The Voice in the Wilderness, Part 4

Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you once again for the great love that you bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God. And we ask, Lord, that today, as we understand how it is you ordained John the Baptist to be that forerunner to the Messiah, the message that he preached was so important for not only the people of his day to understand, but for us to understand that, Lord, we might come to grips with the reality of the gospel, that there be one among us who has not yet repented of their sin, that today would be that day.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Today, once again, we find ourselves in the third gospel of, the third chapter of Luke's gospel.

And so we would invite you to turn there as we understand once again what it is John the Baptist says and does. We've been looking at the voice in the wilderness. John the Baptist is that voice that comes screaming out of the wilderness, presenting to us the Messiah, calling people to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah. We have looked at the conditions in which the voice would come. We have looked at the commissioning of that voice. We've looked also at the composition of that voice and the connection of that voice with the Old Testament.

And today we'll look at the confrontation of that voice. John the Baptist was the greatest man born of a woman, greater than Moses, Noah, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joseph, Isaiah, name it. He's greater than all of them. Because Jesus said that there was never a man like this man. He was the greatest of all men. And that's because he had a unique ministry. It was a ministry of preparation as well as presentation. He would prepare people to receive the Messiah and then he would present the Messiah to them.

And there was a sense of urgency in his message. But he always called man to repentance, to turn from his sin and to turn toward the Messiah. And that is the essence of the gospel. That is what it is to preach the gospel. It talks about a turning from sin and turning toward the Messiah, Jesus Christ, our Lord. In fact, it was the Apostle Paul who said these words in the book of Acts, the 20th chapter, the 21st verse. They solemnly testified to both Jews and of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other. The two make up regeneration. And that's what happens in the life of an individual who turns from a sin to follow Jesus Christ, the Messiah. And John the Baptist comes on the scene preaching this message. And let me read to you what he says, because John becomes the pattern for preaching.

John becomes the essence of the message we are to preach. When we understand what it is he does and how he says it, we better understand what we are to do and how we are to say it. Let me read it to you.

Luke chapter three, beginning with verse number seven. He therefore began saying to the multitudes who were going out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our father. For I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And also the ax is already laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

And the multitudes were questioning him saying, then what shall we do? And he would answer and say to them, let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none and let him who has food do likewise. And some tax gatherers also came to be baptized. And they said to him, teacher, what shall we do? He said to them, collect no more than what you have been ordered to do. And some soldiers were questioning him saying, and what about us? What shall we do? And he said to them, do not take money from anyone by force or accuse anyone falsely and be content with your wages.

Now, while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John as to whether he might be the Christ, John answered and said to them, all as for me, I baptize you with water, but one is coming who is mightier than I. And I am not fit to untie the thong of the sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy spirit and fire. And his winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the weed into his barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

So with many other exhortations, also he preached the gospel to the people. John was a preacher of the gospel and this is his confrontation. It was all about repentance. It was all about turning from your sin to follow the Messiah, to follow the Christ. And I want you to notice how he begins and notice how he doesn't begin.

He doesn't begin with a nice little illustration to gather the people's attention. He doesn't begin with some antidote or some story. He doesn't even begin with his own testimony. He begins by saying, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? At the outset, it sounds a little harsh, doesn't it? Little uncaring, little unkind, not loving, not sensitive. But you've got to remember, John was passionate. John knew the Messiah was right on his heels and people needed to be prepared because the king was coming.

There was a sense of urgency in his message and that people needed to respond. And the heart of his message is all about repentance. It's about a turning from their sin. So what we have in verses really four down through verse number 17 is the character of true repentance. It's a definition of what repentance truly looks like. We've been talking about repentance the last couple of weeks and some people might not understand what true repentance looks like. It's important to understand it. And what John does is help us see it.

Why? Because there were a lot of people coming to John and there were a lot of people repenting of their sin. But the repentance was not a genuine repentance. It was a shallow superficial repentance. How do we know that? Because when Messiah comes on the scene, they don't receive him. They don't want him. And so when it's all said and done and Christ has been crucified, dead, buried, and risen again and ascended into heaven, what do you find when you read Acts 1? About 120 nondescript disciples in an upper room.

