I invite you to turn in your copy of God's Word to the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 3. We're going to be looking at the first 12 verses. Matthew 3. We'll look at the first 12 verses. You know, whenever you meet someone for the first time, when you have the expectation of being introduced to a new person, that comes with a certain level of anticipation and expectation as to whether the experience will be good or bad. And so, when you're ready to meet a new person, there can be a certain level of uncertainty or fear even, even anxiety. Or of course, it can also be quite, you know, you might be quite eager or there might be joy. You ask the question, what is he going to be like? Or what will she think of me? When you meet a person for the first time, these are the kind of things that go through our mind. Of course, meeting a person can also be life changing. Like when you meet that person who's going to be your future spouse or a teacher who will turn out to be a lifelong mentor. Those could be positive experiences. But sometimes meeting someone for the first time can be somewhat negative, like when you meet that medical specialist who's bringing bad news, or when you are invited to come speak with the HR director, even in the midst of layoffs in your company. What Matthew is doing in the passage that we're about to read today is that he is introducing us to Jesus for the first time. We've seen the birth narratives of Jesus, but for the first time we're going to meet the adult Jesus. And I'm going to tell you now, it's going to be a truly life-changing introduction. Now, will it be positive? Will it be negative for you? Well, that's wholly up to you. But when we look at Jesus, And we see the kind of person that he is. It is a transformative experience. Some of you have heard me say that there's no more dangerous person you can meet than Jesus Christ. Because once you have been introduced to him, you must respond. You simply cannot walk away and act as if you have not met him. When we think of Jesus, nobody today is more on the lips on people's lips the words they say in Jesus. You hear people everywhere saying Jesus, Jesus all the time. More than Great Scott or by George. And if for that reason alone at least the name Jesus is familiar to so many people. But do they really know who they so casually throw out as a name? Do you know the real Jesus? Back in the early 2000s, there was a hit TV show called CSI, Crime Scene Investigators. And some of you will remember that the theme song at the beginning of the show would belt out the question, who are you? Who, who, who, who, who are you? We really wanna know, right? That's how the theme song went. And in the episode that follows, the crime scene investigators would piece together the evidence from the crime scene so that they can discover who it was that had committed the crime. Well, in the same way when we are met with Jesus, when we're confronted with him, millions of people ask the same question. Who are you? We really want to know. You see, this is the question for the age. Who is this Jesus? This man who is called Jesus is the most influential person in all of history. Many people think they know who he is. But have they really examined the evidence? Have they examined these historical documents that we have here in the Gospels? I mean, what is it that you really know about Jesus? The most talked about, the most debated, the most controversial, the most revered person ever, who has ever lived. Some people think that he's a rebel. Others believe that he is just a very kind teacher. Some say that he's a mystic or a Marxist or a lunatic. And in this respect, there are so many different Jesuses out there. But all of those opinions are in fact based on hearsay, not on the actual evidence. So what we're going to do as we continue through the Gospel of Matthew is we're going to look at that evidence, we're going to examine it together so that you can discover the real Jesus for yourself. Let's start doing that today, looking at chapter 3, we'll look at the first 12 verses. Hear now the word of God. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruit and keeping with repentance? And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the shaft he will burn with unquenchable fire. With us far, the reading of God's word. May he bless it to our hearing, especially as it's preached to us this morning. So as we come back now to the gospel of Matthew after being away for a few weeks, what is it that this gospel tells us about Jesus, the most important person whom you will ever meet? Well, let's start with the fact that this very book is called a gospel, because the word gospel simply means good news. And the New Testament writers weren't the ones who came up with that term. It was actually a term already in use in antiquity. It was used to announce a historical event that had occurred. Something that introduced a new situation to the world. So you might have them announcing, for example, when Caesar Augustus had defeated his enemies. And by defeating them, he had then assumed the throne. He had conquered the throne and taken the place of Julius Caesar. That was considered the gospel, the good news, a