Dear BPCWA worshipper, When God gives us rain, it is so that there can be fruitfulness. As we saw last week, God does not define fruitfulness only by what one does externally. Instead, God is concerned about what motivates the actions. Hence, John the Baptiser rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism saying, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Mt 3:8). Let us not be blinded by the devil’s lie that “ignorance is bliss” e.g. thinking “Since I am already attending Bible studies, serving, regular at prayer meetings, keeping my regular quiet time, and having family worship, I need not think further about whether I am genuinely fruitful.” So, I go on blissfully without searching my own heart. I am not, for a moment, dissuading anyone from these activities and from coming to church to learn. The ongoing hearing and studying of God’s Word are God’s means by which we can be fruitful. If you avoid church and the learning of the Word, there will be a lack of fruitfulness. But there is another aspect of the passage where John warned about failing in fruitfulness that we want to touch on more in today’s pastoral.

God’s wrath against sin. This is not a topic that is often preached in today’s church. It is contrary to the world’s philosophy of self-esteem. Even some segments of Christianity find this distasteful because, in their minds, the New Testament is the God of love while the Old Testament is the God of wrath. Since we are now in the New Testament, they do not want to talk about God’s wrath. However, this is clearly taught in the Bible. John was “he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mt 3:3). John would prepare the people for the coming of Christ and the New Testament message. Christ came for a specific purpose, to be “the propitiation for our sins” (1Jo 2:2). Without a proper understanding of “propitiation”, we won’t be able to fully comprehend God’s love because “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1Jo 4:10). We often stress (and correctly so) on the aspect that we were not lovers of God. However, God emphasises in 1 John the fact that Christ was the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation is the appeasing or turning away of God’s wrath because of our sin. This is the very wrath that John, preparing for Christ’s coming, warned of in both Matthew and Luke 3:7. God’s wrath against sin means that He must judge sin and unrighteousness. John warned that God’s wrath was so near that “the axe is laid unto the root of the trees” (Mt 3:10). That was how close the execution of God’s wrath was. God’s wrath is very real. Dear reader, are you truly saved? Outward Christian acts do not save you. Do not be lulled into fatal blissful ignorance! Few of us can be more religious than the Pharisees. But God warned them about His wrath if they did not turn to Christ for salvation in repentance from the heart.

Flee the wrath. What would be required to flee this wrath would not be just going through the act of baptism or other external forms. Baptism was a commanded and required act, demonstrating the fruit of repentance. Are any readers like the religious Pharisees, merely wanting to do the “right” things just so that others think well of or have a good impression of you and may even think that “you’ve changed”? If so, then God rebukes you as He did the Pharisees. The just God is angry against sin. You can do all the external acts – even ones that He commands – but if the sin remains, the wrath of God remains. The external acts without the desire and intent to deal with the sin are fruitless. This was stressed through the accounts of the other groups of people who came for John’s baptism. They asked “What shall we do?” (Lu 3:12, 14). They weren’t there because it was popular, or merely to listen, or to look good in front of others. The publicans and soldiers, though so despised by the Jews, were ready to deal with the root of sin in their lives and turn away from their sin in repentance to God. Because of this sincerity and readiness, they bore genuine fruits of repentance. 

Fruits of repentance. Repentance is a genuine heartfelt inward turning away from the lusts and sins because of the change of view towards sins God has repeatedly called us to repent of. Outward acts are expected and will accompany genuine repentance, but outward acts without a change of heart do not turn away God’s wrath for our sins. God’s anger is not without cause. God is daily angry at the sins, “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps 7:11). And His judgement is not arbitrary. God’s wrath abides on the unbelievers. But He also deals with His unrepentant children. Though the Christian will not lose his salvation, “but if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (Heb 12:8). Through the watering of God’s Word and the work of the Holy Spirit, God convicts His own children about what they must repent of in their lives. As God sends more of His Word and reveals to us more of the sins that anger Him, we must respond and bear the fruits of repentance. We can give others a good impression of us by our “good works”, while deep inside we are unwilling to address the sins God points out to us. We may even cover up our sins. If so, God will continue to chastise, and His judgement is imminent. God does so for His glory not to be marred and for our spiritual good. Repentance is a change of our mind about our sin, thinking the same way as God does, and turning away from sin towards God. Only such true repentance is the fruit of repentance that will turn away God’s wrath. The fruits of repentance that God’s longsuffering awaits are not only about coming to church, praying, and serving. Yes, He does expect His children to continue in all such well doing (1Pe 2:15). But while the sin remains in our life and we only intend to do a cover-up job with “good works”, God’s judgement remains. The cause of that judgement has not been resolved because our sin remains while we perform all these outward acts. Ignoring sins that God has pointed out repeatedly is not bliss!

Just like the publicans and soldiers, bearing the fruits of repentance may require a big change in your lives and it may indeed shake what and how you have been used to living and acting. But that choice is yours – whether you choose God’s displeasure or the good fruits of repentance. Let us not deceive ourselves “and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father . . .” (Mt 3:9). Being from a Christian family and having religious acts do not save us. If you are not saved, God’s wrath is real and eternal. Repent and be saved today to flee from the wrath to come! And after salvation, God continues to look for and expects fruits of repentance unto His glory. He will not let you continue to displease Him just because you choose to avoid thinking about and repenting of sins He convicts you of. If you are saved, remember that even though salvation is unshakeable, the consequences of sin will catch up with you, as we have recently seen in 1 Samuel. God’s judgement against sin is sure, “for the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17). The fruits of repentance for the believer bring blessings. Choose blessings!

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor