Douglas Campbell's sermon, 'Bear Fruit in Keeping with Repentance,' emphasizes the importance of genuine repentance as a preparation for the Easter season, starting with Ash Wednesday. He reflects on John the Baptist's call for repentance, highlighting that true faith requires more than ritualistic observance—it demands a transformation of the heart and a life that bears good fruit. Campbell critiques the Pharisees for their reliance on heritage and religious rituals, warning that such practices without genuine repentance lead to spiritual peril. He stresses that personal happiness and fulfillment are found not in self-serving pursuits but in glorifying Christ. The sermon calls for deep introspection and a sincere turning to God, urging believers to live out their faith authentically and be prepared for the imminent return of Christ.

Good evening. Are you awake? Amen. What a blessing and an honor to gather together tonight as we Remember Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lent season. It's often remembered as the beginning of a time that will prepare us, that we will prepare our hearts to remember what Christ has done for us, that he defeated death, that he raised on the third day.

Amen? This year is extremely special to me, as we've come from a season where last year we weren't able to gather together on the best day of the year for a believer. Easter is the absolute best holiday of the year. Amen? Amen.

This year as we come to the Easter season, oftentimes we hear those, we hear that saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder and I pray this year that our hearts would grow and be drawn towards Christ. That Easter, this Easter would be an Easter, a special Easter, and Easter that means more than just candy and fun, but remember what our Savior has done for us. So on Ash Wednesday, as we prepare for this season of preparation, We're always reminded on Ash Wednesday that it's a day of repentance, a day of examining our hearts. And as I remember those times, I often think of the greatest prophet apart from Christ in the Bible, John the Baptist, and how God used him and sent him before to prepare the way of our Lord. So this evening, let's turn to Matthew chapter 3, and let's look at verses 1 through 10.

Matthew chapter 3, 1 through 10. I'll give a little more pause tonight because our projector isn't being very projector-like and let you try to get there. Most of these are pretty close together, so that'll help as well. Matthew chapter 3, 1 through 10. The Word of God says, In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

Repent for the kingdom of the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our Father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come to you this evening, especially this evening, Father asking that you would draw us. Father, in your word we see the nature of man and that nature is very contrary, is completely contrary to your perfect nature.

And Father, as we see the nature of man, we can't help but remember, Father, that that is our nature. That each of us were born as enemies of yours. And for those who know you, Father, by your grace you redeemed us, you transformed us from your enemy to your beloved. And yet, Father, as we travel through this world, as we are sojourners in a foreign land, we still wrestle with that flesh that still cries out, that still rebels, that still wants to be an enemy of yours. And Father, tonight we ask, help us in this battle.

Father, help us. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would illuminate dark caverns of our heart that are not yet wrestled with. That still rebels against you. And God help us as the apostle Paul, as he said, help us to beat this flesh and this objection. That Father, we might glorify you.

Father, help prepare us in reminding us of what your Son has done for us, what He has done for us in defeating death and delivering us from the wrath that we deserve. The wrath that we deserve. But Father also of setting us free from the bondage of the flesh, We're no longer slaves to sin because you made us children of yours. So Father, this evening, help us to live that out. Give us light of understanding.

And Father, help us to not only initially repent, but help us to live a life of repentance, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. This evening as we look at the mission and the work of John the Baptist, We can't help any time that I think of John the Baptist, I can't help but not think of Matthew 3, 2, right off the bat, that it's the words of John the Baptist when he says, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. How often every day we should remind ourselves of this, to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is around us, that we are living before the face of the God who created the heavens and the earth.

We live before His face. There is nowhere that's hidden from Him. There is nowhere that we can deceive Him, that we can hide our wicked deeds without him knowing. The kingdom of heaven truly is at hand. We must repent." He continues on in Matthew 3, 5 through 6, says, "...then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River confessing their sins.

The first thing that we notice, if we know the story, that John the Baptist goes into the wilderness. He doesn't go into the center of town. He doesn't go to where everyone gathers, but John the Baptist is in the wilderness, a place where many people would not be. And yet he was doing something very different than what has been seen before. And God began to draw people, to draw them out to the wilderness, to hear this message of John the Baptist.

It says the people began to go into the area, it says, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, and it says, confessing their sins. There was something very different about this than what had happened in the past several hundred years. In the past several hundred years, the people had been taught and trained that their relationship with God was dependent upon where they were born, who they were born to. That if Abraham was one of their great great great great grandfathers that they tended to think that everything was well in their life. After all, they were God's chosen people because Abraham was their father.

And yet, that has never been the message of scripture. It has never been, if you are the son of a pastor, that everything is great in your life, you have nothing to worry about. It's never been that if your grandparents went to church, then there's nothing to worry about. It's never been that. It's always been for those who turn from their sin and turn to God, that God and His kindness and His patience would rescue them.

