Now we want to continue with our studies in the life of that man who was called John the Baptist. Let us commence by reading some verses from Matthew chapter three, the Gospel according to Matthew chapter three, verse one. In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. The same John had his raiment of camels here, the leather and girdle about his loins, and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of Vipers, who had warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bring forth therefore fruits, meat, for repentance, Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to her father, for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children, unto Abraham. Now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. I'm sure the Lord will bless to us the reading of these verses. Let us bow for prayer. Our Father, take our thanks again for all thy kindness to us, and for the privilege of being able to read thy word publicly, no one daring to make us afraid. We thank thee for the liberties we have in this land, and we pray that these privileges may continue to be the heritage of thy people in this country. We pray tonight for those who are in special need, draw near to them, make thy presence very real to them, save those who need to be saved, and restore those who have lost the joy of their salvation. Grant us the spirit of revival in these days. We'll be careful to give thee all the praise and all the glory in the Savior's precious name. Amen. Now, as we continue with our study regarding this man who was called John, let me remind you that John occupied a rather unique position in the economy of God. But the position that John occupied seems to have a correspondence with our own position today. For example, for four hundred years there had been a silence with regards to the word of God. From the end of the Old Testament, from the days of Malachi until the days of John, four hundred years, and there had been no prophet, no messenger, when all of a sudden the messenger arrived, John the prophet. Now remember then, John was the last message from God. prior to the presentation of the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. That being so, I want to remind you of this, that in times past God spoke through the prophets, and when the days of the prophets had come to an end, God spoke in His Son. That is, the Lord Jesus Christ was presented to the nation. Now John was the last in the line of the prophets. So John had a very remarkable position. John had a ministry to fulfill. That is, he was the final voice before the Messiah was presented to the nation. Now, I draw your attention to that because at the present time, may I suggest to every listener today, especially to those who are Christians, I think this generation in which we live now has a grave responsibility of bearing the final testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ before that great event called the rapture of the church, the coming again of the Lord to take his own away. Generation after generation have borne the testimony to the name of Jesus Christ. starting on the streets of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, as recorded in Acts chapter two. And from then till now, God has not been without a testimony. Somewhere, sometime, God has raised up his men and raised up his people to continue bearing a testimony for the name of the Lord. But it seems that we're living in the time now when that day is almost at an end called the Day of Salvation, and the coming of the Lord is very near. I believe to this generation has fallen the grave responsibility of bearing the final testimony for the Lord. Now, last study that we had regarding John, we pointed out that he was a man come from God, a man sent of God. He was a sent man. He was a steadfast man when the winds of adversity blew against him. Religious adversity, political adversity. John stood against all the winds that blew against him. John was a straight man. He could speak his peace. Like the chips fall, he exposed and reproved evil even when it was amongst the leaders. Now, I should also mention this, that he was a suffering man. John suffered as a man of the wilderness. He didn't have it easy. He wasn't a man dressed up in soft clothes. He was a man of the wilderness. He also suffered as a prisoner because he was cast into prison by Herod, the man that he rebuked for his evil life. Then John suffered as a martyr, for the day came when they took the head from off his shoulders. John was a suffering man. He suffered because he testified to the name of the Messiah. But what's particularly before our minds in this study is the message of John. That's why I read to you from Matthew chapter three. But I want to add to that what we read a way back in the prophecy of Isaiah, because the New Testament tells us that this John was the one that was prophesied. Now, a way back in Isaiah's prophecy chapter forty, here is what we read. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Now it's a strange thing that the prophecy of Isaiah is divided up to us into six to six chapters, the same number of chapters in Isaiah's prophecy as we have books in the Bible. Now, at the end of chapter thirty-nine of the prophecy of Isaiah, we have something said concerning the judgment that would come upon the nation. But when you come into chapter forty, which corresponds, by the way, with the opening of the New Testament, and when you come to the New Testament, it's comfort ye, comfort ye, my people. But before that comfort can become a reality, first of all, there's the voice of him that cries in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Now the question may arise, how can we prepare a way for the Lord? How can we make straight the highway for our God? Now when you come over to the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, at chapter three of Malachi we read this, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. That's referring again to John the Baptist. And then when you come to the close of Malachi, at the end of chapter four, it says this, And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Now join all these things together. And here is what you arrive at, that this man who was to be sent as the messenger, he was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. He is the forerunner of the Messiah. Now he comes, and he's like a voice, and he's shouting, Prepare ye the way of the Lord. But we also learn this, that in preparing the way of the Lord, He's going to turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers. Something has gone wrong in the domestic sphere. And then he's going to bring a message of repentance to the people. He shall prepare the way before me. He's going to prepare the people for the Lord. And so, therefore, the only way he can do it is by the message that he brings. And he says, repent ye, for the kingdom is at hand. He's going to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children. And he's going to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers. Now, may I suggest this, that when you come into the gospel according to Matthew and chapter three, where we read of John, and John comes out into the wilderness, he's the voice of the one crying in the wilderness. And what is he crying? Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Then you'll notice that he's saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So that if the people are to prepare for the coming king, and if they are to be prepared for the setup of the kingdom, they'll require to repent. That is, they'll have to turn back again towards the Lord. The people had turned away from the Lord. They had turned to idolatry. They had put something in place of the Lord. And so John comes as the messenger. And we said concerning him that he was sent from God with the message. He was a steadfast man. He was a straight man. He was going to deliver his message. But for delivering that message, John would require to suffer. The people didn't want John's message, but it was the message from God. I remind you again that throughout the Old Testament, that when the people departed from the straight paths, that God raised up his men. God sent messengers who were called prophets. And the work of a prophet was to turn the people back again to their God. And John's mission then is to turn people back to the Lord, to prepare them for the Messiah that was to be presented to them, the Messiah who would set up his kingdom. Now, I want you to note with me for a moment or two this message that John preached. For John was a messenger. And a messenger must have a message. And John's message was this. Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, if he said repent, that was a plain message. You know, John didn't couch his message in words that people couldn't understand. It's so easy today for men to mumble. and to say an awful lot of words, and yet when they're finished, they've conveyed no message. John wasn't like that. John conveyed his message in words that people could understand. A dear old preacher who died some years ago, a man that I had the privilege of meeting and talking with, He wrote a few books in his day and he did a lot of preaching on different continents. He wrote this in one of his books telling of this same method of preaching and he was giving advice to young men and telling them that if they were going to be preachers they would have to watch their language and they would have to be very plain with what they said. To illustrate his point, he told this story. He says, a traveller driving a horse and trap arrived at a hotel in the south of England. That was in the days, of course, before they had motor cars, when they drove around with their horse-drawn vehicles. And when he stopped at this hotel, he gave his instructions to the young coachman who came running out to help him. And he spoke to him in language something like this. He said, Boy, will you extricate the quadruped from the vehicle? As he has toiled strenuously ever since the orb of day appeared on the eastern horizon this morning, extend to him a munificent supply of nutritious vigils. The poor boy looked at the man. Then he ran into the hotel, and he told his master he says, There's a man outside, and he's speaking Greek. Will you please come and interpret for me? See, that poor boy didn't understand classical English. How much better would it have been if the man who came with his horse had said, Take this horse to the stable. He's been working hard all day. Give him plenty to eat. You see, that's plain language. The boy would have understood that language, but he didn't understand when the man spoke in classical English. Now, when we come with a message of God, there is a tendency today for men to want the message presented to them in high-sounding phrases. with words they don't understand. But the point of the matter is that when John came preaching, I suggest his message was plain. He says, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. See, this was very plain. And we need today to have a message that's plain, that men and women who listen will understand there's a God in heaven. that the Lord Jesus Christ is the living Lord. And they'll understand that sin is against God. And that sin pays its wages. And that the wages of sin is death. They'll understand that sometime in this life they've got to make the decision for are against the Lord Jesus Christ. These are plain things, plain words. And men and women will have to understand this. that when they die then the die is cast when they pass over the boundary line they cannot choose then it's too late and so it's here in this life that a man makes up his mind he decides for Christ or against him repent God calls for repentance he commands all men everywhere to repent it was a plain