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In the name of Jesus, you may be seated. Our colic for this second Sunday in Advent, that's the first prayer prayed during the beginning of the service, that colic in Advent says it all. It directs our prayers to the Father. In fact, we beseech God, stir up our hearts, O Lord, to make ready the way of your only begotten Son, that by his coming we may be able to serve you with pure minds. It really says it all. The only way to serve God with pure minds is by the coming of the Son. But we must be prepared by the Father to receive the Son. In fact, just as we prayed, He must stir up our hearts in order that we may be prepared for the coming of Christ. God is preparing us for his presence, and he's preparing us for his judgment. God is preparing us for his present and his judgment. That is his judgment against sin and death. So then, how does the Father prepare us for the Son? He prepares us by calling us to repentance. Nothing new. This is God's message to us. Therefore, this is John the Baptist's message to us. John is still speaking into our ears and into our hearts today, just as he did then. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God ordained John the Baptist's arrival before he ever showed up on scene. The Lord prophesied John's presence long before his arrival, for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And, as you will even hear next week, Jesus himself will testify concerning John's appointment by God. If you're willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. When John arrives unseen, he shows up in the same persona as Elijah. He looks like Elijah, he smells like Elijah, he eats, his voice testifies to the wondrous works of God like Elijah. John's purpose was to make, was to prepare the way of the Lord because this is God's purpose. So John prepared the people in the surrounding area of the Jordan for the coming of Jesus. But the fact is, John has never stopped preparing God's people for the coming of Christ to this very day. John's message continues to prepare the way of the Lord. He preaches to us the same repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We too must be prepared for the kingdom to come. So repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is God's Advent message to you and me. But the fact is, dear saints, God is really the one reorienting us. He is the one turning us around, he's the one spinning us around on our heels, away from our sin-riddled lives, back toward Him. So then, what does it look like to turn away from this world and the devil or even your own sinful flesh and return to the Lord? It looks like repentance. Because repentance has two parts: contrition and faith. You cannot have repentance without both. That's how John preached it, and that's how it is today. If you have contrition, which is sorrow over your sins, that's what that means, but if faith is not present, you will only be left in despair. Faith must be present, or there's no repentance, because there's no turning toward Jesus. So then, in order to repent, the gospel must be nearby in order to produce faith in the heart of man. For the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Repentance must have two parts, and these two parts are produced in us by God's law and his gospel. Just as Luther explains in our Lutheran confessions, listen carefully. He writes, Whenever the law alone exercises its office, without the gospel being added, there is nothing but death and hell and one must despair, as King Saul and Judas did. Saint Paul says, through sin the law kills. On the other hand, the gospel brings consolation and forgiveness. It does so not just in one way, but through the word and sacraments. Luther also writes, John the Baptist, preceding Christ, is called the preacher of repentance. But this is for the forgiveness of sins. That is, John was to accuse all and convict them of being sinners. This is so that they can know what they are before God and acknowledge they're all lost, so that they can be prepared for the Lord, to receive grace and to expect from him the forgiveness of sins. That's why John's message was so clear to the people around the Jordan. He calls them all to repentance by convicting them of their sins and offering them a baptism of forgiveness. And if you're wondering what I'm pointing to right now, it's the baptismal font, because it's not right there. And they were baptized. And they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. That's why John's message is so important for us today. He asked the right question, by the way, of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. You brood of vipers, who warns you to flee from the wrath to come? What is a brood of vipers but the children of a serpent? And what other serpent would John be referring to than Satan? He calls it like it is. He speaks what God's word actually declares. Likewise, John's question is right also for us. And don't be tempted to say, how are we a brood of vipers? We are born a brood of vipers. We really are. That is exactly, in fact, what we confess in our own baptismal rite in the church. It reads, the Word of God also teaches that we are all conceived and born sinful and are under the power of the devil until Christ claims us as his own. So God in Christ must claim us as his own. This is the same gospel that John speaks. The warning that the kingdom of heaven is near was never only to imply condemnation, dear saints, but to point us to the presence of Christ and his gospel in repentance. Because the kingdom of heaven is near whenever Jesus is near. Let that sink in for a minute. So then, how does the kingdom of heaven come to us? God's kingdom comes when our Heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by his grace we believe his holy word. That is, we believe the word made flesh, who comes to us, is the one who sets us free for dying on the cross for our sins. This is the gospel, dear friends in Christ. And how does God's holy word come to us? Well, it comes to us in all the ways God promises. Through his preached word and his blessed sacraments, it delivers to us the law, which shows us our sin and causes contrition in our hearts, and it delivers to us the gospel, which shows us our Savior, and creates faith in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, through all the means which the Lord Jesus Christ attaches his gospel to. So in this Advent season, we're again reminded of the three ways that Christ our Lord comes to us. In his incarnation, in his means of grace, and he will come again in glory. But while we wait for this glorious return, we look to how the King and His kingdom come to us right now, just as John preached, just as Jesus promised. What is even more, we look at how God our Savior saved us by the washing of rebirth and the renewal of the Holy Spirit in our own baptisms, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior. That's Titus 3, by the way. And in this very baptism, we repent and die to ourselves daily and rise again to live a new life in Christ. Hear the words of what we teach in our large catechism. Our baptism abides forever. Even though someone should fall from baptism and sin, still we have always have access to it. So that we may subdue the old man again. But we do not need to be sprinkled with water again. Even if we were put under the water a hundred times, it would still only be one baptism. Even though the work and the sign continue and remain. Repentance, therefore, is nothing other than a return and approach to baptism. So then repent and return to your baptism. Because this is where your Lord and Savior came to you. In water with the Word. This is where you two were crucified with Christ on His cross. This is where you were united with Him in His death. This is where He poured out on you His Holy Spirit. And what does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Because he who baptized you baptized you with the Holy Spirit and fire, by which he continues to purify your minds in the crucible of life as you wait for his final coming, his coming in glory. And his winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. The Lord came in humility in his incarnation. The Lord comes to us now by humble means of water and word and body and blood. And he will come again in glory to gather you, dear saints, his blood-bought baptized children, into his kingdom, which has no end. So listen to the voice of John. Let the Father prepare you. Repent and receive your king. For where Christ is present for you, there his kingdom is also. Amen. In the name of Jesus.