All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 11. It's a little odd for me when
Joe's not here, because I'm used to him feeding me before I have
to get up here. But that's all right. Matthew
chapter 11. We'll read four verses. I'll begin in verse 16. Matthew
11, verse 16. shall I liken this generation. It is like unto children sitting
in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, we
have piped unto you, and ye have not danced. We have mourned unto
you, and ye 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. That's the title of my message.
Wisdom is justified of her children. I want you to think about this. Think about how much has changed
since the Redeemer uttered these words. Neil, we can now fly around
in airplanes in the sky. We have sent rovers to distant
planets and have pictures of those planets before us that
we can make some look at it as though it were right outside
the door or something. Think of the advances in the field
of medicine. The advances in the field of
genetics and nanotechnology. Think of indoor plumbing. That's
an advance to me. And man is personally advanced.
He's advanced in knowledge. He's advanced in experiences.
He's advanced in expectations. And yet, When it comes to the
truth of God, our generation today is no different than that
generation that was alive during the days of our Lord's condescension. When it comes to the truth of
God, man still resides in the clutches and the throes of his
fallen, corrupt depravity. No matter how much we've advanced,
no matter how great things are and more comfortable they are,
and the knowledge, the scripture even says, knowledge shall flourish.
And yet, man in his depravity still hates the truth of God. As in Christ's day, so it is
today. No matter what approach the messengers
of God take, and that's what he's talking about here. Christ
and John the Baptist had two different approaches. Two different,
David writes, two different modes of separation. We know as it
says of our Lord, He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners. Was He not? And yet, No matter what the approach
that God's messengers take with respect to their separation,
man still snorts and kicks like a wild beast against God's way
and against God's Christ and against God's gospel. Think of
it. John the Baptist walked overtly
in social separation from humanity, did he not? He wore, what was
it, camel's hair. ate locusts and wild honey. And that's what lets me know
when Christ said John the Baptist came either eating or drinking,
he doesn't mean he fasted all the time. It means he didn't
eat the food of the common man. Mason, he didn't drink alcohol. He didn't dress like the common
man. He didn't live with the common humanity. He didn't associate,
Neil, with humanity. He came out of the wilderness.
That's where he lived. Somewhere up there, Ellen. And
yet, here's the Son of Man. He came eating and drinking.
And you can take that for exactly what it says. He did not avoid
alcohol per se, Mason. His first miracle was to make
wine, and some of the best wine there ever was for a marriage
feast at Canaan. So you see these two different
modes of separation? And yet, what did they say about
John? He's a madman. He's got a devil. And then they
turn around and say about Christ, who's the exact opposite? He's
a gluttonous man. He's a wine viper. He's a drunk.
That's what they called the Lord of Glory. So John the Baptist
walked overtly in social separation from humanity. He dressed differently.
He ate differently. He drank differently. And they
said he's got a devil. Christ walked overtly differently
from John. And yet they said, here's a gluttonous
man and a wine-bibber. In other words, as Christ said,
humanity in its depravity cannot be satisfied no matter what the
structure is. Why? The reason is they hate
the truth of God. You and I as believers, me as
a pastor, as a preacher in that sense, and you as a member of
this assembly or maybe another assembly or otherwise. But as
you and I take the gospel to the world, as we try to witness,
Mason, and teach or preach to other people and testify of the
grace of God, it doesn't matter what your stance in separation
is, they hate the truth of the gospel. That's the problem. Somebody
says, I don't listen to that man. I know he likes to drink
wine at a meal. But if you quit drinking wine, they still will
not hear you because it's the truth of God that's the problem. There are men who say, I won't
listen to that preacher. He doesn't wear a three-piece
suit, or he doesn't wear a tie, or he doesn't wear a suit coat.
There are others who say, we don't want to conform to the
old ways. Our preacher ought not wear a tie. He ought not
wear a suit. He ought to be more casual. They're
not satisfied. They're never satisfied because
their problem is the truth of God in Christ Jesus. I almost always wear a tie. Joe
never wears a tie. People listen to neither one
of us. Am I right? Right. I mean, look. We've got visitors here today
and still probably ain't got 25, 30 people. They hate the
truth of God. Truly. Truly, that generation
was unsatisfiable. Isn't that what Christ said?
