places. You don't go to a Coke machine and expect to get a Pepsi. In the same way, you cannot spend your time and energy involved in sin and expect to have the joy of the Lord! If you are missing the joy in your life that Jesus promises, it is probably because your time and energy are spent seeking pleasure at the broken fountain of sin rather than the ever-flowing fountain of Jesus Christ.

Christians ought to hate sin like fire hates water. What about you? Do you hate your sin? Have you declared war against your transgressions and vowed to rid yourself of them? There is no repentance without hatred of sin.

The final ingredient of repentance is turning from sin. It does no good to hate sin if we are not going to turn from it. I can say that I hate broccoli, but if I keep on eating it, you're going to suspect that I am telling a lie. In the same way, repentance is never real unless it results in a change. There are many people who at some point in there lives have "repented", but there was not change. Authentic repentance - which leads to authentic salvation - will always result in a change of heart and a change in our actions. Are you willing to turn from your sin?

The Motive for Repentance (v.2b)

John the Baptist declared, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." In considering this verse, don't allow yourself to be tripped up by the fact that Matthew uses the phrase "kingdom of heaven", while Mark, Luke, and John all use "kingdom of God." Matthew was a Jew writing to a Jewish audience and followed the common Jewish practice of replacing the name of God with the word "heaven", just as we might say "heaven have mercy". The Jews have always had a great respect for the name of God, and this is just one articulation of that respect.

The word "kingdom" is used here in the sense of "kingship". The emphasis is not on those being ruled, but on the authority of the one ruling?His "kingliness". Put more clearly, the first century Jews who heard John preach would have heard, "Repent, for the reign of God is at hand."

Of course, Jews believed rightly that God was reigning over the whole earth. But they were also looking forward to the promise of the prophets, namely, that God was going to set up a Jewish kingdom and reign over that kingdom in a special way. One example of these prophecies is Ezekiel 37:21-25:

"Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever."

This is the kingdom that the Jews were waiting on the Messiah to inaugurate. Now, along comes John the Baptist proclaiming that the appointed time has come, and that the Messiah is soon to arrive to build this kingdom. However, contrary to the common belief at the time, citizenship in this new kingdom was not inherited by having Abraham as your father, but by having the King as your Master. John the Baptist's message, then, was threefold:

1. God's promised Messiah is coming to build His promised kingdom.

2. You cannot disobey God's commandments and laws and expect to be included in this kingdom.

3. Therefore, repent, and become a citizen of this kingdom.

Now you see why John was baptizing Jews. Just like Gentiles used to be baptized to become a part of the kingdom of Israel, Jews were being baptized to become a part of the kingdom of God!

The Seventh Prophecy Fulfilled (v.3)

Matthew informs us that John's life and message were predicted by the prophet Isaiah seven hundred years before. He is "the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight." In the days of John, g

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