Listen to the Call to Repent
1. It’s Tough to Hear
2. But It Brings Incredible Blessings
“I’llkissyourfeetunderthebelltowerifyoucanproveittome!” You probably shouldn’t say things like that to an A+++ college student over a point of grammar, even if you are an English professor. But he was so certain he was right. With red-faced emotion, he fiercely defended his docking of the student’s grade. And then he said it. Right in front of the whole class. You can guess what that student spent his weekend doing. A complete paper defending his position was submitted on Monday…and an apology from the professor followed. Those of you who know me, know that I was certainly not that A+++ student. But I was one of his best friends—the one who thought all of this was especially entertaining.
Pick the student or pick the professor both remind us that no one likes to be told they are wrong. We bristle at being told that we can’t think the way we think or say the things we say or do the things we do. But don’t come around John the Baptist with that attitude! John was God’s “voice” that told people that they were wrong in their thinking and talking and the way they were living their lives. But he was no preacher of doom; he was a preacher of repentance—and with that call to repent came a message of hope!
Next Sunday we get to hear some very specific things John said to others about what repentance looks like in a person life. But first, today, God tells us exactly who John was, what repentance is, and why it is vital for us.
I hope you can appreciate the way Luke writes it is definitely a little different from the other gospel writers. Luke was not one of the 12 Apostles, but he was a missionary companion of the Apostle Paul and many believe he must have known maybe Peter, John, and others, given the detail in his gospel. Perhaps you picked up on what makes Luke’s writing unique when you heard this.
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar— while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah
I count 8 names 5 political and 3 religious along with 6 places. Why does Luke do that, and why am I taking a minute to point it out? Because it shows that the arrivals of John the Baptist and Jesus, established by prophecy, came to fulfillment at a certain moment in history.
The prophets told about both of them and what they would do—Jesus, the Messiah who would pay for sins and bring salvation, and John, the forerunner to Jesus, the messenger who ran ahead to tell people the Savior was coming the “Voice” sent by God.
And so, God’s people knew they would come. Luke confirms that they didcome. And he tells you exactly when it happened. While the Apostle Paul explains it like this: But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son (Galatians 4:4), Luke nails down that moment in time with people and places and relationships and facts! You can look it all up. You can sync it to Roman history and Jewish history, both political and religious. God sent John at just the right time too right before Jesus was revealed to the world as the promised Messiah.
You can do a deep dive on all these places and people and positions Luke mentions, if you find that interesting, but this morning, we want to focus on John. We learn a couple things about him here. He was the son of Zechariah, a priest. If you were to page back to Luke chapter 1, you would find that he begins his gospel by telling about an angel who revealed to Zechariah that he and his wife would have this special baby who would serve the Lord in a most unique way. Luke then tells us about John’s birth, but the next thing we hear is that he was grown and that he was out in the wilderness area around the Jordan River.
Instead of preaching in the big city of Jerusalem, John was out there. And the people flocked to him! Just like we might go out to hear a concert or take in a play or watch a sporting event, these people went to hear this engaging prophet. He wasn’t in a concert hall, a stadium, or even a temple; he was out in terrain that was as rough and rugged as his clothing AND at least a portion of his message. Maybe it’s surprising that people went out there to hear him, since he was calling people to repent of their sins, because the Call to Repent is a little tough to hear, isn’t it?
To be told we need to repent means that we’ve done something wrong. It’s painful to hear. It’s painful to hear that God is angry with us.
It can be devastating to hear that I’ve been thinking the wrong way about relationships and so, I’ve been doing things that God says are wrong, and he will punish those who reject what he says.
It can be overwhelming for us to hear that things that don’t seem like that big a deal like sharing someone else’s secret or letting God’s name slip off our tongues in a careless way are damnable things.
If we’ve not been generous to him and helpful to others, God is unhappy with that as well. If we have a take-it-or-leave-it approach to worshiping God, things are not right between us and him.
If trees and lights and gifts and parties are way more important than the things that make for a real Christmas that centers on God giving us his Son, well, things are reallynot good.
It’s these things, it’s other things. So many things. So many things that separate the sinner from God. So many things that lead to an eternity where that separation is permanent. God’s message for us is the same as it was when John was saying it: Repent. You have to repent. You can’t remain the way you are. But what does it mean to repent?
To repent means that I change my heart, change my mind, change the way I think about something. Repentance is recognizing that something is wrong in my life it angers God. It’s asking him for forgiveness, trusting that he forgives me, and out of love and thankfulness, wanting to change all that has been wrong.
