Luke 7 and verse 24. And when the messengers of John
were departed, he, the Lord, began to speak
unto the people concerning John. What went ye out into the wilderness
for to see? A reed shaking with the wind?
But what went ye out for to see, a man clothed in soft raiment?
Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled and live delicately
are in kings' courts. But what went ye out for to see,
a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much
more than a prophet, this is he of whom it is written, Behold,
I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy
way before thee. For I say unto you, among those
that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than
John the Baptist. But he that is least in the kingdom
of God is greater than he. And all the people that heard
him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the
baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized
of him. And the Lord said, Whereunto
then shall I liken the men of this generation, and to what
are they like? They are likened to children sitting in the marketplace,
and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you,
and you have not danced, and we have mourned to you, and you
have not wept. For John the Baptist came neither
eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say he hath a devil.
The Son of Man has come eating and drinking and you say behold
a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.
But wisdom is justified of all her children. Now verse 35 there
is key to all of this passage. A lot of things said here but
that's the key to it all. Wisdom is justified of all of
her children. The bottom line of everything
that happened here, John questioning who the Lord was back before
what we read this morning. You remember that John questioning?
Are you he that should come or do we look for another? Verse
19, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejecting the counsel of God
against themselves. Verse 30, the men of our Lord's
generation being like children that are contrary to everything
good and right. The bottom line of all that,
our Lord said, is this. There are a group of people in
this world, all of whom justify wisdom. And he calls them here
the children of wisdom. They all hear and justify. You remember some of them justified
God concerning themselves. But the Pharisees rejected the
counsel of God against themselves. All of wisdom's children justify
Him. To justify wisdom means to acknowledge
it to be wisdom. To say of wisdom whatever it
says and does is right. Whatever wise counsel God gives,
it's the truth. Whatever it means to me or about
me or anybody that I love, whatever it says, whatever he says, it's
just the opposite of how the men of this generation are described
in verse 32. Let's talk about that for a second.
Because clearly that's the contrast. It's what are the men of this
generation like? And then there's those who justify
wisdom, who are the children of wisdom. And by the way, the
men of that generation and the men of this generation are exactly
the same. People don't change. Sin don't
change. God don't change. Evil don't
change. Sinners don't change. But wisdom's children now, The
way they're described in verse 32 we've piped and you didn't
dance We've mourned and you didn't you didn't weep in other words
are just contrary to whatever and Yet wisdom's children when
wisdom pipes they dance When wisdom mourns They weep Do you
know why those in verse 32 refused to dance or mourn? To whom shall I liken the men
of this generation, he said. And he's talking about those
who rejected the counsel of God against themselves. They would
not hear it. They would not agree with it. They would not conform
themselves to it. Not dancing when there's piping
and not weeping when there's mourning. That's what that is.
It's just being contrary. It's rejection of what's happening,
of what's being done, what's being said. The reason that they
refuse to dance or mourn is because wisdom is a person and they hate
that person. It's because they hate him. They
hate what he says because they hate him. They hate his piping. They hate his mourning. They
hate whatever the Lord does because they hate the Lord. Let me try
to illustrate that this morning. I don't want to get political
ever in my preaching, although I'm not afraid to call out evil
wherever I see it. But I saw recently something
that I think is a decent illustration of this. An interviewer, a news
interviewer, went and talked with some liberals and they asked
them what they thought of specific policies and political views.
And they would describe And I'll just call them by name. They
would describe one of Hillary's policies, but they would say
that it was Donald Trump's policy. They would say, what do you think
about Trump's policy? And then they would describe
Hillary's policy, and they'd say, oh, no. They'd make a face, you know,
and say, oh, no, I disagree with that. And then they'd do just
the opposite. In other places, they would interview
other people, and they would describe one of Donald Trump's
policies and say that it was Hillary's. And they'd say, oh,
I agree with that. Even though you know they hate Donald Trump.