retrospective looking back at something that had happened. But the New Testament writers, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, when they wrote what we call their Gospels, used the word and gave it a unique twist. It wasn't just a looking back, there was a looking forward. It was a proclamation of not just a historical reality, but a theological reality. Something that was so significant that it actually created a whole new genre of literature, which we call the Gospels. And so, what is then this good news that this particular Gospel of Matthew proclaims? He answers for us the question of who is this Jesus? And as he does that throughout the book, he begins to help us answer that question by giving us the messenger, that is Jesus' forerunner, John the Baptist. So as we look at this passage today, we're gonna see three things. We're going to see the messenger, the message, and the Messiah. We're gonna see the messenger, John the Baptist, who is he? We're gonna look at his message and what he had to say about Jesus. And then we're going to look at Jesus himself as we look at the Messiah. So let's look at the first point, the messenger. And he opens the passage by telling us, in those days, and in those days now refers to the time when Jesus is an adult. We've left the birth narratives behind, Jesus is now grown, and so this places this event somewhere around the time of AD 25. Now, you know, we know that Jesus is roughly 30 years of age, and you might say, well, why not AD 30? And that's because Jesus was actually born somewhere around either 4 or 5 BC. So this is going to place these events here when John the Baptist was baptizing in the wilderness roughly around AD 25. And John the Baptist, as we see here and in other places in the scripture, has been called by God to introduce Jesus to us. If we were to turn to the Gospel of Luke, in Luke chapter 1, we learn that John the Baptist is Jesus' second cousin. In other words, John's mother, Elizabeth, is cousin to Jesus' mother, Mary. We also learn that right from the time that he was conceived, it was already determined that he would have this role, to be the forerunner for Jesus. Matthew really doesn't tell us a whole lot of that. We had to go to Luke to get it. But when we turn to Matthew, what does Matthew think is important to tell us about John the Baptist? Well, he tells us how he dresses in verse 4. He says that he wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. He tells us what he ate, that his food was locusts and wild honey. He tells us where he lived, tells us his dwelling place was in the wilderness of Judea. And you might say, well that's all interesting, why would he bring this kind of stuff up? Involve very specific. Matthew brings these things out because they all mark John as being a prophet in the tradition of Elijah. Elijah was the prophet par excellence in the Old Testament. And he is the one who dressed in this way, who ate this kind of food and dwelled in this place. And so by pointing out these things about John the Baptist, he's marking him as the successor to Elijah, something that Jesus himself would recognize later on in his ministry. John the Baptist then would be the first prophet in over 400 years since Malachi. And he would be the last of the Old Testament prophets. And you can see that in what Matthew says in verse 3. He says, for this is He who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah. And then he quotes from Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3, the passage that we just read a little while ago. And what that tells us is something very important, and that's that John the Baptist, his coming, was not something that was unexpected. Nor did John bring a new message, but rather his message was a continuation of all the promises in the Old Testament. And his coming was a fulfillment of what we read in Isaiah. All this was part of God's plan, and that's because the coming of Jesus himself was also a long-awaited expectation, as the people of Israel longed and waited to meet the Messiah. Now you have to know then the role that John plays here. In ancient times it was customary to send an officer ahead of the king to prepare the way when the king was going to make a royal journey. The idea is that he would go forward and he would be part of that advanced team that would clear the way, as it were. You wouldn't want the king to arrive and have to fight through brush or through, you know, wild lands. And so there would be a highway, as it were, prepared to make it easy for the king to travel. Think about, for example, when President Trump traveled now this past week to Alaska to meet with the Russian dictator Putin. You know that it wasn't just that Trump arrived and that was the first time that he was there. They had already sent an advanced team that would have prepared everything. And that's what we see John serving. But he also serves not only as that advanced team, but he serves as a herald. He would announce the coming of the king. We read in verse 3, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. This idea of making the path straight is again, clearing the way so he can go forward. When I lived in New Jersey, we lived very close to a