Preparing to Meet the King

Heavenly Father, this morning as we gather, we are conscious of the fact that we are coming before a holy God, a sovereign God, the majestic creator of all the universe.

God, we agree with so many of the writers in the scriptures who ask the question, who is there like our God?

And we say with a resounding answer, there is no one and none like you.

There's no one as holy as you, God.

No one is set apart as you.

No one is kind and as just, as gracious and merciful as you, God.

And so we've come to worship you.

We've come to praise your name.

We've come to lift our voice in worship and to declare, God, that our hope is in you, God.

Lord, we've come to adore you this morning.

We've come to align ourselves to you.

Father, this morning, won't you give us faith where faith is lacking?

Won't you open our eyes to see you again and to draw us back to yourself, we pray, God.

We've come to worship you.

Father, this morning we pray for those in our midst that are struggling, those that are hurting,

those that are making big decisions, those that are facing trials and difficulties.

God, we pray, won't you draw near?

Won't you love us, God?

Won't you help us see your infinite wisdom and your perfect perspective?

God, open our eyes to see the way things you see things, God.

Help us, Father, not to insist in our own way, but to trust you in the midst of the storms,

in the midst of the fire, Lord God.

God, give us faith to trust you, though we do not always understand your ways and we do not understand the future,

but help us to know that you're good and you're gracious and that you're trustworthy.

God, we bring ourselves and we bring our brothers and our sisters before you.

God, come and draw near to us, we pray.

Come give us your Holy Spirit.

Father, this morning we pray for our city and we pray for the gospel in our city.

We pray for other churches gathered now all across Hong Kong, God,

from English churches, Chinese churches, Filipino churches, every language.

God, we lift them up before you and we ask you, God, pour out your spirit, God.

Pray for a renewal of the gospel in our city, God.

We pray for their evangelism programs and our evangelism programs.

We pray, God, that people will come to know you, God.

God, we lift up the church in Hong Kong.

Pray for Eric and Justine at the bridge, God.

Pray for Steve at community church and John and Rachel at ambassador and Brett and Shannon at island, God.

And Andrew at the vine and so many others.

We lift them up before you this morning.

God, this morning as they gathered, won't you minister to them?

Won't you pour out your grace on those communities as we pray for ourselves?

We pray, God, for your gospel to go forward in Hong Kong.

And finally, God, we pray for our city leaders.

We pray for our civic leaders and our politicians.

We pray, God, for great courage to make the right decisions,

make even unpopular decisions, but those that are good for the city and the country.

We pray, God, for the care for the poor.

We pray for the marginalized and the hurting.

That, God, our leaders will take care of the poor in our city.

They'll make decisions that look after them.

God, we pray if there's any corruption for that to be exposed and brought to light.

And we pray, God, for wisdom for complex issues facing our city.

Schooling, education, housing, accommodation.

We pray, God, give our leaders wisdom.

Help them to see through the complex issues and come up with solutions that will serve the citizens of the city, we pray.

We pray all these things in your wonderful and holy name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you for praying for our city and our church together.

It's wonderful to pray together.

Let's listen to God's word as Echo is going to come and read to us from Matthew chapter 3.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

The scripture reading comes from Matthew 3.

Please follow along in your bulletins and on the screen.

In those days, John the Baptist came from preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

Now, John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,

You brood of vipers, who warns 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.

I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I,

whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn,

but the chaff he will burn with uncreenchable fire.

This is the Word of God.

Great. Thank you, Echo.

Great. Well, as everyone else has said, Happy New Year.

If you've been away, welcome back to Hong Kong. It's great to see you.

And if you're new to Hong Kong or new to Watermark, it's wonderful to have you with us this morning.

Now, as a church family, in December, we started looking at the first few chapters in Matthew's Gospel

in the build-up to Christmas, and we're going to continue with Matthew's Gospel for the next five months

as we work through the next five chapters, chapters three until the end of the Sermon of the Mount in chapter seven.

And we're going to do that between now and the end of May.

And we're doing that for two reasons.

The first is because as a church, we want to be God-centered, and we want to hear what God has to say to us.

And so the best way to do that is to work expositionally through God's Word in our preaching.

As a church, we are not all that interested in doing cute sermon series on three ways to find a girlfriend,

or five ways to make a success of your life, or how to handle your emotions.

What we want to do is we want to encounter the living God in His Word.

We want to hear from what God has to say, and we want to know what God is like.

And we believe that as we do that, both individually and as a church, God will change us.

He will make us more like Himself.

He will teach us how to handle our emotions.

He will teach us how to handle both success and failure in life in a God-centered way.

