Matthew chapter 11, we want to
look at this together, reading again from verse 1. And it came
to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve
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 and said to them, Art thou he
that should come, or do we look for another? Jesus answered and
said to 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. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me."
Now those were basically the verses that we tried to cover
last week. And then there's a transition
here. He says, and as they departed, Jesus is going out now to go
to these cities that he had sent his disciples to, and there's
multitudes around him. It says, as they departed, Jesus
began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went you
out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind,
But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing
are in kings' houses. But what went ye out for 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 thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee. Now, the one sending is the Lord. The one sent is John the Baptist.
The one before whose face he was sent is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the way he would prepare is Christ's way because he would
come to his people preaching and doing miracles and ultimately
giving his life for his people. Verse 11. Verily I say unto you,
among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater
than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the
Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets in the law
prophesied until John. And if you will receive it, this
is Elijah, which was for to come. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. For whereunto shall I liken this
generation? It is like unto children sitting
in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, saying, We have
piped unto you, and you have not danced, and we have mourned
unto you, and you have not lamented. For John came neither eating
nor drinking, and they say he hath a devil. The Son of Man
came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous
and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom
is justified of her children. Then began He to upbraid the
cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented a long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of
judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell. For if
the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in
Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. But I say unto
you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for thee. At that time Jesus answered and
said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my father. And no man knoweth the son, but
the father. Neither knoweth any man the father,
save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. Now, I want to, before we get
into the message, I want to ask the Lord to be with us, but we
will do that shortly. But before we get into this message,
I want to, I mean, before we get into the meat of the message,
I want to give you an overview of this chapter that helps you,
I think, see how it flows together. And then maybe we'll be able
to get in some of the details, but before we do that, let's
ask the Lord to be with us. Father, we pray that you would
open your word to us, open our hearts to hear you, help us to
see ourselves being preached to here from your word and receive
your word with gladness of heart looking to the Lord Jesus for
everything and finding our greatest joy and delight in finding him
and being found in him we pray lord that you would you would
be so kind and gracious and merciful to us who are nothing and so
small not only in numbers but in our importance and insignificant,
that you would teach us from your Word and glorify yourself
and your Son by saving us. For your great name's sake we
pray, amen. Now, in the first few verses
here, we see that the Lord Jesus comforts John in prison, and
in doing so, he tells John and his disciples about himself. If you see that, you'll see the
first six verses. John is in prison. He's going
to die. He's not going to come out. He's
going to stay there until Herod kills him. And he sends his disciples
to the Lord Jesus and our Savior sends back to him a message through
the disciples he sent. And the message that he sends
him is he tells John that he is the one that John seeks. And
he does so in three ways. First, he does works that only
Christ would do. Second, he fulfills the scripture
which only Christ could fulfill. And third, he comforts John by
saying in verse 6, Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended
in me, showing the work of God's grace in those who believe, who
have been given grace, and he holds them to the end. They don't
let go of Christ. They don't. ultimately forsake
Him and apostatize, deny Him, and leave Him as some do. Not
those saved by grace, because they can't go anywhere else.
Sinners saved by grace have nowhere else to go. They can't save themselves. They know it, and they know that
Christ only is their Savior and the Lord of glory. And so they
come to Him and seek salvation from Him, just like John did.
When he was in prison, he sent to Christ. And so that's the
first thing you see here, is that Christ proclaims Himself
to John for His comfort. That He is the Christ, that He
fulfills Scripture, and that John, in seeing this, had actually
accomplished the work that God had given him to do, because
now Christ's people were coming to Him. And this is signified
by verse five, the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed,
deaf hear, dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached
to them. This was the purpose of John's coming, that these
people, poor, ruined sinners, would be brought to Christ. And
that's exactly what was happening. And so all of this serves to
comfort John, but it also serves another purpose, which is started
in the next verse, verse seven, and goes on through verse twelve,
which shows the importance of the time when these people now
lived. and the message that they were
hearing, and the messengers who had come to them." John is the
one that Jesus lifts up here in commendation. The Lord Jesus
Christ, look at verse 7 through 15. This is the part I want you
to think about next. In this chapter, what this is
doing is, first, the Lord Jesus is publicly commending John and
validating his ministry to the people. Now, why is that important? Well, first of all, it shows
that those who honor God, God honors. That's from 1 Samuel
2.30. And those who don't honor Him
are lightly esteemed. This is a fundamental principle
in Scripture. John honored Christ. How? He preached Christ. He told the
people God had sent him to about the coming Messiah. That he was
actually here. Who he was. The Son of God. The
Lamb of God. What he would do. He would take
away the sins of the world. And then he was interested in
himself being less and less and Christ becoming more and more.
