REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM IS NEAR!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Epistle Lesson; Romans 15:4-13
Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 11:1-10
Sermon Text; Matthew 3:1-12
It must have been a stunning moment, there on the banks of the Jordan River, as the Pharisees and Sadducees stood before John the Baptist, in front of all the people. And, John raised possibly two stones and said, "I tell you, that from these stones God can raise up children for Abraham." A stunning moment! Imagine these stones turning into children of Abraham, turning into faithful believers. Imagine! Imagine God raising up from these stones, these lifeless, hard impenetrable objects children of Abraham.
God was speaking to people, those Pharisees and Sadducees, whose hearts were like stone. The book of Jeremiah says, "I will turn their hearts of stone, into hearts of flesh."
Those Pharisees had hard, stony, impenetrable, proud hearts that could not be broken. They thought that their hearts were firm and sure, solid and secure. Consider, how the Pharisees thought of themselves. Those Pharisees were like cold, hard, impenetrable, unbreakable stones. They would look at other people, comparing themselves to other people, and they would say to God, "God I thank you that I am not like other people; robbers, evil doers, adulterers, and even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all that I get." Their hearts were hard and solid and proud. They thought that they were special before God, doing special things before God, and deserved special things from God.
Their hearts were hard like stone; cold and impenetrable. They would look at others, for example, a man who had been blind, and they would say of him, "I wonder what he did? I wonder what evil he did? I wonder what terrible thing, terrible sin, his parents did, that he was born with such a terrible punishment."
And, then they looked at themselves and thought, "I am not like him. I am not evil. I was not born blind, or crippled, or maimed, because I am special." Their hearts were proud and stony, and unbreakable before God.
The Pharisees looked at other people, such as the Gentiles and looked down on them. The Pharisees thought, "They are not children of Abraham. They are not descendents of the Great Abraham. They are not God’s specially called people." They even called Gentiles dogs. They thought the Gentiles were not to be considered human beings. And, they were not special. The Pharisees would not touch them, nor would they associate with them. The Pharisees had hard, cold, stony, hearts that were impenetrable.
And, they were ungrateful, before God. They even looked at their own parents. The Pharisees knew that God’s Word told them that they should provide for their parents, in their old age. But, the Pharisees said to themselves, "I am going to take all my money, and not give it to my parents, but rather do something better. I will give it to the church. I don’t have to take care of my parents because I have given all of my money to the church." Their hearts were cold, stony, and proud before God. Their hearts were unbreakable before God.
It was to those people that John the Baptist said, "I tell you that God can take these stones, and He can raise up children of Abraham."
God says, "I will take their stony hearts and turn them into hearts of flesh."
Now how does God do that? How does God take a hard, stony heart that is proud before God, unbreakable before God and turn it a heart of flesh?
Elsewhere in scripture, in the book of Jeremiah, God says this, "My Word, My Word, is like a hammer." It is like the hammer that breaks the rock into pieces.
Let us apply the hammer of God to the hearts that we have – to the cold, stony hearts that we have, by nature. You know, we are not all that different from the Pharisees. All of us have a bit of the Pharisee in us. Maybe much more than we would like to admit. We may go about our lives and we may secretly compare ourselves to other people. We may know that this person did ‘that’, and what a terrible thing ‘that’ was. And, this other person did ‘that’, and what a terrible thing ‘that’ was. And, then we look at ourselves and we think, "I am not like them. I have not done terrible, bad things."
But before God, we are being proud.
We may think to ourselves, "God certainly will accept me. God certainly loves me, and cares about me, because in comparison to other people, I am not all that bad." And, to that thinking God takes His Word, which is like a hammer. That hammer is there to break those proud hearts.
In God’s Word, He says to anyone who thinks that they are better than other people, or that in comparison to other people God will accept me, God takes His Word and like a hammer, breaks that proud heart.
He says, "All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God." There was no one, NO ONE, who is righteous before God. God shatters that proud heart. He exposes it. He lays it bare. God in His Word, like a hammer, shatters that proud heart.
He says, "All their righteousnesses, no matter how good we might think we are, all their righteousnesses, are like filthy rags." There with that hammer, He shatters that proud heart. He says, "In my eyes, the good righteous things that you think that you do, they are like filthy rags."
