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Last week, we looked at Matthew chapter 3 and it was really about John the Baptist, a very unique man and we studied about his character, his purpose, the man himself.

Today we're going to go deeper into John the Baptist and his message. His message was a straightforward message we learned that, in verse 2 it says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, so John spoke in your face, confrontationally as it were, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and we know this is his main theme because in verse 8 as what we've read before the last song, bear fruit in keeping with repentance and then again in verse 11, I baptize you with water for repentance. Well, Jesus Christ Himself preached pretty much the same thing. Matthew 4:17 - He went about preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand so today we're going to look at the subject on - Repentance.

Let me start by a story.  There was a man who was angry with himself as he woke up the next morning. He was angry that last night he had a bitter fight with his wife again.  He saw this crate of beer bottles and he brought this crate out. He wanted to smash all the beer bottles because he knew that was the cause of all his problems, so he took the first bottle out, it was empty he had already drunk from it the night before, he took this beer bottle and he smashed it against the wall.  He says, this is all your fault you made me fight with my wife.  He took the second bottle and says, you are the reason why I don't love my children as I should, he smashed it against the wall. He took the third bottle and says, you are the reason I can't hold down a decent job, he smashed it against the wall. He took the fourth bottle, but this is different. This bottle was still sealed there's still beer inside. He hesitated for a while and say you step aside, I know you were not involved.

I wonder if this man was really sorry for his sins.

Today we are going to look at - Repentance. I think this is a very needful subject. I, I think practically all of you will understand that somewhere in the Bible, it speaks a lot about repentance but your understanding of repentance is not clear, it's not strong, myself included and I was blessed to be able to study the Bible to share with you because I think this is such an important subject.

What is Repentance? Why do we really need it? What does the Bible have to say?

I think these are the things I want to address this morning so I'm going to give you a, I hope as best as I can, a comprehensive, thorough clear idea of repentance and to do that, we will need to look at many verses, so bear with me alright, bear with me as I show the verses, the idea is not to bombard you, the idea is to give you a good grounding in the Bible so that your understanding is built upon the Word of God so let's start.

What is Repentance? If I were to ask you today, define repentance, what would you say? What we, what would be your answer, what is Repentance? So let me work this progressively with you. The word repent, in the Greek, you know the Bible, a lot of it is written in Greek, right, so to understand it, you go back to the original language, so the word repent in English is very much ‘metanoeo' in the Greek so what is this word?

Well, the word ‘metanoeo' is a combination of two Greek words, ‘meta noeo' – ‘meta' means change, that's why you have the English word metamorphosis from the Greek word ‘meta' morpho - change of form that's what it means. The word ‘meta' is change, the word ‘noeo' is mind or understanding so very simply, repent means a change of mind and in the Bible it's applied to the area of sin, you have a change of mind with regards to sin, see before someone comes to repentance his idea of sin is that it is not that bad, aaah it's not such a big deal or maybe his idea is that it is somebody else that caused me to sin. He wouldn't acknowledge his sin.  He would try to minimize his sin.  He would try to make excuses for his sin.  He says I'm basically not that bad but when someone repents, he has a change of mind.

Now he looks at sin in his life and says that is bad.  It's my fault I'm not going to minimize it, I'm not going to excuse it.  In the words of the Psalmist, Psalm 32 the Bible says, I acknowledged my sin to you, no more hiding, no more, no more, trying to minimize it but I'll be up front, clear and I said I agree, I confess my transgressions. I agree with God about my sins, so what does it mean to repent?  It means you're, you're not hiding, minimizing, excusing anymore. You're saying, I have a change of mind and I see sin for what it is but the Bible doesn't stop here.

