Go with me, if you would, back
to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. And let's read
verses 19 through 23. That's going to be the text. And John calling unto him, two
of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that
should come, or look we for another? When the men were come unto him,
they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art
thou he that should come, or look we for another? And in that
same hour, he cured many of their infirmities and plagues and of
evil spirits. And unto many that were blind,
he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto
them, Go your way and tell John what things you have seen and
heard, how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor
the gospel is preached, and blessed is he whosoever shall not be
offended in me." Now, before we get to the heart of this message,
I want us to notice a couple of things about this account.
I'm going to give you the title so you can know where we're headed,
okay? This is where we're going. The title is a question. And
the Lord willing, in just a minute, we'll try to answer the question.
The title is, Who Did John Baptist Send? That's the title. Now, I love hearing his name
said that way. It makes him real to me. That's
his name, John Baptist. We always call him John the Baptist. The Scripture calls him John
the Baptist. But they said, John Baptist sent us. Who did John Baptist send? I'll
try to answer that in just a minute. Okay, now first I want to take
notice of John. Before we look at who he sent,
I want us to see something of John himself, something of his
own condition. And as we look at everything
in this account, I pray the Lord might make it apply to us. Personally,
spiritually, right now. Go with me if you would to Matthew's
account of this. It's Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11 verse 1 says,
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 was in prison at this moment
in time. He was put in prison for telling
the truth. That's why John was put in prison.
He declared man to be what he really was. A sinner. That was John's message. They
always say, why do you keep saying everybody's a sinner? That was
John's message. Repent, repent, repent. Wasn't
that his message? No matter what man it was, John
was no respecter of persons. Herod himself, in all of his
wicked, vile sin, wanted to take his brother's wife to himself. John said, you can't do that. That goes against God Almighty.
That's a slap in the face to God Almighty. Herod said, lock
him up. I'm going to do it anyway." So
John is in prison. But throughout John's ministry,
he told everybody, no matter who it was, the other preachers
in the town came to him, and he called them all a bunch of
vipers. He said, you're all vipers. You're
lying to people through your tongue. All a bunch of vipers. John cried, all flesh is grass. All flesh is sin. And he declared
God's holiness. He declared His justice. He said
the grass is going to get cut down. John cried, the axe is
going to be laid to the root. He told the truth. He told the
truth. And just like God said it would
be, he was not a popular preacher for telling that truth. So here
he is in prison. And it's estimated that John
was in prison for about a year. Sitting in prison for about a
year. John's ministry of preaching the gospel, his ministry of preparing
the way of the Lord, I've heard different estimations on it,
but some say it was as little as six months long. He burned
the candle at both ends for six months. So what that means is he's now
been sitting in prison for twice as long as his whole ministry
was. He preached God in his sovereignty. He preached God manifest in the
flesh. In the beginning was the word.
The word was made flesh. The King is here. We read of
everything John cried to the people. The Deliverer is here. He's here. Now, here he sits
in prison, day after day, week after week, month after month,
waiting, sitting and waiting. Multitudes of people came out
to hear John. Multitudes of people. They came
to be baptized of John. And now here he sits. Here he
sits. His ministry was just on fire. The fire of the Holy Ghost. And
now here he sits. In prison. Waiting. When a trial
comes. Here's the first thing I want
us to notice about this. When a trial comes. Now we're
talking about John the Baptist. When a trial first begins, we're strong as we can be. The
Lord will take care of it. The Lord will handle it. The
Lord will provide. As that trial continues, the
faith that we think we have starts to really become dried. You know,
I'm sure John did not want to sit in prison for a year. And
I'm sure John wasn't planning on sitting in prison for a year.
But that's where God put the one who was to prepare the way
of the Lord. Put him in prison. Called him,
gave the message to him, and it was God's purpose to put him
in prison. John, now in his weakness, sends two of his disciples, and
he told them, I want you to go ask the Lord Jesus. Are you the one? Are you the Christ? Jesus of Nazareth, here he says,
Jesus of Nazareth. All of our hope is in a man named
Jesus of Nazareth. John said, I want you to go ask
him. Are you God manifest in the flesh? Are you the only hope of glory? Are you the Lamb? John sat there
and thought. I pointed at him and cried, Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Ask
him, Are you the Lamb slain? Are you? Now, do you ever ask yourself,
Is all of this real? Have you ever asked yourself
that? Is He really going to restore
us? Is He really going to gather
us to Himself? Is He really going to do that? Are my sins really forgiven in
His blood? Here we go. We're going on this. We believe this. We've cried
this. And now here we sit, and we sit,
and we sit. Did the Lord pay it all? Did
he pay it all? John needed to know this. The
Lord said of every man that has ever been born of a woman, There
has never been a greater than John the Baptist. He said it
in verse 11 of this chapter. Never been a greater than John
the Baptist. The Lord also said, through David, man at his best
state is altogether vanity. I mean the best man that's ever
walked this earth. is altogether vanity. You cannot put any confidence
in the flesh. No flesh. None. The Lord said David was a man
after his own heart. But the Psalms are full of David's
own personal weaknesses and doubts and fears. We read about them
in almost all the Psalms. The Lord said to Peter, your
name means a rock. It means a stone. On the message
that I'm going to give to you, I will build my church. He also said, Peter, before the
cock crows, you're going to deny me three times. We all have moments of doubt. We all have moments of fear in
spite of the Word of Proof that God has given to us. This Word
of Proof. Just like the Lord told those
two messengers though, go show John again. He sent them back.
He said, you go tell John again. In that same way, every single
one of God's children in His goodness. Every time that doubt
comes, every time that fear comes, God will to every single one
of His children constantly remind them, through His Word, go show
them again. Go tell them again. You go tell
them who I am and what I have done. And every single time,
God's child will cry. He's the One. He's the One. I'm here to tell you, He's the
One. He's the One. Jesus of Nazareth. He's the One. That man, Jesus
of Nazareth, is seated on the throne. That's who we're going
to meet. Jesus of Nazareth. He's the One. Tell Him again. No matter how
weak of a believer we are, If we belong to our God, He will
never stop telling us again. Never. Never. He'll never stop
proving it through the Word. Never. Everything that the Old Testament
prophesied about Him came to pass. Everything. Therefore, everything that the
New Testament scripture prophesies about Him will come to pass.
In Genesis 3, that's whenever man fell in the garden. God said
to the serpent that the woman's seed was going to bruise his
head. The woman's seed. The seed of
woman. He said a man is going to be
born by a woman who has never known a man. It came to pass. That's exactly what happened.
In Genesis 49, it says, and I'm paraphrasing this, but it says
that the law and the ceremonies and the types and the pictures
and the sacrifices and the Passover's and the priests, it will all
continue until Shiloh comes. Shiloh means peace. It goes on to say, and unto him,
peace is a man, peace is a person, unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. And that's what happened. It
all ceased when Jesus of Nazareth came. Is he the one that should
come or do we look for another? It all ceased when Jesus of Nazareth
came. When our Lord was born into this
world, the host of heaven appeared, crying, Glory to God in the highest. Peace has now come to earth. It all came to pass. Look with
me very quickly at Isaiah 35. I want you to read this one with
me. Isaiah 35 verse 3 says, Strengthen
ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them
that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not, behold your
God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense. He
will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame man leap as an heart, and the tongue of the
dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters
break out, and streams in the desert." That is exactly what
our Lord told those two messengers to go back and tell John. It's
here. It's here. The prophecy has come
to pass. It's here. Zechariah 9 said,
your king, this is how you'll know your king, he's going to
ride into Jerusalem triumphantly on the colt of an ass. And that's
exactly what he did. He's here. He's here. John knew
all of this. During his ministry, they asked
him, are you that prophet that Deuteronomy 18 spoke of? The
prophet that will come? John said, no I'm not, but He's
here. I'm not Him, but He is here. He's on this earth. The bridegroom
is here. The Lamb of God is here. I can't imagine being able to
cry that one day. There he is, here he is, behold
the Lamb. John said, I saw the Spirit of
God descend on him like a dove. John knew who he was, so do we.
