Turn to Matthew chapter 11. Matthew
chapter 11. The Lord taught His disciples
the gospel. Back in chapter 10, He sends
them out. He said, I'm going to send you
out as sheep in the midst of wolves. be ye wise as serpents
and harmless as doves." He empowers them to preach the gospel. He enables them to have power
over evil spirits and to perform miracles, and he sends them out
to these different cities to preach. He then followed up their preaching
by visiting those places, working miracles and saving sinners,
confirming their message. And the first thing that I thought
as I read this, the Lord does not send His disciples in one
direction while He goes in another. He does not say, You go over
to this place and I'll go over to this place. He doesn't do
that. wherever his servant is, there
the Lord will be also. Our Lord said this, without me
ye can do nothing, helpless. We are absolutely helpless without
our Lord in anything we do. But he sent them forth to preach
the gospel. You see, the heart is prepared
by preaching, by the preaching of the Word of God by the preaching
of the Gospel, and it's made ready. The ground is plowed,
and it's made ready to receive the seed. It's made ready to
receive the Lord Jesus Christ. It says here in verse 2, Our
Lord began to speak of His servant, John. John's going to be a little
bit of a center of attention here. I titled this, The Lord
Honors His Servant. He honors his servant. Now it
says John was in prison, and he was in prison for preaching
the gospel. He was in prison for telling
men the truth. That's why he was put in prison.
He was put in prison for looking Herod straight in the eye and
telling him the truth. He said, it's not lawful for
you to have your brother Philip's wife. And he was put in prison. Never, he never took the edge
off the sword, whether he stood before a king or the poorest
of the poor. He never changed his message
and he never took the edge off the sword. He told the truth
to whatever crowd he was standing before. And he was now in prison. And it says here that he heard
of the works of Christ. No doubt his disciples were coming
back and telling him of what was going on with the Lord Jesus
Christ and what he was doing. And so he sent two of his disciples
to ask him, are you the Christ or should we look for another?
Are you the one? Are you the Messiah? You see,
he pointed out to his disciples. There's the Lamb of God which
takes away the sin of the world. He pointed to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He pointed Him out to His disciples.
Now He's going to send two of those disciples to ask the Lord,
Are You the One? This seems a little puzzling,
doesn't it? This may seem a little bit puzzling. But I do know this. John, at best, was still a man. He said, if those born a woman,
there's not a greater man, a greater man, a greater prophet, but at
best, he's still a man. He was still a sinner saved by
grace like you and I. He still needed the blood of
Christ, the righteousness of Christ, just as you and I needed. But here's what I think, here's
what I believe was going on. I believe he did this for his
disciples. His ministry was coming to a
close. He was the forerunner to point
out the Lord Jesus Christ to Israel. Well, he did his job. He accomplished God's purpose
for him. And now his days were coming
to a close. And He's sending two of His disciples.
I want you to go over there and I want you to say, are you the
Christ or should we look for another? He's doing this for their sakes.
He would have them to seek out and follow Christ for themselves. If God kills the preacher, what
are you going to do? You're going to follow Him. You know, God calls men as pastors. We come and we go. But Christ
is the same. Christ is the one we follow.
He is the shepherd of the sheep. We're under shepherds. And he
will bring another shepherd in and he'll remove him. But we always follow him. We
follow him. And this is what John, he said,
you go and you talk to him. You say, are you the Christ? And I'll tell you something else
here. John was not afraid to examine his message. Think about
this. John's sitting there in prison.
Here's a man who preached under the power of God. He tore that
place up. That place was just tore up over
this man's preaching. And now he's sitting in this
prison all alone. And I believe he was not afraid to examine
his message. You know, the scripture says,
examine yourself whether you be in the faith. Don't be afraid
to do that. Take the word of God and examine
everything you believe. Every doctrine you believe, take
it to the word of God and examine it. We should never be afraid
to examine our message or ourselves. Never. Listen, this is too serious
to be wrong. It's too serious. I feel this
the more I preach. The more I stand here, I feel
the seriousness, the responsibility of this is too serious to be
wrong. Too serious. We are to study
to show ourselves approved. That's what Paul told Timothy.
