Title: Repentance and Heaven / Matthew 3: 1-2
Content Christianity can be expressed as a religion of repentance in one word.
That is why, as in today's text, John the Baptist said repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and Jesus also said, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
In this way, repentance was always proclaimed before the gospel was preached, and repentance had to precede the reception of the gospel.
- Definition of Repentance -
People who lead a religious life will always hear this word of repentance, and I know that continuous repentance is required until we enter the kingdom of heaven.
In fact, we can see that we are beings who must repent and live every day.
Nevertheless, we can see that there are many cases of repentance without knowing the true meaning of repentance or of becoming a formal and habitual repentance.
The Greek word for repentance, "metanoeo", means "to change one's mind".
Man is a being who is governed by thoughts. Your actions are determined by your thoughts.
Therefore, correcting your thinking is changing your life. It cannot be translated only to mean change of mind, but it is only when we change our mind that we can bear fruit worthy of repentance.
Here we can see that the fruit symbolizes life.
Therefore, we must repent so that a life worthy of the word of the Lord can be opened.
Through thorough repentance, we must repent until our unclean thoughts are washed away and our wrong lives are corrected.
We need to know that repentance is not just staying in regret or remorse, but is a complete turning from wrongdoing.
As Isaiah 55:7 says, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous let his thoughts, and let them turn to the LORD.
Without turning around like this, the Jews internally thought that Abraham was our ancestor.
The idea that Abraham is our ancestor is that they will inherit the kingdom of heaven because they are Abraham's descendants.
Even in the Jewish teachings, if you say that there is not a single circumcised person who will not get the kingdom of heaven, you can understand the meaning of what they think of as descendants of Abraham.
To these Jews, John the Baptist is calling for repentance.
The Jews not only had to turn from their wrong thinking, but they also had to turn away from the formal and customary way the Lord judged the Pharisees and scribes.
I see that even in this day and age, the wrong thoughts and ideas that John the Baptist feared are still prevalent among Christians.
In other words, those who do not bear fruit worthy of repentance think that they will become Abraham's descendants and occupy the kingdom of heaven by the fact that I now believe in the merits of the cross and attend church.
This idea is so entrenched in Christians today that it seldom changes.
This cry of John the Baptist worked for some people, but most of them rejected John the Baptist because they could not get rid of their stereotypes and vain pride.
Even today, even today, Christians who do not bear fruit worthy of repentance cry out that it is the only way to become a true descendant of Abraham by producing fruits worthy of repentance. How many will they be?
Rather, they look at it from a strange point of view and criticize it as a legal cry of those who have misunderstood the gospel, and they can tell us to just accept the gospel, the good news, without thinking too much about it.
Their stereotypes are stronger than those of the Jews at the time of Jesus and John the Baptist, and they rarely listen to John the Baptist's cry today, which says that when we bear fruit worthy of repentance, we become descendants of Abraham. We should not become the descendants of that worthless faith, that is, Abraham, who can be made with stones, which is very unfortunate.
When the Apostle Peter received grace and began to preach, many people groaned, brethren, what should we do? But Peter told them to repent and believe in Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38).
Here we hear Peter's important answer.
The truth is that you must repent and believe in Jesus.
Now let's think about the content of repentance.
Repentance in the Bible can be said to be devotion to God and Christ in one word. In other words, those who have walked their own way are going the way the Lord wants them to.
From one's own glory to the glory of God, from the way of the flesh to the way of the spirit, from the life of following the devil to the life of following the Holy Spirit, the life of following the world and following the Lord.
Therefore, their thoughts and hearts are very pure, and they come to live with pure and pure thoughts and hearts as if they were children.
What lust can the repentant have, and can the vanities of the world take place?
They really live or die, but they always want Christ to be exalted. So, you will come to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength, and all your life, and you will love your neighbor as yourself.
Only through those who repent, empty their spirits, and make them poor will the Lord's new commandment, the first commandment, and the great commandment of the law and the prophets be fulfilled.
Christian repentance is like this.
- Necessity of Repentance -
When we think about why we need to repent, there are many things.
I would like to stop talking in principle, such as because we are sinners or because we have no choice but to sin, and talk about it in a spiritual real world.
There is a parable in which the Lord has clearly taught the truth that we must repent and accept the gospel.
