If we could find our seats, we'll
begin our second hour. Let's open this hour with hymn
number 79 from your soft-backed hymnal. Hymn number 79, we welcome
you into our fellowship. Let's all stand together, number
79. We welcome you who love our Lord
into our fellowship. We welcome you who preach His
word and lead us in worship. May God the Spirit grant to us
His presence, power, and grace. May God the Son now favor us
and let us see His face. O God, our Father, glorify your
own great name, we pray. Your grace and mercy magnify
within our hearts today. If God will grant us this desire
while meeting in his name, we'll leave this house with hearts
inspired to spread abroad his fame. Please be seated. Open up with me, if you would,
to Psalm chapter 46. Psalm chapter 46, beginning with
verse 1. God is our refuge, a strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear Though
the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. I like this first verse, God
is our refuge. That's where sinners flee to. That is the city of refuge of
Christ. I'm thankful for that, that this
is the city of refuge here. There is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tabernacles of the Most High. And if you want to read of that
river, you go to Revelation 22, it'll tell you of that river.
God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall
help her, and that right early. The heathen raged. The kingdoms
were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth
melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works
of the Lord. What desolations he hath made
in the earth. And you know, as I was standing
up here, I was thinking, as I'm looking out over the congregation
here, come behold the works of the Lord. I see the works of
the Lord here that he's done in the hearts of his believers.
And it's just encouraging to me. He maketh wars to cease until
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow. He causes
the spear. He cutteth the spear in sunder.
He burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that
I am God. I will be exalted among the heathens. I will be exalted in the earth. You know, I like that Greg mentioned
that earlier, you know, to be still, that we'll hear his quiet
voice, his still and quiet voice, that small voice, and that he
might speak to our hearts. The Lord of hosts is with us,
the God of Jacob, is our refuge still. Let's pray. Holy and gracious God, we come
before you again and we do thank you that we do have a refuge,
that we can come away from those that would seek to destroy our
souls, to cause us to look away from the Lord Jesus Christ, but
that you are a strong city and that Lord, that you might again
encourage us, that you might again reveal our Lord Jesus Christ
to us, that you might cause us to look unto him, and that even
for a brief moment, that we might be set apart and set our eyes
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Be with all of our dear brethren
this day, Lord, wherever they are, where this gospel goes forth,
that we might not only hear and see, but rejoice in the great
work that he, our Lord Jesus, has done. For it's in his name
we ask these things. Amen. Number 17, from your hardback
Tyndall. Number 17. Let's all stand again. so so the the Come thou fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount I'm fixed upon
it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I'm come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to
arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God, he to rescue me from danger interposed
his precious blood. O to grace, how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Please be seated. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Matthew chapter 11? And welcome Norris Lynn Latteal
and Norris Jr. and I guess Mackenzie, is she
here? She's there, okay. Norris, most of you know, used
to be here and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and now they've
moved to Tampa and they attend the services over in Sarasota
every Sunday night. I don't know what they're doing
here this morning, but we're We're glad you guys are here. And Mary from Kingsport, we're
glad you're here, Mary. In Matthew chapter, oh, one other
announcement, I'm so sorry. The 17th of this month, we're
going to have lunch here after the service. In Matthew chapter 11, the Lord speaking of John the
Baptist said that in verse 11, verily I say unto you, among
them that are born of woman, there hath not risen a greater
than John the Baptist. born of a woman is synonymous
to being a descendant of Adam. The Lord Jesus Christ, of course,
was born of a woman, born under the law, but this is a reference
to being of the race of Adam, and that's all men. all men except
for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord says, of all
men who are descended from Adam, there is none greater than John
the Baptist. Now that's a pretty amazing statement.
John the Baptist, the Lord is saying, is greater than Abraham. He's greater than Sarah. He's greater than Moses. He's
greater than Elijah. He's greater than Isaiah. He's greater than King David. Never has there been a man born
of a woman that is greater than John the Baptist. Now that's
what the Lord Jesus Christ said. That's a pretty high acclaim. given by the Lord of an individual. Wonder what it would be like
for the Lord to say of you or of me, there's none born among
women greater than Jerry Salzberg, Michael Lethridge, Susan Emmerich. What would that be like? Look
at the next phrase. Look at the next phrase. Notwithstanding,
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. What does that mean? I wanna
know what that means. Because if the Lord Jesus Christ
just said what I think he said, then that means that every child
of God in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist,
who the Lord said was greater than any person that had ever
been born. What does that mean? Well, let's go back to the beginning
of the chapter and see if the Lord will enable us to answer
that question. title of the message is, Who
Is Greater Than John? Who Is Greater Than John? In verse one, and it came to
pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples,
he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now
when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent
two of his disciples. John, you remember, challenged
Herod in his affair with his brother's wife, and Herod had
him arrested and put into prison, and now he's gonna have him beheaded?
