The Message Of John The Baptist

We talked last week that repentance should bear at least the following fruits:

„Y Your attitude toward God will be altered.

„Y Your relationships with others will be altered.

„Y Your ethics will be altered.

„Y Your speech will be altered.

„Y Your behavior will be altered.

This is important because although repentance begins in your mind, it doesn¡¦t end there. It needs to show in your life.

If you consider yourself a religious person, you¡¦d better examine yourself, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal anything in you that needs to change.

Let me park on something for a minute in this regard.

This was a problem with the Pharisees and it¡¦s still a problem today in the Christian church.

It¡¦s when we look down our spiritual noses at someone who¡¦s not like ¡§us.¡¨

In other words, they¡¦re not Christians, and they don¡¦t ¡§look¡¨ just right. They¡¦re sinners, and they lead lifestyles that are contrary to Biblical standards.

Maybe you know something about them that disgusts you, and you figure they¡¦re beneath you, not worth your time.

Or maybe they don¡¦t dress just quite right, or wear their hair just right, according to your standards.

Or maybe, just maybe, they belong to the ¡§wrong¡¨ race, whatever race that might be.

And in your effort to keep yourself from being ¡§polluted¡¨ by these people, you avoid them altogether, and talk down to them and about them.

The Pharisees were guilty of this. And later, when we get to the part when Jesus calls Matthew, we find that Jesus rebukes this attitude.

Those people out there are made in God¡¦s image, and we have no right to decide if God loves them or not. He does love them! He sent His Son to die for them!

They may not be worth your time, but they¡¦re worth God¡¦s time.

So if this is you, and understand, I¡¦m not pointing fingers at any specific persons, because I don¡¦t know about any of you in this regard, but if this is you, you need to repent.

Get off your religious high horse, removing the plank from your eye, and begin to see others as people who need the love of Jesus.

Your religious standing doesn¡¦t make you exempt from the need to repent.

Also, your religious ¡§heritage¡¨ does not give you a free pass. Maybe your momma or daddy loved Jesus and you think that you¡¦ll be okay because of their ¡§standing¡¨ with God.

Sorry ¡V that won¡¦t cut it. Someone once said, ¡§God doesn¡¦t have grandchildren in heaven.¡¨ In other words, you get into heaven based on your relationship with God as a son or daughter of God, not based on your parents¡¦ relationship with God.

You need to come to God on your own, repenting of your sins, and accepting God¡¦s provision for your salvation.

The fourth fact about the message of John is that¡K

4. His message introduced the Messiah.

In verse 2 he says that the kingdom of heaven is near! The Messiah was coming, and He would establish a new kingdom, made up of those would follow Him.

This was the basis of his message for repentance.

Look back at verses 11-12:

11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with 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."