And so for that reason, as a church, we are committed to working through His Word.

The second reason why we're going to be doing this is Matthew's Gospel is all about Jesus and the upside-down kingdom of God.

As someone who's relatively new to Hong Kong, we've been here just over a year,

one of the things that struck me when we moved here is that no matter what city in the world you live in,

whether you're from lowly Cape Town, or Singapore, or Hong Kong, or Tokyo, or Toronto, or London,

the basic modus operandi, the basic mode of operation of all human beings everywhere is,

let my kingdom come.

My will be done.

And Jesus comes to bring us a different kind of kingdom.

He shows us what true life in the true kingdom is like.

But Jesus' kingdom is often upside down.

It's not the way we expect it to be.

It's often counterintuitive and countercultural.

But it is the way that leads to life.

And so for the next couple of months, we're going to be exploring this as we work through Matthew's Gospel together.

Okay.

Now, today's passage of Scripture, we meet this guy called John, right?

Known as John the Baptist.

And John is an interesting guy, to say the very least, right?

How many of you, like me, that have daughters, would like John the Baptist for a son-in-law?

Anyone?

Or how many of you young ladies would like to take John to that work function, that dinner,

or maybe to your reunion dinner at the up-and-coming Chinese New Year?

John is an interesting guy.

He's a little rough around the edges.

I mean, look at his fashion sense, right?

He wears this camel's leather outfit.

And this isn't like Italian dyed, polished leather.

This is probably his trusty steed that got to the end of its life, and he skinned it himself.

And, you know, that's his outfit.

Camel skin and a leather belt.

John's not very tactful, right?

Tactful means knowing how to say the right things at the right time.

John says to the establishment, the leaders of society, the kind of legislative council of Israel,

the first thing he says to them is, you brood of vipers.

In other words, you offspring of snakes.

Not very tactful, right?

John's a little confrontational.

He likes to get into people's faces.

Imagine him sitting next to your grandma at your reunion dinner,

and the first thing he says is, repent.

This is John.

And, of course, don't forget his eating habits, right?

Wild locusts and wild honey.

And this isn't organic, caught on blue locusts from City Super.

This is the stuff he's caught just outside of his cave in the mountains.

John's a little rough around the edges.

He's an interesting guy.

And yet for all of his kind of unrefined ways, his peculiarities,

there's something special about John.

John has been sent by God.

Look at what verse 3 in our passage says.

It says,

This is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah.

When Isaiah said,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness,

Prepare the way of the Lord.

Make straight his paths.

And so what's happening here is in Isaiah's word 700 years beforehand,

in ancient times when a king or a member of the royal family

were to travel long distances,

for the weeks and months beforehand,

all the people would be working on the roads.

They'd be repairing it and fixing it and smoothing it out

and fixing potholes and making sure that the highway,

the road which the king was to travel on, was smooth.

And so they would prepare the way for the king to go.

Now what's happening here is that Israel, God's people,

are in Babylon.

Or they're about to go into Babylon.

And Isaiah is writing to them prophetically

to say that they're in Babylon because of their sin,

because of their rebellion,

because of the fact that they've turned away from God,

they've rejected him.

But God has not rejected them.

God has not forgotten his promises.

And so God is coming to rescue them.

He's coming to save them.

He's coming to bring them out of Babylon,

out of exile, out of captivity,

and to restore them to Israel.

And so a voice in Isaiah 40 cries out,

and this is what it says,

Comfort, comfort to all my people.

Tell my people that her warfare has ended.

Her sins have been pardoned.

And then Isaiah goes on.

A voice cries out in the wilderness,

Prepare the way of the Lord.

Make straight the path or the highway of our God.

And so what Isaiah is saying is this.

You Israelites, the people of God,

have been in Babylon in exile

because of your sin and your rebellion,

but God has not forgotten you.

Prepare the way because the king, God himself,

is coming.

And he's coming to Babylon to deliver you,

to set you free,

to bring you out of exile,

and to restore you.

And so God's messenger, Isaiah,

says,

Get ready.

Prepare the way for the king.

God is coming to set you free

and to rescue you.

And Matthew tells us

that what is true of Isaiah 700 years before

is just as true of John.

That John, on one sense,

he's this prophet like Isaiah and Elijah

that is saying,

Get ready for the king.

The king is coming to rescue you and restore you.

But on the other hand,

John is a nobody.

He's just a voice.

He's just a voice in the desert.

And he's calling out to those

that are far from God,

Prepare the way.

You may have forgotten God,

but he hasn't forgotten you.

He's coming to set you free.

Okay?

Now, how does John do this?

What does John say?

