“John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." Luke 3:7-9
Wow! Vipers?
How would you feel if someone called you a snake?
How would you feel if someone called you a snake?
John the Baptist was pretty rough on these guys. Why did He do that? It doesn't sound much like something like a preacher would say - but he did!
What had John so riled up? Why the attitude? Did he get some bad locusts for breakfast?
If you understand what is going on in these few verses you will understand why He responded so harshly to them.
What had John so riled up? Why the attitude? Did he get some bad locusts for breakfast?
If you understand what is going on in these few verses you will understand why He responded so harshly to them.
The short, answer is they were phonies and they wanted John to sanction their phoniness. There was nothing phony about JTB (John the Baptist).
What they wanted is something we are all too familiar with, they wanted the perks of faith without paying the price. They wanted to be thought of as spiritual without having to make any changes on the inside. Like many Christians today they wanted something to happen TO that but weren't willing to allow much to happen IN them.
As you would imagine, John would have none of that! He told them that what you are on the inside will be exposed by how you act on the outside. Like you won't see peaches on an apple tree, you won't see the fruits of repentance on one who hasn't repented. They needed to repent before they could be bapized. They needed to humble themselves and enter into a personal relationship with God rather than trust in their religious ceremonies.
How about you? What are you trusting? Are you doing religious and depending on religious symbols and ceremonies rather than repenting to God and allowing Him to fundamentally transform your heart and mind.
Just getting baptized will leave you a wet hypocrite if you have not truly repented. If you have truly repented than it should be showing in your attitudes and your actions.
What are those fruits you should be looking for? Read the rest of the verses. I will deall with it more tomorrow.
Why be a snake when you can be a saint?
No comments:
Post a Comment