“Repentance is neither simply feeling sorry for one’s sins, nor a merely intellectual change of mind about them. It is a radical change of direction, a transforming turn around of the entire person. It involves will and thought and emotion and action, and issues “fruit in keeping with repentance.”   (D.A. Carson)

“Repentance is a turning of the direction of our life and the affections of our heart . . .  so that we become oriented on God and love the things he loves.” (John Piper)

“Without the Holy Spirit, Christian discipleship would be inconceivable, even impossible. There can be no life without the life-giver, no understanding without the Spirit of truth, no fellowship without the unity of the Spirit, no Christlikeness of character apart from his fruit, and no effective witness without his power. As a body without breath is a corpse, so the church without the Spirit is dead.” (John Stott)

Big Picture: John the Baptist’s job is to get Israel ready, through their repentance, for what God is about to do in Jesus, the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John calls out of Israel a repentant people who are ready to follow the Lord’s way of salvation.

Point 1: The ministry of John the Baptist (1-6)

Point 2: The preaching of John the Baptist (7-14)

Point 3: The promise of John the Baptist (15-18)