road that was called the King's Highway. It's the oldest road in America and had been prepared so there would be a smooth path for the British king to come if he ever did come to the colonies, and he did not, but he would have this clear path all the way from New Jersey, rather from New Hampshire all the way down to Virginia. Again, this idea that everything has to be prepared because the king is coming. So that's who Matthew presents John to be. He's the herald who comes with a very particular message telling us that the king is coming. And what's important to see is that even though this passage, these twelve verses, deal extensively with John the Baptist, Matthew's focus, as our focus should be, is not on the messenger himself, but on the one whom he's introducing. The messenger himself is rather unimportant. And John the Baptist recognized that about himself. In the Gospel of John, for example, in John 3.30, he says, he must increase, but I must decrease. He recognized that he had to give way, that once Jesus arrived, his ministry would end and the focus would be on Christ. In fact, again and again, he would consistently deny that he himself was the Christ because some people wondered, are you then the Messiah? And he would again say, no, no, no. In John 3, 28, he says, you yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. So John's focus is consistently on the one whom he is introducing. And because of that, John considers himself unimportant, in fact so unimportant that he looks at himself as being lower than a slave. He says in verse 11, he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. And all that tells us is even as we look at the messenger, What it tells us that the one that he is introducing is incredibly significant. Generations have longed to meet him. And what we see in this passage is John the Baptist is calling us to prepare ourselves to meet this Jesus. So let's take a moment now to look at the message that the messenger brought regarding Jesus. Are you ready? I guarantee you that that's a message that will change you forever. This is your last chance to escape. Did we lock the doors? It might be too late. Like I said, meeting Jesus, He is the most dangerous person whom you will ever meet. Because you cannot walk away ignoring, being neutral after you've heard Him and His message. So let's take a look at our second point. What is John's message regarding Jesus? And it's summarized for us actually very simply in verse two. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now when he says at hand, that's just language meaning it's near. The kingdom of heaven is near. Now when you look at the gospel of Matthew along with all the gospels, you'll learn that they're all relating different things about the life of Jesus, but they do so with different perspectives and from different angles and with different audiences. There are no contradictions in the gospel, but they do have particular things that each one emphasizes or themes that they bring out that the others don't quite do. And so, for example, here in the Gospel of Matthew, as we've seen already a number of times, there are different events in the life of Jesus that Matthew wants to point out. These things fulfill Scripture. So that's one of the big themes in Matthew. How Jesus' life, the events in His life, fulfill Scripture. But one of the other major themes in the Gospel of Matthew is the Kingdom of God. Again, it's not that it's not in the other Gospels, it certainly is. But it's a major theme all throughout the Gospel of Matthew. Now, interestingly, he only uses the phrase Kingdom of God five times in this Gospel. Instead, he uses again and again and again the term Kingdom of Heaven. Because Matthew wrote primarily to Jews and Jews were very sensitive about using the name or the word God. Because they were afraid they might use God's name in vain. So they substituted the word heaven. The kingdom of heaven simply means the kingdom of God. And so John's message here is an announcement. Even you might say a warning. That the kingdom of God is coming. Now before we unpack that message, let's take a step back and ask the question, what precisely is the kingdom of God? Well in one sense when we talk about a kingdom, we're talking about a king. One who has rule. And so when we talk about the kingdom of God, we are in fact talking about the sovereign rule of God. The fact that God rules over all of creation and that includes every last person who's ever lived. That might make you say, wait a minute, if God is already sovereign over all things, then how can his kingdom be coming? How can it be near as it approaches? Isn't it already here? And in one sense, yes. God is and always has been sovereign over all things. He ordains whatsoever comes to pass. One of the most colorful passages in scripture that illustrates that is in Proverbs 16, 33. It says, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. It's a way of telling us that nothing happens by chance and nothing is outside God's control. But when we speak, the kingdom of God is at hand, or is near, or is coming. Its usage here is a little different. It refers to the fact that God is restoring His rule in the hearts of men and