When John asks them, "Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" the emphasis is on the word "you". "Who warned you to flee, when there is so little chance of you escaping?" John the Baptist understood that it is those people who have long been involved in the external forms of religion who are often the hardest to save. Satan's firmest grip is not on the Hitlers and Stalins of the world, but on the Deacon Jones' who believe themselves safe though they do not have an authentic faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Week after week they hear the gospel preached, and maybe even teach it themselves in Sunday School classes or Bible study groups. Yet each time they hear it, they refuse to be convicted, and their heart is hardened just a little more. No one knew the Scriptures better than the Pharisees and Sadducees, and no one was further way from receiving its central, soul-saving message.
The Importance of Bearing Fruit (v. 8)
Most pastors I know would never turn away someone who wanted to be baptized. Yet that is exactly what John the Baptist did. When some of the Pharisees and Sadducees approached him, he refused them, saying "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance." Remember, baptism is an external action that symbolizes and publicly expresses a previous internal change. The symbolic washing in the water is to represent the inner washing that has already taken place when a person has repented of their sins and placed their trust in God. John the Baptist rightly suspected that these religious leaders were trying to pull off the same ploy they were known for: participating in the external action without any corresponding internal change. Put simply, John was not convinced that these men had authentically repented, and therefore he refused to baptize them. Instead, he demanded that they show evidence that their repentance was real.
The Abraham Objection (v. 9)
Having dared to reproach these Pharisees and Sadducees, John the Baptist anticipated their objection and answered it before they could speak. For centuries the message had been proclaimed in Israel that there would come a day when God would set up His perfect kingdom, and that the members of that kingdom would be children of Abraham. The religious leaders wrongly assumed that this meant that anybody who had Abraham's blood in their veins was a shoo in to heaven - whether they had repented or not. Their understanding was that a person could live like the devil their entire life, but because of God's promise to Abraham, they would still be saved.
As the Apostle Paul makes abundantly clear in his letter to the Galatians, heaven will indeed belong to the children of Abraham. But the children of Abraham are not those who share his blood, but those who share his faith: "Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel before hand to Abraham, saying, 'In you shall all the nations be blessed.' So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith."
As a child, we would often sing a song called "Father Abraham" in church. The song says:
Father Abraham had many sons,
Many sons had Father Abraham.
I am one of them, and you are too,
So let's just praise the Lord!
Why could a group of American Gentiles sing a song like that? Because Abraham is our father by faith. When John pointed to a pile of rocks and said that God could just as easily make children of Abraham out of them, he was pulling the rug out from under the religious leaders. He was awakening them to the truth that their confidence in their heritage was a false hope. Just as Abraham showed his authentic faith by leaving his Home and following God into an unknown land, so they were being called to leave behind their selfishness and pride and to show evidence that they were truly followers of God.
The Warning (v.10)
After answering the unspoken objection, John offers the Pharisees and Sadducees a stern warning: "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."
In the word picture, the trees represent individual people. Each tree has two options - it can either be fruitful, or become firewood. John is calling the religious leaders to examine their lives, and to recognize that they are not bearing fruit that gives evidence to their salvation. The threat of being "cut down and throw
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