Repentance #3

OBSTACLES TO REPENTANCE IN RELIGIOUS PEOPLE (Part 1)

Luke 3:3-9 - "And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. [4] 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. [5] 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, [6] and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." [7] 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? [8] 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. [9] 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."

Last week we saw that the core issue of repentance isn't primarily an emotional issue. There should be emotion involved. People - especially godly people - should feel guilt and remorse over any moment of disobedience or neglect. But the essence of repentance isn't captured in the emotional aspect of it.

Repentance is what you do after you come to understand what the Holy Spirit is saying to your soul at some point. Remember, we looked at the breakdown of the word repentance itself: Metanoia - Meta ("after") and noeo ("to perceive with the mind"). Repentance is what you do after you perceive with your mind what God is saying to your heart.

And the key point from last week's teaching is that this process is not completed with regeneration or "getting saved." Repentance is part of the ongoing walk of discipleship - "My sheep hear my voice and they follow me." This is the ongoing relationship between repentance and discipleship. First we hear, then we follow.

This is Jesus' way of saying that while discipleship certainly includes the need for doctrinal correctness - "Who do you say that I am?" - it can never be restricted to religious information and accuracy. Disciples, like sheep, need to do more than merely know who the Shepherd is. They must hear and they must follow.

The point Jesus makes is rather obvious. There is no keeping up with Jesus without following when He speaks. First we have to be willing to have ears on our hearts. We can't follow unless we're constantly sensitive and teachable. It is this immediate, responsive hearing that keeps us close to the Good Shepherd.

In our last teaching we looked at the kinds of changes repentant people must make - and keep on making - if they're going to follow their Lord closely - Luke 3:10-14 - "And the crowds asked him, "What then shall we do?" [11] And he answered them, "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." [12] Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" [13] And he said to them, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do." [14] 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."

Today we focus our attention primarily on John's words in Luke 3:7-9 - "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? [8] 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. [9] 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."

These are such heart-searching words. We'll consider three thoughts from them. We'll do one tonight and two next Sunday night.

Matthew gives a little bit of additional detail of this same account: Matthew 3:7 - "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

So Luke tells us John said these words as the crowd was gathering around him for baptism. Matthew zooms in a little bit closer and tells us that it was at the particular point that the Pharisees and Sadducees approached John that he said these words. The crowd had been gathering for a little while already, but it was when these religious leaders came that John spoke these stern words.

And it's this change in tone of John that we need to study carefully. What causes John, right at this particular point, to launch into these vivid and pungent words? I think this is a crucial question in interpreting this passage correctly. A surface reading could leave the impression that John was just tired and irritated with the whole crowd, and that he finally exploded in a fit of rage.

I believe that interpretation misses the heart of John's particular concern with these religious leaders. This isn't just anger being displayed. This is passion. And those two aren't exactly the same thing. John's strong words aren't just blind temper. They're the outward expression of the heart of a holy man, trying to prepare people for the coming kingdom of Jesus. And they're the words of a man who, at the approach of the Pharisees and Sadducees, is immediately sensitive to what is going to be an ongoing threat to the coming of Christ's Lordship and reign in the hearts of many, many people.

And it's because the Pharisees and Sadducees demonstrated unreachable hearts that John's words boil out of his soul with so much intensity and passion. These words are recorded by both Matthew and Luke as the Holy Spirit's summons to religious people not to allow the kinds of obstacles to arise in our hearts that choked the life of the Spirit out of these Pharisees.

There are two lines of thought to take note of here. First, John confronts a particular form of kingdom evasion in these verses. Then, second, he points out the kind of repentance he was looking for to prepare for the pathway of the King of kings in their hearts. It's the first point that will be the focus of our study tonight.

1) THE PATHWAY OF THE SERPENT IS SEEN IN THE WAY THESE RELIGIOUS PEOPLE EVADED REPENTANCE BY COMING TO JOHN FOR BAPTISM

Luke 3:7b - "....You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

Lots of people came to John for his baptism of repentance. That's what John's baptism is actually called in the gospels - a baptism of repentance. And when the people came, John baptized them - all sorts of people - thieves (remember the crooked tax collectors from our last study?) - violent, immoral soldiers - probably people caught in immorality - wicked and profane people of all sorts came to John. And John just baptized them all as they repent.