Approved to what? Men? No, God. God, we should never be afraid to
take every truth we believe and take it to the Word of God. Now Christ confirms His message. When these men, they come to
Him and they ask Him this question, here in verse 4 and 5. Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John..." Listen. Again. Again. He didn't say that. Go ask John
what's his problem. John, what's your problem? You
pointed me out. You baptized me. A voice spoke
from heaven. A dove. The Holy Spirit descended
on my shoulders like a dove. John, what's your problem? No,
go tell him again. Turn over to Philippians chapter
3. I'm glad the Lord writes these
things down, aren't you? I'm glad he wrote down all these
things. It's sure encouraging for people like me. Not that
we make excuses out of it. We can see the mercy of God.
Paul says in Philippians chapter 3, Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord, to write the same things to you. He says, I've
written this, I've preached it to you, and I'm going to write
it to you again. To write the same things to you, to me, and
it's not grievous. It is not grievous for me to
stand up here Wednesday and Sunday and tell you the same message.
Talk to you about the same Lord. It's not grievous. It's not burdensome. It's not boring. I would to God
I could preach it as it ought to be preached. I do. This message
deserves much greater preaching than I give it. But Paul says here, to me, indeed,
it's not grievous. But for you, listen, it's safe.
It's safe. I had a man ask me, this man
that's taking my place out at the shop, he said, what do you
all do for your young people? I didn't give a smart aleck answer.
I said, we preach the gospel to them. He goes to a large church, and they have all kinds of activities,
all kinds of stuff. But he told me, he told me, he
said, I'm not happy with my pastor. He said his messages are always
political. He always has all these political
figures in the pulpit. That's because he doesn't know
the gospel. That's because it's too boring to talk about Christ
again and again and again. For you, it is safe. The safest thing I can do for
you is to one more time tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ
and His glories. It's safe. And so he lets John's
disciple, he tells him again, he says, go tell John again what
you've seen. Tell him about the message you
heard. And tell him what you've seen. And Christ gives full proof
of His deity by His miracles. No one ever did these miracles
in the past. Not like this. No one. And he
let John's disciples see them. He said, now you go tell John
again what you've seen. This will encourage him. He didn't
send a message of discouragement back to John. He remembers our
frame that is dust. I'm so glad I was just sitting
here, I thought, how am I going to preach this? How am I going
to do this? And my thoughts, Lord, if you
don't do it, it's not going to get done. I studied. I study and I pray the Lord bless,
but if he doesn't do it, it's not going to happen. It's not
going to happen. So he says, you go back and you
tell John what you've seen and what you've heard, and this will
encourage you. And you know what they saw and
what they heard, now listen, was according to the scriptures.
That's the first thing that jumped out at me. What they saw and
what they heard was according to the Word of God. Look over in Isaiah 61. In Isaiah 61, he says, The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joyful
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. You go back and tell
him what you've seen. John knew those scriptures. Look
back here in Isaiah 35. Isaiah 35. These are just a few,
just a few scriptures that I'm just a couple. Isaiah 35. In verse. 30, let me see here, verse five,
let me let me find it, I didn't write it down. Verse 5, here it is. Verse 5,
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. He said, you go
tell John what you've seen. You go tell him what you've seen,
and tell him what you've heard. John knows the Scriptures, and he'll
be encouraged. His spirit will be lifted. That's
all you have to do. Tell Him what you've seen, heard.
We can take our message to the Word of God and let it stand.
Look over in 1 Corinthians. If what I'm telling you cannot
stand on the Word of God alone, don't receive it. Don't receive
it. And that goes with any man who
stands to preach. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes here, Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you
are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received. I gave you what I have received.
How that Christ died for our sins according to what? The Scriptures. Take every truth you believe
and take it to the Scriptures and let it stand on the Word
of God alone. And that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day, how? According to the Scriptures. According to the Scriptures.
I don't need any outward proofs or to give any outward proofs
or miracles. Don't need it. Is it according
to the Word of God? Then stand on it. Stand on it. And blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Ashamed of me. Disappointed. You see, Christ is the Sovereign.
He's the Sovereign. And He's going to do with us
as He will. He's the pot or we are the clay. He's going to put
us where He will. He'll make us as He will. He'll
give us gifts and talents as He will. And blessed is he who's not offended. If God makes one of you rich
and another poor, blessed is he who's not offended. Here's
what I believe He's saying. Blessed is that man who believes
in Me and is not offended when trouble comes because of Me.
