Both of those specials, those
were a real blessing. Turn back to Matthew chapter
11 while you're turning there. The Harry's are inviting everyone
to their house tonight, so every one of you be there. Verse three, and he, John the Baptist, said unto him, this is the message
he asked them to bring, the Lord, and remember he knew who Christ
was. And he says, art thou he that
should come, or do we look for another? I've entitled this message, A
Word to a Doubting Disciple. A Word to a Doubting Disciple. Now, I can't think of a better
way to close out the year or to begin the new year with hearing
the gospel. A simple gospel message. And let me say that if it's not
simple, it's not true. It's not good. It's not profound
if it's not simple. Now, John the Baptist was in
prison. Look in verse two. Now, when
John had heard in prison the works of Christ, the reason he
was there was because of what he had said to Herod. It's not
lawful for you to have her as your wife. Now, how long had
he been in prison? I'm not sure, but he went from
a very active prophetic ministry to being stuck in a filthy prison
cell, unable to move. And that's a big change. Now remember, he is the forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What an honor. And yet here he
is in prison, and he's hearing things about this one whom he
baptized. He's hearing things about this
one who he visibly saw the Spirit descend like a dove upon him. Remember, he's the one who said,
behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world.
What an experience he had of Christ. And yet he asks this
question. Art thou he that should come? Or look we for another. Now somebody
says, how could John struggle like this? Well, same way I can. Same way you can. Art thou he that should come?
After all he'd seen, art thou he that should come? Or should
we be looking for someone else? Now, I love the question, art
thou he that should come? You know, that's a good summary
of the entire Old Testament. Art thou he that should come? Listen to the scripture from
Micah chapter five, verse two. But thou Bethlehem, Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel,
whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. He is eternally coming. That is his purpose. The lamb
slain from the foundation of the world comes to be slain. Genesis 3.15, the first gospel
promise, the seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's head. He's
coming. He's coming to bruise the serpent's head. Isaiah 9,
6, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government
shall be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. He's coming. We read in Isaiah 53 that he's
going to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, but
he's coming to be the lamb brought before the shearer. He's coming.
to die. Somebody's coming. It was foretold,
behold, a virgin shall be with child. He's coming. He's coming. There's so that, that it's not
an overstatement at all to say that the entire old Testament
can be taken down to this one statement. Somebody's coming. Now John the Baptist was the
only man in the New Testament who was foretold in the Old Testament. Paul wasn't, John wasn't, but
John the Baptist was. He was foretold as the forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Malachi 3.1, behold, I will send
my messenger, and he shall prepare thy way before me. He was filled
with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. And somebody says,
can you explain that to me? No, not going to try to, but
I know that when Mary announced to Elizabeth, his mother, he
was in his mother's womb. He was just a few months older
than Christ. Mary and Elizabeth were cousins. And when Mary comes
to Elizabeth to tell her I'm with child, it said that John
the Baptist leaped in his mother's womb at that announcement. It was he who cried, behold the
lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. It was
he who said, I must decrease and he must increase. He was
the one who baptized the Lord Jesus and saw the heavens opened
and the voice of the father. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. Now with all this experience
of Christ, what is he doing saying, Art thou he that should come?
You know, I read where somebody said, well, he wasn't asking
this for himself. He was doing this for the benefit
of his disciples. I don't buy that. Don't buy that
for a second. Because he said, you better tell
John again the things that you've seen and heard. Now this is the
one that Christ called the greatest. Now he's the one who knows. And
Christ said, nobody is ever born among women has been greater
than John the Baptist. What a commendation. Let's go
on reading in Matthew chapter 11, verse seven. And as they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the
wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind,
who can be controlled by popular opinion? But what went out ye
to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?
Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But 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 will 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's least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater than he. Now who's least in the kingdom
of heaven? Christ Jesus became least. He became forsaken like
no one else. And he that's least in the kingdom
of heaven is a whole lot greater than John the Baptist, infinitely
greater. He's speaking of himself. Verse
12, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom
of heaven suffers violent and the violent taken by force for
all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if
you'll receive it, this is Elijah, which is for to come. He is saying,
this is Elijah coming. Now with that in mind, I think of
Elijah, John the Baptist was the new Testament coming of Elijah.
You read about Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 18 and what faith he
had, what courage he had, what fearlessness he had before Ahab
and Jezebel and how he called fire down from heaven. And then
you go in chapter 19 and he's afraid of a woman and he runs
and he ends up asking the Lord to kill him. Now it's almost
like you read about two different men. Well, in the believer, you
do have two different men. John the Baptist, while he was
the greatest morn among women, he was just as sinful as I am
and as you are. He dealt with the same evil nature. I think it's expressed so clearly
by that man that had the demon-possessed son, when the Lord said, if you
can believe, all the things are possible to him that believes.
And he said, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. He is speaking as the spokesman
of every believer. You see the new nature always
believes. You can't not believe. You can't
not believe. The old nature never believes. And you have those two natures
coming out of one consciousness. And that's only true of a believer.
An unbeliever only has one nature. but a believer, somebody that
God has saved, has two natures. Now, I don't know what all was
going on in John's mind, but turn with me just for a moment
to Matthew chapter 28. This explains some of it. Look
in verse 16. Then the 11 disciples went away
into Galilee, into the mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
And when they saw him, They worshiped him. And that's what happens
every time somebody sees the Lord, they worship him. You can't
see him and not worship him for who he is. But look what it says
next. But some doubt it. And what is
very interesting is that in the original, some is not there. They worshiped him, looking at
the resurrected Christ, and while they were worshiping him, they
doubted. just like you and I. I believe
help thou mine unbelief. Now, like I said, I don't know
what all was going on in his mind while he was in prison.
He'd had an act of life. The Lord had blessed him in such
a unusual way. And here he is stuck in prison.
Who knows what's going to go on in somebody's mind in a position
like that. And he begins doubting. He begins
doubting. He begins doubting the reality
of everything he'd experienced. And he asked these men to come
to Christ. They said, aren't thou he that
should come? Or look we for another. The Lord's word to his doubting
disciple. Oh, the Lord loved John the Baptist.
He belonged to him. And this is his word to his doubting
disciple. Verse four, Jesus answered and
said unto them, go and show John again those things which you
do hear and see. What does John need? He needs
to hear again. He needs to hear again. That's what goes on every time
we meet together. We're hearing again. Go show John again. He needs to hear again. What
is it that cures us? Hearing the gospel. And as soon
as we walk out, believing and doubting, but go and show John
again those things and notice the order, go show John again
those things which you do here and see, not see it here, here
and see. You're not going to see anything
until you hear. It's only when you hear that
you see. That's the faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. He says, you go and show John
again those things which you do hear and see. And then he names six physical
miracles that John was to hear about, that these people were
going to witness and come back with this report. Let's look
at what they are, verse 5. The blind receive their sight,
and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear,
the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached
unto them. Now, can you imagine seeing these
sites? Somebody born blind, having their sight restored to them.
It happened throughout the Lord's ministry. He gave sight to people
who were born blind. Can you imagine what that must
have been like? The lame, paraplegics, people who could not make a move
because they were crippled. He made him to rise up and walk.
Can you imagine witnessing that? Young man, I say unto thee, rise
up and walk. Take up your bed and walk. How
many times did that happen? And they witnessed it once again. And next we read where lepers
were cleansed. Leprosy is the great type of
sin in the scripture. And lepers were cleansed. A leper
came up to him, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.
I will. Be thou clean. That leper was
cleansed. And then we read of the deaf
hearing. Someone who'd never heard a voice. All of a sudden, they could hear.
