Liturgy for Sunday PM Confession of Dependence and Divine Greeting Ps.92:1,3,6 Profession of faith Hy.1 Prayer for illumination and blessing Ministry of the Word Reading: Luke 3:1-20 Ps.130:2,3,4 Text: LD 33 Prepare your heart for the coming of the Lord. We ll consider: 1. The call to repent of your sins. 2. The call to bear fruit in your lives. Hy.15 Offering Ps.51:4,6 Thanksgiving and intercessory prayer Hy.76 Divine blessing Songs for worship taken from the 2014 version of the Book of Praise In worship we use the English Standard Version (ESV) Rev. Joe Poppe 1
Singing: Ps.92:1,3,6; Hy.1; Ps.130:2,3,4; Hy.15; Ps.51:4,6; Hy.76 Reading: Luke 3:1-20 Text: LD33 Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, In ancient times when a king was going to visit a city, he would send someone before him to announce his coming. That person served as a herald. He would go around the city telling all the people, The king is coming. He will be here any day. So clean up your lives. Make sure that you are all in obedience to the king s commands so that you will not be punished when he arrives. The herald would also serve as a city inspector. He would tell the people to get rid of all the garbage lying around and to sweep the streets. He would tell them to fix the roads, making them smooth and straight. They needed to be prepared; to get ready for the king s coming. In Luke 3 we read of John the Baptist serving as the herald of the coming Messiah. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke tells us that this was in fulfilment of Isaiah, The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. (Luk.3:4). In Isaiah s prophecy we read of how the people were called to prepare for the coming king by making the roads level and straight. Isaiah writes about how all flesh will see the salvation of God. (Luk.3:7). John s task as herald or forerunner of Christ was to prepare the people s hearts for the coming of the Christ. They were looking for a political Messiah to redeem them from subjection to the Romans. Yet Christ was coming for a different reason. He was coming to redeem his people from their sins, and to deliver them from slavery to Satan. John needed to prepare the people for their coming king by preaching a baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. How does this relate to us? Well, beloved, just as the people in John s day were awaiting the coming of the Messiah, so we long for the second coming of Christ on the clouds of heaven. We need to be ready for the Lord s return. What is necessary for us to be prepared to receive him? The exact same thing as was necessary for God s people in the days of John the Baptist. We need to repent of our sins and prepare our hearts for his coming. In the Form for the Baptism of Infants we confess that we and our children are conceived and born in sin and are therefore by nature children of wrath so that we cannot enter the kingdom of God unless we are born again. This is based on Jesus teaching in John 3, where he told Nicodemus, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. (Joh.3:3). We need to undergo conversion in order to enter God s kingdom. We need to be spiritually reborn to share in the blessings of the coming king. Lord s Day 33 deals with the true repentance or conversion of man. I preach to you the Word of God under the following theme: Prepare your heart for the coming of the Lord. We ll consider: 1. The call to repent of your sins. 2. The call to bear fruit in your lives. John the Baptist came as a herald for the coming Messiah. Luke 1:15 tells us that he was filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother s womb. It is striking to see what happened when Mary came to visit her during her pregnancy. When she greeted Elizabeth, the baby leaped in her womb (Luk.1:41). Elizabeth explains, as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. (Luk.1:44). Thus we see that Elizabeth s baby John reacts to the presence of the Messiah whom he would later serve as herald. At the end of Luke 1 we are told about how John grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the wilderness until the days of his public appearance to Israel. Matthew 3 gives some more details about John. It says, Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. (Mat.3:4). John was different from most of the people of his time. He was considered strange, and that is why people talked about him all over Israel. Rev. Joe Poppe 2