And the reason they were saying that and the reason that this is an illustration
of what we see in the word this morning is this. It wasn't what
was being piped or said. It didn't matter. It was who
said it that caused them to either hate it or love it. It was all
about who said it. This is why the men of our generation
will not either dance or mourn when a true preacher speaks for
God because they hate the person that we preach. I can illustrate that. I can
prove that to you. You tell people, you go and tell
people that karma and astrology determines everything that they
do, everything that happens to them, it's written in the stars.
And they'll say, oh, that's deep, I believe that. I'm a Gemini,
you know, and so this is what's gonna happen to me, this is my
thing. And they'll agree with that, and they'll tell you what
sign they are, and they'll say, I'm a certain type of personality,
because the stars say so. And those inanimate balls of
burning gas are gonna determine everything that happens to me.
That's just fine and well, but you tell them that the Lord Jesus
Christ determines everything that happens to them, and see
what they say. You tell them that all things
are worked after the counsel of his own will, and that he
doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of this earth, and that none can stay his hand
or say unto him, what doest thou? You tell them that he saves who
he wants to save, and he determines everything. He rules all things,
and none can stay his hand. He sitteth upon the circle of
the earth, and all of the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers.
You tell them that and see what they say. You tell them that
no man knows God the Father unless the Lord Jesus Christ is pleased
to reveal him to them. That's the only way they'll know
him. Tell them that he chose sinners before the foundation
of the world whether they would be saved or damned. Utterly apart
from their actions or influence. Not the stars, not karma, not
fate. Christ Jesus, the Son of God.
And they'll gnash their teeth and they'll say something to
this effect. We will not have this man to reign over us. They've
always said it. They'll say it this morning.
If it's the stars and karma, that's fine, but not him. Not
him. But wisdom's children will have
him reign over them. They wouldn't have it any other
way. You see what he's teaching here? They wouldn't have it any
other way. It's fine. You know, they say for fate to
control our debt, but not him, not him. You know what we say?
Oh, don't leave me to blind chance. I want to be in his hands. Don't
leave me to the whims of my own heart or anybody else's. I want
to be in his hand. I want him on the throne. I want
him guiding my every step. Lord, don't leave me. Our brother
just prayed it. Don't leave us to ourselves.
Don't leave us. When he pipes, we dance. And when he mourns, we weep. Solomon wrote that there is a
time to dance and there's a time to weep. And you know when that
time is? When the Lord Jesus Christ says
so. That's the time. Whose children are you? Whose
children? Wisdom's children. Wisdom is
justified of all of her children. Wisdom is acknowledged by all
of her children to be wisdom, to be true, to be right, to be
good. And they follow, they obey, they
dance, and they weep. Whose children are you? Well,
I know this first of all. Let me ask you a question. How
much say did you have in whose earthly child you are? Did you
ever wish Be honest now, did you ever wish you had different
parents? I'm not talking about overall, I'm talking about at
certain points in time. Yeah. All of us at one point or another,
didn't we? But looking back over all the years, I'm thankful that
the Lord gave me the parents that he did. But I didn't have
any say in it. I didn't have a bit of say in
it. Not a bit. It's exactly the same with wisdom's
children. You are his child if you are
because of his love and grace and choice. No other reason. Now it might have appeared unto
other men, it might have appeared to any bystanders that John was
not a child of wisdom, that he was not a child of God. We might
have doubted him because he doubted the Lord. If we'd been there
we might have You might look at this now and wonder, you know,
what about old John? You're not sounding too strong
here, but it doesn't matter what men think. You're not a child
of wisdom because you act like one or because you're declared
to be one by a preacher or by a religious organization. The
Lord Jesus Christ said he's great. He's a great prophet. That settles
it. That settles it. And what interesting timing.
