The Fruit Tells the Story

John the Baptist wasn't interested in helping people become more religious. He wanted them to be ready for Jesus.

Crowds were coming to him to be baptized, but John understood something important: following the right crowd doesn't necessarily mean you have the right heart.

So, John confronts them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

Those words sound severe because the danger was severe.

John wasn't trying to win a popularity contest. He was trying to wake people up.

There is a kind of religion that can make us feel safe while leaving our hearts unchanged. We can attend church, know Scripture, sing worship songs, be baptized, grow up in a Christian family, and learn Christian vocabulary without genuinely surrendering our lives to Christ.

That's why John says: “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.”

In other words, if repentance has happened at the root, eventually it will become visible in the fruit.

Repentance isn't perfection. It doesn't mean we never struggle with sin again. Repentance means our relationship with sin has changed because our relationship with God has changed.

What we once defended, we begin to hate. What we once excused, we begin to confess. What we once protected, we begin to surrender.

John's audience had another problem. They believed their ancestry gave them security: “We have Abraham as our father.”

But John destroys that false confidence. Your parents cannot believe for you. Your grandparents' faith cannot save you. Church attendance cannot save you. Baptism cannot save you. Religious memories cannot save you.

Only Jesus saves.

Then John gives one of the strongest pictures in the passage: “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.” The axe isn't somewhere in the shed. It's already at the root.

God's patience should never be mistaken for God's permission. His patience is mercy, giving sinners opportunity to repent and run to Christ.

And that's ultimately where John's message points. John's warning is severe, but judgment isn't the final word of the Gospel.

Jesus is.

The One John announced would eventually go to the cross and bear the judgment sinners deserve. The wrath we could never withstand fell upon Christ as He gave Himself for sinners. He rose victorious, and everyone who turns from sin and trusts Him receives forgiveness and eternal life.

So don't settle for looking alive or think being near Jesus will save you. 

Come to Jesus. And then let the fruit of your life tell the world that Jesus has changed the root.