Let's turn back to Luke chapter
7, verses 18 and 19. And the disciples of John showed
him of all these things. And we know from Matthew's account,
they went to prison. John was in prison and they came
to show him these things. Verse 19, and John calling unto
him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus saying, art thou
he that should come? Or look we for another. And John was in prison. In the
not too distant future, he would be beheaded and his head would
be brought in a plate to Herodias, the woman who hated him, for
confronting her about her relationship with Herod. John was the first
cousin of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the last Old Testament
prophet. He was the forerunner of Christ.
And look what the Lord said about him in verse 27 of verse 28 of
this same chapter. The Lord says concerning John
the Baptist, for I say unto you, Among those that are born of
women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. John was the one who, when he
was in his mother's womb, leaped when he heard that Mary was with
child of the Holy ghost. That's a phenomenal thing, isn't
it? He leaped in his mother's womb. He is the one who baptized
Christ and saw visibly the Holy Spirit descending in the form
of a dove upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who said,
behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. He is the one who said, He must
increase, and I must decrease. Look what the Lord said about
him directly after this in verse 24. And when the messengers of John
were departed, those two that he sent, he began to speak unto
the people concerning John. What went ye out into the wilderness
for to see? A reed? Shaken with the wind,
someone that can be swayed by public opinion. But what went
ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously
appareled and live delicately and in luxury are in king's courts. But what went ye out for to see?
A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much
more than a prophet. This is he. of whom it is written,
behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare
thy way before thee. For I say unto you, among those
that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than
John the Baptist." That's a high commendation, isn't it? That
the Lord gives John the Baptist. Now, here's my question. Why
did he ask this question? After all he had seen, and all
he had experienced. I mean, he knew who the Lord
was. Why did he ask this question? Are thou he that should come?
Or should we be looking for somebody else? Now, some have suggested
that the reason he asked this question was for the benefit
of his disciples. He wanted them to go see in person
what the Lord had done, and they would then be convinced themselves. Perhaps the John the Baptist
was a man, perhaps the greatest man born of women as far as men
go, but he was still just a man. And he was in prison. He had
been used in a mighty way by the Lord. And now he was put
on a shelf in prison. And perhaps he felt plagued with
unbelief the way you and I can feel plagued with unbelief. Remember,
he was a man. And the best of men are men at
best, a sinful man like you and I are." Maybe he was having wondrous
thoughts or doubts. I don't know. Perhaps he was
a doubting disciple at this time, just like you and I could be.
So he sends these two messengers. We don't know what his motive
was. And John calling unto him, two of his disciples sent them
to Jesus saying, art thou he that should come or should we
be looking for someone else? And at that same hour, verse
21, that same hour, as soon as they asked that question, he
cured many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits. And unto many that were blind,
he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto
them, you go your way and tell John what things you've seen
and heard. Now I've entitled this message,
divine evidence. Divine evidence. You go tell
John the things you've seen and heard. How that the blind see,
the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
and to the poor the gospel is preached. And blessed is he whosoever
shall not be offended in me." Now, the first thing that I see
in these divine evidences that the Lord gives is why we need
him that should come. Because of the condition we're
in. Now the physical condition of these men and women that the
Lord saved describe our spiritual condition. Blind. Lame. leprous, death, dead, and
poor. This is a description of our
spiritual condition. Now the Bible makes no attempt
to prove God's existence. I love that. The Bible makes no attempt to
prove that it's divinely inspired. But the Bible does clearly declare
our state before God. Guilty, sinful, unsaved, and
unable to save ourselves or to contribute in any way to our
own salvation, we are blind by nature. Blind to the true character
of God. Blind to who He is. Blind to
who we are. We cannot see. We lack the ability
to see. We do not see His holiness. We
do not see our sinfulness. We do not see our need of Him. We are blind. And we'll remain blind unless
