Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,
Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
THE BAPTIST’S MESSAGE
‘And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.’
Luke 3:3
What is repentance?
I. Repentance is that change of mind which turns away with sorrow from anything that is wrong, which owns it, and amends it, and is willing to start afresh. So that repentance is the persistent enemy of a perpetual defect—viz. the contented acquiescence in old unworthy habits because they are old; habits which have ceased to move our indignation because we have got used to them; habits which we never own to God or man because it is best to say nothing about them; habits which we do not intend to alter, because we do not believe it possible that we ever should.
II. Repentance an excellent thing for others.—Is it not so, that we think repentance would be an excellent thing for many people—for those publicans and soldiers, for instance, for that common herd of useless men—but not for ourselves? No one is more ready than we are to lament the decadence of the times. But if we read the short account of John’s ministry in the Gospel, we find that nowhere were his denunciations more scathing, and his exhortations more earnest, than when he was addressing the Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious world of his time. And our religious services, which we have received to use, are not meant for, or adapted to, the outcast and abandoned, but to such persons as ourselves that we may cry mercy, and protest penitence, and promise again and again an oft-renewed repentance—repentance that is for ourselves and not for other people. Surely, unless we realise this, we are in great danger of unreality, for there is nothing so numbing to all discipline as to use strong words which have lost all their meaning, and to promise actions which we never mean to perform.
III. It is so easy to be religious with a reservation.—It is so easy, with Ananias and Sapphira, to get the credit of renunciation while we keep back part of the price. Surely it is idle to believe in the omnipotence of God if we cannot trust Him to free us from the impotency of some hereditary taint. It is idle to trust in Christ the Liberator if we hug our chains and linger in captivity. It is melancholy to boast of freedom and to allow year after year to find us still in fetters. The divorce between faith and practice, between orthodoxy and morality, is always terribly easy. It is this more than anything else which brings in converts to the devil’s society for propagating infidelity, which is sometimes more successful than the society which propagates the Gospel. Is it not written, ‘By their fruits ye shall know them’? And how shall I recognise the power of Christianity in a religion which cannot help a man to throw off even one bad habit? But with most of us repentance means a vigorous effort to combat the deterioration which sets in even in our best efforts. Why is it that the Church is making itself so little felt? Why are we not influencing the world around us more than we do? If a tenth of our prayers were answered the world would be a different place, and why are they not answered? ‘Ye ask and ye receive not because ye ask amiss.’
—Rev. Canon Newbolt.
As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
‘WHAT SHALL WE DO?’
‘And the people asked Him, saying, What shall we do then?’
Luke 3:10
The final stage of religion is duty. Everything else, however comforting, however holy, however true, is only its cradle. It is doing what is right towards God, or what is right towards man, for God’s sake. Never think of duty as a cold word. It is something better than love, for it is love in action. Let us think of the replies of the Baptist to those who asked him of their duty.
I. Do justly.—To the publicans he said, ‘Exact no more than that which is appointed you.’ The publicans, or tax-gatherers, were men of business; they may fairly be taken as representing trade, and the duty inculcated upon trade was accurate justice. We all have our commercial transactions—some more, some less—but every one, almost every day, does business.
II. Be gentle.—To the soldiers he said, ‘Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.’ Gentleness, truth, moderation—the men of force, the men of power—the injunction running just in the line of danger—the duty curbing and neutralising and sanctifying the besetting sin; for duty is almost always throwing into a good direction a part of the character which otherwise would have gone into a bad one.
III. Be loving.—To the people he said, ‘He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.’ Love; love in familiar exercise, love in common places, love in sympathy, love in giving. It is duty to take take care that your neighbour’s want never rises up in judgment against your superabundance. It is duty to endeavour never to let a day pass without your taking away—if it be only a grain—from the heap of suffering, and adding—if it be only a grain—to the heap of happiness which there is in this world.
He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?
And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.
And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not;
John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire:
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.
But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,
Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.
Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,
Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph,
Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge,
Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda,
Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri,
Which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Addi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er,
Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi,
Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son of Juda, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of Eliakim,
Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David,
Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson,
Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda,
Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor,
Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala,
Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech,
Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Jared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan,
Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