Our hearts are broken by God’s Word, by God’s Law. We may look at ourselves like the Pharisees, and think to ourselves, "I go to church every Sunday. I am a pretty good person, outwardly. I am pretty kind. I am pretty loving. I can’t think of any huge sins that I have committed."
And, secretly in our hearts, we may even think, "I don’t know if I need God’s forgiveness." We may go days on end, without even asking God for forgiveness! In our hearts we don’t feel as if we need that forgiveness. And, to those hearts, those proud, stony hearts, God takes His Word, which is like a hammer and He breaks those hardened hearts.
He says, for example, "Where is boasting? It is excluded." There is no one who can boast before God. God excludes them. There is no one who can stand before God, and say, "God I don’t need your forgiveness. I am a pretty good person. I have done some pretty good things." God says that is excluded. It is not acceptable to Him. He breaks our cold, stony, hearts and shatters them, with His Word, which is The Law.
There may be those among us, perhaps all of us, who are like the Pharisees, who think to ourselves, "Oh, I am special. I know what God’s Word says. I know that it says that I should not do this or I should not do that. I should do certain things, but I am special, I am different. There are special circumstances in my life that make it ok for me to do those things that God says I should not do, because I have special circumstances.
I have the right to get violently angry with someone, because I have special circumstances. It’s ok for me.
I have the right to live with someone that I am not married to, because I have special circumstances. I care about that person, and we have financial problems so we have to live together. It’s ok for me.
In our proud hearts we think it’s ok for us to do things that God’s Word says we should not do, and must not do. God uses His hammer on hearts like that. That hammer of God’s Law comes down on those proud hearts and He breaks them.
He says to us, "There is a way that man follows, that seems right to him. But in the end it leads to destruction." Oh, we can set up our own ways to follow. We can do what we think it right, that may be opposed to God’s Word, because we think that we have special circumstances.
But, that hammer of God’s Word says, "In the end it leads to destruction." There God lays bare the open heart of man, with His hammer. He tells us that our heart is deceitful, and desperately wicked. Jesus said, "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, theft and all other types of evil."
Our heart is broken and shattered by the hammer of God. God shows us what we deserve, because of what we have done - not His love, not His compassion, not His goodness and kindness, but just the opposite. We deserve His wrath, His anger, His displeasure, and even Eternal Punishment, because of what we have done.
That was the job of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was taking stony hearts and shattering them, with God’s Law. He pointed out sin, being very direct and very pointed about sin, telling people what they deserve, because of their sin.
Now that is not comfortable. It’s not comfortable to hear about sin. People don’t like to hear about sin. We don’t like to come to church to hear that we are sinners in God’s eyes. We don’t like to have that proud heart shattered by God’s Law.
But, why does God do that? Why does God in His Word, break our stony hearts, with the hammer of His Word.
Let me ask you this question. As John the Baptist stood on the banks of the Jordan River one day, whose heart do you think beat faster? Do you think it was the person who stood there with that hard, stony, proud heart that was proud before God? Or, do you think it was the person, whose heart was humbled, broken and shattered by God? Whose heart beat faster, when John the Baptist stood on the banks of the Jordan River, pointed to a man who also stood on the banks of the Jordan, and said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"
Do you think those who were proud and thought highly of themselves, and thought they were special in God’s eyes found their hearts beating faster? Do you honestly think their hearts beat fast, when they heard, "Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world?"
That meant nothing to them. It was of no special significance to them.
But, to those whose hearts were humbled, whose hearts were shattered, who realized, "Look what I have been before God! Look at the evil I have done! Look at the wrong I have done! Look at what I deserve before God. Look at the punishment that I deserve." And, then, they saw the One of whom John the Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
Don’t you think that their hearts began to beat with joy and anticipation, faster and faster? Don’t you think they began to long for that One who could take away their sins?
That is why God takes the hammer of His Law and breaks and shatters our hearts. You cannot take a seed,
plant it on a rock and expect it to grow. But if you break that rock and pulverize it to dirt, then that seed that is planted can grow. The seed of the Gospel will not grow in hard, stony hearts. But the seed of the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus our Savior, grows in the hearts that are troubled over their sin, that want a savior, that long for a savior, that see that they need a savior. The Gospel, the Good News of Jesus means nothing unless our hearts are shattered and broken by God’s Law. To those whose hearts are shattered and broken, those are hearts that are truly prepared for Christ. That is what John the Baptist was there for. He was there to prepare hearts for Christ to come and to enter. And, as we are here in the Advent Season, one of the things, one of our goals is to truly prepare our hearts for Christ to come and enter. And, so having hearts that are shattered by God’s Word, God’s Law, then we can turn to the gracious promises of God.
