Accountability, Repentance, Fruit
The crowds felt the tension of John’s kingdom preaching. The coming accountability prompted action (Matt 3:5-6). Their repentance was genuine and evident by their immersion and confession (full agreement) of sin.
Religious leaders, many of them, felt the tension, too (3:7). Their response, however, was surface only (5:20; 23:27). John challenged them to present fruit to validate/harmonize with their repentance (3:8). Real repentance is the real remedy to the real “wrath to come.”
Some Lessons:
- Accountability is certain and lies just ahead (Matt 3:10, 12; 2 Cor 5:10).
- Repentance is intellectual (root/heart), volitional (the will), and behavioral (fruit/deportment).
- Fruit tells the truth (Matt 7:16-20; John 13:35; 14:15).
Michael T. Sanders is the former minister of the Buechel Church of Christ in Louisville, Kentucky and now retired UPS DC-8 Captain.