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Repentance: Making a Spiritual U-Turn in Life (Luke 3:7-20)
12 Plays3 months ago
Sunday Message recorded 15 September 2024
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Introduction and Call to Prayer
00:00:07
Speaker
Good morning.
00:00:11
Speaker
What would you say would be one thing that we can be praying for our nation? I think there are many things that may come to your mind, but one thing I hope that you will not leave off is that our nation would turn from sin, that we would repent, that we would say, Lord, I'm tired of going in the direction of sin itself and so forth, the world. I want to turn toward you. But I think sometimes that we need to have some kind of explanation. What is repentance? What does it mean? And so I pray that as we look at this passage in Luke chapter three, beginning in verse seven and going down through verse 20, that the Lord will fill in the blanks.
Teachings on Repentance by Jesus and Gospel
00:00:53
Speaker
I actually want to begin with a couple of quotes, Chuck Swindoll and John MacArthur. Chuck Swindoll writes this about repentance.
00:01:03
Speaker
Repentance is the fruit of a heart yielded to God, not just regret because of sin's consequences, not merely remorse the emotional sorrow of getting caught in sin.
00:01:18
Speaker
Repentance is an ongoing conscious decision to turn away from sin to pursue God's plans. Therefore, repentance, like fruit, can be seen. The presence of fruit tells us the tree is alive, healthy, and fulfilling its purpose.
00:01:40
Speaker
That's what Chuck Splendall says, repentance is. I hope you'll keep that in mind as we look at also what John the Baptist is led by the Holy Spirit to say that repentance is. But let me give you one other quote from John MacArthur. He says, it is impossible.
00:01:58
Speaker
to truly preach the good news of forgiveness and grace without calling sinners to repent.
Examples of Repentance in the Bible
00:02:07
Speaker
And a gospel message devoid of a call to repentance is foreign to the New Testament. Do you remember Jesus' first message? It was repentance. In Mark chapter 1, verse 15, the Lord had it written down so we would know what was his first message. It had two points. I don't see how he did it with two points. But anyway, and they don't even begin with the same first letter. But anyway, I got a lot to learn. He's the master. Look, I'm still growing to be more like him. But anyway, he said, repent and believe in the gospel.
00:02:44
Speaker
repent and believe in the gospel. They're both important. And so I want us to look today at what John the Baptist will say. But maybe, like they say, you know a picture is worth 1,000 words. So I got to thinking, can we see biblical repentance in any of the characters that are found in the Bible? Well, I would say yes. For example, how about David? David repented of his adultery with Bathsheba.
John the Baptist's Message on Repentance
00:03:14
Speaker
Or in the New Testament, how about Zacchaeus? He restored the money that he had extorted. How about the thief on the cross? The thief on the cross who turns to Christ. How about Saul, who turns from resisting Christ to surrendering to Christ? I believe that that's just four of the examples. There are many more, but those are four men that simply demonstrate repentance. That, each one of those men, that's what it looks like.
00:03:42
Speaker
Christ-centered exposition commentary states, repentance, see which word you hear the most. Repentance is a change of mind, a change of heart, a change of direction, turning in the heart and mind that results in changing of direction of the entire life. I believe change is the key word there, right? Well, those men that I listed here on this slide,
00:04:12
Speaker
They're a visual demonstration of repentance, but our text today will give us practical instruction in repentance. How do you do it? And when you're doing it, what does it look like? So I hope that this will be helpful for you. Maybe you did this like Jodi and I, but when our girls were reaching that age where they wanted to learn to drive, wanted to get their driver's license, I remember we decided to go with an online driver education course. It was made up of three parts. One, there was quite a bit of reading that each of our daughters had to do online. And you couldn't check the the dunmon the Dun box there until they read that chapter. So they would read the chapter and then check it. That was one part of it, but that wasn't the only thing. They also had instructional videos. that you would watch. You would watch this instructional video and some of those were rather dramatic and it's like you don't want to do this or this might happen to you and that sort of thing. I remember seeing one and it definitely got your attention. But then the third part was parent supervised driving. I'll just put a ah parenthetical word in here. If your prayer life needs work,
00:05:25
Speaker
Hey, just teach your kids how to drive and let them get behind the wheel. And you sit over there on the passenger side with no steering wheel and no brake, and it will definitely cause you to cry out to God. But anyway, all I'm saying is it's it's really helpful whenever you can have instruction, whenever you can see it and so forth. So I
Repentance Through Actions
00:05:48
Speaker
want us to look at Luke chapter three, verse seven, all the way down through verse 20.