Most people stop here alright most people's understanding of repentance, change of mind, happy with that, they move on but the Bible actually gives you a deeper understanding of it in 2nd Corinthians 7, because I think repentance is not just a change of mind, but it's a change of mind that will result in sorrow for sin so not just an intellectual level, repentance is also seen on an emotional level that there will be a sorrow for sin, 2nd Corinthians 7:11 says what earnestness this godly, what – grief, there's a sadness to sin, there's a heartache to sin, there's a sorrow for sin.

We will soon come to that in Matthew 5, we read ‘blessed are they who mourn,' mourn over the sins of life, sorrow, now I want to emphasize that this sorrow or this grief is not for the consequences of sin but you sorrow for sin itself and not just the consequences. You know a man could have an extramarital affair and he might contract HIV and then he becomes sad, aiyah [local dialect: exclamation], I shouldn't have done that foolish act, now I got HIV I'm so sad. Now what was his sorrow over?  He was sorrowful over HIV, he was sad that he has gotten this consequence of his misdeed but real repentance is not sorrowful because you got caught or because you got trouble or because you were fined or because you are imprisoned, real repentance is seeing sin and how offensive it is and to be really sad about it because you sin against the good and great and Holy God, so it's grief for sin itself, it's not regret over the consequences of sin only, so repentance is a change of mind that results in a sorrow for sin but again, it doesn't end here.

The third level, I want to speak about is that there will be a change of behavior. This is what John the Baptist was saying, in Matthew 3 ‘bear fruit in keeping consistent with repentance.' If you are really repentant, you are not just going to think about it, speak about it, but your life will change as a result of it, isn't it? I mean, if you, if you are parents and your sons says ‘mummy, I'm sorry' but he keeps doing the same thing again, my, my sons are the champions of that – mummy, I'm sorry, but the next day it's the same thing, every day same thing, are they truly repentant - no, they were saying sorry because the cane has come out but true repentance results in a change of life, not, not that you try to earn that forgiveness from God but because you realize it's bad, it's offensive you don't want to do it. You, you see its ugliness, its offensiveness and said I don't want to do it and you will change your life.

You say, what does it mean to change?  What, what does it mean to bear fruit, I don't understand. I'm glad you asked because that's exactly what the people asked when John the Baptist said bear fruit in keeping with repentance. They asked him, then what shall we do, John you say that you got to repent, we got to repent then what do you mean by bear fruit, what shall we do?

John explained whoever has two tunics whoever has two shirts is to share with him who has none. Wow, what does it mean?  It means you used to be a grabber right, you used to steal from people, you used to extort from people. If you are really sorry for your sin and you know how bad it is then you won't continue doing that instead you go to the opposite end, you do what is good, you do what is right, you'll share with him who has none, whoever has food is to do likewise.  You meet needs around you and then he said to the tax collectors, the tax collectors are people who work for the Roman Empire. You know Israel in those days, they were not a country, who ruled themselves, they were ruled by the Romans, they hated the Romans but the Romans needed to get money from the Jews so they used own Jewish people to be tax collectors.  These tax collectors would serve the Roman Empire and at the same time, take some more money to line their own pockets, so tax collectors are notorious, bad people, work for someone else, fleeced own people, greedy, that's the general understanding of what the tax collector would do.So John said to these people then, if you really repent, collect no more than you're authorized to do, don't cheat people, don't extort from people, don't fleece people.

Then the soldiers also came along and asked John the Baptist now, now what about us, what about us, tell us what repentance look like in my life and John said to them, if you really repent, you will not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation and you'll be content with your wages, that is bearing fruit in keeping with repentance.

