Road Work Ahead

2nd Sunday in Advent (December 10, 2006)

Rev. Steven D. Spencer, Pastor

Luke 3:1-6

3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the Word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' "

Beginnings can be important, because they often give us a guide to the rest of the story, they tell us what we should expect to hear. Sometimes we talk about a new beginning, but they are exceptions – it you begin to tell a story badly, you’ll loose people’s attention – its hard to begin again, as a good part of your listeners have drifted away, and a new beginning won’t bring them back. There are a lot of good stories to hear, some are true, some are based on truth, and some are just stories. If a story begins, when I was young… you expect that it will be in some way biographical, telling about that persons real experiences – but some of the stories we hear are just to hard to believe. For example my dad use to tell of walking to school, 4 miles, and it was uphill both ways, in the snow. When we get to that "uphill both ways" we stop – and we say to ourselves: "How can that be?" Of course walking to school in snow, in Southern California, might have been a clue as to the validity of the story as well.

If you are going to tell an incredible story, one of the rules, is that you should include a list of people, who can verify the who, what, where and when.

You need to identify them so you can say, if you doubt me, here are the people you can ask, this is when and where it happened.

So what happened in our story?

The Word of God came to John the son of Zechariah.

The questions that remains are, what did he do, and what does this lead to?

When it is all said and done, it leads us back to the beginning of Luke, and the beginning of the story of Jesus Christ, the son of God, how he came into the world, and why.

            Let me read just a portion of our text once again. Verse 3 & 4 "John went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD;"

I. John's VOICE DESCRIBES THE SAD CONDITION IN THE WORLD

The King will not come until the way is prepared. In ancient times when a king was about to visit one of the provinces of his kingdom, messengers were sent out to have the highways prepared for his coming. Valleys had to be filled. Mountains and hills had to be cut down. The crooked had to be made straight. Straight paths had to be furnished. Unless these things happened the king would not come.

Isaiah the Prophet tells us: "3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be exalted And every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight And the rough places smooth;" (Isaiah 40:3-4). Perhaps you recognize these words used by George Frideric Handel in his choral piece The Messiah.

Before the Lord can come, some roadwork needs to be done. 

The text paints the sad condition of mankind. Our text quotes only two verses from Isaiah 40. But if we had time it would do us well to look at the remainder of this chapter. Verses 6-8 tell us that man is like grass, like the flower of the field. The grass and the flower fade quickly. Man is mortal because he is a sinner and cannot help himself. Verses 15-17 tell us that man and the nations are as a drop in a bucket in God's sight. Man considers himself great. He's proud. Sin caused that pride. But he is actually nothing. He's not God; he just thinks he is! Verses 21-23 and 25-26 speak of the wonders of creation. God stretched out the heavens, He set the stars in the sky. He calls every star by name. Man doesn't like to acknowledge God as the Creator of everything. Man acts as if he has created everything. And this paints a clear picture of man's sin and sinfulness toward God. I've shared it with you before; Augustine and Luther call original sin, "homo incurvatus in se." MAN CURVED IN ON SELF!  We want to think we are in control. We want to be God of our space and place. That is sin.

God wants man to repent. Both John and Jesus came saying: "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2; 4:17). But first man has to acknowledge he his sin. Only the goodness of God can cause a man to confess his sins (Romans 2:4). It's like filling valleys and leveling the mountains; it's a huge task. Some of John's hearers were too proud to repent. They thought that being a descendent of Abraham was enough. Right after our text in verse 7 John warns them calling them a brood of vipers.

But in St. Matthews Gospel account of John it tells us of another group that came confessing their sins (Matthew 3:6). 1 John 1:8 & 9 says: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

II. THE VOICE OF JOHN PREACHING REVEALS THE SALVATION OF GOD.

In Isaiah's prophecy the voice said: "Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" says your God. "Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." "He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young." "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." That's what Isaiah 40 prophesied about John's preaching. Perhaps John quoted those very words.

Our text, verse 6, says: "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." John clearly preached Christ and His forgiveness. John baptized many people who came out of the city and the country to confess their sins and believe the Gospel. Some scholars have estimated that John baptized 200,000 people of Israel! That's only an estimate.

John came to do the roadwork necessary to prepare the way of the Lord.  Malachi 3:1 says: "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. 2 "But who can endure the day of His coming?

Martin Luther said, " When you see John you know Jesus is coming soon."  But who can endure the day of His coming? You can, because He's coming for you. Coming to give you,  "The Salvation of God!"

How can you know this? Because He paid the price in full for your sin, at Calvary's cross. We are like the grass and flowers, here today, and gone tomorrow. But know, beyond a doubt, that all your sins are forgiven for Jesus' sake and in Jesus name. Amen.