The Voice in the Wilderness, Part 2

Father, we thank you for today. I thank you for everybody who's here. Lord, they're here because in your sovereign plan, you designed them to be in this facility on this day at this time to hear your word.

And I pray that all of us would realize, Lord, that you are in complete control of all that happens, that nothing escapes your notice, that you are completely sovereign over all things. And today we praise you for that. And Lord, we ask that what we hear and learn today from your word would strengthen us in our walk with Jesus Christ, our Lord.

We pray in your name. Amen. Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3, the launch point of Messiah's ministry.

It's a chapter that begins the ministry of Jesus Christ, our Lord. But before that, it begins with the ministry of John the Baptist. And we've been looking at the setting.

We've been looking at the conditions concerning the coming of the Messiah. And it's fulfillment of Galatians chapter 4, verse number 4, that in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law. And we read about those five Jewish, I'm sorry, five Gentile names and two Jewish names there in the first couple of verses of Luke chapter 3 to help you understand the political setting as well as the religious setting.

That everything was corrupt in those days and therefore it was prime time for the coming of the Messiah. And we move from the conditions to the commission. That is, we saw where the word of the Lord came to John in the wilderness.

That is, a specific word came from God to John to call him to go forth and to preach the gospel. God had particularly designed this man, John, to be the forerunner to the Messiah. The Bible calls him the son of Zacharias.

Zacharias said in his own song in Luke chapter 1, these words about his son John, verse 76, and you child will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. Zacharias knew his son had a unique mission. That mission centered around preparation and presentation.

A preparation of the people for the coming of Messiah and then the actual presentation of that Messiah to the people of Israel. John had a unique ministry. And as we see chapter 3 unfold before us, we will begin to understand more and more of this man's great and wonderful ministry.

And then we saw the composition of his message. Very simple. Verse number 3, it says, and he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

That's what John came preaching. And we need to understand that message because that message is the same message that Jesus preached, and that's the same message the apostles preached, and that's the same message we are to preach. So if we miss what John said, we're not going to understand what Jesus said or the apostles said because He was the forerunner to the coming of the Messiah.

The problem with his message is that it wasn't the fact that Israel didn't understand forgiveness and repentance, they understood those things. It's just that they didn't believe that message applied to them because they in their minds were right with God. Everything in their lives from their perspective was right with God.

They were in a covenant relationship with the living God of the universe. They had been given promises by God. They were from the loins of Abraham.

See they were in the right family. They were in the right country. It was in the right land.

It was the holy land. They were the right people. They were chosen by God.

And so they thought that they were already in a right relationship with the living God. John comes on the scene and says, Nope, sorry, you're not. Well that doesn't go over too well with people who believe they are self-righteous.

And of course John would end up losing his head and they would crucify Jesus because of the message they proclaimed. But the message they proclaimed centered around the forgiveness of sins, repentance, and baptism. They knew God as a forgiving God.

They knew God as a Redeemer. They knew God as a Deliverer. The whole Passover was a reminder of the delivering power of God that He is the Redeemer.

That is His memorial name. Way back in the book of Exodus that He would be the one who would deliver His people. So they knew God as a Savior, as a Deliverer, as a Redeemer, as a Rescuer of man because that's how they understood their God and they would be correct.

They were absolutely right. So they understood the forgiveness of sins. They knew they needed to have forgiveness.

They just didn't know how that was going to be obtained. They didn't know how it was all going to come about for them because they were overwhelmed with the guilt of the law and they were suppressed under the power of the law. And the leaders of the day reminded them that they were inadequate and unable to gain proper standing with God.

And no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't attain a proper standing with God. So John comes on the scene preaching forgiveness of sins. It's no wonder all of Jerusalem, Judea, and the surrounding district went out to him to hear the message and to be baptized.

But he also preached repentance. He also preached repentance. Now I'll be the first to admit that when you start preaching about repentance it's politically incorrect because people don't want to hear about their need to turn from their sin.