women. That He's moving and restoring, you might say, His sovereignty over our lives. The lives of those who have rebelled against Him, who have rejected Him. And he's restoring that sovereignty both in judgment and in salvation. And that really brings up the big question that we have to wrestle with, which the people who were listening to John the Baptist had to wrestle with. How do you and I respond to the rule of God? How do you respond to the fact that God truly is in control? And it's an important question because ever since the Garden of Eden, we have wanted to be the ones in control. Since that time, we have been the ones who have rejected God, we have rejected His good ways, we have rejected His good gifts, and we think we can make it on our own. Every time that you sin, You are in essence saying, God, I don't need you. I don't need your advice. I don't need your rule. I don't need your direction. I hear you. This is what you say is best for me. But I choose to be the one in control and I will say what is best for me. And so John is coming to warn us and tell us, well, guess what? We've been rebels, but Jesus is coming. And Jesus' very presence brings the kingdom of God, the rule of God into our presence. The early church father Irenaeus once wrote that Jesus is autobasileia, which is just a Greek term that means the kingdom in himself. When Richard III ran off to the Middle East to fight Saracen and left behind the Kingdom of England, you can see there's a kingdom, there's this plot of land, England, and its king was over here, and there's the kingdom and there's the king, but this is different with Jesus. The kingdom of God is wherever Jesus is. And wherever he goes and makes himself manifest, there the kingdom of God intrudes into our world. And so John is telling us, he's calling us to be ready for the king is coming. And why is it that you need to be ready? Because we're rebels. And because God knows your heart. God knows your every thought and your every intention. Psalm 44 verse 21 says that God knows the secrets of the heart. And that means that He knows your rebellions. He knows your secret hatreds. He knows your secret lusts and your secret desires. Oh, we can try to justify them, and we can say, well, you know, I'm not as bad as all that, right? And you can compare yourself to other people who you consider to be worse. But that's not going to cut it. That's not going to cut it, and God doesn't accept that. Proverbs 21.2 says, every man's way is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts. He knows the reality. We might fool ourselves. We might deceive ourselves and tell us we're not that bad. But He knows our hearts. He weighs them. So John warns us, be ready, because He's coming. As Proverbs 20, verse 9 says, who can say I have made my heart pure? I am clean from sin. And the answer is no one. He knows what's in your heart. And for every last one of us, as Paul says in Romans 3.23, we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And so people of God, you need to hear what John is saying. The arrival of the kingdom of God, it arrives in the very person of Jesus, brings God into contact with sinful human beings. And that is an explosive combination. And so John warns us to be ready because judgment is coming. He says in verse 12, his winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. He's using here an illustration of the harvest where the farmer goes out and he gathers up the wheat and the wheat is both the kernel, which is the good stuff that we want to keep, in the shaft, which is the useless stuff that he's going to destroy. And he says here, burn with unquenchable fire. And he tells us Jesus is going to be the one separating. Jesus is the one who will be the judge. And on what basis will he judge? Jesus himself tells us in Revelation 2.23, Jesus says, I am he who searches mind and heart. And I will give to each of you according to your works." God knows what you think. God knows what you feel. And he will pay back, give to us what we deserve according to our works. That's what John is telling us. And so John is calling us to repent. We need to hear what he's saying. Because each and every one of us stands as it were naked before God. And He calls us to repent. What does it mean to repent? It means to turn away. To turn away from your sin. To leave it behind and instead grab a hold of God. Embrace God. Embrace His rule in your life rather than resisting that rule. And when you do that, when there's that true repentance, leaving behind your sin and saying, Lord, I submit to you and I will have you rule my heart, then there's a change of mind. There's a change of heart. That kind of true repentance leads to a transformed life. That's what was being symbolized by the baptism of John. It's just a symbol in and of itself. It didn't do anything. But the idea was as the water came down on you and cleansed you from sin, and it showed your commitment to God. This is the message that John the Baptist has for us. The kingdom is coming, and the kingdom of God is coming because God himself is coming. Jesus is coming, and he brings judgment because he knows who we really are. Not who we pretend for all the people, but he knows in our hearts