Repent
Mt 3:1-3 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 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 message we hear from John the Baptist is repentance. That’s the only thing he ever preached. He was preparing people to meet the Lord.
Then, the first message we hear from Jesus is the same - repent, the Kingdom of God is near.
Mt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
These men preached to a generation going in the wrong direction. Of course, almost every generation has, at some point, gone in the wrong direction. It is the curse of man - the root of sin - we want to do our own thing. We want to do it our own way. We want to figure it out for ourselves.
Repent means to change direction - to turn around.
A man stood out on a roadway in the Florida keys in the fog with his emergency flashers blinking and his arms waving trying to stop approaching cars from going forward. "Stop," he cried out, "the bridge is out." One by one, cars sped past him and then he could hear the screams and the splash. Nobody would listen.
I feel like that man on the roadway. People are going the wrong way and ending in disaster.
Please hear me! John the Baptist tried to tell his generation, "Stop! Turn around! You’re going the wrong way. You are missing the real point. You have your religious system - your holy show - your forms and your traditions, but you’re missing God."
Who was John talking to? Anybody who would listen!
His message was clear. Something was wrong with the way men were trying to live.
Some were religious specialists who had it all figured out, but they had it wrong. God didn’t fit into their neat little package they had made for Him. They could not control God.
Others were religious wannabees, who were trying to please the religious specialists, but they just couldn’t seem to get it right.
Others were just people who were just living as they pleased. They didn’t care who liked it and who didn’t. They lived to please themselves.
The same crowds are in our world today. Some just don’t care about God. Others think they know all about God. But is anybody really pleasing God?
Repentance is for those who have fallen short; who ackowledge their need; who have turned away; who have sinned; who want to come back. It is not for the totally righteous or self-sufficient. They do not qualify for such a precious gem. Nor do they know what they are missing.
Repentance is God’s activating grace. It remakes and restores and repairs. It is the essential step to redemption. It starts in darkness and ends in light. It starts in bondage and ends in freedom. It starts in death and ends in life. It makes the unclean clean and the unholy holy. It makes the difference between heaven and hell. God only forgives those who repent.
There is rejoicing in the presence of the angles of God over one sinner who repents. (Luke 15:10) Jesus says in Rev. 3, "Those who I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. I stand at the door and knock…" God delights to show mercy.
Look at David - he committed adultery and arrnaged for cold blooded murder; he disappointed and offended the Lord and then asked that his evil would be blotted out and washed away, that he would be cleansed until he is whiter than show, that gladness and rejoicing would be restored to him, that God would create for him a pure heart and renew a steadfast spirit within him, and that the Lord would open his lips so that his tongue could sing God’s righteousness and his mouth declare God’s praise. And guess what? God gave it to him!
What does God want? God just wants you to live and function as you were designed to function.
Did you know God wants you to be happy? That’s right! And He wants to be your friend.
The problem is we’re not doing it right. Did you ever watch somebody try something and they were doing it all wrong? Like a kid putting together a model airplane - or trying to play a musical instrument. If you knew how it was supposed to be done, you wanted to offer some help, of at least some advice.
Well, that’s the position God is in. He made life to lived a certain way, and we’re doing it backwards. That’s right, backwards.
Like - we’re supposed to love people - not things, but we put things first and step on and neglect people to get things.
And we’re supposed to eat food to supply fuel for our bodies, but we overeat, and we eat the wrong things, and we eat at the wrong times.
And there are many other things we could point out, but the point is - we’re going the wrong way.
And the message of the day is, Repent!
Sin
We live in sin. Sin is the breaking of God’s law. We do it every day. We ignore it, or neglect it, or don’t know it, or we defy it. But in any case, we are breaking His laws. Those laws were given for our good - so we wouldn’t kill ourselves.
Romans 3
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Ro 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
We’re just plain missing the mark. What can I say?
Death
This is the really ugly part.
Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;
If we do it wrong, it will kill us. You see, there are spiritual laws in life as well and as real as physical laws. The physical laws say that if jump up, you will come down. The physical law says that if you spit in the wind, you will spit in your own face.
The spiritual law says, if you sin, you will die. Really nature teaches us the same thing, because if you lie, you will get caught sooner or later, and nobody will trust you. If you play with sex, you will get pregnant or diseased.
So there are spiritual laws - cause and effect things. This action causes that reaction.
And the spiritual law says that the wages of sin is death. In other words, you get what you pay for - you get out of life what you put into life. It’s just that simple.
If we take our Bible seriously, we are all condemned. All have sinned, and the wages of sin is death.
Love
But God is a God of love. He loves you, and though he has to play by the rules, he has found a way to work things out.
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
That’s right. God loves you so much that He was willing to let His own Son die for you. You see, somebody had to pay the wages of sin. Somebody had to be punished. Jesus did it for you and me - He took our place in punishment. He died so we wouldn’t have to. He went to hell so we wouldn’t have to.
Ro 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Only the righteous blood of one who had never sinned could pay for the sins of everybody else. Jesus never sinned, so, He didn’t have to die. He died willingly in your place. He took your sin and your punishment.
2 Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Isn’t that something - He took our place so we could take His.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
The wages of sin may be death, but God has a gift for us -
…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God gives us what we cannot earn for ourselves. Men have tried for centuries to find a way to heaven, or fulfillment, or whatever lofty goal they may dream of. But God reached down and picked us up and fixed it for us through Jesus Christ His Son.
Eph 2:4-8 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Faith
But don’t we have to do something? Yes, we have to believe. We have to put our faith in Him.
How does that work? It’s as easy as believing. You have to stop trying to do it for yourself and trust his work that’s already been done.
It’s like, if you get a speeding ticket and I jump in and pay the fine for you, you don’t have to pay it anymore. You just remind the judge that I paid it. I’ll give you the receipt, and you trust that it’s taken care of. That’s faith.
One day, in the future, we will stand before God in Judgment. Everybody will be there, even those who didn’t believe in God. And God will judge sin.
He doesn’t really want to punish anybody, but justice must be served.
2 Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
That’s why God has told us to preach the gospel, so everyone can have a fair chance to make things right. Jesus paid so you wouldn’t have to.
The call is to repent - turn around and start living the right way. God has given us the instruction book - the Bible. We just have to follow His instructions and receive His gift of life.
Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Ro 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.