People don't like you to talk about sin. They don't like you to talk about their particular sin. But when you start talking about repentance you've got to deal with the sin issue and to deal with the sin issue you must provide a solution which is the Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.

And so politically it's incorrect in terms of the world standpoint. Theologically some will argue that it's incorrect. And more people today from the theological perspective would argue that repentance is incorrect.

More people in churches today would tell you that repentance is not necessary for salvation. And my friends that's a travesty. They argue that you just have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

That's it. Just believe in Jesus. There's no turning from sin.

There's no repentance. There's just believe in Jesus because it's all of grace. It's all through faith and therefore all you've got to do is believe in Jesus and you will be saved.

But that's not true. That's not true. But there are more churches today preaching that message than are preaching the one you're going to hear today.

And we need to know what the Bible says concerning repentance. And we need to understand what John the Baptist said because every true gospel presentation will always include a message of repentance. So today it's going to be a little bit of a Bible study for you.

So I hope you got your thinking caps on because I want you to understand this issue of repentance. Because if you don't it's going to hinder your gospel presentation. At the same time you need to examine your life to see whether or not you have truly repented of your sin.

Turn with me to Mark chapter 1 for a moment. Mark chapter 1. This becomes crucial. Verse number 1. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

This is the beginning of the gospel, right? As it is written, Isaiah the prophet, behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight. John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance with a forgiveness of sins.

The gospel of Mark begins with the fact that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God. What's the gospel? It's about repentance. Go down to verse number 14.

And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. So Jesus following on the heels of John preaches the gospel of repentance.

This is the gospel of God. Folks we must understand that. Listen to what J. Vernon McGee said about repentance.

He said, the message of Jesus is the same as the message of John the Baptist in the gospels. Repent and believe the gospel. I believe that in our day the message is really turned around.

That is, we put faith before repentance. When you turn to Jesus Christ in faith you are actually turning to Him from something else. And that turning from something is repentance.

If there was not that turning from something then apparently there was not a real turning to Christ. It is true that if there is a real turning to Christ there will be a manifestation of a change in the life showing that the believer is turning from something so that there is no contradiction at all. End quote.

J. Vernon McGee says very clearly that when you turn to Christ it is because you are turning from something else. That my friends is what repentance is all about. It is about turning from my sin to a Savior, to Jesus Christ our Lord.

Listen to the words of D.O. Moody. He wrote these words. There is a good deal of trouble among people about what repentance really is.

If you ask people what it is they will tell you it is feeling sorry. If you ask a man if he repents he will tell you oh yes I generally feel sorry for my sins. That is not repentance.

It is something more than feeling sorry. Repentance is turning right about and forsaking sin. If a man doesn't turn from a sin he won't be accepted of God.

And if righteousness doesn't produce a turning about, a turning from bad to good it isn't true righteousness. We do not walk in the same way as before we were converted. A man or a woman who professes Christianity and yet goes on in the same old way has not been born again.

When we are born again we are born in a new way and Christ is that new way Himself. We give up our old way and take His. The old way leads to death.

The new way to life everlasting. In the old way Satan leads us. In the new way the Son of God leads us.

We are led by Him not into bondage and darkness but into the way of peace and joy. Very clearly repentance is a whole change of life. It is not about feeling sorry that I have sinned.

It is about forsaking my sin. A lot of people feel sorry they sin. That is not repentance.

It is an actual turning from sin to a Savior to Jesus Christ our Lord. You see the message is what John preached. The message is what Jesus preached.

It was a message of repentance. If you go back to Luke's Gospel the fifth chapter, Luke chapter 5 it says this, Luke chapter 5 verse number 31. And Jesus answered and said to them, it is not those who are well who need a physician but those who are sick.

I have not come to call righteous but sinners to repentance. Jesus says that I came to do something and that is to call sinners to repentance. Over in Luke chapter 13 Christ said this in verse number 3. I tell you unless you repent you will all likewise perish.