Why? Because the people John was baptizing, even though they were confessing their sins, it wasn't a true genuine repentance. It was shallow. It was superficial. You see, this is important because when you read John's message and you read what John said and you read the message of Christ and read what Jesus Christ himself said and they presented the gospel with great clarity and with supreme purity and only a few were saved. And these people coming down experienced a superficial repentance. What do you think is happening today when people preach an easy believism gospel?

There is a throng of shallow repentance taking place all around the world. And folks, that's a dangerous thing. That's very dangerous. And maybe you're one of those people today. Maybe you're one of those people who will say, yes, I have repented of my sin, but it's been a superficial repentance. How do you know it's genuine? How do you know it's true? How do you know it's deep? How do you know it's real? That's what John's message is about because he confronts the superficiality of his day. He confronts the religiosity of his day because he doesn't want people deceived.

He doesn't want people thinking that they're going to go to heaven, die and wake up in hell. That's very important. So we need to understand what it is John is saying. And while I'm on this subject, I've got to warn you. You know, so many times when we present the gospel, we present it in a way that kind of destroys the whole avenue of repentance and kind of dilutes the gospel. We ask people if they want to accept Jesus. We ask people if they want to make a decision about Jesus. And while we do that, what happens is we subtly draw them away from the true essence of the gospel, which is the repentance from sin.

You see, when someone's saved, it's not about them accepting Jesus. It's about Jesus accepting them in spite of their unworthiness. It's what Jesus's decision is about you that's important. It's not about your decision to accept Christ. See, we have it all mixed up today. And that's why the thief on the cross said what? Jesus, I accept you into my heart. Is that what he said? He said, Oh, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom because I'm unworthy to be remembered. Or how about the public in Luke chapter 18 when he beat upon his breasts?

Oh, God, be merciful unto me, a sinner. He didn't say, accept me, Jesus. He said, be merciful unto me because I'm unworthy. And Jesus makes the decision about whether or not he is going to accept you into his kingdom. You see, we have it all mixed up today. And we've got to be very careful about how we present the gospel. That's why we need to know what John said. Because John in verse 18 says, Luke says, this is the preaching of the gospel. John preached the gospel. How did he do it? You brood of vipers, you sons of Satan.

Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? What are you doing down here? And don't even think for a moment, you're going to say, well, we're children of Abraham and you're going to get into heaven. That ain't going to happen that way. So wait a minute. That just seems to go against everything we learned about quote, friendship, evangelism, everything we learned about sharing Jesus with our loved ones. But remember, John knew of the coming wrath. John knew of the judgment that was coming. John knew that Messiah was on his heels and he wanted people to make a true biblical, genuine confession.

That's why it's so important for us to understand what John said. And then go back and look at how you present the gospel and look how you talk to people about the gospel and about repentance.

Because what he does is he gives us six characteristics of true, genuine repentance. And we want to examine those six and come to the realization of how we present the gospel. And are we presenting it as John presented it and ultimately as Jesus presented it. To understand it, we need to go back to verses four, five, and six. Remember verse four, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord, make his path straight and every ravine shall be filled up and every mountain and hill shall be brought low and the crooked shall become straight and the rough road smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

How do you see the salvation of God? It begins, listen, number one, a reflection on actual sin. A reflection on actual sin. That is, sin does exist and guess what? It exists in me. It's real and I am filled with sin. And that's why the voice would come crying in the wilderness and talk about the deep things, the dark things, the base things, the things that are down in the ravine that we want to hide need to be brought up. That's why the high things, the lofty things, the things on the mountain, the self-righteousness, the self-love, all need to be brought down.