How many times though have we cried, oh the Lord will provide,
and then just give us a few days, and we're going, is the Lord
going to provide? Show them again. Tell them again. Prove it from the Word. Prove
it. My people are in my hands. From this point, even forevermore. My people. Alright, now here's
the next thing I want us to take notice of. Who His people are. Who He came to do all of this
for. Look at Matthew 11 again. Verse 4, Jesus answered and said
unto them, Go and show John again those things which you do hear
and see. The blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the
poor have the gospel preached to them. All of those physical
ailments represent a spiritual reality. All of them. We're talking about spiritual
things. It's so wonderful when a blind
man can all of a sudden see. That's wonderful. But we're talking
about spiritual problems, spiritual issues. Every person that Christ
came for is spiritually blind to who and what he or she is. That is a factual statement.
Every person that he came for is so blind to his or her own
sin. So blind. They cannot see it. They cannot see it. They are
blind to who God is. They're blind to this Almighty. Blind to what salvation truly
is. Blind to the only one who can
accomplish it. Well, now, salvation, yes, it
is by Jesus Christ, but I have to then... Blind to the only
one who can accomplish it. Blind to the only way it can
be accomplished. In the blood of the Lamb slain. In Jesus of Nazareth. That's the only way. The perfect,
spotless, Lord of glory. That God, man. Verse 5 says,
He came for the spiritually lame. Cannot come. Won't you come to Christ? Come
to Christ. Come to Christ. We got a little
newborn baby down in the nursery right now. Put the baby in the
middle of the floor, sit in a chair and say, come on. Come on. Come to me. Cannot come. Cannot come. Will not come. Will not come without being drawn.
Come here. Will not. Cannot. It's because
verse 5 says, we're all spiritual lepers. The sin. Leprosy represents sin. That
sin keeps us from coming. He came for those who are deaf
to the voice of God. Because they're dead to the voice
of God. Dead to the life of God. But
that's who He came for. That's who He came for. Those
who spiritually have nothing. Those who spiritually are nothing. No worth. No value. Completely poor. Worthless. Just worthless. Alright, now
this leads us to our question. Who did John Baptist send? Whether John realized it or not.
He was still preaching even from the prison. I don't think he
realized it at that moment in time. But he was preaching from
the prison. He was crying the same thing
from the heart of that prison cell that he'd been crying since
day one. The calling and the ministry
and the message of a true preacher is this. I can't do anything
for you. Do you see me in this prison
cell? Do you see me in this prison cell? I cannot do anything for
you. Don't come to me. Go to Him. And you ask Him personally. And this is what I want to say
from the prison cell this morning. Go to Him. And personally, ask
Him directly from your heart. I mean everybody. Ask Him directly
from your heart. Art thou He that should come? Lord, can we look to You? Can I put my trust in You? Lord, will You have me? Ask Him
that. I mean it. Kids, ask Him that.
Lord, will You have me? I'm not deciding to accept you.
Will you have me? Will you accept me? Lord, have
you taken me to yourself? Are you my Redeemer? Not just
the Redeemer. Lord, are you my Redeemer? Ask
Him. Go to Him. And ask Him, are you my Redeemer? John said, I want you to go ask
Him that. Go back with me to our text, and I believe we'll
see the glory of the Gospel. Luke 7, verse 19, And John calling unto him two
of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that
should come, or look we for another? When the men were come unto the
Lord, They said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee. These were John's disciples.
What that means is they were members of his congregation.
And oh, I pray that that's what is said from this congregation.
Gabe Stoniker hath sent us to you. He pointed us to you. John
Baptist pointed us to you. Your messenger said, go to him
and from the depths of your soul, you ask him. Are thou he that
should come? Or look we for another? And verse
21 says, well verse 20, the men were coming to him, they said,
John Baptist hath sent us unto thee saying, art thou he that
should come or look we for another? And in that same hour, that means
at that very moment, he cured many of their infirmities. and plagues, and of evil spirits,
and unto many that were blind he gave sight." Who did John
Baptist send? Apparently it was a poor blind
man and a lame leper. Or maybe it was a poor deaf man
and a blind leper. But whoever it was, they had
infirmities. John knew they had infirmities. They knew they had infirmities.