Verse number 5. I tell you no but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Jesus came preaching a Gospel of repentance. Luke chapter 15 it says in verse number 7. I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.

Verse number 9, excuse me verse number 10 of Luke 15. In the same way I tell you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. And then he gives a parable about two lost sons and goes into great detail about what are the fruits of repentance.

Over in Luke chapter 24 Jesus says this. Luke 24 verse number 46. Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again for the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

When Jesus gave the commission to his disciples in Luke's Gospel he said that you make sure that beginning in Jerusalem you preach that there is repentance that is necessary for the forgiveness of sins. Listen to what Charles Spurgeon said in his book All of Grace. He said repentance must go with remission.

You will understand this if you give it some thought. It cannot be that pardon of sin should be given to an impenitent sinner. This would only confirm him in his evil ways and teach him to think little of evil.

If the Lord were to say you love sin and live in it and you are going on from bad to worse but all the same I forgive you this would proclaim a horrible license for iniquity. The foundations of social order would be removed and moral anarchy would follow. I cannot tell what innumerable wrongs would occur if you could divide repentance and forgiveness and could then pass by the sin while the sinner remained as fond of it as ever.

If we believe in the holiness of God we cannot be forgiven if we continue to sin and refuse to repent of it. We will reap the consequences of our obstinacy. According to God's infinite goodness we are promised that if we will forsake our sins confess them and by faith accept the grace which is provided by Christ Jesus God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But as long as God lives there can be no promise of mercy to those who continue in their evil ways and refuse to acknowledge their wrongdoing. Surely no rebel can expect the king to pardon his treason while he remains in open revolt. No one can be so foolish as to imagine that the judge of all the earth will put away our sins if we refuse to put them away ourselves.

Moreover it must be so for the completeness of divine mercy. The mercy which could forgive the sin and yet let the sinner continue in it would be scant and superficial. It would be unequal and deformed mercy lame in one foot and withered in one of its hands.

Which do you think is the greater privilege cleansing from the guilt of sin or deliverance from the power of sin? Spurgeon wants you to understand that repentance and remission go together. That is when you repent of your sin there is forgiveness. If there's no repentance there is no forgiveness.

And the God who forgives listen is the God who grants repentance. You see when Peter came on the scene in Acts chapter 2 verse number 37 he said this, now when they had heard this they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren what shall we do? And Peter said to them repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The people said Lord Peter what do we do? Now Peter came preaching a gospel of repentance.

He came and presented the Messiah to Israel there on the day of Pentecost. They said what do we do? Now I want you to know something that the people wanted to know what to do based on the Word of God that was given. The reason people in churches don't repent is because the gospel is not preached.

The Word of God is not open and therefore people are not convicted of their sin and they don't ask the question what is it I'm to do now? You see it's the Word of God that opens the door for repentance. It's the Word of God that opens the door for people to say what is it I'm to do? Because you see when God's Word is open people see God. When they see God they see their sinfulness and they cry out to God what is it you have me to do Lord because I can't save myself.

So when Peter opened the Word of God and presented to them the truth of the Scriptures they were pricked in their hearts because God's Word does that doesn't it? And there are a lot of people today in churches who go to a to an assembly where the Word of God is not open and their conscience is never never pricked. Their hearts are never pierced because God's Word is that transforming agent that does that and the Spirit of God works in conjunction with that. That's why in Zechariah chapter 12 verse number 10 the the prophet Zechariah said that that that in the end times the the Spirit of grace will be poured out and my people will look on me in whom they have pierced and they will mourn for me as one would mourn over his only son.

They will mourn. Why? Because the Spirit of God will convict them. You see God's Spirit works in conjunction with the Word of God and so when the Word of God is open the Spirit of God is free to work in the hearts and lives of men.

When God's Word is not open it doesn't work that way. That's why God's Word is so important in the local assembly. So Peter opens the Word of God.

He begins to preach the Word of God and people say, what do we do? He says, you've got to repent. You've got to turn from your sins. We go over to Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5 it says this in verse number 30, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you had put to death by hanging him on a cross.

