(NASB) Matthew 3:7 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “˜You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

John was doing the job which God had sent him to do”¦preparing hearts of his hearers for Messiah. To know God”™s Anointed One, the Messiah, requires repentance for He is holy, pure, He is the Lord God Almighty.

John”™s message was one of “˜Repent!”™ He cut through any side issues to the heart of the matter, the basic need of all people”¦we need to repent of those things that keep us from a close, personal relationship with the Lord.

“˜Listen”™ as John pinpoints the needs of the religious leaders:

(NASB) Matthew 3:8-9 “”˜Therefore bear fruit in keeping with

repentance;

9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, “˜We have Abraham for our father”™; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”

John closed any argument the religious leaders would try to use as an escape from the need to repent.

They could not claim being a descendant of Abraham was good enough. For God was able to raise up children from the very stones lying about on the ground.

What do you do to “˜reason”™ your way out of the need to repent? Is it somebody else”™s fault?

What other “˜reasons”™ do you give to excuse you from asking God”™s forgiveness?