Repentance Changes Direction

Transcript

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[0:00] And our sermon text comes from Matthew 3. In those days, John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near. The prophet Isaiah was speaking about John when he said, He has a voice shouting in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord's coming, clear the road for him. 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.

[0:40] People from Jerusalem and from all Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. You bruised. You were a food of snakes, he exclaimed. Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Prove by the way that you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 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. Even now, the axe of God's judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the tree. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire. I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming who is far 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. 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 the never-ending fire.

[2:09] Let's pray. God, we thank you that the day is coming when you will draw near. God, we pray for your blessing over this sermon today. We pray for your blessing over the words. We pray that you will speak to each one of us here today. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[2:40] So, technology has made me a bit standoffish when it comes to phone calls. These days I always, always check who's calling just because I can. I don't even think I care that much. I just, I know that I can check, so I do. But there was a time, of course, when we couldn't do that. And the phone would ring, and you would just chance it and pick it up and say, hello, and on the other end of the line, you didn't know who was waiting.

[3:09] But when you heard somebody say back, hey, how are you doing? You instantly knew exactly who it was and began chatting away. So you didn't have to look at caller ID, or you didn't have to hear this voice, or you had to hear this voice. So you didn't have to look at caller ID, or you didn't have to hear this voice, that maybe you didn't recognize and be like, oh, no, what are they selling?

[3:36] But when you did hear a voice that you recognized, it was welcoming, and it was a joyful moment. How did you know who it was? Any insight? How did you know who it was without caller ID? You just recognized their voice. You maybe recognized the way they spoke to you. You didn't have to ask their name necessarily. You just recognized their voice. And there are certain people whose voices we know so well that as soon as we hear it on the phone and hear or hear their voice in the crowds cheering for you or hear them in a crowded room, we know exactly who it is because it's familiar to us.

[4:27] But in order for us to get to that point where we can recognize someone by simply hearing their voice, at least one of two things needs to occur. Either there needs to be something unique about their voice, or we need to be very familiar with that person.

[4:44] You might think I'm about to talk about Jesus's voice calling you. It would be really great. In fact, that's what I was thinking about when I wrote it. But I was also thinking about John the Baptist. Because today, as you and I continue through this Advent journey, and we continue to prepare our hearts and our lives, we once again come into contact with the voice of someone who is uniquely associated with this particular season of the year. In fact, we kind of, in a short span of time, are going to hit on John the Baptist twice. We're going to talk about John the Baptist now, today, and then in January when we talk about the baptism of Jesus, we'll talk about John the Baptist again.

[5:33] So he becomes this voice that we learn to expect this time of the year. This morning, I'd like us to dig into these familiar words of Matthew by contemplating the theme of listen to the Advent voice of John. And another, repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.

[5:56] And a third theme, produce fruit in keeping with repentance. So I want you to keep those three things in mind. One, listen to the Advent voice of John. Two, repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. And three, produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

[6:15] And, as a special treat, I'm not going to call any of you broods of vipers today. John the Baptist is one of the best known characters in biblical history. We know him as the fetus that jumped in his mother's womb when Mary came to visit. We know him as the forerunner of Christ that God set aside to prepare the way for Jesus' coming. But most of all, we remember John because of the message that he preached in the desert of Judea.

[6:51] Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. If ever there was a message and a messenger as clearly identifiable with each other, it is John the Baptist and the call to repentance. John's title was the baptizer. But first and foremost, he was a prophet of God. And as a prophet, he came to God's people proclaiming God's word. And as a prophet, he came to God's people proclaiming God's word. He told the people to prepare for the advent of the Messiah. And his message was, repent.

[7:29] The message to repent had become a familiar theme for all of God's people. Throughout their history, the children of Israel had led lives that required God to send one of his prophets to call his people to repentance.

[7:45] And then after the time of the, in the time of the judgment, the people would sin against God. And God would call the people to repentance by allowing them to be oppressed. And when they cried out to him for deliverance, he would send a deliverer to rescue them. So he first sent the judges and then the prophets. And honestly, throughout history, throughout all of history, the theme was repent and God's salvation will be at hand.

[8:18] At this point, God was calling his people to repentance again. They had fallen away from God again. Their worship life had become half-hearted again. They were performing the required sacrifices. They were saying the right things. They were giving this outward appearance that they were righteous and upright.