He is the one whom God exalted to his right hand as a prince and a savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Let me tell you something about repentance. Repentance is granted to people by God.

People say to me, well you know if you're preaching a gospel of repentance you're telling people they've got to clean their life up in order to be accepted by God. That means you're adding works to salvation. That's not true.

God grants people repentance. The only people who turn from their sin are the ones that God turns because the Spirit of God works in their lives. Repentance is just so much a gift of God as faith is a gift from God, as belief is a gift from God.

It's all part and parcel to the same package of salvation. When God calls a man He converts a man. He transforms a soul.

He turns the soul. It's the working of God. That's why in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse number 9 Paul says you turn to God from idols to serve the true and living God.

There was an actual turning from something to someone. It was turning from my sin to a savior to serve that savior. That is true repentance.

And the apostles would understand that and preach that gospel. Over in Acts chapter 11 verse number 18 it says this, and when they heard this they quieted down and glorified God saying, well then God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life. So not only in Acts 5 do we realize that God grants repentance to Israel, Acts 11 tells us that He grants repentance to the Gentile world as well.

God is the one who does that. God is the one who's to be glorified because of that. Over in Acts chapter 20 Paul says this in verse number 21 or we'll start at verse number 20 of Acts 20.

Paul was saying to the Ephesian elders, I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable and teaching you publicly from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. See that was the message of the apostles. That was the message of Jesus.

That was the message of John the Baptist. It was the message of repentance. You've got to turn from your sin to serve the true and living God.

And that repentance is granted by God. That's important. So what is repentance? What is repentance? Let me give you a definition.

Gerhard Kittel has written a book called The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Every, every Greek student will have this book in his library because it is the most valuable resource to understanding the Greek text. Listen to what he says about repentance.

Repentance is radical conversion, a transformation of nature, a definitive turning from evil, a resolute turning to God in total obedience. This conversion is once for all. There can be no going back, only advance in responsible movement along the way now taken.

It affects the whole man, first and basically the center of personal life, then logically his conduct at all times and in all situations, his thoughts, words, and acts. The whole proclamation of Jesus is a proclamation of unconditional turning to God, of unconditional turning from all that is against God, not merely that which is downright evil, but that which in a given case makes total turning to God impossible. It is addressed to all without distinction and presented with unmitigated severity in order to indicate that the only way of salvation there is.

It calls for total surrender, total commitment to the will of God. It embraces the whole walk of the new man who is claimed by the divine lordship. It carries with it the founding of a new personal relation of man to God.

It awakens joyous obedience for a life according to God's will. Folks, that is the most complete definition I've ever read about repentance. Repentance is a radical conversion.

It's a radical transformation of thought, mind, will, and emotion. It transforms your life. And that's what Christianity is.

Christianity is not about adding Jesus to your existing lifestyle. It's about Jesus totally transforming your lifestyle. That's what Christianity is.

And we got a lot of people today in churches thinking they're saved and they're not, because their lives had never been transformed. They're doing everything now they were doing before they were saved. Nothing changed, except maybe they're going to church a little bit more.

Maybe they're carrying their Bible a little bit more. Maybe they've not said some of the things they used to have said, but everything has just carried on as before. Folks, that's not salvation.

That's addition. And we need people who understand transformation, that Jesus Christ actually transforms a sinner by His grace, granting him repentance that causes him to turn from the error of his way to embrace Christ and follow Him. Folks, that's salvation.

And we need to go back and ask ourselves, is that what has happened in my life? Has there been a transformation that has taken place where I understand that I am no longer what I used to be, that God has come into my life and transformed me? A lot of people say that repentance is just an intellectual change. It's a change of mind about who God is. Folks, let me tell you something, it's a lot more than that.

I mean, I can't find one theological dictionary that gives that definition, not one. That's man's definition. It's more than just a change of mind.

It's a change of life. It's a change of direction. It's a change of will.

