God’s Witness Questioned Pt 2

if God’s people would take their
Bibles once again and turn to the Gospel of John. Gospel of
John, chapter 1, and we are in the midst of a section that we
began several weeks ago. We’re now John, a different John,
John the Baptist, not the author of this gospel, but John the
Baptist is in view, and he is in the midst of An interview,
if you will, really it’s an inquisition and that will become more evident
today. We come to this section in verse
19 and if you would, I would take the better part of this
chapter as we set it in context this morning. John chapter 1,
we begin in verse 19. 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. Now
they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him and said to him,
why then are you baptizing? If you are not the Christ, nor
Elijah, nor the prophet, John answered them saying, I baptize
in water, but among you stands one whom you do not know. It
is he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not
worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany,
beyond the Jordan, where John was baptized. The next day he
saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world. This is He on behalf of whom
I said, After me comes a man who has a higher rank than I,
for He existed before me. I did not recognize Him, but
so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in
water. John testified, saying, seen
the spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and he remained
upon him. I did not recognize him, but
he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, he upon whom
you see the spirit descending and remaining upon him. This
is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. I myself have seen
and have testified that this is the son of God. John the Baptist
has been introduced already in this gospel. And so, in a sense,
according to John the Apostle’s style, he is reintroduced and
his character deepened in the thickening plot of the unfolding
ministry of the Lord Jesus. And here we see John the Baptist
again, but we immediately begin to get a new glimpse of him,
a more clear glimpse. They begin to ask John the Baptist,
who was enjoying much success in preaching. He was beginning
to draw crowds. He was getting followers, even
though that wasn’t his goal. And they wanted to know who he
was. And an official emissary is dispatched to ask him. It says that they sent priests
and Levites from Jerusalem. We’ll find out exactly who in
a moment. And they immediately began to
ask, because that was the great anticipation of the Jewish nation,
they began to ask if He was the Messiah. And He immediately eschewed
any thought of that. He was not the Christ. He initiated
that discussion He knew what they were thinking, that perhaps
He might be the Messiah, one that they could craft and mold,
this rough image of a man that they could take and mold into
their own image of a Messiah. They begin to query about several
other options. If He’s not the Messiah, then
who exactly is He? They expected the return of Elijah. He denies that He is Elijah. We looked at that two weeks ago,
that in a sense, John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah,
but he was not literally Elijah. He wasn’t that undefined prophet
of Deuteronomy 18, a prophet that most Jews had no idea pointed
to the Messiah. And so they begin to press John
as to who he is. Give us an answer. Tell us about
yourself. And as we saw several weeks ago,
John’s simple response should have, for any Jew who knew his
scriptures, it should have been the one passage that would have
told them clearly who he was. He was the forerunner of the
Messiah. It took them to Isaiah chapter 40. And we looked and
we were reminded that in Isaiah chapter 39, it’s almost like
the end of the nation of Israel, both Israel itself and Judah. It’s the end. There is no blessing. There hadn’t been blessing for
700 years. In a very real sense, Hezekiah
was wrong. And yet, Isaiah 40 turns. And
it’s such a beautiful passage and it turns so quickly and so
abruptly that most Jews would blend Isaiah 39 and 40, but they’re
not to be blended. In a very real way, Israel was
carted off. They never saw the blessing that
Hezekiah alludes to in chapter 39. But God’s plan of redemption
isn’t complete. That’s what Isaiah 40 declares,
comfort, oh comfort my people, says your God. Speak kindly to
Jerusalem and call out to her that her warfare has ended, that
her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the
Lord’s hand double for all her sins. When John the Baptist quoted
verses 3 and 4, when he pointed back to that, any Jew Any intelligent,
well-trained Jew would have known immediately he was speaking of
Isaiah 40, the great chapter of hope. The great chapter of
hope of a Messiah. John the Baptist pointed them
in the right direction. He said, you want to know who
I am? I’ll tell you who I am. I’m really a nobody. I’m a voice.
But I’m a voice that’s been sent by God. And they missed it. We know that
they missed it because of how the rest of this passage unfolds.
