WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:03.040 Well, it is the second Sunday in Advent. 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:09.439 Advent's that season we are in, waiting and hoping as we lead up to Christmas. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:11.519 There's four Sundays in Advent. 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:17.359 Here's how the Sundays break down Advent Sunday one, last week, hope and holy longings. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:21.600 Advent Sunday two, today, repentance and preparation. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:25.440 Advent Sunday three is all about joy next Sunday. 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:30.559 And then Advent Sunday four, just before Christmas, love and the incarnation. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:37.600 So today we're in Matthew chapter three, and we learn about and we hear from John the Baptist. 00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:40.719 In the Old Testament, prophets spoke for God. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:42.799 The people of God didn't have a Bible. 00:00:42.960 --> 00:00:45.439 And so prophets were speaking for God. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:48.719 And then suddenly there was no prophet. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:52.240 There was 400 years of silence. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:53.359 Nothing. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:01:00.479 And then into that silence comes this intense wilderness man, John the Baptist. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.560 He wore leather and camel hair, he ate bugs and honey. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:09.519 People are flocking to hear him speak and preach. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:12.239 They want to be baptized by him. 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.799 But he's saying something quite different than other religious leaders at the time. 00:01:16.879 --> 00:01:19.840 And he's saying something that sort of shocks us. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:26.480 If you're like me and you're in that kind of warm Christmasy Hallmark movie, Christmas Bible. 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:29.120 Anybody watch a Hallmark movie this week? 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:31.040 I watched the holiday calendar. 00:01:31.200 --> 00:01:33.040 I don't know if you watch the holiday calendars. 00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:38.159 Kind of put the fire on and you know, have hot chocolate and watch the holiday calendar. 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:39.359 Well, this is shocking. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:42.480 This morning is shocking if you're in that vibe. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:45.680 Let's read again Matthew 3, 1 through 6. 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:49.840 In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. 00:01:50.079 --> 00:02:03.120 Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of the one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight. 00:02:03.680 --> 00:02:09.759 Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 00:02:09.840 --> 00:02:19.120 Then Jerusalem and all of Judea, all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:32.240 Point number one is this relief comes, relief to us comes when we admit what's already true, that we are people in need of God's help. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:41.840 And when we refuse to admit that need, that confession, we live in a constant grasping the house, but we love it. 00:02:41.919 --> 00:02:47.280 We have an amazing I have a lovely house a few blocks from here, small little house, but we love it. 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:48.719 We have an amazing back porch. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:52.319 I have respectable, manly backyard Zoija. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:54.960 Zoija, I would be proud to show you. 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:04.960 I love my I love my house, but still, still, when I'm a little fussy, I'm a little anxious, just like a normal night, I'm tired. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:08.879 Man, I love, and I've confessed it before, I can scroll Zillow. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:12.400 I can look at Zillow for any other Zillow addicts. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:14.080 Like you're just like, yeah, I'm an addict. 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:15.840 We can have a group, Zillow addict. 00:03:16.159 --> 00:03:17.520 There's some of us, I know you're out there. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:20.159 You just go and look at houses forever. 00:03:20.400 --> 00:03:24.000 Y'all know that I like to look at mountain houses out west. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:31.439 That's and this week I was daydreaming way too much about this little humble house out west on the Big Wood River. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:33.680 Just a humble little fishing cabin. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:34.319 Nothing big. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:36.319 I don't need anything extravagant, guys. 00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:40.479 I mean, just if we're gonna daydream, we need to go big, right? 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:44.080 Like if you're gonna daydream about something, let's let's go big. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:44.800 Now, why? 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:47.199 Why do I do that to myself? 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:48.319 I'll never have that house. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:50.560 Why do I why do I do this to myself? 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:52.560 Like, why do I do it so much? 00:03:53.280 --> 00:04:05.599 Um, or why do I still want the Orvis Helios fly fishing rod, um which I still don't have, and Doug Forster bought one, which I thought was very rude of him, um, because he kept mentioning it a lot. 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:11.680 Um, and Orvis keeps sending me catalogs, and then this week on Instagram I got this image. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:15.280 Um, you know, it's like the Helios 3, you know, it's just like rubbing it in. 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:50.079 I don't have this, and I need it, you know, I have four other rods, but I need that rod, and I've talked about that rod because I still want that rod, and I'm pretty sure I could be like that man, you know, like manlier than I am, more muscles than I have, like sense of security, and I mean he's looking off in the distance, he can conquer things, like that's that's like who I want to be, like right, right, and if I had that, like the point is if I had that, and you play the game with something, if I had that, then I will be okay, fulfilled, whole, I won't be anxious. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:54.720 We do it with our guilt, feel guilty. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:57.199 Huge mistake, little mistake. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:04.800 And if if I if I just attend church more, then God would forgive me based on my attendance. 00:05:04.959 --> 00:05:11.839 You know, if if I just give more, if I do more good than bad, then I'll be forgiven. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:12.959 Then God will love me. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:19.600 And that's just a conditionality of the world, a conditionality of religion. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:23.279 But the gospel works on an unconditionality. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:25.519 It's a promise given to us. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:36.240 And that's why the conditionality of all the games I play with the Helios rod and houses, and you play it with whatever, however you play, or in religion, that conditionality, if then doesn't work. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:40.160 It never brings comfort or peace or forgiveness. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:45.279 And John says to all of that, repent. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:49.360 And John's strange, he's a strange character. 00:05:49.600 --> 00:05:51.519 Because he's in the New Testament, right? 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.279 And you go to the New Testament, sound like I'm ready for grace, I'm ready for love. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:56.959 We're done with the Old Testament law and right. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:05:59.360 But John doesn't sound like that. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:06.959 I mean, John's pointing us to Jesus, but he sounds like this fiery, like Old Testament prophet. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:08.399 So, how do we understand John? 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:11.759 Well, to understand John, we have to understand his context. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:15.439 Remember, John doesn't have the full picture. 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:21.519 He doesn't have Jesus' life and death and teaching and resurrection. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:25.759 He doesn't have Paul's letters explaining Jesus. 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:31.120 He doesn't have justification by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone worked out. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:34.160 He just knows to point to Jesus. 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:36.959 He just knows Jesus the Messiah is coming. 00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:41.839 So he still has a tone of the Old Testament prophet of law and wrath. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:46.720 We could say it this way: John the Baptist drives us to Jesus. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:50.720 Paul helps us understand Jesus. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:07:00.160 And Paul says, hey, when you're gonna think about repentance, like when you think about like repentance, like John the Baptist is telling you to repent, think about it theologically this way. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:03.839 It's God's kindness that brings you to repentance. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:06.399 God's love is wooing you. 00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:13.759 And that feels quite different than someone yelling at me to be a Christian because that's what I experienced yesterday walking into the SEC championship game. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:25.360 Three different street preachers yelled at me with large, aggressive signs that did not feel loving to me, and told me that I was gonna go to hell. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:28.560 And I'm like, I'm not going to hell. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:30.720 I am a Christian. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:32.639 I have repented. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:37.040 And a lot of us, that's our experience with this word repent. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:39.519 And it can become baggage. 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:42.399 But the word repentance means so much more. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.279 That word repentance is the word metanoia. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:50.800 It's a change of mind entering a better course of life. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:55.199 A change of mind entering a better course of life. 00:07:55.680 --> 00:07:59.439 Two weeks ago, our family went to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:03.120 We're not fancy people, so we went when they were doing the music to Home Alone 2. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:04.319 That's more of our vibe. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:06.240 Is Home Alone's our vibe? 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:08.079 And so it was just fun. 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:13.920 On the way, we stopped at Publix because I'm not paying the candy prices at the Symphony. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:17.600 And so we stopped at Publix and like bags of candy, water. 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:20.399 I mean, my pockets, because the girls are like, I'm not carrying it. 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:21.120 I'm not gonna do it. 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:22.319 I'm like, I'll load up. 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:29.040 I'm loaded up, and I'm like, I'd like to see any of you symphony fancy people try to call me out that I'm smuggling in candy. 00:08:29.439 --> 00:08:34.320 It was gonna be a scene if I had to unload everything that I had. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:41.679 So we're pulling out of the publics, and and I should have turned right to get back on the interstate, but I accidentally I turned left. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:46.320 As I turned left, Waze recalculated a new route. 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:50.639 A better course was presented to me. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.600 And we took that new and better course. 00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:59.600 Repentance gives us a new, better course of life. 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:03.840 Repentance is the change of mind, entering a better course, a better route. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.320 Now, maybe you repented out of fear. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:08.639 You don't have to, maybe you did. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:12.159 Because God's kindness is wooing you. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:24.960 We repent initially, giving our lives to Jesus, and then we learn that actually repentance is a way of life where we're ongoingly confessing our shortcomings, our need. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:29.919 It's that great transformation we've talked about from I got this. 00:09:30.799 --> 00:09:31.039 Right? 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:34.000 Sam touched on it last week, the beginning of his sermon. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:38.159 Controlling, pretending self-sufficiency is all you. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:42.879 And the transformation that repentance gives us is I need help. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:44.960 This is what's true about me. 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:47.279 I'm gonna need forgiveness. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:48.879 Here's my mistakes. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:10:07.039 My favorite quote, which I've read before, about repentance, Jack Miller said this: repentance is our ongoing calling to collapse on Jesus, acknowledging our need and receiving his supply. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:13.039 Point number two, repentance is a turning into Jesus' provision and care. 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:23.679 At the time when John the Baptist would be saying this, repent, repent, in the Jewish religion, you had to cleanse yourself before you could go up to the temple mount. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:26.879 Cleanse yourself before you went into the presence of God. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:30.559 All around the temple, there were baptismal pools called mikvas. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:32.000 Here's a picture of a mikvah. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:33.200 We've seen this before. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:38.799 And before the Jews could go up to the temple to the presence of God, they had to cleanse themselves. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:41.279 You cleansed yourself. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:43.600 Then you could be right with God. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:47.600 Then you could, if you do that, then you are clean. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:49.440 Then you can enter the presence of God. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:57.840 And John says, to that context, or everybody understood the idea of immersion, he says, you need an immersion of repentance. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:00.559 You need an immersion of honesty. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:04.480 That you're more broken, more sinful than you originally thought. 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:12.080 And yet God fully loves us, knows us, forgives us, and makes us righteous in Jesus alone. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:25.120 Verse 7, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, so this religious group, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:28.080 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:35.759 And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:42.720 Point number three is this gospel fruit grows in us as our hearts take deeper root in God's grace. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:48.879 Gospel fruit grows in us as our hearts take deeper root in God's grace. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:57.279 John blasts the Pharisees for something so easy to do in spiritual and Christian life, and that is look at my resume. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:03.840 Look at my pedigree, look at my performance, look at what I've done, look at me and my work. 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:10.480 And this is the toil and exhaustion of self-justification by the world or in religion. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:11.759 The gospel's different. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:18.799 It's that unconditionality of a promise given to you, and Christ alone you're forgiven, and Christ alone you're righteous. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:31.519 And gospel fruit comes as we as we dive in and we get deeper and deeper into the great wealth that we have as sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father. 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:34.000 So my family gets to the symphony. 00:12:34.240 --> 00:12:37.360 The music in the movie begins, we're eating our public's candy. 00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:39.840 I'm having a great time calculating all the money I saved. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:40.559 I love that. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:44.559 And right behind me is a midlife guy with some friends. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:51.440 The movie starts, it's very obvious from the beginning that this guy loves Home Alone 2. 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:55.919 Because every time a joke comes up, he could say the line with the line. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:01.679 And it was clear he knew all the lines, but he was socially being appropriate and reserving just the jokes. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:05.919 And then he would say the line just loud enough for everybody here, like, we got you, you're a fan. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:09.919 And then everybody would laugh, he would laugh, and then the people with him had not seen it. 00:13:10.000 --> 00:13:13.679 So then they would recite the joke after the joke, and then they all laugh again. 00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:18.799 And my family's laughing at a joke, but then we're laughing at them laughing because their laughter is kind of contagious. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:19.840 They love the movie. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:21.919 He loved the movie. 00:13:22.159 --> 00:13:29.600 This guy, this guy, in all his home alone to fandom, he kind of caught me up in his own love. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:32.399 Like he was he was having such a good time. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:36.720 I had a great time listening to him have an amazing time. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:42.159 He had the fruit of a Home Alone 2 fan. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:46.559 I don't think he was trying to impress anyone. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:49.840 I don't think he was trying to impress anyone with his memorization. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.600 I don't think he was trying to impress anyone with his like passion and zeal for the movie. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:55.600 He just loved the movie. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:00.399 And because he loved the movie, a certain amount of fruit just kind of came out of him. 00:14:01.600 --> 00:14:02.000 Right? 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:07.759 Like gospel fruit comes out of us as we gaze and behold Jesus more. 00:14:08.559 --> 00:14:12.720 Our calling is not to obsess about our fruit and to measure it and look at it. 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.399 That obsession is actually self-oriented. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:22.080 Our calling is to gaze and behold more on Jesus, his sufficiency. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.159 That rooting and deepening into him, fruit will come. 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:28.639 Fruit will come. 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.080 Now remember that word repentance, right? 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:34.000 It doesn't just mean I'm sorry. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:40.720 It means I'm sorry enough to head on a better course, which you have for me, God. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:50.240 I love how author Tim Keller, pastor and author, he connects the honesty and repentance to personal growth. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:53.120 Listen how he explains this process. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:56.720 Our hope is in Christ's righteousness, not our own. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:00.399 So it's not traumatic to admit our weaknesses and lapses. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:03.600 In religion, we repent less and less often. 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:10.159 But the more accepted and loved in the gospel we feel, the more and more often we will be repenting. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:16.799 And though, of course, there is always some bitterness in any repentance, in the gospel there is ultimately a sweetness. 00:15:17.200 --> 00:15:21.919 This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:27.919 Verse 10 Even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:33.360 Every tree, therefore, that does not bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:39.440 John seems to be thinking about afterlife here and people who refuse God's grace, refuse to repent. 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:50.960 The idea of fire is a way to say the refusal of the grace of God welcomes a disintegration of the soul and the self here and in eternity. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:16:01.759 A life accepting the grace of God moves further into the soul, being integrated, whole, forgiven, and righteous. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:04.000 Verse 11. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:15.919 He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:24.720 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:29.279 Now, verse 12, without the preceding verses, would be kind of haunting. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:30.559 Am I in? 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:31.919 Am I out? 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:34.320 Am I going to burn the fire? 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:35.840 Is my life good enough? 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:37.279 Is my record good enough? 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:38.639 What does God think about me? 00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:40.720 What does he think about me when I indulge? 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:43.279 What does he think about me when I indulge in something sinful? 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:50.639 What does he think about me when I just like buy Gucci luggage or I finally give in and buy the Helios 3 rod and I don't really need it, but I really want it? 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:52.639 Like, how is God going to judge me? 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:58.240 How is he gonna judge me as a husband or a dad or a friend, a son, daughter, whatever your role is? 00:16:58.399 --> 00:16:59.919 What does he think of me? 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:05.920 Man, that's a lot of insecurity if it's based on our record and work. 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:16.400 But remember, John's leading us to Jesus' life, and remember we understand Jesus through Paul's teaching, and what Paul teaches us is in Jesus we're fully forgiven. 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:18.960 And in Jesus, we're fully righteous. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:31.759 Theologian Fred Craddock helps make sense of this passage as he thinks about the gospel story and he says this when repentance and forgiveness are available, judgment is good news. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:36.319 The primary aim is to save the wheat, not to burn the chaff. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:39.680 See, Jesus is judged for us. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.240 That's why there's good news, because Jesus is judged for us. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:47.759 Our sins put upon him, and he has paid all of our debts. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.960 So we're right with God, we're secure with him. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:54.400 How God feels about us is already settled. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:17:57.599 And it's not settled in our record or how we're doing this morning. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:02.079 It's settled in Jesus' record, which means you're saved. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:06.319 And it means that in Jesus you're also being changed. 00:18:06.480 --> 00:18:08.799 That better course of life. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:14.160 Last week in Florida, a family of four took a boat out to go fishing. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:16.400 They get 20 miles out in the ocean. 00:18:16.640 --> 00:18:24.400 20 miles out in the middle of the ocean, the boat starts to take on water, and then eventually it rolls. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:28.000 They didn't even have time to contact the Coast Guard. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:30.079 So they're clinging to the, here's a picture of it. 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:37.039 They're clinging to the boat out in the middle of the ocean for 20 hours. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:40.480 And slowly the boat is getting lower and lower. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.680 They have no way to contact anyone. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:46.400 They couldn't do anything. 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:48.000 They're helpless. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:52.319 They have to have outside help. 00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:56.160 And then a plane flies over them. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:00.319 I mean, can you can you imagine that plane flying over here? 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:08.559 A Coast Guard plane out of Miami, a HC-144 Ocean Century flies over and sees them. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:12.559 Send a boat out to them, rescues them. 00:19:12.880 --> 00:19:19.119 I mean, what an image of needing help and having no hope to do it on your own. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.640 This is our position in our sinfulness. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:26.480 We're not going to swim the 20 miles in to get to the Heavenly Father. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:33.359 We're not going to be able to, with our record or pedigree or performance, going to be able to win over God's love. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.279 We have to receive it. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:43.359 And I know you have felt helpless, like you're drowning in some area of your life, perhaps some huge mistake. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:46.640 Maybe just some scenario or situation. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.839 It's easy to get exhausted and beat down and broken. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:52.559 But there's hope. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:58.079 Because the hope comes to you from outside of you and it pursues you. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:01.440 See, God pursues you in your mess. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:10.079 And so as we go to pray, we're going to pray this historic prayer that's written just for Advent Sunday day two. 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:12.240 We're going to put it on the screen. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:13.599 I'm going to pray it. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:19.039 You can just look at the screen or you can close your eyes and receive it as the prayer that it is. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:20.799 Let's pray together. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:32.079 Merciful God, who sent your messengers, the prophets, to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation. 00:20:33.039 --> 00:20:48.160 Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:49.119 Amen.