00:05:54
Speaker
And let's read and let's watch John's instructional course in slow motion of how one repents. How can we make a spiritual U-turn in life? Would you stand in honor of God's word? I love God's word. I just believe every word of it like we sang earlier. So I want us to stand in honor of it. Thank you for standing. But here's what it says beginning in verse 7 in Luke 3.
00:06:20
Speaker
He said therefore, this is John, he said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin 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.
00:06:50
Speaker
Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear a good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." And the crowds asked him, what then shall we do? And he answered them, whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none. And whoever has food is to do likewise. Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, teacher, what shall we do?
00:07:21
Speaker
And he said to them, collect no more than you are authorized to
Personal Transformation through Christ
00:07:25
Speaker
do. Soldiers also asked him, and we, what shall we do? And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation and be content with your wages.
00:07:40
Speaker
As the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all saying, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
00:08:05
Speaker
His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.
00:08:17
Speaker
So with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people. But Herod the Tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison. Let's go to the father in prayer.
00:08:39
Speaker
Lord, it's not easy when we are living during a dark age, when we're living in an ungodly culture, to live for you, to to stand with the light, to stand with the truth of your word. It's really hard. And Lord, you call us constantly to every day, check our lives to make sure that we're moving forward with you. You call us to repentance. When we first started our journey, that's where it started.
00:09:05
Speaker
For me, that time was in Memphis, Tennessee. As a university student, I remember when you called out to me and said, are you willing to turn from your life of sin and to turn in complete obedience and trust, surrender to my son, Jesus? And I said, yes.
Religious Observance vs Transformative Faith
00:09:23
Speaker
And my life has been so different ever since. There's no doubt my life changed that day. And Lord, I pray for any that are here today If they're looking for genuine life change, if they're looking for a new life, it's found in Christ. And so help them to hear today the gospel and to trust Christ as their Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated.
00:09:53
Speaker
I want to review five of the basic principles that are involved when making a spiritual U-turn in life. You see, the one direction of sin, everybody when we sin, we're heading in the same direction. Did you know that? Oh, the sin may be different depending on who we are, but the sin is always heading in one direction. You know what that direction is? Selfishness. It's self. Doing what I want to do rather than what God wants me to do. And so the only way to take care of self
00:10:29
Speaker
is Galatians 2 20. It points the way where Paul writes and he says, I'm crucified with Christ. It's no longer out who lives. It's Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me. See what he says. He says, I died. I died when I came to know Christ. It's like Galatians 2 20. It's like sitting in an electric chair, a spiritual electric chair, and you're saying to the Lord, I want to die to what I've always wanted, and I want you to help me come to life in Christ. He can do that. He can do that today. But here's what he says if you want that to happen. We have to repent.
00:11:17
Speaker
and we have to put our faith in the gospel. So let's look at that, that aspect of repentance today. I want to give you these five principles. The first one being based on verse seven and verse eight. I believe that repentance goes beyond a mere religious formality. You know, if you look at verse seven, I wonder if some would have been excited and said, let's don't mess
Warning on Eternal Punishment
00:11:42
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this up. This is a great moment.
00:11:45
Speaker
He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him." Well, let's just push the pause button on these words, the crowds that came out. The crowds that came out. You know, some people are only concerned about the numbers, and yet the Lord is looking for something way deeper. It's not just the formality and the externals that He's looking for.
00:12:10
Speaker
The Holy Spirit gave John the Baptist spiritual discernment. And so he said, what they're coming for is nothing more than religious externals. Challenge them. Tell them it's not the religious externals. As a matter of fact, you can tell that external observation of a ritual such as baptism without internal transformation of one's nature.