And that's why the crooked needs to be made straight. The perverse things, the devious things, the deceitful things, the manipulative things all need to be set in order. And that's why anything on the road that causes an obstruction for the king to arrive needs to be removed. And that happens when there was a reflection on actual sin. I am a sinner and there is absolutely nothing good in me. Remember Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful and desperately what? Wicked. It's sick. And remember back in Genesis chapter 8, verse number 21, what did God say?

He said, the intent of the heart in every man is always evil. Always. The wretchedness of a heart. That's why Paul said in Romans chapter 3, there is none good, no, not one. None are good. We are filled with sin. And if you're going to pave the way for the arrival of the Messiah, your sin must be dealt with. And there are a lot of people who believe they have repented, but have yet to deal with their sin. Why? Because they keep doing it over and over and over and over again without any remorse, any regret, because they've offended the living God.

You see, that's what true repentance is. It's a, it's a, it's a desire to deal. It's the hate evil. You who love the Lord. Psalm 97, 10. You hate evil. You don't want to do it again. You might do it again, but you don't want to do it again because at the depths of your heart is the desire to now honor your God. And there needs to, first of all, be an inventory of my life and how sin separates me from God.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And that was last week's lesson. But that's the first element of repentance.

There's a reflection on actual sin. And number two is verse number seven. And that's this. There is a recognition of eternal wrath and a recognition of eternal wrath. A person who truly repents not only knows that he's a sinner, but he knows that he's going to experience condemnation from God because of a sin. The wages of sin is death. There is a recognition of eternal wrath. John was a preacher of judgment. John was a preacher of eternal wrath. And the Jews knew about judgment. John says, listen, the ax is already at the root of the tree.

The ax is already about to fall. It's about to cut down the tree that doesn't bear forth any fruit. It's going to cut it down. And John says, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Because you see, the Jews knew about the wrath that was about to come. They knew that with the coming of Messiah came the wrath of Almighty God. If you go back and you read Malachi chapter three, verse number one, it says this, behold, I am going to send my messenger and he will clear the way before me.

John the Baptist is that messenger. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple and the messenger of the covenant to whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. He's a judge. Verse five, that I will draw near to you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear me.

Over in Malachi four, verse number one, for behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace and all the arrogant and every evil doer will be chaff.

And the day that is coming will set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. Verse five, behold, I am going to send you Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. You see, Israel knew that with the coming of Messiah came the great and terrible day of the Lord, came the judgment of God. And so John began to preach about the eternal wrath of Almighty God coming upon those who refuse to repent of their sin. If you go back to the book of Zephaniah, chapter one, verse number 14, it says, near is the great day of the Lord, near and coming very quickly.

Listen, the day of the Lord in it, the warrior cries out bitterly, the day of wrath is that day, a day of trouble and distress, a day of destruction and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and the high corner towers. And I will bring distress on men so that they will walk like the blind because they have sinned against the Lord and their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.

Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord's wrath and all the earth will be devoured in the fire of his jealousy for he will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one of all the inhabitants of the earth. You can go back and read Isaiah chapter two, Isaiah chapter 30. You can go back and read all about the prophets because all the prophets preached about the coming wrath of God. So they knew that it was going to come with the arrival of the Messiah.

So John, like all the Old Testament prophets, would help people recognize the eternal wrath that would come upon them because of their sin. And John says to them, you brood of vipers, you sons of poisonous snakes. Now Jesus used that same phrase. You go back and read about it in Matthew 12. And I think it's Matthew chapter 23 that Christ used that exact same phrase to talk about the religious establishment. In fact, when you read Matthew's account of what John said, it says that he talked to the Pharisees and Sadducees.

When you read Luke's account, he called everybody sons of venomous snakes, poisonous snakes. So which is it? The fact is he called everybody who came down to him, you brood of vipers. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? What are you doing here? How come you're here? How do you know about the wrath? How do you know it's about to come upon you because of your sin? And every true act of repentance is a reflection on actual sin and a recognition of eternal wrath. You see, John wanted people to recognize that judgment was indeed coming, the final eternal judgment.

