Listen here.

Matthew 3:1-12

¹ In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” ³ 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 paths straight.’”

⁴ Now John wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶ and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ “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. ¹² 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 unquenchable fire.”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

You didn’t think you would get through Advent without hearing from John the Baptizer, did you? God promised to send His messenger preparing the way before Him. Well, here he is – proclaiming the coming of the King, removing every obstacle, and making every path straight. The leveling and excavating is under way.

They say, “You are what you eat.” John’s diet of locusts has a locust effect, but John’s diet of honey also has a sweet effect too. John preaches, “Repent. Repent for the reign of heaven is at hand.”

Scripturally, the call to repent is much more than we often think it is. So, here is the broadest definition I can give to the command, “Repent,” ready?

Repentance is believing what God says about your sin. God says two things about your sin. First, God says that your sin separates you from Him, that your sin is punishable, that your sin is damnable. But God also says that your sin is forgiven because of what Christ has done.

Because we are sinners, we mostly think of the first part of repentance.

Repent. Turn around. Repent. Stop doing what you were doing – living by the desires of your flesh. Repent. Everything that you are pursuing, everything that you think is so important, everything that the world chases after, it will all be thrown into the fire and consumed. Repent. You cannot find paradise and peace with God by searching. Repent. Bad trees do not and cannot bear good fruit. Repent.

As sinners, none of us want to hear this. We would rather move beyond this message of repentance. We get tired of being hacked at and chopped away by the Law. But, in this life, you never move beyond your need for the Law because you never stop sinning.

You need God’s Law to continue its work in you because as the axe of the Law flies, we are all driven, we are toppled to lean on Christ and the mercy of God.

This is the second, and most important part of repentance. Repentance, turning away from trust in yourself and your own works and efforts leads you to trust in what Jesus has done for you.

Through the Gospel, the Holy Spirit creates faith in you so that you turn away from your sin and to God’s mercy. And God’s mercy knows no end because of the holy, innocent, and bitter sufferings of Jesus.

God hasn’t unleashed the full fury the axe of the Law to damn and destroy you in your sin. Instead, God chipped, swung, and hacked all of His wrath on Jesus.  The very Jesus who is the Lamb of God that John points you to – the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29). This very Jesus is the one who is the propitiation for your sins and the sins of the whole world (1 Jn. 2:2). This very Jesus is the one who knew no sin but became sin for you (2 Cor. 5:21).

The voice of John still cries out in the wilderness because it cries to you who are in the wilderness of your sin.

Sinner, you are the bad tree who bears bad, rotten fruit which is really no fruit at all. But because you believe in Christ, you are now the tree that bears the fruit of the Spirit. You receive what God gives to you. You now bear the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Brothers and sisters, repent. Believe what God says about your sins. Believe that your sins are evil and damnable. But don’t stop there. Believe that what Jesus has done is for you. Believe that Jesus suffered God’s wrath, punishment, and damnation in your place. And let that repentance cause you to bear fruit. Fruit of love toward God and love for your neighbor.

Let the axe of the Law fly. Jesus has suffered in your place. Let the axe fly. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.