Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter three. Matthew chapter three. And let's read the first two
verses here. Matthew 3 verse 1, it says, in
those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of
Judea and saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I believe this is an important
Bible study. I believe this is a very important
Bible study for all of us. I believe this will be, if we've
never seen this, I believe this will be very eyeopening. I pray
it'll be a relief and a comfort to us. But John the Baptist was
the one that God chose to prepare the way of the Lord, which is
what verse three tells us. And that's what we're gonna look
at, the Lord willing, for our message in a moment. But earthly
speaking, John was about six months older than our Lord. He was born six months before
our Lord. And I have not done a real study
of this myself, but a lot of the old commentary writers say
John the Baptist ministry was only about six months long. Not
long after our Lord started preaching, John was thrown in prison and
then he was beheaded. And you think about that, it's
six months. But, In numbers chapter four, verse
three, God gave the commandment there that a man would not enter
the ministry. This was one of the laws of the
old Testament. A man would not enter the ministry to do the
work of the tabernacle until he was 30 years old. That was
one of the commandments given. So in agreement with the law,
John did not begin his ministry until he was 30 years old. And
then earthly speaking, our Lord didn't begin his ministry until
six months later when he was 30 years old. So when it says
in verse one, you know, we've just come off of verse two where
our Lord was born and all the things that happened. And then
in verse chapter three, verse one, when it says in those days,
That's talking about 30 years after the birth of, uh, John
and then the birth of our Lord. So verse one says in those days
came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and
saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. When John
started preaching, he was called up God to prepare the way of
the Lord. And when John started preaching,
his message was repent. That was his message. Repent
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's what he told
everybody. Repent, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
In verse eight, he said, bring forth therefore fruits, evidences, meat, for repentance,
answerable to amendment of life. The margin says meet for repentance. In verse 11, he said, I indeed
baptize you with water unto repentance. His message to men and women
was repent. Repent. That was John's message
when he started preaching. And that was our Lord's message
when he started preaching. If you look at chapter four,
and I'll go ahead and tell you, we're going to turn a lot. We're
going to turn a lot this morning. Matthew four, verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to
preach and to say, repent. For the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. Same message. That was John's
message. That was the Lord's message.
And that was the apostles message. Look with me at Mark chapter
six. Mark chapter six, verse seven,
it says, and he called unto him the 12 and began to send them
forth by two and two. And then in verse 12, it says,
they went out and preached that men should repent. So that was John's message. That
was the Lord's message. That was the apostles message. And that must be our message. That must be, look with me at
Luke 24. Luke 24, verse 44. And he said unto them, our Lord
said unto them, these are the words, words, which I spake unto
you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled,
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets. And then the Psalms concerning
me, then opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. And that is an important moment
that has everything to do with what we're talking about. And oh, I pray God will do that
for us. I pray God will do that for me
as the man who is called to stand up here and expound the scriptures.
I pray God will do that for you as you sit there and listen. He opened their understanding
that they might understand the scriptures. And he said unto
them, thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day. And that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. He said, you are witnesses of
these things. He said, that's your message,
repentance and remission of sins. He said, go into all the world
and preach it. Now the title of this Bible study is, What
does repent mean? That is clearly the heart, the
core of what we're commanded to preach and to believe. What does repent mean? Look with
me at Matthew chapter nine. I want us to see, I was going
to quote all these to you. I've got, I've got a few written
down here and I was going to quote them, but it's more important
if you see it, I want us to see this. Matthew nine, verse 13,
our Lord said, go ye and learn what that meaneth. And, oh, ask
the Lord, as we read things like that, ask the Lord to reveal
that to you. Lord, teach me what this means.
If you say this is important and I need to learn this, teach
me. Ask the Lord that. He said, go
ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. It's what we are called to. Our Lord said, this is important.
He said, you need to go and learn what this means. I'm not come
to call the righteous. I did not come to call the righteous.
I came to call sinners to repentance. Look with me at Mark chapter
one. Mark chapter one, verse four
says, John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins. We are baptized into
it. That means immersed into it. Believers baptism is the baptism
of repentance. And we're going to say a little
bit about just very lightly touch on baptism in the message. And then if the Lord is willing,
we'll. That's what John is talking about. We'll talk about it more,
but I'm gonna go ahead and tell you true baptism is of the Holy
ghost has nothing to do with that clear liquid water. And
the true baptism is of the Holy ghost. It's an immersion that
the Holy ghost does. And when that takes place, it's
a baptism of repentance. It's an immersion of repentance. All right. And as we go, we're
going to see more about what that means. All right. Look at
Acts chapter five. Acts 5 verse 29, then Peter and
the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather
than men. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Now watch verse 31.
