Matthew 3 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00Jesus, open our eyes to see, our ears to
2. 0:05hear, and our hearts to [music] receive
3. 0:08and obey your word. In your name we
4. 0:12pray. Amen.
5. 0:15Now, in those days, John the Baptist
6. 0:18came preaching in the wilderness of
7. 0:20Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom
8. 0:24of heaven is at hand." For this is the
9. 0:27one referred to by Isaiah the prophet
10. 0:30when he said, "The voice of one crying
11. 0:33in the wilderness," make ready the way
12. 0:35of the Lord, make his paths straight.
13. 0:40Now John himself had a [music] garment
14. 0:42of camel<unk>s hair, and a leather belt
15. 0:46around his waist, and his food was
16. 0:48locust and wild honey.
17. 0:52Then Jerusalem was [music] going out to
18. 0:53him and all Judea and all the district
19. 0:57around the Jordan. And they were being
20. 1:00baptized by him in the Jordan River as
21. 1:03they confess their sins.
22. 1:05But when he saw many of the Pharisees
23. 1:07and Sadducees coming for [music]
24. 1:09baptism, he said to them, "You brood of
25. 1:13vipers,
26. 1:14who warned you to flee from the [music]
27. 1:16wrath to come?
28. 1:18Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with
29. 1:22repentance.
30. 1:23And do not suppose that you can say to
31. 1:26yourselves, "We have Abraham for our
32. 1:29father." For I say to you that from
33. 1:32these stones [music] God is able to
34. 1:34raise up children to Abraham.
35. 1:37The axe is already laid at the root of
36. 1:40the trees. Therefore, every tree that
37. 1:43does not bear good fruit is cut down and
38. 1:47thrown into the fire.
39. 1:49As for me, I baptize you with water for
40. 1:54repentance.
41. 1:56But he who is coming after me is
42. 1:58mightier than I, and I am not fit to
43. 2:01remove his sandals.
44. 2:04He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit
45. 2:08and fire.
46. 2:10His winnowing fork is in his hand, and
47. 2:14he will thoroughly clear his threshing
48. 2:17floor, and he will gather his wheat
49. 2:20[music] into the barn, but he will burn
50. 2:23up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
51. 2:28So right here we have the pivot of how
52. 2:33all the rest of us are going to get to
53. 2:35be part of the miracle Matthew has been
54. 2:39[music] describing in the first two
55. 2:41chapters of his account.
56. 2:44And the promise of our inclusion in this
57. 2:47salvation begins with one pivotal word.
58. 2:51Repent.
59. 2:53Repent. The kingdom is not going to
60. 2:56pivot on politics. It's not going to
61. 2:59pivot on heredity. It's not going to
62. 3:02pivot on who can conquer Rome. Because
63. 3:06the enemy is sin.
64. 3:09The enemy isn't Herod. The enemy isn't
65. 3:12Caesar. The enemy is the pride and
66. 3:16rebellion and sin in each heart.
67. 3:20So the the starting point of hope is not
68. 3:23what you can achieve. It's not what you
69. 3:26can prove. It's not who your family was.
70. 3:29It's whether you can repent.
71. 3:33And John powerfully tells shows
72. 3:36repentance
73. 3:38like the uprooting of a tree.
74. 3:42He tells them, "Bear fruits in keeping
75. 3:46with repentance because the axe is laid
76. 3:50at the root of your tree." So, we've got
77. 3:53a tree of self-will. We've got a tree of
78. 3:57the tyranny of human pride, of human
79. 4:00rebellion against God. And that tree
80. 4:03does not bear good fruit. That tree does
81. 4:06not bear the fruits of repentance.
82. 4:10That tree bears the fruit of rebellion.
83. 4:13That tree bears the fruit of our
84. 4:15wandering desires.
85. 4:18That tree bears the fruit of sin. But
86. 4:21the promise is that you can turn from
87. 4:24that and you can let God uproot that
88. 4:27that deep root of rebellion and sin and
89. 4:31pride, that entrenched tree of self-will
90. 4:35from your life.
91. 4:37And if he does, he will put a new tree
92. 4:40in its place.
