July 30 True Preaching

Luke 3:7-9 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."
 
ONE walking into John’s church to see if they liked what they saw and heard would be likely to quickly leave, wouldn’t he? Certainly, too, most church attenders would soon depart if their pastor addressed them as, “You brood of vipers!” In fact, mentioning any aspect of God’s Word that reminds a church attender of their shortcomings and sins is taboo, isn’t it? We don’t want to feel bad about our lives. We want to leave church feeling good.
    Or do we? Actually, we should want to be awakened to our sins, so we do feel bad about our affronts against God. Consider this. Have you ever changed a bad habit or incorrect action if you felt good about it? Change comes when we mourn our words and actions against others. Likewise, the only way we will seek God’s Word to truly change the way we live in Christ, is to be as Jesus taught in Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” When you mourn your sin, you are sad you disobeyed your heavenly Father. You truly hunger to become enriched and comforted in God’s words because you love him.
    Yes, “brood of vipers” is a harsh term, but John’s desire was to awaken the Jews to a deadly sin. He knew that some of the Jews who came “out to be baptized by him” did so only for show. They had no heart to seek God’s law. They desired only man’s approval. These Jews were as many today who show up at church each Sunday, but they do not mourn the sin in their lives. Their lives remain unchanged, and their sins lead them on and on to their destruction.
    And have you considered how Jesus preached in the same manner? Read Matthew 23:29-35, and you will see Jesus’ very harsh condemnation of hypocrisy and false teaching. The Lord of Love who commands us to “Love one another.” actually preached Matthew 23:33 "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”
    Why did the prophets, John and Jesus, then later the apostles make such harsh references to peoples’ sin? Perhaps the best way to answer this is in the Apostle John’s words from 1 John 3:8 “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.” Listen and know: Love is the reason for the harsh words. Yes, God so loved the world, he didn’t want all the world to perish into the pit of Hell. The prophets, the Christ and the apostles spoke the harsh, true words to awaken the self-righteous sinners to their souls’ danger. Their love for the world was too great to keep quiet. People need to know there is a problem before they will seek the way to remove the problem.
    If your soul becomes uncomfortable about your sin when you are listening to a sermon, you are probably hearing a good sermon. Pay attention to what God is doing. Thank the Holy Spirit for opening your heart to feel bad because he is convicting you to mourn your sin. This kind of grief will lead you to a true heart change for Jesus’ gospel.
    Submit to the truth and be saved.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for your loving preaching. Amen.