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and
a savior for. TO GIVE REPENTANCE TO ISRAEL
AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS. HE SAID IT'S THE REASON CHRIST
CAME. IT'S THE REASON CHRIST CAME. HE CAME TO GIVE REPENTANCE
TO HIS PEOPLE. HE CAME TO GIVE THIS TO US. LOOK
AT ACTS CHAPTER 11. Acts 11 verse 18, it says, when
they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified
God saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life. Repentance is what applies. Eternal spiritual life to the
child of God. Repentance. Look with me at Romans
two. Romans two, verse four, it says. or despises thou the riches of
his goodness and forbearance and long suffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." It's God's
goodness that leads us to it. The only way we can have it is
if God in his goodness leads us to it. And one more, go to
2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. Second Peter three verse nine,
it says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some
men count slackness, but his long suffering to us word. And that's a critical word in
this verse of scripture. Cause people love to take this
verse and say, well, he's not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. It's not what the verse says.
He said he's long-suffering to usward. Who are the usward? It's
who Peter's writing the letter to. If you go back to chapter
one, he's writing it to the elect in Christ Jesus, those chosen
of God. And it says, the Lord is not
slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any of the usward
should perish, but that all of the usward should come to repentance. All, all. So God will lead all,
every single one, all of his people to repentance. All right. I said all that to say, this
is important. Now, what is it? What is repentance? What does
the word repent mean? Well, there are different definitions
for the word repent. Okay. Whenever you go through
the scripture, you will see all through the word of God, this
word repent, and we have a concordance. I don't know Greek and I don't
know Hebrew. The old Testament was written
in Hebrew and the new Testament was written in Greek and they
translated it into English. And in order to know what the
original word was and what that original word meant, we have
a concordance and it's just a dictionary. And in this case, as you look
through these different places and these different definitions
mean different things, none of them, none of the definitions
mean stop sinning. None of them. One of them does
mean stop. And I'm not going to take the
time to show you when the Lord repented what he was doing. He
stopped what he was doing. I will tell you one time is,
is he was angry and he was, he killed 70,000 and intercession
was made and the Lord repented. He stopped. from killing. One of them does mean to sigh,
to console oneself. In Genesis 6, the Lord looked
down and every imagination was only evil. It repented the Lord
that he made man. He just sighed within himself. We had two children and I knew
before they were ever born they were going to be sinners. I knew
that. Wasn't a surprise when they sinned. Well, that's how the Lord was
with his people. He knew what they were. But this
particular word, repent, these that we've been looking at, when
you look up the definition of them, it means have a changed
mind. That's what it means, a change
of mind. It does not mean Turn from your
sin and don't go back to it. It's not what it means. That's
what everybody believes it means. That's just the assumption. Repent,
you know, you need to turn from your sin and don't go back to
it. If that's what the word meant,
we would all be goners. I'd have no hope for us. I'd
have no good news for us. If God's message to his people
for salvation was stop sinning, turn from your sin and don't
go back to it. If that was the case, we'd all
end up in hell. None of us have turned from our
sin to a life of sinlessness. None of us, none of us. John
1 verse 1 says, if we believe that we have done that, we make
God a liar. And that's sin. To call him a
liar, that's sin. So thank God the word repent
does not mean stop sinning. God is not telling us to do something
that with man is impossible. Well, what is God telling us
then? What is the message of repentance? The definition is
have a changed mind, have a changed mind, have a changed mind from
what men and women naturally believe about God. If you think about it, that's
our message. Have a changed mind from what men and women naturally
believe about themselves when they look at themselves. Have a changed mind about what
men believe salvation is. Men have it in their mind that
they, you know, know what's going to save them. Have a changed
mind from that. Have a changed mind about what
God will accept. There's a natural mindset and
a natural way that is ingrained in every man and woman from birth. And it's this, do good and you'll
be rewarded, do bad and you'll be punished. That's the natural
mindset of every man and woman. Here's the only problem. Man's
mindset and man's way is not God's mindset, and it's not God's
way. Man's mindset and man's way, the scripture says, is contrary
to God's mindset and God's way. Totally contrary. So when God
comes to his own, and when God calls his own, And when God reveals
himself and reveals the truth to his own, and when his own
see his mind, the mind of God, the will of God, the way of God,
right here in his word, when his own see it, and when they
bow to it, when the shocking truth is revealed, and it's just
totally contrary to what they thought all their life, When
God shows it to them and they see it and they believe it and
they bow to it, repentance has come to them. I changed mine, totally changed
mine. They say, that was wrong. Wow. How do you know? Well, don't you think you ought to
believe those good, fine Christian men? No, I think I ought to believe
God and let every man be a liar. including this one. When that repentance comes, a
brand spanking new mind about everything pertaining to God,
man, salvation, brand new mind comes. Let me illustrate it to
you this way. If I went into any church in
this town, any mainstream religious church that falls under Christianity,
If I went into a church and preached, if I stood up and told everybody
that if we want to be saved, we're gonna have to stop sinning. That was my message to them.