Then we encounter this strange turn of events. It's when the religious leaders of the day come on the scene that John suddenly stops the whole process. Everything grows quiet. The waters start to calm from all the baptizing. The crowd wonders what's going on. Then John speaks - looking directly at the Pharisees and Sadducees - and says, "What in the world are you guys doing here?"

That's what John is asking these leaders. "I can understand all these sinners coming to repent. They know their need. They feel their guilt. But who told you about all of this? Why are you guys here?"

And it's right at this point that the cutting edge of the passage pokes through. The rest of the people came because they wanted to repent. But there was something else at work in the minds of these religious experts. The sinners came to John in order to repent. These religious people came to John to look spiritual while avoiding repenting. They came proud to be involved in another religious display and ceremony.

That's why John calls them a "generation of vipers." I know there's a danger sometimes in pressing images too far in the Scriptures, but I'm not at all sure we aren't meant to see a clever linkage to the work of the Serpent in John's words.

There is a kind of mind-set that the Devil - that great serpent - works in the minds of religious people. They're like their father, the devil. He was religious. He was heaven's worship leader. Outward worship with a crooked heart! And these religious leaders were following in his steps.

I can almost imagine the scene as these religious leaders stepped into the spotlight with John: "Good preaching John! Let's all get baptized in the Jordan together. We certainly want to lead the way into being all that God wants us to be! Here, I'll lead the way down into the water. Praise God!"

And John says, "Is that what you think? Do you really think that's all I'm talking about? Is that the kind of ongoing realignment you think God is looking for? - a little water? - a little more religious observance? Do you think that is going to bring about the kind of transformation I'm talking about?"

Look at this whole passage. The rest of the crowd came to John conscious of their sin. They asked John what they had to do in order to repent and be baptized –

Luke 3:10-14 - "And the crowds asked him, "What then shall we do?" [11] And he answered them, "Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." [12] Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" [13] And he said to them, "Collect no more than you are authorized to do." [14] 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."

It's only the religious leaders who ask no such questions of John. They isolated the outward sign of repentance from any specific inward change.

I hope you see the point here. I hope you can begin to grasp the reason for John's impassioned stand-off in these words. He's confronting the lie of the Serpent to religious people - people like you and me. How prone we can all become to thinking of our devotion to God as being fulfilled in our religious observances.

Repentance doesn't happen in the sanctuary. It may, hopefully many times, be initiated in the sanctuary - or kneeling at prayer - or pouring diligently over the Scriptures. But repentance is never completed there.

The Holy Spirit presses us all for Monday repentance. It's what we do with what we learn on Sunday that counts. Repentance isn't a religious act. It's a life-style act. And, because that's the case, many times religious people can actually avoid a deep, ongoing repentance by hiding behind their religion.

We can see this from the next words John says: Luke 3:8 - "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."

Notice, "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance...." It's very easy for religious people who sing and read and talk about repentance to think that's all repentance is. It's very easy to isolate the fruit of repentance from the concept of repentance.

This is the road to spiritual ruin. Notice those words, "....and do not begin to say to yourselves...."(8). The process of rationalizing your soul out of repentance is inward and instantaneous. And because repentance begins inwardly no one else will ever know whether you're obedient to the Holy Spirit or not. And if I'm not obedient at the beginning of the Spirit's prompting - "....do not begin to say to yourselves...." - I am not likely to become more responsive the longer I resist inward repentance.

We do not have to learn to resist inward repentance. We don't have to practice turning away from repentance. It's our natural, fallen response. It's our default response. It comes from the instincts of the serpent in all of us:

"I'm not going to change until my husband changes"

"I can't deal with this right now. I'll get serious about it later on."

"So and so does the same thing I'm doing, and God's not bothering him about it"

"Times and values have changed. We're not as legalistic as we used to be about these things"

Listen, those excuses - those inward thought-patterns - don't come automatically with such ease and speed and clarity. Paul tells us very clearly what John only hinted at by calling these religious leaders people of the serpent:

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 - "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. [4] For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. [5] We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ...."

Everything hinges on what you see happening when those kinds of arguments against ongoing repentance begin to form in your mind. John says, "Don't even begin to allow that serpent-like process to arise."

More on this topic next Sunday night.