How does he prepare God's people

to meet with the coming king?

Well, let's look at verse 2.

What does it say?

He says,

Repent,

for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Repent.

Repentance is one of those words

that we don't like to talk about too much, right?

We probably don't like it as much

as John's original hearers,

the audience,

like to hear it themselves.

But if we were to just flip over the page,

we see that actually in Matthew chapter 4,

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

Jesus says the exact same thing

that John says in chapter 3.

In chapter 4, verse 17,

Matthew writes and he says,

Jesus now went throughout the whole region

preaching,

and this is what he said,

Repent,

for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And then if we flip over our Bibles

a few more pages

in the book of Acts,

the apostles are going throughout

the city of Jerusalem,

throughout Judea,

and the known world,

and this is their message.

Repent,

be baptized,

every one of you,

for the forgiveness of sins.

Now,

let's think about this for a second.

What is repentance,

and why does it matter?

Why is it so important?

Why is it that John and Jesus

and the apostles,

in fact,

the entire New Testament,

the Old Testament,

why is it that God's people

keep on going on about this thing

of repentance?

Well,

that's actually what our passage

today is all about.

What is it,

and why is it so important?

And so let's dive into that.

First thing,

what is repentance?

Well,

in the New Testament,

which was written in Greek,

there are numerous Greek words

to refer to repentance.

And one of the most common of them,

the one that's used here

in Matthew chapter 3,

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

is the word metanoio,

okay,

something like that.

I don't know how to pronounce it,

but let's just pretend

I said it right,

okay?

Metanoio.

And what it means

is to change your mind

or to turn around

for a change to take place

in your thinking

or maybe even in your body.

But it doesn't necessarily

hold a moral connotation.

It's like you can change your mind

from one day you like red,

the next day you like blue,

okay?

It's not necessarily

a moral connection.

But that's what,

in nominal sense,

that's what the word meant.

But when the Bible uses it,

when the New Testament writers

use this word repent,

it often means three things.

It has three key ingredients to it.

It means realizing

or discovering

or seeing something

anew in fresh light.

Discovering something

that you hadn't discovered before.

Seeing something in a new way.

It means secondly,

your heart is grieved

or your heart is now anxious

about what you've just discovered.

There's an anxiety in your heart

about this new state of affairs

or what you've just thought about.

And then thirdly,

it means a change that takes place.

You were facing this way,

you're now gonna do this.

You used to think I'll go there,

you now think I'm gonna go here.

So these three ingredients,

a change in your mind,

an anguish in your heart

about the current situation

or what you previously thought,

and then a change that takes place

from the old way to the new.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

Maybe an analogy will help.

Think about that situation

Chris helped me with this this week.

Think about a movie, okay?

Your favorite movie.

In every movie,

there's that point

when something,

a change takes place, right?

So the main character

is about to do something dreadful.

They're about to leave their family,

their wife and children

to go move in with someone else.

They're about to make

that billion dollar investment,

but it's a scam.

They're about to get on the airplane,

but you know that there's a bomb

on the airplane.

They're about to do something

that's going to end badly.

And then,

they get a text message,

they see something

out the corner of their eye,

they overhear a conversation,

something happens

that gives them

a new understanding

of the situation,

their heart realizes

this is not good,

and they make that radical change,

right?

They run through the airport

and they hug their wife again,

or they cancel the business deal,

or they tackle the terrorist

who's about to,

you know,

blow up the plane,

something like that.

Does that make sense?

Not really.

Okay.

Well,

sorry about that.

In some ways,

this is what repentance is like.

It's not just acknowledgement

of something.

It's not just changing your mind.

It's a radical change

in orientation

from this way

to that,

a disposition.

It's forsaking the old

and it's turning

to something new

because your eyes

have been opened

to see things

as they really are.

Charles Spurgeon

said it like this.

He said,

Repentance is a discovery,

a revelation

of the evil of sin,

a mourning,

a grieving

that we've committed it

and a resolution

to forsake it.

It is, in fact,

a change of mind

that is so deep

and of a practical nature

that it causes a man

to hate

what he once loved

and to now love

what he once hated.

But do you see

those three ingredients?

It's a discovery

of the evil of sin.

It's a grievous mourning

that we've committed.

It's a resolution

to change your disposition

and your orientation.

You see,

repentance is not just

thinking differently

about something.

It's not just saying,

hey,

I used to think

camel's hair

and leather belts

were in

and fashionable

but now I'm not

so sure anymore.

That's not quite repentance.

Repentance is not

an attempt

at self-approval

or reforming our lives.

It's not like

New Year's resolutions

where you say,

this year,

I really should get

bit at not lying.

