Why
is the call to repentance of utmost importance to the inhabitants of the world?
Just before the Lord Jesus made his arrival and entered his ministry a forerunner
was sent to prepare the way; John the Baptist paved the manner with this as his
predominant message; “In those days John
the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand."” (Matthew
3:1-2) – He then went on to make an amazing statement to those who had
hidden agendas and wanted to continue in their sinful states and still
hopefully find forgiveness and avoid the wrath of God. The Pharisees loved to
be notice by others with their so-called righteous practices and yet their
hearts were deceitfully wicked. This was John’s statement to them; “But when he
saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,
"You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from
the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do
not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell
you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now
the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not
bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
(Matthew 3:7-10)
There
are some important observations we need to pay special attention too with his
delivery…
Observe 1. To whom he applied it; to the Pharisees
and Sadducees he found it necessary to explain himself, and deal more closely
with their intent as they were proud individuals because they were of the seed
of Abraham and therefore believed that they were automatically entitled to John’s
baptism of repentance, when in fact they were all about the public affairs of
the times, they liked the power of office, being stooped in tradition of the
elders and not the will of God. His message was a lot harsher with them; “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the
wrath to come? ; They understood that the wrath of God was
coming and yet they were self indulged. His message to them was; “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance”;
they presumed that they would find repentance regardless of the way they lived.
Whilst other understood their sin and found forgiveness through John’s baptism
and he thought it enough to instruct them in this fashion; "Repent, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand."
“It
is the great concern of every one of us to flee from this wrath. (3.) It is
wonderful mercy that we are fairly warned to flee from this wrath; think - Who
has warned us? God has warned us, who delights not in our ruin; he warns by
the written word, by ministers, by conscience. (4.) These warnings sometime
startle those who seemed to have been very much hardened in their security and
good opinion of themselves.
II.
Here is a word of exhortation and direction (Mat-3:8); “Bring forth therefore fruits meet
for repentance. Therefore, because you are warned to flee from the wrath
to come, let the
terrors of the Lord persuade you to a holy life.” Or, “Therefore,
because you profess repentance, and attend upon the doctrine and baptism of
repentance, evidence that you are true penitents.” Repentance is seated in the
heart.”” (Matthew Henry)
The
wrath of God will eventually play itself out and it is critical that we are
aware of His judgements in order for us to understand the mercy on offer. Wherever
you find yourselves, in either camp it is vital for us to find repentance in
and through the finished work of the cross and then to bear fruit in keeping
with repentance; if this is not our stimulus the supposition is clear;
“Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into
the fire.”
We
must prove our election in the way we conduct ourselves; “Therefore, brothers, be all the
more diligent to make your calling and election sure...” (2 Peter 1:10)
Here is the final judgment I mentions in my prior
post that is just over the horizon; “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was
seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found
for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and
books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what
was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea
gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them,
and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then
Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death,
the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not
found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
(Revelation 20:11-15)
What
must we do to ensure that we are penned in the book of life? Firstly we need to
acknowledge our sin and then confess our sins to God seeking out His
forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ, no other way will suffice. There is no
other door besides the finished work of the cross that will free us from the
wrath of God which will at the appointed time be concluded. God has spoken!
As
for the Christian it is imperative to sit up and take note of our lives and see
were we are falling short and then to repentant and seek out a positive change
to our lives; we may be truly saved but still neglect certain areas of our
lives that tarnish our conducts as Christians. The apostle John penned the
words of the Lord Jesus in the book of Revelation’s and some of Christ’s followers
had some things against them whilst others were warned of what they would have
to endure for the sake of their faith. We will examine this in the upcoming
days.
Signing
off
Tyrone
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