Repent, Change Your Allegiance!
Matthew 3:1-17
DISMISS GROVE KIDZ
OKAY – welcome to week 5 of our series in ‘The King and His Kingdom.”
IT’S – an in depth study of the Gospel of Matthew.
AND TODAY – we are going to unpack Matthew 3:1-17, in a conversation that I am calling, “Repent, Change Your Allegiance!”
NOW BEFORE – we dive into these verses there are a few things to keep in mind.
ONE – there is a 28 year time jump between the last verse in Matthew chapter 2 (he lived in a town called Nazareth… so He will be called a Nazarene) and the first verse in Matthew chapter 3.
YEAH – though we may like to know more about Jesus’ childhood, teen years and early adult life… all we have after Jesus goes back to live in Nazareth is one single event recorded by Luke, when Jesus was 12 years old.
PERHAPS – you remember the story.
Joseph and Mary have traveled the 70 miles from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Passover Celebration.
AND AFTER - the Passover they head by home, with a large group of their family and friends who also lived in Nazareth…
And somewhere along the way Joseph and Mary realized that Jesus was not with them.
THEY – hurry back to Jerusalem… and three days later (parents, can you imagine) they find Jesus.
AND – where was He?
At the Temple, sitting down with the teachers, listening and asking them questions. Luke writes…
Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents
(who were feeling anything but amazement)
saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom (intellectual development) and stature (physical development), and in favor with God (spiritual development) and man (relational development).
– Luke 2:47-52
BTW – did you set any of those growth goals for 2022?
AND – after Luke 2:52, 18 years of silence.
AND – the second thing I want to point out it is that when Matthew chapter 3 opens up, there have been over 400 years of silence from God.
UNDERSTAND – since the final chapter of the book of Malachi, God has not spoken a single word through any prophet. LIKE – zip, zero, nada….
AND – here are those final words.
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” - Malachi 4:5,6
AND THEN – 400 years of silence.
AND – the 3rd and final thing that I want to point out as we dive into these verses, I want us to understand that what goes down in Matthew chapter 3 is a huge deal,
LIKE…
• The 400 years of silence is ended
• The heavens open up and God speaks (only does this 3 times in the NT)
• The Holy Spirit descends in a physical form like a dove (only the 3rd time the HS ever takes on a physical form, the other times are at creation and the day of Pentecost)
• The entire God-head (the Trinity) like in Genesis one at the Creation, are seen together…
(God the Father speaks, God the Spirit descends, and God the Son is baptized and receives affirmation)
• John introduces baptism to God’s people, kind of a bridge between the Old and New Covenant.
• Though each of the 4 Gospels begin differently, they all converge at the point of recording the appearance and ministry of John the Baptist. This is no accident, because John’s word’s point to coming of Christ and his baptism of Jesus marked the official commencement of Jesus’ ministry.
“In those days…”
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near…”
“Let It Be So Now…”
I. “In Those days…”
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea. – Matthew 3:1
NOW – Luke goes into a lot more detail about those days, TELLING US – in Luke chapter 3, THAT…
• Tiberius Caesar is in is 15th year, so it is ~ 28 AD
• Pontus Pilate is the Governor of Judea, and he has been on the job for about two years
• A couple of Herod the Great’s son are ruling various regions of Israel
• And Annas and Caiaphas are the High Priest (actually Caiaphas was the official high priest, and Annas, who was his father in-law and had been high priest for many years, still wielded a lot of power)… both were Roman appointees and not of the priestly line of Aaron.
In those days…
WHEN - the nation was occupied by Roman, and ruled both politically and religiously by corrupt Roman appointees.
WHEN – slavery was everywhere,
WHEN - marriage was devalued,
WHEN - immorality and lust was rampant,
WHEN - might made right,
WHEN - justice had disappeared,
WHEN - those in power murdered thousands to amuse and pacify the populace,
WHEN - the current philosophies not only offered no hope – but led people to greater degeneracy,
WHEN – countless people had lost all hope: in Government… in religion… in philosophy… in life
(sound familiar)
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea. – Matthew 3:1
OKAY – so what do we know about John the Baptist at this point? LIKE…
WHO - are his mom and dad? Zechariah and Elizabeth
WHAT - kind of work did his dad do? He was a priest
WHO - was Elizabeth related to? Mary
AND WHAT - was special about John the Baptist’s birth?
• His mom was very old and passed the time of having children
• His dad was informed about this miracle pregnancy by an angel while serving in the Temple.
• At his birth his dad was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied about the coming of the Christ and about his son, saying…
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace.” – Luke 1:76-79
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying,
II. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”
“REPENT”
OKAY – here’s the deal when it comes to repentance.
Most of us have an incomplete understanding, of what ‘this repentance,’ that we are called to is all about.
LIKE - for most of us ‘to repent,’ simply means to confess, to feel sorry for, to weep over some sin that we have committed.
NOW – the word for Repent (metaneo) – to change your mind.