He wanted to decrease And so that God's people would be joined
to Christ and He would increase in their eyes. And so that was
John's ministry. And Jesus, by commending John
for this and validating it, shows that John actually did what the
Lord had sent him to do. But in doing that, not only does
he commend John, which was, now Jesus promises, He says, "...those
who confess Me before men, I will confess before My Father, and
before the angels in heaven." What greater honor would that
be than to have the king stand up and confess your name? Here,
that's what Christ is doing. He's speaking to a multitude. A multitude who followed Him.
And He speaks to them concerning John. And in so doing, He honors
John who honored Him. Of course, John's ability to
give honor to Christ came by grace. Of course, we know that. But nevertheless, John laid down
his life and spent his life in the ministry God had given him.
And in so doing, Christ was honoring him for that. But, that's not
the main purpose in what the Lord is doing here. And if you
see that, then you see how it connects to the rest of the chapter.
In the first part of the chapter, Christ comforts John. And he
teaches him, and his disciples, and us, why it was comforting
to him. The comfort he gave him. Because
he was the Christ. He was the One who was coming.
And the things that we mentioned previously, how he fulfilled
the scripture, and gave sight to the blind, and all these things
that depict our spiritual condition and what he did for us, and why
he came. But now, in emphasizing John's
ministry, what is he doing? He's underlining, he's highlighting
the fact that there was a significance at this time in history a significance
in John and a significance in his message that was unparalleled
up to this point in all of the world and this is amazing because
these people lived at a time and heard a man and heard a message
that had been reserved by God from the foundation of the world
until this time and it was so significant That the Lord Jesus
brings John, God brings John into the world to lead before
Him, to teach His people, to go before Him, to proclaim Him,
and to prepare the way before Him. Because that this time,
this time has come, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Heaven's
King is at hand. The Gospel of that Kingdom is
being preached. The Good News of what Christ
would do as the King. how he would conquer his enemies
and his people's enemies, how he would take the throne of heaven,
and how he would reign over his enemies, over his people, and
subdue their enemies on their behalf in putting away their
sins. This is the message of the kingdom of heaven. It's the
gospel. The gospel preached is the message of the kingdom of
heaven. And now this was coming at a time in history when it
had never been preached. Now the prophets and the law
and the prophets had been up to this time. Moses has spoken
of Christ. All the prophets have spoken
of Christ. Remember what it says in Luke 24? Jesus opened to the
two on the road to Emmaus. He opened the scriptures to them
in verse 24 through 27. And he told them, he taught them
out of all the law and the prophets the things concerning himself.
Everything that was written before was written about Christ. And
the prophets who spoke told about Him coming. But now that He's
come, John is announcing, He's here. He that cometh after me
is preferred before me, for He was before me. He is among you,
and you don't know Him. He said, He's here, the Son of
God, the Lamb of God. This is the One who's come. So
John's ministry was unique in that He's more than a prophet,
because he's not just saying who would come, he's saying he's
now here. And if we understand that, if
we understand John's ministry as the capstone on the whole
Old Testament law and prophets, the fulfillment of it is what
he announced. It was at this time in history,
so significant was this, that it could be unparalleled in all
of the Bible. up to this point in time, at
least. And so you see that Jesus is pointing this out so that
the people will understand this, what this man preached, is very,
very important and serious. It's not something to take lightly.
And he's really speaking about the message John had, which was
about himself and about his kingdom. And so he's drawing their attention
to what did John say? What was his ministry? Why did
he come? in all that he says about John.
He's underscoring this as he never did for anyone else in
Scripture to bring commendation and validation to his ministry
in order to do this. So we see here that Christ is
highlighting and commending John's ministry, validating what he
said, validating what he did, and so underscoring the importance,
the incomparable significance of this ministry to the people
at this time. They were so privileged to hear
John the Baptist. He was a powerful preacher, unlike
any who had come before. And if you've heard someone who's
able to preach the gospel and you've been moved by it, that's
a gift from God. But here's a man who had the
Spirit of God from his mother's womb. And when he preached, people
trembled. They trembled. And they flocked
to John. Because his message was not a
message. He wasn't someone who was...
He didn't play games. He got right to the point. He
spoke right to the heart. And he spoke about eternal matters.
And he didn't pull any punches. He was unmoved by man's intimidating
looks and threats. And he was unmoved by man's praise.
