One day, about 15 years ago, when I was a pastor elsewhere, a young wife, (who had a black eye), came to my office. She began to pour out to me, to her great distress, what had been happening in her marriage for the past couple of years. This petite, little lady explained to me, how her husband had physically abused her, punched her, and hit her. He had pushed her down the steps. She reported to me how her husband had verbally abused her for several years, telling her she was worthless, good-for-nothing and called her many names, which I cannot repeat to you.

And yet, being a Christian woman, she desperately wanted her marriage to stay together. She wanted to have a God-pleasing marriage with her husband, who had so terribly mistreated her. She asked, "Pastor, can you help?"

So, I called her husband into my office, and he sat down in a chair. I told him what she had said to me. And I asked him, "Are those things true?"

With his eyes looking down at the ground he said, "Yes, Pastor, they are true."

And then, evangelically, I told him, "Do you understand that those are sins? God tells us not to hurt or harm our neighbor, particularly our wife. God tells us not to say anything bad about anyone, particularly our wife. Do you understand those are sins?"

With his eyes looking down he said, "Yes, Pastor, I understand that."

I then asked him, "How do you feel about that?"

He said, "Pastor, I am sorry. I am sorry. And, I repent."

Well then, I spoke to him words of forgiveness, how Jesus had paid for all of his sins, and he was forgiven. I sent him home, telling him, "Now live the way you should, with your wife."
I learned later that he went right home, found his wife, and was filled with regrets.

✔ But, it was not regret over sin. He read her the riot act, because she had come in and talked to me about what was going on in their marriage. He had regrets, but it was not regret over his sin, it was regret at getting caught over his sin.

✔ He went home and told his wife, "I will change, but it is not because I want to, it is because I don't want the pastor to be mad at me." He had regrets, but it was not regret over how he had lived his life. It was regret that he had to change his sinful life.

✔ He told his wife every reason why she deserved what she was getting from him. He did not have regret over his sin. He made every excuse in the world why he should be sinning against her.

He told me he was repentant. He said, "I am sorry. I understand this is wrong, in God's eyes."

Now, I want you to contrast his repentance, with the repentance of the people who we found in today's text, standing before John the Baptist.

John the Baptist was given grace by God to be a very powerful preacher of God's Word. The Holy Spirit was upon him. John the Baptist must have been a powerful preacher of God's Law. Through the preaching of God's Law, and what God demands of us, and the preaching about sin and God's judgment over sin, John the Baptist, by the power of the Holy Spirit, must have brought many grown men to their knees in tears over their sin, repenting of what they had done against God and against their neighbor, and seeing the condemnation they deserved, because of their sin. And, they were repentant.

John the Baptist must have been a powerful preacher of the saving Gospel message, as the Holy Spirit was upon him and he spoke the Word of God. He pointed out Jesus, as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

How those grown men on their knees must have been lifted up, comforted knowing their sins were forgiven, because our Savior, Jesus, was going to pay for those sins, one day. They were repentant people, with faith in Christ, their Savior.

In today's scripture reading, we find them standing before John the Baptist. But, they were not people who regretted that they got caught, because of their sin. They were not people who regretted that now they have to change from their sinful ways. In fact, quite the opposite. What do we find them asking John the Baptist? Three times we have it recorded in scripture that they came to John the Baptist, and they asked him, "What should we do?" These are people with changed hearts, who now wanted to live for God and their Savior. They wanted to bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

Brothers and Sisters, true repentance, true repentance consists of three things. How critical it is for all of us to know these three things.

Number one, true repentance consists of true sorrow over sin. True repentance stands before God, and recognizes, according to the Word of God, "I have offended, I have offended a holy and just God. And, according to the Word of God, I deserve to be in Hell, for all eternity, because I have offended a just God."

True repentance does not make excuses and say before God, "Well, God, I have every reason why I am doing these things. You know what is going on in my life. And, you know why I should be exempt from your law."

No! True repentance makes no excuses, and stands before God and says, "I have no excuse. I have sinned against God."

True repentance is a change of heart, a change of heart toward sin that says, "I do not want the guilt of sin. I know it can condemn me, forever. I do not want the shame of sin. I do not want to stand before God with my shame. And, I do not want the sin. I do not want it in my life. I know what it looks like in God's eyes. I want to be free from the guilt, the shame, the punishment, and the power of sin in my life."

The second thing that true repentance consists of is turning to faith in Jesus, as the only Savior from our sin, the only way that we can be saved from sin. It trusts in the mercy of Christ. It finds nothing but absolute comfort in the accounts of scripture that speak directly to our sin.

For example, the woman who had been caught in adultery. The Pharisees brought her before Jesus. They said, "Jesus, she was caught in the act of adultery. Moses said she should be stoned. What do you think?"

