Emphasis Preaching Journal
John's message called for repentance...
Illustration
John's message called for repentance of sins. Thus baptism signified the transformed life that resulted from confessing one's sins and receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Good News is that no one needs to stay in the ruts of a dysfunctional life. It was such a life with the wrong priorities that the poet, Lord Byron, described in a self-portrait on his thirty-sixth birthday:
My days are in the yellow leaf;
The flowers and fruits of love are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief,
Are mine alone!
My days are in the yellow leaf;
The flowers and fruits of love are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief,
Are mine alone!
