church

INI
Second Sunday in Advent
December 9, 2012
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

REPENTANCE CLEARS THE ROAD TO CHRISTMAS
Matthew 3:1-12

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
This morning we look to the third chapter of Matthew's Gospel, beginning with
the first verse, as follows:

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 paths 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. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and
Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of
repentance and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our
father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from
these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore
every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I
indeed baptize you with water unto 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 fan is in His hand, and He will
thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn;
but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Here ends our text.

In the Name of Our Savior Jesus Christ, Whose Way was Prepared by John the
Baptist, Dear Fellow Redeemed,

I wonder if you know who the most famous American road builder was? It’s
someone whose name you’ve heard many times. You may not immediately
connect that name with the business of building roads, but that was
undoubtedly the most outstanding accomplishment of his life. In the year 1775,
he led the team that built the Wilderness Road, running from Virginia through
the Cumberland Gap all the way to the Ohio River. For hundreds of miles, he
and his men fought their way over every obstacle - felling trees, building bridges
and laying corduroy road over swampy marshland. Have you guessed his name?
-It was Daniel Boone. When you think of the tools he had to work with -
handsaws and picks and axes - you'll realize why historians consider him
America's greatest road builder.

You and I are in the road-building business, too. During this Advent season
especially, John the Baptist is calling on us to "prepare a way for the Lord, make
His paths straight." As Christ's arrival gets closer and closer, we want to make
sure His path to our heart is straight, and cleared of every obstacle - because for
us, that's the road to salvation! But John tells us that there's a tool we need: a
special road-building tool - like Daniel Boone's axe - that we simply can't do
without. That tool is REPENTANCE. Our theme today is:

REPENTANCE CLEARS THE ROAD TO CHRISTMAS

I. WITHOUT repentance, the way of salvation is hopelessly blocked.
II. WITH repentance, the way of salvation is free and clear!

Talk about a strange looking character - John the Baptist was the strangest! He
lived in the desolate hills of the Judean wilderness. He wore clothes made of
camel skin, and existed on a diet of grasshoppers and wild honey. To say the
least, John the Baptist stood out from the crowd! Which, by the way, was his
purpose. He was supposed to stand out, because he had a unique mission to
fulfill. He was the forerunner of the Messiah. He was a one-man "advance
team" for Jesus Christ. Hundreds of years earlier, Isaiah had prophesied the
arrival of John when he described "...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 brought low; and the crooked places shall be
made straight and the rough ways made smooth." Lk 3:4-5. The Baptist's job
was to help people smooth out a road to their hearts, so that Jesus could come
right in. And there's only one way to build that kind of road, so his message was
simple: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

Well, there are plenty of strange religious characters in our day and age. There’s
no shortage of wild-eyed preachers standing on street corners and telling people
to repent. But they never seem to get much of an audience. That wasn’t John
the Baptist’s problem. He didn't labor in obscurity. In fact, he was famous.
People flocked to see him. Our text says that 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. Among the crowds, though, John noticed many of
the hypocritical Pharisees and Sadducees. Like the others, they wanted to hear
what this new preacher had to say. But unlike them, they had no intention of
confessing any sins! After all, they were very "religious" people, and proud of it!
They tithed, they fasted, they prayed on street corners. Above all, they were
descended from Abraham. Confess their sins? Why, as far as they were
concerned they had no sins to confess!

That way lies blockage. I remember the first time I traveled through a redwood
forest in northern California. I recall how amazed I was by the immense size of
the trees. But even more amazing (to me, anyway) was the nice, smooth road
that cut right through the middle of the forest! I thought how hard it must have
been to build that road - the huge trees that had to be felled, and (especially)
the massive stumps that had to be removed. Have you ever tried removing a
stump – even a little one – from your own yard? Then imagine trying to remove
a stump as big around as a two-car garage! That was the task those
road-builders faced. You know, unconfessed sins are a lot like giant tree
stumps. They are the obstacles that obstruct Jesus' road to a person's heart. Just
like stumps, they block the way to salvation. Just like stumps, they have to be
removed. And repentance is the only way to remove them. For without
repentance, the way of salvation is hopelessly blocked.

