Matthew 3:7–10 (ESV)
John the Baptist Prepares the Way (Part 3)
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear
fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even
now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
The best way to get
off to a good start with someone is to insult them! I’m not sure it works that way, but John is calling them what they are… a brood of vipers! They have not come to repent, but to spy and trap. Their hearts are not in the right
place. It is like having a party and inviting the neighborhood, but some have come to scope out the house for valuables and how to break in to the house. The Pharisee and Sadducees have come for the wrong reason.
I pray: O Lord, help me to know who is walking in your ways and who is not… and to love both in a Godly way (agape). Amen.