It's a change of emotion. Jesus changes everything, not just some things. That's what salvation is.

And we need to understand that repentance is a radical turning to one's mind that causes a person to see his own sinfulness, his own wicked condition, and say to God, there is nothing I can do to earn or to obtain salvation. And ask the question, what must I do to be saved? And embrace as Christ His wonderful gift of mercy, His wonderful gift of salvation. That's what repentance truly is.

Now, turn with me in your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 for a moment. 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Repentance truly recognizes your condition. And part of that condition is recognizing that you can't do anything to change your life.

You can't do a thing. God has to do it. And, you know, Israel knew about repentance.

They knew about 2 Chronicles 7, 14, if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land. They knew about that. They knew about repentance.

You see, when Luke mentions repentance, when Mark does, when Matthew does, they don't go into great detail because the Jews knew about repentance. They knew it was a radical transformation. It was a radical turning from a sinful life to follow God.

They understood that. In fact, listen to what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 1, verse number 16. They knew this.

Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from my sight.

Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice.

Reprove the ruthless. Defend the orphan. Plead for the widow.

That was God's call upon man. Come now, God says, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow.

Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land. They knew what the prophet Ezekiel said.

Ezekiel 33, God spoke to him. Listen to this. Now as for you, son of man, verse number 7, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel, so you will hear a message from my mouth and give them warning from me.

When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way. That wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.

Verse number 11, say to them, as I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back in you from your evil ways. Why then will you die, O house of Israel? That's a very important statement.

Why? Because the call was always to turn, to turn, to turn. Turn back, turn from your wicked ways. And God says to Ezekiel, listen, as a prophet of mine, as a messenger of me, what you need to do is proclaim to the wicked man, you need to turn from your evil ways.

Listen to what he says. If you don't do that, if you don't tell the sinner, he needs to turn from his wicked ways, and that sinner dies in his sin, you, Ezekiel, are responsible. But if you tell that sinner, you've got to turn from your wicked ways, you've got to turn to follow God, because God wants you to follow Him, and that sinner dies in his iniquity, you are not responsible.

Now think about that. Think about that. Think about all those pastors out there who preach a gospel that has nothing to do with repentance, and God says, I'm going to hold it to their account, because there are churches full of people who never hear that message.

And that pastor, those leaders are responsible to preach that message, because God holds them responsible, holds them responsible. I want to let you know something. All the quotes I gave you, I quoted 13 and a half years ago at my previous church, and none of the leadership in that church, except for one man, agreed with any of it, didn't agree with any of it.

In fact, they said that I preached a works-based salvation, in fact, when I left that church, I asked that I could receive the tapes, because we wanted to begin a radio ministry here at Christ's Community Church. I asked if we could receive the tapes that I had from a year or 14 months of ministry at that church. And they wrote back a letter to me saying that they would not release those tapes, because those tapes contained heresy, because I preached the gospel of repentance.

And therefore, they didn't want to contribute to heresy going out over the airwaves. Interesting that that church no longer has a radio program and this one does. You see, folks, you need to understand what the gospel is, and you need to make sure you present it right, because we've got a lot of people out there who think they're saved and they're not, because we haven't presented the gospel right.

You got to preach, turn, turn, turn, like with Charles Spurgeon, turn or burn, baby, that's the way it is, man, turn or burn. You've got to turn from your sins. And people say, well, see, now you're telling people they've got to do something.

Let me tell you something. Here's the point. Whatever God requires, He accomplishes in a life.

If God requires it, He'll make it happen. He does it. He causes a man to turn from the error of his way.

That's why He grants repentance to Israel. Second Timothy 2, verse number 25, says it well. Second Timothy 2, verse number 25, if God perhaps may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.

God again grants repentance. It's a gift of God. Now, have you repented? Let me give you a biblical definition.

Second Corinthians chapter 7. Are you there? Second Corinthians 7, verse number 9. Paul says, I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance. For you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order 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, leading to what? Salvation.