who you and I really are. So he calls us to repent, and it's an urgent call. The kingdom of heaven is at hand, it's near. God's rule is breaking into history with the coming of Jesus, even as it breaks into your very life. And at that time, we read that people from all over the area responded to the call of John, and they came confessing their sins and seeking renewal. How refreshing. We read in verse five, then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. And I ask you, my friends, What areas in your life need repentance? From what things do you need to turn? What are those sins that you need to confess and set behind them? Are you open to the rule of God in your life or will you continue to say, I will run things my way because I know better? Are you indeed open to the work of God transforming you from the inside out? The kingdom of God demands a response because Jesus in his coming demands a response. Like I said, he's the most dangerous person you will ever meet. So how are you aligning your life with the will of God, with the rule of God, with the kingdom of God? True repentance, according to John, is much more than a feeling. It's much more than just saying, I'm sorry. You see politicians get up there, and I'm sorry I did this. They're really saying, I'm sorry I got caught, and I still need your votes, and that kind of thing. But true repentance, John tells us, is much more. He says in verse 8 that it needs to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. In other words, true repentance actually has a change, fruit that you can see that can be measured. When you truly repent, your choices will be different. Your thoughts will be different. The way that you treat other people will be different. Now, you submit to the rule of God in your life rather than rejecting it. Now, you seek to live according to His ways and not your ways. This is what He's calling us to do, each and every one of us here. The problem is that so often we think that we can skip that. We think that we have other ways that we can have an entree to God and we can be right with God. And so John warns us against the danger of being complacent and thinking that this message is for other people. You see, there are two things that we substitute for true repentance. Two things that we rely on for being right with God. And John calls them both out. The first one is that of relying on your own achievements. The things that you do. in order to be accepted by God, in order to escape his judgment. In verse 7 he says, But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Now, the Pharisees and Sadducees, as you know, they were the religious leaders of the day. No one could be more righteous than these people, at least externally. They did all the right things. And John calls him out and says, that's not enough. It's not enough to rely on the things that you've done. It's not enough to rely on your religious status. It's not enough that you come to church. It's not enough that you sit through sermons and that you give faithfully. It's not enough that you go to Bible study and attend our home fellowship groups or volunteer. None of these things in and of themselves will make you right with God. John warns us against relying on your own achievements. But he also warns us against relying on your heritage in order to be accepted by God and escape His judgment. In verse 9 he says, And do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." And what he's telling us is, look, these Jews might have sat there and said, but we're the children of Abraham, we're God's chosen people. And by that very fact, we are accepted by God. And he says, no, no, no, no, no. That's not enough. It's not enough that you grew up in the church. It's not enough that your parents are believers and even strong believers. Those things will not do it. It's not enough to rest on those things. John tells us that the only proper response of the kingdom of God is a true repentance, which means turning away from our sin and embracing the rule of God ourselves. And it's something that applies to all of us, to all of us. You know, one of the interesting things is we see John baptizing the people who came to him. Baptism as a rite was not something that was new to Jews. They had used it before, but it had been reserved for those who were converts to Judaism. Baptism was for outsiders. But what John is doing here is radical. He's saying it's for all of us. It doesn't matter whether you're a Christian. It doesn't matter whether you grew up in the church. It doesn't matter what it is that you do. It doesn't matter how faithful you have been. None of these things matter, he says. All of us need to repent of our rebellion against God because none of us will survive contact with the kingdom of God when it arrives. That's the message. It isn't actually new to the New Testament. You find it throughout the Old. At the very end of King David's life in 1 Chronicles 28 verse 9, David is talking to his young son, Solomon, who's preparing to assume the throne. And listen to the wonderful advice that he gives, which is something that every father should tell his children. And he says, and you, Solomon, my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you. But