Words of Jesus Podcast - Repentance is Change

Episode Date: February 5, 2021

The ministry of John the Baptist was to usher in the Messianic King so long anticipated by the people of Israel. John was an outsider whom the people recognized as a Prophet. No word had been heard from the mouth of a prophet for 400 years. The message of John was "Repent." This is a religious word which many think means be sorry for your sins. No, that's not it. To repent is to regret your way enough to do something different. Real repentance is change.***The Baptism of Jesus by John (Part 1)WHEN JESUS was thirty years of age, John the Baptist was preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. The people of Judea and Jerusalem went to him and were baptized in the waters of the Jordan River.           From Nazareth Jesus went to John to be baptized. John hesitated, saying:           “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?”           Jesus replied:           “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.”So John baptized Him and straightway as Jesus went out of the water the Heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. He heard a voice from Heaven, saying,:“THOU ART MY BELOVED SON; IN THEE I AM WELL PLEASED.”***CHAPTER 2 SCRIPTURES (KJV)MATTHEW 3:13-17Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.MARK 1:9-11And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.LUKE 3:21, 22Now 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.JOHN 1:29-34The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record that this is...

Think Red Ink Ministries presents The Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris Hello friend, I'm Don Harris with Think Red Ink Ministries. I am enjoying taking you through this book called The Words of Jesus. It's an old book, I guess it's out of print now, but I was intrigued with it because of all the red ink in there. You know, the truth is, is that the red ink in there. You know, the truth is that the red ink in the scriptures is a wonderful opportunity for all of us who love the Lord and want to know

what he had to say. I'm always amazed when I find people that aren't aware of what Jesus actually said. They know their pastor better than they know Jesus. They know their church better than they know the denomination better than they know Jesus. They know their church better than they know the denomination or than they know doctrine. They know their denomination better than they know most anything about Christianity in general. It's really kind of a shame

because the scriptures are so full of instruction to make our lives better that they should really be more of a part of our life. Well, our mission here at Think Red, Inc. is for people to think red ink. What did Jesus say? What does He expect us to do? What did He do? What did He say to do? These kind of things I think are very, very important, and unfortunately they don't seem to be to a lot of people, but they should be.

We're in chapter 2 now of the Words of Jesus book and we're dealing with the baptism of Jesus by John. When Jesus was 30 years of age, John the Baptist was teaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. The people of Judea and Jerusalem went to him and were baptized in the waters of the Jordan River. From Nazareth, Jesus went to John to be baptized.

John hesitated, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? Let's pause for a moment and think about exactly what was being said here by John. And that is that, I'm a little confused here. This is his cousin Jesus and he had known him his entire life presumably. John says, I was under a totally different impression about what was going to happen when you began your ministry.

Here's what I thought was going to happen. And Jesus says, well, say on. And he says, I figured that when you appeared, you would come and baptize me. Now John got this straight afterwards and we'll talk about this in a moment. But at this particular point John was thinking I thought you would baptize

me and you're coming to me for baptism? What in the world is going on here? John the Baptist has always been a source of intrigue for me and I guess the main reason that that's true is because Jesus made a statement about John the Baptist that I never heard him make about anybody else. And that was, I want you to know, when John the Baptist died it was a sad day, and Jesus, the Bible says that upon receiving this news that he was moved with

compassion. I'm news that he was moved with compassion. I'm sure that there was great love between these men. But Jesus said something about him that was peculiar to John the Baptist that I never heard him say about anyone else. He said, this fellow John the Baptist, he was the greatest prophet ever born of a woman. Now, I think about that and I wonder, what exactly do you mean? Is he just a great guy? Is he just a salt of the earth guy?