John had hard words for the unrepentant Pharisees. They needed to hear God's
Law in all it's terror, and he gave it to them: Brood of vipers! he said. Who
warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of
repentance and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our
father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from
these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore
every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Yes, Christ was coming. But for those who refused to repent of their sins, John
said they would be separated from the true believers like the chaff from the
wheat, and "...He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." And the same
is true today. Paul says that the Gospel is "the aroma of death unto death" to
those who are perishing - those who refuse to repent.

What about you? This Advent season is the time we especially want to invite
the Christ child into our hearts. Are you prepared? Is the road to your heart
clear and straight? Or are there still stumps in the road? Are you holding on to
certain sins - sins that might block His path? Are you perhaps nurturing a
grudge against someone who's done you wrong in the past? Are you allowing
unclean thoughts and deeds to live and grow and multiply in your heart? Are
you refusing to give God top priority in your life - skipping church, for example,
or neglecting to read your Bible? Are you guilty of malicious gossip? Of taking
God's name in vain? Of being covetous, and refusing to be satisfied with the
things God has given you? Repent! Confess your sins to God! Don't avoid the
issue - that won’t clear the road, it will only make the blockage worse. The
Apostle John warns, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and
the truth is not in us."

Well, this is God's Law, and we all need to hear it. But God has another word
for us today, too. John goes on to say, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I Jn
1:8-9. The flip side of John the Baptist's message is a joyful one: WITH
repentance, the way of salvation is free and clear!

Imagine this scene, if you will: a criminal enters a courtroom and stands before
the judge. He's guilty of the most terrible crimes, and his guilt has been
thoroughly proven, beyond the shadow of a doubt. "How does the defendant
plead?" asks the judge. "Guilty, Your Honor," replies the criminal. "I throw
myself on the mercy of the court." Nothing unusual so far - the same thing
happens in American courtrooms every day. But just imagine if the judge went
on to say, "Well, that's fine! All I wanted was for you to admit your crimes. I
hereby pronounce you 'not guilty.' You're free to go!" Why, the defendant's jaw
would drop wide open! So would yours or mine. No judge in the world would
render such a verdict.

-- But God does! Whenever your bring your sins to Him and ask His
forgiveness, God grants it. It's a simple as saying, "Yes, I'm guilty, Lord - have
mercy upon me, a sinner!" It doesn't matter how many your sins are, how great
they are, or how often you have committed them. When you repent and cling to
Christ, God forgives. It's as simple as that! "For as the heavens are high above
the earth," David says, "so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far
as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
Ps 103:11. With repentance, the way of salvation is free and clear.

Well, any earthly judge who was that lenient on criminals would lose his job in
a big hurry. Does that mean that God is unjust? Not at all. There is indeed a
penalty for your sins that must be paid -- but Jesus Christ already paid it! The
happy part of John the Baptist's mission was telling repentant sinners that the
Savior of the world was near. One day after the action of our text took place,
"John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world!'" Jn 1:29. What a joy for John, can you
imagine? After hundreds of years of living with the promise of a Savior, John
gets to point his finger and say, "There He is! There's the Messiah Himself! The
Creator of the world, and its Redeemer!" Yes, what a joy for John to identify
Jesus, and what a joy for you to confess Jesus as your Savior! For like a spotless
lamb, the innocent Jesus was sacrificed on the cross to pay for every
transgression you ever committed, or ever will commit. His work of redemption
has been accomplished - it's a historic fact that nothing can change. Your
ransom price has been paid in full, and the Holy Ghost has already made you a
member of the kingdom of heaven by working faith in Christ in your heart. As
the lights come out on our homes and on our Christmas trees, we sing that
favorite Advent hymn, “Rejoice, rejoice, believers, and let your lights appear!
For in the gift of His Son, God gives us nothing less than life – the life that goes
on forever! It's yours for the asking, so ask for it! Receive it! Rejoice in it, and
thank God for it!

The winter season usually brings with it at least some snow fall - even here in
our rainy pacific northwest. It will probably be the same this year - sooner or
later, odds are we'll have to get out there with our scoop shovels and battle the
snow on our sidewalks to clear a path to the street. The Advent season is the
time to clear a path to our hearts for the coming Savior. So let's clear out the
sins that have accumulated in our lives. Let's repent, and through repentance,
"prepare the way of the Lord, and make His paths straight." AMEN.