An Irritant

God's truth from God's Word can be seen as a help and deterrent to sinning, but it can also be seen as an irritant if it hits a prideful, unwilling heart and life. When John the Baptist came out of the Judean wilderness and began preaching, his message was clear; repent and turn from your sins. This message hit ears, and hearts were stirred to be baptized as a sign of repenting of their sins, but not all were happy about the conviction that arose from his hard truth. John called them names in Luke 3: ⁷ So he was saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? He was not "woke" in any shape or form, and his message of life change would have gone over in today's world like a lead balloon. But it was very effective for the world he was living in at the time, and here are the results. Luke 3: ¹⁵ Now while the people were in a state of expectation and they all were thinking carefully in their hearts about John, whether he himself perhaps was the Christ,¹⁶ John responded to them all, saying, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but He is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the straps of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire

As you can see John was preparing the way for the Messiah, and His name was Jesus. John was also prophesied by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 40: ³ And he came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “The voice of one calling out in the wilderness,‘Prepare the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!⁵ Every ravine will be filled, And every mountain and hill will be lowered; The crooked will become straight, And the rough roads smooth;⁶ And all ^flesh will see the salvation of God!’” Everything God planned was falling into place, and John's preaching was a significant part of the whole plan to redeem the world.

This preaching was not welcome by Herod Antipas, who had married his brother's wife, and John's message of change stirred him to the point of putting John in prison, and later cutting off John's head. The message of truth will at times offend those who are on the wrong side of righteousness, and the only way to get on the "right" side of righteousness is through a personal relationship with Jesus. When we receive Jesus we have a new self and Paul wrote about this to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 4: ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, ²² that, in reference to your former way of life, you are to rid yourselves of the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, ²³ and that you are to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, which ⁱn the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

John's message of repentance involved doing something physical to show your heart has changed and you are repentant, but you will dry off. Jesus' message of salvation and a renewed spirit involves giving our lives to Him and letting Him be our righteousness and walking in the grace God has provided, and it is eternal and locked in for eternity. Jesus said it this way in John 10:²⁷ My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; ²⁸ and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

No more irritants in His message. Only a peace that passes all understanding and a life that is abundantly growing in the grace provided. True life change that is from the inside out!

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren