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Luke 3 - Devotion · The Five Minute Bible Podcast

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  Welcome to Five Minute Bible in our journey through the New
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  Testament. In each episode, we take just a
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  few minutes to focus on one chapter of the New Testament,
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  exploring the truths God is teaching us through His Word and
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  expanding our view of who He is. Before you listen, make sure
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  you've gone straight to the source, either by reading
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  today's chapter of the Bible yourself or listening to today's
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  read along episode in this podcast feed.
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  If you haven't done that yet, feel free to pause and do that
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  now. When you're ready, let's dive
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  into God's Word. Together
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  in Luke chapter 3, we are given, by comparison, a fairly lengthy
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  look at the ministry and message of John the Baptist.
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  Verse three sums up his preaching succinctly, saying
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  that he was preaching a baptism of repentance for the
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  forgiveness of sins. Verses 4 through 6 reiterate
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  John's role in redemptive history by calling back to the
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  prophecy of Isaiah, saying of him the voice of one crying in
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  the wilderness. Make ready the way of the Lord,
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  make his path straight. Every ravine will be filled, and
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  every mountain and hill will be brought low.
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  The crooked will become straight, and the rough roads
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  smooth, and all flesh will see the salvation of God.
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  John, as prophesied by Isaiah, was calling for the way to be
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  made ready for the Messiah. He was rolling out the
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  metaphorical red carpet for the true king.
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  You see this imagery in the Isaiah passage of hills and
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  mountains being brought low and valleys being lifted up, the
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  ground literally being smoothed out for the Lord to walk upon
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  the earth. What the message of John teaches
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  us is that this metaphor is played out in the hearts of the
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  people. It was not the land that needed
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  preparation for the King's arrival.
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  It was human hearts. And So what is the message that
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  John preaches? Repentance, turning from our
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  sin. That is how the heart is made
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  ready to receive the good news of the gospel.
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  That is how the heart is made ready to hear that the eternal
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  God condescended to humanity, took the form of a human, lived
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  a perfect life, died the death we deserve on a cross, and rose
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  again on the third day. Because of this sacrificial life
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  and death and victorious resurrection, we sinners can be
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  made right with God. We've seen time and time again
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  already in the New Testament, Jesus making clear that it is
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  humility, it is admitting our need, that makes us ready to
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  receive grace. Here in John's message, we see
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  the very same reality. We must repent of our sins.
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  We must acknowledge that we have a problem.
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  A Savior is only good news to a people who knows they need
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  saving, to a heart that knows it needs to be saved.
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  You may have learned as a child the old ABC's of salvation, A
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  admit your need, B believe in Jesus and C confess Jesus as
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  Lord. What John is preaching is that A
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  of the ABC's admit your need, recognize that you have sinned
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  and fallen short of the glory of God and then you will be ready
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  to receive the grace of the gospel.
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  Because here's the reality. John preached a message that can
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  be summed up in one word, Repent.
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  Jesus message takes 2 words to summarize.
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  Repent and believe. Jesus brought the good news.
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  Jesus himself is the object of our belief.
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  He brought what we must believe in.
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  But before we can do that, before that good news is good,
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  we must repent. We that are blessed to know the
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  end of the story, to read from a Bible that's complete, know that
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  repentance is only Part 1. But that does not make it any
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  less vital, any less necessary. Do not miss the first command of
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  the gospel to repent, turn from your sins, confess them to God,
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  and know that, as first John tells us, if we confess our
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  sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins
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  and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.