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 28 of this same
chapter. The Lord says concerning John
the Baptist, 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 the
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, that 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,
or 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, at 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." And 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. And the physical condition of these men and women that the
Lord saved describe our spiritual condition. Blind. Lame. Leprous. Deaf. 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 will 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? The carnal mind is enmity, 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 are 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 8, verse
43, Why do you not hear My speech? Even because you cannot hear
My Word. He that's of God hears God's
Words. You therefore hear them not because
you're not of God. 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. Now 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 to 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. The Scripture says, He was made
to be sin. 2 Corinthians 5.21, He was made
sin for. He had made Him to be sinned. It doesn't say He was treated
as if He were sinned. It says He was made to be sinned. 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 sinned. 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 hast 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 oh, 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 crown. 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 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 altogether 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 you. 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, so there wasn't
anything clean about you? You know, that leper that was
cleansed in the Old Testament, it's so beautiful. That's 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 clean
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 that 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 7, 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 dead here, 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 He 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. And 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 good works do we thee not, but for blasphemy. For thou,
being a man, makest 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 is 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 them alone. They
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 6. These things, verse 59, John
chapter 6, verse 59. These things said He in the synagogue
as He taught in Capernaum. Many, therefore, of His disciples,
those who claimed to be His followers, when they had heard, notice the
word this is in italics, talking about this entire message, Many
therefore of His disciples, when they had heard, said, this is
a 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 it Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto
them, Does this offend you? Do you find this scandalous? Do you find this something that
you stumble at? That arouses problems? What was he saying? I'm sure
you're familiar with this, but he dealt with what we call the
doctrine of grace in the 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 Give cross, stick, tulip, total
depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible
grace and perseverance of the saints. Now I hate the term Calvinism
because Calvin doesn't have anything to do with those truths. This
is what our Lord taught in John chapter 6. It has nothing to
do with Calvinism. Don't call it Calvinism. Call
it the Gospel. That's what it is, the Gospel,
not Calvinism. John Calvin was 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, verse 44. No man can
come to Me except the Father which has sent Me, draw him.
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 is sent me, that of all which He
hath 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, it's substitution is what it
is. It's all of that. All that the Father gives 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? The Lord said,
does this offend you? Are you offended by what I said?
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Rock of Athens. Listen to what God said. God said, Behold, I lay in Zion,
a stumbling stone, the Rock of Athens. 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, be 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 in me. Now 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. If He doesn't make Himself known,
I won't know. The Gospel offends man'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 man'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 belongs to the Lord. And
men have no control. That offends me. 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 7 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 in this person. I believe he's glorious. I love
his 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? Colossians chapter 2 verse 9
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. 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 them. Let's
pray together.