And then we read of the dead being raised. What kind of miracle
is that? On at least three different occasions
in the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, he raised
somebody from the dead. There was a little girl who just
died, perhaps still had the flush of life on her cheeks, or her
skin was still warm. But he said, mate, I say unto
thee, arise. And she did. And then there was
the young man in the funeral. He was already in the coffin,
and his mom was weeping. And the Lord came and touched
the coffin and said, rise up. And he raised up. And then there
was Lazarus, who'd been Four days dead is a body already going
through the process of decay and smelling bad. Lazarus, come
forth. And he was dead, came forth.
And then we read of the poor, those who have nothing to bring
to the table. Those who have nothing to contribute
in their salvation. Those who have no resources,
the poor. They have the gospel preached to them. Now, first
of all, in that statement of what the Lord did, I see what
a natural man is. Now, what do I mean by natural
man? I'm talking about the way me and you were born. That's
what I mean. When I was born on September
9th, 1959, I came out of my mother's womb just like this. Blind, lame, a leper, death,
dead, and poor. Now that describes what I am
by nature. That describes what you are by
nature. You're blind. Obviously, I'm
not talking about physical blindness, but spiritually blind. You can't
see the beauty of Jesus Christ. You can't see the beauty of being
saved by his righteousness and not your own. You see no glory
in that if you're blind. You can't, you're blind to yourself.
You think you have some ability. You think you have some goodness.
You can always compare yourself to somebody else and think, I'm
okay. Blind to the glory of the gospel. You see no beauty. The natural
man is blind to the gospel. Natural man is lame. Know what
that means? He can't walk. You can't walk
in God's commandments. You can't. You can't. You can't
keep one of them. You can't get to Christ. Walking
implies movement. I know it's not a physical movement,
but you cannot get to Christ. You're lame. If God leaves me
and you to ourselves, we're going to stay right where we're at
and we'll never be saved because we're lame. And how else is the
natural man? He's a leper. Defiled by sin. Defiled, altogether defiled by
sin, full of leprosy. And you can't cleanse yourself.
The natural man is deaf. He can't hear the gospel. He
can't hear his gospel. Oh, he hears what's being said,
but he doesn't have any understanding. And it's certainly not good news
to him. He doesn't rejoice in this message. He's deaf. He can't
hear. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. Not everybody has ears to hear,
do they? Natural man is dead, dead in trespasses, dead in sins,
dead. In the day you eat thereof, you
shall surely die. Well, of course he didn't die
physically that day, but he died spiritually. That speaks of our
inability. What can a dead man do? Nothing
but stink. That's it. No ability to hear
the gospel. Dead in trespasses and sins. and poor, you have nothing to
bring to the table, spiritually bankrupt, poor. Would that describe
you? Well, if it doesn't, there's
a reason. You're blind, you're lame, you're
a leper, you're deaf, you're dead, and you're poor. But the glory of this, because
of Christ, the blind see. I love that verse of scripture
in John chapter nine, where the Lord is concluding his comments
after giving sight to that blind man. He said, for judgment have
I come. That they would see not, might see. And they would see,
might be made blind. Is there anybody here who, in
yourself, you can't see one reason why God would have anything to
do with you? You can't see. You're the one
that's going to be given sight. You're going to see that He saves
you for Christ's sake. You're going to understand that.
Is there anybody who says, well, I can see why He'd save me. I
fill in the blank, whatever it is. I did this. I did that. I
repented. I believed. You've been blinded. The Lord came to give sight to
the blind and blind those who say they can see. And then we
read where the lame walk. Those who cannot come to Christ
are enabled to by grace. They can make that spiritual
move toward him. Our Lord said in John 6, verse
44, no man can come to me except the Father which has sent me
draw him. You can now come to Christ drawn
by the Father. And then lepers are cleansed.
And I love the Old Testament law concerning the cleansing
of the leper. If you have never heard this, listen real carefully.
