Uturn for God
Notes
Transcript
U-Turn for God
U-Turn for God
Story about Recruiting
Im a good person
Take care of my family
Make my own money
I don’t need to repent
I don’t need to surrender
God has to let me in
Why do I mention this
The Bible brings in a
Different understanding of success
Doesn’t teach what this young man thought
the Bible teaches
We are sinners
We need god
Repent
What we are gong to find out today is powerful
Its hard to hear
Its a call to a new way of living
Its a warning
I want to ask you what is it going to take for you to make a Uturn for God
Open your Bible please to Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets:
“Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.”
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”
John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Prayer
Upside down Kingdom
We have a problem
Our perception of good
Our perception of success
Is wrong
In every Gospel Jesus portrayed as poor
Jesus description
The Bible says in Matthew 19:30
But many who are first will be last, and the last first.
Our understanding of Good doesn’t seem to add up
Our understanding of what a Messiah should look like
What he actually looked like
Born in a manager
Teenage parents
Broke
conquered people group
Persecuted by the empire
This is incredibly important to understand
Along comes this man by the name of John the Baptist
Dressed in Camels hair!
Dr. Hocking, Smelly disgusting
Locusts and wild honey!
John wasn’t a man looking for fame
He wasn’t looking for fortune
He was on mission
He was paving the way for the Messiah
One writer mentions
The purpose of describing John so early
Mark wanted to suggest as early as possible that discipleship involves withdrawal from the world and sacrifice
This is critical to our understanding
Mark was the forerunner
Setting the standard
A man called by God
But isn’t this just like our society now days
How many of us would actually listen to John
I would argue most of us would think he was nuts
Most of us would push him aside
Homeless pastor story
But the Gospel of Mark opens up with this upside down world
Literally where the rich are poor
the poor are rich
where our real problem is sin not prosperity
The real question
The heart of the issue has always been sin
Sin is what separated us from God in the first place
Sin is why the Messiah came
Sin is what has destroyed our world
We discussed over the previous weeks how
Sin brought a curse
That in the Kingdom to come sin will be a thing of the past
That everything will be perfect
So then why
Why is that mad man standing here screaming repent!
The Kingdom of God is at hand!
You see if sin causes division
Repentance and forgiveness brings us back
Back into the presence of God
The Bible says Matthew 5:48
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
But then how do you become perfect,
What is John calling us to do if we are to enter into the presence of God.
Pay attention
I’m about to make you very uncomfortable
I believe one of the biggest lies told today
You are a good person
God has to let you in to heaven
Ive done this I’ve done that
Heard this over and over
Listen to what God says
Listen to what the Bible says
The Bible says Isaiah 64:6
We are all infected and impure with sin.
When we display our righteous deeds,
they are nothing but filthy rags.
Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall,
and our sins sweep us away like the wind.
Without Christ we are nothing
Without the Cross we are doomed
Jesus saved us
Do you not realize
How important this is
This is why John was calling them to repentance.
Calling them to a new way of life
Calling them to purity
Calling them back to morality
Calling them to a right standing before God
What exactly is repentance,
Repentance is to turn the other way
To change your attitude
Change your action
To do a UTurn for God
What are you struggling with today
What do you know you need to give up
What is preventing you from coming to God
For some of us it may be
Pride
Anger
Lust
Revenge
Money
An adulterous relationship
An addiction such as gambling
What is preventing you from coming to God
Repentence is at the very hear of the Gospel
You can’t come to faith
Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior
If you’re not willing to make Him your Lord
Thats what it means to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior
He must become Lord of your life
He must become your motivation in everything
He must have control over your relationships
your finances
your every desire
This is what John was calling them to
Look with me in Luke 3 the parallel account
The crowds asked, “What should we do?”
John replied, “If you have two shirts, give one to the poor. If you have food, share it with those who are hungry.”
Even corrupt tax collectors came to be baptized and asked, “Teacher, what should we do?”
He replied, “Collect no more taxes than the government requires.”
“What should we do?” asked some soldiers.
John replied, “Don’t extort money or make false accusations. And be content with your pay.”
John instructs them in the basics of true Biblical morality
Look he tells them to
give to the poor
Feed the hungry
Not to cheat people
We can determine in those days quite easily
Tax collectors cheated people like crazy!
Jesus whips the temple
To the Soldiers, treat everyone with compassion, love them
Be content with how you’re living
In fact the Bible says Philippians 4:11
Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.
We ought to be content with our belongings,
Ask yourself how much do you really need
John was instructing them in everything to come back to God
Begin to live a Godly life style
But lets examine this a bit further
lets take a moment and really define this particular understanding
We have a lot of bad doctrine out there
We are living in a world were easy belief is the norm
Were a lack of repentance is accepted
But the Bible says Luke 9:62
But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
John was calling them to a new way of living
He was calling them to a transformation
A life of purity
A life of devotion to God
He was calling them to make a Uturn for God
A complete 180 a complete
turning from sin
In Acts 2:38
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Its a new life
Its a new way of thinking
Completely opposite of what we are used to
This leads me to my final point
The clear identification of Jesus as the Messiah
For some of us this may be so basic
For some of us this may be a duh moment
For others this may be validation
Look with me in Mark 1:5
Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
Give you a tiny bit of context
Think of Judea as a county
Jerusalem as a city
All the County of Judea
All the city of Jerusalem
Coming to John
It would have been very easy for John
Get a big head
To think he was better
No
No way
Dressed in camel hair
When asked John clearly identifies Jesus as the Messiah
John was a bold example
A man devoted to
A man excited about
A man determined to do the will of God
We miss a crucial point here
Yes John was weird
Yes John was an odd ball
But many thought He was the messiah
Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not,
Sanhedrin sent spies
Pharisees questioned him
People saw him as a messenger
He was clear about who Jesus was
When he baptises Jesus
Clearly states he needs to be baptised by Jesus
The Messiah
The kingdom of God is at hand
The messiah is here
Hurry Repent
before it to late
What is that point for you?
The wrath is coming
What’s holding you back today
Not a fan Book Quote
What are you holding on to?
What is preventing you from making that Uturn for God today
Final point
Turn with me to Matthew 3:7-8
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,
Wrath to come?
I know this is not a popular topic now days
But this statement would have been bold
John is referring to the future
He is stating a fact
Brood of vipers
Referencing way back in the book of Genesis
Seed of the serpant
Children of the evil one
Bold insult
Calling them out
Are you willing today to make a choice?
Are you willing to repent
Are you willing to give up what is preventing you from following Christ
Make a choice
God’s not playing around
Whose side are you on?
Just a few short verses down we see a clear warning in the parrallel account
Forgive me I’m going to read the whole thing
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. Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
“I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”
I’m going to ask you again today
Whats it going to take to make that Uturn for God
In my own life, I struggled deeply with many things
It took a massive wake up call for me to come to the cross.
In fact I was so deep in my own sin
I denied God even existed at one point
Interesting how it took
very trying times to bring me back
In fact I remember one points of my return was my surrender to control
When my wife was pregnant with my daughter
That was my point
What is yours
Maybe your in the middle of a divorce
Maybe you’ve just received UCMJ
Maybe you just received a negative OER or NCOER
Maybe you’re struggling secretly with a sin you know is killing you inside
What is it for you
What secret are you hiding that is got hold of you
What has you chained down
Just as John was calling the nation of Israel to repentance
To clean up their act
To clense their lifes
To make way for the Messiah’s return
We need to head this warning
The time is now!
Don’t waste another moment.
The bible says
For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Don’t spend the rest of your life
bouncing back and forth
repent
come to the cross
surrender
Lets pray