Yet the main thing that John did was preach. The gospels describe him as a man of action. His teaching was not like what anyone was accustomed to. John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Luk.3:3). He was getting people ready for salvation. This fulfilled the prophecy made about him by the angel Gabriel in the temple. He said, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God and he will make ready for the Lord a people prepared. (Luk.1:15-17). John issued a strong call for reformation. He called people to repent of their sins, and to turn their hearts back to the Lord, the God of Israel. God was going to work among them in wondrous ways. He was about to send the Messiah. But they had to prepare his hearts for their coming. There was only one way for people to do that. They needed to repent of their sins. John s preaching of a baptism for the repentance of sins is often misunderstood. John s baptism is not the same as the baptism Jesus instituted before he ascended into heaven. Jesus baptism was a sign and seal of the promises our Triune God makes to us. John s baptism was different; it was an expression of repentance. People were baptized as a sign of their sincere desire to turn away from their sins. It was a confirmation of their commitment to reform their lives. That is why in Acts 19 Paul re-baptized some Christians in Ephesus who had only received John s baptism. John was not telling the people that in order to get to heaven they needed to repent and believe. He was not preaching an evangelistic message. He was not talking about salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Remember, John was preparing the way for the Messiah. He was straightening out crooked roads and making the rough places into a level pathway. He was telling people to clean up the mess they have made of their lives. The New Testament uses a variety of different words to speak about forgiveness. We need to take note of the meaning of the word John uses when he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The word translated forgiveness literally means to be sent away; to be released, or to be set free. It is used in Luke 4:18 to speak of how the Messiah came to provide release for the captives, and to set prisoners free. You see, beloved, sin is wrapped around us like chains or heavy ropes. By nature we are enslaved; we are in bondage to sin. Very often that can be a reality in our lives, even as Christians. The release or freedom spoken about here is when we no longer have to smoke that cigarette, or drink that alcohol, or look at those shameful images on our screen, or spend money on stuff we don t need. It is being able to let go of our anger, or our pride, or our greed. It is being set free from our slavery to sin. How are we set free from slavery to sin? We need to repent of it. Do you know what repentance is? True repentance involves both a turning away from sin, and a turning to God. Our catechism talks about this. It describes the true repentance or conversion of man as the dying of the old nature, and the coming to life of the new nature. When the catechism speaks about the dying of the old nature and the coming to life of the new nature, it speaks about two parts of the same process. More and more we need to put off the old sin-stained life, and to put on Christ. How do we truly repent of our sins? What does that look like? Our catechism describes the dying of the old nature as grieving with heartfelt sorrow that we have offended God by our sin, and more and more to hate it and flee from it. Yet for this to happen, we need to learn to know our sins. For this to happen we need to acknowledge that we are sinners in the hands of an angry God. To truly prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ, we need to hear preaching that brings us to our knees. When John preached to the people of his day, he did so boldly, without pulling any punches. He said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Luk.3:7). John laid their sins before them in an Rev. Joe Poppe 3
effort to truly prepare their hearts for the Lord. I d like to do the same, in a more contemporary way. Do you know what you people are? You are a bunch of hypocrites. You go to church on Sunday, but then you forget about God for most of the following week. Many of you don t begin your day with God. You re too lazy to get up on time to read your Bible or pray in the morning. You re too busy for that, but then complain when God does not bless you as you expect him to. You say that you are God s children, but you don t love your neighbour as you should. The Bible says, If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. (1Joh.4:20). Yet so often you treat your spouse and children poorly, taking out your anger and frustration on them. You gossip and slander about your brothers and sisters, degrading them in front of others. You pick on your classmates at school, and bully those who don t measure up to the standards set by the popular kids in the class. You are living a double life. You present yourself as a Christian, but then you go on and indulge in all kinds of sinful pleasures. You view pornography, engage in sinful fantasies, and have sex outside of marriage. You waste so much time on your own pleasures, watching TV or surfing the internet. Yet you don t have time to gather for Bible study, or to visit the shut-ins in our midst. You ve got lots of money to spend on yourselves; on smokes and booze, on cell phones, large screen TVs, cars, trucks, and your fancy homes. But you re don t help the poor, or worry about the fact that the church budget is short. You call yourselves Christians. But there is little evidence of the fact that you are a Christian in your life. You swear on the job site. You laugh when someone tells an off-colour joke. Yet you rarely speak