First thing that we notice in verse 24 is this just added little
bit of detail, and John does this. He’ll just add in a touch
of detail. Now they had been sent from the
Pharisees. And most of us would read right over that except that
the Pharisees, we know, were the ones officially in charge
of the Jewish religion, self-appointed in large measure. They’d come
up with their own rules, their own laws. They had added to God’s
Word in many ways and taken away in many others. But these were
the ones in charge of the Jewish religion. And so this is no casual
piece of data that John throws in. He tells us that this official
emissary sent from Jerusalem was ultimately sent from the
Pharisees themselves. They were very concerned about
John. They held a very strong position that no one, and certainly
no individual operating by himself, could initiate any new religious
practice. No new ceremony, no new observations,
no new religious rites, and that’s what John the Baptist seemed
to be doing. He was, after all, John the Baptist. He was out
there baptizing in water, and he was thereby cultivating a
new religious practice. Only the Messiah himself could
do this, and that’s why they offered him that out. Maybe you’re
the Messiah and you have begun to do this. That’s why they begin
to zero in on John’s claims. Was he indeed the Messiah? Because
if you’re not the Messiah, you’re really operating way above your pay
grade, John. Why are you baptizing if you’re
not the Messiah? And they wanted to challenge
him, and marginalize him, and stop him if they could. This
odd person was outside of the religious mainstream, and that
alone might be tolerable, but he was gaining a following. even
if that was not what he personally desired. Look at verse 25, and
they begin to probe more deeply. They asked him and said to him,
why then are you baptizing? If you are not the Christ, nor
Elijah, nor the prophet. They basically just parrot back
his words. And what they really wanted to
know is, who gave you this authority, John, to treat Jews as if they
were mere converts. Baptizing and treating them as
if they were in some way impure, unclean, in need of washing. That’s how they associated the
baptism that John was engaged in. And that tells us that both
Jews and Gentiles were being drawn in, and their question
here seems to imply that there were some situations associated
with certain individuals in which such practice would be permissible.
The Christ, the Messiah himself, Elijah, and this relatively undefined
prophet, Deuteronomy 18.15. Somehow those three could have
been tasked by initiating this rite of baptism. But these religious experts would
have to be sure that whoever this was measured up to the standard
of God’s Word. And so in a sense, they were
doing their job. But in a very real sense, their
colors were beginning to show as they begin to figure out who
John the Baptist is or who he claims to be. They came to John
initially with somewhat of a flattering tone, right? But now they’ve
become more aggressive. They want to pin John down on
some kind of a misstep. You see, until now in this Gospel,
John the Baptist’s ministry has been spoken of very generally.
In verses 6 through 8, he’s identified merely as a witness who came
to testify about the light, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
but now here, for the first time he is identified in association
with this practice of baptism. We take much for granted in the
well-known title of this individual, John the Baptist. When he’s referred
to as John the Baptist, we only naturally think of our own practice
of believer’s baptism. But John’s practice was very
different from our own. Both involved water. Both were
symbolic. But John’s baptism had a very
different purpose. It came from a very different orientation
point, as we’ll see in a moment. This word, baptizo, means to
immerse, and so we believe, as we do with our own practice of
baptism, that it is immersion into water, not just a sprinkling,
but immersion. Let me take you to an illustration,
an illustration of this point in Romans chapter 6, if you would
turn. Romans chapter 6. This is not
a passage about baptism. You see, part of the trouble
with this whole translational issue is that oftentimes words,
instead of being translated, are transliterated, and such
is the case with this word, baptizo. The word essentially means to
immerse, to plunge. And I want to take you to an
illustration that is not about baptism. It’s not about water
baptism. But it is about baptism. It is
about being plunged. It is about being immersed. Look
at verse 1. You know the passage. What shall
we say then? Are we to continue in sin that
grace might increase? May it never be. Paul says, you
know, this idea of let’s sin it up. If grace is good and grace
is in response to sin, let’s just keep going and we’ll enjoy
more grace. Paul says. That is no way to
live as a Christian. How shall we who died to sin
still live in it? And that’s a great question to
pose to yourself. Have you truly died to sin? Or do you not know
that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus and
most people walk away from that saying, yes, I remember when
I have the card. I have the certificate of when I was baptized. I was
baptized into Christ. That’s not what Paul’s talking
about at all. Do you not know that all of us
who have been plunged into Christ, baptized, immersed into Christ,
have been baptized, plunged, immersed into His death? Now, every one of us would say,
well, we haven’t yet to die, we haven’t died yet. No, we haven’t,
but we have been plunged, immersed, baptized into the death of Christ. When we placed our faith in Christ,
His death became our death. Look at verse 4, therefore we