If I told them, now here's the key to all of it. This is the
key to the whole thing. It all hinges on whether or not
we turn from our sin. If we stop sinning, we're going
to go to heaven. And if we don't stop sinning,
we're going to go to hell. Now, if I went into any church
and preach that, if I told them the evidence of your salvation
is in whether or not you see yourself stop sinning. If I preach
that, do you think the masses of people would object to my
message? You think that there'd be a massive
uproar of people just absolutely rejecting what I have to say?
You think they would kick me out and say, don't you ever come
back and preach that to us ever again? No, I believe they'd,
amen brother, they'd go right along with me. Why is that? It's because that's the natural
mind of man. That's what makes sense to man. Man naturally believes that this
all hinges on man. Do good, you'll be rewarded.
Do bad, you'll be, it's, it just makes so much sense. It's the
natural mindset of man, but that is not the natural mindset of
God. This is what God said. He said,
man can't do good. Man says, if I do good, I'll
go to heaven. And that's what the law says.
Yeah, you do good. But God said, here's the problem
for man. Man can't do good. God said, there is none good,
no, not one. God said, there is only one hope
for salvation. God said, there's only one remedy,
only one remission for sins. And it has nothing to do with
the deeds of man. And it has everything to do with
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man is born into this world,
looking to his flesh. That's what man does. He looks
to his flesh. But when the changed mind comes
and you can see it and you know it, if the Lord has given it
to you, you know exactly what I'm talking about. When the changed
mind comes, man, he starts out in life. Everything is just right
here. He's just all right here. It's all right here. When that
changed mind comes, he stops looking at his flesh and he starts
looking at Christ. That's what happens. He just
forgets about his flesh. Until that, he'd forgotten about
Christ. But when the changed mind comes, he just totally shuts
down everything concerning the flesh, and he totally looks to
Christ. Man is born into this world thinking
that salvation is in his hands. This question right here is the
question of man. What must I do? What must I do? Just tell me, what must I do?
When the changed mind comes, man realizes salvation's of the
Lord. What has he done? What has he
done? Just tell me, what has he done?
Man naturally believes that him entering into glory is dependent
on a cooperative effort somehow between him and the Lord. But when the changed mind comes,
he realizes that Christ by himself purged our sin. And even though the natural man
sees that purging and that remission as a work that needs to be done
and is in the process of being done, when the changed mind comes,
man sees that that work is already finished. Already finished. Turn with me to Acts chapter
3. I'm going to close up here. Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3 verse 19, it says, Repent ye therefore and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord. Repent and be converted. This changed mind is conversion. You hear people talk about being
converted. Well, that's what repentance
is. That changed mind is conversion. Quite a few verses throughout
the book of Acts say that it is a turning away from the flesh,
the deeds of the flesh, the works of the flesh for salvation. You
know, the scripture says, mortify your members. Mortify, just kill,
and people think, well, I gotta stop sinning. That's not what
it means. It means stop looking to the flesh. Kill anything your
flesh would ever be capable of. Kill all that, and it says, turn
to the true and living God. Turn to the deeds of Christ and
the works of Christ for salvation. Second Timothy two says it is
from the error of the lies of man. This is what repentance
is. It's from all the lies, all the
error of man to the acknowledging of the truth. That's what repentance
is. The truth that God has declared
about these things in his word. And that truth is that it's all
of God and none of man. And to close with a verse that
plainly tells us that, go to Hebrews 6, all right? We'll close
with this. This is a great verse. Hebrews 6, verse 1, it says,
therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, Let
us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of
repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. That's what
repentance is. Repentance is a changed mind
that God gives to his people that leads them away from their
dead works. to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God's to give. He's the
one who must give it to his people. It's only God's to give. He in
his goodness is the one who leads us to it. And what that means
is he gets all the glory for it. All the glory for our repentance. When I long time ago would hear
this word repent, I used to think, you know, well, the gospel, the
good news that was for God's people in the, in the word repent
was to everybody else. No repentance is only for God's
people. It's only for God's people. It's
God's goodness that leads his people to repentance. And I pray
God will lead every person here to it. I really do. Starting with me, I pray God
will put us in His right mind. That Gadarene in the tombs, cutting
himself, and just a lunatic. And the Lord clothed him, sat
him down, and put him in His right mind. Repentance. May the Lord put us in His right
mind. May this mind be in us, which
was also in Christ Jesus. And the last thing I want to
say about it is this. The scripture says that the angels desire to
look into these things as the gospel is being preached. And
it says that as the gospel goes out and the Holy Spirit takes
the Word of God, when the Holy Spirit applies it to a heart
and repentance comes to a sinner and that changed mind is clearly
seen, It says the angels erupt in absolute joy every time one
sinner repents. A new brother, a new family member,
and so do we, so do we. I pray God will give us repentance,
cause us to look to Christ. All right, you're dismissed.