Matthew 11, we have in the first
part of the chapter that account of John the Baptist sending his
servants to the Lord to ask him, art thou he that should come? We'll look at verse 7. And as
they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning
John, and this is those servants that John sent to the Lord to
ask him, Art thou he that should come? Or do we look for another? Of course, we we asked ourselves
that question. Is the is the Lord that we preach
the Jesus that we preach here? Is he the one that God promised?
Is he God's true Christ? Or do we look for another? And
by God's grace, We don't look for another because the Lord
Jesus Christ of this gospel, the one that God sent, he's the
all-sufficient Savior. He's the one who came and accomplished
our redemption. He's the one whose precious blood
has washed our sins away. He's the one who lived for us
and died for us victoriously. He is our champion, our Savior,
our Redeemer. And so we don't look for another.
Blessed is he, the Lord said, whosoever shall not be offended
in me. Do you own him, the despised
one, the one that this world hates, the sovereign Christ who
does as he pleases? Do you own him as your Lord?
Blessed are you, blessed of God. Not smarter than them are you,
blessed are you. And as they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitudes concerning John, the same John who just
questioned the Lord. For whatever reason he did, we
don't know for sure why. We talked about some things that
we experience, and John just like us. But whatever the reason
was, he questioned whether the Lord was the Lord. And then the
Lord said to the multitudes concerning John, what went ye out into the
wilderness to see? When you heard about this man
preaching, talking about the kingdom of God, and you went
out there, what were you expecting? A reed shaking 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. 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. 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 and the law prophesied until John. And
if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. But where unto shall
I like in 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. 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. In verses seven through 11 here,
our Lord Jesus Christ describes John the Baptist. This is more
than just a description of a man. John the Baptist questioned the
Lord, but the Lord owned John as his messenger. You see, I'm
glad that my security, my salvation, does not so much depend upon
my knowledge of him, because it's weak and full of sin, but
his knowledge of me." John said, Are you he? But the Lord said,
This is my messenger. This is my messenger. And this
is more than just the description of a man. It's a revelation of
what man expects and how God and his ways are not what we
expect. Notice the key words in verse
10, behold, I will send my messenger. You might expect that God being
who he is, that his messengers would not be what has come to
be expected of the so-called preachers of our generation.
It's not arbitrary language that the Lord uses in verses 7 and
8 when he says, did you expect to see a reed shaking with the
wind? The reason he asked that question is because the preachers
of this world are reeds shaking with the wind, the religious
big shots of that day. And they might have expected
John to be like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, a reed shaking
with the wind. Religious man hasn't changed.
And so I know that the religious leaders then were the same as
they are now. And I know some of them now.
I have known some of them, and I know some of them now. And
they're spineless, compromising, gutless pansies. You're not going
to find God's man that way. They blaspheme the very character
of God, pervert the word of God, and compromise the gospel of
God. just to avoid offending anyone. Now, what would you call
that? Our Lord called it a reed shaken with the wind. John, on
the other hand, the reason that he was in prison at that time
was for his bold and uncompromising declaration of the gospel. He said, you do with me what
you will, but I'm going to preach him. I'm going to point to the
Lamb of God. And not long after this, he'd
be killed for it. God's preachers today are a lot
like John in this respect. I know some of them too. And
I know of some instances when they've been confronted by people
who did not get what they expected. Did you expect a man clothed
in soft raiment? Again, like the Pharisees who
lived off of the labor of others and pampered their flesh and
did absolutely nothing for anybody. Nothing. You talk about worthless.
Can you picture the Pope sitting on his little throne? And this
is the most strenuous activity of his day right here. That's
what he does. That's his usefulness in this
world. Somebody clothed in soft rabbit wearing silk and satin
like a woman. Did you know that what passes
for a preacher in our day in religion doesn't do anything?
I've heard their messages and I could preach them without ever
opening a book. I could preach every message
that Billy Graham ever preached that I've heard without ever
opening a book. He was talking about Jesus that
died on the cross and then he'll start telling a story about somebody's
teenage daughter, you know, and his mother, her mother, you know,
prayed for her every night and one night there was a terrible
accident, you know, and there was a phone call in the middle
of the night and blah, blah, blah. They are the most useless
Not to mention positively destructive idiots that never walked God's
earth. What men call preachers in our day. And I don't want
to be associated with them in any way whatsoever. God said
of them in Ezekiel 32, they're shepherds that feed themselves
and the sheep can starve to death as far as they're concerned.
But the Lord said, if you went out there to see a prophet of
God, you got what you came for. And then some, because this is
the one spoken of in Malachi 3.1. Behold, I send my messenger
before thy face. And this is what God does every
time the gospel is preached. He sends his messenger to prepare
the way. And he's not what this world
expects or wants, for that matter. But where God's forerunner goes,
the Lord himself comes. And wherever God intends to visit
and bless a people in this world, He always sends His messenger.