Isn't it interesting that now at John's lowest point, when John is questioning the
conviction of his own heart, have we ever been there? Is there
a lower place than that to question the very truth of
all that's true? To question him who is our only
hope to doubt. But at his lowest point, the
Lord Jesus bragged on him the most. How gracious. He declared him
to be great. And how does this teach us that
what makes us what we are is him, not our behavior, not our
attitude, not our faithfulness, what we call what passes for
faithfulness. We are what we are by the grace
of God. Aren't you glad? Paul said that
of himself in first Corinthians 15 10. I am what I am by the
grace of God. I am. Now, who is this in verse 28?
He refers to as he who is the least in the kingdom of God. I haven't known the answer to
this for very long. I believe one of my preacher brethren taught
this to me. I believe this is right. I believe
our Lord is referring to himself in his humility. It's hard of
us to think of him as not being great in any sense whatsoever.
But the Word of God declares he's exalted now. He's given
a name which is above every name. Now don't think of him that way
now in any sense. That he's in any way humiliated
or Or humbled in any way right now,
but he was when he was on this earth When he was in human flesh,
you know, he said in john 14 28 You've heard how I said unto
you I go away and come again unto you If you love me, you
would rejoice because I said I go unto the father for the
father is greater than I How can the father be greater than
the son? Well in this sense only in his position in his place
of humility as servant. He humbled himself and became
a servant. He took upon himself human flesh. It was only in the sense of the
place that he had come in his humility and his subservience
to the Father in the work that the Father gave him to do. He
never ceased to be co-equal with the Father and Spirit in essence,
but in position he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. It even says in Hebrews 2 9 again
in this sense only In no other sense, but in this sense only
it says in Hebrews 2 9 we see Jesus who was made a little lower
than the angels And don't miss the next part
of it though We see Jesus who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death He came down, he humbled
himself for a purpose. And in that one sense, he said,
the father is greater than me. And even the angels in that sense
were in a higher place than he was. But he's crowned with for
the suffering of death, but he's crowned with glory and honor
that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every
man. So here, even as he brags on John a little bit, he reminds
us all who truly is great, the son of man. He said to the Pharisees,
one greater than Abraham is here. And that's an understatement.
Why? He also is why we're able to
be called great in any sense. If he says that of a sinner,
it's because of him. It's because of his grace upon
that sinner. It's because of who we are by
his grace. Now look how Christ describes
his prophet in verses 24 through 27, where we read there. Do you know why he asked? He
said, what went you out for to see a reed shaking with the wind?
Do you know why he said it that way? Because everybody else who
was calling themselves God's spokesman. And that's what John
was. He was speaking for God. He was
God's for the Lord's forerunner. But everybody else in that day
who was calling themselves God's spokesman, who were supposedly
speaking for God, the Pharisees and the scribe, that's exactly
what they were. A reed shaking with the wind. In Mark 1 22, it says that the
people that heard the Lord Jesus teach, it says they were astonished
at his doctrine for he taught them as one that had authority
and not as the scribes. He didn't teach like the scribes
did. When somebody with some backbone and some conviction
of message came along, it was revealed how weak and inoffensive
the religious leaders were. They still are. Have you ever seen one of them
on news trying to answer a tough question about spiritual things
in such a way that they won't offend anybody? That's a reed
shaking with the wind. Whatever somebody wants to hear.
They say whatever they want. If the wind blows this way, they
bend this way. If the wind blows that way, they
bend that way. And look at verse 25. He said,
did you expect, did you expect to go out and see the effeminate,
pampered, Self-enriching types that that have been passing for
preachers and teachers until now. Is that what you expected?
another scribe or Pharisee These two things describe the preachers
of our day the false religious preachers of our day our Lord's
day and every day more than anything else number one they are wishy-washy
self-contradicting in order to not offend anybody and Just blowing
around with the wind, whatever makes people happy. And number
two, they are pampered, getting rich off of people's ignorance.
They've got helicopters and vacation homes and rings and diamonds
on their hands. God said in Ezekiel chapter 34,
they feed themselves and not my sheep. Woe unto them. But
John was a true prophet of God. And how do we know that? Because
he exalted the Lamb of God. He pointed to the Lamb of God
as he who takes away sin. And Christ said of John, there's
no one greater born of a woman except for one. And think about that. Our Lord's
testimony of him is there's nobody greater except one. He that is
least right now in the kingdom of God is still greater. But
nobody else. He's greater than everybody else.
John said of himself, I'm not worthy to untie his shoes. Both
were right. Both spoke the truth. So what
does that say of our Lord Jesus Christ? John was what he was
by the grace of the one whose shoes latch it. He was not worthy
to unloose. And Christ is all. He's all. He's king of kings and lord of
lords. In his humiliation, in his lowest
point, in his humiliation and death, God made sure it was written
over his head, this is my king. This is the king of my people.
And he was and he is. Verse 29, and all the people
that heard him and the publicans justified God. being baptized
with the baptism of John. In other words, he piped and
they danced. He mourned and they wept. Wisdom is justified of all her
children. And Christ is wisdom. And when
they heard Christ, Christ the power of God, Paul said, Christ
the wisdom of God. And when they heard him speak,
they justified wisdom. Because wisdom is justified of
all her children. Even the publicans it said. Did
you notice it points out the publicans by name? Because they
were the most despised and wretched people on the earth. Everybody
hated the publicans. Jews and Gentiles all thought
the publicans were the lowest of the low. Nobody cared anything
about them. Everybody noticed this word.
Everybody that heard Everybody all the people that
heard him Who are wisdom's children those
that hear him Blessed are your ears. He said for they hear it
is given unto you to hear to know To know the mysteries of
the kingdom faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God
And that's what they heard. They heard God himself speak
a word and they justified God. Romans 10, 17, faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God. My advice to everybody,
everywhere, concerning everything, is hear the word of God. I'm going to say it again. My
advice to everybody, everywhere, about everything, in every circumstance, hear. Well, Chris, my son is in with
the wrong crowd. He's in trouble. I'm afraid for
him. He needs some advice. Will you talk to him? He needs
to hear the gospel. He needs to hear from God. He
needs to sit down and shut up. and find out what God says. That's
what he needs. Well, Chris, our marriage just
isn't what it used to be. Pastor, we've grown apart and
it just seems like we fight all the time. Can you counsel us? You need to be faithful to the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to sit under the gospel
and hear what God says. Come to a true gospel church
and listen to every word that proceedeth from the mouth of
God. You can't live by bread alone. You can't live without
Christ. You cannot do it. You got a bad
attitude? You need to hear the gospel.
Are you selfish? Gospel. You discouraged? Gospel. You proud? Gospel. Believer,
are you sad? Gospel. One thing is needful. Christ is the one thing needful.
And the way you experience him in this world, the way you hear
from him, the way you commune with him if you know him, and
the way that you come to know him if you don't, is by the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't hear anything
else I ever say, hear that. My advice to everybody, everywhere,
in everything, You can't live without hearing
from God. You cannot do it. If you try,
what you call living is death. You can't do it. You've got to
hear what God says. Mary chose the good part, the
one thing needful. Where is she? At his feet, and
you listen to me, this is the very text, hearing his words. Anybody that gives you any other
advice, don't listen to it. Come hear the gospel. There it
is. So if you ever need advice about
anything, don't even ask me. Just remember what I said today. Listen to what God says. You
need to hear of Christ. Who He is and what He did for
sinners. That's what you need. I don't care what your problem
is. That's the answer. That's the answer. But the Pharisees,
verse 30, reject, they reject it. The counsel of God, to reject
the counsel of God is to reject life. You know why those who
know him, you know why wisdom's children are sitting at his feet
hearing his word? Because they say to whom shall
we go thou hast the words of eternal life. To reject him and
to reject his counsel is to reject life And that's natural The natural
man will do that every time the carnal man is the carnal mind
is enmity against god Romans 8 7 the carnal mind is enmity
against god for it is not subject to the law of god Neither indeed
can be that was the pharisees problem. They were not subject
to They did not submit. They did not bow to God's counsel
against themselves. And they will not, and they can't,
apart from his grace. That's why he said, you can't
come to me except my father draw you. Neither indeed can be. It's not going to happen. You
will not justify God unless and until he has mercy on you and
in free and sovereign grace breaks your stony heart. destroys your
rejecting contrary will and brings you to himself. God said, what's the counsel
of God against us? He says we're evil on the inside.
