I'll be reading in a moment from
the Gospel of Luke, chapter 7, if you want to follow along.
Luke, chapter 7. Can you think of one so-called
preacher today who commands the respect and attention of this
world? A man who is known for his wisdom,
his integrity, his honesty and his boldness? No, most of these fellows are
like politicians and they are only in the news because of their
dishonesty or their lack of integrity. And I ask you, have you ever
noticed how that preachers are depicted on TV or in the movies. They are generally weak, effeminate,
silly and confused little fellows that no one takes seriously or
no one is paying attention to. And that is probably a very accurate
description of most. Not so with the prophet John. Here in Luke chapter 7, The Lord
Jesus Christ Himself is commending this true prophet and preacher. And in doing so, He condemns
all who are not like Him. Did you hear that? The Lord commends
this true prophet, the one He sent, this true preacher. And
in doing so, in commending Him, He condemns all that are not
just like him. Now, two disciples of John had
come to Christ to ask questions. And I begin reading with verse
24, Luke chapter 7, verse 24 and verses 25. And when the messengers
of John were departed, Christ began to speak unto the people
concerning John. What went ye out into the wilderness
to see? A reed shaken with the wind? What went ye out for to see?
A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously
appareled and live delicately are in kings' courts." So the
Lord asks the people these questions. What did you go to see? And I
ask those who listen to me right now, what do you go to see? Or that is, what do you see when
you go to church? A reed shaken with the wind? A man in soft raiment? a reed shaken with the wind.
This is a thin or wispy reed or blade of grass that bends
and sways with every breeze that comes along. And so the Lord
asked, did you think you would see a man who is weak and frail,
a silly fellow who would bend and bow and scrape to pressure? a man shaken and scared of other
men, their faces, and afraid to tell the truth? Not John. John was not afraid of men or
shaken by every wind, but rather he faced men and he faced death
for the truth's sake. He was not shaken by men bent
by man's opinions. No, he was true to God's Word. And then the Lord says, did you
go to see a man dressed in soft raiment, gorgeously appareled? Did you think to see a man dressed
in a silk robe with a pious look on his face, going through a
bunch of religious mumbo-jumbo? A man dressed like a woman with
hands and voice to match? Not John. He was dressed like
a working man with hands and voice of a working man. Speaking
for myself, I personally don't think I could listen to a man
whose hands were softer than my wife's. Is that too hard? Well, the Lord is talking about
this true prophet here. The prophets, the apostles, the
Lord Himself were working men, not seminary graduates. Elisha
was a farmer. Paul was a tentmaker. Peter was
a fisherman. The Lord God of glory as a man
was a carpenter. Verse 26, our Lord continues
asking, What did you go out 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." Our Lord is quoting Malachi chapter 3
here, which says, The messenger of the covenant shall come before
the Lord to prepare his way. And so the Lord says, This is
he. This is the messenger who came before the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself to prepare the way of the Lord. Now, let me illustrate
what this is and what this messenger or this harbinger is another
word for a preparer of the way. Let me illustrate what he does,
this harbinger or messenger. It is one in the olden days who
would go out before royalty or some famous personage and would
literally have to clear the way in order for that royal carriage
to travel the road. He would clear the way. He would
remove obstacles in the way, and it required much difficult
labor. It would be cutting down of trees,
removal of rocks and obstacles and so forth. The passage in
Isaiah chapter 40 says of this messenger, this preparer, says,
Every mountain shall be brought low, the rough places made blank. Every mountain brought low. And
so John preached so as to bring down man's high opinion of himself. That mountain called pride. And there has never been a higher
mountain of pride than today. Well, they would have said if
John were alive today and preaching, they would have said, you shouldn't
cut people down like that, John. Judge not. Judge not, John. But he did so, didn't he? Yes,
he did. And he did so at the command
of the king. You see, the twofold message
of the preacher then and now. is to bring down that mountain
of pride and to bring men to the mountain, that mountain which
is called God, to bring down. And here is the twofold message
of the preacher then and now. It's found in Isaiah 40. The