93. 4:42Ultimately, the tree of life, which is
94. 4:44Christ. And from that tree, different
95. 4:47kinds of fruit will grow. And this is
96. 4:50the beginning of our involvement of
97. 4:53human involvement in the miracle of
98. 4:55Messiah. It starts with the word repent.
99. 5:00And this is the voice of one crying in
100. 5:03the wilderness.
101. 5:05And what does he cry out? He says, "Make
102. 5:08straight the way of the Lord. Create a
103. 5:12highway that cleans away the rubble of
104. 5:15all your resistance and rebellion toward
105. 5:18God. That takes the boulders out of his
106. 5:21path and leads his authority right into
107. 5:24your heart so that he can come in and
108. 5:28take his place on the throne of your
109. 5:30life. Make his path straight." And then
110. 5:33we're told some very interesting detail.
111. 5:36Matthew tells us that John
112. 5:39came out of the wilderness
113. 5:41and he tells us that John was wearing a
114. 5:43garment of camel<unk>s hair with a
115. 5:46leather belt around his waist and his
116. 5:49food was locust and wild honey. Do you
117. 5:52remember anybody else in the Bible who
118. 5:55wore a garment of camel<unk>s hair with
119. 5:58a leather belt around his waist? Elijah
120. 6:01did. So Malachi has promised that God
121. 6:08was going to come in the spirit and
122. 6:10power of Elijah before the Lord
123. 6:13returned. So when he tells the people
124. 6:16when Matthew says John came wearing this
125. 6:20very specific garment and he came out of
126. 6:23the wilderness, he is hearkening back to
127. 6:26Elijah who once hid in a cave and came
128. 6:29out to the people wearing a garment of
129. 6:32camel<unk>s hair and a leather belt.
130. 6:35John's outfit was saying to the whole
131. 6:37world, "This is Elijah if you're willing
132. 6:41to receive it."
133. 6:44Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the
134. 6:47Jordan coming to John to be baptized by
135. 6:50him. But John tried to prevent him,
136. 6:53saying, "I have need to be baptized by
137. 6:56you, and do you come to me?"
138. 7:00But Jesus answered and said to him,
139. 7:02"Permit it at this time. For in this way
140. 7:06it is fitting for us to fulfill all
141. 7:10righteousness."
142. 7:12Then he permitted him. After being
143. 7:15baptized, [music] Jesus came up
144. 7:17immediately from the water, and behold,
145. 7:20the heavens were opened, and he saw the
146. 7:23spirit of God descending as a dove and
147. 7:27lighting on him. And behold, a voice out
148. 7:30of the heavens [music] said, "This is my
149. 7:34beloved son, in whom I am well pleased."
150. 7:39In [music] this last section, we see
151. 7:41that John is exhibiting what he has
152. 7:44exhibited through the whole chapter,
153. 7:47humility.
154. 7:49John is the one God needed to go ahead
155. 7:54of Messiah. But just because he went
156. 7:57first doesn't mean he got lifted up in
157. 7:59pride.
158. 8:01All throughout John's ministry, he is
159. 8:03saying, "The one who's coming after me
160. 8:06is stronger and mightier than I." He
161. 8:09says, "I'm not worthy to untie his
162. 8:11sandals." And then when Jesus comes to
163. 8:14be baptized by John, John is not
164. 8:16flattered. He doesn't say, "Well,
165. 8:18welcome, younger cousin. I'm glad you
166. 8:22know you need me." Instead, John says,
167. 8:25"I'm not worthy to be to baptize you.
168. 8:28You should be baptizing me.
169. 8:30And this shows that John is not [music]
170. 8:33just preaching repentance. He's living
171. 8:36repentance.
172. 8:37John is living in the humility that he
173. 8:41is asking us to live in also.
174. 8:44and he engages in his part not because
175. 8:48he thinks [music] he's so something and
176. 8:50so special but because he wants to be a
177. 8:53servant to the thing that God is doing
178. 8:56that is greater than him the coming of
179. 8:59[music] Messiah.
180. 9:01What a powerful thing to be the cousin
181. 9:03of the Messiah and to not show any
182. 9:06rivalry, no competition,
183. 9:09no jockeying or grasping for one's
184. 9:12place, but to show that that tree has
185. 9:14been uprooted from John's life and a new
186. 9:17tree can take root in his heart.
187. 9:21[music]
188. 9:27[music]