A Call to Repentance

Intro

They say that one of the first steps in recovering from an addiction is to first admit you have a problem, and another step then is to acknowledge that you are powerless to overcome it on your own.

Two very powerful and profound headspaces, but ones that are often difficult to get to. Why? Because of pride.

This belief that either there isn’t a problem to begin with, or that if there is a problem we can handle it on our own.

I mean to think otherwise would be a sign of weakness right? What kind of weak person can’t deal with their own problems?

But until a person can accept these two truths, they will never overcome their addiction. You see in order to find victory, a person’s heart has to be prepared.

It has to be prepared to accept help by first acknowledging they need it.

And this is true of just about anything, not just addiction recovery. In our pride and depending on the size of one’s ego, we struggle to admit we need help.

But until we acknowledge that we need it, and that without it we can’t move forward, we will remain stuck in our situation; whatever it may be.

Over the last few weeks we have been talking about revival. Revival being the sovereign move of God that causes a spiritual renewal and awakening first among the Church, and then among those who don’t yet know Jesus.

We have been looking at these moments in God’s word where we saw spiritual renewal and awakening and asking the question, what was going on that may have set the stage for such revival.

Over the last two weeks we have been in the Old Testament where we saw two such revivals. And the precursor for those moves of God were a return to God’s Word, and the fervent prayers of His people.

Today we are going to look at a third move of God and the conditions that set it up.

Power in the Text

We are going to change it up however and look to the New Testament this time. Specifically the Gospel of Matthew, the 3rd chapter.

Here we are introduced to one of the most important figures in the New Testament; John the Baptist.

Let’s dive in and look at what we know about this man.

Matthew 3:1-4 NLT In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, 2 “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

3 The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’ ”

4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.

Matthew does not go into a ton of detail about John the Baptist. Luke gives us some more backstory.

We learn in the Gospel of Luke that John the Baptist was a miracle child. We learn that like Jesus’ Mother Mary, John’s mother Elizabeth was visited by the angel Gabriel and told she would be with child even though she was advanced in age and barren.

The major difference was the John’s conception would be a normal one between Elizabeth and her husband Zachariah.

We also learn the Elizabeth was one of Mary’s cousins.

So that made John the Baptist and Jesus distant cousins who were born about 6 months apart with John being the older of the two.

But in Matthew, he gets straight to the point. He says that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of prophecy. That Isaiah, some 600 years earlier spoke of a prophet who could come out of the wilderness to prepare people for the Lord’s coming.

To get people’s hearts ready for the Messiah.

But how did he do this? By preaching a singular message found in verse 2, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

This term repent is one that every follower of Jesus is familiar with. It is a term that I have heard defined many ways over the years.

One of the most common definitions that I have heard is to repent means to turn away from something.

To repent of sin is to do a 180 and turn from it and essentially stop doing it. And while I do believe that is the product of repentance, that is not what the word repent actually means.

The word repent that John uses is more appropriately translated to mean, to change your mind about something after the fact.

In other words, what John was saying was, you have already been living in sin, now I want you to see your sin differently and change your mind about it. Rather that thinking it is okay, I want you to realize just how not okay it really it.

And it was this change of mind, or realizing that their sin was in fact sin that would cause them as John puts it, to turn to God.

Remember, what was John’s purpose for being? To prepare people. How did he prepare them? By getting them to a place where they first acknowledged their sin, to acknowledged that they had been living in disobedience.

And secondly, by showing them that they had a problem they themselves could not fix. One that only Jesus could. So that when he came, people would be ready for him.

Instead what John was saying was you and I have a sin problem, and that should bother us. So much so that we turn to God and recognized that while we no longer want to sin, we are powerless to stop without God’s help.

And so repentance is not the act of no longer sinning, it is the change of heart that says I no longer want to sin.

The actual change comes as the result of repentance. Because without the change of mind about sin, don’t expect the change in behavior to follow.

This strange man, dressed in strange clothing was preaching a message that cut people to the heart. It was about traditions, rituals, or position. His message was simple. You have sinned against a Holy God.

Acknowledge it, have a change of heart, allow that change of heart to change your conduct and return to God.

This message resonated with people whose religious lives had become bogged down with rules and regulations and religious leaders who had elevated themselves above everyone else.

It also resonated with them because for 400 years there had not been a prophet to speak to God’s people. They were occupied by Rome, lost their autonomy as a people and even some of their identity and God appeared silent through it all.

Now you have this man claiming God’s Kingdom was at hand. They wanted to, had to hear more.

Matthew 3:5-6 NLT 5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. 6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.

We read of these large crowds of people coming to hear John preach. It is interesting that they came from Jerusalem, for that was the place where people went to confess their sins, and now they are coming to this oddly dressed strange man on the banks of a river to do so.

John’s announcement of the kingdom of God may have brought people out of their homes to the Jordan River, but once there, they were compelled to repent.

The strong effect of John the Baptist’s words was a deep sense of sin. But John did not allow this uneasy feeling over their sin to remain a mere emotion in the heart; he offers something physical to it—baptism”

Baptism wasn’t a new concept for the Jews of the day. They knew what it was. It was a ritual often used on Gentile converts to Judaism.

But its application here was new. It says that when they confessed their sins, John baptized them. A physical act of symbolic changed through cleansing or washing one’s self of the sin they used to indulge in.

Big Idea/Why it Matters

John the Baptist’s call to repent was heard and received by multitudes, as they acknowledged their need of a new start with God.

But notice that not everyone accepted this message.

Matthew 3:7-8 NLT 7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.

The religious leaders come to hear and see what was going on, John did not mince words. He calls them a brood of snakes, perhaps even drawing a connection to them and offspring of the serpent, or Satan himself.

He says you know that God’s wrath is coming on this sinful world, don’t assume you will be spared because of your position. Instead prove that you serve God and have repented, or changed your mind about your sin by the way you live.

Look at how he finishes his rebuke.

Matthew 3:9-12 NLT 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.

10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”

John the Baptist is the kind of fiery preacher often associated with Christian revival. Philip Ryken in his commentary on the Gospel of Luke imagines how his message might sound today, writing,

“You know what you people are? You’re all a bunch of hypocrites! You go to church on Sunday but then you forget about God the rest of the week. You’re living a double life. You say that you belong to God, but then you secretly go indulge in all kinds of sinful pleasures.

You live in your nice big houses and drive around in your fancy cars, but you never do anything to help the poor. You snakes! Do you really think that God is going to save you just because you’ve been baptized and belong to an evangelical church? Listen, unless you turn away from your sins, you’re going straight to hell”

Now, imagine how that would be received by today’s audience. That is exactly how it was received by his audience.

Application/Closing

This message of repentance of sin and turning to God was a catalyst for change. Not only did it bring about a spiritual renewal among the people of Judea, but it prepared them for a greater message.

One that would show them what to do with their repentance. One that would ultimately provide forgiveness for their sin and the power to overcome it.

But had they first not come to the place of repentance, where they had a change of heart and mind about sin, they would never have seen their need for forgiveness in the first place.

Those who gathered at the Jordan River with John moved from curiosity to repentance to baptism. “We heed the message of repentance, we prepare the way of the Lord, and we turn toward the incoming kingdom of God when we admit that we are having a hard time doing this, and that we want to change”

Transformation within ourselves and in the communities where we live and worship must include a sincere turning from sin in expressions of repentance.

But it will take the courageous voices of those who have been saved by grace to do as John did and preach the message of repentance of sin.

Not to condemn or to put down, or to tout spiritual superiority.

Rather out of love, to warn those around us that judgment is coming, but that forgiveness and salvation is possible for all who believe.