“When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” Matthew 3:7-10 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/mat.3.7-10.CSB

John the Baptist warned the religious leaders, the guys at the top of the religious food chain, that they needed to produce fruit that demonstrated their obedience to God lest they fail to enter the kingdom of God. Many Christians need to heed this same warning. Like these religious leaders, they say we are saved in Jesus. He is our Brother and Savior. Yet they do little to nothing to practically see His kingdom come and His will done on earth as it is in heaven. Their fruit is negligible or non-existent. Our culture demonstrates the lack of Christian influence more and more. While the first believers suffered greatly for identifying with Jesus, too many Christians in the marketplace, university, government, and media deny knowing Him publicly lest they be ridiculed, passed over for promotion, or even fired. Twice, John reminds these religious leaders that fruit is the evidence of faith. So, too, for the Christian fruit is the evidence of faith. The fruit that lasts is the salvation of people through the spreading of the gospel. The word of God and people last forever, so these two things must be the priority of God’s people if they will produce fruit in keeping with repentance.