Matthew chapter 11. We'll begin
reading in verse 1. 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 unto him, Art thou he that should come,
or do we look for another? Jesus answered and said unto
them, Go and show John again those things which ye do hear
and see. The blind receive their sight,
and 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." There are several speculations
concerning why John whom the Lord described this
way in verse 11 of the context here. He said, Verily I say unto
you, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen
a greater than John the Baptist. Why this one, who stood boldly
and pointed to the Lord Jesus and said, Behold, the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world, Why this man who
saw the very spirit of God in a form like a dove descend upon
this Jesus of Nazareth and heard God speak from heaven and declare
him to be his son? Why would John here send these
men to ask this question of all questions? Are you he that should come? Or do we look for another? He that should come is a way
in which the Jews commonly referred to the Messiah, the Christ. They referred to him as he that
should come. And so there can be no doubt about what's being
asked here. But the question is why? Why? Didn't John know who he was?
After all that the Lord had showed him and taught him, didn't he
know who he was? Let me ask you the same question. And I believe that's one of the
teachings here. Do you know who he is? Don't you know who he is? After
all the Lord has taught you and show you from his word. Don't
you know who he is? Let me ask you this, have you
ever doubted? Have you ever been angry concerning
your lot in life? As John almost certainly was
here. He'd been in prison now for a
while. God's prophet in prison. Is John asking this? If you're
him, then why am I here in prison? Have you ever asked that? In
a slightly different way, perhaps? If you're who you say you are,
then why? Why this? Why me? You know, just because something
doesn't come out of your mouth doesn't mean you're not saying
it. We know that, don't we? Let me ask you this. Have you
ever known, but just wanted to hear it again? One more time from him. You know, the Lord said to these
ones, he said, go tell John again, go tell him again. And so the answer to the question,
why would John ask this? Here's the answer. John was just
like you and me. That's why. And I don't know what was in
John's heart specifically at this time, but I know he's just
like you and I. God hasn't revealed what was
in his heart, but I know this, John and you and me are all made
from the same lump. And I know this too, that like
is often the case when we're studying the scripture, the real
question is not always what we think it is. I think the first
question that comes to mind when this text is read is, why would
John ask that? But here's the truly important
thing to ask and get an answer to when reading this text. It's
the most obvious thing. It's not so much why would John
ask this, but here's the question. Do you know the answer to the
question that John asked? Is this Christ? the Christ? Is my Christ the Christ? Now, what John was asking is,
are you the one that the Old Testament prophets prophesied
of? And our Lord answered him by
quoting what the prophets said concerning him. And so, that was part of his
answer. I'm not as interested this morning
in convincing you that the Christ of the Old Testament, that Jesus
of Nazareth in the New Testament is the Christ that was prophesied
in the Old Testament. I'm pretty sure you know that.
I'm pretty sure you know the answer to that. He's born in
Bethlehem. The scripture said he'll come
suddenly to his temple and he hadn't come before the Lord came
because there were so many looking for him. And there'd been no
word from God even. There hadn't even been a prophet
at all, much less the prophet for 400 years. And he couldn't
have come to his temple after that because the temple was destroyed. Do you need proof that Jesus
of Nazareth is God's Christ? Look at all of the prophecies
of the Old Testament, the ones that our Lord quoted. Who else
has raised the dead or made the lame walk? He was betrayed by a close friend,
as was prophesied. He died on a cross, as was prophesied. The Lamb slain to bore the sins
of His people. But here's the question I want
to ask us this morning. Is the Christ that we preach,
is He the Christ? Is He the one that should come
do we preach the lord jesus christ there are a lot of people say
hello here is christ and there is christ and our lord said don't
listen to them don't pay any attention to them is this christ
whom we preach the messiah of god is he the savior in john
chapter four our lord had a conversation with a woman at a well She's
known now as the woman at the well. And she was a Samaritan
whom the Jews despised. The Jews would have said she
had no business even looking for the Messiah, but she did.