And this is not just the one or two major sinful challenges we might struggle with, it’s everything—everything I do that’s wrong. I hate all of that sin just like God hates it. I want to get it out of my life just like God wants me to get it out of my life. That heart, that way of thinking that’s what repentance is.
So, John preached this repentance. “Prepare the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth.” Do you know where that imagery comes from? Messengers long ago would run ahead to tell the people in the next town that a king was coming so that they could literally go out and do road repair for his coming to them straighten, level, smooth out. While John was preparing the people to see Jesus for who he was, the people he preached to would prepare to receive Jesus when they saw him.
That may sound like those people needed to do a bunch of things to prepare to see Jesus, that they needed to take action. We may have that inner feeling too the one that suggests that I need to fix this in my life and do more of this thing or that thing that makes God happy. Then things will be right between God and me if I do the right things. This is what preparation must be. This is the leveling and straightening and smoothing Isaiah prophesied and John preached.
If this is what you sense, listen closely to yourself. That will never work, will it? Can you ever do enough to make it a happy meeting when you face the holy God? Only the arrogant or unaware could think so. No actionswe take can ever prepare us to stand justified and unafraid before the Lord. But there is something that makes it possible to be in that happy and comfortable position before him! It’s what John preached. It’s repentance. Repentance is the thing that prepares us to stand in front of Jesus.
It’s understanding and trusting and changing our minds to think like God thinks because we love him. That person is relying on God’s forgiveness, not their actions. That person is trusting God’s grace. That person is prepared to meet their Savior.
John’s audience knew that forgiveness was coming in the Messiah he was talking about, the one who would fulfill other words of Isaiah that talked about him giving his life to pay for sin. You and I know that we have forgiveness because Jesus did come, and he earned it for us on the cross.
Though it is tough to hear that we are sinful and wrong and need to change, that call to repent brings blessings when we actually listen and repent. When John preached to the people, an immediate blessing came when John told them to be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. We might wonder if John’s baptizing of people was different from the baptism Jesus commanded his disciples to do and that our pastors do. It’s essentially the same John’s baptism gave the forgiveness of sins just like your baptism gave you. The baptism of John made disciples of the Savior who was to come. The baptism Jesus instituted made disciples of the Savior who hadcome. Both gave the same incredible blessing the forgiveness of sins.
Think of John’s work with the people. He shared God’s Word and he baptized the people. These are the avenues through which the Holy Spirit enters people’s hearts and fills them with faith and moves them to live that faith. What incredible blessings these are! You and I have those gifts of the Spirit too!
And you heard the beautiful part of John’s message there at the end, right? “And everyone will see the salvation of God.” The repentant person on the banks of the Jordan was prepared to see Jesus when John eventually pointed to him as the Lamb of God or whenever they eventually saw him. In the same way, repentant people today are prepared to see him when he comes again. Seeing Jesus at the End is the ultimate blessing because it will be the beginning of seeing him for eternity in heaven.
That we could have this ultimate blessing of salvation is why Jesus came into the world. This is why Christmas is so special to us. We celebrate because God sent his Son to be our Savior. We can get caught up in singing the happy songs and the bright lights and wrapping and good food and all the other things and not think as much about what is at the root of it all.
Christmas points to the need for repentance, doesn’t it? I mean, you don’t need this baby in a manger if you are perfectly fine before God. You don’t need an angel telling you that a Savior has been born to you if you don’t needa Savior. You don’t need a rough man preaching a rough message in a rough land to round off your rough spiritual edges if you have none.
You can see how a real Christmas is rooted in repentance? We are sinful people and sinful people need the Savior the Father sent into the world. Clearly this is not only a “prepare for Christmas thing” though. That’s because we are not only preparing to celebrate our Savior’s coming into the world as a baby. We are also preparing to meet Jesus when he comes again on the Last Day. Repentance is a way of life for the Christian, an everyday thing, and it prepares us to meet our Savior.
So, don’t worry, preparation to see your Savior is not a checklist of things that you have to do. You don’t need more of that at Christmas time! More than that, you don’t need that ever. There is only repentance, a change of heart and mind. It is our attitude before God. It is our trust in his forgiveness. Our hearts are prepared to receive the Savior when repentance has cleared the way for him.
Yes, it’s tough to hear that we need to repent, but the blessings that come from it forgiveness and an eternal future with the Savior who will come to us are incredible. Amen.
Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.