I'm going to try

and tell the truth

more this year.

Repentance is not

even feeling guilty

about something

and trying to atone

for it.

Like maybe you feel

guilty about the fact

that you lied

to your mother-in-law

about Christmas plans

and so you decide,

okay,

Chinese New Year,

I'm going to tell her

the truth.

I'm going to be

really nice to her

to make up

for Christmas,

right?

No, no,

maybe you just feel

bad because we are,

I'm proud

or I'm self-righteous.

Repentance sees

the ugliness of sin

such that it changes

not only my mind,

it changes the way

I see life.

It causes an anxiety

in my heart

to say this is not right

and it causes a change

in my orientation

from one way

to the next.

Maybe I can give you

an example

from my life.

Something that happened

in recent,

in the last few years.

there was a situation

where I listened

to a sermon,

an online sermon

of another preacher

from my city

and truth be told,

I didn't think

the sermon was very,

I wasn't that impressed,

I didn't think

it was very good

and,

but

in my self-righteousness

and in my arrogance,

I told myself

that's a terrible sermon

and I told,

I gave myself

all these reasons

why I thought

it was so bad.

He didn't do this

and didn't do this

and didn't do this

and he should have done this.

Now,

truth be told,

I might have taken

a different approach,

that's truth,

but my self-righteousness,

my arrogance

was very judgmental.

And then what happened

in the next couple of months,

I happened to have

two conversations

with two different people

where this church

and the approaching

came up in the conversation.

And so the very humble person

that I am

decided to,

tell this person

what I thought.

And so I said,

I listened to their sermon

and I didn't think

they were very good at all

and these were the reasons,

A, B, C, D.

Now,

if I'm honest,

at the time

that that was happening,

I think the Holy Spirit

is probably at work

in my heart,

saying,

Kevin,

this is not honoring me,

this is not good.

But I quickly shut that out

because I didn't want

to listen to him

because I wanted

to feel better

about myself.

Until a few months later,

I read a book

by an English pastor

from 300 years ago

called Richard Baxter.

And in this book,

he talks about

how proud ministers can be,

pastors can be.

And he gives a whole lot

of things

and he says,

in fact,

pastors can be so proud

that sometimes

they'll even speak badly

about other pastors

to make themselves

feel better about themselves.

And when I read that,

I was absolutely devastated.

I remember lying

in my bed at night

just weeping

at the realization

of who I was

and what I'd done.

That another pastor

in the city

that I could go

and talk behind his back

and slander him

to make myself

feel better

about myself.

And so,

over the next few weeks,

I had to call

those two people

that I had conversations with

and say,

I'm so sorry

that I included you

in my sin.

Won't you please

forgive me

and I need to make it right.

And then I had to

have a very awkward coffee

with this pastor

and sit across the table,

tears streaming down my face

and say,

I'm so sorry

for what I've done.

This is what I've done

and this is what

I've said about you.

And please,

will you forgive me?

I don't want to be

that kind of person.

Now,

to be honest,

on the one hand,

it wasn't an easy thing to do.

I wasn't looking forward to it.

Part of me wanted

to just confess to Jesus

in my room

and get on with it

and just leave it there.

But I knew

that I couldn't hold

on to my pride.

I couldn't hold on

to my honor

and repent honestly

at the same time.

And so part of me

didn't want to do it.

But on the other hand,

if I'm honest,

I couldn't wait to do it.

And the reason was

because my awareness

of my sin

was like a weight

on my shoulders.

It had become

disgusting in my mouth.

And as I saw

the wonder of Jesus

and the beauty of truth

and the horror

of my sin,

what I once enjoyed

putting down

somebody else

and I now

saw as disgusting

and what I once

loathed or hated,

the idea of me

being humbled,

suddenly looked

beautiful

and liberating

liberating

and freeing.

And so as I

sat down with him,

tears streaming

down my face,

telling him what I'd done,

asking him to forgive me,

I felt free.

I felt liberated.

It was the most

beautiful thing.

Now friends,

I tell you that

not because I'm a hero

that's got it right.

I tell you that

because I'm a sinner

that gets it wrong

time and time

and time again.

But I tell you that

because the more

I grow as a Christian,

the more I realize

how sinful I am

and the more beautiful

God's grace looks

and the more liberating

and wonderful

repentance looks.

And I remember

the words of

John Newton

who was a former

slave trader.

He said this,

the older I get

my memory is fading

but two things

I remember,

I am a great sinner

and Christ is a great

savior.

Charles Spurgeon

said this,

we spoke about earlier,

repentance is the discovery

of the evil of sin.

It's a grieving

that we've committed it

and it's a resolution

to forsake it.