have been buried with Him through baptism, immersed, plunged into
death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through
the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of
life. And there is that image. We take that image of baptism,
water baptism, and we apply it to this passage. See, when John the Baptist came
onto the scene, the Jewish people practiced this religious rite
of baptism for proselytites. Proselytites, pardon me. Non-Jewish converts. Turn back,
if you would, to John. John the Baptist tells them, I baptize in water. And in that sense, John the Baptist
practice was similar to the Christian practice of baptism. Both involved
water, as we said. Both involved some sign of repentance. It was an outward sign of conviction. But there was a significant difference
in John the Baptist’s baptism. As water was used, there was,
at least in the Jews’ mind, a belief and understanding that it had
some kind of a purifying effect, that it washed away sinfulness. As one pastor clarified, baptism
as such was not something altogether new. Historically, proselyte
baptism, the administration of this rite to those who, from
the Gentile world, had been converted to the Jewish religion, preceded
baptism as administered by John. So the Jews have been practicing
a form of baptism for many years. convert would come, a Gentile
convert would come into the Jewish camp, they would be baptized
as a recognition of this change. The Jews regarded all Gentiles
as being unclean, and because of that, they subjected them
to this washing, essentially, to symbolically wash away their
uncleanness. But the baptism that John was
engaged in was problematic. It was problematic to the Jews
because he was involving Jews as well. He was having everybody
receive this baptism. The baptism of members of the
so-called chosen people was troubling to the Jewish elite. It was understandable that proselytes
would have to submit to baptism. But now for Jews to undergo this
baptism, that was a problem. Israelites likely knew that a
kind of baptism might accompany the coming of the Messiah, and
they understood from several obscure verses that’s why they
thought that this might be the Christ. Ezekiel 36, verse 25,
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I
will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your
idols.” And so they held it out there. They didn’t know. It was
somewhat undefined. Zechariah 13.1, in that day,
a fountain will be opened for the house of David, for the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity. Those are the things
that pointed to this undefined practice that was to come, likely
associated with the Messiah. So Israel practiced a kind of
baptism, but without much mandate, without much clarity on the practice. John’s baptism, however, was
not what we could call proselyte baptism. But neither can it be
equated with Christian baptism. Christian baptism wasn’t instituted
until after Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. And it constituted
a new practice in the church, symbolizing repentance and faith. Complete trust in Jesus Christ
for salvation. For John, he hasn’t even been
introduced yet. This is all preparatory. This is all a baptism of repentance. It’s an outward sign of that
inward reality. But John’s purposes were very
different, and so The reality was very different. It was a
sign of repentance and a sign of readiness to place
one’s faith. But they hadn’t even met the
Messiah yet. They hadn’t even met the Savior. Jesus Christ
hasn’t even been formally introduced. And so John’s baptism, on the
other hand, was not identifying those who had actually placed
their faith in Christ, but those who were ready. They were ready
by way of repentance from sin to draw near to the Messiah if
you would only show him to us, John. John’s baptism was preparatory
for salvation, not symbolic of it. It did provide people the
opportunity to eagerly express their readiness for the Messiah.
They were repentant of their sin and desirous and ready for
salvation. And so they ask, John, why are
you baptizing? And he answers, sort of. Look at verse 26. John answered
them saying, I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom
you do not know. It is he who comes after me,
the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. Well, that
isn’t much of a, that’s not an answer to the direct question.
And his answer, in a sense, is deflective, more than a specific
answer to their question. It was an indirect reply. His
reasoning for baptism, he says, is more important than his particular
identity. They wanted to know who he was.
And really, what they wanted to know is, who do you think
you are? And rather than get off on this sidetrack, John goes
right to the real point. In a sense, John’s answer isn’t
evasive, it’s out of mercy. He wants them to focus on the
real issue at hand. Is it really about water? Is
it really about baptism? Is it really about religious
rights at all? The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Himself,
has come. That’s essentially what John
says. Look at verse 26. John answered
them saying, I baptize in water. He acknowledges that, but it’s
a side point. The synoptic gospels do, however,
address John’s thought about this particular baptism. And
I’m not going to take you to all the passages. I’m just going
to use Matthew as a framework. Matthew 3, verse 11, just listen.
As for me, John says, I baptize you with water for repentance,
but he who is coming after me is mightier than I am. I am not
fit to remove his sandals. All three of the synoptic writers
paint the same scene. John might have taken the approach
again, going back to Isaiah 40. Don’t you remember? I just told
you. Isaiah 40, I am the voice. I’m the voice in the wilderness.