A Sunday school teacher asked the class, ‘boys, girls, what is Repentance?' One boy raised his hand and said - repentance means to be sorry for my sins. Wa! (local slang : exclamation) very good answer actually, but another girl raised the hand and says ‘no, no, no, it means you're sorry enough to quit' and she's right. If you're really repentant you will change your ways, you will not hang on to those sins, you will not just merely mouth I'm sorry but there will be a life that bears fruit in keeping with repentance because at the end of the day repentance is very much like a U-turn you know.  You're on this road, you're traveling somewhere, you have always thought that this road will lead you to your destination but somewhere along the way you suddenly realized I'm heading nowhere, this is wrong. This does not get me anywhere, what you do, you say aiya (local slang like oh no!) this is wrong intellectually change of mind, used to think it's right, now you know it's wrong, emotionally you are sad that you have done the wrong thing but then what do you do next? I know I'm wrong, but let's keep going on - would you do that? If you did that, I say to you, you never really recognize you were in the wrong path because someone who realizes it's a wrong path would turn around, repent and change his mind, his heart, his ways to go in the right way, that's repentance.

Now, let me give you two examples in the Bible.  One example is this man, Pharaoh, for those of you who have watched Prince of Egypt, the 10 Commandments, I'm sure you must have heard about Moses and how Pharaoh withstood Moses and withstood God, Pharaoh refused to let the people of Israel go.  He refused, he rebelled against God, so God gave him plague after plague after plague, punishment after punishment after punishment and then somewhere along those lines, we read Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, this time I have sinned, the Lord is in the right, I am wrong ooh… I have done wrong, I'm sorry. Moses, you can let the people go - he sounds absolutely genuine, right?  I mean, he, he, he said he is wrong, he says God is right but look at what he says just another 7 verses later. Once he realized that the rain, the hail, the thunder, the consequences are removed, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.

Let me ask you, did Pharaoh truly repent?  But he said he's sorry what, did he truly repent?  Are you so sure, not very sure I think, quite soft.  This Jason is going to give me a trick question soon - did he truly repent, how do you know?  Well, he did not have a change of mind that results in true sorrow and a change of behavior.

Now contrast this with the people of Nineveh. Jesus talks about repentance amongst the Ninevites.  The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, so Jesus says during Jonah's time after Jonah preached and declared the Word of God, the people of Nineveh truly repented. You guys, I'm here preaching but you don't repent so you're in trouble alright so that's what Jesus is saying but the point here is that he used the Ninevites as an example of repentance - they repented at the preaching of Jonah so how did their repentance look like?

In verse 5, they called for a fast and put on sackcloth, that is a picture of mourning, that's a picture of grief, you put on a, this kind of clothes and, and they fast, you can't eat very painful, when you can't eat you feel sad right, so they are saying, we are sad, we are not eating, we are putting on simple clothes, every one of us because we are grieved, we are sorrowful, we have sinned, we hear Jonah's  preaching and we say yes, we are wrong, we are sad about it, we want to turn and then in verse 10, we read when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that He has said He would do to them so repentance is seen in their lives and that's what 2nd Corinthians 7:11 tells us, repentance is demonstrated by an eagerness to clear ourselves. You don't, you don't just say sorry and you let that sin continue on in your life as if nothing has changed.  A man who is truly repentant, sees his sins for its ugliness, he's sorrowful about it and he will do all he can to get rid of that habitual sin in him.  What eagerness, what indignation, what fear, what longing, you, you put in your maximum effort to clear yourself.

The great pastor preacher of old times, Jonathan Edwards, he would say, ‘holy practice is the most decisive evidence of the reality of our repentance.' How do you know if you really repent of your sins?  You know it when there's a holy practice in your life, bring forth fruits meet for repentance, very clear. I think most of us would like to understand repentance as merely saying, sorry, but I think when you look at the Bible, it's far more than that, so repentance - this one ah you better memorize, later I'm going to test you alright, repent is to ‘metanoeo' which means a change of mind that results in a sorrow for sin and the change of behavior.

