The Gift Of Repentance

 

 

"Now in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ³ For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”

⁴ Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; ⁶ and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins."

Matthew 3:1-6

 

Good Morning my beloved,



We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my privilege to have you here with us today. We are especially grateful for those of you who have been sharing the ministry website with all of your family and friends. Your faithfulness and commitment to share God's Word with others continues to bring about tremendous results. People are responding to God's Word! This is all so amazing. We ask you to pray that God will continue to give us boldness to speak the truth in ministry in the face of adversity in the coming days! As you may have noticed, it's becoming more and more challenging in the day in which we live. 

I want to let all of you know how grateful I am for all of you. We are so thankful your prayers and continue to pray for all of you. Prayer is such a powerful tool, and a mighty weapon against the adversary. And through your sharing, God continues to bring a number of people to faith in Jesus Christ. Praise God! May He continue to use you and this ministry mightily to effect change in even more lives. Let's give God some praise for all He has done!

Many people think that going to church or getting baptized is what makes someone saved. The reality is its not. Only Jesus saves through repentance. If there is no genuine repentance, and turning from sin, there's no salvation. I believe that's one of the greatest problems in the church, there are because there are a lot of people who have never genuinely repented. They have merely agreed to a particular set of beliefs. This is what happens when you selectively go through Bible, preaching messages that avoid the subjects of sin and repentance. 

 

Repentance is a central theme to the Gospel. Biblical repentance means to turn around, to change the mind. Repentance is examining one's actions and feeling contrition for past moral wrongs. A commitment to an action to make a change for the better. In other words, to change the direction of your life, not living in the same ways you once did. Repentance then, is a simultaneous change of belief and a change of the direction of your life at the same time. You must turn toward the ways of God, therefore, you must turn away from your sin. Anything short of that is not genuine salvation. Counterfeit salvation produces no transformation, it bears no fruit of the Spirit of God. You cannot continue living in your sin, and consider it true salvation.

 

In Mark 1:15, Jesus said "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." In the early church, the first word of the every Christian sermon was "repent."

 

In John 8:11, to the woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."

 

In Luke 24:46-47, "He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

 

In Matthew 3:2, John the Baptizer's message was "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 

And in verses 8-9 of our text, John the Baptizer warned those who believed they were saved "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham."

John is basically saying it doesn't matter what you say, it's what you are that matters. What you say will not get you into heaven. You must change the direction of your life!

 

And, in Acts 2:38, "Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." 

 

Many people will claim to be a Christian, but if they have not genuinely repented, there isn’t going to be any fruit. Their profession of faith is little more than just words. If there's no fruit you’re going in the fire. 

 

The reality is people watch for movement in their every day lives, to see if its going in the direction that they had hoped, whether it's weight loss, finances, cars, agriculture, kids, relationships, whatever. If nothing is happening, nothing has changed. Even if you never speak a word about your faith, your metanoia has to change.

 

I know talk about repentance a lot, it's because your life and soul has value to me. And, because this is the direction of change that Jesus requires for salvation.

 

Lets us pray 

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Father, we thank You for Your Word. Lord, seal Your word to our hearts for Your eternal glory. Thank You Father for sending Your Son into the world to save sinners, among whom I am certainly one of them. Lord, we know that genuine repentance opens the door to grace. Help us to walk in the grace, mercy, faith and forgiveness of sin and the hope of eternal life. We pray for those who are yet lost,those who are deceived, corrupted by false religion, touch their hearts O Lord, and lead them to repentance, to ask for forgiveness and confess their belief in the life, death and the saving resurrection of Jesus Christ. May today be that glorious day.

In Jesus' precious name we ask and pray

Amen

 

Today's Message: The Gift Of Repentance

 

Open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 3. Matthew 3 verses one through six. It would seem almost in spite of himself, John the Baptizer attracted large crowds. And, his message had a tremendous impact on many. In fact, every one of the four Gospels begins their account with some of introduction of John's words. John may well have not have been a great public speaker, but he certainly attracted a large number of people whom followed his teaching. John’s greatness and impact for the Kingdom of God cannot be denied

 

For nearly 400 years,God had not spoken a single word through the prophets. Then, all of a sudden,  from out of the Judean wilderness, a voice began to cry out, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It wasn't long, until people began to make their way out to the wilderness to see and to hear John. preach.  While many came to repent, confess their sins, and be baptized. I imagine others came merely out of curiosity. While every preacher of God's Word seems to have his own emphasis and perspective, the call to repentance is certainly central to the Gospel message. 

 

I invite you to follow along with me as I read, to set the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for the Spirit of God is saying to each of us. Matthew 3:1-6. Listen for the voice of our Lord. 

"Now in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’"

Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins."