But where unto should I liken this generation? It is likened
to children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows
and saying, well we piped and we played happy songs and you
don't rejoice with us. Or we played mournful songs and
you just won't lament with us. In other words, this generation
is unsatisfiable. The only thing that generation
did, and our generation does today, and even we ourselves
by nature, is that we drink up iniquity like water. We love
to have our own way, and our own will, and our own works set
at the forefront. And if you do that, it doesn't
matter what's your mode of separation. But if your message is the message
of the gospel, of the glory of God, as seen in the face of Jesus
Christ, it doesn't matter what your mode of separation, how
far you are separated, they will not hear you apart from the Spirit
of God Almighty. That generation's problem is
our generation's problem. Their problem is the truth of
God. They hate it, no matter the messenger. And believe you
me, I've tried both. They don't care. I've told some
people, I'll go do this with you if you come hear me preach.
I end up going doing this with them, Neil, and they never come
hear me preach. Why? Is it because I'm any different
than them? I look just like them. I live
basically just like them. They don't want to hear the truth
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man is no different today. Let me give you four things. John the Baptist, Christ, and
us today, we preach repentance toward God. All three. John the Baptist did. Christ
did. And we do today. We preach repentance
toward God. And men stiffen themselves and
say, I will not turn. Paul called it preaching this
way. We preach repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord
Jesus Christ. And repentance toward God begins
mainly this way, not in turning from your sins. Of course, we'll
look at that in a moment. All three of us, John the Baptist,
Christ, and we today, preach, confess your sins, right? But
that's different. Repentance toward God is to recognize,
I do not know God by nature. I do not love God by nature.
I have no union with God by nature. And God is totally opposite of
what I think He ought to be. and I must bow before God as
He is. Anything else is idolatry. You
can't pick and choose what you want to believe about God. To
pick and choose what you want to believe about God is nothing
more than those reprobates did in Romans chapter 1. Because
when they knew the glory of God, they glorified Him not as God,
but changed Him and made Him likened to what? Corruptible
beast and four-footed things and fowls that fly in the air.
And eventually they all said, God's like us. But He's not like
us. They say man was created in God's
image, and that's true, but also remember in Adam we all fail. We do not hold that image today. We hold the image of our fallen
father Adam, and that's all we have by nature. So I say John
the Baptist Christ us. We preach repentance toward God,
yet men say we need no repentance. We need not turn. Here's the
second thing. John the Baptist, Christ, us
today. We preach confession of our sins,
do we not? Isn't that what John the Baptist
preached? Isn't that what Christ preached? And that's what we
preach. But when we talk about preaching confession of sins,
we're not talking about just saying, okay, yesterday I done
this wrong. And the day before that I done that wrong. And this
morning I thought that wrong. That's not what we're talking
about. That's certainly a part of it. It's certainly a part
of it, but it's more than that. It's this. It is to acknowledge
our corruption. It is to acknowledge our enmity
against God. It is to acknowledge our defilement
in our flesh. That's what confession of sins
is. It's not just confessing a set of deeds. It's confessing
a state of enmity toward God. And yet when we do this, men
consume away in anger, proclaiming what? Their righteousness. I
don't need to do that. Oh yeah, I may have done this
wrong yesterday, but all I gotta do is tell God I'm sorry for
that and everything's fine. That's not confession of sins.
You might as well go to a Roman Catholic priest if that's what
you want. You might as well walk an aisle in a fundamental Baptist
church and come forward and say, God, I did that yesterday. Confession
of sins is to acknowledge what you are in Adam, what you are
in yourself, in your everyday life apart from Jesus Christ.
Confession of sins is to acknowledge my corruption and defilement
and my enmity toward God. Here's number three. John the
Baptist, Christ, and us. We all three preach the kingdom
of God. Do we not? But I want to give
you four things about the kingdom of God. It's four things that
most people when they talk about the kingdom of God do not think
about. They want to argue as to whether
is the thousand years the kingdom or not? Is the thousand years
a literal thousand years or not? And I'm here to tell you the
thousand years is not the kingdom. Because the thousand years are
said to end. Christ's kingdom, it is said,
there shall be no end. But here's four things about
the kingdom that you ought not miss. First of all, if you've
got a kingdom, then there has to be a king. Right? If there is a kingdom, David's
right, there has to be a king. There ain't no kingdom without
a king. You know, we don't call the United
States a kingdom, do we? We call it a country. You know
why? Because we don't have a king. But England is called what? The
United what? Kingdom. Because they have a
queen. You see? Here's four things. First of all, there is a king.