And that's why the forgiveness of God is good news because you can escape it. That's why the love of God is good news because you don't have to face the wrath of God. And that's what John was concerned about. He was a preacher. Listen, he was a preacher of hell. People don't preach about hell today. People don't want to talk about hell today. If you look at what the Christian science teach, they teach that there is no final judgment that awaits man, that hellfire is the ravings and imaginations of mortal error.

If you read what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach, they teach that it's absurd to speak of a perpetual existence away from God forever. The Seventh-day Adventists teach that sinners will go to hell, but they will ultimately be annihilated, so they won't experience it forever and ever and ever. People don't want to talk about hell's torment anymore. J.C. Ryle said this about hell. He said, let others hold their peace about hell if they will. I dare not do so. I see it plainly in and I must speak of it.

I fear that thousands are on the broad road that leads to it, and I would feign arouse them to a sense of the peril before them. What would you say of the man who saw his neighbor's house in danger of being burned down and never raised a cry of fire? Call it bad taste if you like to speak of hell. Call it charity to make things pleasant and speak smoothly and soothe men with the constant lullaby of peace. From such notions of taste and charity may I ever be delivered. My notion of charity is to warn men plainly of their danger.

My notion of taste is to declare all the counsel of God. If I never spoke of hell, I should think I had kept back something that was profitable and should look on myself as an accomplice of the devil. Beware of new and strange doctrines about hell and the eternity of punishment. Beware of manufacturing a God of your own. A God who is all love but not holy. A God who has a heaven for everybody but a hell for none. A God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time but will make no distinction between good and bad in eternity.

Such a God is an idol of your own as really as Jupiter or the monstrous image of juggernaut as true as idol as was ever molded out of brass or clay. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible and besides the God of the Bible there is no God at all. Your heaven should be no heaven at all. A heaven containing all sorts of characters mixed together indiscriminately would be miserable discord indeed. Alas for the eternity of such a heaven there would be little difference between it and hell.

All reader there is a hell. Take heed lest you find it out too late. Good words, convicting words. There is a hell and you are in danger of the fires of hell if you don't repent of your sin. But listen just because there's a reflection of actual sin and just because there's a recognition of eternal wrath does not mean you are saved. That's why John the Baptist said it clearly. What are you doing? What are you doing coming down here? Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Why? Because you see they believed if they like snakes just scattered away from the fire and made their way down to the water to be baptized that would be good enough.

But it wasn't. You see Jews believe in eternal wrath. They believe in hell and they believe in eternal judgment. And so what does John do? The third aspect of a true repentance is a rejection of external ritual.

A rejection of external ritual. You see they were coming down like snakes fleeing from the fire. They wanted their fire insurance but they didn't want life insurance. They wanted to escape from hell but they didn't want their lives to be altered. That's a lot of people right? They don't want to go to hell. I don't want to go to hell so I'll give my life to Christ. That's not salvation my friends. You see there was an external, there has to be a rejection of external ritual. They were coming down to be baptized.

You see there was a fascination with John. Think about it. There was this man named Zacharias, this priest who hadn't had a child. All of a sudden his wife was pregnant. She's up in years. She's barren Elizabeth. She has a nickname but all of a sudden she's no longer barren. She has a child. His name is John and Zacharias and Elizabeth had this testimony that he will be the forerunner of the Messiah. So for 30 years they've waited for John to appear in the scene and now he's there and there's a kind of curiosity about this man John.

After all they know his father is in the priesthood and John is not wearing the royal garb of the priesthood. He's wearing different kinds of clothes. He's even got a different kind of message that the priests were used to. And so the Pharisees, the Sadducees, all those in Jerusalem, all those in Judea were making their way down to the Jordan to be baptized and John sees him and says, who warned you, you brood of vipers, you sons of poisonous snakes. In other words he was calling them sons of Satan.