about Jesus Christ to those around you living in darkness. Jesus said that if you confess him before men, he will acknowledge you before his Father in heaven, but warned that if you don t confess him, he also will not acknowledge you on the final day. You think that because you ve been baptized and belong to a reformed church you ll be saved. Our reading from Luke 3 warns, 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. (Luk.3:8). The fact that you have been born into the covenant is a great privilege. But it will not save you, if you do not truly repent of your sins. Beloved, humble your hearts before God. Understand that you need to prepare your hearts for the coming of the Lord. Jesus came once, some two thousand years ago, to provide redemption for his people. He came to save us from our sins, so that we could be reconciled to God. But Jesus only came to save sinners. He didn t come to save proud people who thought they didn t need repentance. Jesus is coming again. He is coming on the clouds of heaven. On that great day he will take his place on the heavenly throne. He is coming to judge the living and the dead. Beloved, you need to repent of your sins. To truly grieve that you have offended God with them. You need to learn to hate your sins, and flee from them. True repentance is a turning away from sin. It requires a change in how you are living your life. It s not good enough to feel a bit sad today, listening to this sermon, and then to go forward and continue living in the same sinful patterns as always. Please don t think that this message is just something that your pastor dreamed up. Luke 3:2 says that the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. John was sent by God as a herald of the coming King. Preachers of the gospel are also heralds. We are ambassadors of the risen and exalted Lord. It is the word of God that I m proclaiming to you today. Repent, while there is time. Prepare your heart for the Lord s coming. For he is coming soon, at a time when you last expect him. In our first point we ve considered the call to repent of your sins. In our second point we ll consider the call to bear fruit in our lives. True repentance involves two parts. It involves both a Rev. Joe Poppe 4
turning away from sin, and a turning to the Lord. To be released from the power of sin, something needs to take its place in our lives. Otherwise our repentance will not last. We may turn away from specific sin today and tomorrow, and perhaps next week. But if there is nothing to take sin s place, it will soon take us captive again. Our catechism teaches us that true repentance involves both the dying of the old nature and the coming to life of the new. We ve seen that the dying of the old nature involves grieving over our sins, hating them, and fleeing from them. The coming to life of the new nature involves a heartfelt joy in God through Christ, and a love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works. What is it that brings true joy in our lives? It is not outward things. We may enjoy good health, be blessed with a happy marriage and faithful children, and have lots of material possessions but these things do not bring true joy. Joy is fruit of the Spirit. True joy comes from knowing that our sins are forgiven by Christ s great sacrifice. Lasting joy results from the fact that we ve been reconciled with our heavenly Father. Belonging to Jesus Christ, and sharing in his treasures and gifts is the only thing that provides true joy! Such joy is not something we can work for. It is not something we merit through our good works. It is a gift of grace. God gives joy to all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and depend on him for their hope and salvation. There is only one way to receive such joy. It is through faith alone. The point I want to make, beloved, is that it is not enough to turn away from your sins, to hate them and flee from them. You also need to turn to God, and seek forgiveness in the blood of Christ. If you have truly repented of your sins, and found forgiveness with God through Jesus Christ, then this will show in your life. For out of thankfulness you will desire to live your life for God. As the catechism says, it will be a love and delight for you to live according to the will of God in all good works. You will want to please God, by living according to his commandments. It will be your desire to praise and glorify him in all your words and works. Do you see that kind of fruit in your life, dear brother or sister, young person or child? What lives in your heart? As you make your way through the day, do you think about God? When faced with a choice to sin or not to sin, what do you do? Are you regularly indulging the sinful desires of the flesh? Or is it your earnest heart s desire to walk close with God, and to obey his will? John warned the people of Israel with these words. He said, 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. (Luk.3:9). This image is taken from normal life. If you had a fig tree that never produced figs, or an olive tree that never born fruit what good was it? None at all! You would cut it down and burn it, and plant another tree in its place. In the same way, God s judgment will come on all who do not bear the fruits of repentance in their lives. John the Baptist preached repentance with such urgency that the people of his day asked, What then shall we do? They were desperate to know how to escape the fire of God s coming judgment. They were aware that they were not living the way God wanted them to live, and were ready to do something about it. But they were not quite sure what they were supposed to do. John taught them that true repentance involves more than just feeling sorry for what we ve done wrong. It means turning away from sin, and living in obedience to God. We need to show in our lives that we love the Lord; to express our thankfulness in concrete ways. That can mean slightly different things for different people. In Luke 3 we read of three different examples John gave of what repentance should look like. The first example was for everyone. John said, Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise. (Luk.3:11). John knew that many of his listeners were cheap. They lacked Rev. Joe Poppe 5
the grace of generosity. They liked keeping things for themselves. Yet John told them to share their food and clothing with those in need. The second example was for the tax collectors. He told them, Collect no more than you are authorized to do. (Luk.3:13). Rome required its tax collectors to collect a certain sum of money from the people living in each city or town. Tax collectors often charged much more, defrauding their fellow citizens of their money and lining their own pockets. Their countrymen regarded them as traitors and thieves, and they were not wrong. John taught them to deal fairly and justly with their fellow citizens. There is a practical lesson in that for all employers and employees! The third example John gave was for a group of soldiers. He said, Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages. (Luk.3:14). Like the tax collectors, soldiers often took advantage of their position, by taking money or goods from others. There was a real temptation to do that, for soldiers generally were not paid well. John s teaching shows us how we are called not to abuse the authority God has given us, and how we are to be satisfied with the gifts he provides. Practically speaking, there are many different ways in which we could show forth the fruits of repentance in our lives. One of the things most necessary for each of us is that we devote time to our relationship with God. How can you withstand the temptations of the devil, this world and your own sinful flesh, if you are not walking closely with God? Beloved, start and end each day with Bible reading and prayer. Ask the Lord for his guidance and care, and seek his blessing before you begin your daily tasks. Turn off your media, and give yourself time to think, to meditate, on the Lord and his ways. Be diligent in your devotions around the dining room table, and get involved in communal Bible study. Show forth love in your relationships with those around you. Quit your murmuring and complaining; humble that proud heart of yours; put off all anger and hated from you. Let your husband or wife, your kids or other family members see that they are dear to you. When you speak to your workmates, do so in an encouraging way. When you speak about others, build up their name and reputation. Instead of picking on that classmate that s a bit different, be that person s friend and stick up for him or her. Christ loved us first; he now calls us to love each other. Don t give any place in your life for Satan to tempt you with sexually immoral desires. If you face particular troubles with this, seek help and support from parents, a trusted friend, or one of your office-bearers. We won t judge you; we ll respect you for getting help with addictive behaviour in your life. Use your time and money wisely. Be good stewards of these gifts, using them not for your own self-gratification, but in the service of God s kingdom and for your neighbour s good. Beloved, true repentance involves both a turning away from sin, and a turning to God. Do you see the fruits of true repentance in your life? Are you truly living in the joy of faith? Is there fruit in your life to show that your faith is living? If the Lord came back today, would you be prepared for his coming? If you had to stand before the judgment seat of God, how would the Lord judge you? Perhaps the sermon this afternoon has really put you on the spot. I hope it has. My prayer is that when you leave this place you will find some quiet time to consider where you are at in your life. My prayer is that you will be humble enough to acknowledge that there are sins you need to repent of, and that you will grieve over them before the Lord. But that s not all. I truly hope that there will be change in your life! That more and more you die to sin, and find your life and joy in Jesus Christ. I hope that you show that you are a Christian by doing good works. So that when Jesus Christ comes again, you will be prepared to receive him as your Lord and King. Amen. Rev. Joe Poppe 6