Folks, there is no salvation without repentance. And the kind of repentance that comes is one that is a godly sorrow, and a godly sorrow is a sorrow that sees my sin as God sees my sin. And so what you have is Paul saying to those in Corinth, listen, you had a godly sorrow.

There's a worldly sorrow. People are sorry they got caught in their sin. I think everybody would feel sorry they got caught in their sin.

There's a lot of people who cry because of their sin. That doesn't make it a godly sorrow. A godly sorrow produces a turning from the sin.

People say, well, you know, we confess our sins, but we keep doing the same thing over and over and over again. Then you haven't confessed your sin. If you keep doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, it's not that you've confessed your sin.

It's that you're trying to relieve some guilt in your mind but down deep you still want to keep doing the same thing. That's not confession. That's not repentance.

Confession and repentance says, God, I have sinned against you. I never, ever want to do it again. That's confession.

That's repentance. God, give me the grace to always find the escape route through the temptation, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, that I might always escape away from falling into the bondage of iniquity. God, please spare me that.

True confession, true repentance, is a heart's desire to never want to do the sin again. So if you drop to your knees and you begin to confess your sin, knowing that in your mind you're going to do it again tomorrow, don't waste your breath. God knows your heart.

That's why the Bible says that the one who finds compassion is the one who confesses and forsakes his sin. It's not the one who just says something about his sin and hopes that God's going to pass over it and forgive it. It's the one who confesses and forsakes his sin.

That's the one who finds mercy. And the opposite of that, the first part of the verse, Proverbs 29, 13, is that, he who conceals the transgression shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes his sin shall find mercy. So if you're not forsaking it, you are concealing it to some degree.

You want to keep doing it to some degree. And repentance is a godly sorrow that says, oh God, I have sinned against Thee. Oh God, don't ever let me do it again.

In fact, Paul describes it for us. Listen to this. This is so good.

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret. How do you know you've repented? There's no regrets. There's no saying, you know, I wish I would have never given my life to God.

Why did I do that? It's a repentance without regret. When someone is truly repentant of their sin, there is no regret. There's no hesitation.

None whatsoever. There's no saying, ah, I've got to renege on this thing. I'm not sure I did the right thing.

No. There are absolutely no regrets with true godly sorrow over sin. Folks, this is what the Bible says about repentance.

There's absolutely no regret because it leads to salvation. But the sorrow of the world produces death. And then it goes on to say, verse 11, for behold, what earnestness this very thing.

You see, repentance is an eagerness, is an earnestness to get right with God. It is a supreme desire of genuineness. There's an eagerness that's there.

There's an earnestness that's there for this very thing. This godly sorrow has produced in you what vindication of yourselves. Repentance is a desire to vindicate my life.

So therefore, you say, God, expose it all. Put it all out in the open, God. I don't want anything held back because I want my life vindicated.

And if I'm holding something back, there is no vindication. That's repentance. What fear.

Godly sorrow is a sorrow that produces fear in a man, that he fears God because he knows the power of Almighty God and reveres his God. What longing. There's a hunger.

There's a desire to have sin dealt with. There's a desire to have a relationship with God. There's a longing, a hungering, and a thirsting for righteousness.

It says, what zeal. There's a zealousness about my life, a zeal to turn away from that which is evil in a pursuit after the things of God. What avenging of wrong, a desire to see justice accomplished in everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent or to be holy or to be pure.

That's repentance. Repentance manifests itself in a holy, pure lifestyle. That's the Bible's commentary on what a godly sorrow produces.

It produces a repentance that leads to salvation. It produces a life that God is pleased with because God granted that life to that individual. And God transforms the soul.

Folks, this is so important for you to understand. Boy, I tell you, I'm going through this thing in my office this week thinking, you know, let's just move on through Luke chapter 3 and let's get on to the message because as we go through the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy and the life of John, we're going to see more and more about how all this comes to play. But, you know, I am so convicted of the fact that there are so many churches that don't preach this gospel.