It's a change of mind

so deep

and so practical

that it causes you

to hate what you once loved

and to love

what you once hate.

And we see this

in our passage today.

In our passage

that we read

we actually see an example

of genuine repentance

and example of

fraudulent repentance.

Look at verse 5 and 6

with me

for an example

of real repentance.

John is preaching,

he's crying in the wilderness,

repent for the kingdom

of heaven is here.

And then verse 5

says this,

when Jerusalem

and all Judea

and all the region

about the Jordan

were going out to him

and they were baptized

by him

in the river Jordan

confessing their sins.

So,

what does real repentance

look like?

Well the first thing we see

involves confessing

their sins.

Now the passage,

it seems like

they weren't just

confessing their sins

to themselves

or to Jesus,

they were actually

confessing it to John

or maybe to one another.

They were coming to John

saying,

John,

can I be honest?

This is what's happened.

This is what I've done.

This is where I've gone

my own way.

And John says,

hey,

you confessed your sin.

Wonderful brother.

Let's put that right.

And he stands with him.

Friends,

one of the marks

of genuine repentance

is that we cannot

hold on to our honor,

hold on to our pride,

and repent honestly

at the same time.

Genuine repentance

means such a deep

and radical hatred

for what once

was part of our lives,

what we once enjoyed,

that we now are

willing to lose face,

even lose honor

in order to forsake it.

Remember,

Israel here

is an honor and shame culture

just as much as Hong Kong.

They were very concerned

about saving face,

about not damaging

the family name,

the family reputation,

but their eyes are open

to seeing what

they once were doing.

And they come to John,

they say,

John,

I want to come clean.

This is what's happened.

It involves confession of sin.

But what's more,

look at what happens here.

They get baptized.

Now the word baptism

means to immerse

or to dunk

or to drown something

in water.

It's a public picture

or demonstration

of what happens

when someone becomes

a Christian.

So here are these people,

they come to John

and they say,

John,

this is what we've done.

We want to be put

right with him.

And John says,

let's baptize you.

Let's immerse you

in water as a picture

that your old life,

your old disposition,

your old orientation

is dead

and buried

and in the grave.

And as you come up,

it's a picture

of your new life.

You've changed direction.

You were this person,

you're now this person.

You were this person,

you're now alive

and a new person again.

It's a radical picture

of so completely

turning away

from the old life

of self-righteousness

and self-sufficiency,

wanting to be

their own God,

that they make

a public picture

saying,

that old life

is dead.

I'm a new person

in Christ.

You see that?

Friends,

let me ask you

this question.

What do you think

our church

would look like?

What do you think

our CGs

would look like

if we were a community

marked by genuine repentance?

I'll tell you

what it won't look like.

It won't look like

a group of people

that are always

putting their best foot forward.

It won't look like

a church where

we all pretend

that we've got it

all together.

Because friends,

we don't have it

all together.

We're broken.

We're sinners.

But you know

what I think

it will look like?

I think it'll look like

a community

of gentleness,

a community

of grace,

a community

of forgiveness.

Count intuitively,

it'll look like

a community

full of non-judgmentalism

because we all

know that we're broken.

There's no room

for us to be judgmental

and look down

our nose at others.

I think it'll be

a community

that is marked

by unbelievable

humility

and sincerity.

I think it'll be

a community

that's marked

by tears.

Tears of sadness

at the horror of sin,

but tears of joy

at restoration

and healing

and repentance.

And I think it'll be

marked by

supernatural power,

supernatural life,

and supernatural freedom.

Because in Acts chapter 3,

Acts 3 · chapter mention

when Peter's preaching,

he says,

repent,

repent,

repent,

repent,

brothers and sisters,

turn back,

that your sins

may be blotted out,

that times of refreshing

and times of healing

may come upon you.

Friends,

that's what happens

when we turn to God.

There's a supernatural freedom

and refreshing

and life

that is given.

May we be such a church

as that.

But then we see here

in verse 7 to 9,

look at me,

look with me

at this passage.

We see an example

of fake repentance

or religious repentance.

Matthew says that

when many,

when they saw,

when John saw

the Pharisees

and the Sadducees

coming to his baptism,

he said to them,

you brood of vipers,

who warned you

to flee from the wrath

to come?

Keep fruit

and bearing with repentance.

And don't say to yourselves,

oh, we find

we've got Abraham

as our father.

God is able to

raise up children

of Abraham

from these very stones.

Now what's going on here

is that John,

this rough around

the edges guy,

is getting a bit

of a crowd.

People are starting

to hear about him

and people are leaving

the city to go out

to the wilderness

to listen to him.