And that's where John is. And John sends word to the Lord
by some of his disciples. Now some have tried to explain
this away by saying, well, John didn't really think this for
himself. He was sending his disciples
to the Lord with this question for their benefit. You remember,
John is the one who said, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sins of the world. He must increase, I must decrease. The Lord told John, when you
see the Holy Spirit like a dove lighting on him, you'll know
that he's the Messiah. John said, I'm not worthy to
be baptized by you. I'm not worthy to unlatch. your
sandals. John knew who the Lord was. I'm not worthy to wash your feet
is what he was saying when he said I'm not worthy to unlatch
your sandals. So John had been used powerfully of God and had
a clear revelation as to who the Lord Jesus Christ was as
his forerunner. Malachi prophesies of the coming
of John and we'll get to that in just a moment. But in light
of all of that Verse 3, And John said to the Lord, Art thou he
that should come, or do we look for another? Now, he that should
come was clearly a reference to the Messiah. And so here John
was, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, the last prophet
of the Old Testament. The one that all those things
we said were true about, and the Lord's going to say more
about him here in a few minutes. And he said, while in prison,
art thou the Christ, or should we expect another? Now that question
has something to do with what the Lord said when he said, never
has there been a man born of woman greater than John, but
he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Jesus answered and said unto
him, go and show John again those things which you do here and
see. Give John evidence of who I am
by the things that you have heard and the things that you have
seen. Tell him that the blind receive their sight. Tell him
that the lame walk. Tell him that the lepers are
cleansed. Tell him that the deaf hear.
Tell him that the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel
preached to them. Here's the message that the Lord's
gonna send back to John to convince John that he is, in fact, the
Messiah, the one that was to come. Now, here again, this evidence
that the Lord gave to John fits John's position and John's dilemma. in wondering if the Lord Jesus
is the Christ, or should we expect another? Are these the evidences that
the Lord gives now to his children when they wonder about the things
of God? Does he say to them, does he
say to you, look, the deaf here, the blind see, the dead are raised
from the dead. Is that the evidence you're looking
for, for the hope of your salvation? No, no, it's not. What is the proof, positive evidence
that God gives to his children today to confirm to their hearts? Now here's what I'm saying to
you this morning. The least in the kingdom of God
has never said, art thou the Christ or should we expect another? Never. Every child of God, the newest
baby in Christ, knows beyond any shadow of a doubt that the
gospel is true. That Jesus is the Christ. Every child of God can say with
that Ethiopian eunuch, when Philip said to him, he asked Philip,
he said, what doth him that he be baptized? Philip had just
preached the gospel to him. And what did Philip say? If thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. And what did the Ethiopian say?
I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now, I don't
know much, and I have a lot of questions about a lot of things,
most particularly as they relate to me. I don't know myself very
well. I don't know this world in which
we live. But ever since God saved me, never has it crept into my
mind whether or not Jesus Christ is the Son of God. It hasn't. It's not a question. I know that.
I've hung the hope of my soul on that. Now, I may wonder whether
or not what he did was for me, but there's a difference between
believing the gospel and having assurance of salvation. If God
the Holy Spirit has given you faith to believe the gospel,
then you believe with all of your heart that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the living God. You believe that the only
hope of your righteousness is found in Him. You believe that
He is the end of the law for righteousness. You believe that
He satisfied God's justice. You believe that He finished
the work that He came to do. You believe that it's not of
Him that willeth nor of Him that runneth, it's of God that showeth
mercy. If you believe the gospel, you
believe the gospel. And what is the proof that God
has given you to assure you that the Lord Jesus Christ succeeded
in what he came to do, save sinners? What's the proof that you have?
Is it that the blind see and the deaf? You see, John didn't
have the benefit of the cross. Why didn't the Lord Jesus Christ
say to John, go back and tell John that they're going to arrest
me? that John's gonna have his head
taken off, but don't worry about it, John, because after you die,
I'm gonna die. They're gonna put me into a grave.
