Bear Fruits in Keeping with Repentance

“During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

    make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled,

    and every mountain and hill shall be made low,

and the crooked shall become straight,

    and the rough places shall become level ways,

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

“He 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.” (Luke 3:2-9 ESV)

The Straight Way

I am not going to go into all the history behind this, but I want to look at how this can be applied to our world, to the church, and to our individual lives today. John the Baptist was called of God, even before he was born, to a very specific task which was prophesied about by the prophet Isaiah. He was to go before the Lord in preparing the people’s hearts to receive Jesus as their Lord and Messiah (the Christ) who they had been waiting for. 

And the whole purpose of the baptism with which he baptized the people was to bring about repentance, which is a change of mind resulting in a change of conduct and belief and actions toward God. When we repent of our sins we deny self, and we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness – all in the power of God.

This is what our physical baptism with water symbolizes, this dying with Christ to sin and then being raised with Christ to now live holy lives pleasing to him, no longer addicted to sin, but now desirous to obey the Lord and his commands and to walk in his ways and in his truth, as led by the Spirit of God. So, when we truly repent of our sins we turn from them and we now walk in the opposite direction as followers of Christ, living to please God.

For to prepare the way of the Lord (the way of righteousness, holiness, moral purity, uprightness, honesty, and obedience to our Lord) we must make his paths straight (honest, law-abiding, upright, trustworthy, etc.). And the crooked (dishonest, corrupt) are to be made straight (upright, honest, morally pure, godly). And the rough places in our lives need to now be aligned with God and with his divine will and purpose for our lives.

We are not to continue as we were before we made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. This is all about change. This is all about becoming someone different than who we were before – changed, transformed by the blood of Christ which was shed for us on that cross that Christ might buy us back for God (redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we can now serve the Lord with our lives in walks of surrender and obedience to his ways.

The Crooked Way

Sadly, many who profess faith in Jesus Christ are teaching the crooked way as though it is the straight way. And biblical repentance is not often required nor are walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands. And those who are teaching the crooked way as though it is the right way are like this “brood of vipers” who gave the outward appearance that their desire for baptism was with the right motives, but it was not – not good motives.

And we definitely have a brood of vipers today who are serving as shepherds of the sheep in multiple institutional market-driven “churches” (businesses) today. And they are not teaching a faith and a repentance of God which requires self-denial, dying daily to sin, and walks of obedience to the Lord. Instead they are coddling the addicted in their sins and they are often supporting them emotionally in their places of sinful addiction.

Many are teaching an adulterated gospel and character of God/Christ and of his church as though this is of God, but it is against God and his word. And this is giving the unrepentant sinners who profess faith in the Lord permission to keep on in their sinful addictions while claiming Jesus as their Savior and Lord and heaven as their eternal destiny. For it is cutting short the authority of God and of his word over the life of the believer in Christ.

But this is contrary to God’s word and his teachings on what it means to believe in Jesus and to be saved from our sins and to have the hope of heaven when we die. For it supports the addicted in his sinful addiction rather than confront him with his sin and with his hypocrisy and call him to genuine repentance and surrender to the Lordship of Christ in walks of obedience to his commands in holy living. And so many like it that way.

It feels good to them to be supported and to not be confronted in their sins regarding their sinful practices. And so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are flocking to these market-driven institutional “churches” (businesses) because so many of them are granting their adherents this altered gospel and altered authority of God which makes no demands of them for holy living and for walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands.

So, we have multitudes of professers of faith in Jesus Christ who are living no differently from many who make no professions of faith in the Lord. But they go through the motions of religious practice, but they do not bear the fruit of the Spirit in keeping with biblical repentance (dying to sin daily). Their “outgrowth” is the same as the ungodly and they have no motivation to do what pleases the Lord. But what they offer to God is lip service only.

So, you cannot just “claim who you are in Christ” in order to alleviate feeling guilty when engaged in sexual idolatry and any other addictive sin against the Lord. For not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. For many will stand before the Lord claiming “who they are in Christ,” and he will respond with, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they refused to submit to God (Matthew 7:21-23).

So, please understand that we are all going to be judged by the Lord on the day when he comes to judge, and we will all be judged by our works (deeds), i.e. by what we did and how we lived in response to what Jesus did for us in dying on that cross for our sins so that we can now die to sin daily and walk in obedience to his commands in holy living. For God’s grace is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for him (Titus 2:11-14).

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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