Now the religious leaders,

they can't just stay

in the city

while everyone's

flocking out

to go and listen

to what John is saying.

They better get

to the picture

and go and find out

what's happening.

And so they go out

into the wilderness

and they're watching

what's happening

and they're seeing

their entire congregations

are confessing

their sins.

They're getting baptized.

They're rejoicing

and celebrating in God.

And the religious leaders

are thinking,

gee, it's a little embarrassing

if we're just standing

on the side watching.

We better get involved.

But they don't want

to get involved.

And so they shuffle along

and they say,

just grin and bear it.

Join the queue.

Get baptized.

It'll just take five minutes

and we'll be back

on our way.

And so they shuffle along

and they join the queue

and they say,

yes, we too want

to get baptized, John.

But John sees

through the hypocrisy.

And so what does he do?

He says,

you guys are being deceptive.

You like snakes, right?

Not a very complimentary

thing to say

to the religious leaders.

He says,

who warned you

to flee from the wrath

that's coming?

Now, I was being sarcastic

because they're not really

fleeing from anything.

They're not,

they're just putting up

a pretense, right?

Friends,

religious repentance,

by that I mean

repentance which is not

born out of

seeing the horror of sin

and the wonder

of the gospel.

religious repentance

is always marked

by three things.

By selfishness,

by self-righteousness

and by defensiveness.

In other words,

we find a way

to justify ourselves.

We tell ourselves

there's a reason

why we don't really

need to repent

or why we fine.

Look at what they do.

They say,

oh, it's fine.

We are children of Abraham.

Because we are good Jews,

it'll be fine.

We don't need

to really repent.

Think about what Adam

and Eve did in the garden, right?

God comes to Adam

and says,

Adam, what happened here?

And he says,

Eve made me do it.

Eve, what happened here?

The snake made me do it.

What happens when

Samuel comes to Saul

in the Old Testament?

Saul says,

oh, well,

I was going to wait for you

but you took so long

I just couldn't wait

any longer.

Self-righteousness,

selfishness,

defensiveness.

And that's what we see

happening here.

John says that

if they genuinely repent,

there'll be fruit of it.

There'll be a humility.

There'll be a brokenness.

There'll be a distaste

for sin

and a longing for truth.

There'll be a gentleness

and a sincerity,

a delighting in the things of God.

Except rather than forsaking

their pride

and their honor,

here these people

are holding on to their pride.

They're holding on to their honor.

They are saving face.

They don't want to look

disrespectful before others.

Rather than letting God

be their God,

they still want to be

their own God.

And the consequences

are disastrous.

Because look at verse 10.

John says,

even now the axe

is laid at the root

of the tree.

Every tree that does

not bear fruit

is cut down

and it's thrown

into the fire.

Friends,

can I say this

as gently as possible?

It is possible

for us to

deceive our bosses.

It is possible

for us to deceive

the government officials.

It's even possible

for us to deceive

our spouses.

But friends,

we cannot dodge God.

God will never be able

to deceive him.

God looks into

the reality of things.

And John gives

a stern warning here.

He says,

the axe is ready.

It's laying weight.

And every tree

that doesn't bear fruit

is going to be thrown

ultimately

in the fire.

Now,

why is this

all so important?

Why are we making

such a big deal

of this?

Well,

up until now,

everything John

has been saying

has been really important.

Remember,

this is central

not only to John,

this is central

to Jesus

and the New Testament

and in fact

the whole Bible.

It's really important

but

it's not the most

important thing.

In other words,

in some ways,

repentance

is so important

but in other ways,

it's just the doorway.

It's just the house keys.

It's just the entrance hall

into what is really important.

In other words,

it's absolutely vital

that we practice

what Jesus and the Bible

say when they call us

to repentance

but this mustn't become

the focus of the church

as if we go around

saying to our brothers

and sisters,

have you repented today,

brother?

Have you repented today?

It's so important

but it's not the most

important thing.

How do we know?

Well,

two things that John

tells us here.

Look at what he says

in verse 2.

Repent.

Why?

Why?

For the king

and his kingdom

are here.

Okay?

Secondly,

look at what he says

in verse 11.

He says,

I baptize you with water

for repentance

but there is one

coming after me,

he who is mightier

than I,

who is infinitely

more worthy

than I am

and he will baptize you

with the Holy Spirit

and with fire.

You see why repentance

is so important?

Because it's the gateway,

it's the entrance hall,

it's the house keys

to the ultimate thing

which is knowing

and loving

and savoring

and walking

with the king,

with King Jesus.

Friends,

the story of the Bible

is not about how

religious

we should be.

It's about how

wonderful King Jesus is.

So great and glorious

is this king

that he's come

not to introduce

a new religious system,

not to introduce

a religion,

he's come not to even

make us feel bad

about ourselves,

he's come to bring us

into his family,

he's come to welcome us

into his kingdom.

Friends,

every human being

is born into sin.

We cannot help but sin.

We are children

of Adam and Eve

and our heart's disposition

is against God

and towards ourselves.

We've rebelled against God,

we've wanted to be

our own God

and we've hurt ourselves,

we've hurt one another,

we've dishonored God

and God could have said,

fine,

have things your way

and the consequence

is eternal fire.

But God didn't do that.

He came,

He came to rescue us,

He came to deliver us,

He came to save us,

He came to pardon our sin.

Not only that,

He came to bring us

back to His family,

He came to make rebels

His children,

He came to make sinners

like me and you

sons and daughters.

Christ the King

came to rescue us

from the gutter of sin

and to bring us back

into His family

with God as our King

and we as His beloved children.

And John says,

I baptize you with water

for repentance

but there is one

coming after me

and He is what it's all about

and He will baptize you

with fire and the Holy Spirit.

He says,

this one who's coming,

He's infinitely mightier

than I could ever be.

This one who's coming,

He's infinitely more worthy

than I could ever be.

You might know this

but in John's day,

a disciple,

the way a disciple

treated his rabbi

is the same

that a way a slave

treats his master.

They were expected

to do the same thing.

What a slave does

for his master,

a disciple does

for his rabbi

except one thing.

There's one thing

that a disciple

never had to do

for their rabbi

and that was carry

their smelly shoes.

That was considered

one level too low,

too humiliating.

John says this,

so worthy,

so glorious,

so beautiful

is this King

that even if he were

to ask me

to carry his smelly shoes,

I wouldn't even consider

myself worthy enough

to be after the task.

John is saying

what he's been saying

all along.

I am nothing

compared to this one.

Who he is

and what he does

is infinitely more important

than who I am

and what I do.

I am the voice.

He is the King.

I am temporary.

He is eternal.

I must decrease.

He must increase.

I am man.

He is God.

And friends,

that's why repentance

is so important.

Not so that we can be

super Christians

who show how serious

and how religious

and how dedicated we are,

but so that we can know

the King.

We can walk in relationship

with the King.

Friends,

baptism and repentance

are important,

but in and of themselves,

they are nothing.

They are utterly meaningless

unless they lead you

to knowing,

walking with,

delighting,

and enjoying,

and glorifying

in God the King

and Christ your Savior.

Fiona read it to us earlier,

but Psalm 51,

David has sinned.

He's committed adultery

with Bathsheba.

He's then gone

and murdered Bathsheba's husband

so that he can marry her,

and he's made aware

of his sin.

And he doesn't just say,

oh God,

I'm such a sinner.

Please put things right again.

The thing that David misses

is the sweet communion

with the living God.

What grieves his heart

is that relationship

with the King,

with Christ,

with the glorious

and infinitely worthy God

has been broken.

And so listen to his prayer.

He says,

God,

let me hear joy

and gladness again.

Let the bones

that have been broken

rejoice.

God,

do not hide

your face from me

any longer.

Create in me

a clean heart,

God.

Renew what is right

within me.

Do not cast me away

from your presence

any longer.

And do not take

your Holy Spirit

from me.

This is what John says.

John says,

I've come to baptize you

for repentance,

but there is one

coming after me,

and he will baptize you

with the Holy Spirit

and with fire.

But what does it mean?

Well,

it means a whole bunch

of things,

but two things in particular.

It means being immersed,

being dunked,

being soaked,

being drowned

in the life

and the presence

of the eternal God.

Remember,

that's what baptism means.

It means to drown something.

John says that

when Jesus baptizes you

in the Holy Spirit,

he will so radically

pour out his Holy Spirit

upon your life

that no area

of your life

will be unaffected.

Think about

if you get baptized,

right?

You can't get baptized

in the pool outside

and say,

just,

I don't want my right side

of my body

to be wet,

please,

just the left side

of my body,

right?

Friends,

when the Holy Spirit,

when you get baptized

in the Holy Spirit,

God touches

every area of your life,

your financial life,

your sexual life,

your vocational life,

your relational life,

your emotional life.

Jesus says

that when he comes,

he will douse you,

he will drown you

in the life

and the power

of the living God.

John Piper put it like this,

baptizing with the Holy Spirit

and baptizing water

is the difference

between a lightning bolt

and a firefly.

