Make Way for the King, Pt. 2

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Most of us don’t have a problem saying, “I’m sorry.” The hard part is repenting and actually changing our patterns of behavior. It quickly becomes clear that there’s a difference between an apology and repentance. Pastor Nick Gatzke explains the difference and what it really looks like to repent.

You want to welcome the Son of God into your life. You want the things of God among you. You want the blessing of God upon you. There is a way to welcome him. The only way to welcome the Son of God is through repentance from sin. And that begs the question, well, what exactly is repentance and how do I do it? Well, repentance is not merely apologizing, though that’s part of it.

It’s more than that. When you train children, as many of you have done successfully, some of us have done unsuccessfully, as many of us are struggling and trying to do day in and day out, when they make a mistake or when they rebel, an apology is appropriate. But an apology is not enough. Repentance, a changing of your ways is required.

And so repentance has at least three parts to it. The first is an acknowledgement of sin. And this is half the battle for some of us, especially in our day, where we want to blur the moral lines and lower them in the name of tolerance or in self-justification. For some of us, even in our pride, it is hard to acknowledge what we do might be sinful. And yet without acknowledging sin, repentance is not even possible. It also includes a confession

or an apology from sin. Now, you know this to be true. It is a terribly distasteful thing when people are caught in something evil and they wait a while and provide some space and distance and then reemerge and pretend like that evil thing never actually happened. that their offense actually never occurred, and hope to just go on pretending like everything is normal. We see this in public life, and we actually also see this very often in private life, don’t we, when we don’t want to deal with each other in the ways that we should. But in public life, the examples are striking. You think about the last number of years, countless celebrities or public figures have been caught up in sexual misconduct. and then move on without actually apologizing for it and try to reignite their careers. But then shortly thereafter, shortly after disappearing from the public eye, providing space for the news cycle to die down, reemerge, pretending like nothing’s ever happened, and try to reignite their career without apology. Sometimes people can get away with that in Hollywood because there’s no real relationship between you and the public figure. But in real life and in real relationships and in your relationship with the Lord, where there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness. And where there’s no forgiveness, There’s no reconciliation.

Repentance includes acknowledging sin, yes. It also includes remorse or apology or confession of that sin as well. But it includes one more thing. Repentance includes turning away from that sin. The word literally means to turn away or to turn a different direction.

Dallas Willard illustrates this. He says, “As a child, I lived in an area of southern Missouri where electricity was available only in the form of lightning, and we had more of that than we could use. But in my senior year of high school, the Rural Electrification Administration extended its lines into the area we lived. and electrical power became available to households and to farms. Now, when those lines came in by our farm, a very different way of living presented itself. Our relationships to fundamental aspects of life, daylight and dark, clean and dirty, work and leisure, preparing for food and preserving it, could then be vastly changed for the better. But we still had to believe. in the electricity and its arrangements, understand them and take practical steps to rely upon them. You may think the comparison rather crude, and perhaps in some respects it is, but it will help us to understand Jesus’ basic message about the kingdom of heaven and repentance if we pause to reflect on those farmers who in effect heard the message, repent for electricity is at hand, Repent or turn from your kerosene lamp and lanterns, your icebox and cellars, your scrub boards and rug beaters, the woman-powered sewing machines, and the radios with dry cell batteries. The power that could make their lives far better was right there near to them, whereby making relatively simple arrangements, they could utilize it. Strangely, there were some who did not accept it. They did not enter the kingdom of electricity.” Some just didn’t want to change. Others thought they could not afford it.

But repentance means turning away from sin and turning toward God. I think of the little girl that told her friends that she had repented from her sin and was following God. And her friend looked at her and said, are you still a sinner? And the girl said, yes. And the friend said, well, then what’s the difference? And the girl said, I used to, before I repented, run toward my sin. And now I live a life where I run away from my sin. That is repentance.

But so many people want the benefits of God without repentance. So many people want the blessing of God in their life without preparing the way for God. So many people want the forgiveness of the Savior without the preparation that is required. And so that begs the question for you, have you repented of your sin, your sin of your pride, or your sin of self-determination, or your sin of drunkenness or gluttony? or your sins that are sexual in their nature, or the sins of the mind? What about the sins that occur through your words that you speak? If you want to welcome Jesus into your life, repentance from sin is the way that you open the door to him.

And John preached this to thousands as the Savior was coming. Now look at verses seven and eight with me. This is the only part of the speech that we actually know the script of. It says he preached saying, after me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of those of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down. and untie. I’ve baptized you with the water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

John preached a baptism for the repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, and this baptism was outside. It was a outside, external, physical dynamic. But the message and what happened outside and the posture of repentance on the inside all served to point to the coming king, King Jesus. And when Jesus enters your life, John says, his baptism is a baptism of the inside. It’s a baptism of the Holy Spirit. He changes your life. And not just changes your life, actually gives you a new life as the Spirit of God takes up residence in you and you are changed. And so thousands upon thousands, 10,000 upon 10,000 are repenting of their sin at the side of this river. And John is telling them the way. to make way for the coming of the Son of God, the King of the world. And the people respond. And right there as this is happening day over day, over day, over day, Jesus shows up. And it says in verse nine, in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” There are many remarkable things about this, but the first two that come to mind are important. The first is that Jesus himself was actually baptized.

