off. No further down
the road. But the child of God who has
had the prepared way of the Lord made in their heart, they're
making a path to heaven. and the works that they do in
this life. They lay up treasures in heaven.
The things as they get sidetracked on the winding path, they're
going to be that wood, hay, and stubble that Paul wrote about.
They're going to disappear. And those treasures that we have
down here, by the way, and we should remember, we're going
to enjoy our treasures in heaven where the path ends, not merely
here. It's like this almost. I thought
about this as I was driving yesterday. It's like, either yesterday or
even driving down the week before, I don't remember, this idea came.
These heavenly treasures that we seek in our life, it's like
God wraps them up, packages them, puts an address on them, and
sends them to our forwarding address in heaven. And I'm going
to get to unpack them there, but I may not get to unpack them
here. Just pack them up and send them to my forwarding address
because my forwarding address, my permanent, my residing place
isn't here. And so I don't want my treasures
here. I want them there. The path has been made straight.
The message of the gospel provides us a straight path, one that
is certain, which rings true to Luke's intention to provide
for Theophilus things that can help him to be certain. Scripture
goes on to say, the rough places shall become level. There's all
kinds of things, not only are there winding paths in our life
that lead us away from God, there's paths that have things on them
that would trip us up and cause us to stumble. Rough places, hard to walk in. I'll say this, you try to hold
on to the world, I'll say this even to those of
us who know the Lord. If you know the Lord and you
try to live in this world, you're going to be walking a very rough
path and there's going to be things that you're going to stumble
on again and again and again. The prepared way of the Lord
is one that is not like that, but it makes it, as he says,
level. It's the difference between a
path that you're having to watch every step and get tripped up
seemingly every other step to a path with certain footing.
Solid ground. The steps are certain. The prepared
way of the Lord is also one where blindness to God is ultimately
overcome. The message of the gospel, we
are told here in verse 6, proclaims to all, all shall see the salvation
of God and they shall. They may not be partakers of
it, that's not what it says, is it? It says they shall see
it. You'll see the salvation of the
Lord. The difference is going to be
there will be some separated the right hand of Christ who
partook in that salvation and who became saved and those who
will see it and judged and condemned by it for all of eternity. The prepared way of the Lord
is one where the blindness to God is ultimately overcome to
the point that they see Him and acknowledge Him. The message
of God is proclaimed to all wherever you may be. at whatever point
in time it might be, whether you're in the deep valley of
sin, or on the mountaintop of pride, or you're lost on a winding
and crooked path that leads nowhere, or you're walking through life
continually stumbling on the rough terrain of a fallen world,
or previously blinded to God, the prepared way of the Lord
will make all of that straight and smooth and clear. But it
must be prepared in your heart. You won't see it with these eyes. You'll see evidences that your
eyes can observe, but it's your heart that understands. all of this to ultimately see
the salvation of God. Further scriptural proof or support
of Luke here is found in Titus 2, verse 11, where we read, for
the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.
It's for everyone. Luke is saying to Theophilus,
this is not just for the Jew. It's for all, because all one
day will see. Do you see today, as we close,
the significance of Luke's words in the prepared way of the Lord?
In your own heart, Christianity is about the person of Christ.
It's about Him. John the Baptist was sent to
the nation of Israel to prepare the people for the Lord. John
brought a message of repentance Immersion, baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sins. That's what he brought. That's
what it was about. That's what Luke is writing to
Theopolis and says, hey, I want you to be certain. Here's what
happened. This John the Baptist came, and
this was his message, a prepared way And John was going to prepare
it. And I pray today by the Holy
Spirit of God somehow, if it never has been before, that it
is prepared in your heart, even yet today, perhaps for the first
time, you've been perhaps on a mountain and God has brought
you low to see the truth of the way of salvation. or you've been
in destitute despair. Somebody may be holding something
over you your whole life long, saying you're not good enough
or that you're not following the path the right way, and God
reaches down to you with the Holy Spirit and He convicts you
of sin, but He offers you in that conviction of sin a hope
to finally escape the destitution that you feel without Him. And
He brings in, He fills in the valley, and you stand on level
footing before God. I pray that's happened today.
It's been prepared in your hearts. John brought a message, as we
said, of that immersion of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
How can we make it so trivial in our preaching and teaching?
When John the Baptist came with such a weighty message, look,
this repentance is going to change your life because you're going
to find forgiveness from God. You're not merely going to be
aligned with a set of ideas. You're going to be in fellowship
with a person, the person of God in Jesus Christ. This message
is available to all of us, to you and to me. And by the way,
I would say this as well, it's available to that person who's
crossing your mind right now. It's available to them. It's available. God sent John
the Baptist to prepare Israel and prepare a people for the
Lord when he came. And we've already preached a
sermon from this same Gospel of Luke, John's calling and ours,
to announce the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and to share
the prepared way of the Lord. I pray that your heart and your
life has been, you've found this prepared way. This way that leads
to repentance and faith and forgiveness. Through forgiveness is what will
set you free. And an idea can never forgive you. Only Jesus
can do that.
The Prepared Way of the Lord
Series The Gospel of Luke
| Sermon ID | 472511455681 |
| Duration | 46:30 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Luke 3:1-6 |
| Language | English |
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