Secondly, there is a realm. A king has a realm. Or he's not
a king. He's just a president. Now granted,
we have some presidents and have had some presidents that think
they are kings. But they are not. They're just
presidents. No, when it comes to the kingdom of God, there
is a king. There is the king's realm and there is the king's
subjects. Right? A king that doesn't have
subjects is not a king. Is he not? He doesn't have a
realm and doesn't have subjects. And in any kingdom, never is
all of humanity the king's subjects. Is it? You don't find one illustration
of that. Even during the days of Babylon,
they didn't rule all the earth. Even in the days of Egypt, they
didn't rule all the earth. When you have a kingdom, you
have a king, you have his realm, you have his subjects, and one
more thing, the king always reigns. Because if the king don't reign,
he ain't a king. And that's what it means to preach
the kingdom of God. It is to exalt the king who reigns
in his realm over his subjects. And that's what it's all about.
Whether it be their everyday life, or whether it be their
salvation and eternal glory, the King reigns in this thing.
John the Baptist preached this, Christ preached this, and we
preach this. And yet, men still cry, we will
not have that man to reign over us. The problem wasn't John the Baptist's
ways. The problem wasn't Christ's ways.
The problem's not my ways. Their problem is their corruption,
their defilement, their hatred for the truth of God. Now, someone
says, but men don't really, most people don't really hate the
truth of God. Tell them right to their face, plainly and clearly,
and you will see. Now, if you compromise it, if
you couch it in terms, things may go alright. Or you may be
speaking to somebody that just don't get any of it, Mason. But
if they get anything about what you're saying, apart from the
regeneration of the Spirit of God, they will turn on you like
a mad dog. And they'll say either one of
two things. You're crazy. You got a devil. Or you're some
kind of weird sinner. Some kind of gluttonous person.
Some kind of drunk. Here's number four. John the
Baptist and us, we preach this. Behold the Lamb of God. that taketh away the sin of the
world. Now do you hear what we preach?
We preach that. Not behold the Lamb of God that
can take away the sin of the world. Not behold the Lamb of
God that might take away the sin of the world. But behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. The world
for whom He died, their sins are taken away. And we preach
that. And Christ is that Lamb. Is he not? So much so that even
in our text, he goes on to say this, in verse 28, Come unto
who? Not just God. He says, Come unto
who? Me! Come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
what? Yoke. Take my yoke. Christ liberated
us, but He did not liberate us to serve sin, Satan, or self. He liberated us to put us under
His yoke. And if you don't want to be under
His yoke, then you have no part with Him. You have no lot with
Him. To be a part of Him, you're under
His yoke. And look what He says, take my
yoke. It's not just, well, it's take
it. David write willingly, lovingly, knowingly, conscientiously, Lord
God, Jesus Christ, reign over me. What is a yoke? It's something
you put on an animal to get it to go where you want it to go
and do what you want it to do. And Christ said willingly take
this on yourself. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take not a yoke upon you, and
learn of Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find," what? Rest. Rest. That is almost a
contradiction in terms, isn't it? To have a yoke on you and
rest, and yet that's the way it is. If you're not resting,
you know why that is? Because you don't have the yoke.
You can't rest without price yoke. Well, I believe I'm saved by
grace. I'll do whatever I want to do. Not when you're under
the yoke. When you're under the yoke, when he says woe, you woe.
When he says go, you go. When he says turn right, you
turn right. When he says turn left, you turn left. When he
says nay, you nay. When he says eat, you eat. When
he says don't eat, you don't eat. And that's the way it is.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly
in heart and you shall find rest under your souls. And look, for
my yoke is what? It's easy. You see, if you don't
like serving Christ, you don't really know Christ. If you don't
enjoy serving Christ, you don't really know Christ. I don't care
what you profess. If it's not the joy of your heart
to be identified with Him and bow before Him and to serve Him,
you don't have any part of His yoke. And if you don't have His
yoke, you're not a part of Him. You're not one of His subjects.
You're not in His kingdom. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is what? It's light. And you know what?
There is no way to explain that to anyone until they're bowed
under the yoke of Christ. When you speak of that to a person
who's still in rebellion against God, it is absolute contradiction
to them. Therefore, no matter whether
you have a glass of wine with some spaghetti, or a beer with
a hot dog, or you don't touch it whatsoever, hot dog or beer,
they ain't gonna care, because they don't care about you, Lord.
They don't care about His reign. They don't care about His kingdom.
And they don't want to be one of his subjects. So as we cry,
behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
What do men cry? We need no substitute. We need
no sacrifice. We need no divine satisfaction. Is that not what they cry? We
don't really need that. We need somebody to keep us out
of hell maybe, yeah. But that's not what it's about.