It is on 3 levels real repentance is not just intellectual, it is emotional and it is also practical, you see that? Intellectual, emotional, practical or volitional in other words, a choice of the will and this is what DA Carson has to say. I think what I explained would be summarized by these words, well-known theologian today he says, ‘what is meant is not a merely intellectual change of mind or mere grief but a radical transformation of the entire person, a fundamental turnaround involving mind and action and including overtones of grief which results in fruit in keeping with repentance.'  The 3 levels.  James McDonald, another pastor today, ‘repentance is a recognition of sin for what it is - followed by a heartfelt sorrow -culminating in the change of behavior. I see sin for what it is that's changing my mind.  I experience heartfelt sorrow that's changing my heart or emotions.  I determine to change my behavior that's changing my will.'  Now of course you can only change in the power of the Holy Spirit but it begins with a choice, it begins with a desire, it begins with a will decision so repentance is change at every level of your being, in your mind, your heart and your will so repentance - change of mind resulting in sorrow for sin and a change of behavior.

Let me clarify two things.

Number 1: I want to say, repentance is not sinless perfection. You know how it is - husband says to wife, I'm sorry, wife says to him, don't let me see you do that again huh.  Well I hope he won't but often times hmmmm… we are weak and we struggle in the flesh, we may but, but sinless perfection is not expected of us, we should always strive for holiness, but God is not saying, unless you are perfect, I will never forgive you, no. We are forgiven by grace, our love for God is expressed by our willingness to repent and to turn back to Him, but please be clear, repentance is not about sinless perfection but in this church we have this other phrase, not sinless perfection but sincere progression that you will change more and more and more, not all of a sudden perfection but there's a certain trajectory towards that direction.

Number 2: I want you to be clear that repentance doesn't mean you earn forgiveness.  No one is saved by the merit of his repentance. In other words, God is not saying oh you repent, you get thousand points, I let you go to heaven, no, no, no, there's no point, zero point. Nothing, no point at all, all the merit is available and is achieved only through Jesus Christ.  My repentance is necessary to receive but it is not a meritorious work that demands favor from God. I hope you get that clear.  I think it's very clear in this song - Rock of Ages by Augustus Toplady, when he said - could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone, thou must save and thou alone so God saves you not because your tears flowed, God saved you because of Jesus and what He did for you on the Cross but the repentant heart is necessary to receive this grace.

Alright, test time, John, OK no there's so many Johns haha, what is repentance, would you think with me, I, I think if I keep talking you'll not remember so I want you to think through and say with me, what is repentance? how would you define it?  It is … excellent. Repentance is the word ‘metanoeo' which means, change of mind sssh… not very clear leh (local slang) change of mind resulting in sorrow for sin, excellent, that's all? No and change of behavior. What is it not?  It is not sinless perfection and it is not earning forgiveness - excellent, great students, we're done for today alright. Er I think this is, this is all I wanted to share.  For those who just want to stop at this level, alright so you have achieved a pass grade but for those who want more, listen on alright, you want to get A ah, you want to get A, listen on right.

Well, John said, do not presume to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham so the point is this, the Jews think to themselves, they don't need to repent in general, ah they probably know you're sinning a lot but they think that they don't need to repent. Why, because my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather is Abraham and God promised to our great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather that in his seed shall all nations be blessed so they assume because they are the physical descendants of Abraham, God will not punish them for their sins.  They are fine, no need to repent but John says, don't ever think like this, don't ever think that if God doesn't save you He has no one to save because God could easily save and make children out from stones to be the children of Abraham, no issue for God, so John is saying there is no excuse for anyone not to repent of their sins.

I think this is so important because some of you are raised in Christian homes, your parents are Christians, you grow up in a Christian home, you've been to Sunday school all your life, you've maybe read the Bible from cover to cover 5 times, you have pray every day and you think to yourself, because you're christianized, you live in such a Christian culture, God must save you and so you say even if I sin that's fine, even if I love sin, that's fine. No, the Bible says you must repent, no excuse, your Christian parents can't save you, your attending church can't save you, your being baptized can't save you, only if you repent and believe in Jesus will there be salvation so you got to repent so John says, repent, this is clear for everyone and he says the reason why, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