When a leper presented himself to the priest, the only way he
could be declared clean is if he was totally full of leprosy. Totally full of sin. If he had
one square inch of healthy flesh that wasn't covered with leprosy,
he was sent back to the leper colony. Unclean, leave. But when he came full of leprosy,
Full of sin is what that means. Full of sin. That's when he was
declared to be clean and not before then. And then we read
of the deaf hearing. You know, there's a time when
I couldn't hear, couldn't understand. I do now. Why? I begin to live. The deaf hear. I hear the joyful
sound. What I'm talking about is good
news to me. It's good news. This is glorious. The deaf hear,
they hear His gospel. The dead are raised. Dead in
sins, God gave me spiritual life. He birthed me into His kingdom. And now the dead live. And the poor, that's me. I've
got no resources, no spiritual resources, no spiritual ability.
Nothing to bring to the table, nothing to recommend me to God.
My faith's no good, my repentance is just, I got nothing. Right
now, I'm not talking about the way it was before I saved, I'm
talking about right now. I have nothing to recommend me to God. To that person, the poor, blessed
are the poor in spirit. To that person, the gospel is
preached. Now, look at verse six. Art thou he that should come,
or look we for another? Will you go tell John what you
see and what you've heard? The blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
the poor have the gospel preached to them. Now look at verse six,
and bless it. Oh, how happy, how blessed, how
fortunate is he Whosoever shall not be offended in me. Now, who is it that God's blessed?
That one who is not offended in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when our Lord walked upon
this earth, men were offended by him. They were offended. They found what he said offensive. They didn't like what he said.
Now, people aren't offended by the false Christ. A Christ you
can control, nobody's gonna be offended by him, nobody's gonna
be afraid of him. But the true Christ, men were offended by
him then, and they're offended by him now just as much. You
don't really find out what, you know, everybody says, well, I
love God. I love Christ. And when they find out who He
really is in the scriptural, I don't love that one. I know you don't.
Men are offended. All men by nature are offended
at Christ. Isaiah 6 says, we esteemed Him
not. What a crime. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God. And we esteemed Him not. He's
despised, the scripture says, and rejected of men. Men were offended at his birth.
He's a carpenter's son. Men were offended by his education.
How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? They were
offended by his lifestyle. Why, he's a gluttonous man, a
wine-bibber. They were offended by his associates. Why, he's the friend of publicans
and sinners. They were most especially offended
by his claims. You're a man and you're making
yourself equal to God. There's only one who's equal
to God. You know who that is? God. They heard exactly what
he was saying. John chapter six. Verse 59, these things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum. Many, note that word many. Many, therefore, of his disciples,
when they had heard this, said, this is a hard saying. We don't
like what's being said. This is harsh. This is prickly. This is offensive. We don't like
what's being said. Who can hear it? Who can be expected
to listen to such words? When Jesus knew in himself that
his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, does this
offend you? What you've heard, does this
offend you? What and if you shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where he was before? You know what he's
saying? If you're offended by these words
right now, you're really going to be offended when you see me
seated at the right hand of the Father making sentence concerning
you. You'll really be offended then.
It is, verse 63, it is the spirit that quickens, that gives life.
The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak unto you
that you're offended by, the words that you call harsh saying,
the words I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. But there are some of you that
believe not, for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that
believed not and who should betray him. And he said, therefore said
I unto you that no man can come to me. except it were given to
him of my father. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him." Now, what exactly
did he say? I'm going to be real brief. Look
in verse 29, verse 28. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe
on him whom he hath sent. These people were shut up to
faith alone. Verse 35, and Jesus said unto
them, I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I
said unto you that you also seen me, and believe not. He knew
they didn't believe. But it's almost as if he says,
that's not a discouragement to me that you don't believe. You
see, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh to me, I'll in
no wise cast out. Now what that is, is divine election. If you're saved, it's because
you were given to Christ by the Father before time began. Verse 38, for I came down from
heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which sent me, that of all
which He hath given me, Who are they? The elect. The elect. All which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing but raise it up again at the last day.