He was a man who was fixed. He had his eyes fixed on his
mission. And he fulfilled that mission
faithfully. So this is what John the Baptist
did. And Christ makes a point of this because it's so significant. The next part of this is in verses
16 through 19. And here, we see a contrast. We hear the commendation the
Lord gives to John in these verses, up to verse 15. And then we see
the Lord turning to condemn those who heard John, and were now
hearing Him, and yet rejected both John and Jesus and their
message. And this is what he says in the
next few verses here. He gives this analogy. He says,
What will I compare this generation to? It's like children in the
marketplace calling to one another. And then he gives that parable
and explains it. This is showing the hardness and the inflexible impenitence
of these people who heard John and Christ. And so it's a great
warning. And then in the next few verses,
in verse 20 through 24, he uses these two places, Chorazin and
Bethsaida. Because the Lord Jesus performed
mighty works in them, and his works were consistent with what
John preached, what he had been preaching, and yet they saw these
things and they wouldn't turn. they wouldn't turn. And so He condemns them, and He actually
tells them that they're going to receive worse judgment than
Sodom and Gomorrah. And then in verse 25, You would think, in verse 26,
you would think that out of this context, with all these people
having heard John was sent, now Jesus was coming, now all these
people having heard and rejected the message, you would think
that there would be a reason, a just cause for Jesus to be
discouraged. that he would be discouraged
by what had happened here. These people weren't listening.
What's wrong with them? Is there something wrong with the message?
Is there something wrong with the messenger? Is there something
impotent with God's power to save them? What's wrong? That
wasn't his response at all. In fact, he didn't respond that
way. He thanked God for it. He says, So that's the next thing
we see in this chapter. Out of all this this issue with John going into
prison, and the people thronging Jesus, and some people pressing
into the kingdom, but most of them rejecting Him in arrogance
and stubborn unbelief. And yet, Jesus thanks His Father.
This is exactly what the gospel does. And then he gives a call
to all who are weary, heavy laden, and laboring under the guilt
of sin. And he says, find rest in me. And so that's what the
chapter is in a summary. And I've entitled this message,
The Inevitable Effects of Preaching the Gospel. Because in this chapter,
we see two preachers, John and Jesus. And we see their message,
it's consistent. But we see their manners are
different. John comes. He's separated. He's in the wilderness.
He's eating locusts. He's wearing camel's hair and
leather about his loins. And his preaching is austere. He's pronouncing doom and wrath
upon those who don't repent and turn. He's pointing them to Christ. And then the Lord Jesus comes,
and He preaches. And His message is the same,
but His manner of preaching is different. because he preaches
a message of grace and of mercy for sinners. And in all this
you see the significance of the time. And you see the response
of the sinners, and you see the response of those who rejected
Christ, and you stand in awe in both cases. On the one hand,
that these sinners would hear, after so many centuries, the
Word of God, and flock to the Kingdom of God. And on the other
hand, those who heard it and had these privileges, and yet
rejected the message, and were condemned by both John and Jesus
and their message here. And that's what we see in these
verses. The inevitable effects of the
gospel being preached on the hearts of those who hear it.
Look at 2 Corinthians with me. There's a couple of verses to
look at here. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. This
is always what happens. Not only in John's day and Jesus'
day, but in this day. The gospel is preached and it
has an effect. In 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14,
it says... I'm sorry, I was... Yeah, here
it is. Now thanks be unto God. 2 Corinthians
2, verse 14. Now thanks be unto God, which
always causes us to triumph in Christ. Notice that word, always.
There's never a time when Jesus, in His ministry, didn't triumph. everything God wanted to happen
was accomplished. He says, So now thanks be unto
God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes
manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place. The savor
is the smell, and he's comparing the The sense, the response,
it's like when you hear words, Job said, with your ears, it's
like you're tasting it. You're tasting the words. In
fact, Denise and I read a book a while back about some missionaries
in Papua New Guinea. And they would translate the
scriptures into their language and teach them the gospel. And
when they did that, the people in Papua New Guinea who had never
heard these words, they said, that tastes so good, you know,
because when they heard it, it was like, for them, savory food. And so He says here, He makes
known the savor of His knowledge in every place, for we are unto
God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved. In other
words, when a person is being saved, the preacher comes to
them, and that person hearing it is like, Man, that was good! You know, have you ever felt
that? And in them that perish, we're a saver. To the one, we
are the saver of death to death, and to the other, the saver of
life to life. It smells so good, it's like
a fresh morning rain, and the sun's out, and it's just like
the world is alive. So it's like life to life. But
who is sufficient for these things, Paul said. For we are not as
many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, as
of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ." That's our
ministry. And so look at Acts, the end
of the book of Acts, in chapter 28, same thing. It says, And verse 23 of Acts 28, And
when they had appointed Paul a day, there came many to him,
to his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of
Moses and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. Now
that's a long sermon, isn't it? And some believed the things
which were spoken, and some believed not." There's the effects of
the gospel. It's inevitable. When John came,
when Jesus came, some believed and some believed not. To the
one they were a saver of life to life, to the other a saver
of death to death. Excuse me. So, take note of this. Now, in verse... I want to focus
today on these verses here. It says, In verse 11, notice
this, Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women,
this is in Matthew 11, verse 11, among them that are born
of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.
Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he." What does it mean here that John was greater? He says,
"...among them that are born of women there hath not risen
a greater than John the Baptist." He's doing two things here. He's
comparing John to those who came before him. There has not arisen
a greater. Up until the time of John, there
was none greater than he. Even Moses, you would think,
who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. Jesus says,
no, John is greater than him. But then, as I said, he divides
time around John and he looks back and he says, there has not
arisen one greater than John the Baptist. He doesn't speak
about the future, but we also have to ask the question, what
made John greater? Was it something that he had
talents? Maybe he could speak more loudly
than others? Maybe he could speak more persuasively
than others? Or maybe he was such a holy man,
obviously he lived apart. Was it something because of what
he was in himself? No. It wasn't even the work that
God did in him that made him great, but it was what God did,
what God gave him to do. John's greatness was greatness
that was bestowed upon him and that greatness was the message
he was given and the one about whom he was speaking. Now why
is John so much greater then? Well because all the law and
the prophets came up until that time speaking about the one who
would come. But when John speaks it's as
if this is it! Everything we've been talking
about for the last umpteen thousand years has now happened! I don't
know how long it had been. 4, 6, 10,000 years? Whatever that time is,
that's how long the message. Ever since God spoke to Adam
and Eve in the garden, He told them how the woman's seed would
bruise the head of the serpent. And now John comes and says,
He's here! He's here! So his message was greater because
of who he spoke about and the message that he explained. Now,
he also says here, but he that is least in the kingdom of heaven
is greater than he. What does this mean? Who is this
one who is least in the kingdom of heaven and how can he be greater
than John? Well, if you understand the disciples who followed Jesus,
they were considered pretty small in the eyes of the Pharisees
and scribes. In fact, one apostle was the
least of all. Look at 1 Corinthians 15. One apostle was specifically
noted in scripture in a number of ways as being the least. And
I want you to see this in 1 Corinthians 15 verse 9. Paul, the apostle,
who remember his ministry was to the Gentiles. His ministry,
he came, he was chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ after Judas
had betrayed him and had hanged himself. And after the other
apostles had chosen another one, the Lord Jesus chose Paul as
his apostle, his 12th apostle. And so it says in verse 9, "...for
I am the least of the apostles." Why? Because, he says, I persecuted
the Church of God. I'm not even fit to be called
an apostle. Why? Because I persecuted the
Church of God. Verse 10, But by the grace of
God I am what I am. And His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
You see that? Paul says, I'm the least of the
apostles. Alright, so that already identifies
him. He didn't say that in some kind of an arrogant way. He said
it in a self-effacing way. He said it in an honest way.
Look, I persecuted the church of Christ. I'm not even fit to
be called an apostle. I'm the least, and yet. By the
grace of God, He's given me this ministry. And look at what He's
done through the preaching of His gospel. All these Gentiles
are hearing about Christ. They're coming to Him and flocking
to Him. That is greatness. The message
He spoke, the one about whom He spoke, and the effects that
God accomplished through His message. And now look at Ephesians
chapter 3 to underscore this also here. Ephesians chapter
3 says, In verse 4, he says, when you
read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which
in other ages was not made known to the sons of men. That's a
phenomenal statement. He's saying, this was just not
made known before this time to the sons of men, as it is now
revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. In
other words, the revelation that God gave makes that time and
that message and that greatness significant. What is that? This is the purpose of that. That the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs Not only the purpose, but the message itself, that the
Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers
of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a
minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto
me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, Paul says. It's like he's standing outside
of his body. Me? who am less than the least
of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." That's the
riches, that's the greatness of the message. And Paul says,
What God's purpose was in saving His people through the Lord Jesus
Christ had never been known before. And now it's revealed to His
apostles and to you now, through us, that the Gentiles would be
fellow heirs through the Gospel. That Christ would save not just
the Jews, but the world. out of every nation, tongue,
tribe. Not every individual, but every kind of people. Out
of all these different places and nations and families of the
earth, God would save them. And Paul says, I'm the least
of the apostles, I'm the least of the saints, and you know what
it says in 1 Timothy 1.15, and I'm the chief of sinners. So
I think that when the Lord speaks about He that is least in the
kingdom of heaven, of the apostles and all the other people in the
world, Paul himself fit that description. Don't you? He's
the least. He says, I'm the least. And he
knew it too. He didn't do it in order to try
to exalt himself to some kind of false position, the Lord Jesus
bestowed that honor on him to be able to preach the gospel.
