We find our text in Matthew 3, from
verse 1.
In those days, John the Baptist came preaching
in the desert of Judea, saying, Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is near.
He who was spoken of through the prophet
Isaiah, a voice of one calling in the
desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make
straight paths for him.
He who was spoken of through the prophet
Isaiah, a voice of one calling in the
desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make
straight paths for him.
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.
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.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing,
he said to them, You brood of vipers,
who warned you to flee from the coming
wrath?
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
And do not think you can say to
yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.
I tell you that out of these stones
God can raise up children for Abraham.
The axe is already at the root of
the trees, and every tree that does not
produce good fruit will be cut down and
thrown into the fire.
We'll read thus far.
It says, In those days John the Baptist
appeared.
In those days.
Which days were they?
This was the time of the Lord.
It was the fulfillment of what the prophets
had said.
Isaiah and them.
Malachi.
Who had said, The time of the Lord
is coming.
When this will happen, this event will take
place.
And now the time was to be.
God has his own times.
When his time comes, make sure that you
are available and ready.
You've heard, like being left behind at the
train station, when the train is ready to
leave, be on board.
Imagine.
But it hasn't come to stop there.
It's on its way.
It's passing by.
Now the working of God, God does in
his own time.
Make sure that you use the time lest
it pass you by.
In those days, John the Baptist appeared.
Now, in those days, and Peter also testifies
to that, it began with the baptism of
John.
The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ begins
its story with the baptism of John.
And then that time goes by till it
is the time when Jesus comes to fetch
his church.
So what was the message of John?
He said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
Malachi had prophesied about this day.
Where he says
in
chapter 3 verse 1, see, I will send
my messenger who will prepare the way before
me.
But who can endure the day of his
coming?
Who can stand when he appears?
For he will be like a refiner's fire
or a launderer's soap.
He will sit as a refiner and purifier
of silver.
He will purify the Levites and refine them
like gold and silver.
Now we've heard how that wave of cleansing
came to the young and older people there
in Europe.
Now here it asks the question, who can
endure the day of his coming?
Why?
Now we've said, you should not flee from
it, but rather draw near to it.
But the word of the Lord asks, who
will endure, who will identify with this when
it comes?
Because those who sit on their sins, who
cling to their hidden sins, they will find
themselves resisting and criticizing and hating the work
of God.
But the
one
who thirsts for it and the one who
prays daily, Lord, let thy kingdom come.
He will accept that message when one who
is like John says, the kingdom is at
hand.
And so it says, the kingdom of heaven
is near, therefore repent.
What is this repentance?
Repentance has to do with your thinking, with
your mind.
It means to think differently, to change your
mind, that your way would turn around.
That your speaking would turn.
Your opinions will change.
The way you see things will change.
Your step will be different.
The parents who came saw their children being
different, being new, and they marveled.
Repentance is what had happened.
There was a change in their mind, in
their thinking, in their speech, in their step.
Now regarding your thinking, it says, now repent,
therefore let your thinking turn around.
They confessed what was known, and how the
devil had entered through them.
Confessed regarding their worldly habits, their worldly clothing,
because the devil can come in through anything.
As God brings it, in the beginning of
this revival, we experience this repentance of God
at work.
Of course, people come along with their own
ideas, and they try and mix things up
and confuse things, bring in sin.
But may God work that he who has
not met up with this may truly experience
it.
Now John said, behold the kingdom of God
is at hand, Jesus is near, therefore repent.
All Judea and Jerusalem came out then into
the wilderness to be baptized with this baptism
of John, of repentance and confessional sin.
But John, seeing the Pharisees and Sadducees also
joining the crowd, he used strong words against
them and said, Who taught you to flee
from the wrath to come?
So the one who doesn't truly repent when
God is moving only meets with the wrath
of God.
He said to them, show the fruit of
repentance.
Reveal that which is in keeping with repentance,
those secret phone calls of yours, those secret
things you've been up to, confess it.
He said to them, show the fruit of
repentance, those secret phone calls of yours, those
secret things you've been up to, confess
it.
Now this repentance is still necessary as we
read in Acts 17 verse 3 where it
says, And God winked or God closed an
eye to the times of ignorance, but now
commands all men everywhere to repent.
This repentance is necessary.
You've got to be obedient to that command.
God charges everybody to repent.
Because the kingdom of God is at hand,
Jesus is near, therefore repent.
In John's message he said, prepare the way
of the Lord, make straight paths for him.
Let your crooked way be made straight, for
there are things that are not righteous in
your life.
Now a way is always obvious to everybody,
it's there, open.