In today's society, if you're successful, if you have a lot of money, most people think of you as great. Certainly, by the world's standards, John nor Jesus were great. Jesus was born into an ordinary family, Joseph, his earthly father, was a carpenter. He had no money, no formal education and crucified, He died the death of a common criminal. In studying the Scriptures, it is then, safe to say, that God has a very different standard as what qualifies a man to be considered great. In Scripture, God has given us the portrait of the greatest man. A man who is greater than Moses, greater than Abraham, greater than David, greater than Isaiah or Jeremiah. This is the greatest man who ever lived up until his time.

John the Baptizer, too, was born into a common family, with ordinary parents, his father, Zacharias, was a priest, which was also fairly common. There were 24 courses of priests, each served minimally, the rest of the time they lived ordinary lives. Luke tells us his mother was Elizabeth. He had no money or formal education to speak of. As far as we can tell, he lived like a hermit, an outcast in the wilderness. Yet, Matthew introduces him to us, as the herald of the King, and as the greatest man who ever lived.

John the Baptizer, or John the Baptist, either is correct, is presented as the forerunner for Jesus. You notice the first six verses, emphasizes this. It was quite common, in ancient times, when a king was coming into a city, he would send ahead of him heralds to announce the king was coming. A heralds job was to announce, to proclaim. Another function, was to prepare the road for easy travel, since roads in those days were subject to all kinds of hazards. So, a herald went ahead of the king to proclaim, prepare and announce the coming king. Notice, this was exactly what John the Baptizer did. 

Let's look at verses 1-2, "Now in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ^"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." "Now in those day," and the word "came," was the Greek verb "paraginomai," was literally used to speak of the arrival of an official. John was officially announcing the arrival of a king. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The verb "eggízō," used for the phrase "at hand," literally means it's drawing near, it's imminent.

And, obviously in verse 3, he says " For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’" John was calling people to work on the path to get it ready for the King to arrive. Only in this case, he was heralding the King of kings.

 

It is interesting, that around twenty-nine or thirty years had elapsed between the end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3. Matthew does not even address that period, he skips over it. In fact, there is only one gospel that even makes mention of any event in those entire period of years, and that is Luke in chapter 2. The incident where Jesus went with His parents to the Passover, is the only mention anywhere of those years. So, except what Luke says when he was 12 years old, when said He must be about His Father's business, we know nothing about that time. Luke says He grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man. For 30 years Jesus has been living in relative obscurity. Then, all of a sudden, "in those days," in which He was living in Nazareth, comes an official presentation, "Make ready the way of the Lord." John’s preaching was not only the warning of impending judgment, it was a call to action.

The Jews in those days, trusted in their ancestry, being descendants of Abraham, for salvation. To be very clear, John is not suggesting that the coming of the kingdom is dependent upon man’s actions. The Kingdom of Heaven will come whether men repent or not. However, men should repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is coming!

Then, in verse 13, Matthew says "Then Jesus *arrived," which signals the beginning of the official ministry of Jesus Christ. And,in  Acts chapter 10, were told when John began to herald, Jesus began to minister. By the way, Luke tells us John was Jesus' cousin, six months older than Jesus. The name John means "Jehovah graciously gave." For obvious reasons, he was given the surname "the Baptizer," because that's what he did. So, he was branded as "John the Baptizer."

 

John was unique, his parents were old, his mother Elizabeth was barren. Luke, in chapter 1,tells us the story, "And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Notice  it says "For he will be great in the sight of the Lord." That's really the key. This is a very unusual baby, filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb, and great he was. Great in the sight of the Lord. 

 

In fact, Matthew 11:11 says: "Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." By the way, those are the words of Jesus. The greatest man that ever lived up until his time is the subject of this chapter. If the greatest man that ever lived is only the herald for the King,  then surely, the King must be even greater. That's the point Matthew is emphasizing.

 

In The Apostle John's Gospel, chapter 1, we read "This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he *said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" He said, "I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said." John knew exactly who he was. His parents knew. There was never a doubt, his parents told him from the time he was a child, so he went out in the desert and stayed there. 

 

The Jewish people knew the Messiah would have a forerunner. In fact, at every orthodox Jewish Passover ceremony, there was a cup at the table reserved for the prophet Elijah. And, at every circumcision, a chair placed there for Elijah, that if Elijah would ever come and drink the cup or sit in the chair, that would be the sign that the King was arriving. What they failed to see, was that John was the fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah would come.

 

In fact, the very last statement in the Old Testament was "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse."

 

Luke tells us that John fulfilled that prophecy, "It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." The Elijah the prophet referred to is John the Baptizer. 

 

In Matthew 17, Jesus said "Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist." He wasn't Elijah but he came in the spirit and power of Elijah and fulfilled the intention of the prophecy. 

 

Do you want to know something?  When they did what they did to John, they stopped the fulfillment of that prophecy and another one in the spirit and power of Elijah, will have to come in the future to get the people ready for the kingdom. Listen, "For all the prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." Well, we know they didn't accept it, they killed him. John came to get the people ready for the King. The King came to offer them the Kingdom. They didn't want the forerunner, they beheaded him. They didn't want a King, they crucified Him. The Kingdom was not stopped, but it was postponed. 