AND LISTEN - to the Greek to change your mind, is to change your will, it is a change in volition.
UNDERSTAND - there is another Greek word (metamelomai) that describes a change of emotion, where you feel bad for some action or sin. QUESTION – do you know who in Scripture. metamelomai(ed).
When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse (metamelomai) and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. – Matthew 26:3
IN OTHER WORDS – he felt bad and sorry, about how things turned out…
BUT LISTEN - his metamelomai made no difference in how he lived out his life, thus in made no different in his eternal damnation.
AND MGCC – neither will our metamelomai make any difference in our eternal destiny…
UNLESS our metamelomai. UNLESS our feeling bad about our son, leads as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7… to repentance.
GET IT?
NOW – do not misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with feeling bad and weeping over our sins, I have done it countless times. LIKE – we should, we weep over our sins!
BUT B/S… IF – our sorry stops at weeping, and does not result in a change of will and volition, we have not repented.
BOTTOM LINE…
IF – our commitment does not change…
IF – our will and our actions do not change,
IT IS NOT - biblical repentance.
NOW – let me share a story from history that really illustrates what Biblical Repentance is all about.
• Okay, in the mid first century, there was a guy name Josephus who was a Jewish historian and a military general. He works are a great resource for what like was like in the first century.
• He fought in the war with Rome that began in 66 AD
• It started up in Galilee
• He surrendered and got capture, like that fast
• He said to the Romans “Hey, I am an influential guy (and he was) I can get the Jews to surrender and come over to your side”
• So they take him outside the walls of Jerusalem
• He looks up and says to them, “I have seen the power of the Roman military machine, and you are going to die… ”
• And they said, “You are only saying that because your family is in here and you do not want them to die”
• And he replied, “You’re right I do not want them to die, but I tell you right now, that if you would throw them over the side of the wall, I would tell you the same thing”
• AND THEN – he said, “repent and believe in me”
YOU SEE FOR JOSEPHUS – repentance was not about feeling sorry for some sin… but rather, it was that my countrymen are on the wrong side of this lethal battle, and if we do not change sides, if we do not change our allegiance we are going to die. In other words…
Defect or be destroyed.
AND MGCC – that is the very thing that we not only need to tell other people, but acknowledge ourselves.
Defect, change our allegiance, bend our knees and wills before Him or be destroyed.
WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY… IS THAT – repentance is not simply a call, to stop some sin, LIKE…
Losing your temper, lying, looking at pornography,
INSTEAD – it is a call to defection, it is call to abdicate from the world, it is a call to change your allegiance, and to fight on the side of Jesus.
GET IT?
UNDERSTAND…
The first half of repentance is about defection and the second half is about obedience, is about LOYALTY to our new COMMANDER IN CHIEF!
LISTEN – the thing that must motivate us, to live out our lives differently. IS NOT – simply wanting to avoid some unwanted result or consequence from a sinful behavior…
BUT RATHER – a radical loyalty to our KING.
R U tracking with me? YOU SEE…
THE REASON – that we: don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t misuse our tongue, are not sexual immoral…etc.
THE REASON – that we love another one another, reach out to the hurting, give our offering, share our faith…etc
IS NOT – to avoid the negative consequences and experience the positive consequence doing this will bring to our lives…
The reason that “we don’t” and the reason that ‘we do’ id because we are loyal to Christ our King.
IT IS – this metaneo, this change of mind, this change of will
WHERE WE – both say and live out.
MY KING – laid down His life for me on a cruel cross, I will not do anything that dishonors His name.
I am loyal to Him, I have repented and changed my allegiance!
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” – Matthew 3:1,2
Kingdom of Heaven = the coming ‘rule of God’ in the hearts of people, because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus… (Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done)
Has come near (engizo) Perfect Tense
AND - introduces a state of affairs which is already beginning and which demands immediate action. John’s summons is urgent: the time for a decision has already come.
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
NOW - the imagery here is how in ancient times a messenger would come announcing the kings soon arrival…
SO THAT – construction crews can go out and make sure that the roads on which the King would travel were ready.
They would clear the rocks, straighten the curves and fill in the potholes.
AND MGCC – this is what John did this for Jesus through his preaching, as he introduced many messianic concepts as well as the baptism of repentance, which would prepare the hearts and minds of the people to follow Jesus.
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
SO – do you have a picture of Him?
People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
NOW – John in his Gospel tells us, THAT…
This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing. – John 1:28
QUESTION – why was the Jordan River significant to the God’s people? BECAUSE…
• It was the river that separated God’s people from the land of promise.
• In Joshua chapter 3 Israel is camped in the ‘wilderness’ on the east side of the Jordan River, just waiting for the opportunity to open up this new chapter in their lives.
• And listen, where they are camped, is very near, if not the exact place, where John is baptizing.
And in Joshua chapter 3…
• God tells His people to break camp and head west towards the Jordan River
• And as soon as the feet of priest (who were leading the way, carrying the ark of the covenant) as soon as their feet touched the water’s edge God parted the Jordan (Truth – sometimes the waters do not part until our feet get wet).