Remember John 8.44 Christ said you are of your father the devil. We know that Satan is called a serpent in Revelation 12. He actually was calling them sons of Satan. It's not a really nice way to present the gospel to people is it? That's not the way people are going to come to your church. Oh gee it's so good to be here. We're all sons of poisonous venomous snakes. He's talking to them about their vicious life, their hostile life, their vengeful life. Who warned you to flee from the wrath that comes?

You see they were coming down and they were being baptized and they were adding one more ritual to their existing religious life. They were coming down to be baptized just to make sure that everything was above board and everything was right. I mean after all everybody else was doing it. And so they're coming down to be baptized and John says what are you doing down here? This is for those who recognize their sin, who confess their sin and know the consequences of their sin and therefore what are you guys doing down here because you don't see yourselves as sinners, you see yourselves as self-righteous and holy.

So who told you to come down here? Why do you make your way down here? It's because of the rituals that they went through all the time. That baptism was just one more thing. See baptism doesn't save you now like it did like it didn't do it then. Baptism is a manifestation or outward illustration of what Jesus Christ has done in my life. And these people weren't saved because they were baptized. But you see to a Jew this was one more avenue through which they gained acceptance with God. And if you're going to be saved there must be a rejection of all external ritual.

Listen, Jews today, you read any Jewish rabbi, Jews do not believe that you inherit Adam's sin nature. Jews believe that you are born inherently good, not evil. They teach that. And so if I'm a Jew, I haven't inherited Adam's sin nature. Jews don't believe in total depravity. That's why they do so many works because they believe that they can do enough good deeds to outweigh the bad deeds that God will accept them. You know people like that? Maybe they're not Jewish. Maybe they're from some other religion.

That they can do enough good things. That they can say enough prayers or roll in their hand enough beads or attend enough church services or enough masses or do enough good things, baptized as an infant, baptized as an adult. And all those things will ultimately gain my acceptance and approval before God. That's practical Judaism. That's the Jews belief. So John says, what are you doing here? Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? What are you doing making your way down here like snakes running from a fire and dipping yourselves in the water thinking that's somehow going to gain you approval before God?

There's got to be a rejection of all external ritual. When you are born again, you are saved by the grace and mercy of God. That's why you have to understand that when you come to Christ, you come to Him and you plead mercy. You beg for mercy because you are unworthy, deserving only of hell, and it's because of His grace that He took your place on Calvary's cross and suffered in your stead. That's what salvation is, see? So there is a reflection on actual sin. Number two, there is a recognition of eternal wrath.

Number three, there is a rejection of external ritual. And number four, there is a renunciation of familial heritage. A renunciation of familial heritage. That is, you don't get to heaven because of your genes. Or you don't get to heaven because of the family you're born into. That's why John says these words. He says, do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham for our father. For I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. He says, don't even begin to give me the excuse.

Don't even begin to say the words, we are of our father Abraham. Because John says that makes absolutely no difference to God. None. And if God wanted to, He would take these stones and He would make them into His children. So don't think that because you are children of Abraham, because you're of the right tribe and the right nation, because you are the people, quote, of God, that you're automatically going to go to heaven. See, Jews believe that. You see, just because you're born a Jew doesn't mean you're going to go to heaven.

Because you're born a Jew, the only thing that Abraham gave you was his sinful nature. That's all he gave you. And the opportunity to be a recipient of the promises of God. You still had to believe in God. You still had to obey His Word. You still had to fall before Him and seek Him. You see, and so John confronts their family heritage. And when you become a Christian, repentance renounces everything about my family heritage. I am not going to go to heaven because my family is going to heaven. I'm not going to go to heaven because I've been born into the right family or I've been born a Jew.

That's why Paul said, he is a Jew who was not one outwardly, but one who was inwardly a Jew. Romans chapter two. It's all about what's happening on the inside, not about what you do on the outside. So important. But people forget that, don't they? They think it's something that they have done on the outside. You see, this was very important because Jesus confronted this all the time over in John, very familiar verses over in John chapter eight. Christ said this. Verse 37, I know that you are Abraham's offspring, yet you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you.