[8:44] They were trusting in their ability to keep the promise of God. They were keeping God's commandments and in their good works to enter the kingdom of heaven. But their hearts and their minds were far from God. And God sent John to call the people to repent of these sins. And the people responded. The scriptures tell us that people went out to him from Jerusalem and from Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. They were confessing their sins. And they were baptized by John in the Jordan River.

[9:20] God has also sent John to call us to repentance. As the people of Israel worshiped God half-heartedly, we, from time to time, also find ourselves guilty of the same sin. And whenever we find ourselves guilty of such a thing, we do need to repent.

[9:43] In the Bible, the word repent very often means repent. It very literally means to turn away. So genuine repentance involves a turning or a change. It involves a change of mind. It involves a change of heart. It involves a complete turning around or change of direction in our lives.

[10:08] But our sinful nature renders us completely incapable of making this change in ourselves and on our own. Truly, it is our sin. True, genuine repentance is something that must be worked on in our lives only by the power of God.

[10:24] I don't know if you're familiar with trying to change your own stubborn heart. I'm saying stubborn heart because I know my heart is stubborn. And when I say, okay, God, I'm definitely going to change this time. I'm definitely going to make it right this time. The problem is that I'm saying I'm going to make it right this time. And it never works. It never works. The only way we can turn around and the only way we can change is through the power of the Holy Spirit. And if we're depending on our own selves for change, I have a feeling, and I don't want to insult you, but I have a feeling that you're just as stubborn as I am and that it's not going to work that way. And so we need to rely on the Holy Spirit for change. We need to rely on the Holy Spirit for the ability to repent. Our hearts need to be willing. That's on us. But we need to rely on the Holy Spirit for the power to do that.

[11:24] So the people, through the preaching of God's holy law, had been brought to recognize the seriousness of their sins. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, they'd been led to confess their sins. These individuals were baptized with water.

[11:43] They were baptized for repentance. And as the Holy Spirit led people to John, he proclaimed the word of God. And the Spirit led us to God by the preaching of his word. In our baptism, the Holy Spirit has washed away all of our sins and created saving faith in our hearts. Created hearts that trust in God and his promises. He created faith in the fact that God has done everything for our salvation.

[12:14] So John baptized with water. But we ultimately need to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. God promised to send the Messiah who would save the world from their sins. And he kept that promise by sending Jesus to be our substitute. To receive the punishment for our sins. Because Jesus lived that perfect life that God required. And suffered an innocent death as a payment for our sins. God no longer holds us accountable and we are covered in Jesus' righteousness.

[12:47] So as we celebrate this Advent season, we praise God for two things. First, for Jesus' first Advent. We are reminded that God has indeed blessed us by sending his one and only Son to this world to save us from our sins.

[13:04] But then we are also reminded to listen to the voice of John as he reminds us that Jesus is the one and only Son. And that Jesus is coming and we need to prepare the way. He reminds us of Jesus' second Advent. When he came to judge the world.

[13:21] As we wait for Jesus to return, John the Baptist tells us to repent of our sins because the kingdom of God is near. But John also tells us that after we repent, we are to produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

[13:42] Many people had come to John, repented of their sins and were baptized to assure them their sins were actually forgiven. But not all who came to John were truly repentant. A very good example of this is found right here in our text when we read, But when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptized, he said to them, You brood of snakes, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. That's going to be an important part soon. And do not think to yourselves, you can say, we have Abraham as our father. I tell you that one of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So the Pharisees and Sadducees, people who were proud of their own self-righteousness, people who were proud of their own skepticism, came to John. And like many people today, neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees recognized the seriousness of their sins. They did not recognize a need for a savior from sin, and they did not recognize the necessity of changing their actions and their lives by producing fruit. They did not recognize the fruits of repentance in their lives.

[15:15] The Pharisees and Sadducees did, however, put a great deal of confidence in the fact that they had the blood of Abraham coursing through their veins. And we shouldn't be too hard on them. Because we today do that same kind of thing. Sometimes we think, well, I go to church, I'm from a family of Christians, I have a great line of Christianity to brag of in the past. But it's an everyday renewal that we need to constantly be living a life of repentance.