Three days later, I'm going to raise again, having satisfied
God's justice, having put away the sins of God's people. I'm
going to ascend back into glory. Why didn't the Lord give John
all of that? The revelation that God gave
to John was very limited. It was enough. John believed
what he heard. We have the evidence of the cross. We have the evidence that God
was pleased to bruise his son. We have the fulfillment of Isaiah
chapter 53 and of Psalm 22. He that is least in the kingdom
of God is greater than he. We have the proof of the resurrection. Every time somebody, you read
through the book of Acts, every time the gospel's preached and
they get to the resurrection, men mock. Men mock. When Paul went to Athens and
preached the gospel in Athens, what'd they call him? They called
him a babbler. A babbler was a storyteller.
People didn't travel from where they were born. They didn't see
the world. There wasn't news media. They depended on travelers
coming from other parts of the world to stand in public places
and tell stories about other places. And that's what they
thought Paul was, just a storyteller. And he'll do it for tips and
he'll tell stories about these faraway lands and these people.
And Paul was telling them about Christ. And then, and babblers
were famous for elaborating the story. You know, they would embellish
the story and add details that didn't really happen in order
to make it more entertaining. And when Paul got to the resurrection,
They rolled their eyes and slung their heads and walked away and
said, well, now, wait a minute. We're used to babblers embellishing
the stories, but this is just way beyond the pale. A dead man
came back to life and they mocked and they walked away from him. We don't roll our eyes. The hope
of our salvation is in the resurrection. John didn't have that. John did
not have that. I want to ask you a question
this morning. Are you still at the place where
you're wondering if Jesus is the Christ? Or should we expect
something more? Someone else? Or can you say
with all of your heart, we know and are sure that thou
art the Christ, the son of the living God. And the evidence
of that is that God has raised you from the dead and that you
are the firstborn among many brethren. Can you say that? Now, you may
wonder whether it was for you. And that's where our doubts come
in, don't they? You may not always enjoy assurance
of your salvation. But even when you don't have
assurance of your salvation, you are thoroughly convinced
of the truth of the gospel. There's no change in your mind
about it. You've been taught of God. You believe what John
didn't have the benefit of in light of the time in which he
lived and where he was. He was the last of the Old Testament
prophets. He didn't have that. He didn't
have the cross. He didn't have the resurrection.
He didn't have the ascension. He didn't have the full story.
And he wasn't able to bear it. The Lord said, I have many things
to say unto you, but you can't bear them. He wasn't able to
bear it. These things had to be fulfilled
in order for the gospel to be preached. John didn't have the
benefit of Pentecost. Even the disciples after the
resurrection, after the crucifixion, after the resurrection of Christ,
the disciples met with the Lord and said, is it time now for
you to set up your kingdom? They were still thinking, that's
what John was thinking. I'm your forerunner. I'm here
in prison. We've got a kingdom to set up
here. What am I doing here? Are you the Christ? My kingdom's not of this world.
You know the kingdom of, if you're a child of God, you know the
kingdom of God is not of this world. This world, as they say,
is going to hell in a handbasket. You know that. God's kingdom's not of this world.
It's a spiritual kingdom. We don't engage in all sorts
of political things in order to try to change the world and
Christianize the world. That's not the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is a spiritual
kingdom. It's a kingdom of truth. For
this cause was I born, for this reason came I into the world,
that I might bear witness unto the truth. They that are of the
truth hear my voice. Have you heard the voice of God?
You know, the last verse in that passage we looked at in the first
hour, they were amazed. That's what the scripture says.
We didn't get to that verse. They were amazed. The man that
had his hearing, they were amazed. Are you amazed? Are you amazed at the gospel?
Are you amazed that God would choose you to be one of His? That He would make you to differ?
Are you amazed that He would love you and lay down His life
for you? Do you stand amazed before God? Or do you say, with the religious
world, that's not fair. God loves everybody. You haven't heard, you haven't
believed the gospel. You haven't believed the gospel. They that are least in the kingdom
of heaven, post-cross, post-resurrection, and post-Pentecost, the disciples
needed the Spirit of God to come to open their eyes. before they
were able to put it all together. They stood shaking in their boots
in the upper room, fearful that the authorities were gonna come
for them and that they were gonna meet the same end that the Lord
met. Until the Spirit of God came, and then what'd they do?
They left that upper room, they went right into the heart of
the fire and started preaching the gospel. They arrested them.
Why? Because they knew that Jesus
was the Christ, the son of the living God. They knew that he
was sovereign in salvation. Why? Because God gave them faith.
He gave them faith and He confirmed it by His Spirit. And every child
of God who's born of God post-Pentecost is given the Spirit of God and
knows beyond any shadow of a doubt what John did not know. That Jesus is the Christ and
we're not looking for another. We're not looking for another. Just like every child of God
knows that God's sovereign. He's sovereign. He does whatsoever
He wills. And when He's ready to bring
an end to this world, it's gonna come to an end. And He hath done
whatsoever He will. He's sovereign. Now, where our
unbelief comes in, has to do with when we put ourselves into
the equation. I know that Jesus is the Christ.