00:12:36
Speaker
What does he call them? Brewed vipers. Brewed means the offspring. So it's like the offspring of snakes. That's not exactly a good way to fill your church, you know, or anything. Hey, you've brewed a vipers, you know, it's like, wow. But it's amazing if you study the life of John the Baptist.
00:12:53
Speaker
Man, the crowds just kept coming. You know, I believe that whenever we have the message God wants us to preach and deliver, that's success. It doesn't matter if people respond or they don't respond. What we're supposed to do is be faithful to give the message. And the message of Christ will change a life. It'll change your nature. Right now, the sinful man is driven by his old nature. He needs a new nature. And there's only one way for that to happen, and that's to come to Christ, like I said.
00:13:23
Speaker
Let him put to death the self-centered life and let him bring Christ in who brings in a totally new way of living. But these people are wanting to be baptized, but they haven't been transformed deep within. And so that's why John the Baptist begins. You see, I believe that repentance begins that way. You have to say there's more than just a religious ritual. There's more than just a name Look at what he says next. He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers who warned you to flee from the wrath of come, bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And then here he comes and do not begin 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.
00:14:15
Speaker
If you've ever known anybody that would say, I'm a Christian, that would say, I'm a Baptist, that would say, I'm okay. I'm a good person. You know, all of these things are nothing more than talk and the Lord can see right through it.
00:14:30
Speaker
You know, if you were to listen to the Apostle Paul's testimony of how he turned, all you would have to do is to
Manifestations of True Repentance
00:14:37
Speaker
go to one place, Philippians 3, verses 3 through 9. He said, these are the things that I had going for me with religion, with all kind of tradition, with all kind of rituals, with trying my best to do everything God wanted. And he said, you know what, now I count those things as rubbish.
00:14:55
Speaker
I count them as rubbish because now I find my righteousness in one person, one place, Jesus Christ. That's exactly what he says in Philippians 3, verses 3 through 9.
00:15:08
Speaker
You know, I believe that repentance admits to God that we're not able. It remits admits to God, I'm not able to live this Christian life. I'm not able to be a good person. I'm not able to be perfect Lord. But then it admits that, but it doesn't stop there. You know what it does next?
00:15:28
Speaker
It admits that we're not able, but it looks to God and confesses he's able. Isn't that what we just read? Let me read through that again in verse eight, where he says, do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, here it comes.
00:15:44
Speaker
God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Whatever it is that you're saying, I can't beat this in my life, I guarantee you that God can beat it. He's never lost a battle. The victory is found in Christ. And so we have to say, Lord, I've been trying all my life to beat that and I can't beat it. I'm unable, but he's able. So why don't you say to begin with, Lord, I'm not going to play any games. I'm not going to play any games.
00:16:14
Speaker
I'm not going to claim that I'm a Christian because I've always came to church. I'm not going to claim I'm a Christian because my parents or my grandparents are Christians. I'm going to turn to Christ because I need Him, because I'm unable. That's where it begins. That's where life transformation begins. But I want to show you a second principle that's sprinkled throughout here, and I didn't want you to overlook it.
00:16:38
Speaker
It's that repentance begins with the belief that eternal punishment is a reality. It begins with the belief that eternal punishment is a reality. You know, he says in verse seven, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
00:16:56
Speaker
You know, Hollywood's not going to warn you to flee from the wrath to come. Jerusalem wasn't warning them to flee from the wrath to come. No, nobody was really saying this message, but John, he had to say it because the Holy Spirit said, tell them the truth, tell them the truth, tell them the certainty, the
Identity and Boldness Through Repentance
00:17:14
Speaker
certainty that it's coming, the certainty of judgment apart from Christ.
00:17:19
Speaker
Now, if you turn to Christ, you know what He did for you? Jesus said, I'll take your judgment. I will lay down my life and the punishment that should have been yours will be placed upon me. That's what He did for us. But He says, if you reject me and you think you're good enough to make it without me,
00:17:40
Speaker
then you're headed for judgment. It's certain, it's coming, is what he says to them. But notice in verse 9, it's like however arrogant and prideful we may be in our self-righteousness, guess what happens? It's going to be cut down just like a tree.