if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. It's something that every one of us needs to hear. Do not presume just because you are the son of the king of Judah, or of all of Israel, and that you have been told that you're going to be the wisest person of all the kings that ever Israel had until the coming of Jesus. Solomon could have presumed, I've got it made. But he's told, no, no, this God knows what you're thinking. This God knows what you're feeling. He knows who you really are. So know Him, seek Him, pursue Him with your whole being. And if you do, he will embrace you, but if not, he will cast you off. That's a message found all throughout scripture, and it's the message that John brings to us. Jesus Christ is coming, and he brings the kingdom of God, the rule of God into our lives. Are you ready? Now, we're not going to meet Jesus in person until next week when we look at the remainder of chapter 3. But there are some things that John tells us about him now, so let's look at our last point. We've looked at the messenger, we've looked at the message, and now let's look at the Messiah. And it's really interesting when you look at these 12 verses, nowhere in this passage is Jesus ever mentioned by name. We never see the word Jesus or Christ in the passage, but it's clear that this is whom John is referring to. When he says in verse 11, he who is coming after me is mightier than I, it's clear reference to Jesus. And so we begin by asking the question that we asked, if you will, by way of review, when we looked at chapter one. Who is this Jesus? And back in chapter one, verse one, We were told that he is Jesus Christ. And there's something to be said and to be understood in that name. The name Jesus marks him as a human. As being human, the name Jesus is given to a human baby. That name, Jesus, is simply the Greek form of the Hebrew or the Aramaic, which would have been Joshua. And the word Jesus or the word Joshua, the name Joshua, means God is salvation. The angel tells that to Joseph. In Matthew 1, 21, he says, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins, because that's what it means. God saves, or God is salvation. And so the fact that he is called Jesus and has a human name Joshua, just like so many others, marks that he is fully human. And then the term Christ, it's not a last name. It's not like Joseph Christ married Mary Christ and they had Jesus Christ. No, it's a title. And the title Christ is just a Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah, which simply means the anointed one. That Jesus is God's specially appointed agent upon this earth to carry out a very specific task. And that task, as we've already seen, is to save his people from their sins. And in that same chapter, in chapter 1, verse 23, he's also called the Immanuel, which means God is with us. And it tells us that not only is he fully human, but he is also fully God. God come in our midst. God come in human form, walking amongst us. Most extraordinary. That's who Jesus is. And when we turn then to our passage here in chapter 3, we begin to see what it is that He's come to do. And He already, as we said, said He's come to save us from our sins. Well, how does He do that? And the answer is found in the baptism of John. Because that baptism was called here a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of our sins. But let me ask you, just because you choose to repent, is that enough? Are you really truly able to repent and to turn away from your sin? In your own strength and in your own ability? We all know the answer to that. Because we've all tried. You've tried. You've tried changing your ways. You've tried turning a new leaf and sometimes you're able to do so for a short time but what happens sooner or later You fall back, you return to the old habits, don't you? You return to those old thought patterns. Sometimes we are able to leave behind certain habits and we replace them with others that are equally bad and evil and destructive. We all know that from our experience. What we need is something different. What we need is a total transformation from the inside and out, a remaking of our character, which is something that we're unable to do on our own. But Jesus is able. Jesus can do that for us. And that's what John is talking about here in this passage. He talks about baptizing with water, which is simply a symbol. but it's a symbol that's pointing to the real baptism. When he says in verse 11 that, I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He's saying that when he comes and he brings the Holy Spirit into us and gives us that new nature, that he's going to empower us to truly be able to change. In other words, the Holy Spirit transforms us to want to repent. And he transforms us to be able to repent. Ezekiel tells us that through the work of the Spirit, that heart of stone is removed and instead is replaced with the heart of flesh. Paul says in Romans, I'm sorry, in 2 Corinthians 5.17, that we become a new creation. Jesus himself would say in John chapter 3, that we are born again. The Holy Spirit does something amazing, something that you and I cannot do. You cannot repent in your own strength. We simply don't