Now in verses 12 through 19, our Lord, having described His
messenger, now describes two kinds of people who will hear
Him. Two kinds of hearers. He's describing everyone who
hears the gospel, and there are two kinds, two categories, two
reactions. There are those who take the
kingdom by force. If you actually hear what I'm
saying this morning, you will rush upon the kingdom of God,
which is Christ, and you will lay hold of him violently. They
see themselves as they are, and Christ as he is, and here they
come, and don't try to get in their way. And then there are
those who are dissatisfied and murmur about what they hear. Sinners have been murmuring,
you go all the way back to the book of Exodus. Sinners have
been murmuring against God since the beginning of time and they
still do. We still do, by nature. And there's always this division
when the gospel is preached. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2,
we're the savor of death unto death itself, and to others the
savor of life unto life. But we are always unto God a
sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that
perish. The sweet savor of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the gospel is always triumphant,
he said, but there's always those two categories. There's always
those two reactions, those two effects of the gospel preaching.
When God's messenger comes, when a John the Baptist comes and
preaches, there's going to be a division. There's going to
be life and there's going to be death. But let's look a little
closer at these two reactions to the Gospel before we close
this morning. The Lord likens the religious
generation of His day to children who are just playing games. Does
that sound like anything you've ever witnessed? They're just
playing games. They're playing church. Their reactions to the Gospel
are childish and improper. Wise Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes
3.4, There's a time to weep and a time to laugh. There's a time
to mourn and a time to dance. And this is true in the gospel.
And when the gospel is piped, when the joyful sounds of the
good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, behold, we bring you great tidings,
glad tidings of great joy. The proper reaction to that is
to laugh and dance. The Gentiles did, when they heard
it, they were glad. But what religion, what sinful,
unregenerate religious man, his reaction is not the right one.
There's a time to laugh, but they don't laugh. There's a time
to dance, but when the gospel is piped, they say, we're not
gonna dance. And then there's a time to mourn. There's much to mourn and much
to rejoice over in the gospel of Christ, in the truth of God.
And the unregenerate sinner does neither. They do just the opposite. Look at Psalm 22. Let's read
Psalm 22, verse one. Listen to the language here.
And you tell me if it's time to mourn or time to laugh. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime,
but thou hearest not. And in the night season, I am
not silent, but thou art holy. Oh thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel. And that's why the father forsook
the son, because the father's holy. And he must, because the
Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins, he must be forsaken of the father.
Verse four, our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted in thou
didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and were
delivered. If we're going to be delivered, you see, he can't
be. He said to those that came to
arrest him, he said, take me and let them go free. You can't
take us both. The fathers cried, they trusted
and they were delivered. Why? Because he wasn't, because
he bore their sin, their punishment, their guilt and their, the consequences
of their guilt and ours too. But I, verse six, am a worm and
no man. A reproach of men and despised
of the people. We did esteem him stricken and
afflicted of God. He was despised and rejected
of us and afflicted by God because of our sin. Because he became
what we are, he said, I'm a worm. A reproach. And all they that
see me laugh me to scorn. Is that time to laugh? They shoot out the lip and they
shake the head saying he trusted on the lord that he would deliver
him Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him Religious
man when it's time to mourn they laugh They mock they spit They
scorn And when the lord jesus Christ is preached As The effectual
propitiation for sin, the redeemer of sinners who obtained eternal
redemption and perfected forever them that he sanctified with
his precious blood that he shed on that cross at Calvary, this
religious world, they still mock. But when the piping of the gospel
is heard, when the joyful sound of the good news that he died
for sinners, he shed his precious blood to redeem a people. What's
the reaction of religious unregenerate man to that? When the piping
is heard, the beautiful sound of the gospel. Turn to Acts chapter
13. In verse 48, look at verse 46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed
bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you. But seeing you put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I've set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, and
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
when they They had preached the gospel, verse 44. It says that
they all, almost the whole city came together to hear what? The
word of God. That's what Paul and Barnabas
were there to do, to deliver the word of God as ambassadors
of Jesus Christ. And they all gathered together
to hear. And look at verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard it,
they danced. Paul and Barnabas piped and the
Gentiles danced. But what about the Jews? They
were glad and they glorified the word of the Lord and as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the
Lord was published throughout all the region, but the Jews,
they weren't happy. They didn't dance. They stirred
up the devout and honorable women. and the chief men of the city
and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled
them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of