Think of what Paul accomplished through the grace of God. This
man who was taken, he was small in stature, taken as an enemy
of the gospel, a persecutor of Christ's people and Christ himself,
a hater of Christ. And God turned him around, converted
him, and made him the greatest preacher this world has ever
known. The Apostle Paul, he wrote more of the New Testament than
any other man. And it's so clear, the Gospel that he preaches.
It's just amazing. We should be, we should understand
the importance and the significance and the seriousness of the blessing
that we have through the Apostle Paul, just as these people did
through John and through Jesus in their day. So that's the first
thing. Back to Matthew chapter 11. I
want you to see this. Now verse 12 of Matthew 11, he
says this, For from the days of John the Baptist until now,
the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take
it by force." Now, understand the context of this verse. What's
happening here? John is out in the wilderness
preaching. He's preaching the baptism of
repentance. That you need to repent, and
if you repent then you can be baptized. And in being baptized,
understand you need to believe on Christ. That was what his
baptism was about. He's preaching this, and He's
speaking. In fact, look at Matthew chapter 3. Giving you the background
here again. John the Baptist. You've got
to understand this guy. He was not someone who you went
out and sat down on the couch to listen to. When you listened
to John, you trembled, because you knew you were hearing from
God. He says this in verse 7 of Matthew 3. And in fact, look at verse five,
then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region
round about Jordan. That's a large number of people.
All these people came out to hear John. And they were baptized
of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But, when John saw
many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, what did
he say to them? Oh, generation of vipers, you
poisonous snakes, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to
come? You see what John's message was?
Listen. Who has warned you guys? You can see these people coming
in to his audience. All the people are listening
to him. And then there's these people in these robes and these clean
looking people. Moral, upstanding men. Rulers
in the temple. The men who held the publicans
and the harlots and the sinners and the everyday folks in fear
and intimidation day by day because they were better than them and
they told them this is what you need to do in order to be favorable
with God. And John sees these men coming,
these preachers and teachers of Moses and he says, you generation
of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Now that takes a man who is sent from God to do that, to stand
up against the then traditional religion of his day, and to tell
them, you are lost and under the wrath of God, and who has
warned you to come out here and flee from that wrath? And so
he tells them, bring forth therefore fruits, meat, fitting for repentance. And don't think to say within
yourselves, we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you
that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
And listen to the way John says it. Now also the axe is laid
to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
Now that's a message, isn't it? That is a message of judgment
and doom to come to all those who, in pretense and hypocrisy,
hold to their own righteousness and trust in their birth privileges,
thinking that who they were born to and what they could do would
make them suitable and acceptable to God and pleasing in His eyes
and better than others. And he just takes the acts of
the message that God had given him, and he chops them down right
at the roots. They're ready to be cast into
the fire. Note, note, at this time in history, all of the past
of the nation of Israel is piled up and represented by these men. So that when John speaks, he's
wrapping up all of the revolt and rebellion of this nation
to whom God had sent prophets and given his law and done miracles
and saved from their temporal enemies, their earthly enemies. All these things had come to
these people over the centuries and now Jesus has come and John
is preaching and he's saying You, generation of vipers, you
pretend. You make religion a matter of
traditional things, like the kind of clothes you wear, or
how you walk, or the way you look, or the things you do with
mint and these spices, and all these trivial, insignificant
things. You're playing and pretending.
And you don't accept the word of God against you. And so what
do you do? You discredit the messenger.
So that you can discredit his message. What did these men do?