It's not about getting to go to heaven and missing hell. It's
about taking the yoke upon you. Is it not? It's about being His
subject. It's about being bowed down before
Jesus Christ in reverence and adoration and union and fidelity
toward Him. Ah, but as our Lord said, wisdom
is justified of her children. True? Wisdom is justified of
her children. Think about this. A couple things
here. God's wisdom. He's not talking
about human wisdom here. He's not saying, well, John had
a good way and Jesus had a good way and they were both just striving
for something. No, this is God's wisdom. This
is not trying to juxtapose John from Jesus. And there are some
commentators, I wouldn't encourage you to read them, but there are
some commentators who said the difference was between John and
Jesus' message. No, it wasn't. They preached
the same message. The difference was simply between
their conduct publicly. That's what it was all about.
And yet, none of that made the difference. They called John
a madman, a lunatic. They called Jesus Christ a drunk.
The Lord of glory. Fathom that, Mason, a drunk. But wisdom's justified over children.
God's wisdom, immutable wisdom, intrinsic wisdom. God's Christ. Jesus Christ is wisdom personified. He is made unto us. And what's
the first thing He's made unto us? Wisdom. Because Jesus Christ
is how a holy God can be just. and still justify somebody like
me or somebody like you and still be holy when he does it. That's
wisdom. That's mercy and justice. David Wright kissing together
and both being fully satisfied because Jesus Christ is our representative. Jesus Christ is our substitute. Jesus Christ is our satisfaction
therefore God the thrice holy God's justice kiss together in
Jesus Christ and as one man said Jesus Christ is the only one
that's ever been able to lay his hand on sinful man and not
be defiled and Lay his hand on a holy God and not be consumed
and yet bring the two together in himself That's where it's
at That's what it's all about. That's what the yoke's all about.
Being joined to God in the person of Jesus Christ. God's wisdom
is immutable, intrinsic, is personified, but it's also preached in the
gospel. Paul calls the gospel the power
of God. He calls the gospel the wisdom
of God. Why? Because it's a message about
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Oh, but wisdom is justified of
her children, Christ said. And what is it to be a child
of someone? It's to be offspring. Oh, to
be the offspring of God's wisdom. Wisdom is justified, Paul Pendleton,
of her children. Oh, to be the offspring of God's
wisdom that God Almighty brought me into existence as His child. Even as James puts it this way.
Let me just turn to it. Turn to it with me if you're
reading along. James chapter 1. Listen to these words. I know
they're familiar words. Verse 17 of James 1. Every good
gift And every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from
the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
of turning of His own will. Begat He us with the word of
truth. And let me tell you something,
until God does this, you have no right nor claim to be a part
of the family of God. of his own will, begetting us
with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits
of his creature. And what is this word of truth?
It is the word of God as set forth in this book. in the Scriptures,
in the person of Christ. Because look, wherefore lay apart
all filthiness, and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with
meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your soul. And what's that based upon? Look
at the preceding verse. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to what? Here. Roy Jr., I don't know if we perceive,
and I know we don't to the degree we ought to, and I know sometimes
we probably lose it, I don't know if we perceive how important
it is when we gather together to hear the Word of God proclaimed.
It's vital. It's God's ordained way. So that He says, Wherefore, my
beloved brethren, let every man be, what? Be swift to hear. Slow
to speak. You know why? Because when you
hear someone preach the Word, there's always that part of us
that rares up and says, but I want to say something about that.
I've got something to add to that. Or I've got something I
want to take away from that. That's our human nature in Adam.
It wants to somehow take the Word of God and mold it to our
own likes. But that's not what James says.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear,
Slow to speak. Slow to wrath. Why? Because we're
so prone to wrath when we hear the Word of God. Aren't you?
Now I know some people like to take it out on the messenger.
That's what that generation did, right? They took it out on John. He's a madman. He's got a devil.
They took it out on Christ. Well, he's a gluttonous man.
He's a wine-bibber. He's a drunk! All they were doing
was obfuscating. All they were doing was trying
to ignore the truth. Trying to push it off to the
side. But James gives us wise instruction. Be swift to hear,
slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Why? For the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Queer forward. Now do you see
it? Queer forward. Lay apart all filthiness and
superfluity of naughtiness. And that has mainly not to do
with a bunch of immoral things. That has to do with our attitude
toward the Word of God. Do you see the connection of
it? Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of
naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted Word,
which is able to save your souls." And then we still like to do
this. Well, but at least I'm hearing.
Right? Well, I'm hearing. I sit and
listen all the time. I sit and listen to Job about
every Sunday. Right? I get tapes and I listen to those
tapes. Isn't that just great? Well,
let me tell you, it is good. That's a good thing. But Mason,
it's more than that. What does James say? But be ye
doers of the word and not hearers only. Just hearing ain't it,
folks. It ain't. Well, I'm just going
to sit back and hear, and if God's going to do something, God's
going to do something. If it's going to happen, well, it'll happen. You know
it will? He's going to make you become
a doer. That's what's going to happen. He's going to work in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And when you
fall to the side, when you begin to wane, you know what He'll
do? Eventually, in His good time, He'll wake you up again. But
be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your
own selves. For if any be a hearer of the
word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural
face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and
goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he was, but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty."
And folks, that's the gospel. The gospel's the only message
of the perfect law. It ain't the law of Moses. The
law of Moses ain't gonna give you no liberty. The law of Moses
binds. It kills. It's death. It's the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that is the perfect law of liberty.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and look, and
continueth. You see it? And continueth. Hebrews, when it marks all of
what men call that great hall of faith, they call them heroes
of faith. They weren't heroes of faith.
But you look at that great hall of faith. One thing it says about
all of them. Now, Neil, by faith, Noah moved with fear and built
an ark. Abraham didn't build no ark. But what he was called,
he came up and got out. So they did a lot of different
things by faith. But there's one thing that was common to
all of them. And you know what it was? These all died in faith. That was the one thing that was
common to all of them's faith. They all died in it. And I'm
here to tell you this, you abandon Christ, I mean you really abandon
Christ, you've abandoned all hope. And you die having abandoned
Christ, you will perish. I don't care what your profession
was years ago. These all died in faith. So James says, But whoso looketh
into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he be
not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be
blessed in his deeds." And then he goes on, look at it, 26, 27,
chapter 2, look at it. In other words, this has real
world effect. You know that? It causes actual
changes in the way a person conducts their life. But let me tell you
this, the way you conduct your life is not going to be the answer
to someone out there who doesn't know Christ. Because whether
you're a drinker or you ain't a drinker, whether you wear really
nice clothes or you wear maybe not so nice clothes. Ellen, if
you're wearing a woman and you're wearing a pair of slacks or you're
wearing a dress, that ain't going to make the difference. If they
hate the truth, they will find something to attack you for,
no matter what. But if they love the truth, they
won't worry about your slacks or your dress. They won't worry
about that pouch of Red Man you got in your pocket, or that can
of Skol you got. They won't worry about that bottle
of wine they see in your refrigerator, or that can of beer. They will
hear the Word of Christ and rejoice in it, and love it, and take
the yoke of Christ upon them. And somebody says, well, you're
going way off key. I am not. That's the context. John the
Baptist came neither eating nor drinking. What do they say about
him? He's got a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking.
And you know exactly what that means. And what do they say about
him? He's a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber. What's the problem?
The truth of God is our problem. We hate it by nature. Oh, but
if you're one of wisdom's children, guess what? You'll love it. You'll follow it. You'll identify
with it. You'll want to support it. You'll
want to be a part of God's people. You'll love God's people. You'll
be with God's people. Sometimes you may even do something
silly and drive all the way to Missouri for one message and
stay overnight and turn around and come back. And then wonder,
why in the world did I do that on the way back? You know? But I'll tell you what. It was
worth it. It was worth every dime in every
effort. Because to rejoice in the truth
of the gospel with God's people is a privilege. God didn't have
to let us do that. Mason, He could have saved us
and made us kind of live our lives in lowly solitude somewhere. But that's not the way He ordained
it, did it? He ordained us to be as the people
of God, the body. And what is the body? It's this.
You see? It's this. So let me say this. is there, there are those who
are begotten of the message. That's what James says. Of his
own will, begat he us with the word of truth. There are those,
let me say it again, there are those who are begotten of the
message. I'm asking you, have you been begotten by the message?
Has the message laid hold of your soul? Has it conquered your
heart, and your mind, and your spirit, and your soul? Has the
truth of the person and work of Jesus Christ won your heart
to Him? If it has, then the message's
approach won't matter to you. Did you know that? The messenger's
approach won't matter to you. This is not looseness. This ain't
about, well, the preacher, John the Baptist, or Christ, or me,
or you. We can go out and do whatever we want. And you know
that's not what this is about. But what this is, no matter what
the degree of your separation, if a person doesn't love the
truth of Christ, it ain't going to make no difference. Because
you're either won by the truth of Christ or you're not won at
all. You either believe and adore the truth of God as it is in
Christ Jesus, or you adore yourself. One or the other. Father, continue
with us as we eat together and fellowship together. Lord, be
with those who couldn't make it today. Sickness and different
things. Lord, give them that sense of
your presence. That comfort that comes in believing you. I ask
it in Christ's name. Before we eat, let's have one
song. Number 133, stand and we'll sing
and then we will eat.