He is pleased to give us our sight. We're lame. We cannot walk in God's commandments. The scripture says the carnal
mind, the fleshly mind, what you and I are by nature is enmity
against God. Hates God. Have you ever hated God? I want
to ask you that question. Have you ever found yourself
hating God? Well, the carnal mind is enmity. It's God's enemy. That's the way we're all born
into this world. We cannot spiritually make the move to Christ. Now
where there's life, there's motion. Isn't that so? Wherever there's
life, there's motion. And the spiritual motion of spiritual
life is coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. And no man can come to
me, our Lord said. No man can come. We are lame. We're unable to get to where
we need to be to be saved. We're leprous. Leprosy in the scriptures is
the great type of sin. Let me read you a passage of
scripture. You don't need to turn there, but it's found in Leviticus
chapter 13, beginning in verse 44, describing the leprous man. He's unclean. The priest shall
pronounce him utterly unclean. His plague is in his head and
the leper in whom the plague is. His clothes shall be rent
and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper
lip and shall cry, unclean, unclean, nobody get around me, you'll
be defiled. And all the days wherein the
plague shall be in him, he shall be defiled, he is unclean, he
shall dwell alone, without the camp shall his habitation be. And we are by nature deaf. We cannot hear the gospel. Oh, we can hear audibly. We can
hear everything that's being said. We can hear audibly, but
we cannot by nature hear the gospel as gospel. We can't hear
it as good news to our souls. We can't hear it as the joyful
sound. It's just words perhaps that
irritate us, but we can't hear the gospel as the gospel. The Lord said in John chapter
eight, verse 43, why do you not hear my speech? Even because
you cannot hear my word. He that's of God, heareth God's
words. You therefore hear them not because
you're not of God. Dead. Dead. Ephesians 2.1 says, And you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. Death speaks
of inability. We lack the ability to believe,
to repent, to love. Just like a dead man lacks the
ability to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to touch. He can't.
He's dead. This is our condition before
God. Dead and poor. Bankrupt. If it took one penny's
worth of merit for me to be saved, I couldn't come up with the goods
bankrupt. Here is our state by nature. Blind, lame, leprous, deaf, dead,
and poor. Now how can people like this
be made to see? How can they be made to hear?
How can they be cleansed? How can they be given life? What can be done for these people?
How can they be saved? Now, the Lord Jesus, they witnessed
him physically do these things, these disciples of John. They
saw him give sight to the blind. They saw Him raise up people
who were paralytic. They saw Him physically cleanse
lepers. They saw Him give hearing to
people who were stone deaf. They saw him raise up the dead. They saw the gospel preached
to the poor. They saw these things physically
and the Lord Jesus could do this because he's God. He could do
all these things because of who he is. He's God manifest in the
flesh and he's well able to do these things. But more is involved
in spiritual healing. You see, for me in my blindness
to be enabled to see, he had to be made blind. And this is
a horrible thing. He enjoyed the full revelation
of His Father. He walked in fellowship with
His Father. He saw His smiling face. He saw His favor. Oh, the enjoyment
He had of His Father, the fellowship, the communion He had with His
Father as He walked upon this earth. Don't you love to think
about that? He didn't have what you and I have. He didn't know
anything about the guilt of sin that mars fellowship. No, He
was in perfect communion. He saw His Father clearly But
on the cross, he was made blind. The scripture says, as he was
surrounded in darkness in the cross in Isaiah 42, 18, who is
as blind as he that is perfect and blind as the Lord's servant. When our Lord was on the cross,
he was in utter darkness. He could not see. When he was on the cross, his blessed feet had a spike
nailed through them to nail him to that tree. And he was lame. He could not move. He couldn't come down from the
cross. And they made fun of him at that time. They said, he saved
others. Himself, he cannot save. Never were truer words spoken
for him to save me or you. He couldn't save himself. He was made lame on the cross. He couldn't come down because
he was guilty. He was made to bear the leprosy
of sin in his own body on the tree. The scripture says, who
his own self bear our sins, the leprosy of sin. Nobody understands
this, but the scripture says he was made to be seen. Second
Corinthians 521, he was made sin for, he hath made him to
be sin. Doesn't say he was treated as
if he were sin, says he was made to be sin. What does that mean? I don't know, but it's horrible.