They said he has a devil. Look it, he's a madman. He's
out there in the wilderness speaking these nonsense things. We don't
have to listen to him. They took away the sting of the
message in their conscience. By trying to make John look like
he had a devil. And so, you see the significance
of this? What these men were doing? John
is warning them. Your nation is about to be destroyed. And you yourselves face eternal
judgment. If you don't hear the message
that he's bringing here. And what did these men do? They
found a way to just shield their conscience from the arrows of
God's word and their conscience from John. And they wouldn't
hear it. They wouldn't hear it. And so,
back in Matthew chapter 11, "...from the days of John the Baptist
until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent
take it by force." In light of the rejection of John and Jesus
by these rulers, and the Pharisees, and the scribes, and all these
important men, in light of that, what was happening? Well, there
was this huge swell of people. You could see them, like, carrying
their, you know, over their shoulder and their ragtag clothes, carrying
their hoe and their shovel, farmers and publicans and harlots, these
nobodies and these filthy fishermen and these people that no one
really wanted to hang around with, except other sinners. And
these people are coming to hear Christ in droves. They're coming
to Him in multitudes. Not just coming to hear Him,
but pressing to get to touch Him. Oh, that I might just touch
the hem of His garment. They want to get to Jesus. They
want to hear Him. They want to see Him. They want
to touch Him. They want to receive the salvation
that He's preaching. They want to know Him. They want
to hear from God through him. These people are pressing. Look
at Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16, verse 16 is
where we're going. Luke 16, 16. It's the same kind
of words here, he says in Luke 16, 16. The same situation recorded
by Luke. He says, "...the Law and the
Prophets were until John." Same verse, "...since that time the
kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it."
You see that? This is what is depicted here
in the language in Matthew 11-12, when he says, "...the kingdom
of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."
He's saying in Luke 16-16, it's that every man presses into the
kingdom. And every man, who are these
every men? Every kind of man. Every one that you would look
at on the outside and say, that person God does not approve of. That person we don't need in
our group. And those are the very ones who
are entering the kingdom of heaven. Those are the very ones that
were pressing into it. And that's why it says, "...the
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."
Because the most unlikely and improbable people were coming
to the gate of the kingdom of heaven, to Christ himself, who
is the door. "...if any man enters by me,
he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."
He's the one they were coming to. And they were looking for
salvation through Him alone. And they came to Him with all
their sin and they cried out, like Bartimaeus, son of David,
have mercy on me. And they cried out like the woman
who had a daughter vexed with the devil and said, Lord, have
mercy on me." And she came and she kept coming and kept coming
and finally she said, Lord I'm a dog but just let me have some
crumbs. She was pressing, anxious, striving,
trying to get the blessing, the spiritual blessings of God through
Christ alone. That's what it means here. The
kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent, the desperate,
the unlikely, Those who can't take no for an answer are trying
to take that kingdom by force because they want in. Many departed
from Christ and he turns to his disciples and says, will you
also leave? Lord, where else would we go? They're clinging
to him like Jacob, clinging to the wrestling with the angel.
I will not let you go until you bless me. That's taking it by
force. Because the message of the Gospel,
when it's heard by sinners, it stirs up in them by the Spirit
of God a urgency and an earnestness in order to have Christ and to
get to Christ and to have His salvation. Don't you find that
in your day-to-day? Don't you find that over the
course of your life, since you first heard the Gospel, don't
you find it to be the case that everything written in the Bible,
you still want to know, how is it that I'm saved? How can I
find eternal life? How can I truly know, me as a
sinner, know that my sin is forgiven? When I see my life and I see
what I am, how can I know that I also can enter this kingdom
and know the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved by Him? That's what
it means here. Now look at verse 14. And 13
and 14, for all the prophets in the law prophesied until John,
and if you will receive it, this is Elijah, which was for to come.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. This statement, he
that hath ears to hear, let him hear, it means there's something
so important, and so you cannot afford to pass this up, and yet,
Not only is it important, but you also need a gift from God
in order to hear it. Let him that have ears to hear,
let him hear. And so he goes on. Now, here
you have two groups of people, right? You have those who were
rejecting him. And those Pharisees and scribes
and Sadducees who came to John to be baptized. And he said,
you generation of vipers, you're facing the wrath of God. Unless
you repent. Unless you come to Christ. Look
at John chapter 5. I'll show you this. John chapter
5. These men, these Pharisees and
scribes, they were... You know, it's easy to judge
people, isn't it? So let's judge them for a while.
Because it's easier to judge them than to judge ourselves.
But look at this in verse 34. John 5. But I receive not testimony from
man, but these things I say, that you might be saved. He,
John, was a burning and a shining light, and you were willing for
a season to rejoice in his light. Now Jesus is arguing here that
these people had the message of John. And if they would have
given attention to his message, then they would have been saved.
