To clean as if the Queen is visiting is a phrase that's used to refer to an extreme level of cleanliness that you do for an important guest. It's meticulous. It's arduous. Making sure that every faucet is sparkling, the ground could be eaten off of, that the windows and the doors that they're spotless. You guys know what I'm speaking about because I've heard some of you use this phrase. In 2016, the UK launched a campaign by the same name for Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday to encourage citizens to clean up public spaces using the idiom to clean for the monarch's sake, quite literally. There's a lever of pressure for high profile guests that we would prepare for their arrival. For some of you, this might be your mother-in-law. For others of you, it's a friend. For some of you, it's a business partner or co-worker. We all prepare for one person or another. In this passage, we see John the Baptist preparing for the coming of King Jesus. He's not only preparing himself, but he's preparing all of Judea for the arrival of the Messiah. In this passage, Matthew tells us how the way of the Lord is prepared, or how to be prepared for the Lord. By the words of John the Baptist, he says this, The way of the Lord is prepared by repentance, fruitfulness, and the Holy Spirit. This outline is printed for you in your bulletin so you can follow along or take notes this morning. The question that we will examine, and I hope that you keep in your mind this morning, is are we ready for the King? Are you prepared? Let's look at our first point, repentance. In verse 1, we find ourselves in the wilderness of Judea, hearing the preaching ministry of John the Baptizer. The wilderness is the place that God's people would have known well. Throughout the Bible, it was a place of preparation. In the narratives of Exodus, Numbers, the wilderness is the precursor to the Promised Land. It is likely the location where John finds himself is more profound than just being simply convenient to be a place where he baptizes. It is to point to the preparation of the Kingdom of God. John, we know, from the Gospel of Luke, is Jesus' cousin, the last of the prophets, preparing and proclaiming to God's people to prepare for the King, telling them to be ready for his arrival, to know his blessing, and if they don't, they will know his judgment. So John the Baptist opens up by telling us to repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The King and the Kingdom are drawing near, so be ready. And according to John, being ready begins with repentance. If you're confused of where we are as it relates to the Scriptures, we are looking at verse 2, so you can follow along with me. Repentance, or repent, is a word that we as Christians use a lot. But like any word when it's used or overused, we can forget what it actually means. To repent is the action of changing directions. It is turning away from sin and turning to God. Often, repentance is coupled with sorrow over sin. Repentance, though, is more than simply grieving over our sin. It is grief that leads to action, to changing our minds and changing our hearts. In 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10, Paul says that godly grief leads to salvation and repentance, whereas worldly grief leads to death. How do you know if you are doing one or the other? I'd posit this, that if you are more concerned with the consequence of your sin, instead of hating sin itself, I would argue that your posture is one of worldly grief. But if you hate your sin, and you hate the fact that you've succumbed to that temptation, and you want to be free from it, and by all your power you seek to clear yourself from that sin being associated to you, and this you ask for forgiveness for that sin and the way that it's affected not just you but also others, that you are then removing temptation and asking God to change you, that you would not sin in this way anymore, then I think that you are experiencing godly grief, thus knowing true repentance. Repentance is known by acknowledging sin, confessing it, and turning from it. When I used to teach youth, I used to tell my youth kids, remember act, acknowledge, confess, and turn. And so keep that in mind. I don't try to bring my youth pastorisms out in the pulpit, but these are helpful things even for us who are mature in our faith to hold on to. But why do the people need to repent for the King coming or the kingdom drawing near? It's because the kingdom of heaven has more to do with holiness than it does heritage. The term kingdom of heaven is highlighting the difference between heaven and earth. That the people are to turn from their earthly ways, their desires, and their allegiances, and instead are to look to the kingdom that is wholly other, that's wholly different from themselves, being transformed unto God, being committed to His ways, desiring what He wants, and having allegiance unto God and God alone. It is in the kingdom of heaven where God reigns and not man. So the people must prepare for the King and the kingdom by cleansing and cleaning their hearts and their minds, not their homes. Repentance is like that shower. It's acknowledging that you are dirty, that you are in need of cleansing, and that you need to be changed, that you need to be made clean, both in your conscience and in your conduct. So reminding us even of our illustration of the beginning, we aren't preparing ourselves for men or women. We are preparing ourselves for God. John's job was to prepare the way for Jesus. This is seen in his call to repentance for the people of Judea, and it's clearly stated in verse 3 that Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, and Isaiah 40 prophesied about John, that he would be this voice crying out in the wilderness, preparing God's people for the arrival of the Messiah. This is also highlighted in the description of John's attire in verse 4. This outfit and diet that we are told about isn't just a minor