What are you trying to say about this fellow? Well, Jesus was making it clear to those who listen that he was a wonderful man in that he was a prophet of God and because he was a prophet of God and therefore and receiving the accolade from Jesus that he was great he was a great prophet. If he had said there wasn't a better plumber born of a woman you wouldn't

think about his character or the fact that he doesn't cheat people or anything like this. What you would think was he's a darn good plumber. And Jesus was saying that John the Baptist was a great man, a great prophet. So naturally you want to think to yourself, well what was his prophecy? What was he saying that was greater than anything we've ever heard from other prophets? Listen, some of the prophets in the Old Testament, when you read what they say, they were mighty

men of God, brave men of God that sacrificed everything they had and everything, even their lives. Some prophets were sawn in half. They lost their lives as martyrs. They did wonderful things and exploits. However, here you have Jesus pointing to John the Baptist whom we hardly even know. And I guess if you wrote down everything in the scriptures that John the Baptist ever said, he wouldn't even

fill a page. And I'm thinking, greatest prophet. What was it that he taught that was the greatest thing, that merited Jesus saying was the greatest prophecy and the greatest prophet ever born of a woman? Well, what was his message? His message was, Israel, you're going to have to repent. Now, I know the word repent is a kind of a churchy word. And, you know, we don't, we just don't apply it in regular, regular everyday life. But repentance was not a, I mean the concept of repentance

was not new to society. All it means is to change. If you're traveling north and you repent of going north, is it that you have stopped moving? Is it that you have turned east or you've turned west? No. You've turned south. You are no longer going that way. You are now going that way.

Repentance is to change what you're doing and do it another way. Look at the job that John the Baptist was given. He was essentially having to go to the people of God. However it was that we were doing this before, we're going to have to do it differently. No longer will you be doing what you're doing now. You will be doing something totally different.

There is something that is happening to the religious world, indeed to the entire world that is going to be different than anything you have ever heard of in your life. Other prophets in the Old Testament, speaking for God would say that I am going to do among you God speaking, I am going to do among you a marvelous work and a wonder and you will not believe what you see. You will not

believe what you hear. You will not believe what you hear. It will be so different, it will make your ears tingle, yet for all that they will not hear. That is a serious indictment against those of us who claim to love the Lord. But it's not that difficult to find Christians, so-called, that actually don't really pay attention to what God actually said. It's almost like, I don't know, you go to Sears and you buy yourself a lawnmower

and you use it and you use it and you use it, but you don't really think about Sears that much. It's a great lawnmower. Yeah, I love the lawnmower. It's a good lawnmower. You ought to get one. But you don't think about where it came from. You don't think about its origin. You don't think about who made it and the mind that conceived it. You just enjoy what you get. I think that that is the way a lot of Christians feel about their own salvation. Look,

God made the deal. I didn't. He said, you know, believe on Jesus and you don't have to go to hell. It's real simple. I've heard preachers say this. And it's almost as if there's no worship involved in this. There's no repentance involved in this. I got the same God I had before I came to church this Sunday. Me! I tell me what to do. I have decided to become a Christian. I have decided to do things God's way. I'm going to keep His law as long as they're

my laws. I'm going to do what He says as long as I agree with Him. Friend, this is not the way of salvation. It's a relinquishing of ourselves. Paul called it a dying to oneself. It's a relinquishing of ourselves. Paul called it a dying to oneself. It's when we die in the spirit of God to where we don't matter. How can a dead man be jealous? How can a dead man covet? How can a dead man lust after a woman? How can a dead man do the sins, the big list of sins? It can't be done. So what's the key here? What do we need to do?

What we need to do is die to ourselves. Well, in the laws and in the religion of the Jews, it was simply this. And if you take offense at what I'm saying, go ahead and take offense. There's nothing much I can do about it. But if you commit a sin, you make a sacrifice. When you make a sacrifice, the sin is erased. How is that different

than if you commit a sin, you ask Jesus to forgive you and you're forgiven? Not much difference at all. The sin continues. If the sin continues, did repentance take place? No, it did not. There is no being there is such a thing as having a repentative or is it a repenting spirit about you? That you are indeed sorry for having done what you

did, whatever the situation is. You are sorry about that. There is such a thing as a repentant spirit, but it is not repentance. Repentance is changing. We have to change. If you read again what it says about John the Baptist being in the wilderness and baptizing folks, it says that he was preaching the baptism

of repentance for the remission of sins. Now, if we understand what repentance actually is, we can understand that repentance for the remission of sins is the idea that he's teaching. He's not teaching that we need to be sorry for our sins and then subsequently, or because we are sorry, our sins are remitted. He's saying that repentance for the remission of sins. You may have been told

that forgiveness comes and forgiveness is given simply because you ask. But friend, that's not so. You're not going to find that anywhere in Scripture that all you have to do is ask. Now I know that the Bible says that if we sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He will forgive us of all sins and the

Scriptures can be pulled and listed and say, see there, all you have to do is ask. But have you ever considered the scripture that says, for if we sin willfully, after we've received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. The sacrifice for sin, the sacrifice that our Lord made for us is for those who are repentant. A repentant person cannot sin willfully. It is our will that turns us around. It's when we decide, I'm not going that way anymore, I'm going this way. And here's the beautiful promises as a matter of fact you find it

in Ezekiel as a matter of fact it's written twice in Ezekiel I think the 13th chapter and the 18th chapter where the Lord says here's the deal I'm going to make with you that if you will repent of what you do and the way you live stop going your way and start going my way. Start doing these things. Stop doing these things. Here's the deal I'm going to make with you. Are you listening to me? If you'll do what I tell you to do, I'll never remember

anything you have ever done wrong. Isn't that the deal we're looking for? Isn't that what we want? You will not find forgiveness not attached to a willful repentance. Not a willful sinning and re-sinning, sinning over and over again. And it doesn't matter how many times you sin, you know, Jesus will always forgive you. Look, you get forgiven once because you repent once.

What was it? I think it was Mark Twain says, you know, you only quit smoking once. Well, this is a guy who understands smoking. That if you quit and you start back, you really haven't quit. Well, you know, the truth is, is you repent of your sins once. And when you don't do that anymore, the Lord is faithful to forgive us of those sins and to cleanse us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It's really a lovely deal when you think about it. Now, here's the you want the bad news i'm afraid the scripture that i just told you about it what ezekiel had to say i'm afraid i didn't quote it all you ready for this how you feeling you feeling good right about now well i don't want to make you feel bad but but you need to know the truth. He says, if you ever turn away from my way and start going your way again, I'll never remember any of the good that you've done. You see, these things are delineated.

They are iterated. They are printed in our scriptures that we do not read. Wow, that's that Old Testament. That's got nothing to do with it. Do you realize the whole ministry of Jesus Christ was accomplished under the Old Testament? Do you realize that? When you talk about an old covenant and a new covenant, we're talking about a different story here. But we're talking about the same God. We're talking about the same Jesus Christ. Sure

I mean in the Old Testament he was pre-incarnate which is a $5 seminary word which means before he came into flesh. But it is the same being. John 17 Jesus praying, Father restore unto me the glory that I had with you before the foundation of the world. He's the same God. Jesus Christ is the God that met Moses on Sinai

and wrote the Ten Commandments with his finger in stone. How do I know that? Because Moses saw him. Jesus says no man's ever seen the Father. The Father's a spirit. You can't see him. Moses was famous for having been one of the only men in the world that ever saw God face to face. You remember he wanted to see him

and it says that the Lord passed him by covered, he stepped into a crack in a rock that he could fit in and he went into this into this crack, into this opening of the rock and his hand covered him and he passed by. Jesus was in a glorified state at that particular point. And it would have been detrimental for Moses to have seen him. But when Moses came down from the mountain, his face shone.

Well, why is that? He'd been face to face with God himself. This Lord Jesus Christ that we turn into a New Testament God who has replaced the old mean old guy in the Old Testament. Do you know what you're talking about? The Demiurge. You're talking about the you're talking about pagan gods here where you know the the loving son came and and took over the company and now no longer do we have to deal with this exacting and cruel god but now it's jesus christ friend that's not so at all some of the most devastating and and judgmental things that have ever been said in the scriptures were said by Jesus Christ. Some people blame the Apostle Paul.

They say Jesus preached the gospel of love and the Apostle Paul, he preached a gospel of cruelty and exacting punishments and this is what you're going to have to do, and it's Paul's fault. No, you know what? The truth is actually the opposite of that.

Jesus Christ came and told us, you know, that it's a fearful thing. You better fear the one who can destroy your body and soul in hell. Paul is saying, here's how you can avoid this. How did we get this so wrong? Why did we get it so wrong, friend? That's what I don't understand. Why did we get this so wrong? Truth is that had we listened to that wonderful message of the greatest prophet that was ever born of a woman,

we would realize things are going to change. Things are not like they've always been. Things are going to change. We're going to talk about, as time goes on, that in the repertoire of Jesus and what he preached and what he taught, you'll find a destruction of the temple. The Jews thought for years, centuries, that when Messiah came, the temple would be destroyed.