From the prison cell, the song of triumph rang. John Baptist
was true to his calling. He said, I can't do anything
for you. Do you see your condition? Yes,
I see it. Go to Him. Go to Him right now. You go to Him. No man can do
anything for you but Him. You run to Him and you cry out
to Him for help right now. I mean right now. As soon as
the Word of Truth, the Gospel of their salvation, as soon as
it brought them to the feet of Christ, immediately they were
healed. Immediately. I think about that
wonderful story, Pilgrim's Progress. Christian had that burden on
his back, and Evangelist said, you go down that straight and
narrow way, and don't you stop until you get to the cross. And
as soon as he got to the foot of the cross, he looked up, oh,
are you my redeemer? And that burden fell off his
back. Immediately. I'm telling you, if you will
run, I hope at some point before God takes me from this earth,
I meet a sinner. That's my whole goal in this
life. I can't wait to meet a sinner. And if I ever meet one, I'm going
to say, you run to the cross. And from the depths of your soul,
you ask him, are you my redeemer? If you do, immediately. I mean,
your infirmities will be over. Can you see these men asking
him in all their pitifulness? These men had infirmities. All
their weakness, all their frailties. Oh, they said, are you our helper? Are you our redeemer and our
friend? At that very moment, as soon
as the heart of faith cried that, the faith that God gives to his
people, as soon as it cried that, the blind man's eyes were open.
And there's Messiah. As soon as he cried that, the
deaf man's ears were opened. And he heard the voice of the
Redeemer. That awful stench from their rottenness was gone. Everything was restored brand
new. Everything. Now what do you think
those men did in that moment? What would you have done? I believe I know what I would
have done. I am a hugger. I like to hug people. Can't you
see them falling on him? Crying on him? Can't you see
them? As soon as they looked at themselves and saw, oh, I
can see, I can hear. Can't you see him just falling
at his feet, crying, Thou art the Christ. They came crying,
Are you here? Do we looking for another? You're the Christ. That's what
will happen to every spiritually blind and deaf and lame and poor
and dead sinner who goes to him. And I mean, I mean, not with
lip service, not in the mind. I mean, from the depths of his
soul. Christ, help me. Are you my redeemer? Every sinner who goes for mercy
is going to find it. Every sinner. Both of these men
came to the source of the gospel. They came to the object of the
gospel, Christ Himself. And in Him, both of these men
received the glory of the gospel. They received redemption. They
received restoration in Christ. And they both now had good news
to tell. Both of them. Our Lord said,
you go back and tell John, I want you now, John preached to you
for all those years, it's time for you to preach to John. And
I need you to do the same thing for me. Next time I'm in John's
case, I need you to preach to me. You go back now and you tell
John the good news. Only those who have experienced
the good news can declare You can't declare what you've never
experienced. So he said, you go and tell how
great things the Lord has done for you. And that's what they
did. They ran back. I can envision
that scene too. They ran back to John. John watched
them go away blind. They were running back seeing.
They went out lame. Somebody carried one of them
out. He was running back, leaping as a heart. He said, I hear every
word now. I couldn't hear a word of it
before. I hear every single word. Every word. It's true, John.
John, it's true. It's true. Look at us. We were dead, and now we're alive
forevermore. I was blind, now I see. We went
out poor, now we've had the gospel preached to us. We were told about Christ by
you, John. We were pointed to Christ, and
we were brought to Christ. We came to Christ. through the
message, through faith in the message. And now we've seen Christ. And now we've heard Christ. And
now we've fallen on Christ for mercy. And we've received it. We've received it. It's all from
Him, through Him, to Him. And you know what, John? We love
it that way. We love it that way. All of God's spiritual blessings
can only be found in Christ. He gets all the glory for all
of it because He did it all. All of it. We get no part. We
take none of the glory. All of it goes to Him. And you
know what, John? That doesn't offend us at all. Verse 23 says, Blessed is he
whosoever shall not be offended in me. Here's the message. Sinners, the Lord Jesus will
receive. Sound this word of grace to all
who the heavenly pathway leave, all who linger, all who fall. Sing it over. Tell it again.
And sing it over again. You go show John again. Christ
receiveth sinful men. You make that message clear and
plain. Christ receiveth sinful men. Let's sing that. Stand with me.