They preach another gospel. And we just can't pass it off as something, well, you know, they're good people in those churches. They might be good people in those churches, but they're deceived.

They're deceived. And who is going to speak the truth? That's why the Bible said in Ezekiel 33, you as a watchman, you as one who holds the truth, you make sure you tell them to turn because if you don't, you're held responsible. You're held responsible.

But if you tell them to turn, you are free from that responsibility because you have accomplished your mission. Let me tell you something. I want to accomplish the mission God's given to me.

I want to please my Lord. I want to preach the same gospel Jesus preached. I want to preach a different gospel.

Charles Spurgeon in his book entitled Turn or Burn, good title, says, when a man repents with that grace of repentance, God the Spirit works in him. He repents not of the punishment, which is to follow the deed, but of the deed itself. And he feels that if there were no pit dug for the wicked, if there were no ever gnawing worm, and no fire unquenchable, he would still hate sin.

It is such repentance as this, which every one of you must have or else you will be lost. It must be a hatred of sin. Do not suppose that because when you come to die, you will be afraid of eternal torment, therefore that will be repentance.

Every thief is afraid of the prison, but he will steal tomorrow if you set him free. Most men who have committed murder tremble at the sight of the gallows tree, but they would do the deed again could they live. It is not the hatred of the punishment that is repentance.

It is a hatred of the deed itself. Do you feel that you have such a repentance as that? And I ask you, do you? Because that's true biblical repentance. That's what it's about.

And we have to embrace that because that's what John came preaching. He came preaching a gospel that centered around the forgiveness of sins, but there's no forgiveness without repentance. And so John gave this message of preparation and including in that message was a baptism of repentance.

Now I know my time is gone, but I got to help you understand this because it brings it all together for you. Why is it he preached a baptism message? What was it about baptism that made this message? Let me tell you something about baptism. It does absolutely nothing, but it says everything.

Do you get that? Baptism doesn't save you. Baptism doesn't do anything for you, but it does say something about you. And we must understand that because John came preaching a baptism of repentance.

By the way, that's where he got his name, John the Baptizer or John the Baptist, okay? It's because he dipped people in the Jordan River. They went down to the water and came back out again. I want you to know something.

There was no baptism in Israel for Jews. This is brand new. No baptism in Israel for Jews.

If you were a Gentile and you wanted to become a Jew, you were baptized. You were immersed in water. This is very important.

Why? If I'm a Gentile and I want to become a Jew, I am baptized in water and I am confessing that I am not a part of the covenant people of God. That I am not a part of a God who is a covenant-keeping God. So if I, a Gentile, want to convert to Judaism, then I am baptized into Judaism and I am confessing the fact that I am not a part of the people of God and I am not a part of a covenant with the people of God that God himself made with them, that I am devoid, listen, of any relationship with the God of Israel.

You hear what I'm saying? And John comes on the scene and he's telling everybody they got to repent and they got to be baptized. He's telling Jews that they got to be baptized. What does that mean? What does that mean? Understand that when they were baptized, when we're baptized, we go down into the water, come back up out of the water, and we are confessing Jesus as Lord of our lives.

We are identifying with the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. We are testifying that Jesus is our God, our Lord, our Savior, and we are going to follow Him because we identify with Him, we are crucified with Christ, we have died to self, we are dead in the water, we come back up out of the water, we are raised in the resurrection of our God. We are identifying with Him.

When these people were baptized, they were baptized according to Matthew 3, verse number 6, and confessing their sin. They were confessing their sin, and this is what was so astonishing about John's message. He was saying, if you as a Jew want forgiveness, you have to repent.

And when you do that, you are recognizing that you are just like all the Gentiles in the world. When you come and are baptized in the Jordan River, and you repent and confess your sins, you are saying that although you are in the line of Abraham, you have no association with the living God of the universe. That although you are a Jew, and you have a tribal identity, you have no part with the living God of the universe.