It's horrible. My sin became his sin and he
was made to be sin. He bore the filth of sin. No,
he never sinned in his person. We know that. But he was made
to bear, he became filled with leprosy, the leprosy of sin. He was made deaf. All communication
from heaven was cut off. He was made to cry, my God, my
God, why has thou forsaken me? He died. Jesus Christ, the Lord, actually
died. The wages of sin is death. He died. It's Christ that died
and how poor he became. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich. Oh, the riches of Jesus
Christ, the riches of creation. The riches of righteousness,
the riches of love, the riches of praise. Oh, the riches of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your
sakes, he became poor. He became without anything. He became poor in righteousness. He became poor in praise. He
had nothing but his father's awful frown. You know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes, he became poor, that you through his poverty might be
rich. So this is how the blind are
made to see. This is how the lame walk. This
is how lepers are cleansed. This is how the deaf hear. This
is how the dead are raised. This is why the poor have the
gospel preached to them, because the Lord became all of these
things. Have you ever been blind? I mean, you could not see. Why God would look your way in
favor. You can't see it. You can't see
why he would have anything but you for you, but his wrath. But
now in Christ Jesus, you see why God can accept you for Christ's
sake. Do you see that? You can now walk. You can now
move. Have you ever been lame? You could not get to Christ. You didn't even know what it
meant to do it. You'd hear, come to me, and you'd say, I don't
know how. I can't get there. You don't even know what it means. It's all together beyond you. But now, by the grace of God,
you're enabled to come to Him even right now. O Lamb of God,
I come. Out of my sorrow, bondage, and
night, Jesus, I come to Thee. You're actually coming to Him
right now. Lord, have mercy on me. Remember me. There's a time
when you couldn't do it, didn't know what it meant to. But now
you do. Because He was nailed to that cross, you can now come.
Your sins have been purged. Have you ever been altogether
filthy, altogether sinful till there wasn't anything clean about
you? You know, that leper that was
cleansed in the Old Testament, it's so beautiful that the law
of leprosy, you know, when the leper was cleansed, if he'd come
up to the priest, the only time he would be declared cleansed.
was when he was altogether covered with leprosy. And there wasn't
a square inch of healthy flesh. When he came like that, the priest
said, you're clean. And anyone who is full of sin,
listen to this, Hebrews 1.3 says, he by himself purged, cleansed
us of our sin. If you've ever been altogether
sinful, you're someone whom he has cleansed. The deaf now hear
the gospel as gospel. They once heard no beauty in
the sound. It fell on deaf ears. They couldn't
hear. They hear now. They hear the
gospel as good news indeed to them. Because Christ died, the
dead in sins are raised and given spiritual life, born from above. And the poor have the gospel
preached to them. Literally the poor have the gospel
given to them, the saving health of the gospel, how the Christ
died for our sins, according to the scriptures and was buried
and raised again the third day, according to the scriptures.
Now, back in our text in Luke chapter seven, verse 23. Now the Lord gives this to John's
disciples as the divine evidence Then Jesus answering said unto
them, go your way and tell John what things you've seen and heard.
How that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised to the poor. The gospel is preached. Verse 23. And blessed is he. Now the Lord knows who's blessed,
doesn't he? Somebody has health and wealth. We say, well, they're blessed
of God. Not necessarily. They may be under the curse of
God. Somebody has good circumstances. They're blessed of God. Not necessarily. They may be under the curse of
God. The Lord Jesus knows who is blessed because if you're
blessed, it's he who has blessed you. He knows whom he has blessed
and he knows what a true state of blessedness is. Now look what
he says. Blessed is he, oh how blessed
is he. Whosoever, I love the word whosoever. I'm one of them. Thank God for
this word. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. If you call upon the name of
the Lord, I don't care who you are or what your condition is,
you'll be saved if you call upon his name. Don't you love this
word whosoever? Blessed is he, whosoever. shall not be offended
in me." Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ walked upon this earth,
people were offended by him. Now, that word offended is where
we get the word scandal from. They were scandalized by him.
