Matthew 3:1-12
Turning to the Lord
Introduction
A. "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us. It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
B. Quite a statement. It was spoken on April 30, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln as a proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer. Perhaps today that’s what we need to get back to.
C. I’ve stated before, and I believe it bears repeating, that we are a people in need of revival and renewal. I hope and pray that God will use the events of this past week to turn hearts toward Him.
D. We were put on this earth by Him, for Him, only to return to Him one day; and as we are all too well aware of now, no one knows when he or she will return to meet the Lord. You have no guarantee of tomorrow. "What is your life? It is only a vapor that appears for a little while, and then it is gone."
E. Are you prepared to meet the Lord? If today were to be your last day on this earth, would you be prepared for what you would find the second after death?
1. Some of you today are not saved, that is, you have never admitted to yourself and to God that you are a sinner, repented of that sin and trusted Christ to save you. You need to be saved today.
2. Some of you today are saved, but you are not living a life that is surrendered to God. You are living like you want to, acting contrary to God’s Word and will for your life, and are not pleasing to Him. If you were to die in that condition you would meet the Lord in that same condition. You need to repent and turn to the Lord.
F. In a George Gallup poll, it was found that there is little difference in ethical behavior between the churched and the unchurched. There’s as much pilferage and dishonesty among the churched as the unchurched. There’s as much sexual immorality, as much drunkenness, as much drug abuse, as much disrespect for parents and authority among the churched as among the unchurched.
G. One writer stated that the church’s integrity problem is in the misconception that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior. He goes on to say, "It is revival without reformation, without repentance." And it is no real revival at all.
H. We are suffering from only one disease in our world. Our basic problem today is not a race problem. It is not a poverty problem. It is not a war problem. It is not a terrorist problem. Our basic problem is a heart problem. We need to get the heart changed, get to the heart of the matter, allow Jesus to root the sin out of our lives, surrender to Him completely, and allow revival to take place in our lives, in our families, in our churches, and ultimately in our country.
I. Very briefly this morning I want to look at a time when John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea. His message was clear, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." If we are to turn our hearts to God today, then we must act on the following instructions from our text.
I. You must repent. (1-5)
A. What does it mean to repent? To repent means to change direction.
1. You must have a change of mind. You must agree with God about the sin in your life. He hates it. He hated it so much that He could not be in the presence of it.
a. Because of your sin you were separated from God and you couldn’t change that. But God made the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins and make possible a way that we could be united with Him.
b. You must agree with God that your sin is awful. You must agree with God that your sin is real. You must agree with God that you are a sinner.
c. Until you agree with God on these matters, you have not repented.
2. You must turn to God. True repentance never exists without faith. Wherever there is true faith, there is also real repentance. The two are but different aspects of the same turning – a turning away from sin and in the direction of God.
a. Many people want to do a turnaround with sin, but rather than doing a 180, they do a 360.
b. When you repent, not only are you agreeing with God that sin in your life is wrong and real, you are agreeing to begin walking with God according to His way. You are agreeing to take us His cross and follow after Him.
B. John said to repent because "the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
1. He didn’t say it would come one day. He said it was here.
2. Listen, you can say all you want to that you have plenty of time to get right with God. You can deny the reality of death. But your rejection of the truths of God’s Word does not change their reality.
3. Hebrews 9:27 says, "…it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
4. You have an appointment with death that cannot be changed. You can’t be late for it and you can’t be early with it.
a. One day this old flesh and blood body is going to the ground and the instant after death you will stand before the Lord.
b. There will be no time for pleading. There will be no excuses.
C. Lost person - Every time you hear the message that God has for you and you refuse to turn to Him you heap fire upon your head. You’d be better off not hearing it again than to make a showing every week and reject God.
D. Saved person – Every day that you put off repentance, you have one more day to repent of, and a day less to repent in.
II. You must prove your salvation. (7-9)
A. When the religious people of John’s day came out they made an empty profession and wanted to be baptized, but John wouldn’t do it. He told them in verse 8, "bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." In other words, you prove to me by your behavior and lifestyle that you are really saved, and I’ll baptize you."