The Messiah is coming. And there’s a remote possibility
that they may have been satisfied with those credentials. Doubtful,
but possible. But he’s not interested in discussing
his authority. He’s not interested in discussing
his credentials. He takes full advantage, not
to advance himself, but to testify of the glory and greatness of
the Messiah who is already present. Look at the passage. John says,
I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you do not
know. Now, there was some discussion,
and I don’t think there’s enough that’s definitive here that says
that Jesus was actually physically present there. It’s certainly
possible. that Jesus had not been identified
yet. And remember, we are just one day away from John doing
that. Behold the Lamb of God. It’s possible that Jesus was
physically present on that occasion, standing in their midst. But it’s also entirely possible
that what John is alluding to is that Christ had grown up and
lived and was in their general region, and they had not yet
recognized Him. That He was here. The Messiah
is on earth already. He is already present. And you
have not recognized Him. And in that sense, It’s really
unimportant whether Jesus was physically there or whether John
is just saying, generally speaking, he’s present. He’s here. He’s real. He’s here. It is beyond
just the advent. Jesus Christ is now here. Among
you stands one whom you do not know. And what John points to
there is the sad reality that in a sense they had overlooked,
they were unprepared for the coming of the Messiah. John goes
on and says, it is he who comes after me, the thong of whose
sandal I am not worthy to untie. Yeah, I mean, it’s a simple illustration.
Sandal lace was laced around the ankle, it held the sandal
to the foot. Lacing, unlacing, carrying the
sandals, cleaning the feet, these were all the duties of slaves. for those who could afford them.
In other words, this statement on John’s part was a statement
of remarkable humility. That John the Baptist says he
wasn’t even worthy to do the work of a slave with regards
to Christ. To get all hung up on his identity
was to miss the point entirely. It’s not that he puts himself
down. Rather, He exalts the place of
the Savior to His proper place. And now I want to go back to
this idea of baptism. Baptism of repentance. And to
do that, I want you to turn to the Gospel of Luke. All three
synoptic writers deal with this scene But we’ll use the Gospel
of Luke kind of as the orientation point, and I’ll add to that from
some others. The Gospel of Luke, and turn
to chapter 3 if you would. And before we even begin reading,
Mark essentially inserts here that this is the beginning of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That’s how Mark’s
gospel starts. Mark says, look, this is the
starting point for the whole unfolding of the Messiah’s ministry. Luke simply says it this way.
Now, in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when
Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch
of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of
Aeturia and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was Tetrarch of Abilene,
in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God
came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. This is the
start of John the Baptist’s ministry. And he came, verse 3, into all
the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance
for the forgiveness of sin. This was a different kind of
ministry, a different kind of baptism than Christian baptism,
a different kind of baptism than proselytite baptism. And you
don’t get a glimpse of the tone of John the Baptist ministry
just from those words. For that, you would have to turn
to Matthew chapter three, if you would. In Matthew chapter 3, you quickly
get a sense of the tone, the intensity with which John the
Baptist carried himself. Look at chapter 3 verse 1. 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 we know that there were likely
many more words to John the Baptist’s sermons, but if you backed away
and you looked at it, essentially it was a baptism of calling sinners
to repentance. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. Repent, for the Messiah is at
the door. For this is the one referred
to by Isaiah the prophet, and he quotes the same passage we
spent time in several weeks ago. The voice of one crying in the
wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight.
Now Matthew, Mark, and Luke, as we said, all three of them
quote that verse. All three of them say this is
what, you know, this is John the Baptist. John the Baptist
is the voice, but John the Baptist has already identified himself
as such, remember? John the Baptist claimed this
for himself. I am the voice. Jump down, if you would, to verse
6. And they were being baptized by Him in the Jordan River as
they confessed their sins. The whole ministry of John the
Baptist was about preparation. The whole ministry of John the
Baptist was about repentance from sin. And a readiness for the Savior. As one said, to preach baptism
is to preach the necessity or value of baptism, and repentance
baptism is connected with the repentance as being an external
symbol of the inward change. In other words, they were saying,
I’m done with sin. I don’t have any hope of a Savior
yet, I haven’t placed my faith in such, but I have repudiated
my sin and I stand ready. That’s as far as they got. As one said, the repentance precedes
baptism. It reminds the baptized of his
new obligations. To submit to baptism was to confess
that one was a sinner, to pledge oneself to a new life. This was
a significant moment in any individual’s life. Sometimes people want to
equate or describe repentance as merely a change of mind, metanoia. And on the face of it, it looks
that way. But this change of mind involves
purpose of life. It involves a turning from sin
to God. Nobody engages in true repentance
until they understand their sinfulness and turn from it. As one described it, repent.
to repent then is to change the mind, thought, purpose as regards
sin and the service of God, a change naturally accompanied by deep
sorrow for past sin and naturally leading to a change of the outward
life. What John the Baptist was doing
when he was out confronting sinners, he was calling them to repentance
and this baptism was administered only to those who truly in their
heart and life showed a hatred for their own sin and sinfulness
and an interest in turning from it. That was first. And you know,
the interesting thing that in our day and age, there are many
people who seemingly place their faith in Christ before they even
know they need a Savior. This repentance was real. It
was significant. It was substantial. It was a
baptism as the Gospel writers define it. It was a baptism for
the repentance, a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness
of sins. They knew what was at stake.