She knew about it. She said to the Lord in John
4, 25, I know that Messiah is coming, which is called Christ. And when he's come, He'll tell
us all things. He'll tell us everything. All of our questions will be
answered by Him. And in the next verse, 26 of
John 4, Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He. I'm He. It says in Matthew 2,
1, now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, In the days
of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to
Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews?
Wise men from the east? How'd they know anything about
a king that's supposed to be born, a king of the Jews? At
this time, there hadn't been a prophet of God in Israel, much
less in the east for 400 years. But they came to see the birth
of God's king, the king of his people. They said, we've come
to see, we've seen his star in the east and we come in to worship
him. They were looking for him, weren't
they? They were looking for him. Is this he that should come?
Luke 2.25, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name
was Simeon. The same man was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel, waiting for him that
should come. And the Holy Ghost was upon him,
and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came
by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
Then took he him up in his arms and blessed God, and said, Lord,
now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.
I can die now. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation
in the face of a little baby, the consolation of Israel, he
that should come. Thy salvation which thou hast
prepared before the face of all people alike to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of thy people Israel." Glory. These looked for Him because
God had revealed that He should come. And He revealed much in
the Old Testament Scriptures, the only Scriptures they had.
God had revealed much concerning His coming. Turn to Acts 10. In verse 34. Acts 10.34. Then Peter opened his mouth and
said of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons,
but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness
is accepted with Him. The word which God sent unto
the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is
Lord of all. That word, I say you know, which
was published throughout all Judea and began from Galilee
after the baptism which John preached, how God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about
doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil,
for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things
which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem,
whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him God raised up the
third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but under
witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink
with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to
preach unto the people and to testify that it is he which was
ordained of God, to be the judge of quick and dead. To him give
all the prophets witness." It's this Jesus of Nazareth that Moses
was talking about. He's the one that Hosea was talking
about in his prophecy. He's the one that all the prophets,
to Him give all the prophets witness that through His name,
whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. This Jesus of Nazareth, He's
the Christ of the Scriptures. Ain't no question about that.
Is the one we preach the Christ of the Scriptures? Is He the
one that God ordained to be judge of quick and dead? They looked
for Him And when he came, they pointed to him and said, there's
the one God told would come. The one that was prophesied of
all the prophets. The Lord Jesus said to the Jews
in John 5 46, had you believed Moses, you would have believed
me. For he wrote of me. I'm the one
Moses was talking about. So don't say you believe Moses
and then you reject me. He wrote of me. In Luke chapter
24, when those two disciples walked to Emmaus, it says that
Jesus drew near and went with them, but they knew him not because
their eyes were holding. And it says in Luke 24, 25, then
he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken. Every one of the prophets, prophesied
of exactly what just happened, and you don't believe it. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things? Isn't that what Isaiah was talking
about? Isn't that what Moses prophesied?
Isn't that what Elijah, isn't that what all of the prophets,
major and minor, all through the word of God, isn't that the
message of God? Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses,
Genesis, and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all of the scriptures, as they say from cover to cover,
the things concerning himself. Are you He that should come? Is the Christ that we preach the One that should come? Is
He God's Christ? Is He God's Messiah? Is He God's
Judge? God's King? Peter said in John
6, 69, We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ. that Christ. And they're talking
about the Old Testament Scriptures. A lot of folks in religion today,
they throw out the Old Testament Scriptures. But unless we preach
that Christ, we're not preaching Christ. We're not preaching the
Lord Jesus. You're that Christ, the Son of
the living God. John said in John 20, 30, and
many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book, but these are written that
you might believe that Jesus, the one born in Bethlehem, the
carpenter's son, is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing,
you might have life through his name. So Jesus of Nazareth, the
Jesus of the New Testament is the Christ of the Old Testament.
