Matthew 3:1-6 Jesus Christ is Our Proclamation

Trying to answer the question, "How is Jesus Christ our All-in-all?

The Text

Matthew 3:1–6 (CSB)
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea

2 and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!”

3 For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said: A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight!

4 Now John had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

5 Then people from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the vicinity of the Jordan were going out to him,

6 and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

The Devotion

Christ has not commanded you to do anything you can do in your own power. He is calling sinners to repentance--that is you and me. Unbelievers cannot repent of their sins unless the Triune God dwells in them and have been given a new heart and the gift of repentance by God himself.

Acts 11:18 (CSB) When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”

2 Timothy 2:25 (CSB) instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth.

Hebrews 12:17 (CSB) For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he didn’t find any opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.

Christ sums it all up:

John 3:3 (CSB) Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

You and I--the elect, saved, and adopted children of God--are called by God, empowered by God, indwelt by God, transformed by God, raised from death by God, made alive by God, given eyes to see, ears to hear, renewed mind to understand, a tongue unmute, and oh yea, the Eternal Almighty Spirit and the Only Begotten Son of God. Within this, you have been given the faith to believe in God. Within that, you have been given the gift of repentance in order to turn away from your sins and turn back to God.

Christ has come to you and me so that we can repent from our sins and turn and follow him.

You must be born again!