There, in God’s promises,
I see that if I am going to be saved,
if God is going to love me and care about me,
if God is going to take care of me and
I am going to be His child and
He is going to be my Father,
then it must not depend upon me and
what I have done.
I have done wrong.
It must depend upon God’s mercy.
It must depend upon His undeserved kindness,
His loving kindness,
His grace,
His giving to me!
There we turn to what Jesus did for us!
There we see the gracious Hand of God.
There we see the giving Hand of God to sinners.
There we see the God of the humble.
There we see the God, who is the God of the lonely.
There we see the God,
who is the God of those who are sorry for their sins, and want their sins forgiven.
There we see what God did for sinners.
There we see that God came.
He did what sinners could not,
cannot, and
never will be able to do.
He lived that Holy, sinless, perfect, spotless life.
He has given that Holy, sinless, perfect, spotless life to sinners,
to us!
Sinners can claim that life as their very own! That’s mine!!! Jesus’ perfection is mine!!! That is my claim, because scripture gives it to me! Jesus came, to give up His life, to die on the cross, to suffer for sin, to pay for sin, to bare God’s wrath for OUR sin. Our sins have been paid for on His cross. God’s wrath has been calmed. God is at peace with us, because of what happened on the cross.
Sinners whose hearts are shattered, turn to that promise in God’s Word. They can say,
"That is mine, because scripture gives it to me!
My sins are forgiven!
They are covered over!
They have been paid for, in full!!!
They are paid, for all I owe to God!
I am forgiven!
I am right with God!"
That is how God raises up from stone, children of Abraham. He raises up from stone, children of Abraham. He changes hard, stony hearts into hearts of flesh, into hearts that are living and trusting, and believing, clinging to their savior, hearts that love God and want to serve God. You know you cannot take a hard stony, heart and really expect it to change - not on the inside. Let’s say that someone with a hard stony heart, who is proud before God was doing things that hurt someone else’s feelings. Would that heart change? Oh they may say on the outside, "I know that what I did hurt or harmed that person. And, now they are not very kind to me anymore. I would like them to be kind to me, so I am going to change, on the outside. I am going to try to be nicer to them, so they will be kind to me." But, no real change has taken place on the inside. No love for that other person. No true love for God. No true desire to serve God. It is only those whose hearts have been shattered, who see what they have done. Those who see they have sinned against fellow man, and sinned against God have hearts that have changed. I deserve God’s wrath. Yet, my sins have been paid for. They are forgiven. They are wiped away, by God’s grace, because of what Christ has done. I have a heart of flesh. I am alive, in God’s eyes, by faith. I want to live for God. I want to change my heart on the inside. I want to serve God, instead of doing what is wrong. I want to be kind, and I want to be loving!
That is why John said, "Bare fruit, in keeping with repentance." Sorrow over sin. Trust in Christ. Live a life, of service to our savior, in keeping with repentance.
We also need to be aware that there is only one way that God frees stony hearts. The only hammer that can be used, is the hammer of God’s Word. The only balm or medicine that heals that broken heart is the Gospel, God’s Word, The Good News of our Savior. If I stay away from God’s Word, if I stay away from that hammer of God’s Law, if I stay away from church, and I stay away from using God’s Word in my home, my heart can begin to turn stony again. There is nothing there to break it. There is nothing there to humble it. There is nothing there to point out sin. And, my heart may begin to forget that I need God’s forgiveness. I may begin to think that I am ok. Maybe there is nothing wrong with me, after all. That is a dangerous position to be in. That is why is so important for us to commit ourselves, during this Advent Time.
As Martin Luther said, "The daily life of a Christian should be a life of daily repentance." We should daily use God’s hammer on our hearts, which will show our sins and breaks our proud hearts. It will show us our need of a savior, daily showing us our savior’s love, daily building us up in our faith, daily giving us a heart of flesh, in place of a heart of stone, showing us that our sins are forgiven and that Heaven is ours!
Let us all commit to standing firm in the faith, as we stand firm in God’s Word, and daily, regularly use God’s Word by which God turns hard, stony hearts into hearts of flesh.
Amen.
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