John's sitting in prison because of Christ. That's why he's in trouble. That's why he's in trouble. Oh,
blessed is he that's not offended or not ashamed of me. The greatest
part of that multitude that he spoke to, those Jewish leaders,
they were ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ. This poor man He's God. God wouldn't look like
that. God wouldn't be dressed like
that. They were ashamed of his poverty, his education, his doctrine,
grace for the guilty, grace for sinners, mercy for
sinners. That offended those religious
Pharisees, those self-righteous Pharisees. It offended them. But we're not ashamed. We are
not ashamed. To you who believe, He is precious. He's precious. And whatever the
Lord brings our way, whatever He puts us through, He said,
blessed is he that believes and is not offended. And then our Lord honors His
servant. He speaks to this multitude here
in verse 7. And as they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitude concerning John, what went ye out into the
wilderness to see? Why did you go out to see this
man? All of Judea and all the region round about went out to
see this man. They went out into the wilderness
to hear and to see this man. He said, you go to see a reed?
A reed shaken by the wind? Why did you go all the way out
into the wilderness to see this man and to hear him preach? Why? Do you think he was like
a reed? A weak, frail, soft compromiser? Is that what you were out to
see? Did you go out to see such a thing? Would you get up and
get dressed and go out into the wilderness to see a weak compromiser? But, he said, but, now he's driving
at the heart. The Lord speaks to the heart.
He says, but what went ye out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Is that what you went to see?
Those kind live in king's houses, not in wilderness. Those kind
don't live in the wilderness. Did you expect to go out and
see royalty? To hear fine speech? Is that
the kind of man that you went out to see? The Lord's driving. He's going
to drive a point home here. Here's the point He's going to
drive here in a minute. But what went you out to see?
Why did you go through all that trouble? Why did you go through
all that trouble to get dressed and go out into the wilderness,
make that journey? I'll tell you why. Because you believed
that there was a prophet. You heard there was a prophet
out there in the wilderness, and you went out to hear this
prophet. Many believed he was that prophet. That's why they
went to see and to hear the prophet. You heard that God's prophet
had come, and you went out to see him and hear him. And he
says, you're right. You're right. John was a prophet,
and more than a prophet. More than a prophet. He was the
last of the Old Testament prophets. He was the prophet who ushered
in Christ. He was the forerunner of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one that the Scripture
spoke of about the forerunner preparing the way of the Lord.
This is Him. This is the forerunner. This
is the prophet. Now believe Him. Believe His message. God sends a prophet. If He sends
His prophet, you go hear His prophet. Believe the message.
If He's God's prophet, If he's preaching the gospel, believe him. Believe him. He that receives you, the Lord
said to his disciples in chapter 10, he that receives you receives
me. And he that receives me receives him that sent me. He was more,
he said, more than a prophet. He's that forerunner. This is
he. This is the messenger which was
foretold of that will prepare the way of the Lord. No prophet, he says, was greater
than he. There's never been a man born
of a woman, he says, greater than he. Including Moses. Including
Moses. Oh, he's the fulfilling of Scriptures.
He's the fulfilling of that Scripture that's to usher in Christ. Now,
if he's that prophet, if he's that messenger that's to prepare
the way of the Lord, then you know what that means? That means
the Lord has come. That means the Lord is here. Believe His message. He said,
Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.
Believe Him. Believe Him. The Lord has come. He's come. Now He says here in verse 12,
And from the days of John, let me back up here in verse 11.
He said, Verily I say unto you among them that are born of women,
There is not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."
I heard Henry say this one time, and I wrote it out by this scripture. In the kingdom of heaven, Christ
is all. I made a little here and wrote
that up. Christ is all. In the kingdom of heaven, you
and I are not greater than each other. No, we're one in Christ. We are one in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and Christ is all, and we are glad to have it so. Glad
to have it so. Then he says here in verse 12,
and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom
of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. John preached repentance. John preached judgment. John
preached the truth. John preached righteousness.