And this is what we find, something completely contrary to what's happened in the past. It says that they were confessing their sin. They understood their sin. They weren't trying to shrug it off. They weren't as maybe a young person who has a curfew of 9 p.m.

And they come in at 10 after 9 and their parents says, where were you? It's 10 after 9 and the response is normally, well, I tried to get here but this happened or that happened. And if that excuse doesn't work, well, you know Johnny across the street. He doesn't have to be in until 9 30. Right?

We've all heard these excuses and these, and we've all played the part of the person trying to justify and give excuses. And yet that's not what we find in the people who are coming to John the Baptist. They were no longer trying to justify themselves. They were no longer trying to stand upon a grandfather or something else. They were no longer trying to stand upon the things that they thought would give them righteousness, but they were confessing their sins.

They were sorry for their sins. In Matthew 3, 7 it says, but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Now this seems awful harsh. John the Baptist doesn't seem to be winning any sort of personality contests in doing this. But John the Baptist understood rightly that those who were teaching such things, that those who were teaching, that you only simply have to, in a sense, check the boxes.

You only have to bring your sacrifice once a year. You only have to do this, this, or that. And if you've done this, this, or that, and you have given to us what's required for us to do, then you live your life and have fun with that and we'll do our thing and you just keep just keep sending us the support. See so often we look into the problems of our day and we say well this is a this is a completely different era this is 2 000 years later Things are surely different today than they were then, and yet that's not true. It's the very same issue that we have in our current day and age.

As we went through history, we've continually drawn closer to Christ and then always seemingly reverted back to this idea that the priests and the people at the church, they are the ones who take care of the things about God. We just give in the offering, and we show up, and we do our thing, and we get back to our lives and doing the things that we want. A man that simply checks the boxes only has religion. They have not God. A man who has only religion does not know God.

A man who only has religion does not have a payment for his sin. A man who only knows religion will stand before God on Judgment Day, guilty as charged and will pay his due." This is why it's so important to John the Baptist to lash out at those who would teach such hypocrisy, who would teach such damning heresies, that those that would listen and follow them were on their path to hell for all of eternity. And yet it's our human nature that says, well this sounds good to me. After all, if God would just accept my offering, if He would just accept me showing up once in a while and doing this or that, if that would just make Him happy, then I can be about my life doing what I want and we're both happy and it'll surely work out in the end. But God was never interested in checking boxes.

God was never interested in these things. He was interested in your very heart. He was interested in your heart turning from your sin and for God to become that great prize, that great jewel, that great that great treasure in a field that nothing else compares to. John the Baptist is completely right. Those who would teach a system of religion apart from a system of knowing God, of being redeemed by his Son, and being born again a new creation are those who are leading people to the pit of hell.

And they were soon following in their path. John the Baptist instructs them as to what they should do in Matthew 3, 8 through 9. He says, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Hear that again, bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Adam as our father, for I tell you God is able from these stones to raise up children for Adam.

John the Baptist is telling the Pharisees, those men who were the theological elites of their time, He's saying your trusting in your works is leading you and others to hell. Stop trusting in your works. Stop trusting in the checkbox system. Stop trusting in, if I just do this, this, and this, then God will leave me alone and so I can do my own thing. If that is the system you're trying to live or to be successful in, you will fail as every other person throughout history has failed.

God is not a checkbox system. He is not a system of merit. He is a system of turning to the work of Christ who paid for your sin upon the cross, who will give you a new heart with new desires, desires that will desire God above all, not desires that will be satisfied with a few drops or a spoonful and then go back to your day, but a heart that's changed that will desire God from morning till evening. I was telling brother Jack earlier, we were playing a game of chess, I said, Jack, you might not believe this, but when I was younger, there was a time where we could take my kids to the park, and I would sit at the picnic table, and if I wasn't playing chess, I was still thinking about it in my head. I would think about it all the time, think about different combinations and chess moves, and I said, and this is what I said, I said, at that point in my life I knew that I had to take a break and get away from this silly game.

Why? It was becoming an idol. It was becoming more important than God. It was what was filling my mind and not God. See, this is what John the Baptist is proclaiming.

It's more than just showing up to church. It's more than saying a prayer. It's more than being baptized. It's more than all of these things. It is seeking God until He changes your heart to such extent that even when I'm at the park with my children, sitting at a picnic table watching them play, I am pondering on the glory of Christ and how He would save me, how He would change my heart.

A heart that cries out, I must know Him more. I must know Him better. That same reaction, or similar reaction, when I first met my wife and we were dating. She didn't have to beg me to come to her house. She's probably trying to figure out how she could get a break, to be honest.

