Bear Fruits in Keeping with Repentance

Luke 3:7-9 ESV

John the Baptist “said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin 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.’”

In Matthew 3:7-10 we have a parallel account of this situation, only there it says that “many of the Pharisees and Sadducees” were the ones coming to his baptism. And we know the Pharisees character (see Matthew 23). 

Jesus described them as those who do not practice what they preach, who do their deeds to be seen by others, who love places of honor and attention, who lead people to hell on the promise of heaven, who profess one thing but live the opposite, who adhere to religious rituals but not to God’s righteousness, who appear clean (righteous) outwardly but inwardly are full of evil, who are full of wicked deeds, greed, hypocrisy, and self-indulgence, and who persecute those who are truly righteous in God’s sight.

So it is no wonder that John the Baptist would call them a brood (offspring) of “vipers.” And people who are vipers are venomous (deadly or toxic). They are malicious, spiteful, hateful, wicked and evil people. They are also vicious (nasty, cruel), and they are treacherous (untrustworthy, deceitful and double-crossing). And they are those who have great bitterness and anger toward someone or a group of people, and the Pharisees and Sadducees were definitely angry with Jesus, but this situation is prior to Jesus’ ministry. 

So, John the Baptist, knowing their character, obviously, knew that their motives were not right when they came to be baptized by him. He knew that their intentions were not to repent of their sins so that they would have eternal life with God and so that they could escape the wrath of God. They were not there because they wanted to have changed hearts and minds. Since they were hypocrites who liked to look good in front of others, their intention may have been just for show.

So, John told them that they needed to bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And repentance is a change of mind which is persuaded by God which results in a change of behavior. It has to do with forsaking our former lives of living in sin and for self, then turning to the Lord Jesus to now follow him in his ways. Repentance involves a turnabout of our lives, a putting off of the old life, and a putting on of our new lives in Christ Jesus, our Lord, by the Spirit, by genuine God-given faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:17-24).

And the fruits we are to bear have to do with the results or the outgrowth of that repentance in our lives. For if our repentance is genuine, it should result in us dying with Christ to sin and us living to God and to his righteousness. It should mean that we have now been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with God to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So the fruit should be holy and godly living and walks of obedience to our Lord (Romans 6:1-23).

But there are many people today professing faith in Jesus Christ who have made a verbal confession of Christ as Lord and as Savior of their lives, and they are convinced that all their sins are forgiven them and that they are on their way to heaven, but they didn’t die to sin and they are not living to God and to his righteousness. But they are still living for self, still engaged in deliberate and habitual sin, but while giving an outward appearance that they are of genuine faith in Christ.

And they think that just because they made a one-time decision to “believe” in Jesus Christ (a belief not usually biblically defined) that it secures heaven for them when they die, but regardless of how they live. But that is not what Jesus and his NT apostles taught. They taught that we must die to sin, that we must forsake our former lives of sin, and that we must now follow Jesus in obedience to his commands (New Covenant) in living holy, godly, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and righteous lives, in practice.

For if we do not repent of our sins (turn from them) to now follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, and if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and godly and holy living are not what we practice, the Scriptures teach that we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what faith we claim to have in Jesus Christ. For Jesus said if we are ashamed of him and his word in this life, he will be ashamed of us when he returns, for we did not submit to him as Lord but we continued in our sin.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296