Matthew 3:1, In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,  John the Baptist was Jesus's cousin, but he was also the fore runner of Jesus.  He was preaching God's word to prepare the people for the ministry of Jesus.  Verse two states, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  John the Baptist's was a very simple message, and was a call to repentance because the kingdom of God was at hand.  This should be our message today, which can only be achieved through faith in Christ as Savior and Lord.  Verse three states, For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.  The preaching of John the Baptist had also been foretold in the book of Isaiah.  He called on them to make straight their paths.  This does not mean that they could save themselves, but that as much as was possible they were to prepare to meet Jesus.  I believe this was a call for people to repent of their sins and turn to God's guidance, which would now lead them to Jesus.  We must call people today to that same repentance and lead them to Jesus.  John the Baptist could not save the people he preached to, and neither can we.  Like John the Baptist though, we can point them to Jesus, the only one Who can save them.  Verse four says, And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.  John the Baptist was far from being a part of the religious establishment.  We might call him somewhat of a wild man by his looks and diet.  In other words, he was a simple man in dress and diet, and not one that people would expect to be the harbinger of a King.  We, as followers of Christ, must never judge people, especially God's spokesmen, by their looks, but need to judge them by their message.  Verse five declares, Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,  John the Baptist had people coming from the entire region to hear him.  Many thought he might be the Messiah, but he never accepted their praise.  We must go into the world with God's message of salvation, but we must never claim God's glory for ourselves.  It seems that we too often want to isolate ourselves from the world, but we are commanded to go out into the world with the message of Christ.  Verse six says, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.  This baptism was not the same as a believers baptism, because Jesus had yet to begin His ministry and had not defeated sin and death on the cross.  Still, it was a sign of their willingness to repent.