They found him to be a stumbling stone. They fell at him. They found his message to be
scandalous. Why this will lead to sin. This
will lead to horrible things if people believe this stuff
that he's saying. They were offended by his person.
He wasn't grand enough for them. This is the carpenter. We know
his mom and dad. There's nothing so impressive
about him. This is the carpenter. We know his brothers and sisters.
They were offended by his claims. He said in John chapter 10, many
good works have I showed you from my father. For which of
these do you stone me? The Jews answered him saying,
for a good work stone we thee not, but for blasphemy. For thou
being a man, make us thyself God. That was his claim. Men were offended. Who is this
that forgiveth sins? When he said, man, thy sins be
forgiven thee. Who is this that forgiveth sins?
There's none that can forgive sins but God only. They were offended by what he
said. I think of when the disciples said to him, knowest thou not
that the Pharisees were offended when they heard that saying?
Oh, he's shaking in his boots. He said, let him alone. They'd
be blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind,
they shall both fall into the ditch. Turn with me for a moment
to John chapter six. These things, verse 59, John
chapter six, verse 59. These things said he in the synagogue,
as he taught in Capernaum. Many, therefore, of his disciples,
those who claim to be his followers, when they had heard, notice the
word this is in italics. It's talking about this entire
message. Many, therefore, of his disciples, when they had
heard said, This is an hard saying, harsh, disagreeable, unsympathetic. This is a hard saying. Who can
hear it? Who can be expected to listen
to preaching like this? Verse 61, when Jesus therefore
knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto
them, doth this offend you? Do you find this scandalous? Do you find this something that
you stumble at that arouses problems? What, what was he said? I'm sure
you're familiar with this, but he, he dealt with what we call
the doctrine of grace in this passage of scripture. Now I'm
going to use a term that I dislike and I don't use it very much
to show you why I don't use it. You all have heard the term of
Calvinism. Calvinism. uh... known by the acrostic to
look total depravity and initial election limited to a bit here's
a bit is this will grace and perseverance of saints and i
hate the term calvinism because calvin doesn't have anything
to do with those troops this is what our lord taught in john
chapter six it has nothing to do with calvinism i uh... you
know that don't call it calvinism call it the gospel that's what
it is the gospel not calvinism John Calvin was a man, a sinful
man like you and I are. He had nothing to do with this.
This is God's doctrine. Now, our Lord put this forth. And he said, this is a hard thing.
Who can hear it? The Lord said, are you offended
by this? Now, look what he said in this
message. It wasn't Calvinism. It was the word of Christ. He
said in verse 44, no man can come to me. John 6, 44. No man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me drawing. Absolute
depravity and inability. You can't even come to Christ.
And if God just leaves you to yourself, you'll go to hell.
That's what our Lord is saying. Total depravity. Look what he
says in verse 37. All that the Father giveth me,
shall come to me, divine election, unconditional election. All that
the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. Look in verse 39. And this is
the father's will, which has sent me that of all which he
has given me, I should lose nothing. Christ's death for the elect,
all their salvation is secure. Call it particular redemption,
definite atonement, limited atonement, and substitution is what it is.
It's all it is. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. I won't lose one of them. Look
in verse 45. It is written in the prophets.
They shall be all taught of God. Every one of them, every man,
therefore, that had heard and had learned of the father, they
come to me. There's the invincible, irresistible
grace of God. Verse 47. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Not temporary, not eternal, but
everlasting life. Now that is what we call the
doctrine of grace. That's the doctrine of Christ.
That's the gospel. It's not Calvinism. It's the
gospel. And when they heard these sayings,
they said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Lord said, did
this offend you? Are you offended by what I said?