Christ doesn't need a break. Do we desire Him above all, or are we trusting in our works? Matthew 3, 10, John the Baptist continues. He says, Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

We find this illustration of the Christian many times in Scripture, this illustration that Christians bear good fruit. In Matthew 7, just a couple more chapters to the right, At verse 16 through 20 it says, Jesus is talking, He says, you will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes? Are figs from thistles? So every healthy tree bears good fruit, But the diseased tree bears bad fruit.

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruit." If there was anything in the Bible that would tell us how can we know if someone is a Christian or not, it is these very words of Christ. He says you will know them by their fruit. Is it good fruit or is it bad fruit?

And in fact, as I have pondered this the past several weeks, there are times in the scriptures where we come to theologies and understandings of Scripture that are sometimes very hard. And we oftentimes are not sure which way, this way or that way. And I will tell you when that happens, what I have started to do is I look at men who take different positions, and I look at their families, and I look into their lives, and I say which system is bearing fruit? Which system is bearing good fruit? Which system is bearing the fruit of the world?

And this evening I would ask you, what is your life producing? Is it producing fruit for Christ? Is it producing the fruit of the world? Is it producing fruit at all? If you've ever grown tomatoes, you will know that tomatoes, the tomato plant, when it gets towards fall, when it starts to know that the end of this season is near and this plant is probably going to die, you will notice that even before bad things start happening, the leaves start to wilt and to start to not look good.

And you would think, well, I need to give it water or something. But oftentimes, it's not that it even needs water. It's that God has designed the plant to know that the season is coming to an end, and it starts to place, put all of its energy into the production of fruit. And this fruit does nothing for the plant apart from propagates it for, propagates a new plant for the next season. I will tell you in our culture, there is a great temptation to do the very opposite.

Because you see a very healthy plant, If a plant is interested in its own health, it's not going to produce any fruit. It's going to put more and more leaves on. It's going to enjoy more and more sun. It's going to be preoccupied with with itself and making itself big and strong and spread all over. And you and I, according to our flesh, have the same temptation.

We have that same temptation to focus upon ourselves, to do what makes me happy, to spend my time and what puts a smile on my face. Amen? There's got to be somebody in here besides me and Brody that could go fishing every single day. It would put a smile on my face. I'd love to go fishing every day.

But I would be, but if I spent all of my time doing whatever puts a smile on my face, it's as if I'm a tomato plant without fruit. I simply build myself up. The gardener comes and he looks at his tomato that has no fruit, and what did Jesus do with a fig tree that bared no fruit? It says that he cursed it. Our life—understand this, Christian—our life isn't about our happiness.

It is not what it's about. Oprah tells you that that's what it's about. She is wrong. She is speaking from a brood of vipers. A life that has lived for its own happiness will spend eternity in agony.

Believer, our life is to bear fruit for Christ. Our life is to glorify Him. Our life is to bear such fruit that on the day of judgment, we have much to glory in our Savior. We have much to present to him and to lay at his feet. My brother is right.

We've lost much of the, I don't have a cross on, we've lost much of the meaning of the cross because everyone wears it and if you grew up in the 80s, every rock star has a cross necklace. It really means nothing. Can I tell you what a better equivalent would be? If each of us had a necklace with the electric chair on it, and if I wore that you'd be like, that Pastor Doug's a weird guy. He has a necklace with an electric chair.

But that was the equivalent of what the disciples were proclaiming. It was death. I follow my Savior to my death. I will follow Him wherever He takes me. I am consumed with Him.

I am consumed with glorifying Him, because there is nothing that I could do that would ever come close to the greatness and the glory of Him saving me from my sin, from my sin. He took the electric chair. He took the wrath for what I deserved. How could I spend my life growing my leaves? How could I spend my life growing my leaves?

How could I spend my life not bearing fruit? And thus, Jesus says, you will recognize them by their fruits. And we know exactly what Christ is talking about, because just after that, in verse 21 through 23, he begins to look deeper into it. He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name?

And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." Brothers and sisters, we cannot be as the Pharisees and stand upon some prayer or some baptism or some commitment and not bear fruit for Christ and expect to stand before Him on the day of judgment? The answer is to confess your sin. Stop trusting in your works and bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Again, Matthew 3 says, repent, Again, Matthew 3.2 says, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

This is the great deception of America. I believe this is largely to do with why our country is now collapsing from within. We've tried to be a country who was okay with a little bit of religion, but didn't know Christ. We want a little spoonful of medicine, and yet no deep desire to know the doctor. A little bit of Christ is never enough.