You are coming and saying that although you are circumcised, you have no part of the Lord God of the universe. Folks, that was hard for a Jew to swallow, because you're telling them that everything they believed in all their lives is wrong, and they've got to turn from their wicked ways, and they've got to serve the true living God. In other words, John was saying, folks, let me tell you something, you Jews are just like the Gentiles.

You're both in the same boat, and that boat's on a fast track to hell, and you've got to turn from your sin, you've got to be baptized, you've got to confess your sin, and you've got to cry out to God for mercy. See, that was hard for them to take, because they were self-righteous. In their minds, they were right, and the Gentiles are wrong.

Every rabbi, when he gets up, he says these exact words, oh God, I thank you that I am not born a woman, and God, I thank you that I wasn't born a Gentile. Every rabbi says that every day. They hated the Gentiles.

And John says, you're just like them, because although you are, quote, called the people of God, and although you are from the covenant that God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let me tell you something, unless there is repentance, there's no forgiveness. And if there's no forgiveness, there's no relationship. You'll die in your sins.

You see, John's gospel was a gospel that would prepare them to receive the Messiah. And the Bible says that all in Jerusalem, all in Judea, and the surrounding districts were pouring out to the Jordan to be baptized. They were all coming out.

Now, this is very important, because how many of those people were truly anticipating Messiah? They came. They were baptized. They were confessing their sins.

But when Push came to Shav, he was in the ministry of preparation. He had yet to get to the ministry of presentation. He hadn't said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

There he is. Because when that happened, guess what? They didn't want that Savior. They didn't want that kind of Messiah.

And so when John would point the way, although they had been properly prepared, they would not receive the Messiah, because that was by faith, right? You got to believe by faith that that truly is the Lord God of Israel, the Messiah you've longed for. And that's where repentance and faith come together. They had repented of their sin.

They were in the process of turning from their sin. They wanted to follow God, and yet when—and that's why the ministry between John the Baptist and Jesus was so short. It was only six months, because he was preparing all these people to receive the Messiah.

And when Messiah came, he said, there He is. You got to follow Him. And the majority of people didn't want to do that, because He wasn't the kind of Messiah they wanted.

There's a lot of people who go to church, and they walk an aisle, and they sign a card, and they say a prayer. When Push comes to Shav, that's not the Messiah they want, because when Messiah came, He said, what? Follow Me. Follow Me.

And most didn't want to follow Him. And we'll see all throughout the book of Luke where people give excuses about following Christ. Maybe you've given some of those same excuses.

But Peter, James, and John, the other disciples, they followed Christ. Why? Because they had truly repented of their sins. How do you know you've truly repented of your sins? You want to follow Christ with all your heart.

It doesn't mean that you always follow Him 100% every day. You're perfect. You're not.

But in your heart's desire, you want to follow Christ. You want to honor Him. You want to serve Him.

Because repentance is not a one-time act. It's an ongoing aspect of your life, is it not? You repent every single day of your sin, asking God to cleanse you from your sin, to turn you from your sin, that you might follow Him and serve Him wholeheartedly. That's the message John gave.

It's a message that needs to be given in the church today. It's a message that all of us need to hear, because we need to be able to accurately present Christ to the world. Because God has commissioned us to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, beginning in Jerusalem and spreading throughout the entire world.

And I trust that you have repented of your sins, and you have turned from your sins to follow the true and living God. If you haven't, when our service is over, you come up to my right, to your left. Someone will be there to introduce you to Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank You for today, and we thank You for the truth of Your Word, and we thank You, Lord, for how You so clearly spell out in the gospel what it is You want us to know and to believe. And we thank You that salvation is truly a gift from God, that no man in this room earns acceptance with God.

No man earns righteousness of God. It's all granted by You. And You ask us to turn from our sins, that we might follow the true and living God.

And I pray that every man, woman, boy and girl in this room, and that one day will listen on CD or tape and ultimately over the airwaves, that they would know for certain that they have turned to the true and living God. In Jesus' name, amen.