Preparing to Meet the King
An Orderly Account: Encountering Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
Luke 3:1-14
The Text
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 Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 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.
5 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,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin 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. 9 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.”
10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
Grab Their Attention
In the very center of our passage, Luke quotes from Isaiah:
“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 shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways
What’s he talking about? In Isaiah’s time, you didn’t have paved roads. You didn’t have equipment, or engineers. All you had were wagons that ran over the same spot over and over, and it would make deep ruts in the hard baked soil. Nobody built roads, unless you were a king. Only kings built roads, and not just any kings: emperors. If they wanted to take a journey, they didn’t just take off. How could they possibly travel with their entourage across wagon ruts, the roads couldn’t bear them. And so, when a king was going to go on a journey, he would send his heralds and his builders in to the cities and villages and towns and they would say, “The king is coming. And if you want him to come here, you have to prepare the king’s highway.”
The king doesn’t drive around boulders, they have to be moved. He doesn’t go down into ruts, they must be raised. He doesn’t wind through crooked roads, he drives straight. And so, preparation must be made.
But look at the preparations for this king: you aren’t just moving boulders and fill in some ruts. No, the highway for this king will flatten mountains and raise valleys. What’s going on?
Raise the Needs, State the Destination, Signposts
John says, “The ultimate king is coming. And you have to prepare yourself to meet him.” In other words, Jesus Christ is unlike every other king. You have to treat him as the ultimate king, and John’s ministry shows us how to prepare for this king.
In order to meet King Jesus, you must offend your pride, receive his cleansing, and walk in his ways.
Offend Your Pride
If you look back in verse 7, you see how John begins his sermon. Crowds have spilled out of the cities into the desert to see the preacher, and John says:
“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
Essentially, he says, “You children of that old serpent, Satan…” I submit to you that this is not how were taught to begin our sermons in seminary. You typically try to find common ground with your audience. You tell some self-deprecating jokes. But you don’t begin by offending the audience.
And yet, here is John causing offense. And if you look closely, you see that he isn’t being carelessly offensive… he’s offending their sense of religious pride.
Down in verse 8, he says, “Don’t say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’” In other words, John is saying, “You’re all good Jews and you believe that your religious ancestry is what matters to God, but it doesn’t.”
These are people who rely on their religious pedigree. They perform all the outward ceremonies of religion: circumcision, the tithes, the feasts, the ritual cleanliness. Their worship is all body and no soul. They had a loud voice, but a silent heart.
Too often we think of repentance as something for the drunks, the gluttons, and thieves. That’s half true. The other half of the truth is that religious people have to repent of trusting in their religion.
And John concludes his sermon in verse 9 by saying, “You see this beautiful tree of manmade righteousness you’ve grown? I’m chopping it down and grinding up the roots. Your religion is as good as sawdust and ash.”
What’s going on? Very simply: John isn’t just being offensive. He’s wounding the very religious status and duties they were most proud of.
And John tells us that if we are going to receive Jesus as King, we too must lose all of our self-assurances. We have to wound our pride. Any religious observance we hold onto to make us look better, any spiritual foundation and blush we use to hide our blemishes, it must all be done away with. John Calvin on this passage says that John summons us to the inward tribunal of conscience so that we may thoroughly examine ourselves and lay aside all flattery.
Here’s what this really means:
As long as you think you’re prepared to meet Jesus by your own goodness, you aren’t prepared. You think that you need to move a boulder here or fill in a rut there, but the road to Christ requires the levelling of a mountain. We think our sin is a pothole, when in reality it’s the Grand Canyon. And John says, “Stop flattering yourself. Stop trying to impress God. Humble yourself. Wound your spiritual pride.”
Lay your deadly doing down,
Down at Jesus feet.
Stand in him, and in him alone,
gloriously complete.
Ok, to prepare to meet King Jesus, wound your pride. Second:
Receive His Cleansing
Back up in verse 3, Luke summarizes all of John’s ministry in a single sentence:
3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
What does a “baptism of repentance” mean? Very simply: John called people to return to God, confessing their guilt. And going under the water symbolized both the cleansing away of sin and the coming up out of the water symbolized passing safely through the waters of judgment and death.
So, a response to John’s preaching would first be a confession of repentance, a turning from sin and to God, followed by a ceremony symbolizing that repentance.