There's no question about that. And it's by grace through faith
in his name that sinners are saved. So are we preaching to
him? That's the question. When the Ethiopian eunuch was
reading Isaiah 53, we're told of it in Acts 8, 32, the place
of the scripture, which he read was this. He was led as a sheep
to the slaughter. And like a lamb dumb before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his
judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered
Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet
this? Of himself or of some other man? And then Philip opened his
mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him, Jesus,
that carpenter's son, that Nazarene, preached unto him, Jesus from
Isaiah. You see how all of this applies
to what John had, are you he that should come? It's the identification
of a person, a person. Are you the one of whom Isaiah
wrote when he said, therefore, the Lord himself shall give you
a sign. God's going to give you a sign.
He's going to show you who his son is. Did he not? Didn't he
say audibly from heaven, this is my beloved son. He's going
to give you a sign. Here's the sign Isaiah was talking
about. A virgin shall conceive, behold. and bear a son, and shall call
his name Emmanuel. His name is gonna be God with
us. Isaiah 7, 14. Are you he that
should come? Are you the one spoken of in
the Old Testament? In the revelation of God, are
you the son of David? Bartimaeus said he was, he said,
oh, thou son of David, God's Messiah, have mercy on me. Jesus,
thou son of David, are you the root of Jesse? Are you the seed
of the woman that shall crush the serpent's head? Are you the
anointed of the Lord? Are you, are you the child that
Isaiah said is born unto you? Are you the son that's given
by God? whose name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. Is this him? Is this who we preach? Are you the one who Isaiah said
shall bear our griefs and carry our sorrows? Can you do that? Will you do that? Or are you
waiting on me to do something? Has God laid on you the iniquity
of all of his people? That's the question. Are you
he? Are we healed by your stripes?
Are you the messenger of the covenant? Are you the Lord our
righteousness? Are you the one to whom all the
prophets gave witness? Are you the one that said, come
let us reason? and know your sins are scarlet,
I'll make them white as snow. Is that you? Are you him? Is
that who you're preaching, Brother Chris? Is it that one? Is it
the one we talked about this morning who has mercy on whom
he will? Are you the one that spoke to Moses and said, I will
have mercy, and I'll do it sovereignly. I'll bestow my mercy on who I
want to have it, and who I will I'll harden. Is that you? He's not walking on this earth
today. So we're not asking, is the one walking around doing
these miracles, preaching the gospel? Is that him? That's not
what we're asking like John did. We're asking this, is the one
preached from this pulpit, God's true Christ? Are you he that
should come? All over this morning, they're
saying, oh, here is Christ and there is Christ. Our Lord said,
believe them not. Just two things. If the Christ
that we preach, and we do say with Paul, we preach
Christ, we're preaching a Christ, aren't we? We don't say much
else. We're not talking about what
you need to do. We're not talking about how to overcome depression
this morning. We're talking about somebody named the Lord Jesus
Christ. We preach Christ. But is he the
Christ of the Bible? Is he the Christ of the Old Testament
Scriptures? And no. If not, let me say this
first. If not, then we can just play church
and get away with it. If not, then we can just be casual
members here and just enjoy, you know, the
social aspect of it. And that's about all there is
to it. But if this is God's ministry, then it's something altogether
different. I have to remind myself of that. The Lord has to remind
me of that often. This is something different.
It's not just a job that I do. It's not just a club you belong
to. This is God's ministry. It takes precedence over everything
else because it's His. It has to do with His glory.
That's why David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in your house than have the highest honor this
world can bestow because it's altogether different to be in
on what God's doing. You see what I'm saying? Our Lord said to the Jews in
Luke 11, if I, with the finger of God, cast out devils, if I'm who I say I am, if we
preach this one, then no doubt the kingdom of
God has come upon you. If Christ is who he says he is,
and this is his ministry here, if this is the one that we preach,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon us. So the question is this, do we
preach Christ the Son of God? There are two things, and there
are many things, but there are two primary things, I believe
you'll agree, that distinguish the message here from what is
being preached in your average so-called house of worship today. And the first one is simply this,
the one that we preach, the Christ that we preach, is the Sovereign
God. He not to be trifled with. You
don't have a little talk with him. It's not he and you got
a good thing going. You don't put him in your pocket
and take him out when you need him. He's the son of God. It
is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and all of the inhabitants
thereof are his grasshoppers. Look at Matthew 22. Let's read
Matthew 22 together. Verse 41. Matthew 22, 41. While the Pharisees were gathered
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? They say unto him, He's the son
of David. They knew the Old Testament Scriptures real well. They were
looking too, weren't they? They were waiting for somebody.
