Tuesday, November 02, 2010, 8:03 a.m. – Today is voting day in the U.S.A.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 3:
My Understanding: John’s ministry was one of calling for repentance. I looked up this passage in the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary. It had this definition of the word “repent”: “a radical transformation of the entire person, a fundamental turn-around involving mind and action and including overtones of grief; it results in ‘fruit in keeping with repentance.’”
John’s ministry was also one that prepared the way of the Lord and that announced the nearness of “the kingdom of heaven.” My commentary said this about the “kingdom of heaven” – “According to Mathew, the kingdom came with Jesus and his preaching and miracles, it came with his death and resurrection, and it will come at the end of the age.”
The scripture passage says that people from various places came to John, confessing their sins, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. Then, John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing. So, who were the Pharisees and Sadducees? And, why did John say to them what he did?
From what I have read about them, the picture I get is that they had great influence and power, that they were teachers and/or interpreters of law, they were legalistic, self-righteous, hypocritical, a mixture of religious and political leaders in the community, some were wealthy, and they served on a council (the Sanhedrin) that is both described as political and religious and that sounded much like our Supreme Court. The two groups varied philosophically and in their religious beliefs, yet Jesus often coupled them together and warned his disciples against them (against the yeast of them). Jesus seemed to address the Pharisees by name much more often than the Sadducees and some of his harshest indictments were against the Pharisees and the teachers of the law (Ref: Matthew 23).
John knew this about the Pharisees and Sadducees even before Jesus began his earthly ministry and had numerous occasions to address them and their hypocrisies. So, that is why John responded to them as he did. He knew that they were not coming to repent of their sins, so that if they were coming to be baptized, it would be because someone had told them that by doing so they could escape the judgment of God – the coming wrath. My commentary says this about John’s words to the Pharisees and Sadducees:
Then, the commentary explains the meaning behind “the ax is already at the root of the trees.” It says: “Just as the kingdom is dawning already, so also is the judgment; the two are inseparable. To preach the kingdom is to preach repentance; any tree, regardless of its roots, that does not bring forth good fruit, will be destroyed.”
Then, John describes Jesus as someone who is more powerful than he is and as one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. He said that Jesus’ winnowing fork was in his hand, and that he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” This fits with the commentator’s assertion that that the kingdom of heaven and judgment are inseparable. This was John’s introduction of Jesus to the world around him. He immediately lets people know that Jesus is a God of love, mercy and forgiveness (his grace toward mankind) but that he is also a God of justice. Without repentance, judgment is inevitable.
Jesus does this through calls for repentance in which he examines our hearts and he sees that we are in need of a Savior and in need of forgiveness of and deliverance from bondage to and the control of sin over our lives. He died that we might have life and that we might be saved from the coming wrath. If we will choose to accept him and to repent of our sins and live lives that show that genuine repentance took place, then we will be spared the judgment of God that decides ultimately who will be with Him for eternity and who won’t.
Yet, that final judgment is not the only judgment of God. He talks much about judging his people (the church), of his divine discipline of his children, etc. in order to purify us and to make us holy vessels useful for His kingdom. And, then he speaks of the judgment of the wicked, too, and the judgment of mankind during the time of tribulation on the earth. Jesus is not this softy mushy-gushy lovey-dovey kind of person that many people make him out to be. He is love! No doubt about that. He is kind, merciful, generous, compassionate, and full of grace and truth, but he is also just and righteous and his Word is like a double-edged sword that penetrates the heart in conviction of sin and that turns the sinner from his sin in repentance, and faith and obedience. And, he demands obedience. He is to be honored and revered and obeyed as well as loved and appreciated for all his many attributes and godly characteristics.
Jesus went through the waters of Baptism not because he was a sinner and not because he needed to repent, but as an example to us and as an outward witness of his identification with us in what he knew would ultimately be his destiny to die on the cross for our sins and to be resurrected so that we could die to our sins and could be resurrected to a new life in Jesus Christ, which is what our baptism symbolizes.