00:17:57
Speaker
Verse 9 says, 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. You see, whatever someone says, look, I've been a good person all my life. I've done a lot of good things. Look at how much of a leader I was in high school. Look at what I'm doing in the company.
00:18:19
Speaker
Look at what I do for my community. None of that matters. None of that matters apart from Christ. All of that matters whenever you live for Christ at high school, in the company, in the community. All of that matters. But nothing matters without Him. And that's what I'm trying to say. He paid the price. But you and I, we can't pay the price because later we will. We will pay that price of the the wages of our sin.
00:18:49
Speaker
So there's this cutting down during judgment apart from Christ. But notice the thoroughness of God, verse 17. It's like the clearance at the judgment apart from Christ. Are you going to be able to just slip away? Do you think, okay, I don't believe in all that Christian stuff. I don't believe in the Bible. I don't believe in hell. I don't believe in accountability to God. I'll just not believe it and it'll go away. It won't go away.
00:19:15
Speaker
That's why I'm trying to tell you with all my heart, please turn to Christ because it says in verse 17, his winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Maybe you'd say, well, if he's really going to do that, why does he just do that right now?
00:19:41
Speaker
Does he do that right after we're after we die? No, that's not it. If you read in Revelation, you'll see that the dead are raised someday to stand accountable to God at what's called the great white throne judgment. And maybe you're saying, why would he delay that kind of judgment? like I'll tell you why. I didn't know it until I heard it this weekend. I was listening to a podcast and I thought, that's it Lord. Because sin never ends with us, right? Don't you know that you influence so many other people in your life and then those people you influence, then they influence people and then they influence people. And it goes on from generation to generation to generation. And so what God's waiting for is he's going to hold you and me without Christ if we're going We don't trust Christ. He will hold us accountable for all the generations that have lived after us for what we did that had great impact upon the people. That's why he says, all you got to do is turn from that direction, turn toward my son. my son paid the price. If you're a Christian in this room, there's now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. You don't have to worry about that. All of your sins are are washed away. I'm trying to say if you're not a Christian, don't bank on it. Don't bank on it. It's a serious matter. As a matter of fact, Jesus believed in the wrath of God. He said in Mark 9.48, two things. One was the worm does not die. And the second thing is the fire is not quenched. He called it outer darkness in Matthew 8.12 and in Matthew 22.13 and Matthew 25.30. I believe Jesus definitely believed that there's coming a
Courage from Repentance
00:21:27
Speaker
day of accountability, a day of wrath.
00:21:31
Speaker
You know, Paul believed the day of wrath. He says in 2 Thessalonians 1.9, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. You see, today, while you're alive, the Lord can save you. He can rescue you. He's got enough power to turn it all around.
00:21:52
Speaker
But if you wait till then, it says you'll be separated from His glorious power. He will be there to help you if you go out into eternity apart from Him. So Paul believed it. Also John the Apostle believed it.
00:22:07
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In Revelation 14, 10 through 11, he's warning people, don't take the mark of the beast. No matter what they try to tell you, don't take the mark of the beast, because those who take the mark of the beast will face this. Revelation 14, 10 and 11, they will shrink.
00:22:24
Speaker
of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night." I'm telling you, it's a serious thing. It's no wonder that the Lord warns us with verses like we see in Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 27. Do you know that you and I, we have two appointments.
00:22:50
Speaker
There's an appointment we have with death. He said, it is appointed for man to die once. And what happens after we die? Die once and after that comes judgment. I'm just telling you, it's far better to say, Jesus, thank you for taking my judgment. Thank you for taking the wrath. Thank you for taking the punishment that I deserve. That's why we need to know these things. So it'll make us grateful. And we'll say, thank you, God.
00:23:17
Speaker
You know, no wonder it says in Luke 1328, from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, that in hell there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. If for no other reason, you know why people will weep? They'll say, I wish I would have believed. I wish that I'd just listened. I wish that I'd given it a chance.
00:23:41
Speaker
say, Lord, help me, help me to turn from sin and to turn to Christ today. But let's go to a third thing if you want to follow me back to Luke 3 verse 8 and verses 10 through 14. I believe that we can also see here quite clearly that repentance bears visible fruit. Repentance bears visible fruit. He says in verse 8, at the beginning, bear fruits.
