ood roads were difficult to find. This was even truer in the time of Isaiah. If a king were planning to take a trip, he would often send servants ahead to prepare the roads and to ensure that there were no obstacles that could delay the journey. In the same way, John was instructing the people of Israel to prepare themselves for the arrival of their King by repenting of their sins and turning back to the commandments of God.

An Exhortation to Repentance

Let us close this chapter with three reasons that we should practice repentance. First, we should practice repentance because there is no other way to heaven. It is a tragedy that so many people live completely contrary to God's commands, and yet expect to go to heaven based on family history. Some of these Jews were depending on their ancestor, Abraham, as their ticket to the kingdom of heaven. Some people today are depending on their parents or grandparents. They assume that because their family included a few devout followers of Christ, the whole family will be saved. There are some things in your life that you can never know for sure. You cannot know for sure whether or not it is going to rain tomorrow. You cannot know for sure that tomorrow you will not come down with some sort of sickness. You cannot know for sure that tomorrow - or today - will not be the last day of your life. But of this you can be sure: when your time comes, you will stand before Almighty God and give an accounting for your life.

Sometimes, if a man commits the perfect crime, he can fool the cops and escape having to answer for his evil act. It is not so with God. No one will escape having to stand before God. It is as sure as the very existence of God Himself. On that day, no one will be able to say, "O God, my mother was a holy woman," or "O God, my grandmother was a devout follower of you." On that day, the issue will not be the religiosity of your family, but the vileness of your sin. Therefore, repent today! Today is the day of salvation. Only by repentance today will you be able to stand before God with joy in the future.

Second, we should practice repentance because the wages of sin is death. The result of sin is spiritual death, which results in an eternity in hell. Hell is a real place. If you believe in a just God, you have to believe in hell, because God has to have a way to punish sinners who commit the ultimate sin of rejecting Him. Unbeliever, if you continue walking down the road of disdain for God, and if you do not turn around, you are eventually going to get to the end of that road - and that is a place you do not want to be. I plead with you, for your sake, that you not take another step down that road of sin, but rather turn around and follow Jesus!

Third, we should practice repentance because the longer you go without repenting, the harder it will be to do so in the future. Sin has a side-effect: it hardens your heart. The more a person sins, the harder and more calloused his heart becomes. After just a little involvement in sin, a person no longer feels as bad about his sin as he once did. Sin becomes easier and easier the more you do it, and repenting becomes harder and harder. The further a person goes in sin, the harder it is to turn around. Therefore, repent today, while you still can!

Justin Nale is the pastor of Mount Hermon Missionary Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, NC - http://www.mhmbc.org

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