So, what does this all mean to us today? It means that we need to repent of our sins if we want to escape the coming wrath and to spend eternity with God in heaven. Believing in Jesus Christ and what he did for us on the cross is not just a mental or even a heart acceptance of what he did. If we truly believed that he died to set us free from sin and we accepted his forgiveness into our lives, then why would we continue in sin? We wouldn’t! Genuine belief results in genuine repentance which results in genuine fruit in keeping with repentance that is evidence that we have had a life change.
We cannot claim religious or even national heritage to be our salvation. Many people think that because we live in the United States of America and that we are called a “Christian nation” that God will somehow spare us from the coming wrath. That is not so! That is exactly what John was telling the Pharisees and Sadducees. They could not depend upon their heritage to save them. They needed to repent of their sins individually if they wanted to escape the wrath of God. And, we, as the church in America and we, as Americans must do the same. We cannot depend upon our heritage to save us. We must bow the knee in humility and repentance, we must call on God and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways if we want to see America go in the right direction.
The Pharisees and Sadducees remind me much of the Republicans and Democrats. Philosophically and even religiously they may differ (in theory anyway) yet they are all part of the same Sanhedrin (the New World Order) and just because they espouse to a particular philosophy doesn’t mean that they are of God any more than these religious and political leaders were of Jesus’ day. And, they can’t save our nation! Only God can and only true repentance on the part of the people of this nation can save it from the judgment of Almighty God. We think if we vote Republicans or conservatives back into office to replace the liberals that we will somehow escape judgment and that somehow they are going to bring this nation back to one nation under God. Oh, how wrong we are to put our trust in man instead of in God; in Jesus Christ. How foolish to think that man can save us.
Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross / Fanny J. Crosby / William H. Doane
Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary's mountain.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o'er me.
Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 3:
My Understanding: John’s ministry was one of calling for repentance. I looked up this passage in the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary. It had this definition of the word “repent”: “a radical transformation of the entire person, a fundamental turn-around involving mind and action and including overtones of grief; it results in ‘fruit in keeping with repentance.’”
John’s ministry was also one that prepared the way of the Lord and that announced the nearness of “the kingdom of heaven.” My commentary said this about the “kingdom of heaven” – “According to Mathew, the kingdom came with Jesus and his preaching and miracles, it came with his death and resurrection, and it will come at the end of the age.”
The scripture passage says that people from various places came to John, confessing their sins, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. Then, John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing. So, who were the Pharisees and Sadducees? And, why did John say to them what he did?
From what I have read about them, the picture I get is that they had great influence and power, that they were teachers and/or interpreters of law, they were legalistic, self-righteous, hypocritical, a mixture of religious and political leaders in the community, some were wealthy, and they served on a council (the Sanhedrin) that is both described as political and religious and that sounded much like our Supreme Court. The two groups varied philosophically and in their religious beliefs, yet Jesus often coupled them together and warned his disciples against them (against the yeast of them). Jesus seemed to address the Pharisees by name much more often than the Sadducees and some of his harshest indictments were against the Pharisees and the teachers of the law (Ref: Matthew 23).
John knew this about the Pharisees and Sadducees even before Jesus began his earthly ministry and had numerous occasions to address them and their hypocrisies. So, that is why John responded to them as he did. He knew that they were not coming to repent of their sins, so that if they were coming to be baptized, it would be because someone had told them that by doing so they could escape the judgment of God – the coming wrath. My commentary says this about John’s words to the Pharisees and Sadducees:
Then, the commentary explains the meaning behind “the ax is already at the root of the trees.” It says: “Just as the kingdom is dawning already, so also is the judgment; the two are inseparable. To preach the kingdom is to preach repentance; any tree, regardless of its roots, that does not bring forth good fruit, will be destroyed.”