And God saved some sinners. When the gospel is preached,
when God sends the gospel, He sends the gospel to His sheep. And His sheep, they will hear
my voice, the stranger, they'll not follow. But when the Lord
saves a sinner, And everyone whom the Lord has saved knows
this by experience. I'm not going to put degrees
on it, but you know this. He says the violent take it by
force. There is a violence that takes place inside of you. When the Lord awakens a sinner
and he really understands his need of Christ, that sinner understands
what he deserves. He's not going to rest until
he has Christ. God does not just casually save
sinners. There is a real conviction of
sin and of judgment. There's a real conviction. You
know and you're convinced that God ought to send you to hell.
But there is a Savior. There is mercy with the Lord
that he may be feared. I tell you what, you will not
rest until you find your rest in Him. Not at all. There is a real conviction
of sin. Now he said, for all the prophets,
and the law prophesied until John. He was the last of the
Old Testament prophets. And if you will receive it, this
is Elijah. which was to come. He preached in the spirit of
Elijah. He was not Elijah in the flesh,
because they came and asked him, Are you Elijah? He said, No.
But he preached in the spirit of Elijah. And he that hath ears to hear,
let him hear. And the Lord's people have ears
to hear. The Lord says, Hear it. Hear it. Blessed are your
eyes as they see, and your ears as they hear. Oh, if you can
hear this, thank God for it. If you can hear the gospel, if
you can hear the message, if you can hear His voice in the
message, thank God for it. But of course, most don't hear
it. Most do not hear it. He says up here in verse 16,
But unto the whereunto 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 you have not danced. We have mourned
unto you, and you have not lamented. John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say he has a devil. The Son of Man came
eating and drinking, and you say he is a gluttonous man. We
piped unto you, and you have not danced. We brought good news. The gospel is good news. There
is no better news than the gospel. You cannot hear anything, anything
better than the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation,
forgiveness, pardon, grace for the guilty. Is that not good
news? It is if you're guilty. And if you're not guilty, it
doesn't matter. It's like reading the newspaper
every day. But if you're guilty, it's good
news. If you're locked up in prison and he's going to set
the captives free, that's good news. He said, we came preaching
or piping unto you the good news and it didn't make you happy.
It does not make most people happy. You get outside this circle,
you go out here in Ashland, take Ashland as a whole and tell them
the truth of the gospel, they'll be mad. These empty seats are
proof of it. Proof of it. And then we mourned
unto you. Preach judgment, judgment's coming. I'm telling you the truth, judgment
is coming. That's what Noah preached. Noah
preached judgment's coming, building that ark. And they laughed at
him. No doubt they laughed at him.
What a nut. What a nut, building such a big
boat. And one day it came. One day it came. He said, we've
mourned under you and you've not lamented. He said, oh, that's
probably going to happen to my neighbor. He deserves it. That's
the way he thought of it. Indifferent. Indifferent. That's the worst way to be about
anything, isn't it? Indifferent. Indifferent. You would not dance
over the good news and you wouldn't lament over the bad news. I'll
tell you why. Because you're dead. Dead. Dead in trespasses and sins.
Spiritually dead. Because if God ever awakens a
man's soul, he will be violent about being saved. He'll be violent
about it. Lord, save me. Save me or I'll
perish. In fact, when John came preaching,
you said he has a devil. John preached the truth. He pointed
out the truth, truth about God, truth about Christ. He pointed
out the truth, and you said he's got a devil. And when the Son
of Man came preaching, you said when the Son of Man came eating
and drinking, that is, he associated with sinners. He went to the
marriage feast. He sat down at their tables.
He sat down and ate with people like you and me. You said he's a gluttonous man. Remember they came to him and
said, why do your disciples not fast like we do? Why do we fast
and your disciples, they don't fast. He said, that's because they
have the bridegroom. You don't need to fast when you
have Christ. And they said, he's a friend
of publicans and sinners. Oh, I'm glad he is. I'm glad he is. But wisdom is justified over
children. You know, man shows his hatred
of God by the way he treats God's message and messenger. That's
how men show their hatred of God. But he said, and I'll close
with this, wisdom is justified of her children. God will vindicate
himself in his election of grace when
all is said and done. When all is said and done, wisdom
will be justified of her children. They'll all be seen as trophies
of the grace of God. Jewels in His crown. Okay, Mike.