00:24:09
Speaker
in keeping with repentance. What is that word in keeping? That's a Greek word, axios. Axios, it means to bring into balance. It means to weigh on the scales. In other words, I should say, okay, this is how I was living, but now I'm done with that and here's how I'm gonna live this way. I'm gonna follow the Lord. There were three groups that day who asked Jesus the same exact question. Did you notice the repetition when I read the passage?
00:24:39
Speaker
They ask him this question, what shall we do? Have you ever just stopped and said, okay, Lord, I'm tired of trying to answer that question myself. What am I supposed to do? What do you want me to do? What shall we do? The crowd said they're the first group. The second group were the tax collectors. The third group was the Hebrew soldiers. So you have the crowd saying, what should we do? And what did he say?
00:25:03
Speaker
I want you to bear the fruit of repentance that will look like compassion. It will look like generosity, where you care about other people in your life. You're not only concerned about self. But he goes to the second group, the tax collectors, what should they do? Well, they've been ripping people off. And so he says, you for you to repent, there's going to be a different kind of fruit. It'll be honesty. You're supposed to only take what you're supposed to take, not making more up so that you can get more.
00:25:33
Speaker
The Hebrew soldier said, what about us? They've been intimidating people. They've been putting force on people and making people give. And he said, you guys need to be content with your wages. You guys need to stop bullying people around and trying to force them to do things that are not right. So they need to bear the fruit of, let's say, gentleness, because they have power. Those soldiers had power, so they had to be gentle with the people and tell them the truth, but also treat them with respect.
00:26:03
Speaker
You know, Malcolm Couch Jr. in his commentary says this, repentance changes the way you treat others. I thought, how true is that? What is inside will manifest itself outwardly. It's just a matter of time. It will come out. What's coming out is the question.
00:26:21
Speaker
And then he said this, honesty in all our dealings for God's sake. If there's one thing this nation needs, I am so tired of the lies. I'm ready for people to start telling the truth and for there to be facts. Let's go to the fourth principle. Repentance bows before Christ for personal identity. Where do you get your identity from?
00:26:47
Speaker
You know, repentance and faith is what Paul told the Ephesian elders. He said, in your leadership, in your service, in your ministry, this is what I want you to do. And like I said earlier, there's only one way to get self out of the picture, and that's to come to Christ. Galatians 2 20 to say, no longer I live, but Christ who lives in me, he wants to take over in our lives.
00:27:14
Speaker
But so let me give you two things that I think help us understand. Verse 15 and verse 16. Would you look at it with me, please? Verse 15 and verse 16. Verse 15 is the expectation of the c crowd. Maybe you're not living according to the identity you have in Christ because you're trying to match up to the expectation of the crowd. Man, it's a no-win situation. You'll never please them all. So what you ought to say is, I just want to please God.
00:27:42
Speaker
But this is what was happening in John's day. Look at verse 15, as the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John whether he, that's John the Baptist, might be the Christ. You see what's happening? It was an unrealistic expectation. There's no way he could have lived up to that.
00:28:06
Speaker
And so what does he do in response? What should you do in response? What can I do in response? There's one thing you can do. Same thing John the Baptist did, but it takes repentance. It takes surrender. It takes humility. And that is, you say to the people, I'm not here to be your Savior. I'm not here to be your Messiah. I can't fix all your problems.
00:28:29
Speaker
but he can. So you're going to move from the expectation of the crowd to the exaltation of Christ. If you look at verse 16, look at how he says, let me put the spotlight on somebody who can
Zacchaeus: A Model of Transformation
00:28:41
Speaker
help you. Verse 16 says, John answered them all saying, i baptoo you I baptized you with water. That's all I can do. He says,
00:28:51
Speaker
But he who is miter than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." See what he's saying? He's saying, really, you need Christ.
