John didn’t shy away from giving the tough message to the Pharisees. This daily devotion looks at how John approached his audience to show them how they needed to change.
Nuggets
- John came down hard on the Pharisees.
- True disciples produce evidence of their conversion.
- The Pharisees taught that all they needed for salvation was to be children of Abraham.
- There will be consequences for those who do not produce evidence of their conversion.
Devotions in the Luke’s Diagnosis and Prescription series
Devotions in the John the Baptist series
Ooo, baby. John was a courageous preacher.
Farrar described John as stern, dauntless, insightful, and practical. His example of John’s practicality was interesting. He wrote, “Not only does it exclude all abstract and theological terms such as ‘justification,’ &c., but it says nothing directly of even faith or love.”
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Wait! What? John doesn’t tell us we need to have faith? Faith is the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives.
So, what does John actually tell us? Is it about believing?
Well, no. The Holman Bible Dictionary shipped me over to faith when I looked up belief.
It was interesting what the definition of faith said about belief. The Holman Bible Dictionary stated, “‘Belief’ came to be distinguished from faith as an intellectual process having to do with the acceptance of a proposition.”
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My take is faith talks about total submission without understanding everything. Belief talks about being able to work it out so we can accept it.
God isn’t about us working things out on our own. It isn’t about doing things to earn His favor.
God wants total submission — us keeping His laws and commandments — whether we understand it or not. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3: 5-6 CSB).
There is the concept of straight again. We are to be on a path straight to God.
Remember, John’s message is about “… a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Lk. 3: 3 CSB).
It is about repentance. Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
John’s audience was struggling with these concepts. Let’s take a look.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
John’s Condemnation of His Audience
“He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?’” (Lk. 3: 7 CSB)Bible Verse
John came down hard on the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were good at “the letter of the law.” They were proud of their figuring out the religion.
But the Pharisees were deluding themselves into thinking they were living the way God wanted them to live. They weren’t. Worse yet, they were leading others astray.
They were looking for a military Messiah. They were looking for a Messiah to validate their thinking and traditions.
John let them know before Jesus even got on the scene that they were in for a rude awakening.
Person of Interest
John’s message wasn’t about the religion the Pharisees were selling. It was about a relationship with our Savior and our Lord.
Curteis warned us not to listen to the brood of vipers and give up our principles because of public opinion. We are to stand firm through prayer and watchful circumspection.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
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Glossary
Faith or belief — let’s face it, verses say believe and repent — our conversion needs to be sincere.
We might experience a start when John starts talking in these verses. Who is he talking to, and what makes them a brood of vapors?
They thought their religion was good enough. They thought she wanted the ceremony. We think the currency for buying the ticket to Heaven is kindness.
The Result John Expected to His Message
“Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance …” (Lk. 3: 8 CSB)
True disciples produce evidence of their conversion.
Unfortunately, there isn’t enough evidence to convict many believers. We don’t know how, we have no practice — some don’t want practice. We want to be a back row Baptist.
When we repent, we have to change — our allegiance, our thoughts, our mindset, our actions. Trumbull said that “the real thing [repentance] always shows itself. … Repentance is the turning away of the soul from sin as sin; it is the turning toward something better than sin. … Sinful courses will be abandoned. Reparation will be made. A new course of living will be adopted. In word and in action there will be fruits worthy of the name of true repentance.”
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Foote said it this way. He wrote, “Repentance begins, and chiefly consists in a change of mind; but that change must evidence itself, and if it be real it will evidence itself in outward reformation and in an exemplary life.”
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We talked about how we need to love God with our heart, soul, and mind. Those are all internal. But that isn’t all. We have to love God with our strength. It has to be external, too.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
John’s Caution about Looking for Other Ways to Salvation
“… And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones” (Lk. 3: 8 CSB)
The Pharisees taught that all they needed for salvation was to be children of Abraham.
Well, we can explain that because God did make a covenant was with Abraham. “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12: 1-3 ESV).
They thought that punched their ticket. And in the past, that had been enough.
Beddome addressed this. He wrote, “It must be admitted that it was once a privilege to have Abraham for a father. It was in consequence of the Israelites being the children of Abraham, that unto them pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. It was, therefore, one of the first honours, to belong to the family of Abraham (Deuteronomy 33:29; Psalm 105:42; Romans 9:4).”
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Jesus changed all of that. The covenant is now with Jesus, not Abraham.
God designed only one way to salvation. “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (Jn. 14: 6 NIV).
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
We aren’t given a pass because of our ancestors’ religion. We aren’t given a pass because we are good people.
We aren’t even given a pass because we believe in God. We have to believe and be fruitful. We can only be fruitful when we give our lives to Jesus.
Now, don’t get Beddome wrong. He said it was a privilege to be descendants of true disciples of Christ.
Trubull said it this way. He wrote, “It was not that the Jews were to disown their descent from Abraham, but that they were not to rely on that descent as their means of salvation.”
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But we can’t bank on our ancestry as a guarantee the kids will become a true disciple of Christ. We just did a series in the prodigal son. Everything turned out okay in the end, but he definitely wasn’t following God for a while.
The older brother had some issues, too. The parable never did tell us if he got straightened out.
To read a devotion in the Parable of the Prodigal Son series, click the button below.
Our relationship with God is a personal one. That means God and me. That means God and you.
“The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire’” (Lk. 3: 9 CSB)
There will be consequences for those who do not produce evidence of their conversion.
We talked not long ago about good works. Good works are personal acts of obedience where we give God our best to complete whatever tasks He assigns for us to do. The good works are sometimes referred to as fruit.
Verse Commentary
Bonar said that the axe was judgment. Alexander thought it was death. Keach thought it was time, the gospel, or God’s wrath.
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Keach thought the root was the God’s covenant with Abraham. Alexander thought the axe laying at the root showed God’s patience with His people.
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When I first read that, I thought that it was referring to Jesus. The Jews were looking for the Messiah, but He was already there.
In the first devotion in this series, we said the Plan of Salvation is all about restoration. But it is about restoration because the judging will come later.
Jesus Does the judging. He separates us into sheep and goats.
Glossary
I hook this to Revelation. “I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20: 12-15 CSB emphasis added).
The good works are our acts of obedience after conversion. It all hinges on whether we have ABCDed or not.
We must give evidence of our salvation, or we do not reach our destination.
Making the Connections
Parker had a really interesting sermon. It was on John’s ministry — but it was about our’s, too.
Parker wrote, “One of the first things that a true minister has to do is to destroy false hopes.”
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We have to tell worldview people they have to be more than good people. We have to break their tradition of being back-pew believers.
We have to say there is a Heaven with a specific entrance requirement. We have to say there is a hell if that entrance requirement is not met.
We have to say that God says what is a sin and what isn’t. He is not going to change His mind in order to placate us.
We have to have the courage of John to stand up and tell the gospel as it is.
I am trying to reconcile that with Hare’s sermon. He wrote, “As His ministers, we are to be ministers of salvation, not of destruction.”
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I agree our main focus should be on the salvation that Jesus gives us. However, we cannot ignore that Jesus will one day come to judge us.
How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Father God. Thank You for offering us salvation. May we do the good works that You have planned for us. We long for the day when we see You face to face. Amen.
What do you think?
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