point in the sense that we shouldn't care about it. We are supposed to have something come to mind, and what is to come to mind is to call back to the prophet Elijah. If you were to read 2 Kings chapter 1, you'd see this identical description of the prophet Isaiah, just as John is dressed here. And why was this important? It's because of Malachi chapter 3 and 4, which tell us that Elijah is to come before the Lord comes, and that he will prepare his people for God. Keep in mind, church, this is a gospel that is written to a Jewish audience, so these interlays and cross-references and images are ones that we might be forgetful of or unaware of, but they are plain to the hearers and readers. And my hope is that you'd see that this textual work and this clarity and prophecy being fulfilled is God's intentionality to be clear that he is a God who saves, that he is a God who keeps his promises. This is why John the Baptist calls the people of God to repent and to baptize them, not so that they would just sort of trickle by, no, so that they would be prepared for the kingdom of heaven, that they would be prepared for the king. I think it's important to say this, especially because we had a baptism this morning. The baptism of John is different from Christian baptism. John's baptism was a baptism of repentance and preparation from Messiah, whereas Christian baptism is a covenant sign, uniting us to the Messiah as we are baptized into triune name. This is completely different, and we know that these are different because of Acts 19 verses 1-7, where Paul rebaptizes believers into the triune name because they had only received the baptism of John. And so we must see that what John is doing here is preparatory. What Jesus gives us in baptism is fulfillment. John prepared the people for the king. He was ensuring that the people were contrite, confessing, and clean for his arrival, highlighting their need for salvation, their need to turn to God, and their need to be prepared. Being prepared for the Lord, being repentant, turning from the kingdom of earth to the kingdom of God. It should also be noted that repentance is not something that's only done once. That it's somehow a one and done. The first of Luther's 95 theses was about repentance. He noted that our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, repent. And he willed that the entire life of the believer is to be one of repentance. Repentance is to be the continual posture of the Christian, not because we aren't making progress in our faith, in our life. But instead, that repentance is the means of making progress. How the Christian is to be fruitful. Which leads us to our second point, fruitfulness. Please look with me at verse 7. Verse 7, we see this delegation from the Sanhedrin coming to visit John as he is baptizing. The Sanhedrin was the highest level of the Jewish court. It is made up of religious leaders from both sides of the theological isle. Being made up of Pharisees and Sadducees, both are classes of religious elites that had some interpretive differences. Which made these sects to exist. The Pharisees believed in the oral tradition of the law, the Sadducees did not. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, the Sadducees did not. Both were religious leaders of that day, but they were distinct. And so what does John say to these religious leaders? He calls them a family of snakes. He says that they are a brood of vipers, depicting their malicious nature so clearly. That they are slithering away from the judgment to come. John makes clear that these religious leaders were merely outwardly pious, but inwardly devious. That they are not repentant. That they are not seeing their sin and turning from it. That they are not being fruitful. They are instead leaders of barren branches. And in this they are showing no evidence of faith. Verse 9 tells us, they lack the preparation for the king. That they are a people who presume to be God's people. Appealing to the heritage of Abraham instead of holiness to God. He concludes this vivid prophetic language by saying, God is ready to cut any barren tree down that bears no fruit and bind it up and throw it into fire. To be prepared for the Lord, we are to be fruitful in faith. If we lack repentance, we lack fruit. And in this, John is highlighting that these people are not a people of the king. We must keep in mind that John is speaking to the most religious people of that day. And to them he gives the gravest warning. And this is something that we must consider ourselves. We want to be a covenantal, believing church. That believing that God works through families. But that does not exclude the fact that God must save individuals. That God must work through Christ. It is Christ alone who saves, not family heritage. In the vows we read today, we saw the first vow in baptism is appealing to God for saving work in the person of Jesus Christ. Not anything or anyone else. The Pharisees and the Sadducees here. Throughout the gospel, fail to see their need for a savior. They fail to turn and believe in God and believe in Christ. They instead persist in pride, thinking that they can save themselves. That they have the right of being born into a specific family and because of that, that they can somehow be saved. That's just not true. We are called to be fruitful by being repentant. Turning to Jesus for salvation. These men miss that. And we can too, if we simply presume to be God's chosen people instead of examining our fruit. So how can we examine our fruit? I'm going to ask you this. Are you a joyful, peaceful, forgiving, loving, gentle, self-controlled person? Or are you barren? Is your life known more for anger, strife, grudges, hatred, forcefulness? Giving yourself up to all the feelings of your heart and following that into sin? Dear Christian, if you lack fruit, if you lack the fruit of the Holy Spirit, maybe you're not a Christian. That doesn't mean that you exclusively always