What does this mean?  He's saying the impetus for the motivation for repentance is because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is a little bit complicated, but I think I have already shared this a few times here.  He is saying, one day God will come and reign over this world again.  Right now, He is not directly ruling over it because Satan is.  The Bible tells us Satan is the prince of the power of the air. The Bible tells us Satan is the god of this world. Ever since Satan deceived Adam and Eve to sin against God he has sabotaged the world.  He has committed treason.  He has wrestled as it were, this world to be his. God allows it for a temporal time but one day God will return, rule over this earth, rule over all of His creation now that is the time where we say that kingdom of God has come or the kingdom of heaven is come.

Now, the word at hand means is really, really near so why do I need to repent when God returns, what's the point?  The point is this, when God returns it's not for fun and games, when God returns, what would happen?   Shhhhhh… don't know, you don't know what's going to happen when God returns, hey, I mean, that's a reality you know?  When God returns the Bible says He will judge this world for our sins. Sometimes our idea of the return of God is wa! He's going to bring us into heaven and wonderful, yes, for those who repent and believe in Jesus, great, but for those who don't, the Bible tells us of a hot fiery judgment so that's why John says repent now because judgment is coming when God returns there is a judgment.  In fact he says in verse 7 this is the wrath to come.

Oh, today's Christianity don't like to hear the word wrath. In fact the word repentance is a turnoff for many people. People love to talk about the love of God, people love to talk about just believe Jesus, but you know what you can't really believe in Jesus without understanding repentance, you, you can't really believe in Jesus until you see the filth of our sins and you can't really think about the love of God, if you do not understand the wrath of God, the hatred of God against sin is a very clear teaching in the Bible and one day God will judge all who do not repent and believe.  This wrath is fierce, this wrath will be demonstrated and expressed when people who do not repent, people who do not bear good fruit, they are like that tree that will be cut down and thrown into fire.

The Bible speaks about hell fire where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth so why do you need to repent because if you think you're alright, simply because Abraham is your ancestor, you're in deep trouble. There will be judgment for your sins so that's a step further from just understanding repentance, but let's go to the A* question now.  Ok this is the last one, A* ready?  The A* question is verse 11, what does John mean when he says he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire?  Actually it is all related but I just tried to break it up into stages and I will wrap it up together in the end.

What does John mean when he says he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire?  I'm not sure but I would say a vast majority of people who read the Bible look at this verse and say ah I know when this happened. This happened during the day of Pentecost, that's right, they would say this happened on the day of Pentecost, where is Pentecost written about Acts chapter 2, alright, just a few more books after Matthew, Acts chapter 2 the day of Pentecost is the day Jesus after having risen to heaven, received the gift of the Holy Spirit and poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the early church so the early church went forward with power, supernatural things were done, many people got saved. That's what they think this verse refers to – Jesus baptizing, immersing the people with the power of the Holy Spirit, then they say the word fire refers to the time where they saw like cloven tongues of fire sitting upon the people – ah you see that Holy Spirit and fire. Now I suggest to you that's absolutely not what John is saying, not at all.

Let me try to prove it to you that I think the proving is where the A* is because just saying it is easy but to know why is the a bit technical so John says he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire but when Jesus spoke about in Acts 1 verse 5, he didn't mention the fire.  It's not that Jesus was lazy to say two more words or amnesic no, aiya forgot to mention fire – no, no, no, Jesus was very specific. He was very precise – fire, baptism is going to happen later on, not now, right now in 10 days' time, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit so that Acts 2 phenomena is true.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit undeniable but that is has nothing to do with the baptism of fire that has yet to come. This baptism of fire that is to come is one of punishment, judgment and wrath. In verse 12 we read of this as unquenchable fire so this is burning fire, destroying fire that will not end and the picture here is about someone Jesus, who has a winnowing fork in His hand clearing His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and the chaff burning with unquenchable – you say what in the world is this?  I, I can't blame anyone of us for not knowing this because we live in a city state like Singapore.  This is not familiar. This is, this is agricultural language. This is actually olden times agricultural language, so let me try to paint a picture for you.