00:29:07
Speaker
Not me. I'm not the Christ. And so we need to move from whatever expectations the crowd has, you displace it. You displace that undertow in your life by saying, okay, Lord, I'm going to insult Christ in response to what they're saying to me. And so what he did was he said, let me tell you about his power. Let me tell you about his preeminence. Let me tell you about his presence. And let me tell you about his purity. Those are the things that I think are hidden in that verse 16.
00:29:37
Speaker
So, John the Baptist said in John 3.30, it's recorded of him, he said this, he must increase, but I must decrease. Is that the commitment of your heart, your life? When we get saved, that's really what we're saying. He's going to increase, I'm just going to decrease.
00:29:55
Speaker
Man, to honor Christ and to humble yourself is a powerful way to live, and it all starts with repentance. You see, repentance bows before Christ for a personal identity. When you truly surrender to Christ, that's where you find out who you were created to be in Christ.
00:30:16
Speaker
Let me give you one last one to close with. I believe that repentance fuels boldness, repentance fuels bullness regardless of the social calamity.
00:30:28
Speaker
What's going to happen if he turns around and all these people, he doesn't care? I'll tell you why he doesn't care. If he will speak truth to power, he doesn't care what the crowd feels. Because he goes to the king, and he says to King Herod, you know look, what you've done is not right. It says in verse 19, Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him. So in other words, John the Baptist said, it's not right what you're doing, Herod.
00:30:56
Speaker
What had he done? Well, Herod had taken Herodias, his brother's wife, and he had done a whole slew of other evil things. And so John, he just held him accountable. He called him out on it and said, this is what you're doing. And so listen, what is it that we need to do? You know, when I saw this, I thought, well,
00:31:18
Speaker
You know, the description of the message of repentance is so clear, isn't it? If you ever thought of repentance as sort of being like a hush word, don't say that. That's that's a bad word. No, repentance is not a bad word.
00:31:33
Speaker
There's a lot of bad words that shouldn't come out of our mouths, but repentance, that's not one of them. The description of repentance I like is in verse 18. Let me read it to you. So with many other exhortations, he preached, this is John the Baptist, good news. He preached good news to the people.
00:31:53
Speaker
Let me tell you, repentance is not a bad word. Repentance is a good word because repentance gets you on the direction to place your faith in Jesus Christ by turning from sin and placing your faith in Christ. So the description of the message of repentance is you're going to be given a good message. You're going to be given something that people need to hear.
00:32:15
Speaker
But let me tell you something, you need to be aware of the danger. You better be ready for the danger with the message of repentance because when John spoke truth to power and reproved Herod for two different things there, you know what happened? to Put him in jail.
00:32:32
Speaker
And you know what? It doesn't matter, because whenever you're obeying God, He's preparing a place for you far better than anything you've got here. As a matter of fact, I was reading where in 2 Timothy 3, 12, the Apostle Paul's riding from prison. He's not sitting in a coffee shop sipping a latte and just enjoying the nice, you know, mellow music in there.
00:32:56
Speaker
No, he's about to be martyred. Some scholars say maybe three more months, maybe six more months. It's almost all over for the apostle Paul. And when he's writing to a younger pastor named Timothy, here's what he said. 2 Timothy 3, 12, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted. So we just have to be ready. I mean, we have to be prepared. We have to say maybe people aren't going to like it whenever I say I had to turn from that sin and put my faith in Christ. And that's why I'm following Him right now.
00:33:29
Speaker
You know, a little bit later in Luke's gospel, he will paint a beautiful portrait of repentance as seen in the life change of one man, Zacchaeus. He was called the chief tax collector. So he's the guy in charge of collecting the taxes.
Call for Spiritual U-turn
00:33:46
Speaker
Now, before Zacchaeus met Jesus, he was selfish. He was greedy. He was deceptive. He was materialistic. Do you know what happened after he trusted Christ?
00:33:59
Speaker
Man, he became Christ-centered. He became sorrowful over his sin. He had ripped off a lot of people. And he says, you know what? I really, I want to restore what I've done. And so he was compassionate. He was generous to those whom he had wronged. And I'm thinking, wow, what in the world could bring that kind of change in that kind of man?
00:34:24
Speaker
I'll tell you what, Jesus can. Salvation can. Jesus said, today salvation has come to this to this house since he also is the son of Abraham for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. Wow. See the the goodness of God leads us to repentance.