B. We’re not talking about working for your salvation, but living the life of a saved person. If the Spirit of God is in you, then prove it!
C. The sure test of the quality of any supposed change of heart will be found in its permanent effects. "By their fruits you shall know them" Whatever your inward experience may be, whether it is joy or sorrow or any other thing, unless is leads to confession and restitution, unless it causes us to forsake not only outward sins that others notice, but also those that lie concealed in the heart, unless it makes us choose the service of God and live not for ourselves but for Him, repentance is incomplete.
D. Many people tell me they love the Lord, but where are they when there is work to be done? Where are they when the church doors are open? Where are they when needs arise?
E. Many people tell me they are concerned for the lost, but why do they never speak of Him outside these walls? Why are they ashamed of Him in a crowd?
F. Many people tell me they want the church to do this or that, to get this thing or that thing, but where is their money when it is time to pay up? Where are they when the extra worker is needed to make it happen?
G. Many people say they are right with God, that they have no need of repentance.
1. Some say they have repented and they enjoyed the service, but why do they continue in sin? Why does their gossip not stop? Why does their hatred not cease? Why?
2. Because their has been no real repentance.
a. Don’t tell me you are saved – prove it.
b. Don’t tell me you have been revived – prove it.
III. You must be scripturally baptized. (6)
A. Why did I say "scripturally"? In one sense of the word, if baptism is not scriptural, then it is not baptism. It is just getting wet. But for the sake of our message this morning, I want to distinguish between scriptural and unscriptural baptism by quickly pointing out what must present for your baptism to be scriptural.
B. The right candidate.
1. You must be a child of God. We do not baptize people to get them saved, but because they are saved.
2. If you think baptism is going to help you get to heaven, then you are not ready for baptism.
C. The right motive. Let me give you some reasons to be baptized:
1. Because Jesus gave us the example.
2. Because Jesus commanded it.
3. Because it is a public declaration of salvation.
4. Because it presents a picture of the gospel (death, burial, resur.)
5. Because it is the prerequisite for church membership.
D. The right mode. By complete immersion.
E. The right authority. Only the Lord’s New Testament churches have the authority to baptize anyone.
F. The purpose of this message is not to present the doctrine of baptism in full, nor will time permit me to do so, but if you have trusted Christ as your Savior and have never been baptized then you need to follow the Lord in this first act of obedience.
IV. You shouldn’t be surprised by hell. (10-12)
A. I want you to notice in particular verse 12. Jesus knows the difference between those who are saved and those who are not.
B. It has been said that there will be 2 surprises when we get to heaven: the people who are there that we never would have guessed would be there, and those who are not who we thought surely would be.
C. While we can’t know for sure, Jesus certainly does.
D. The Bible tells us about two future judgments.
1. First is the Judgment Seat of Christ.
a. If you are saved you will appear before Christ to give an account of how you lived your life after you were saved.
b. You will not be judged for sin, but for your works. I fear that many of God’s children will hang their heads in shame as they stand before the Lord with nothing to show for the life they were given. They were unfaithful stewards.
c. But many will receive great rewards for their labors and will be honored by the Lord.
2. Turn with me to the second judgment, which is found in Revelation 20:11-15.
a. Is your name written in that book?
b. There is only one destiny for the lost, and that is the eternal lake of fire.
Conclusion
A. Whether you are lost or saved today, repentance is the need of the hour.
B. There is a punishment that the Romans used to use that goes like this:
1. A prisoner would have a dead body tied to his, usually tied to his back, sometimes in the front.
2. As the corpse decayed, it would inflict horrible torture and rot, effluvia to the life of the living prisoner.
3. The prison would be slowly choked with stench, the parasites moving from one body to the next until finally he was freed in death.
C. As long as we refuse to turn to God, we are shackled to a dead corpse – our sinfulness. Only repentance frees us from certain death – "for the wages of sin is death."