• SO - the priests continued to hold up the ark of covenant in the middle of the Jordan as the people crossed over on dry ground, right across from Jericho.
• NOW - before God returned to Jordan River to normal, he told Joshua to have 12 men (one from each tribe) go grab a stone from where the priests are standing and bring it back to the west side, to set up as a memorial
• SO THAT - in the future when their children ask them, “What do these stones mean?”
Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” - Joshua 4:7
QUESTION MGCC – do you think it could have been intentional that John the Baptist after 400 years of silence.
• Is in the wilderness
• At the Jordan River
• Where Joshua led God’s people into the promise land (btw Joshua, is the Hebrew name for Jesus, and means, ‘God is Salvation’)
TELLING – the people, “repent for the Kingdom of God is near”
YEAH – you bet is was intentional, and you can be certain that the people meeting John the Baptist clearly understood it’s significance,
NOW – Mark and Luke add something very significant about John’s Baptism…
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. – Mark 1:4
UNDERSTAND – John’s baptism was for the forgiveness of sins as it looked forward to the cross…
OKAY SO – John is at the Jordan River, announcing the Kingdom, and thousands are leaving the neighboring towns and cities to be baptized.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing,
Not there to be baptized but to check out this new thrat to their power and position
he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
AGAIN – fruitless repentance, repentance without a change of mind, will and allegiance, is not biblical repentance.
9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’
Don’t think that your family or Jewish heritage gets you in.
I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
10 The ax is already at the root of the trees,
Yeah, the tree is about to fall.
and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Those who do not repent and change their allegiance to Christ will be destroyed…
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.
UNDERSTAND – John had a realistic view of himself.
Though some thought and wanted him to be the Messiah, he knew that he was not. LIKE - John knew that he was not even worthy to carry the sandals (the most menial task of a slave) of the one who was to come.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
SOME – will be gathered in the barn and experience salvation
OTHERS – will be burned with unquenchable fire.
“In those days”
“Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near”
“Let it be so now”
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
B/S – do not miss the power and the emotion of this moment
Jesus is at His home in Nazareth (about 90 miles away from John)… Home where he had spent the last 28 years of His life.
QUESTION – how you ever wondered what it was like for Jesus, to wake up on His final morning in Nazareth, knowing that it was time leave, so He could fulfill His destiny?
When He…
• Hung up His apron and His carpentry tools
• Walked out of His shop for the very last time and shut the door
• Went over to His mother Mary, wiped away her tears, hugged her and told her that it was time for Him to go.
• Said His last goodbye, turned around and headed down the road, knowing fully, where this road would one day end.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
SO - John is preaching in the wilderness by the Jordan River, a baptism for the repentance of sins… Countless people had come out and confessed their sins and were baptized.
John said the kingdom was near… and that it had in effect, already begun. AND - that one was coming soon, who he was unworthy to even to carry His sandals.
AND THEN – one day John looks up at the next person who is standing in line, and it is Jesus.
14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
NOW - we know from Luke that it was John’s practice to examine the candidates before their baptism.
AND - usually the people came humbly, confessing their sins with deep contrition.
HOWEVER - Jesus make no such confession of guilt or showed any sorrow for sin.
NOW - such an attitude, in and of itself, would disqualify the candidate for baptism, BUT - there was something about Jesus, that left no doubt in the mind of John, that what Jesus said was true.
14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
The tense in the Greek indicates that John kept trying to prevent Jesus from being baptized.
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.”
QUESTION – why was Jesus baptized?
Because it was the proper thing to do in order
to fulfill all righteousness.”
SO – how did Jesus (and John) fulfill all righteousness by being baptized.
1) John’s baptism was a command given by God to His people. Thus Jesus was demonstrating that He was submissive to authority of God and His word
2) John’s Baptism was the divinely appointed method by which Jesus would be revealed to be God’s Son and would launch His ministry
3) In John’s baptism Jesus is acting as the personification of all Israel. Through His baptism, a new community is created
4) In being Baptized Jesus provides a powerful picture of salvation (Romans 6:3-5)
5) In being baptized Jesus modeled what would be central in our commission to make disciples
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” - Matthew 3:15-17
God the Father speaks
God the Spirit descends
And God the Son receives the approval of the Father, and the sign of the Spirit.
AND NOW B/S – It
The redemption of mankind
The defeat of death, sin and the grave
The unleashing of God’s Mercy and Grace
Begins!
In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent (change your allegiance), for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”…
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” - Matthew 3:1,2,15
OKAY – now that, was some good Word, I don’t care who you are… AND NOW – for the all important question.
SO WHAT?
Like what should be our response?
To repent
To change our allegiance
To change sides, and be loyal to our Savior King
To live our lives, not motivated by the consequences of (the do's and don'ts) but out of loyalty to Jesus
Like, why 'don't I' and why 'do I'?
Because I am loyal to my King and will do anything that dishonors His name
AMEN
Let's Pray