twofold message is this. All flesh is grass, and as the
flower of the field, the grass withereth and the flower fadeth
away." Or perisheth. And the other part of this message
is, Behold your God. Bow to, repent, believe your
God. Behold your God high and lifted
up. Behold yourself low and worthless. You see, only if you are brought
low will you be lifted high. Our Lord said that. He said,
He that exalteth himself shall be abased, but he that abaseth
himself shall be exalted. So only if the Lord through His
Word brings us down, shows us what we are, will we ever be
lifted up to Him. But the man or the woman, the
person who exalts themselves in pride, in self-righteousness,
will be brought low. And so it was that John brought
men down. brought them down from their
high and lofty perch of pride. Why, John looked at one of his
Sabbath day crowds and called them and said to them, addressed
them, vipers, hypocrites. Why, John, that won't get you
a big crowd, no, and it will get your head cut off, too. You
know, John would have been a failure in church growth by today's standards. Yeah, he would have failed at
church growth. One time he had two disciples,
only two disciples, and he told them to quit following him and
start following Christ. In other words, he had two church
members and lost them both, and he thanked God that revival had
come. Quite different than today, isn't
it? Yes, this is a true man of God, sent by God with a true
message. In verse 28, our Lord continues
and says, I say unto you, among those that are born of women,
there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. He that
is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Now, why
was John the greatest? And what does this mean, he is
the least and the kingdom is greater? Well, John was the greatest
because he never spoke his own name. They came and asked him
who he was and he said he wouldn't even mention his own name. Isn't
that a rarity today? He would not mention his name. He said, I'm just the voice.
He never used his credentials. He could have said what the Lord
said about him, that there was no greater man born of woman.
No, but he didn't. If they asked him, are you a
doctor, John? He would have said, no, there's
one great physician. If they would have called him
reverend, he would have said, not me, holy and reverend is
the Lord's name. No, he was a great man because
he considered himself least. He said, and this is the motto
of John and every true preacher and every believer for that matter.
John said, he must increase. I must decrease." You see, great
men and women are those who think least of themselves. And the
least of men and women are those who think they are the greatest.
Well, verse 29, it says, all the people that heard Christ
speaking of John, and the publicans, it says they justified God being
baptized with the baptism of John. They justified God. What does that mean? They justified
God. Well, these people, when they
heard Christ commending John in his preaching, they justified
God. In other words, to justify God
means to agree with all that God says and all that God does. To agree and say that all God
says is right, all that God does is right. It is to declare that
God is true. God alone is right. God is just
in all that He says and does. You see, God's Word doesn't speak
very highly of mankind. No, sir. It uses terms like this,
and I'm merely reading or quoting scriptural terms that God uses
concerning mankind. God's Word calls us worms. unworthy, wretched, miserable,
poor, blind, naked, guilty, vile, helpless, dead, sinners. And those who justify God, what
God says about us, those who justify God say, True, Lord,
you are right. Do you know that only two times
the Lord said someone had great faith in the Scripture? One was
to a woman whom he called a dog. Yes, he did. He said, it's not
right to give the children's bread to dogs. That's a Gentile
woman, and she said, that's true, Lord, I'm a dog. But even dogs
get crumbs. And he said, great is thy faith.
And to another man who said he wasn't worthy for the Lord to
come into his house. In verse 29, or verse 30, it
says, but the Pharisees, And lawyers rejected the counsel
of God against themselves being not baptized with a baptismal
jump. You see, repentance toward God
is what this is to justify God. It's to have a fear, awe, and
worship of a holy and just God, and a sorrow over sin, and begging
for mercy and grace and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ.
But self-righteous Pharisees, they reject what God's Word says
against themselves, and refuse this baptism and this repentance. But God said it, and the man
of God repeats it, and the message is still the same. It's more
needed than ever. God reigns, all flesh is sinful,
perishing grass. Repent, for the kingdom of God
is at hand.