They knew what they desired to have. But this is only step one. This is only part of the process. Let me take you back to Luke’s
gospel as we clarify repentance. Because there were people in
Luke’s, in John’s midst, that didn’t quite understand, you
know, how far do you want to take this, John? This repentance
stuff. Turn back, if you would, to Luke’s
gospel in chapter 3. And we want to look at it from
John the Baptist’s own words. A lot of times, you can get a
lot of people to weigh in on what is and what isn’t repentance.
What does John say is repentance? He basically takes us to a number
of different groups of people. And each, I take this to mean
that there were different sins for different individuals. And
it’s almost a myriad of different mixtures of sin And each one
of them has cause to repent of their particular sin. Look at
group one in verse 10. The multitudes were questioning
him saying, then what shall we do? And the, you know, I take them as
sincere people. They just really didn’t understand
the whole concept of sin. John begins to lay it out to
them. He would answer and say to them, let the man who has
two tunics share with him who has none. How about let’s start
with the sin of greed? How about let’s start with the
sin of insensitivity to your fellow man? Let’s start with
that one. And he says, let him who has
food do likewise. This is a call to repentance. In other words, The sin was at
the core of these people’s lives, so deep, that they would see
a brother in need, they would see another person in need, and
they would be totally ambivalent to it. Totally cold, heartless. What’s the remedy in this case?
It’s so intensely practical. If you want to repent of your
sin, and it’s never just this feeling, okay, I repent. It’s
practical. Look at what he says. You have
two coats? Go give one. Go to your closet,
get the coat, and give it. Don’t just feel sorry for your
sin. Food? If you have food, and it doesn’t
say that there’s an abundance of food, if you have food, go
share it. We often will pray, won’t we?
Lord, give us this day our daily bread. And we are supposed to
pray that in faith that God will provide for tomorrow. And yet
the way that we live is quite opposite, isn’t it? We want to
store up and save up, and it isn’t just about food. We want
to store up and save up everything. We want to hoard it. John goes
first to the heart of those who are greedy. Look at group two.
And some tax gatherers also came to be baptized and they said
to him, teacher, and you know, you know, their knees are knocking
and you can hear them. You know, they’re just really
great trepidation here approaching John. What’s he going to say
to us? Teacher, what shall we do? And he said to them, collect
no more than what you have been ordered to. There was this great
habit among them. They would go and they would
use their office to press and squeeze every last drop from
people. Beyond just greed, this was theft.
This was stealing. And these Jews who were doing
it were essentially agents of Caesar or King Herod, and they
would go and, you know, their job was to go and collect tax,
customs, And because of that, they were hated by the people.
And once the people hated them for their job, then they turned
the screws all the tighter. They were hated everywhere. And
because they were hated, they figured if I’m already hated,
we’re going to take all that we want. Very practical. Don’t take any more than you’re
commanded to. Do your job, but don’t steal. Look at verse 14. Some soldiers
were questioning, what about us? What should we do? What do you say to soldiers?
Certainly soldiers, you know, upstanding fine men enlisted
in the nation’s service. And he said to them, do not take
money from anyone by force. Don’t turn this into anarchy.
Your service on behalf of a king, don’t march in and use your authority
as a guise, do not take anything by force or accuse anyone falsely,
be content with your wages. As I said, intensely practical. And it was that way for every
single person. You get the picture that this
is just the tip of the iceberg, that anybody who came to John,
John would have said, look, what’s your deal? What’s your sin? What
are you struggling with? Repent of it. And repent of it
in the most practical terms. Repentance isn’t just feeling
bad. What is repentance? It means,
indeed, a change of mind. But it ultimately points to that
transformation that is begun by God. It’s God that gives us
repentance, remember? It’s God that brings us to repentance. It’s God that gives us a hatred
for our sin. is coordinated with faith. Once
we’ve turned from sin and it’s coordinated with faith, faith
in the Savior, that is the transformation that we need most. The change
of life for the better. And from the human perspective,
as one said, the response to the message of Almighty God,
the gospel of Christ, It’s a response twofold for us. It’s repentance
and faith. You see, we can go about now
and we can preach the fullness of the gospel. John was preaching
a baptism of repentance. We can preach not only baptism. We can preach repentance and
baptism, but we preach repentance and faith. We know the Lord Jesus
Christ. He’s been introduced. That a sinner who is called by
God and comes, as he says, to hate and loathe his sin and his
sinfulness, and inwardly and sincerely desires to turn from
it, to repent. And at the same time that repentant
sinner sees for the first time his provision for sin, this ransom
paid for by Christ Himself, he turns in faith. It’s not just
sorrow. It’s not just sorrow for sin.