00:34:45
Speaker
He's so good. Don't miss Him. Why would anybody want to keep walking in the direction of sin? Look at the destruction it brings in your life. The goodness and the kindness of God says, I've already paid the price. Come over here. Come this way.
00:35:01
Speaker
You know, let's pretend that you and I, that we are going to meet at ah at some hall or stadium or something in San Antonio. And we're going to enjoy a concert. It's a Christian concert. And we're looking forward to all going there. When you're going, you're just singing some of the songs that you know you're going to hear. And so you go ahead and get up on that entrance ramp onto ITN, headed eastbound.
00:35:26
Speaker
And then you're frustrated because you're realizing, when are they ever going to get this road finish between Columbus and Houston? It seemed like for years this has been, I've been here 17 years and I think it's been all 17 years. I'm not sure. But anyway, so frustrated because you're realizing, how long is it going to take me to get to San Antonio?
00:35:47
Speaker
Will you ever eventually enjoy the concert in San Antonio traveling eastbound on I-10? You're not. Because you're going the wrong way. You know what you have
00:36:07
Speaker
If your life is not what the Lord wants, you're going in the wrong direction. Get off the road. Do ah do it a 180. Take a U-turn and go toward Christ. That's where the real life is found.
00:36:24
Speaker
If you're going in that direction, you're going to be moving beyond religious formality. It's not going to be you're going to say, yeah, I'm a Christian. Yeah, I'm a Baptist. Yeah, I go every Sunday. That's not enough. There's something deeper. God's looking. at He wants to totally transform you. You can also believe if I don't do this, if I stay on this road,
00:36:45
Speaker
Destruction is down the road, and I don't want that for me. And I certainly don't want to leave a legacy behind for all my kids, for all my grandkids, for all the guys I work with. You know, my father-in-law, he would always share the gospel with the men who worked on the sulfur barge that he worked on.
00:37:03
Speaker
And they never wanted to listen to him until he had a heart attack and he was under an oxygen tent, had all kind of tubes and wires hooked up to his body. And he said, all five of those guys, hardened guys that would work anywhere from Corpus all the way down toward Mobile, Alabama. He said, those guys stood there with tears in their eyes and they said,
00:37:26
Speaker
We couldn't face death like you are. Please tell us one more time, how do we find life in Christ? And so right there he said in that hospital room, he said, I led all five of them to Christ. What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind? That's the simple question. You see, new life in Christ is going to be so obvious. People are going to be able to see it. They'll see it in your life.
00:37:51
Speaker
You're going to discover the true identity whenever you finally say, I surrender all. It's all yours, Lord. The Lord will give you courage and boldness. It doesn't matter what the crowd says. It doesn't matter if the crowd says, yay, or if the crowd says, nay. We don't like that. You say, I don't care. I don't care because I know I'm doing the right thing. Because I'm going to respond to the Lord Jesus Christ and turn from sin and put my faith and trust in Him. And I'm going to follow Him until the last day I breathe.
00:38:21
Speaker
That's it. That's where real life is found. So if you're going in the wrong direction today, I want you to make a spiritual U-turn. Turn. Turn toward Christ. He loves you so much. Let's all stand together. when I want to ask our musicians if they would come. and I want to ask you to thoughtfully and spiritually pray and ask God what's going on in your life. Are you going in the wrong direction? Are you going in the right direction? The Lord can help us with that.
00:38:49
Speaker
Let's pray together. Lord, it could be someone here is still, they're still going in the wrong direction and they've been going really fast. They're just a real fast individual. They're accomplishing a lot of things, but really it's just empty. It's nothing but emptiness and they know it is, but they still keep going forward.
00:39:11
Speaker
Lord, help them get off the road. Help them do a 180. Help them do a U-turn and go back in the other direction toward you. You're where the life is found. And so, Father, I pray today, if there's anyone who needs to repent of their sins and turn and place their faith in Jesus Christ, their trust in Him, that this would be the day, the day of salvation. So, Lord, we put it in your hands. Bless this time of invitation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:39:44
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.