"What Fruit Is Growing On You?!"
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1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
3 For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’ ”
4 Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
5 Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan;
6 and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;
9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
10 “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Introduction: (Illustration: mistaken identity in public: have you mistaken someone for someone that you knew?)
A. John the Baptist was a type of Elijah
4Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
Compared to Elijah:
8They answered him, “He was a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
John was in the spirit and power of Elijah:
16“And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.
17“It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to amake ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
BUT not Elijah himself:
21They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
B. John the Baptist fulfilled Isaiah 40:3 as preparing the way (v. 3)
3A voice is calling,
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
C. He preached the same message as Elijah did: a message of repentance
Transition: This morning I want to make some observations from our passage. The first observation is:
Body:
I. The Message of John the Baptist (vv. 1-2) (He preached the Gospel and nothing else. He wasn’t trying to get in with the Pharisees, Sadducees, or the common people)
1Now in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
2“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
A. “Kingdom of heaven” refers to the rule of God in the world and in the hearts of mankind
B. “At hand” meant it was near, as close as your hand. This brought the urgency John the Baptist had! (Planning ahead)
Illustration: Getting ready to have your first child. The bags are packed ahead of time. Plans are made. Every detail is checked and double checked to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything so you will be prepared for the moment when it’s time for your bundle of joy to be born.
C. Message was Repentance
We think of repentance as: “If I do enough good things to make things right, then God will forgive me.” This is not Biblical and not repentance but known as penance.
Also, we think of it as a mere change of mind, regret or remorse (worldly sorrow vs godly sorrow). That is not repentance because repentance isn’t about feelings! It’s an action word.
Illustration: When your child or grandchild does something wrong and asks for forgiveness for what he/she did, you would expect repentance to take place, right? In other words, they change their actions in order to not repeat their mistake.
Salvation is a gift of God. Repentance is a part of being saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Repentance means turning from one’s sin, and faith is turning to God (cf. 1Th. 1:9) Again, it’s an action word!
9For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God,
D. We need to realize the need for humility, confession, and forgiveness in our repentance.
E. Repentance must take place before baptism of water (outward expression of what God is doing on the inside as a result of repentance) and baptism of the Spirit! (V.3)
6and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.
Transition: We must be humble enough to realize we can’t save ourself by being “good enough” but only Jesus Christ can save us by what He did on the cross. We must confess our sins and turn away from them, in other words, not willingly live the way we were contrary to the Lord. But how do we know if we are living the right way? That leads us to the next observation:
II. Strong Words from John (vv. 7-8)
7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8“Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance;
A. John was able to see the heart condition of the:
1. Pharisees: they were separatists as enforcing the Mosaic Law and their own traditions they added to the OT law which often nullified the Scriptures (hypocrisy). They were mostly middle class business men who emphasized rules and regulations rather than inward spiritual transformation.
Seen in church today? Legalism: wear certain things, read only one version of the Bible, sing only old songs, sing only new songs, tradition is everything (we’ve always done it this way), etc.
2. Sadducees: men who denied the things of the supernatural as well as human tradition and legalism. They accepted only the Pentateuch as authoritative. They were wealthy, aristocratic members of the priestly tribe.
Seen in church today? Tolerant, secular humanists (matter and energy are all that exist and we are part of that), get along with everyone and materialistic.
3. Summary: Pharisees were ritualists; Sadducees were rationalists. Pharisees were legalists; Sadducees were liberals. Pharisees were separatists; Sadducees were compromisers and political opportunists.
4. Yet they united together in their opposition to Christ!
“Many Pharisees and Sadducees may have come for baptism with the ostentation (show of how spiritual they were) that characterized their other religious activities … they were showing the world how ready they were for Messiah, though they had not truly repented.” (D.A. Carson)
B. Brood of vipers explained:
Jesus used the same term in Matthew 12:34
“You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
2. The viper was seen to be an evil creature. Here are some facts that the common Jew would understand when he called them vipers:
A. The Hebrew Scriptures, which the Pharisees knew well, associate the serpent with Satan in Genesis 3. For John to call the Pharisees a “brood of vipers” implies that they bore satanic qualities. This idea is clearly stated by Jesus in John 8:44, where He says the unbelieving Jews “belong to [their] father, the devil.”
