But the Pharisees

And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.  – Luke 7.29-30

Jesus has just explained the ministry of John the Baptist. The people responded in two ways.

In the first group, including some tax collectors, there we some who ‘justified God’ in their lives and were baptised with John’s baptism. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance which means that they acknowledged their sin, turned from it, and awaited the message of the Messiah John was preaching about.

But the Pharisees and the experts in Jewish Law rejected God’s will for their lives. They refused to submit to John’s baptism. They could not bring themselves to deal with their sin and repent. These guys took pride in the fact that they were religious men and that they were above needing repentance.

We all need to be sure that we are not resting in our ‘religion’ but instead on depending on repentance and faith to justify God on our lives.