Why would that be? Because we are now the temple of God. That's a huge change. That's a huge change in the mind of any jew if as a matter of fact if you read in the book of acts where what he preached passed on to men like stephen and uh and men like paul and and peter they were accused of of preaching against the temple preaching against moses and preaching against the nation of Israel. I happen to believe that that's exactly what they were doing. The apostle Paul says,

you live in the spirit, you're no longer under the law. You know what that means? When you obey the spirit of God, that you're no longer under the law, that makes perfect sense to me. Do you realize if you drove safely, we wouldn't need speed limit signs? Do you realize that? It wouldn't surprise me at all that he preached against the nation of Israel. There's no salvation in your bloodline. There's no salvation in your DNA, who you are. The greatest prophet ever born of a woman told a group of people one time,

say not we have Abraham to our father, for I tell you, God can raise these stones up to be seed of Abraham. That's nothing special, boys. It is time for us to change. Things are changing. Who you are, who your DNA is, the fact that you live in a country that has a temple, you know, that has the temple of Jehovah in it, the fact that you teach and you preach and you post on your doorpost the Ten Commandments of God. They don't really do that, but they're supposed to. The religion of the Jews just turned into just that. A religion. And it didn't affect their lives anymore. Jesus Christ came to change that. He's going to put all that down.

All the ritual, all the rites, all the foolishness that goes along with this, it's all going away. It's going to be no more now friend that's really good news it may not be for those who have lived in the jewish faith all their life but it's not done us any good it's not we've had the commandments of god for 3,500 years. And now we've got 6 billion laws on the books of the United States trying to enforce 10 commandments. We can't do this without a change within ourselves. Jesus knew this. He knew that we had to change.

That's why when the rich ruler came to him and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? He said, keep the commandments. Well, I've done that. Good. Do this and you'll live. Yeah, but what lack I get? How do you know you lack anything? Look, I don't kill my neighbor, but I want to. I don't necessarily commit adultery with my neighbor's wife, but I want to. I don't want to want to anymore. Jesus says, you're in luck. Oh, he didn't say luck. He says, this is your day, buddy, because I am here to make a change in you. You want to be regenerated? Is that what you're here

for? If you're keeping the commandments, that's good. But you want to be regenerated? Here's the way you're going to have to do it. You're going to have to deny yourself. You're going to have to be willing to die for what you believe. And you're going to have to follow me. In those three little instructions, we had three before, right? Love mercy, do justly, walk humbly with your God. Here we have deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me. So how does this all translate to the century that we live in now? Man, we need to keep God's commandments.

All of them. We need to keep his commandments. Number two, we need to listen to and obey our conscience. Do you know how many times you get into trouble because you disobey your conscience? That one thing alone can make your life better. We're going to talk about these things. And this just seems like it's never ending. Because really, it's not.

Our Lord Jesus did not come to make us better Baptists or better Americans, better Presbyterians, or better anything else. He came to regenerate us. He made to take dead men and let them live. Hope you've enjoyed the study today. We're going to continue again next time. We want you to be a part of that.

We're going to take up right here where we left off, and you be a part of that. If you'd like information, you have questions for me. I'd love to get your questions. Just email me at don at thinkredink.com. Don at thinkredink.com. And I'll be glad to answer your questions. We'll answer them on the air.

We'll answer them on TRI radio or Think Reading television, on this show. You know, there's many people out there that have the same question that would love to hear the answer. Send in your questions. But if you have no questions and you're just sitting there scratching your head, it's okay. But write me and let me know that you're listening. I'd love to hear from you. Don at thinkready.com. If you'd like to send a letter, you can do that too. Just send it to Think Ready Ministries, P.O. Box 718, Pytown, New Mexico, 87827. All right. We'll see you next time. Thanks for being a part of the show. We'll see you then. Bye-bye. Thank you. You've been listening to Don C. Harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredc.com. That's ThinkRedInc.com.

Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you