It's the difference

between a real person

and a photograph,

between a marriage

and a wedding ring,

between a real life birth

and the delivery ward

and a birth certificate.

And that's what Jesus is saying,

that when he comes

with repentance,

leads us to this encounter

that changes our lives forever

with the living God.

But then secondly,

he says,

I'll baptize you

with fire.

It means we'll be filled

with God's purifying,

cleansing power.

It means God

actually empowering us

to turn from our sin

which we hate

and empowering us

to turn to life

which we love.

Turning from sin

which kills us

and full of darkness

to life and purity

and lives of holiness.

Friends,

Christians are not only

those that are saved

by the blood of Jesus

for heaven.

Christians are those

who are made ready

for heaven

by the Spirit of Christ.

And when God

comes on his people,

that's the one

that he changes us.

He makes us more like Jesus.

He baptizes us

with his purifying fire.

John said this,

I come to baptize you

with water

but there is one

coming after me

who will baptize you.

He will baptize you

with the Holy Spirit

and with fire.

And that's why

he calls us

to repentance.

Now,

let's land with this.

I want to land with

three very practical

applications

last three minutes.

Application number one.

If you're here this morning

and you're not a Christian,

maybe you're still

a spiritual seeker,

maybe you're trying

to make sense

of the Bible

and you're not yet

convinced about Jesus.

This is the first

application for you.

Can I gently

and yet very clearly

urge you

and implore you

to take seriously

John's words

and Jesus' words

to come to him

in repentance?

Friends,

turning from sin

and turning to the living God

is the only way

to salvation

and it's the only way

to knowing

and encountering

the one true living God.

your giving money

to the poor

won't help you a bit.

Your religious observation

and dedication

won't help you a bit.

Your moral

and ethical endeavors

won't help you

a single bit.

The only way

to come to know

the one true living God

is to come to him

in sincerity,

humility,

and repentance.

And the good news is

he longs to give it to you.

That's why Jesus came.

He loves you so much

that he wants to give it to you.

He loves you so much

he died on the cross

to give it to you.

Friends,

come to him

this morning.

Let today be the day

that he turns your life around.

Let today be the day

that he baptizes you

with power

on the Holy Spirit.

Friends,

maybe some of us here

this morning

think we're Christians,

but maybe we're not.

Can I ask you

to observe yourself?

Can I ask you

to really examine

whether you truly are saved?

Test the genuineness

of your repentance?

Is it marked

by selfishness

and self-righteousness?

Is it marked

by defensiveness

and excuses?

Friends,

come to him.

Come to Jesus.

Come to the one

who died on the cross

for you,

but come to the one

who can give you

true life

and salvation.

That's the first application.

Second application

is this.

For those of us

that are Christians,

do we think

that repentance

is something

we did once upon a time

and we've moved on from?

Or do we realize

it's a daily endeavor?

Martin Luther,

the great reforming monk

said it like this.

He said,

the entire life

of believers

should be marked

by repentance.

In other words,

the life of a Christian

is a life

that's continually marked

by turning from one

and turning to the other.

Turning from death

and turning to life.

Turning from me

and turning towards God.

Turning from self-sufficiency

and turning to God dependency.

Turning to align myself

with the truth

of who God is.

Friends,

every day we should wake up

and say,

Christ,

have your way in my life.

Friends,

have you repented recently?

For those of us

that are Christians,

let us be a mark

of our life.

And then thirdly

and finally,

for those of us

that are Christians,

let us prepare the way

like John the Baptist.

Friends,

the cities of Asia

are filled

with literally

billions of people

that do not know

the life-giving water

of the living God.

Our cities are filled

with billions of people

who have never encountered

heaven and earth's true king.

Who have never come

to know the good news

of his rescue plan

for salvation.

Billions of people

who have never encountered

the life and the love

of Jesus.

They've never known

that his upside-down kingdom

is the true kingdom.

The everlasting kingdom.

The kingdom that never ends.

They've never met

the one who is infinitely mighty

and infinitely worthy.

Friends,

our cities are full of people

that have never been baptized

in his love

and the Holy Spirit

and with fire.

Friends,

Jesus says he stands

ready to separate

those that are his

from those that are not.

He sends us out

with good news

that the king

and the kingdom

are at hand

and therefore,

we graciously

and gently

and winsomely

but urgently

call our brothers

and sisters,

our fellow Hong Kongers,

to come

and encounter

King Jesus.

John said this,

I baptize you with water

for the repentance of sin

but there is one

coming after me,

the true king.

He is infinitely

mightier than I,

he is infinitely

more worthy

and holy than I

and he will baptize you

with power,

with the Holy Spirit

and with fire.

Let's come to him

now.