All of us eat rice, right?  You know the rice you have?  They don't come as it is right?  Er people have to harvest it and after you harvest it what do you need to do?  Sorry?   Thresh or actually separate the husks, or seed from the husks so that's what we need to do – it's the same for wheat.  When you harvest the wheat, you can't eat it yet, because you need to separate the chaff which is the husks from the wheat itself - how do you do it?  Today you've machines, in those days, they don't have so what they do is very clever.  They, they, they make a circle - rocks all around, they put the wheat that they have freshly harvested into the middle of the circle, they stand in the middle of the circle. This is what they called the threshing floor then this guy takes a winnowing fork, maybe you know [猪 八戒]zhubajie, the trident, ok he has a fork and he uses the fork and pokes it inside and he throws it up, he pokes it inside and he throws it up, he just repeats this cycle – say what's the purpose - but when he throws his wheat into the air, perhaps the husks would separate from the wheat grain itself, and because the husks is lighter, the wind will blow the chaff or the husks away and what settles onto the threshing floor after wanton is the separated grain and if you do this over and over and over and over again, then you separate the chaff from the wheat, without having to do it by hand.

The point here is when Jesus comes to baptize with fire, there will be a great separation and those who are hypocrites, those who looked like the real deal, but who are not really believers will be bundled out, bundled up and burnt but those who are real, will be gathered to the barns, so really it is 2 separate events not side-by-side like as in today, tomorrow or today, today but 1 event that has taken place some 2000 years ago, on the day of Pentecost recorded for us in Acts 2, the 2nd baptism with fire, the judgment of God when He comes, not yet. It's been about 2000 years, not yet so you read these two verses or this passage you, you think that they're side-by-side, same event, actually they're not, you should read it like this or maybe like this, or if not clear to you like this and make it like this and like this, alright make it as far apart because it is separated by many years, some 2000 years already, who knows how long more but it's 2000 years separation.  You say wa this is so complicated Pastor, why you talk about these things, er by the way why is John so blur, how come he don't know that is far apart?

Well let me try to explain something.  This is John the Baptist and he says He, Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He sees 1 event called baptism with the spirit.  He sees another event, baptism with fire so he links that up together and say he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire because looking at where he stands imagining you're standing from John's perspective and you look towards the baptism of spirit and you look to the baptism of fire behind it, this is his line of sight. The 2 pics when you look at this from this direction looks very close, don't you think isn't it?  Pic 1 Pic 2 when you look at it this way, they look very close but if you turn, oh then you realize that there is at least some 2000 years gap in between so John wrote as if they were side-by-side but actually they were far apart. This is what the commentators would say is prophetic telescoping is like ok then it looks close, is like you look at the moon and then you look at whatever, Pluto, I don't know what you can see, I've no clue but you look at the moon, you look at the next planet, it looks quite close but actually it's very far.

Don't laugh at my lack of scientific knowledge, I guess you get the point, haha, it's very far, that's why when you read in the Bible, the prophecies of old about Jesus coming first time eh very often the second coming also linked together but actually, we all know it is not as immediate as we've imagined it to be so when you read this, read this far apart, they are separate events and John the Baptist is saying, you better repent of your sin, because the kingdom of heaven is coming and when the kingdom of heaven is coming, when Jesus comes, when God comes to rule over the world again, there will be an awesome fearful judgment when those who are not repentant, those who would not believe in Jesus, they will burn in unquenchable fire. This is what is called the dreadful day of the Lord.