A highway is something noticeable, whether it is
wagons or buses or whatever type of vehicle
they go past on that highway.
And make straight paths for him.
Tracks, these are paths or tracks like you
might find a track of deer or buck,
rabbits.
You don't really see it clearly, but if
a dog comes, it's able to sniff its
track.
And you'll find that that dog will bark
as it picks up the track and as
it follows that track after that buck or
deer or heart or whatever animal.
There are some sins which are obvious to
all.
The drunkard's way is known, the prostitute's way
is obvious to everyone, child, mouse alike.
And the one who is a thief and
who steals all the time, people become scared
of him and they warn their children to
hide things when they come to their house.
If a promiscuous woman comes into the neighborhood,
wives are concerned.
They recognize the promiscuity, they know this to
be a loose woman and they are afraid
of losing their men.
Exactly.
Exactly the same with a promiscuous man.
They recognize when he comes into the neighborhood,
they pick up the loose sort, those who
are following after their lusts, the widows who
are not walking in holiness before the Lord
and righteousness in the temple, those who are
just messing around, they follow after that promiscuity.
It's known
as
their way.
It is just known as the way of
this person.
Suddenly this woman dyes her hair another color.
It's the way of the world.
And one recognizes the old mind hasn't yet
been changed.
This is still the mind of the world.
It hasn't been transformed.
And this is recognized as the way of
a person.
Yes.
Now these paths mean the hidden things, those
that are your secret devious ways, that which
is not openly a way that is recognized
by others but which you keep as a
secret to yourself, the way that you speak
over the telephone, that very thing which you
don't want anybody else to get to know.
These ways, these paths, these tracks must be
repented of.
That which is open and obvious and that
which is deceitful and secret.
Have you repented of them yet?
The text says who will stand on the
day of his coming when his messenger comes
to his temple?
Who comes as a refiner's fire, who comes
to cleanse his people where everything melts, even
the sand melts.
There is a heat and you experience the
overwhelming heat thereof.
And Jesus works with that fire.
That's why it says he will baptize his
people with his spirit and fire.
But not everybody is glad about that.
Some people are of the opinion that they
dare not expose what's really going on in
their lives.
They're afraid of their reputation.
What will others think of me?
I've been hiding this for years.
What will they say?
If I admit this to a counsellor, what
will that counsellor think of me?
Maybe they'll get upset with me and expel
me.
Nobody's chased away for repentance, for revealing their
sin, only for hiding their sin.
A good example of that is the autobahn
in Germany.
There are no valleys and no mountains that
stand in the way of the autobahns.
They are so straight, they've lifted up valleys
and brought down mountains to such an extent
that even if you are going 200km on
that autobahn, you'll find people overtaking you very
fast.
It says, make the way straight for the
Lord, He who comes.
Make a highway of holiness, He who is
approaching.
You might buy a special expensive car, a
Rolls Royce maybe, or a Chrysler
Daimler, whatever fancy car it might be.
But if you drive next to the road,
next to the way, will you get to
your destination?
I challenge any one of you, take your
car, whether it's a scrap or whether
it's an expensive car, go on the main
road here and then just go close to
the road.
You won't get to Belkham's Hill and you
won't get to this hill on top.
If I'd have millions, I'd give them to
you.
You won't get very far.
You can't drive next to the road.
You can be as close as possible to
the road.
It doesn't help.
You've got to be on the road, not
next to the road.
You won't get there.
You can say, I'm going to hell.
You're going to another place that starts with
an H as well.
You're hell bound.
Even if you're next to it, it's not
good enough.
You've got to be right on it.
The way of the Lord.
The way of the Lord is a highway
of holiness.
No place for irritability there.
If there is still deceitfulness, still deception in
your life, you belong to Satan himself.
If one speaks of Satan as well, that
makes you one.
Until you truly repent and make the way
straight and deal with those crooked paths, shall
we stand to our feet and pray?
We ask you, Lord, that you would make
your fire to burn in our midst.
Lord, we've heard of your fire through the
testimonies given here this morning.
We've heard of that fire overseas.
And Lord, we say, let that fire be
burn in our midst.
That it might burn up the trash and
all the rubbish.
Burn up all sin.
That
your
children would be cleansed from the evil as
silver and gold is purified.
Work mightily, O God.
We thank you and rejoice with those who
receive and accept your gospel.
And Lord, we've heard what the gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ means and how the
beginning is in repentance.
And that how you today, you command all
men everywhere to repent.
Work, O Lord, that they would be fruit
in accordance with repentance and not be a
brood of vipers.
Amen.