Friday, February 6,
2015, 11:00 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Broken and Contrite.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Luke 3:1-20 (ESV).
Prepare the Way
In
the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being
governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip
tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of
Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came
to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region
around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of
sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The
voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare
the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every
valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made
low,
and
the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level
ways,
and
all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
John the Baptist, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, was called
of God, even before he was conceived, to prepare people’s hearts to receive Jesus
Christ. Isaiah, a Prophet of God, prophesied concerning him many years prior to
his birth, as is recorded in Isaiah 40:3-5. In Luke 1 we read the words the
angel Gabriel spoke to Zechariah concerning John. He would bring many of the
people of Israel back to the Lord, and he would turn the hearts of the
disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – “to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord.” Zechariah said of him, after he was born, that he would give the
Lord’s people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of God’s tender mercy. John proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins. Jesus also taught repentance for the forgiveness of sins
and so did the apostles.
Our salvation is and has always been about changed hearts and
lives. A straight path is the way of righteousness. Pride will be brought down.
The worship of false gods and idolatry of any kind will come crashing down, as
well. The emptiness in our hearts, which we have tried to fill with the junk of
this world, will be filled with the Holy Spirit and God’s presence - his grace,
mercy and peace. Those who are living for sin and self and are doing what is
evil in God’s eyes will have a change of heart and mind, and they will be
filled up with Christ’s righteousness and will walk in holiness in the power of
the Spirit within them. Our fears and anxieties and all our stressing over life
and feeling as though we have to make things happen will be overtaken by the
peace of God which transcends all human understanding.
It was always in God’s plan that our salvation would be about
us turning from sin, being transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God,
and following our Lord in obedience and in surrender to his will and purposes
for our lives – all in the power and working of the Spirit of God within us, as
we cooperate fully with that work (See: Ro. 6-8). This is true grace. If the
grace you received does not require repentance (turning from sin) and following
Christ in obedience, then it is a false grace, for true grace teaches us to say
“No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright
and godly lives in this present age while we wait for our Lord’s return (See:
Tit. 2:11-14). For Jesus Christ died so we would no longer live for ourselves
but for him who gave himself up for us (See: 2 Co. 5:15).
In Keeping With
Repentance
He
said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of
vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with
repentance. And do not begin 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.”
And
the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever
has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do
likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher,
what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are
authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he
said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false
accusation, and be content with your wages.”
A person who is called a “viper” is venomous (deadly or
toxic), vicious (nasty and cruel), and treacherous (untrustworthy, deceitful
and/or double-crossing). Evidently there were Jews in the crowd who had come to
be baptized, but not for the purpose of having changed hearts and minds, but
either for the purpose of an outward show or because they believed that
performing this ritual would somehow bring about their escape from God’s wrath.
In Matthew’s gospel it is recorded that these vipers were among some of the
Pharisees and Sadducees, who were known for their religious hypocrisy. They
liked to appear righteous on the outside, but inside their hearts were filled
with all kinds of wickedness. In other words, their intentions were not pure
and their motivations were not sincere.
There are many people today who may pray a prayer to receive
Christ because they want to escape hell and have the promise of heaven when
they die, but they never turn from their sin and they are convinced that God
requires nothing of them in the way of repentance or obedience. They may not be
vipers, though some may, but the result is still the same. No transformation of
heart and mind has taken place. They are not born anew of the Spirit of God. They
have merely gone through a religious exercise, but nothing has really changed
other than perhaps they may now attend a religious service once or twice a week
and they may clean up some of the bad things they used to do. Jesus did not
save us, though, just so our old lives would be a little cleaner and look nicer
on the outside. He died to radically change us from the inside out and to make
us completely new creations in Christ Jesus.
When we are saved from our sins, we die to our old lives of
living for sin and self, we are changed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God,
and we now have new lives in Christ, “created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness” (See: Eph. 4:17-24). Our lives are no longer our
own to be lived how we want, for we were bought with the price of Jesus’ blood
shed on the cross for our sins. Our lives are now his to be lived for him and
for his purposes and for his glory. How we live our lives from this point on
should bear the marks of Jesus, i.e. it should be evident that we have turned
from sin to now walk in the Spirit, no longer living to gratify our sinful
desires. Instead, our lives should bear evidence that we are walking in Christ’s
holiness and righteousness, though not in absolute perfection.
With the Holy Spirit
As
the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts
concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, John answered them all,
saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the
strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing
floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable
fire.”
So
with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. But Herod the
tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and
for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he
locked up John in prison.
John was not the Savior of the people. His baptism could not
produce lives transformed of the Holy Spirit, filled with the Spirit, and
indwelt by the presence of Almighty God. His baptism could not produce lives
born anew of the Spirit of God. He was just a servant of the Lord, a messenger
sent to prepare the way for Christ and to prepare people’s hearts to receive
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the one who will cleanse, wash and purify our
hearts with the Holy Spirit when we accept God’s invitation to his great
salvation by God’s grace, through faith. This faith, as taught by John, Jesus
and the apostles, involves us turning from our lives of sin and self, being
changed in heart and mind, and walking in the Spirit in Christ’s righteousness
and holiness. When we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives,
we are filled with the Spirit of God who then serves as our counselor, guide,
teacher, and comforter, and who gives us the power and strength to live godly
and holy lives.
So, if you have bought into a false grace, and you have
believed that simply praying a prayer gets you your escape from hell and the
promise of heaven but that you are not required to repent of your sins or to
obey Christ’s commandments, then I pray you will examine the scriptures
carefully, for that is not what they teach. In fact, in the book of 1 John we
read that if we say we have fellowship with God but we continue to walk in sin,
i.e. to live for sin and self, we are liars and the truth is not in us. It also
says that if we say we know or we love God, but we do not keep Christ’s
commandments (his word – his teachings and his instructions to us) that we are
liars, and we don’t really know God. Obedience (not in sinless perfection) to
what the Word teaches us is required for salvation (See: Ro. 6:16; Heb. 5:9; 1 Jn.
2:3-5; 3:24; 5:3; 2 Jn. 1:6; 1 Pet. 1:2), as is repentance (See: Acts 3:19-20; 17:29-31; 20:21; 26:20b; II Co. 7:10; II
Tim 2:25-26; II Pet 3:9).
Broken and Contrite / An Original Work /
May 13, 2012
I come before You,
Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and
crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I
implore You,
Heal my broken heart,
I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord,
my master,
You are the King of my
heart.
Lord, purify my heart
within me;
Sanctify me, whole
within.
I come before You,
Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and
crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I
implore You,
Heal my broken heart,
I pray.
Oh, Lord, I long to
obey fully
The words You’ve
spoken through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me
grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to
obey.
Father God, my heart’s
desire,
Won’t You set my heart
on fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart
of all that hinders
My walk with You, now
I pray.
Oh, Lord, I long to
obey fully
The words You’ve
spoken through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me
grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to
obey.
Oh, Jesus, Savior,
full of mercy,
My heart cries out for
understanding.
I want to follow You
in all ways,
Never straying from
Your truth.
Holy Spirit, come in
power,
Fill me with Your love
today.
Lord, mold and make
me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through
me, I pray.
Oh, Jesus, Savior,
full of mercy,
My heart cries out for
understanding.
I want to follow You
in all ways,
Never straying from
Your truth.
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