Outline:

Text: Matthew 3:7-12 “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.

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” (ESV).

The rebuke of Scripture is to galvanize repentance, the reason being that we all might be ready for the revelation of Jesus Christ.

I. The Rebuke for Repentance (v. 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?’”
• They were rebuked for they were three things: Deceptive (Matthew 23:27), Deadly (Matthew 23:15), and Demonic (John 8:44).

II. The Results of Repentance (v. 8)

• “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance”
• Acts 26:20

III. The Reason for Repentance (vv. 10-12)

• “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
• The Revelation of Jesus Christ: Galatians 6:7; 2 Corinthians 5:10-11, Revelation 22:20.