He said to the Pharisees, your problem is you keep cleaning
the outside of the cup, but on the inside is corruption and
death. Your problem is not what you
do. Your problem is what you are. Christ taught that in Matthew
15 11 and in verse 12 it says that the Pharisees were offended
by that. Still are. This text, that text, this morning you'll be offended by that unless
God has mercy on you. The Lord teaches that we cannot
change what we are. The Ethiopian, the leper, they
can't change what they are, their nature. And we can't do anything
to save ourselves. Jeremiah 13, 23, can the Ethiopian
change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may you also
do good that are accustomed to do evil. Everything you do is
going to be evil. You're going to die doing evil
and go to hell unless God changes what you are. Creates you again
in Christ Jesus. In righteousness and true holiness,
Mark 10, 25, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God. And his disciples were astonished out of measure, saying among
themselves, who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them said,
with me it's impossible. God's going to have to do it.
Everything's possible with God. The Word of God teaches that
God chose who would be saved before the foundation of the
world and predestinated them and them only to be just like
his Son. 2 Thessalonians 2.13 We are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren and beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the
truth. Romans 9.13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated. before either were born or had
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid, for he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth or of him that runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy. that is rejected out of hand
by everybody except those upon whom he chose to have mercy. Wisdom's children justifies wisdom
and nobody else. God's Word teaches, let me just
sum all of it up in one point. God's Word teaches that Christ
is all. To the saved sinner, to the sheep
of God, Christ is all. His sheep are chosen in Christ,
redeemed by Christ with his precious blood. They are quickened together
with Christ. They hear Christ's voice and
they follow Christ. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby they must be saved but the name
of Christ. They can only come to the Father
by Christ. No man cometh to the Father but
by Christ. Their wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption are all Christ. Of God are you
in Christ, and He's made unto you all those things. They're
held secure and safe in the hand of Christ. Their heaven and eternal reward
is to be with Christ. And when they go to be with Christ,
they're going to be made just like Christ. Christ is all. And all of them, every one of
them, wisdom is justified of all of her children. Every one
of them say, Amen. Amen. Christ is all. Wisdom is
justified of all of her children. Wisdom says you're a dog and
the right thing to do would be to let you starve. And wisdom's
child says truth, Lord. But in the very word of God himself,
there is a yet that is to be added to that. It's true. I am a dog and I deserve nothing
from the master yet in his own word. Now, she didn't make that
up. Listen, Matthew 15, 27, and she
said, truth Lord, if you let me go, if you, if you don't do
a thing for me, if I starved to death, If the worst thing that can happen
happens to me and you stand by and just watch it happen, that'd be right. Yet the dogs
eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table. That's one of wisdom's children
justifying wisdom. If God puts me in hell, he'd
be doing the right thing. Yet, he has mercy on dogs like
me. I'm helpless, I'm unworthy, I'm
nothing. Yet, you, Lord, there is mercy
with you. And you deliberately choose the rattiest cur dog of all the
dogs to show mercy on. And so, what are you doing here
this morning? I believe this is why I'm here,
to find out, again, if there's mercy for a dog like me. I know
he has mercy on dogs. I know there are dogs that eat
from his table, and not just crumbs. But is there mercy for me? I
wanted to hear it again this morning. And I believe I did. Thank God. Can we justify wisdom
when wisdom says that we are wretched and vile and ought to
go to hell? And can we justify wisdom by His grace believing on Him
Can I then believe this morning that in his sight I'm spotless
and pure and holy? One is just as hard to believe
as the other, isn't it? Not just hard, impossible. Except for the gift of faith,
by his grace I believe. Lord help our unbelief. Let's
pray.