We need Him all. The biggest fear for a The biggest fear for a pastor is that those under his care, those under his authority, would stand before God and not know Him. I'm not saying they didn't put on the suit and tie. They weren't, I'm not saying they weren't good people according to man's standards. We live in a part of America, we live in the best part of America.

The rule of America is the best. That's obviously my opinion. I'm not reading that in scripture. But with the best of America comes the greatest deceptions. For the most part, those in rule of America still aspire to live good lives according to man's standard.

But goodness according to man is filthy rags to a holy God. Don't rely upon your goodness. Don't rely upon your religion. Don't rely upon being nice to your neighbor. Trust Christ.

Turn to Him. Turn to Him that He might change your heart so complete that He is your chief desire, that you desire Him above all, that you would willfully say, bring on the electric chair if that's what it takes to glorify my God. That's the changed heart that God has used to change history, that God has used to reform His church. God has raised up men whom don't just cry, give me liberty or give me death, but give me Christ or give me nothing. Men who would leave their families and go to foreign lands to proclaim the gospel, to be beaten or even cannibalized for the sake of Christ.

Because he is worthy. Amen. Jesus says no man has left his family for the sake of Christ and will not receive reward. Turn to Christ. Finally this evening, Joel 2, 12-13.

I read this in conclusion of every Ash Wednesday, But it especially fits the scripture. Says, Yet even now declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he relents over disaster." This evening God isn't looking for another act of religion. He's not looking for me to tear my garments, as was done often in the Old Testament to express agony and disgust for my sins. But God says, this can all be faked, but rend your hearts.

Be cut to your heart. Turn to Him with fasting and weeping and mourning, but not just surface, but real, real, real fasting, real weeping, real mourning. For we have tried to trade the gift of God for but a spoonful of medicine. We've tried to fool God and not come to Him until our hearts are changed and to live a life that pleases my heart and doesn't please him. This evening he says, even now, yet even now declares to the Lord, return to me with all your heart, not with religion, not with another checking of the box.

Seek Christ until he changes your heart. Seek him until you find him. Seek Him until He becomes your all in all. The last verse, verse 13, the end, it says, in Hebrew, lense over disaster. I've said for over a year now, God allows pandemics to bring His people to repentance.

And almost always in Scripture, when his people came to repentance, he relents over the pandemic, he relents over the disaster. So it couldn't be more fitting on Ash Wednesday that as Americans, as people in this world that are suffering from bad things, will we repent? Will God become our all in all? Or will we be happy with just a little bit of religion? Try to bear with it on our own.

This evening, repent. For the kingdom of God is at hand. We are closer today to the return of Christ than we were yesterday. We're closer to the return of Christ today than we were a year ago or two years ago. When I was a teenager, I was sure it was going to be in the next five years.

But I can tell you tonight, the return of Christ is nearer than it's ever been before. And if he tarries, my last breath is nearer today than it's ever been before. Your next breath is the closest breath to your last than ever before. Ten out of ten people die. Everything that we think is so important to us in this world apart from Christ will be but meaningless in a hundred years.

Turn to Christ today with everything you have. Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. And this evening with remembering the command of the Lord and Joel, I would command you to rend your heart, not your garments. An act of religion isn't going to change anything. It's repenting and trusting in Christ that changes hearts, that rins hearts.

Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as Heavenly Father, as your church in Elveston, as we come to this season, Father, that you have established in your Word. Father, I pray that it wouldn't be just another season.

I pray that this isn't just another Ash Wednesday service, but God, as your church and elvest, and I pray that today would be the day where God we set our hearts on seeking you above everything else in our lives seeking you above all a day father we become watchful of our lives a day father that when we read Scripture that tells us to live differently than we are, we don't come up with more justifications. But God, as we read Scripture, we see our sinfulness. Father, that we would rend our hearts, that we wouldn't say, but God, the neighbors do this or that. God, you know, I got this or that going on, but it would be, God, I was wrong. You were right.

I'm sorry. Father, I pray that we would seek you, that we would begin to bear more and more fruit, that we would invest less and less in our happiness and more and more into the glory of Christ. For Father, that is where true happiness is found. Father, help us to rend our hearts. Father, start with me.

Either start with me, start with my self-righteousness, start with the wickedness in my heart that is always worried about protecting its turf. Just as the prodigal son's brother, as he cries out, I've done this, I've done that, I've done this, I have rights. Father, we have no rights. If we are in Christ, we were purchased by a price. We have no rights.

We are slaves to Christ. It's He who guides our steps. Father, help us to overcome this deception of the flesh. Help us as in so many of the martyrs as Stephen is being stoned. And he cries to heaven, God forgive them.

He doesn't say, God what about me, What about my rights? He says, God, forgive them. God, help us, Father, that we would pour our lives out as an offering to you. Rend our hearts we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.