A Lesson on True Repentance
Matthew 3:1-12
Everybody goes through the wilderness phase. The wilderness is a barren or empty place of preparations and development for what God is planning to do. We all want to be a part of what God is planning to do however we tend to refuse to take the necessary steps. True repentance is an avenue to travel to get you to the location of God’s purpose if you want to experience heaven’s visitation in your own family history.
We must want the transformation as well as the information. Repentance is changing the mind in order to reverse the direction. It’s the inward choice and determination to turn from sin and turn to God (transformation). Repentance is essential if you expect to experience the presence and grace of God. You can always tell when true repentance has taken place. How so? I’m glad you asked. Genuine repentance is confirmed by actions. John the Baptist challenged the religious leaders to produce fruit consistent with repentance. Talking the Christianese speech and being at the church services shouting, “Praise the Lord” is all good, but it is insufficient without the action to back it up. I’ll give you three identifiers of fruit so that you’ll know what you’re looking for and what's expected of you if we are talking about truly repenting.
· Fruit is always visible. I am sure you have never seen invisible fruit. (People will be able to see the difference)
· It is beneficial to those who eat it because remember, dead fruit eats itself. (Others will be affected or will benefit from your change.)
· Fruit reflects the tree from which it comes. Jesus said a tree is known by the fruit it bears. (Luke 6:44) Apple trees don’t produce oranges. (If you’ve repented then your lifestyle will look like Jesus’ life.)
If a person says they’re a follower of Jesus then their lifestyle should line up in accordance with the God of the Bible and not the one they have created. That same challenge that John the Baptist posed to the religious leaders is being presented to you now. Produce fruit that is consistent with true repentance and present others with that same challenge because the fruit is the visible proof of true repentance; without it, judgment is coming.