Verse of the Day 3/22

Through the Bible - Joshua 9-10, Luke 3:21-38

Last week I touched on the subject of the "seriousness" of God.

 

Over the weekend the read through the Bible plan above brought us to Luke chapter 3.  Reading verse 3 from the Amplified Bible caused me to stop and think about the repentance that John was preaching about.

 

Luke 3:3 And he went into all the country round about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance (of hearty amending of their ways, with abhorrence of past wrongdoing) unto the forgiveness of sin.  Amplified Bible

 

Consider what a "hearty amending of their ways" means.  It's not glossing over or making light of our sins, our ways, it is realizing the gravity of who we were without Christ.  The abhorrence mentioned is a feeling of disgust, the feeling of "how could I have done" such a thing(s).  There is definitely a seriousness to it.

 

Back in Luke 1 we read of the prophecy concerning John the Baptist

Luke 1:16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly."  NLT

John Piper, in a sermon on this passage, tells us " Notice the repetition of the word turn: he will turn many of the Israelites to the Lord their God. He will turn the hearts of the fathers and turn the disobedient. This is the meaning of repentance: a turning of the direction of our life and the affections of our heart, so that we become oriented on God and love the things he loves. John promises the people "forgiveness of sins" in response to their repentance, their turning to God, but he calls them to demonstrate the seriousness of their turning by accepting baptism in the Jordan. This was a remarkable demand of John on his Jewish kinsmen. In the context in which John lived baptism had one main significance among the Jews: it was the symbolic rite that proselytes had to go through to become Jewish. This made John's baptism very offensive. It implied that unless the Jews were willing to repent, they were not really Jews and could not count on the promised blessings God had made to his chosen people. Or to put it another way, in calling Jews to accept a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, John was telling them that they cannot rely on their Jewishness for salvation; they have to be changed in their heart toward God."

 

Luke 3:8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing.......    NLT

 

The same thing can happen today if we depend upon a denomination of it's own accord for our salvation.  We are not to rely on our "baptistness" or "catholicness", our salvation is from a changed heart, a heart that has turned it's affections away from our own selfish desires, and toward God.

 

In his song "The Change", Steven Curtis Chapman sings about having the Bible magnet on his refrigerator door and the Jesus bumper sticker on the car but asks the question "what about the change"?

 

What about the change, What about the difference , What about the grace , What about forgiveness , What about a life that's showing I'm undergoing the change?

Are you, have you, undergone the change?

 

In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com

Luke 3:3-9
Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned to God to receive forgiveness for their sins. 4 Isaiah had spoken of John when he said,

 

"He is a voice shouting in the wilderness,
'Prepare the way for the Lord's coming!
Clear the road for him!
5 The valleys will be filled,
and the mountains and hills made level.
The curves will be straightened,
and the rough places made smooth.
6 And then all people will see
the salvation sent from God.'"

 

7 When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, "You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee God's coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don't just say to each other, 'We're safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.' That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.  NLT