Now, what our Lord is telling us is that everybody I die for
must be saved. They can't be anything but saved
because I died for them. You see, this is the believer's
hope. We just sang Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. Now, if he can die for you and
you wind up in hell anyway, what's the gospel? Everybody he died
for will be saved. There'll be nobody in hell that
he died for. Amen? He's Lord. He can't fail. He shall not fail
nor be discouraged. And he said in verse 40, this
is the will of him that sent me, that of everyone which seeth
the sun. and believeth on him may have everlasting life, I'll
raise him up at the last day." Everybody that sees the Son,
now that doesn't mean you see him physically, but you see him
as the only way you can be brought into God's presence. You see
no other way. Verse 41, the Jews then murmured
at him, because he said, I'm the bread which came down from
heaven. What's he talking about coming down from heaven? He's
just a man like me and you. And they said to Jesus, is not
this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose mother we know, father
we know? How is it that he saith, I came
down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and
said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to
me, except the father which has sent me draw him. Now, do you
hear what he's saying? You can't come to Christ. unless
the Father draws you. And let me tell you why you can't
come to Christ, because you won't. You don't have any desire. You
don't have any need. You don't see any glory in this person.
You don't see your own sinfulness in need of him. That's why. And
you'll stay that way unless he, by irresistible grace, draws
you to himself. That's who Jesus Christ is. You
can go on reading this chapter. There's some other things he
said, you know, that I'm the bread that came down from heaven, except
a man eat my flesh and drink his blood. He has no life in
him. They were offended. Are you? Are you offended by what's being
said? Now, one last thought. Back to our text in Matthew 11. One last thought. Verse six. And blessed is he. Whosoever, I don't care who you
are. You're blessed. Blessed by God. Blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. Blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended, scandalized in me. Not just by me, but in me. Now what's in Christ? All the fullness of the Godhead
in a body. What's in Christ? every believer
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him." What's in Christ? All of God's salvation. Here's what this means. If you're
in Christ You have all of God's love, all of God's favor, all
of God's blessing. It can't get any better. You
can't be more loved. You can't be more accepted. You
can't be more holy. You can't be more righteous.
You are whatever Christ is. If you're in Him, that's you.
He's made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us these things. And you know what? This
blessing I'm speaking of, of being in Christ, has absolutely,
positively nothing to do with anything you do. There's nothing you can do to
prevent it. There's nothing you can do to
make it more likely. You can't be saved in any way
by anything you do. Everything God requires of me
He looks to Jesus Christ, his son for everything God requires of me, I look to
Jesus Christ, God's son for. It has absolutely nothing to
do with my works. Wow. That'll lead people to sin. You mean your works count for
nothing? Your character and your conduct count for nothing in
this thing of salvation? Why, that's scandalous. That's
offensive. That'll lead people to a life
of indifference and a life of ungodliness. Well, would you?
It would you. Because you haven't understood.
You haven't believed. It doesn't have that response. None of God's people respond
that way. Not one of them. Never have? Never will. Now,
are you offended by salvation utterly and entirely in Christ? You say, no, I'm not. I love
it being that way. Blessed are you. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
salvation that's in your son. Lord, we have been made to see, to come to your son, to
be cleansed by him. to be given ears to hear the
glorious gospel, to be raised from the dead, to have nothing,
have absolutely nothing, and have the gospel preached to us.
How thankful we are, oh Lord, that we might be among that great
number who are not offended in thy dear son. Lord, we're not
offended. We don't want to be found anywhere
else but in him. Oh, that we may win Christ and
be found in him. And Lord, as we observe thy table,
enable us to do this in remembrance of thy dear son and cause us
to understand that our salvation is not in us. It's in him. How we thank you for his broken
body and shed blood that made a way for you to be just. and
punish sin, and yet forgive and save sinners because of what
He's done. Bless us for the Lord's sake,
in His name we pray, amen.