message But, you know, John's message was a very personal message. He says, repent ye. Sometimes, you know, people are apt to think when a preacher preaches, my, that was a grand message for Mrs. Brown on the other side of the pew. Or they'll say it's just a pity that Mr. So-and-so wasn't present to hear that sermon today. It would just have suited him. No, my friend. When you read the Word of God, you've got to apply it in a personal manner. It's for me. It's for you. You see, this thing is very personal. Other people cannot repent for me. And I cannot repent for someone else. This is something that cannot be done by proxy. This is a very personal matter. John says, repent ye. And that comes right down to the individual. And so he's speaking a message they can understand. John preached repentance. The Lord Jesus Christ preached repentance. The Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost preached repentance. The great Apostle Paul preached repentance. He preached repentance to Jew and to Gentile alike. This is the message that is preached in the Word of God. Repent. and repent ye becomes a very personal message. It's all right thinking of other people who need to repent, but the message becomes a personal one, and John made his message very personal. Today, if a preacher preaches and does not reach the hearts of those who are listening to him, they might say that was a great sermon. But if he preaches repentance and becomes very personal and brings it down and it touches the conscience and touches the heart, or they'll say, he's not preaching now, he's meddling. No, my friend, the Word of God gets right home to the heart. You can call it meddling if you like, but it's making the message very personal. The Lord Jesus Christ was personal in the way he preached. John was personal with his message. So were all the early preachers, and down through the succeeding generations, men who have been powers for God were prepared to apply their message in a personal manner the same as John, repent ye. You see, the children had turned against the fathers, and the fathers had turned against the children. There was domestic upsets, and so therefore John's message was sent so that the fathers would turn again to the children and the children to the fathers. No generation gap whatsoever here. The one is responsible towards the other. Parents are responsible towards the children. And children are responsible towards their parents. Something had gone wrong with the nation at that time. And John is sent in order to turn the fathers to the children. and the children to the fathers. It was very personal. Then they were to prepare the highway for the coming king. The king is coming, prepare for him. And that brings you to what I would call the third part of his message here. Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. See, it was a pressing message. John had no time to waste. John had to preach his message. He had to make it plain so that people would understand what he was talking about. He had to make it personal so that we get home to the conscience of every listener. John had to keep pressing his message because time was running out. Time was short. That nation had been away from God for a long time. And the day was about to dawn when their king, their Messiah, would be presented to them. A lot of people have come to me and said, in what way was the kingdom presented to Israel? The kingdom was presented in the person of the king. How could you have a kingdom without a king? And why should you think of a man as a king if he hasn't got a kingdom? The king was presented to them, and one day that king will set up his kingdom. And Jesus shall reign where ere the sun does his successive journeys run. His kingdom stretched from shore to shore till moon shall wax and wane no more. In John's day it was very pressing. They had a very short time to get ready before the day that the king would be presented to them. The unfortunate thing was this, that they rejected their king and said, We have no king but Caesar. What shall I then do with this man, who is the king of the Jews? Let him be crucified, they said, and they rejected their king. But John's message was pressing. May I take that thought and bring it over to all of us today. To every listener I say this, my friend, time is running out. The sand glass of time is just about at the end. The clock is almost at midnight. It's obvious we haven't much longer to go. In nineteen forty-eight the state of Israeli was set up. Israel was back again in the land, in spite of the fact that there were those who said they would never be there. Even after they got back, there were those that said they would chase them out. They're still there. Not only have we seen the nation of Israel come again into prominence, but the other nations surrounding them have also come into prominence. And little nations that perhaps just at the beginning of this century hardly knew what to do. They hardly knew how to grow a cabbage. They hardly knew how to farm. Now they're shaking their fist in the faces of the great nations. See, we've seen not only Israel come back into prominence. We've seen the other nations around them come into prominence. And all eyes today are turned towards the Middle East. I'd be watching the Middle East now for a good number of years, and I'll tell you why. An old preacher who has been with the Lord for some time told us a way back a number of years ago, forty years ago, he said to us, keep your eye on Palestine. That is the key to world events. And he's right. You see, my friend, the kingdom was at hand when John was preaching. May I remind you that here is a pressing message again. The coming of the Lord draws nigh. We're nearing the time when the Lord will come back again. And just as John said, repent, for the kingdom is at hand. We must call upon men and women today to repent and get ready for the return of the Lord.