It would not be a true account of John the Baptist’s life if we did not take the time to talk about his last interaction with Jesus. Last week we saw John as the great baptizer, “the voice calling in the wilderness: ‘make straight the way of the LORD”, filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb, preacher of repentance, agitator of the Pharisees and Sadducees and the first person to publicly point to Jesus and declare Him “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” John the Baptist was filled with and led by the Holy Spirit in each of the steps of his life, from his retreat into the wilderness where he grew strong in spirit, to his appearance to Judea where he preached two simple things that were tied to each other: Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near and I am not the Messiah but the Messiah is coming after me. Before we move into today’s text and message, John’s message raises an important point for us. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit and preached “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Jesus was baptized by John and the Holy Spirit rested upon Him and after His 40 days of fasting and resisting the temptation of the enemy in the desert He began preaching “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Peter was baptized in the Holy Spirit by Jesus and preached “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The first work of the Holy Spirit is repentance, those filled with the Holy Spirit call for repentance and those being affected by the Holy Spirit respond with repentance. Repentance is a work of the Holy Spirit and it is a necessity to being filled with and led by the Holy Spirit. I believe that being filled with the Holy Spirit leads us to a lifestyle of repentance, a life in which we make our hearts open to God constantly and are sensitive to His guidance, His desires, His point of view and His purpose. Repentance is not simply when we give our sins to God, it is when we give our hearts to God and ask Him not just to forgive us of our sins but to reveal to us the affects that sin has had on our hearts, our minds, our opinions, our relationships, our dreams and desires, our worldview and the way we live out the smallest to largest details of our lives. Repentance is not a one time or occasional action it is a life-long surrender, not as someone that has been defeated but as someone that has found the One my soul loves and the One who loves my soul and now I give Him free reign and full control of the steps I take, the thoughts I think and the loves I love. Repentance begins with a request for forgiveness but it continues with the simple request that God “have His way”. This morning as we close out John the Baptist’s life led by the Holy Spirit I want us to see that the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth but that does not mean that He only leads us into all the answers, sometimes He leads us to questions, He stirs our hearts and uses our doubts, I believe there are even times that He raises the doubts that hide within us. As I have shared before, God is not afraid of or angered by our questions, in fact, I pray that today’s message will help us to see that God not only welcomes our questions, He desires them because the only way the Holy Spirit can lead us into all truth is if He can lead us to ask all of our questions. The only doubt that lingers is the doubt that is never explored and the only questions that God can’t answer are the questions that we won’t ask. Today I hope we will see that the work of the Holy Spirit that begins with repentance leads us to confidence but confidence is found when we are safe and secure enough to ask all of our questions.