have what it takes. But He reworks us from the inside out through the Spirit and enables us to turn away from our sin and to embrace God. And he says that he baptizes us not only with the Holy Spirit, but with fire, and that fire points to the fact that he's purifying us. He's removing that old nature, as Paul says in Ephesians chapter four, that we take off the old nature, like taking off the old set of clothes, and we're able through the Spirit to put on a new nature. And Romans chapter six tells us that we are being refined. We were before slaves to sin, but now righteousness begins to grab a hold of us. This is only possible because of Jesus Christ. He purifies that old nature, enables us to leave behind those sinful habits and desires and to become a new creation. And He alone is able to forgive our sins. Have you ever thought on what basis our sins are forgiven? You might go through that baptism of repentance in John the Baptist and say, yes, I repent of my sins. And maybe you can turn to begin a new life through the empowerment of the Spirit. But what about your old sins? Has God forgotten your guilt? His holy character does not let Him set that aside. Your guilt does not go away, so on what basis are your sins forgiven? And again, Jesus is the one who's the answer to that, because Jesus is the one who removes that guilt. As we're gonna see later on in the gospel, in fact, as early as next week, what Jesus does is he takes that guilt that you and I have because of our sin, that record of our wrongs, and he takes it upon himself, and he pays for it himself. with his substitutionary death on the cross. Rather than you dying, he dies in our place. So the guilt of your sin can only be washed away, literally, by the blood of Christ on that cross. And that's what's being represented in the baptism of John. And so what Matthew is showing us in these few verses is the very character of Jesus. And that character is one both of judgment and of grace. Judgment and grace. Yes, judgment, because as the kingdom comes, as the holy comes in contact with us, the unholy, that sin must be and will be judged. But it's also grace, because if you turn to Jesus Christ and trust in Him, then it's judged not in your person, but Jesus takes that sin upon Himself, and He takes the judgment. He takes the punishment. that you and I deserve. That's what we see even in this passage. John the Baptist doesn't even realize half of what he's saying. We find out later that he wasn't 100% sure what it was that Jesus was doing. But even in his own words as he says them, he's pointing, the judge is coming, the judge who will graciously take upon himself the judgment that you and I deserve. You see, people of God, Jesus is the most important person that you will ever meet. And through John the Baptist, you have now been introduced. You have been summoned to meet with him, as we'll do next week. And one of the things we're going to discover is that Jesus' message is precisely the same as John the Baptist's. When we get to chapter 4, verse 17, we read, From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Are you ready? How will you respond for meeting Jesus? Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, how thankful we are that we have been introduced to this Jesus. How thankful we are that in your love and in your compassion, you have not allowed us to continue in the ignorance of our sin and our rebellion against you, which has only done more to destroy this wonderful world that you have given to us as a gift. To destroy the wonderful relationships in which you have placed us in. Every time that we choose to go it on our own, we only make things worse. But you have pursued us with a ferocious love in Jesus Christ, a love that will not let us go. And even as your kingdom comes and you restore your rule over our hearts, You do so graciously, knowing that what we deserve is punishment and even death, but having your Son take that in our place. Father, how thankful we are that Jesus is the conquering King who comes, the one who is the judge, but the one who also comes as the Lamb of God, sacrificed in the place of his people, so that in his death we might have life. We pray that each and every one of us here will hear the message that the kingdom of God is at hand, that Jesus the judge is at the door, and that each and every one of us will hear the call to repent. Even for those of us who have been followers of Jesus for so long, we know that there are areas yet that we need to submit to the rule of God. Help us to do so through the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Purify us as with fire. And for those of us, Father, who have not yet given our lives to Christ, if there are any here this morning, we pray that they would hear clearly their need of Christ, that they cannot walk away neutral and ignore what they have said, what they have heard. They must either reject Him now and accept the judgment which is to come, or they may even now turn to Him as Savior and rest upon His finished work on the cross, taking upon himself that punishment that we deserve. We pray, Lord, that you would be gracious and merciful to open their eyes and hearts to see their need even this moment.