They knew all the facts. They could have quoted them to
you. They could have made you a list of everything that the Messiah's
gotta do. This, this, this, this, that to qualify to be the Messiah.
Look at what our Lord said to them. How then does David in
spirit call him Lord? Saying the Lord said unto my
Lord, sit thou on my right hand. till I make thine enemies thy
footstool. If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? And no man was able to answer
him a word, neither dared any man from that day forth ask him
any more questions. You see, the Jews were looking
for someone born of the seed of David, but they didn't want
a Lord. They weren't looking for a Lord.
They said, we will not have this man to reign over us. That's
not what this is about. And religion will still not have
this. If we're preaching God's true Messiah, then he's David's
Lord, my Lord, your Lord, and he'll do with us as he will.
He's the one we talked about in the Bible class this morning.
He's God Almighty. Religion, like I said a while
ago, they want to have a talk with Jesus. They want to walk
with Jesus. They want to serve Jesus. But
they're not going to bow to the sovereign Christ. No, by nature,
we will not submit. We will not bow. Religious people
want Jesus in their heart. They want Jesus in their lives.
They want Jesus in heaven, getting their mansion ready for them.
But they don't want the Lord Jesus Christ on the throne. No,
in Matthew 26, when he spoke of ascending his throne, the
throne of power, he said, hereafter, you shall see me ascend back
where I came from, the throne of the universe. And it says,
then did they spit in his face and buffeted him with their fists.
We hate the Lord Jesus Christ, the way that we mocked him. was
by putting a crown of thorns on his head. You think that was
an accident? That that's the way in which we mocked him as
the king? That's the one way we will not
have him. He can do all the miracles he
wants to do. When he starts talking about
being the king, he's got to go. We put a crown of thorns on his
head and a reed in his hand and made fun of him. Look at his
scepter. and put a sign over his head
saying this is the king of the Jews. And I'm preaching to you this
morning. The one who said I'm able to cast you body and soul
into hell. Fear him, fear that. Or he can save you. If it pleases
him to do so. That's who I'm preaching to you
now. I'm preaching the sovereign Christ who said, even as the
father quickeneth whom he will, so he has given authority, power
to the son to give life to whomsoever he will. If he wants you to have
life, he'll give it to you. If not, he won't. Is this he
that should come? Look at what Peter said in Acts
2, 29. Acts 2, 29. Men and brethren. Let me freely speak unto you
of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and
his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him,
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he seeing this before
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus,
half God raised up, the one he said he was going to raise up,
he's raised him up. Whereof we are all witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God, exalted. And having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which
you now see and hear. He's the one that's still making
the lame walk. He'll do that this morning if
he wants to. Not physical legs. He'll give you spiritual legs. He's the one that sheds this
forth. He's the one whose power goes forth in the preaching of
the gospel. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but
he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my
right hand till I make thy foes thy footstool. This is what God
said in his word, the Old Testament prophecy of David. Therefore,
let all the house of Israel know assuredly, let there be no doubt
about this in your mind or in your heart. That God hath made
that same Jesus whom you crucified, whom you that sit there this
morning and me, who by nature we hate and despise and rail
against and rebel against his throne. But God made him both
Lord and Christ. Both Lord and Christ. This is the one who said to Pharaoh,
that was Christ speaking when he said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. He said to Moses and concerning
Pharaoh, I raised him up for this same purpose to show my
power in him. This is the one who said, I have
spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
This is the Christ that we preach. Well, He wants to save you. We
preach in the Christ, if He wants to save you, He'll save you.