I speak the things which I have seen with my father. Therefore you also do the things which you have heard from your father. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham. But as it is, you are seeking to kill me. A man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God, this Abraham did not do. You are doing the deeds of your father. And that is your father, the devil. See, Abraham didn't seek to kill me. Abraham didn't want to kill me, but you want to kill me.

Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And yet you are not rejoicing to see my day. And they would be confronted by the fact that they, even though were a part of Abraham's family physically, they weren't a part of Abraham's family spiritually. If you want to follow Abraham, you got to do the deeds of Abraham. You got to have the faith of Abraham. You got to believe the same way Abraham himself believed. And these Jews believed they had nothing to fear because they were Jews. They were sons of their father, Abraham.

And yet the Bible says, listen, you need to do the deeds of Abraham. Why? Because ultimately you will be judged based on your deeds. You know that, don't you? You will be judged based on your deeds. And the Jews knew that over in the book of Ezekiel, the 18th chapter. It says this, verse 21, but the wicked man turns from all his sins, which he has committed and observes all my statutes and practices justice and righteousness. He shall surely live. He shall not die. In fact, it says over in Ezekiel chapter 36, verse number 26, moreover, I will give you a new heart.

This is speaking of the new covenant and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh. And I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you will be careful to observe my ordinances. You see what's going to happen is when God saves you, he causes you to walk after him. He makes you walk after him. People say, well, you know, this person gave the life to Christ, but they're not walking with him. Well, what does that mean?

That means they're not born again. You can candy coat it. You can say anything you want, but the Bible says part of the new covenant is that while I put, I will put my spirit in you and I will cause you to walk after me.

A believer walks after God. Why? Because he's compelled by the spirit of God. The spirit of God moves him. You see, and that is so important for us to grasp because we need to understand what the Bible says about true repentance, true regeneration, true conversion, true salvation.

It's God living in you and God working in you. That's what salvation is. And John is saying to these people, you can't come down here, dip yourself in the water and say, we are of our father, Abraham, just because physically you're born into the, into the nation doesn't mean spiritually you're going to go to glory. You need to turn from your sin. You need to make sure that you reject any rituals that you've been doing before. You've got to renounce your family heritage, has nothing to do with your family, has everything to do with what God has done.

That's repentance. But just because there's been a reflection on actual sin and just because there's been a recognition of eternal wrath and just because there's been a rejection, a rejection of external ritual and just because there's been a renunciation of familial heritage doesn't mean that you've completely and genuinely repented of your sin. There needs to be a revelation of spiritual transformation, a revelation of spiritual transformation. That is, there is a revealing in my life that I have truly been cleansed because cleansing always produces a changing.

And that's why the people ask him, if we're to bring forth fruits that evidence repentance, what does that look like? John tells them, how do we know that the fruit of our life evidences that we have truly repented of our sin, that we have truly turned from our sin, that we have renounced our, our family heritage, that we have rejected any form of religiosity, that we have understood eternal wrath and judgment because we have reflected upon our sinful nature? How do we know we've done that? John says, because there's a revelation of a spiritual transformation.

And so they ask, what do we do? What does that look like? You come back next week and I'll tell you, let's pray. Our most gracious heavenly father, we thank you for the truth of your word. Thank you, Lord, that in your word, you spell out for us the genuineness of a repented heart. I pray that God, you would do a mighty work in all of our hearts and lives. Cause us to look inwardly, cause us to examine our lives. Like the Psalmist said, search me, try me, see if there'd be any wicked way in me. Lord, that's the heart of the believer.

That's the heart that wants to truly be cleansed. That's the heart that's truly been changed because they have a nature, a desire to do the things of God versus the unbeliever who has no desire whatsoever to please God or to follow as God. And that's because your spirit doesn't dwell within them because if it did, it would cause them to walk after you and to observe your statutes. Oh Lord Jesus, may we truly understand that regeneration is a work of God in the heart of a man that recognizes it is separated from God and can do absolutely nothing to be saved from a sin.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.