Now, The Lord Jesus Christ himself is the rock of offense. Listen to what God said. God
said, behold, I lay in Zion, a stumbling stone and a rock
of offense. We preach Christ crucified, Paul
said, unto the Jews, a stumbling block, same word, offense. To
the Jews, an offense. To the Greeks, foolishness. The intellectuals, you expect
me to believe stuff like that? But unto them which are called,
thee called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and
the wisdom of God. Paul spake in Galatians 5.11
of the offense of the cross, the scandal of the cross. But our Lord said, blessed is
he whosoever is not offended and mean." I want you to think
about this. Christ is called, Christ himself
is called the offense. He himself is who and what men
are offended by. Christ and his gospel offends
men's sense of personal righteousness. Because his gospel declares that
you and I are nothing but evil in God's sight and cannot save
ourselves. And all men's high thoughts and
proud thoughts and arrogant thoughts of himself are a lie. Man in
his best state is altogether vanity, completely unable to
save themselves or to contribute to their own salvation. That's
the truth. And that offends men's sense
of personal righteousness. The gospel offends men's sense
of wisdom because it says, you can't figure this out. The only
way you'll ever know any truth is if God is pleased to make
himself known to you. You're completely, I'm completely
dependent upon him to reveal himself to me. This isn't something
I can learn like you learn in school. I'm totally dependent
upon God to make himself known. And if he doesn't make himself
known, I won't know. The gospel offends men's sense
of personal rights. I want my rights. You lost them. You don't have any rights. I
don't have any rights. God is just, and I don't have
any rights. The gospel offends men's desire
for control. I want to control. You got no
control. And God has all control, and
you're in his hands. That offends men's sense of control.
Men think, I want power. I want power. I want power. You
don't have any power at all. I don't have any power at all.
He's a powerful man. No such thing. She's a powerful
woman. No such thing. God only has power. Power belongeth unto the Lord.
And men have no control. That offends men. The gospel
offends men's love of self because it calls upon us to deny self. to take up our cross daily and
to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our Lord said in John or
Luke chapter seven, verse 23, blessed is he, here's the blessed
man, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Now, a lot of folks are
offended by the Lord Jesus Christ, aren't they? A lot of folks are
offended by his person. They're offended by his claims.
They're offended by his doctrine. They're offended by his gospel.
A lot of folks are offended by the Lord Jesus Christ, but oh,
how blessed is that person? Who's not offended. You see,
I'm not offended. This person, I believe he's glorious.
I love he's God. He's the perfect man. He's the savior. I'm not offended
by his claims. I love his claims as Lord of
all. I'm sure not offended by his
doctrine. I know I'm depraved and I know I'm utterly needful
of his electing love, his redeeming blood and his irresistible and
invincible grace for me to persevere. I'm not offended at his addressing
me as a sinner because I know that's what I am. I'm not offended
by my need of revelation because
that's what I need. I'm not offended by his sovereignty. I love his sovereignty. Blessed
is he. Oh, how blessed that person is
who's not offended in me. Now, here's a question I want
to leave you with. What's in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Blessed is he whosoever is not offended in me. What is in the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, Colossians chapter two,
verse nine says in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
in a body. All that God is, is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. What is in Christ? All that God has for the sinner
is in, through, by, And because of Jesus Christ the
Lord, all of God's mercy, all of God's grace, all of God's
blessing, all of God's favor, all of God's love, all of God's
salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And blessed is he whosoever
is not offended in me. Now, do you stumble in him? No, I don't. In Christ, listen to these words. In Christ, God can require no
more. There's nothing else he can ask
of you. And in Christ, he can accept
no less. Blessed is he, whosoever shall
not be offended in me. By his grace in my heart, I bow I'm not offended in him. The
only hope I have of being saved and the sure hope I have of being
saved is in him. You go back and tell John the
Baptist what you've seen. The blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear. The dead are raised
to the poor the gospel is preached and blessed is he, whosoever
shall not be offended in me. Let's pray together.