But they wouldn't. He said, because you were willing
for a little while. to rejoice in his light. When
he first started preaching, the scribes and the Pharisees were
thinking, oh wow, look at this, a prophet's among us. We're a
blessed people. We're the people of God. Look,
he sent one of his prophets, and he's a powerful man. Why,
he's probably the Christ. Are you the Christ? No. Oh, well
then he must be that Elijah. He's so mighty in word. Are you Elijah? No. Okay, then
maybe he's that prophet. Are you that prophet? No. Who
are you then? I came to speak about Jesus of
Nazareth. He's the Son of God. He's the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And they heard
his preaching. The more they heard of John,
the more they said, we don't need to hear this guy. We don't
want to hear him. He wants to make it out that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of glory. He's the Son of
God. He wants to make it out that
He's the only one God approves of. And that He's the only way
our sins can be forgiven. We don't need to hear this. And
so they stopped their ears to John. And so, when Jesus came,
what was His message? Well, He started telling them
that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. You need to hear Me.
If you don't hear Me, then you don't hear God. You don't know
God. Unless you believe that I am, you'll die in your sins
and things like that. And so they wouldn't hear him.
So Jesus says in verse 16 of Matthew 11. He gives this parable,
verse 16. But where unto shall I liken
this generation? It is like to children, sitting
in the markets and calling unto their fellows, saying, We have
piped unto you, and you have not danced, and we have mourned
unto you, and you have not lamented. Now, this is the parable. Here's
the scene. It's the marketplace. Imagine
it. Maybe it's a day when nobody's
there and the children are running about and playing around the
things that are normally in the marketplace. And so they're in
the marketplace, or maybe there's a crowd there and they're able
to carry on their play with the crowd even there. The children
in the marketplace are playing. And what do they do? Well, they
have these two different things they're doing. One is, they said,
let's pretend. Okay, let's pretend. Let's have
a happy scene. And maybe it's something like
a wedding. We need someone to play the bride and the groom,
and we need another person to sing the music, and so on. So
they all take their places, and they started to sing. Someone
gets out a flute, that's a pipe, it has holes in it. They started
to play the pipe, the flute, and it's a very sweet sound.
But then these children, they heard it and they said, no, no,
we don't want to play this game. It's too sweet, too kind, too
glad, too happy. Let's do something else. So the
kids say, all right, let's do this other thing. We saw these
people burying their family. Let's have a funeral. So they
start having a funeral. And they started building up
for it. They pretend they've got someone they're carrying
out. And they get this sorrowful, mournful sound. And they start
playing that, this funeral dirge. And maybe they're starting to
cry and wail like they do at a funeral. And these kids hear
that and they go, no, no, no. We don't want to hear that. It's
too sad. It's too sad. So this is the parable. And Jesus
says here in verse 16, what will I compare this generation to?
It's like these children in the market calling to their fellows
saying, we piped, we played the flute to you. and you have not
danced, we have mourned to you, and you have not lamented." They
weren't happy, no matter what they did. These kids who heard
the flute and who heard the funeral dirge or whatever it was in the
parable, They couldn't be pleased. Everything is about us. Unless
you're doing it our way, we're not happy. And no matter what
you say, whether it's happy or sad, we're not going to listen
to you. And Jesus is using this to describe and condemn those
who rejected John and his message. And so he says here, verse 18. For John came, neither eating
nor drinking, and they said, He has a devil. Now his message
was like the mourning that the children would do in the marketplace.
He didn't come eating or drinking. He said, he has a devil. We cannot
listen to the under, the low tones of his message. It's too
dark. He says that unless you hear
at this time the message of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, you're
going to perish. And this nation is going to perish.
It's too dark, too low. I don't like that sound. And
so they rejected John. And then it says, verse 19, the
Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a gluttonous
man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. So
here, on the other extreme, Jesus comes, and His message is the
sweetest news a sinner ever heard. A ruined sinner, a lost sinner. Someone who couldn't bring anything
to God. They don't have anything to bring
and they come for everything. When they hear the message of
Christ, saying like He says here, later in the chapter, Coming
to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you
rest. They find it the sweetest news. What? There's forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared? And they're so encouraged
that they flock to Him and they press into the kingdom. But what
do the Pharisees do? He's too happy. Look at him. He cannot be from
God. He hangs with these sinners and
harlots. And they are encouraged by him. Look at him. He makes it possible
for these people to feel comfortable who are sinners. Comfortable
with the Son of God. How could he be a messenger from
God? They accused him of being a man
who gave a license to sinners to sin. Because they made Him,
they felt comfortable around Him, and they came to Him. And
these Pharisees, they were both unfazed by the judgment that
John promised, and they were unmoved by the grace that Jesus
brought. And so, it didn't matter what
was played in the marketplace. They were not happy. They couldn't
be pleased. Little children, silly, foolish,
Taking the things that ought to be the most serious and making
a pretend game out of them. That's what they were doing.