[15:57] In a very powerful and unmistakable way, John the Baptist reminded the Pharisees and Sadducees that not only does God have the power to raise up children out of the stones of the ground, but God also has the right to chop down and burn up every tree that does not produce good fruit. In other words, living and dying with unrepentant sins in our hearts and our lives condemns a person to the eternity of suffering in the fires of hell. Today, John the Baptist might rephrase what he said to the Pharisees and Sadducees by saying something like, Don't think that just because your name is on the church membership that God has automatically let you into heaven. What you think and what you say and what you do outside of this building is a far more accurate gauge of what is or is not in your hearts. So let's look at the three principles that we talked about earlier, the three principles of the fruit of repentance. And the first one is that the fruit of repentance is to turn away from your sin you are repenting of. In Luke's account of this incident, we are told that the people were coming up to John the Baptist and asking, What should we do? To the crowd in general, John said, Share with those in need. Instead of being greedy, instead of simply accumulating things for ourselves,

[17:33] share with those in need. To the tax collectors that were despised for collecting more taxes than the Romans required, John said, Don't collect any more than you're required to. And to the soldiers who were notorious for abusing their power and authority and for extorting money from the people, John said, Be content with your pay.

[17:59] What did Jesus say to the woman who was caught in adultery? He said, Go now and leave your life of adultery. If our sin consists of taking God's name in vain by allowing our conversations to be sprinkled with curse words or suggestive talk, then the fruit of repentance would include cleaning up our language.

[18:23] If our sin were neglecting God's word or God's sacrament by not attending church regularly or by not reading the word regularly, then what would the fruit of repentance be? It would be to attend regularly and read the word regularly.

[18:45] Have we been disobedient to our parents or dishonored them? Have we exasperated our children? I actually like that one. As someone without children of my own, I still pull that out on my mom sometimes. I tell her that it's against the Bible to exasperate me. That might not be a good Christian witness, but...

[19:04] Anyhow. Have we harbored a dislike for someone in our heart? The true fruit of repentance is to turn away from whatever sin is plaguing you in the moment. Turn away from the sin you are repenting of. Principle number two. The fruit of repentance is to restore, if possible, what your sin has ruined. So when Zacchaeus came down from the cross, he voluntarily said to Jesus, Look, Lord, here and now I give half my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.

[19:50] And it's true that sometimes sin results in irreparable damage. That's the problem with sin. In fact, I would say that there's always a time where sin results in irreparable damage, at least to a certain degree. But there are times when your sin results in something so big that you can't possibly begin to make amends for it. But if there is a way, any way, to even partially restore what our sin has ruined, the fruit of repentance will lead us to do just that. So if you are truly repentant, you will show the fruit of repentance. And you will be led to make right what you originally made wrong.

[20:38] And then finally, the fruit of repentance is to do everything to the glory of God, whether we eat or drink or work or play. Since the root of all sin is ultimately disobeying God by idolatry, striving to take the glory and honor and praise that rightfully begins to God and giving it to someone or something else, the fruit of repentance will include refocusing our heart, refocusing our mind, and refocusing our life, so that in everything we think and do and say, we strive to bring glory to God, who loves us enough that he died to completely pay for all of our sins.

[21:26] Jesus often used the picture of fruit to describe life as a Christian. Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, they will bear much fruit. Like the fruit on the branch, which needs to remain connected to the vine so that it can grow and blossom, we also need to remain connected to Jesus so that we can produce fruit.

[21:57] God, because of his great love for us, grafted us into his vine so that we can produce fruit and he nourishes us with his word and sacraments. In his word, he tells us how he sent Jesus to this world to be our substitute, and he punished Jesus for our sins instead of us.

[22:19] Sometimes the phone rings and there's this unfamiliar number or voice. Almost automatically that thought goes through my mind. Ugh, I don't want to deal with this. I don't want to talk to that person. I don't want to listen to what they're selling because they're usually either a seller or a scam or something like that. But the call that rings in our ears today is familiar.

[22:48] It's John the Baptist calling out to us to repent of our sins, to prepare our hearts and to prepare our lives so that we are indeed ready to meet our King. May God graciously grant that we will indeed listen, really, really listen to the Advent voice of John in this second week of Advent. Let's pray.

[23:16] God, we pray that we would listen and heed that voice of John calling, prepare the way for the Lord. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. God, would you help us to prepare that way? Would you help us in our repentance? Would you help us to rely on you for the change in our lives? These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.