B. When John and Jesus called the Pharisees a “brood of vipers,” they were pointing out that these men were deceitful, dangerous, and wicked—deceitful in that they were hypocrites (Matthew 23:15); dangerous in that they were blind leaders of the blind (Matthew 15:14); and wicked in that their hearts were full of murder (John 8:37).
C. Many people during that time thought that vipers were born by hatching inside their mother, then gnawing their way through their mothers’ wombs—killing their mothers in the process. Comparing people to a “brood of vipers,” then, was analogous to calling them “parent-murderers”—one of the most reprehensible offenses conceivable. (Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)
D. Another fascinating detail is found in Jesus’ use of the name “brood of vipers” to describe the Pharisees. In Matthew 23:33, He says, “You brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?” Farmers, then as now, often burned the stubble of their fields to get the land ready for the next planting season. As the fires neared the vipers’ dens, the snakes would slither away from the flames, but they often did not escape being consumed. Snakes fleeing the fire was a common sight, and Jesus’ words to the Pharisees would likely have called it to their minds. How could they think they would escape the fire of God’s judgment by relying on their own works, which were not at all honest or good? John’s and Jesus’ calling them a brood of vipers was meant to make them aware of their own wickedness and call them to repent.
C. Paul explains John’s message of repentance in Romans 2:28-29
28 For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. 29 No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise* from God, not from people.
Circumcised of the heart vs of the law
Praise from men because of outward appearance (Pharisees and Sadducees) vs. praise from God because of humility, confession and forgiveness
Transition: repentance isn’t an outward appearance but starts with inward transformation of the heart. If repentance is an inward thing, then how can I know if it is happening in me?
III. How Does This Apply to Me? (vv. 9-10)
9and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
10“The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
A. The Jews were taught that they were fine because what Abraham had done was enough for all Jews’ salvation. (brood of vipers referred to not being of their ancestors but killing the legacy of who they claim to be related to!)
1. But, it’s not about who you are related to, how Christian your family is, going to church all your life, etc.
B. John reminded them that real repentance will show itself in life. It has to be a matter of living repentance, not just talking repentance.
C. It’s about the fruit that we produce in our life that determines whether we have repented and are living according to our repentance.
D. And what is that fruit? (Galatians 5:18-23)
18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
E. No fruit = no repentance
F. Repentance (turn from sin and live differently) + faith (in Jesus for what He did for me on the cross as the Son of God) = salvation
26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
E. Faith brings salvation and true authentic faith produces fruit reflecting true repentance
Conclusion:
When John preached repentance, it was at Jesus’ first coming.
How much more should we practice repentance in preparation for Jesus’ second coming?!
There are two types of repentance:
A. Repentance for salvation (turn from sin)
B. Repentance for correction (as believers in God’s grace)
2 Corinthians 7:8–9a (NASB95)
8For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while—
9I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance;
letter = the lost letter we don’t have that must have called them out on some things
grief led to repentance
Repentance ALWAYS results in fruit!
What fruit is growing on you?!
Are we showing repentance by the fruit we show in our life?
Faith over feelings
Obedience over apathy
and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
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Why practice repentance?
Because at the judgment seat of Christ we do not want to be standing in shame because we do not have anything to lay at Christ’s feet!
10the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
The New Testament also refers to crowns as an example of the rewards offered by Jesus for those who are faithful.
James 1:12 (the crown of life),
1 Peter 5:4 (the crown of glory),
Revelation 3:11 (your crown).
Rewards are also referred to in:
Matthew 5:12 (a great reward in heaven),
1 Corinthians 3:14 (reward for work that survives a refining fire),
Revelation 22:12 (repayment for work).
14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.