In other words, new wine must be put in new wineskins, and pieces of raw linen cannot be placed on old clothes. If you put new wine in old wineskins, the wine is thrown away, and the wineskins are also thrown away.
He was also saying that if you put a piece of raw linen on new clothes, you will throw away both if you do it on old clothes.
What does this mean?
In other words, if you accept the gospel without repenting, you will throw away both.
Pieces of new wine and raw linen point to the Gospel. Also, the old skins and old clothes refer to our old self, the person before we repented.
New skins and new clothes refer to a repentant heart, and the Lord is emphasizing that only a repentant heart can contain the gospel and bear fruit.
Also in Matthew 7:6 it says, ?쏡o not give dogs anything holy, and do not throw pearls before pigs, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.
This also means that if pearls or holy things, that is, the gospel, are given to unrepentant dogs and pigs, it will only ruin the gospel.
The spirit goes against the flesh, and the flesh goes against the spirit.
God is a holy spirit.
It is only natural that we should receive this Holy One with a pure heart.
Isaiah 59:2-3 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, so that your hands are unclean with blood and your fingers with iniquity. ... As was said, the unrepentant state always leads to separation from God, and the failure to become one.
- Power of Repentance -
Our lives, born with sin and born as sinners, have no choice but to become slaves to sin, and because they have a sinful nature, they are easily compatible with sin.
Nevertheless, it is telling us to bear fruit that is acceptable in the sight of God.
Isn't it too harsh for the Lord, who knows our sinful nature and knows our constitution, to say these things to people?
Don't you think it's very difficult and seemingly impossible to accomplish?
That's right.
Truly, if we look only at our nature and constitution, it is considered too burdensome and only words that we cannot act on.
However, when we consider the principles of faith we believe and the power of the Lord, it is by no means such an impossibility.
Washing away our sins is not the blood of animals as in the Old Testament times, nor is it the water baptism that John the Baptist gave.
We are the religion of being washed with the precious blood of Christ and of being baptized with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 9:14 says, "How much more can the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God"?
These words are the words that explain that the blood of Christ is giving us a life worthy of repentance.
Only the blood of Christ can cleanse us of our filthy sins, and furthermore, it dissolves the deeply tainted nature of sin.
Isn't the writer of Hebrews logically explaining it?
The blood of animals also cleansed us from our sins, and the blood of Christ is not only for our past sins but also for making and renewing our nature so that we can serve the living God.
Also, we must remember that it is the fire of the Holy Spirit that burns us, so we can destroy even the evil and evil things of ours.
Therefore, when anyone experiences the blood of Christ, they turn from their evil ways, and when they receive the Holy Spirit, they become renewed.
The blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit make sinners righteous. This righteous person is not a doctrinal, justified righteous person, but a practical ability to make one righteous in life.
So how many have been renewed by the blood and Spirit of Christ?
The great forefathers of faith, such as Peter, Paul, Augustine, and Kim Ik-doo from Korea, had unique weaknesses in their disposition, but were washed with the precious blood and renewed by the Holy Spirit to become new people and to bear fruit worthy of God's sight.
In the past, they offered their members to lawlessness and remained in uncleanness and lawlessness, but now they sacrificed their members to righteousness and lived as servants of righteousness all their lives. Indeed, the blood of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit are transforming the proud into humility, the hard-hearted and hard-hearted, and transforming those who have gone down the path of debauchery into obedience and holiness.
If you look back on whether you are living a life worthy of repentance, and if we are still stained with sin, let us welcome you to the river of precious blood that flows before us with infinite power even during this time. Also, let us receive the Holy Spirit, which is always poured out on those who want it, as a gift, and move forward into a new life. In other words, let us lead a life worthy of repentance.
- Repentance and Heaven -
Now, as in today's title, we must remember that only those who repent and bear fruit, that is, those who bear fruit worthy of repentance, can possess the kingdom of heaven. Heaven has been proclaimed and given before us.
Those who repent and move on to a new life will possess the kingdom of heaven. Since the kingdom of heaven is also holy, it is given only to a repentant heart. It should be the life you are living in heaven right now. It is the Lord's corporation that those who possess and taste heaven on this earth can also possess the heaven in that heaven. A person who is far from heaven here cannot claim heaven there. Just as the kingdom of heaven is given to those who repent, those who bear worthy fruits will inherit the eternal kingdom of heaven. End.