The baptism was for repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but Jesus was sinless. So the question, why would Jesus need to be baptized is a very good question. And in fact, John asks the same question. In Matthew chapter three, it says in verse 14 that John would have prevented him from being baptized by saying, I need to be baptized by you. And do you come to me? And Jesus answered him, let it be so now for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And then he consented. Jesus’s baptism was a baptism of identification.

And then he consented. Jesus’s baptism was a baptism of identification. The sinless one and the deity placed himself in the middle of sinful. Humanity. Jesus, in the midst of thousands, placed himself in the midst of those who needed to repent. Jesus placed himself right among those who were guilty before God because in just a few years, he would take their guilt and he would take their sin and he would take our guilt and he would take our sin on as his own. Jesus’ baptism pointed us to the forgiveness that we would receive from his cross. The baptism points to the cross, and that’s amazing. It answers a lot of questions, by the way. Was Jesus hijacked? Did Jesus willingly know that he was gonna die? Did he know what was gonna happen, or did humanity overrun him? Jesus knew from the very beginning, from the very first act of his public appearance, that this was leading to the cross. The second amazing thing was not only that Jesus showed up, but that God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, and the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, made themselves known in that moment as well.

God confirms his message audibly: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” He wasn’t just a good teacher. He wasn’t a flash in the pan spiritual figure. He wasn’t a prophet. He wasn’t gonna be the ruler they expected. He is the son of God. And the spirit of God descends upon him and empowers him for the ministry that from this moment forward is going to commence. And the entire Trinity, all three persons are present. The father spoke. The son. emerges from the water and the spirit descends. Jesus was here. The eternal king had arrived. The savior of sinners was present. And all who were repentant were making the way for him. And immediately it says, he was rushed off into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. And he withstood, of course, we know that temptation. and his ministry began.

The preparation for the king was repentance for the forgiveness of sins. It’s quite the introduction. This isn’t the story of the manger. This isn’t sweet baby Jesus lying in swaddled cloth. The introduction in the gospel of Mark is an introduction of repentance. The only way to welcome the son of God is through repentance from sin. It was the same back then, and it’s the same today. You know, we live in the most privileged time in history. You’ve heard me say that many times. We live on this side of the cross. The king has already come. We already have witness. He has already invited us into his rule and to his reign. You have the opportunity to welcome the son of God, the king of the universe into your very life. And you do that through repentance.

So my friends, the encouragement for you is not only the introduction of King Jesus and his ministry, but the encouragement and the application for you. is if you have not repented, wait no longer. There are many of us that know about Jesus up here or we want the benefits of Jesus right here in our mind, but right here in our heart. We want to do things our own way and we’re willing to do it at all costs. There are many of us who want Jesus and want the benefits of his blessing. And we certainly want the benefits of his eternal life but right here in our heart our pride prevents us from acknowledging our rebellion against

And the call for you and for me is to repent. There are many of us who have repented before, who have welcomed Jesus in, and yet we still struggle in sin. And so we continue to repent because welcoming the son of God into your life is met. with unending grace and mercy and forgiveness. Acknowledge your sin, apologize for it, and turn away from it. And the King will come in.

I wanna close this morning with a poem by J. Addison Alexander that captures the beautiful dynamic of the coming of Jesus. the struggle with sin for all humanity and the call for repentance. This is what he writes.

“There is a line by us unseen that crosses every path, the hidden boundary between God’s patience and his wrath. Oh, where is that mysterious bourn by which our path is crossed? Beyond which God himself has sworn that he who goes is lost. How far may one go on in sin? How long will God forbear? Where does hope end, and where begin the confines of despair? An answer from the skies is sent: Ye who from God depart, while it is called today, repent, and harden not your heart.”

Let’s pray. Father, great and mighty are you, holy and just in your ways, perfect and pure into every aspect of your being. And God, we are far from that. Our sin is ever before us. And Father, we pray today. that by the work of your spirit, conviction of that sin would fall heavily upon us. We pray today that through your word and through your prompting, you would lead us to repentance. God, and we do so even now. There are many among us who have repented many times before, and yet we still sin, we still struggle, we still fall prey. Today we repent. God, there are many among us, I’m sure, who have not bent the knee, who have not bowed their heart to the king, whether that be through pride or self-serving behavior or just thinking that it’s not that important. God, and today you call us to repent. And so even now in the quietness of the moment, we confess our sin to you. God, we thank you that our repentance does not leave us in the place of judgment, but it actually opens the door to new life through your son. We thank you for mercy and grace that are free to us and cost much to him. We pray today that we would live with the reality of this king who has come, that would be encouraged by him, that would be motivated in righteousness, that would be empowered by your spirit, We thank you, God, that you use repentance to bring about such change. We pray in his mighty and glorious name. Amen.

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This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy, but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.