Now, we need to make a quick distinction. John’s baptism was preparatory. It was anticipatory. They were looking forward to what God was about to do. The Christian baptism we witnessed a moment ago wasn’t anticipatory, it was reflective. If you keep your finger in our text and turn a few pages to the right, you’ll see this in Acts 19:1-10
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
So, get this: when an Israelite in Luke 3 received John’s baptism it was a declaration that they were open to God and his ways. But when we are baptized it symbolizes God’s cleansing work which has already taken place as we turned to Jesus Christ in faith.
Here’s what all this means: to come to King Jesus you first wound your own pride. Admit your own sinful neediness, and you then receive his cleansing.
How does Christ cleanse you of your sin? Very simple: he takes it upon himself at the cross. He doesn’t just take the punishment for your sin; your sin is imputed to him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 says: 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This is why we sing, “My sin, O the bliss, of this glorious thought: My sin not in part, but the whole. Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.” The promise of God is that your sin is nailed to the cross in Christ.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the ocean that we know of. It’s 36,000 feet deep (6.8 miles). That’s so deep that if Mount Everest were thrown into the trench, its summit would be a mile beneath the water’s surface.
And no matter how high the mountain of your sin is, the trench of God’s grace in Christ is deeper still. The mountain of your sin is made low. The valley of your guilt is filled to the top. The crookedness of your sin is made straight in Christ.
Even if you were 100 times worse than you are, your sin would be no match for his cleansing grace.
Receiving his cleansing. Turn from your sin and to Christ. That’s what repentance is.
Friend, repentance is not the ground of forgiveness. Repentance doesn’t induce God to be gracious to us. God has been gracious to us and repentance is the first step in receiving the cleansing that has already been provided.
Turn from yourself. Turn to Jesus. Look to the cross. See what God has already done for you. And believe. Rest in the fullness of Christs cross-work for you.
Wound your pride. Receive his cleansing. Finally:
Walk in His Ways
Three times John is asked, “What shall we do?” The crowd asks, then the tax collectors ask, then a group of soldiers ask. And the answer is not simply: be baptized. John says, true repentance walks in the ways of the king.
You must discern if your repentance is true or counterfeit. It’s so easy to make a show of repentance in order to impress your parents, your spouse, or your boss. It’s even quite easy to make a religious show of repentance in order to make yourself feel better.
Church, we are always in danger of showing counterfeit repentance.
- Counterfeit repentance loves saying, “I’m sorry.” But a true repentance is revealed in transformation, not just confessing that you need to change.
- Counterfeit repentance is merely being sad about the consequences of sin. My life is painful, so I’ll repent. I want to be married, so I’ll repent. I want a promotion, so I’ll clean up my life. Friends, none of those are true repentance.
- True repentance is far more focused on divine wrath than personal consequence. True repentance says, “Forget what has happened to me. I have offended a Holy God. And my greatest need is to be reconciled to him.”
- True repentance is hating the sin you once loved and loving the God you once hated.
- Counterfeit repentance makes excuses for sin. I yelled in anger, but I was hungry, or tired, or Italian, or Greek, or Irish… or whatever. Well you know this is just my personality… you know there’s ENTP, ENTJ… I’m a J-E-R-K.
John says that in order to receive Jesus, you are also receiving his lead, his law, you are going to walk in his ways. Jesus is not a “Get Out of Jail Free” card. He’s a king, and kings have laws. And though John doesn’t give us a full commentary on the law of God, he highlights four duties:
- Charity. Too often we say the word, but John highlights charity. To the crowd, John says, “Whoever has two tunics (or changes of clothes) is to share with him who has none.” What’s the difference between love and charity? None really. But the word charity reminds us that true and lawful love is always giving, always generous, always costly. Love that costs nothing isn’t love.
- Honesty. When the tax collectors ask what they should do, John says, “Don’t collect more than you are authorized to collect.” In other words, be honest in your business dealings. The same who God who forbids murder in the 6th commandment also forbids theft and lies in the 8th and 9th commandments.
- Contentedness. The soldiers ask what they should do, and John essentially says, “Don’t use the power of your position to abuse others.” Instead, use the power of your position to show compassion, and be content with your wages. Just because you have the ability to take advantage of others because of your position, instead show compassion.
So, do some evaluation of your own repentance. Every week we confess our sins together. We say amen to the prayer. How charitable are we on Monday morning? How honest are we at the end of the week when the boss asks how much work we got done? Are we using our position, as a husband, wife, father, mother, worker, child to show compassion to others? Are you content with what you have?
How do you prepare to meet and receive the King? Offend your pride. Don’t flatter yourself with religion. Receive his cleansing. Take hold of his sacrifice at the cross in faith. And walk in his ways. Come under his law.