their feet against them, and came unto Arconium, and the disciples
were filled with joy. They shook off the dust of the
feet of those who wouldn't dance at the piping, and found somebody
that would, and rejoiced with them. They were filled with joy
and with the Holy Ghost. The gospel is a beautiful sound
to the ear of the child of God, to the ear of the true sinner
who needs effectual redemption. He doesn't just need another
chance to do the right thing. He needs the Lord Jesus Christ
to come where he is and do everything to save him in every sense of
the word, saved. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. It soothes his sorrows, heals
his wounds, and drives away his fear. It makes the wounded spirit
whole and calms the troubled breast. It is mana to the hungry
soul and to the weary rest. Pardon sounds pretty good to
a prisoner. It's a beautiful piping sound. And when the Lord Jesus Christ,
the effectual substitute for sinners, is preached, the sacrifice
that God will accept for my sin, the Lamb of God, which takes
away sin, when he is preached, the true sinner says, that's
music to my ears, and begins to dance. You know, David danced
before the ark of God. That ark was Christ. David knew. But that ark, that was the symbol
of God's presence and favor. That was where the mercy seat
was, where God said, I'll meet with you there and I won't kill
you. I'll commune with you right there. That's Christ. But David's
wife mourned. And while the Pharisee was dancing
to his own piping about his religious accomplishments and morality,
the publican was mourning, saying, God, be merciful to me. I'm the sinner. If you ever find out about God's
grace, the condition that you were in before God, you'll want
out of it. I guarantee you that. And you will violently, desperately
lay hold of Christ the door. The door to the presence of God
and his favor and blessing, glory and joy. you'll violently lay
hold. Religious lost people are never
satisfied no matter what. He said, John came and wasn't
eating or drinking. He just ate locusts and wild
honey. He just barely got by. And you said, he has a devil.
He's not like a... The son of man came eating and
drinking. You said, he's a drunk and a glutton. They're going to murmur and complain
and be discontent no matter what. And you notice that what they
said about John and the Lord Jesus Christ were personal attacks.
They couldn't really say anything against their message because
it's the word of God. Just as plain as it can be, but
they attacked him personally. You're demon possessed. You're
a glutton. You're a wine bibber. But they hated them because of
the message, because of the piping and the
mourning. And religious, unregenerate rebels
have never changed. And they won't until and unless
God sheds the love of Christ abroad in their hearts. You don't
have enough for the young people. I'll tell you this, I wouldn't
ever want to be caught in the position of saying that the gospel's
not enough. I wouldn't wish that upon you. You don't have enough of an outreach
program. I'll tell you this, I'll make
you this promise. Every penny that we don't have to spend to
maintain this building and just exist here, we'll put an article
in the paper. or we'll get on the radio or
whatever. We'll use that, we'll use it for that. That's what
we're here for is to preach the gospel to everybody that'll hear
it. But I'll tell you something else, God's people don't complain.
You know why? Because they're hearing the gospel
and that's what they came for. They're hearing of Christ who
is the bread of life and the water of life and that's what
they came for and they're satisfied. They're hungry and there's not
any food but Him. Christ and Him crucified is our
very soul's sustenance. They hunger and thirst after
righteousness, not entertainment, not recognition. And they take the kingdom of
God by force because they must. Because they don't have any choice.
As long as you have a choice, you'll choose yourself. But when
you have no choice, You'll rush upon Christ and lay hold of him
with violence. They don't have to be enticed
by words of man's wisdom, but they must have Christ. That's
what our Lord is teaching here. Taking the kingdom of heaven
by force means hearing of Christ and worshiping God with his people
no matter what. You're going to be identified
with Christ. When you first hear of Him, you're going to join
yourself to Him, no matter what. Because you must have Him. You're
a sinner and He's the Savior. You're dead and He's life. You're
vile and His blood washes the sinner clean. No matter who's
offended, no matter what the cost, no matter the inconvenience,
at a more convenient season, I'll call for thee. There's no
such thing. No matter the consequences. The
rich young ruler went away sorrowful. You know why? Because he wasn't
violent enough. And we know why. No man can come
unto the Lord Jesus Christ by nature. He said no man can. You're
not violent. You're not violent toward him.
You're not desperate enough. What that rich young ruler possessed
was more important to him than the kingdom of God, than the
Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord brought him to the crossroads,
didn't he? Here's you, yourself, and everything
you have and are, and here's me. You forsake that, you, yourself,
take up your cross and follow me. And he went away sorrowful,
and every natural man will do just exactly that. except the
Father, which sent Him, draw that sinner to the Lord Jesus
Christ. How does He do that? He puts
a violence in your soul, a desperate need for the Savior that cannot
be denied. I will not let you go unless
you bless me. God in His sovereign, effectual,
free grace gives faith, and faith is a violent grace. Faith won't
be denied. It makes a difference in the
heart. He gives a new heart. Christ dwells in our hearts by
faith. That's what the word says. And
a sinner is never the same again once he does. He takes up his
abode in our heart. The religious pretenders
will never be happy with Christ and his gospel. And the sheep
of God will never be happy with anything else except Christ and
his gospel. It's that simple. Where are you
this morning? Where am I?