 

So, there's gotta be another forerunner to make Israel ready for the Kingdom. Everything about John was unique, his sudden appearance, his clothing, his lifestyle, his preaching, his baptizing, even his birth was incredibly unique. Spending his life in the desert, until God spoke to his heart at the right moment, and he spoke with a thunderous message,"Make ready the way of the Lord!" I believe his being in the desert was symbolic, John was calling people away from the hypocrisy of the religious system. 

 

John's message was clear, "Repent, repent. You can't accept the King and begin to worship Him. You have to get rid of your sin. You have to change from sin to holiness. You have to start from scratch." The same message that Jesus preached, "Repent." Jesus was calling for a complete conversion, a radical transformation of mind and heart. So the message was clear. And, just as today, the message is unacceptable. 

 

Matthew uses the term, the "kingdom of heaven," 32 times. Personally, I have found there to be no great distinction  between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. Mark and Luke both use "kingdom of God." In the broadest sense, the kingdom of heaven, includes everybody who professes to acknowledge God. The Wheat and the Tares. So, in the outer sense, there's the true and the false. On the inner sense, it's only the truly regenerate, the genuinely saved people. The inner circle then, is only those truly born again in Christ.

 

John the Baptizer prophesied the rule of God is at hand, it's now imminent. Jesus said it.  The twelve Apostles said it. The rule of God, the reign of Christ, both internally and externally are here.  After Israel reject the King, the King returned to heaven, the kingdom now exists in a mystery form. Presently, Christ isn't here, so He rules and reigns a kingdom in the hearts of all who acknowledge Him as Lord. It's sort of an  interim kingdom. The kingdom at-hand was the whole thing, and they wouldn't accept. So, they King went inside, internally. You see? The Millennial Kingdom will involve an external rule where Christ literally rules, both physically and internally.  The Old Testament prophesied a kingdom on earth that would be ruled by the King. It was at-hand, but it was rejected.

 

At the Millennial Kingdom, thousand-year kingdom, it will exist internally and externally until the end, when it will be everlasting, manifest forever. If, they had they received Christ, this interim would have never occurred. They would have gone right into the thousand year manifest Kingdom, then into the everlasting Kingdom. It would have all been fulfilled. John, would have been that Elijah. Instead, they killed the forerunner and they killed the King. They delayed the manifest Kingdom. Isaiah described the Kingdom in 4 and 5, and John was crying to prepare the people for the Kingdom. John was a judgment preacher designed by God. Prophesied in the book of Isaiah to confront a evil, wicked nation. Rather than repent, they killed them. John's message must have been a literally convicting, even his appearance was scalding.

 

John was not known for his sense of fashion, in verse 4, "Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey." John was a hairy man, it doesn't specify if it was his or the camel skin, his clothes, were very convicting. His lifestyle was a rebuke, he lived in the wilderness. Even his diet was a rebuke,  he ate locusts and wild honey. Many Arabs, still eat those same kind of locusts today. Hey, people here eat snails, and call it escargot, it's snails folks! John was a living protest against self-indulgence. I believe a man that speaks against the evil of his day, had ought to live apart from the evil of the day. Jesus' message differed slightly from John's, He denounced Judaism, even in it's highest form, Pharisaism, was insufficient to save ones self from sins. John's message was to call men’s attention to the way that they had failed to keep God’s law, and to declare they come under divine condemnation. We see from the next verse, he was believed!

 

So, we've talked about the man, the message, the motive, the mission, the manner, and now finally, his ministry.

 

That brings us to verses 5-6, "Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins." John's ministry had an amazing impact. One after another, people came from all over, they were baptized and they confessed their sin. This was absolutely amazing, and I'll tell you why, never before in history had any Jew submitted to being baptized. I'm not talking about the Levitical washings of the hands, that was different. Baptism in the Jordan River was the public confession of sin that had occurred in the heart. John the Baptizer, the greatest man that ever lived until that time, played a vital role in the commencement of our Lord’s ministry. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming again, this time it will not be to save men, but to judge men. Jesus commanded us to preach the gospel, to the people, and warn them that He is the one appointed by God as judge of both the living and the dead.

 

In Closing..

 

He was a great man, from the beginning of his life, he obeyed God, he never wavered. He was filled with and controlled by the Spirit of God. He had great self-control. He drank neither wine nor strong drink. Next, he was humble. Then, he proclaimed God's Word, boldly and unapologetically. "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Repent." And lastly, men’s response to it, he won people to Christ.

 

Indeed, John was great, he was obedient, filled with the Spirit, self-controlled, humble, proclaiming God's Word, and winning people to Christ. 

One more thing, all things that made John great, can easily be applied to every one of us. The least of us in the Kingdom, we have all the same resources he had. In fact, we're greater, not in terms of character, but in privilege and opportunity. Yes, we too can be great for God!

May it be so..
 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen 

 

 

 

 

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