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LUKE 3:5 - GREAT PREACHING TEXTEcclesiastes 1:15 says, "That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered." Then this sentiment is repeated in Ecclesiastes 7:13: "Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?"Although God didn't "make" man crooked, He certainly allowed it by allowing man to choose sin that was presented to him by the "crooked serpent" (Job 26:13). Because of this, all men are sinners, all are "crooked," and man is incapable of making himself straight.But there's good news! In his preparatory preaching regarding the coming redemptive work of Christ on the cross, John the Baptist preached that "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight . . ." (Luke 3:5) That which was impossible among normal men would be performed by God manifest in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ!To literally illustrate this, Jesus "straightens up" a crooked woman in Luke 13:11-13: "And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately SHE WAS MADE STRAIGHT, and glorified God."Moral: Sin has made you CROOKED. Only Jesus can make you STRAIGHT.