Pastor Armstrong's sermon is based on Matthew 3:1-12.
“Be [re-]converted…now!” (Matthew 3:1-12)
I. We do not repent so that the kingdom ________________, we repent because the kingdom _________________ (v.2).
A. Salvation is not ________ going up to heaven; it is _________ coming down to earth (v.3).
B. The remedy for sin is not to deny it or blame others for it but to ___________________ (v.6).
II. Even God’s people need conversion (v.5; 1 Peter 4:17).
A. Those who assume that they cannot _______________ must be reminded that they can (1 Corinthians 10:12).
B. Those who are distressed that they have ______________________________ must be reassured that _____________________________________ (v.6; 1 John 1:9; Luke 18:13; Matthew 8:8).
C. God can make children from stones, wheat from chaff, and good trees from bad (v.9b; 12b; Matthew 12:33).
III. John is steering all of us away from the wrath of God (vv.10, 12).
A. Divine wrath is not the irritability of God, but the _________ of God in friction with injustice. (Frederick Dale Bruner).
B. God’s wrath does not contradict His love; it proves it. A love which ____________ injustice is not love (Bruner).
C. “The Lord is not wishing that ________________________, but that ______________________________” (2 Peter 3:9).