Then, John describes Jesus as someone who is more powerful than he is and as one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. He said that Jesus’ winnowing fork was in his hand, and that he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” This fits with the commentator’s assertion that that the kingdom of heaven and judgment are inseparable. This was John’s introduction of Jesus to the world around him. He immediately lets people know that Jesus is a God of love, mercy and forgiveness (his grace toward mankind) but that he is also a God of justice. Without repentance, judgment is inevitable.
Jesus does this through calls for repentance in which he examines our hearts and he sees that we are in need of a Savior and in need of forgiveness of and deliverance from bondage to and the control of sin over our lives. He died that we might have life and that we might be saved from the coming wrath. If we will choose to accept him and to repent of our sins and live lives that show that genuine repentance took place, then we will be spared the judgment of God that decides ultimately who will be with Him for eternity and who won’t.
Yet, that final judgment is not the only judgment of God. He talks much about judging his people (the church), of his divine discipline of his children, etc. in order to purify us and to make us holy vessels useful for His kingdom. And, then he speaks of the judgment of the wicked, too, and the judgment of mankind during the time of tribulation on the earth. Jesus is not this softy mushy-gushy lovey-dovey kind of person that many people make him out to be. He is love! No doubt about that. He is kind, merciful, generous, compassionate, and full of grace and truth, but he is also just and righteous and his Word is like a double-edged sword that penetrates the heart in conviction of sin and that turns the sinner from his sin in repentance, and faith and obedience. And, he demands obedience. He is to be honored and revered and obeyed as well as loved and appreciated for all his many attributes and godly characteristics.
Jesus went through the waters of Baptism not because he was a sinner and not because he needed to repent, but as an example to us and as an outward witness of his identification with us in what he knew would ultimately be his destiny to die on the cross for our sins and to be resurrected so that we could die to our sins and could be resurrected to a new life in Jesus Christ, which is what our baptism symbolizes.
So, what does this all mean to us today? It means that we need to repent of our sins if we want to escape the coming wrath and to spend eternity with God in heaven. Believing in Jesus Christ and what he did for us on the cross is not just a mental or even a heart acceptance of what he did. If we truly believed that he died to set us free from sin and we accepted his forgiveness into our lives, then why would we continue in sin? We wouldn’t! Genuine belief results in genuine repentance which results in genuine fruit in keeping with repentance that is evidence that we have had a life change.
We cannot claim religious or even national heritage to be our salvation. Many people think that because we live in the United States of America and that we are called a “Christian nation” that God will somehow spare us from the coming wrath. That is not so! That is exactly what John was telling the Pharisees and Sadducees. They could not depend upon their heritage to save them. They needed to repent of their sins individually if they wanted to escape the wrath of God. And, we, as the church in America and we, as Americans must do the same. We cannot depend upon our heritage to save us. We must bow the knee in humility and repentance, we must call on God and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways if we want to see America go in the right direction.
The Pharisees and Sadducees remind me much of the Republicans and Democrats. Philosophically and even religiously they may differ (in theory anyway) yet they are all part of the same Sanhedrin (the New World Order) and just because they espouse to a particular philosophy doesn’t mean that they are of God any more than these religious and political leaders were of Jesus’ day. And, they can’t save our nation! Only God can and only true repentance on the part of the people of this nation can save it from the judgment of Almighty God. We think if we vote Republicans or conservatives back into office to replace the liberals that we will somehow escape judgment and that somehow they are going to bring this nation back to one nation under God. Oh, how wrong we are to put our trust in man instead of in God; in Jesus Christ. How foolish to think that man can save us.
Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross / Fanny J. Crosby / William H. Doane
Jesus, keep me near the cross;
There a precious fountain,
Free to all, a healing stream,
Flows from Calvary's mountain.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
Love and mercy found me;
There the bright and morning star
Sheds its beams around me.
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
Bring its scenes before me;
Help me walk from day to day
With its shadow o'er me.
Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
Hoping, trusting ever,
Till I reach the golden strand
Just beyond the river.
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever,
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.