Jesus looked at the Pharisees and said, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."

The Bible tells us that they all began to leave, one by one. First the older and then the younger. Finally Jesus looked up at the woman and they had all gone away. Jesus said to her, "Is there no one left? Does no one condemn you?"

She looked at Jesus and her voice must have been quavering, when she answered, "No sir."

Then, Jesus looked at her and said, "Then neither do I condemn you."

"Neither do I condemn you."

"Neither do I condemn you," - words of mercy to a sinner, words of forgiveness to a sinner.

Repentance, with sorrow over sin, clings to the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and knows that the mercy of God is without limits. God does not measure up His mercy and pour it out, a little bit over my life. And finally, one day, come to the bottom of the box and say, "That is it. The mercy is over."

God's mercy is new every morning. It is like a stream that never dries up. In Christ, (because Christ has paid for my sin), God will not hold my guilt, my shame, and my punishment against me.

True repentance consists of true sorrow over sin, and true trust in Christ, our Savior.

And then, the third part of true repentance is a true desire, a true desire to live a changed life, a true desire to be rid of the power of sin in our life. True repentance is like Jesus told that woman who had been caught in adultery, "Therefore, neither do I condemn you. Now, go and sin no more."

A forgiven heart is a heart that says, "I don't want to sin anymore. I want to be free from the power of sin."

True repentance is like King David, who had committed murder and adultery, and then came to repentance and faith in his Savior. He wrote the Psalm,

"Create in me a pure heart, oh God."

It is a desire to bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

True repentance is like the men who came to John the Baptist, sorry over their sin, knowing they were forgiven, and asked John the Baptist, "What should we do?"

They wanted to bear fruit, in keeping with repentance, and stay away from the power of sin.

True repentance is like Zacchaeus, who came to repentance in that tree and understood his sins were forgiven, for Christ's sake. Then, he went out and gave back more than he had ever stolen from anybody. A change of heart wants to live for the Savior, bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.

True repentance is like the woman, who was a "sinful woman" the Bible tells us, leaving it to our imaginations what that means. She came to Jesus and washed His feet, with her tears. Jesus said, "She loves much, because she has been forgiven much."

A truly repentant heart, is sorry over sin, clings to Jesus our Savior, knows how much we have been forgiven, wants to live a pure life for God, and bears fruit in keeping with repentance.

Brothers and Sisters, I want to tell you, (and I am going to be quite frank with you), I believe in our day and age, oftentimes we treat repentance as a game. We treat it as a game. In particular, I believe that is the case with sexual sin. I believe that there are many people in the Christian church, (if we were to point out what was going on in their lives sexually), would stand up and say, "You are right. That is a sin against God. I am sorry. I repent. And I know that I am forgiven."

But, in their heart of hearts, they would regret and resent, not the sin, but that they got caught. They would resent, not the sin, but that they would have to change from that sin, because really, they do not want to change. They would make every excuse in the world before God, "God, you know the circumstances in my life. We have to live together because we cannot afford it any other way..." make every excuse, instead of saying, "I have no excuse, before God."

That is not true repentance. And, where there is no true repentance, there is no true forgiveness of sins and there is no true faith. This is not a game, which is why John the Baptist, speaking to the crowd, said, "The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

This is not a game.

Sin is not a game that we play with God.

➔ It is not a game, when God in His Word tells us that sin is so offensive to Him that we deserve eternal condemnation in Hell. That is not a game.

➔ It is not a game that God left His throne in Heaven.

➔ It is not a game, or child's play, or something cute that God was wrapped in swaddling clothes, laying in a manger.

➔ It is not a game, or child's play that God suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

➔ It is not a game, or child's play. We see how serious it is in God's eyes that the only way, the only way that your sin could be paid for was that God pour out the entire wrath of His anger against your sin, on His own Son, to the point that His Son had to suffer death and Hell for your sin.

Sin is no game and it is not child's play.

Nor is God's mercy a game, nor is it child's play. God's mercy and His love for you is so great. Look at what He was willing to do for you, so your sins are paid for, forgiven, wiped away, washed away, gone and cleansed.

You are free from the guilt.

You are free from the shame.

You are free from the punishment.

And you are free from the power of sin.

Sin is not a game. Look at how seriously God deals with sin, and how He loves you.

Therefore, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, may we all, as John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of Christ, have truly repentant hearts, hearts that recognize and confess the depth of sin before God, hearts that cling to nothing but Christ the crucified as the full and complete payment for our sins. And hearts that ask, like the men who asked John the Baptist, "Now, what should we do?" Let us go out, with changed hearts, and live for our Savior.

Amen.