people in prison that are sorry for their sin. There are many
people in prison and who have paid the price or are paying
the price of their sin. It’s not even just deep remorse,
tears and that kind of thing. In fact, I would say it doesn’t
even constitute genuine repentance unless it’s accompanied by a
sincere decision to walk away from that sin, to forsake it
forever. Paul addressed the difference
between true and false repentance. In 2 Corinthians chapter 7, he
knew that the Corinthians were sorrow, sorrowful rather. And
he says in verse 9, I rejoice not that you were made sorrowful,
but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance. There’s
a difference. It says, for you are made sorrowful
according to the will of God so that you might not suffer
loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according
to the will of God produces a repentance without regret. In other words,
you’re not turning to God and all the while clinging to your
favorite sin. It’s a repentance without regret.
It’s a turning that is willing to let go of that sin that sent
Christ to the cross. And like John the Baptist, Jesus
founded His ministry with a call of sinners to repentance, and
we can too. Repentance must not be forgotten
as we proclaim Christ. We must call sinners to repentance,
but we call them to repentance and faith. Repentance is only one side,
one called it the negative side, the negative aspect of salvation. The positive side is fruit bearing
that is borne out through faith, but it’s ultimately a change
in the heart, ultimately that is wrought and worked by God
Himself. It’s a change of heart that leads
to a turning from sin, leads to a hatred of sin. J.C. Ryle, in addressing repentance
said this, without repentance, no soul was
ever yet saved. And yet, in many cases, the gospel
presentations that are prevalent today, there isn’t even enough
sin presented in that gospel presentation to even generate
repentance. Without repentance, no soul was
ever saved. We must know our sins, mourn
over them, forsake them, abhor them, or else we shall never
enter the kingdom of heaven. John the Baptist says that he
came preaching a baptism of repentance, and that repentance was just
the start. that until we have repented of our sin, truly turned
our back on sin, we’re not ready for salvation. J.C. Ryle goes on to say, there is
nothing meritorious in this. When you repent of your sin,
you’ve really done nothing. commendatory. There is nothing
meritorious in this. It forms no part whatever of
the price of our redemption. Our salvation is all of grace
from the first to the last, but the great fact still remains
that souls are always, pardon me, that saved souls are always
penitent souls and that saving faith in Christ and true repentance
toward God are never found apart. some of you quite possibly in
this room, have made what we refer to in our day and age as
a profession of faith. And when you hear that heaven
is what it is, and that God is who He is, that all sounds very
good. That is very appealing. And when it’s free and available
for the taking, I think the tendency is, even for us who are sharing
the gospel, is to race ahead and lay the benefit package out
before the individual and say, oh, let’s go to heaven, shall
we? There are some of you who have
likely made a profession of faith, but you haven’t even repented
of your sin. You want to have both. You want to do this and
that. You want to live this way and
go to heaven. You want to do this as long as
you please and claim to be a Christian. Saving faith in Christ and true
repentance toward God are never found apart. Let’s pray. Our merciful King, we humble
ourselves in your presence. And Lord, I pray for every soul
in the room that they would examine their heart. If they have made
a profession of faith, placed their faith in Christ and told
others about it, good and right. Lord, we wish more people would
do so. We pray that you would examine
every heart. Was this faith born out of a season of repentance,
a hatred for sin, and a desire to turn from it? Or is this just
the latest thing to try? Try Jesus for a season, since
nothing else has worked. Lord God, examine every heart.
Examine every professor of faith. And see whether their faith is
real and genuine. See whether there was repentance. And if not, Father, Bring us
to our knees. Show us how we have toyed with
Christ, how we have named a name while still clinging to our sin.
Examine every heart and bring about the repentance wherever
it’s needed. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray.
Amen. We take your bulletins and let’s
stand together as we close and sing Holy Names.