It's it's given in Malachi and Malachi speaks about this. You say, what does it say when Malachi speaks - Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me?  Who is this he's speaking about?  Those who are here last week you would know - this is speaking about…. Oh not clear, jialat [local dialect: in trouble] next, next week repeat sermon!  This is speaking about John the Baptist, so we know we're reading about John the Baptist, alright so the prophecy hundreds of years before John is to be born, Malachi already said, God will send a messenger - John the Baptist will come. John the Baptist will come before the Lord whom you'll seek and this Lord whom you'll seek will suddenly come to his temple.

Now I suggest to you this is not about Jesus coming the first time, this is about Jesus coming the second time – in His second coming so John the Baptist will come. This verse speaks about the coming judgment that is to come, you know there's a judgment because later on in verse 2 it speaks about how he is like a refiner's fire, but be between that Jesus came the first time, alright before that, Jesus came the first time but Malachi is talking all about a day where Jesus will come and He will be like a refiner's fire burning hot, fierce wrath dealing with sin in judgment, behold the day is coming, burning like an oven when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble, burnt up and the day that is coming shall set them ablaze.

Now the Bible is full of re-warnings sometimes we think the Bible is all about, lovey-dovey, lovey-dovey, yes, a lot of that, but equally calls you to repentance, because there's a fearful day of judgment to come so there's a wrath of God in Malachi 4:1 behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day so Elijah came, not in person, but John was in the spirit and power of Elijah, after he comes actually the great and awesome day of the Lord can come, but it has been 2000 years, that's all, God has his time.

Repent today I only speak one verse actually huh, repent, why - the kingdom of heaven is at hand. There will be a judgment described as the baptism with fire, for evildoers and for arrogant people who will not turn and repent and come to Jesus Christ. As I've said there will come a day when Jesus comes, there will be a great separation, Jesus gave this story himself, there will come a great day of separation.  Right now, the weeds and the wheat, they look so similar, very hard to tell, even the way I read it, it's the same – weed and the wheat - they look so similar, you grow, you grow a, a ground of crops, I'm sure there are good crops and there are also fake weeds there, very hard to differentiate for now and so Jesus says don't worry, they are there, the fake ones look like real deal in church, that's fine. One day, there will be a great separation, at harvest, there will be a separation, the weed will be gathered and then the wheat will also be gathered, the weed will be burned, and the wheat will be gathered into my house so he explained this story, the Son of man, Jesus, that's a title given to Himself, Jesus will send His angels, they will gather out of His kingdom and all, all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I say to you folks, please don't trifle with the Word of God. This is not fairytale. Maybe you watch beauty and the beast or whatever, avengers and you think everything is fake. I tell you, this is what the Word of God says, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth for who - for those who refuse to repent and the Bible tells us, hell is forever. If I were to tell you hell is for a million years, it might still be tolerable for some, at least there is escape at the end of a million years but the Bible tells us of eternal unquenchable fire and there's no turning back once you get there and there'll be weeping and gnashing for all eternity because you sin against an infinitely glorious and great and Holy God so my friends, there is no, there's no salvation once you are there so John therefore with urgency says, you've got to repent, it's coming near, the judgment is near. This is not a tsunami warning or earthquake warning - this is a hell warning you better turn!  It's so near that he describes it as the axe is going to the root of the trees already but if that was true 2000 years ago, can you imagine what it is like now?  Every tree, every single one who does not bear good fruit is what good fruit – good fruit of repentance, turning from sin to believe in Jesus, if you do not bear that good fruit, you'd be cut down and thrown into fire, everyone!

Now some of you may say, maybe I'll wait a while more, right now, I still want to enjoy sin, maybe just before I die, then I believe.  You never know when you're going to die right?  You don't see the urgency of this appeal.  You know when I share the Gospel – my youngest son now, Matthias.  I asked him, do you want to believe in Jesus, you repent and believe in Jesus, he says no. He is very clear, he doesn't say yes to make me happy … he'll think, no, almost every time.  I asked him why, or he doesn't really want to say, just say no but when my wife asked him, he'll say my older son ask him, he says, because I'm not going to die yet.  He says I'm only five years old actually not even 5.  I'm only 5 years old not going to die yet, he takes his time.

