There was fire in the preacher’s eyes as he took the people to task. When the congregation broke into applause during his sermon, Paul Washer stopped and asked, “Why are you applauding? I am talking about your sin.”
John the Baptist had a similar approach. He did not set out to start a movement. John came preaching. What was his first word? “Repent...” Do we know what that word means? It does not mean to feel sorry for our sins. Repentance means to change... to change our direction, to change our minds, to change our lives.
Why did the people need to repent? The King had arrived inaugurating his kingdom on the planet. John knew him. He wanted the people to know him. You have to prepare if you are going to enter the presence of a king. How do we get ready? Repent.
Apparently, John had not read the book about winning friends and influencing people. As people came to him from all over the area, they confessed their sins and he baptized them in the Jordan River. But when the Pharisees and Sadducees came, John called them snakes. It turns out, John was not trying to build a successful ministry. He was trying to obey God. So he asked these leaders to give evidence that they had changed.
Have we? Have we changed? What is the evidence? The grape vines in Hershey Park are producing the fruit grape vines produce. We will know God is at work when we are more interested in what he thinks than we are in what others think of us. Before we know it, all heaven might break loose. Here. Now. In us.