They couldn't focus on important things and they would slough
off any attempt to try to make the message fit their case. No,
no, we would just want to pretend about this whole thing. These
were foolish and silly children, self-centered, implacable. They couldn't be pacified. They
couldn't be pleased, couldn't be satisfied, no matter what
you did to them. And yet the message was coming from heaven.
This was the only way they could be saved and they opposed their
own salvation. At that time in history. And
what happened? We know what happened. The nation
was destroyed and the gospel was given to the Gentiles and
these men who rejected Christ and rejected John received the
condemnation that follows and described in the verses about
Bethsaida and Chorazin. But here he says in verse 19,
"...but wisdom is justified of her children." And who were these
children? Who is this wisdom? The wisdom
is the Lord Jesus Christ. The message that He gave is the
gospel. The publicans and the sinners
who heard Him and came to Him seeking salvation by Him alone
are the children who justify the wisdom of God. You see, when
the Lord sits in glory, and all the earth peoples are gathered
before Him at the end of time, what is the banner, what is that
name that they're going to proclaim? The Lamb of God, who has redeemed
us by His own blood. They'll be the sinners. He's
the Savior of sinners. That's His title. Jesus, the
one who saves His people from their sins, and they will applaud
and praise Him for this, they will justify God for saving them
according to the word that He gave. They came, these that pressed
into the kingdom, they came pleading only what God had said. You receive
sinners, I'm a sinner! And so they made an argument
for entering the Kingdom of God on the basis of what God said
and what Christ did. And that was the basis of their
coming. And so they justified wisdom. Christ the wisdom of God and
the power of God to everyone that believeth. That's what it
says in 1 Corinthians 1.24. What a Savior! And these men
who heard and rejected John and rejected Christ, they're described
in the next few verses, verses 20 through 24. We've already
read those through. Woe unto you! Woe unto you! You
think Sodom was bad? These men who held their skirts
to keep from getting muddy and dirty in the filth of the people
around them? Are you kidding? Let me hold
up to you a city that was really bad. Sodom and Gomorrah, or Tyre
and Sidon. You know what? You are going
to receive a greater judgment than they did. And they wouldn't
hear it. They wouldn't even hear it when
Jesus took and summarized their case and their own rejection
of John and their own rejection of Christ. And He shows them,
you're just like these silly children in the marketplace making
the whole thing a pretense. Rejecting it. To your own damnation. And they wouldn't hear it. You
know what that's called? That's called stubborn, willful
unbelief. Hardening of the heart, they
harden their hearts. And Jesus says in verse 25, He
answered, He answered all these things and He said, I thank Thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou has hid these
things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. There you have it. Why was it
like it was? Why are these inevitable consequences
of preaching the gospel always the case? Why is it that some
eagerly embrace Christ? And I need to know, is this true? And they search the Word of God.
They listen with intensity. I need to hear the next thing
that he's about to say. Because it might be the thing
that gives me an understanding to be able to give assurance
to me that Christ has actually saved me. And they're intent
on this. Why is that? And why do some,
they find every reason, you know, I need to take what that person
has said and really look at it. You know, maybe it's not really
true. And when I get done looking at it, by the time I get done,
I've lost all of the point that it was opening my conscience.
I've forgotten all of that. It's just kind of like academic
knowledge now. Why is this the case? It's because
of the will of God. The Lord has chosen to reveal
His gospel and His Son to babes, to those who have nothing, no
value in themselves, no potential for doing great things. They're
just babies. And He's hidden it from those
who in themselves are wise and prudent. Those who say, Jesus
makes blind, but those who say, I'm blind as a bat, I cannot
see, I cannot appreciate the things of God because my heart
is stone-cold dead and I need a Savior. Those are the ones
that Jesus saves. Let's pray. Lord, we pray that
the effects of the gospel, which are inevitable, would come to
us according to your mercy, and you would open our hearts so
that we could hear, and convert us, Lord. Teach us that Christ
is our only hope. Help us to abandon all that we
are and have, and not take the gospel as a light thing, but
as the most serious matter in heaven and earth and our eternity.
and help us to give praise and honor to our Lord Jesus Christ
for His wisdom and His grace towards sinners like us, that
you would save and could save us, the ungodly, natural enemies
of God, and convert us so that we are actually in love with
the Lord Jesus Christ, and cling to Him with a death grip that
we couldn't let go, this grace you've given to us, Lord, to
cause us to not want to leave Christ but learn of Him and to
be found in Him and to come to You only by Him and to rejoice
that Your salvation is true every time we read it in Your Scripture
and hear it from Your Word. We pray, Lord, that this mercy
and grace would be given to each one here. In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.