Maybe you are taking your time.  You know as a parent, I pray every day God help him to see his sin soon because you never know when your time is up.  My friends don't take God's goodness for granted you know, every day, you have is a day of grace from God for you to have the opportunity to turn.  Romans 2 tells us or do you presume - there are many people who presume - I know Jesus is real, I know my sins are terrible, I know I'm going to hell but you know it's okay la. I think I can believe later on la.  You presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience.  Do you know it's incredibly patient and kind of God not to wipe all of us out and send everyone who doesn't believe to hell right now?  It's His grace, it's His kindness that gives you another day so that you may come to Christ and you do not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

Maybe like Pharaoh, you take every day as an excuse to harden your heart even more, no let it be that the goodness of God will lead you to repentance, I pray. Repent therefore, this is the message in the book of Acts, the apostles when they preach the pure Gospel kept urging people to repent, repent, turn again, why - not that repentance earned salvation but when you turn to Jesus, Jesus forgives you of your sins.  Your sins may be blotted out, He did it all so turn to Him - He is good, He is gracious, He is urging you to come - why won't you turn?

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere you know what repentance is not just an option, it's a command.  God commands people everywhere to repent, you are commanded to repent, oh yes His love urges you but His authority also commands you.  Testifying both to Greeks to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.  2nd Peter is the love of God. He is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. I can say for sure this is God's will for you today. It's His will for you to turn from your sin and be saved.

My friends this is the joy of heaven, this is the joy of a Christian who is doing God's work, that when one sinner repents, there is joy in heavens so don't ask yourself, can I repent because God's will is you can repent, you must repent and you must repent now. Would you do that?

Let's bow for a word of prayer.  Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, judgment is coming, hell is real, torments are forever in that fiery lake but those who change their minds with regards to sin, who has a deep sorrow for sin and who are willing to change his ways, those who has such a repentant heart and would turn to Jesus Christ believing in Jesus, God's Son who died for your sins, your sins will be blotted out and you will be saved. Why does the Bible speak about salvation because there is real damnation and Jesus is our salvation!

This morning, I urge you, if you're here with us and you do not know Jesus, the Bible thunders repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Turn and believe in My Son whom I've sent in my love to save you from your sins. Would you turn, don't hide behind your Christian parents, don't hide behind the fact that you been in church for 20 years, you need to personally repent and believe. I pray that would be true for you today, my dear friends, please. It's about your soul.  I, I can't even imagine what one second in hell looks like.  I can't imagine what one day in hell feels like?  I can't imagine what an eternity there will be like but I certainly pray you will not be there.  God in His mercy has allowed you this morning to hear His good news.

My friends, if you were to receive this good news of repentance and faith in Jesus, hallelujah, praise God, you are blessed but if you do not know this good news, if you do not believe this good news, let me tell you the bad news.  You're damned in hell forever more.

O my friends, this is the grace and the goodness of God, He gives you the word this morning.  He calls you with open arms come to me, come to my Son come to salvation, already fully paid for!  Won't you come?  Repent and believe in Jesus Christ, God's Son.

Father, I want to pray for my friends, guests, here - may You have mercy to work in hearts.  By your spirit grant to them, repentance and faith, be gracious to save O God, and by their salvation, glorify Yourself, I pray for all of us who are already believers, that we will be humbled to the dust to remember in the Bible it is said that it is granted, it is given to us, repentance and faith.  The fact we believe, the fact we repented was an evidence of You first working in our hearts so give us grateful hearts, surrendered lives to live for You and I pray today for those are living in sin that we would search our hearts that we will not continue in our rebellious ways O God, but as we recognize your love we'll be quick to turn and to embrace love and to obey you once more so bless each one here this morning, thank you for God, Jesus, grace, salvation, we thank you in Jesus Name, amen.

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