If I don't know anything else, I know that. How many things
can you say you know for sure? If you're a child of God, on
the top of the list, the thing that you know for sure, above
everything else, is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God. That he succeeded in what he
came to do. That there was no way he could
fail. That God is satisfied with him. That the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ covers all the sins of all God's people. That he
is your only hope of righteousness before the throne of God. That
all of your hope of satisfying God's justice is found in his
sacrificial death on Calvary's cross. That's at the top of your
list out of all the things that you know if you're a child of
God. If you're a brand new believer, you know that. You know that. You know something John the Baptist
didn't know, or at least questioned. The problem comes in when we
put ourselves in the equation, doesn't it? You remember when
the Lord The man brought his son to the disciples who was
possessed with a demon, and the demon would cause the son to
throw his body into a fire and throw his body into the water,
he'd go into convulsions, and the disciples weren't able to
heal him. And so the man brought his son to the Lord. And the
man said to the Lord, if you can do anything, have mercy on
us. And the Lord said to him, if
you can believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
And the scripture says that the man cried with tears and he said,
oh Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. What did he mean? Lord, I believe
that you are able to heal my son, but whether you'll do it
for me, I don't know. As soon as I put myself into
this, I wonder whether it's going to be for me. That's where the unbelief comes
in. No child of God has ever said, are you the one that we should
expect or is there another? Have you ever said that? If you're still wondering that,
I plead with you to ask God to give you faith. Because if He gives you faith,
you're not going to ask that question anymore. You'll have a bunch of other
questions. You'll have a bunch of other fears and a bunch of
other doubts. But they won't have to do with the truthfulness
of the gospel. That's why believers can't ever
leave. They've been taught of God. They
know the truth. And the new man, he's been... The scripture says if a man comes
to Christ, he's made a new creature, all things are passed away, yea,
all things become new. Now you've heard me say before
that if we had perfect faith, we would never sin. Let me see
if I can clarify that a little bit. Truth is, you have perfect
faith in your new man. Lord, I believe. I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. The
new man believes, the old man doesn't. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. Why? because his faith was perfectly
placed on a perfect Savior. The scripture says he was fully
persuaded that God was able to perform that which he had promised.
Fully persuaded. Now where his doubts came in
is whether or not God was going to do it for him. And that's
when he, you know, that's when he made all sorts of unbelieving. We do that. You see? When God causes you to be born
of the Spirit, He convinces you, beyond any shadow of a doubt,
the truth of the gospel. You just believe the gospel.
You can't not believe it. You can't not believe it. You
know it's true. God's taught you. The least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he. Greater by way of faith. Greater
by way of revelation. We have things revealed to us
that John never could have seen. Never could have seen. The hope of your salvation. Oh, ask God for assurance. I hope he'll assure you. I hope
he'll assure me. Not a day that goes by I don't
ask God to save me. Lord, save me. Help me to know for sure
that what you did is for me. Give me comfort. Help me in my
unbelief. But that's assurance of salvation. Has God convinced you beyond
any shadow of a doubt, based on the cross, the empty
tomb, and the coming of the Spirit of God? There was another time
when the disciples went and preached the gospel in a city and there
were some of John's disciples there. And they asked him, they
said, have you received yet the Spirit of God? They said, we've
not so much as even heard of the Spirit of God. He said, well,
whose baptism are you baptized with? Well, we've only been baptized
with the baptism of John. And they preached the gospel
to them, and they received the Holy Spirit. John's revelation was limited The Lord Jesus Christ had to
come and to fulfill that which John only prepared the way for. We're not looking for evidence
of our salvation based on the fact that the blind see, and
the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear,
and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached
unto them. The evidence of our salvation
is the convincing faith that God has given to us that the
Lord Jesus is the Christ and that he has succeeded in doing
what he came to do to save his people and to glorify God. John couldn't reconcile success
with where he was. How could the Lord be the Christ
and how could he be successful based on where I am and about
what's about to happen to me? It didn't compute. Verse six, go back with me to
our text. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me, And we're not. We're offended
in ourselves, we're offended in our circumstances, we're offended
in our sin, but the child of God is not offended in Christ. He has no accusations to make
against Christ. All he can say to the Lord Jesus
Christ is truth, Lord. Truth, Lord. Yes, I'm a dog. Yes, I'm a sinner. Yes, you're
the Son of God. Yes, you're all truth and all
righteousness and I'm all lies and unrighteousness. Yes, Lord,
truth. We're not offended in Christ.
