In the presence of extreme wickedness of mankind God has weighed humanity and has found it wanting. It is now time to bring judgment, wrath and, thankfully, salvation.

After John rebukes the crowds for their false repentance, they then ask what they must do. John responds by revealing the single characteristic that evidences a true repentance, and must, therefore, accompany all true repentance. In this passage, John reveals the hallmark which will make up the coming community of the Messiah - Love. The challenge for all Christians is to honestly examine themselves to see if a true love for the church abides.

The earth is filled with humanity, but humanity under the power of sin. This chapter opens up with two descriptions of the vileness of sin and how utterly life-captivating it really is. The result is the regret of God over humanity and the preparation to judge humanity.

There are two kinds of repentance. A repentance unto the forgiveness of sin, and a repentance unto holiness. This sermon seeks to clarify these categories. Further, it seeks to show the two vitally important steps that must be present for true repentance to happen - an awareness of sin, and a turning to the true Christ. This is most helpfully seen in Paul's two-step process of "putting off" and "putting on." This is true repentance, and the means by which a true Christian can have assurance of their own salvation.

Cain has murdered his brother. Sin is showing itself present in every way and now we see the spread of mankind and we see both the glory of humanity and its inherent weakness and folly.

Repentance is a major theme in the Bible, and yet it is rarely taught in a less than vague way. This sermon seeks to build a theology of repentance, followed by some marks of false repentance. Many are finding their assurance of salvation in things which the Bible never declares to be furnished proof of a repentant heart. This sermon is a call to analyze your life in a manner consistent with what the Bible teaches are marks of genuine repentance.

In this chapter we now enter into a whole new world. A world that is under the power of sin. It is a world that all of us know too well. We are able to see how quickly sin shows itself in the lives of our first parents’ offspring. We see the grace of God as well as His judgments. We see misplaced assumptions and the faithfulness of God in the midst of them. And we see that worship is still the most basic and necessary thing in the heart of man. The only question is Who do we worship and How do we worship?

John the Baptist begins his very confrontational ministry of preaching repentance. The passage lays out the function of John, which is to be an expositor of the heart. His goal is to lay before the nation the corruption of their own hearts. In so doing, we see the necessity of repentance as an absolute precursor to true salvation. A person must change their mind of Who God is, who they are before Him. The result is a life which evidences this conviction.

This is the definitive passage of the infancy narrative. It reveals Jesus' own self-understanding of His divine identity and mission. It's his personal testimony to Who He is, and what He came to accomplish. It's a unique portion of Scripture in that it's the only record of Jesus' life between His birth and ministry. It's also the only record of His words outside His formal ministry. As such, it sets the stage and becomes the launch point for the rest of the Gospel.

In the midst of God’s judgments due to the actions of Satan, Adam and Eve there is the first word that He is not finished. This verse is often called the Protevangelium which simply means the first gospel. Here is where we see much to fear and even more to rejoice if our hope lies with the grace and glory of God. And if it is properly understood then many things that occur now and throughout history begin to make more sense as we see how God’s plan unfolds and how Satan seeks to resist.