If that's what He wants to do, that's what He'll do. He said,
I've spoken it, I'll do it. Is this He that should come? Nebuchadnezzar said of Him, again
in Daniel 4.35, He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth. and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Religion speaks of
a Jesus who's trying to save everybody, who wants to do things, but you'll
have to let him do them. Is that he that should come? Or is it this one that we've
been telling of? The sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. Just one more distinction this
morning. And as I said, there are many others, but this, this
one here is closely related to the first and you'll find that
these two things will be conspicuously absent where our Lord is absent. The one that we preach is the
victorious, successful, all-sufficient, effectual Redeemer of all that
He came to redeem, His people, His sheep, those that the Father
gave to Him in the covenant of grace. Is this He that should
come? The one we preach is the consolation
of Israel. He's the one that Simeon looked
for, the consolation. He's not trying to be the consolation
of Israel. He is. As Isaiah prophesied He would,
He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He didn't
do His best. He did everything in order to
save us. He bore our sins. He actually
bore our sins in His own body on the tree, as Peter said in
1 Peter 2.24. He did what He came to do. And as Paul declared in Hebrews
9, 12, by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. Chris, you quote that
scripture a lot. That's because that's the gospel.
That's the good news. Christ obtained redemption for
us. He didn't take a stab at it.
That's what they're talking about down the street down here. the
best that he could do. And now, you know, you do some
things and it'll make it all complete. If you just cooperate
with him, you know, then everybody will be happy. Is this he that should come? In Hebrews 10, 12, this man. Is he he that should come? Well,
let's see. Let's see if he is. This man,
the one we preach, After he had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Why did he
sit down? For by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. He accomplished the
work that the Father gave him to do, and he sat down. As we'll
talk about tonight, he sat out on the right hand of God, the
place of exaltation and authority and glory. Is this he that should
come? They're not talking about him
down the street, I'll tell you that. There are two questions asked
in the book of Job that pertain to this. Job 9-2, I know it is
so of a truth. Job said, I know it's true, but
how? How should man be just with God? I know that man can be just with
God, but how is that? Can you answer that? And in Job 25, four, how then
can man be justified with God or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? How? Can you answer these questions? Let me give you a hint. And I'm
not talking down to you, I'm just being facetious here. The answer is not by making a
decision for Jesus. That's not how that happens. How can man be just with God? How can he be clean? That's born
naturally into this world, a sinner. John said in Revelation 1, unto
him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. How can I be clean? I've got
to be washed in the precious blood of God's lamb. If he shed
his blood on Calvary for my sins, then I'm clean. If not, then
I'm not. So I'll ask you the same question
this morning that Paul asked concerning this cross. In Romans
8, 33 and 34, who shall charge me with sin? Who shall threaten
me with hell if God has justified me? If he obtained eternal redemption
for me, If He perfected me forever by sanctifying me with His precious
blood, in that holy place not made with hands, in the very
presence of God the Father, He offered Himself an offering for
my sin and perfected me, sanctified me, made me holy forever. Now
who shall charge me with sin? Who shall threaten me with judgment?
God has justified me. Who shall condemn me? It's the
Lord Jesus that died for me. It's this Christ we pray. It's
this Christ of this book. It's the one that was prophesied
of old and who came to this world and is recorded his life and
his death recorded in the New Testament and the gospel preached
by his disciples and apostles of him. We preach Christ crucified. Is that he that should come? If so, then who's going to charge
me? Who's going to condemn me if
that Christ died for me? The one who obtained redemption,
who perfected forever those that he sanctified. My sure eternal
hope lies not in what I presume to do for God, But in what the
Lord Jesus Christ has done for me, what God did for me by his
son, Jesus Christ, it is enough that Jesus died and that he died
for me. Is this he that should come?
I'll tell you this, by God's grace, this morning as I stand before
you, by God's grace, I'm not looking for another. Are you? I'm not looking for another. The sovereign, effectual, redeemer
of sinners, God's Son, God with us. He's my all and in all. My full
God. By His almighty grace. Are you
looking for another? Is this He that should come?
Or do you look for another? Let's bow in prayer.