That's what faith is not offended in Christ. Does that describe
your faith? And as they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitude concerning John, what went ye out into the
wilderness to see, a reed shaken with the wind? And what went
you out to see, a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they
that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. But what went
out you to see, a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more
than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is
written, Behold, I send my messenger before my face, which shall prepare
thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you among them
that are born of woman, there hath not yet risen a greater
than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater than he. Here's the truth of every child
of God. The Spirit, that's the new nature, is willing. God has made you willing. He's
opened the eyes of your understanding. He's unstopped your ears. He's
taught you the truth. The Spirit is willing. You know
the gospel's true. You would never say, aren't thou
the Christ? Or should we expect another?
And if you're asking that question, then you need to get on your
knees before God and ask Him to give you the kind of faith
that will convince you of that beyond any shadow of a doubt.
The Spirit is willing. It's the flesh that is weak. It's the flesh that is weak.
It's when I put myself into the equation that I begin to doubt. I begin to wonder, not about
who Christ is, but about whether it's for me, and about whether
or not God's going to do it for me, and whether God's going to
bless me. You see, Who's greater than John the Baptist? He was a prophet of God. Greater than any other man that
had ever lived. Who's greater than John the Baptist?
The brand new baby in Christ, who's been taught by the Holy
Spirit convincingly, beyond any shadow of a doubt, The truth
of the gospel. The truth of who Christ is. The truth of what he's accomplished. That's an amazing thing to me.
It's just amazing that here we would be, the very testimony of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself, greater than any of those Old
Testament saints. Not because of ourselves. but
because of what Christ accomplished, because of what He's revealed. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we ask that You would cause us, cause us, Lord, to believe with
all of our hearts that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. And forgive us, Lord, for all
the doubts that we have when it comes to our flesh, our living in this world. We ask that you would strengthen
us in the new man. the inner man. As the old man
perishes, we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Tom? I'm so sorry. I asked the men
if they'll come to distribute the bread and the wine. Jesus Christ we wish to see,
He alone is all our plea. We have seen great things of
earth, And heard men boast their own worth. Such toys do not satisfy,
Nor will help us when we die. Jesus Christ we wish to see,
He as He is eternally, Show Him as heaven's delight, Ever holy
and upright, Son of God, eternal Word, El Shaddai, Jehovah Lord. Jesus Christ we wish to see,
as He is by God's decree. Show Him prophet, priest, and
king, all in all and everything. Mediator, Son of Man, finishing
what He began. Jesus Christ we wish to see,
hanging on the cursed tree. Show Him bearing all our sin,
stricken by both God and men. Tell us how at last He cried,
it is finished, then He died. Jesus Christ we wish to see,
when from death he was set free. Show him victor over grave, death
and hell mighty to save. Show him risen to his throne,
ruling over all his own. Show Him both Savior and Lord,
by both God and saints adored. Show us Jesus till life's end,
He'll show Himself to us then. Jesus Christ we wish to see,
now and through eternity. That was such an appropriate
song, Tom, for a point I was trying to make. I hope the Lord
make it. We want to see more of Christ. We want to see more
of Him. But we don't call into question what
He has shown us about who He is. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1,
wherefore seeing we are also compassed with such a great cloud
of witnesses, Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that
doth so easily beset us. That's the weight and the sin
of unbelief when it comes to our flesh, the old man. And let us run the race with
patience that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of faith. When we take this bread, we are
confessing. The Lord's Scripture says if
you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, Jesus
is Lord. We're making confession here
of what we believe in our heart. We'll believe, we'll just believe.
that the body of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only hope of our
righteousness before God. Believe that. The Lord said, as often as you
do this, do it in remembrance of me. We're confessing right
now that we believe, we believe, you believe something, you just
believe it, that the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
cross is the only hope of having God's justice satisfied and our
sins covered before God. Believe that. Do this in remembrance
of me. Lord's good. He's good. Let's stand together. I want
to ask Phil Weishi if he'll lead us in prayer, please, Phil. Thank
you. When we look at ourselves, we
can't stand before you, Lord. In the clarity of your Son, we've
accomplished the work of heaven. We stand boldly before your throne. We thank you, Lord, for your
messages today. We pray that you would give our
hearts peace in Christ as we depart from this place tonight
again. We feel the busyness, Lord, that
you might continue to remind us of the immortal. We look forward
to your coming. Thank you.