feel joy or you only feel peace. But these fruits should exist in your life and they should be increasing. Instead, if your life is barren, lacking the fruit of faith, you should be concerned. Reason one, you should be concerned because you're living a lie. You're living a life of presumption where God is calling you to preparation. And if you stay in that place, we are told you will experience judgment. That you will receive what you rehearse. That if you live a fruitless life now, you will not somehow miraculously live a fruitful one in the next. We believe by faith God is changing us into his very likeness here and now. And that we will be perfect in the next. But if you look in the mirror and you look like a child of Satan instead of a child of God, that's a grave warning. Because you can't just magically change your appearance. God must change. And there are real consequences for this. The text tells us that the fruit fruit fruitless tree will be cast into judgment that they will be used for Tinder. God is gracious and desiring that all that no one may perish. But if you deny him, presume on him and somehow trust in yourself, he will deny you and he will punish you. And so my call to you this morning is that you turn from your sin and turn to Christ. That is God's means of changing you to be more like him. It is not by trying harder. It's not by knowing more. It's not by being better. These men here, they tried the hardest. They came as the religious elites. They knew the most. They consumed the most. They had the best status and prestige. But that didn't qualify them for salvation. It qualified them for damnation. Those whom God looks to is those who are contrite and tremble at his word. The way of the Lord is prepared by fruitfulness. It is the fruit of faith, the evidence of repentance taking root in your heart. It is not simple formalism. By coming to church, the Sanhedrin, they did that. It is an internal and external change from what you say, what you do, and how you live. It's a reflection of your faith. It is more than just ticking the box of attendance. It is inward transformation by the Holy Spirit that leads to transformation, that leads to life. This leads us to our last point, the Holy Spirit. After making clear to the religious and irreligious of that day, this grave warning, John seeks to make clear that he is not the king, that he is simply the prep crew. He says that his baptism is for repentance, but the one who is to come is mightier than him. He can't even carry his shoes. He tells us at the end of verse 11 that this king, he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. So we must see that our king is mighty. He is worthy. The most worthless part of him, his shoes, John is not able to touch. Though our king is so worthy and so mighty, he does not carry himself like that. Jesus comes in humility. He comes in the posture of a servant, not seeking to be served, but serving. The mighty one, the worthy one took on flesh, becoming weak and worthless for our sake. And we are to prepare for his coming. And how does he prepare his people for his own coming? He prepares them by pouring out his spirit and fire, that his people will be brought to God. This Holy Spirit is the one who makes us repentant, fruitful and faithful. That is how this is even possible in the life of the believer. All this call to action proceeds from God by God changing you. To live the transformed life, God must work to transform us first. Otherwise, we're simply laboring in vain. The picture, the baptism of the Holy Spirit here, I believe is the spirit being poured into our hearts as Romans 5 says. It is God dwelling in us, changing us from the inside out. Without the spirit, we are simply just giving makeovers to corpses. We're just doing the external fixings, not the internal life. Jesus comes to give of his life, but he also comes to give us his spirit. That we can live with God now. That God would change us now by refining us by his fire instead of being burned by it. The way of the Lord is prepared by the spirit. It is God who changes us, saves us and brings us to himself. And if that is not the case, John closes in verse 12 by speaking about judgment and salvation, which are two sides to the same coin. We must see here that God saves through judgment because he is a holy and just God. And so we are given a common farming metaphor of the time. Jesus will separate his people like chaff from wheat. He will be taking his win-win fork in his hand and he will throw the grain up in the air. And this is the action where the chaff falls off and the grain falls to the ground. And he will gather the wheat for salvation and the chaff for damnation. This is not to scare us into the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. This is simply to remind us that there are consequences for denying our Savior. To see his fire will either enter us into new birth or enter us into death. The good news though is that Jesus comes to take on the fire of judgment for all who believe in him. He dies the death that we deserve, taking the penalty for sin for us. The king who prepares us comes to gather us to himself. But if you deny him, presume on him, pretend to be with him, judgment still stands against you. It will consume you. Hell is a real place and those who deny God rely on self are destined for unquenchable fire. And I call out to you like a voice in the wilderness, repent. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus the king is coming. He has come. Believe in him that you will know the kingdom of heaven and the king of heaven. Seeing that the good life is not found apart from him, but instead it is found with him alone. And so would you believe in him today? For the believer in this room, the Lord has come and gone, but he will come again. And so would we be prepared for the coming of our king, living as repentant, fruitful and spirit filled people waiting to be gathered to him. Let us pray.