Luke 1:17

A PREPARED PEOPLE

‘A people prepared for the Lord.’

Luke 1:17

Prepared for the Lord! How shall it be? I cannot do as Elias did; but I can follow his teaching. You remember the teaching of John the Baptist. You must be prepared to recognise Christ when He comes, and to know Him. This the Baptist taught. He placed the people in a position that they should know Christ when they saw Him. How are you to be prepared?

I. Christ must be no new Christ to you.—You must have heard His voice; seen His face; felt His love.

II. You must have a deep sense of sin.—‘Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ No one must stand there who has not learnt to stoop very low.

III. You must be exact, faithful, diligent in your daily duties.—Doing whatever you do heartily; a man of large charities, a man of unselfish habits, a man of strict integrity in business, a man of self-government, a man of moderation, a man of content, a man of humility.

IV. You must be baptized—not with the baptism of water only, but with the baptism of the Spirit.

V. You must be much in the use of the ordinances—loving the shadows till the substance comes, learning the original by the pictures He has left to you; frequent in your Holy Communion.

—Rev. James Vaughan.