Go and show John again those
things which you do hear and see. I have entitled this message,
Show John Again. Show John Again. Now, John the Baptist was a very
special man. Look at the Lord's testimony
concerning him in this chapter. Look in verse 7 of Matthew chapter
11. 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, somebody who can bend to whatever
way the wind is blowing, change his position. But what went ye
out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?
Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses. But what
went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you,
more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is
written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall
prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among
them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than
John the Baptist." Now that's the Lord's testimony concerning
this man, John the Baptist. Now remember, John was the forerunner
of Christ. His ministry was foretold in
the Old Testament scripture. He saw the heavenly dove descend
bodily upon the Lord when the Lord was baptized. He audibly
heard the voice of God from heaven saying, this is my beloved son. in whom I'm well pleased. It
was John who said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away
the sin of the world. John was a very special man. And look in verse 2 of Matthew chapter 11. Now, when
John had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two
of his disciples and said unto him, Art thou he that should
come? Or look we for another. Now my question is, what in the
world is he doing asking that question? I mean, he heard the
Father speak concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. What is he doing
asking this question? Art thou he that should come?
Or should we look for somebody else? I mean, he had been given
divine testimony. Why is he asking this question
again? Now, John was in prison. He'd gone from the limelight
to a place of relative obscurity. And he asked this question concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are a lot of people
who think he was doing this merely for the benefit of his disciples.
Perhaps they were doubting the Lord Jesus Christ, and he sent
them to find out for themselves. Such a man as John, could never
have danced like this. Wait a minute. Such a man? John was a man. Yes, he was a great man, but
he was a man. And man at his best state is
what? Altogether vanity. John was a man. If you ask, how could John doubt
the Lord Jesus Christ or be unsure after all he had seen? I could
answer that question like this. Where does your doubt come from?
When you're unsure, where does that come from? John was a man
just like you and I are. And he needed the truth reaffirmed
or reconfirmed to him. And the Lord said, you go show
John again. Aren't you thankful for the agains
of the scripture? You go show John again the things
you've seen and heard. John needed to hear the gospel
again. And note the order our Lord gives
this in, in verse four. In answer to John's question,
are 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 you do hear and see. Show him what you hear and
show him what you see. Did you know that you cannot
see until you first hear? Faith cometh by not seeing, but
hearing. I must believe before I can really
see. We must hear and believe the
gospel before we can really see and understand. I will not see
until I believe. Show him again what you hear
and what you see. He's heard and seen before, but
he needs to hear and see again. Now, what was it that they heard
and saw? Verse four and five together.
Jesus answered and said unto them, you go and show again those
things which you do hear and see. The blind. received their sight, 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."
He said, you go tell John what you've seen and what you've heard.
And he names those six things that take place. Now, these things
literally took place. Not only did they hear these
things, they saw these miracles. that place. The blind were literally
made to see. There were paraplegics who got
up and walked. There were men dying of leprosy
whose flesh was made as clean as a newborn baby's. There were
people who were 100% hearing impaired. No hearing aid could
help these people, yet they were enabled to hear. There were dead
people who were given life. The poor that nobody cared about
had the gospel preached to them. These things literally took place. And there's only one person who
can do these things. Who's the only one who can raise
the dead? Only God can raise the dead. Now, these physical miracles
were a divine confirmation that, in fact, Jesus of Nazareth was
he that should come. The promised Messiah, the great
prophet, the Lord's Christ, the one who came to save his people
from their sins. They saw this is no mere man.
But as in all of the Lord's miracles, divine truth is illustrated by
this statement. When the Lord says this, we're
given a photograph, as it were, a picture of man, blind, lame,
leprous, deaf, dead, and poor. We're given a picture of what
you and I are by nature. Now, here's the first thing I
want to bring to our attention. John, after all the things that
the Lord had made known to John in such an unusual and powerful
way, here John is asking, Are you he that should come? You've
already heard. Why are you asking again? And
look how our Lord answered him. He didn't bawl him out at this
time. He said, You go show him again what you've seen and what
you've heard. And he gives a picture of man's
sinfulness. You want to learn from that? You can only hear as a sinner. When you start hearing as a critic,
as a judge, you lose the ability to hear. You lose your stability,
you start questioning, you start wondering. When you quit hearing
as a sinner, it's only in hearing as a sinner that I'm given this
divine confirmation and I'm able to hear with hearing ears. It's
only when I hear as a sinner. May God give us grace this morning
to hear this message as a sinner. Somebody that's described when
I read this description, I see myself. Oh, wouldn't it be a
blessing if you and I can hear the gospel as a sinner? When
we hear as a sinner, we hear. When we don't hear as a sinner,
we lose our stability. We start questioning, we start
wondering. Now, he describes man as blind. Unable to see, the natural man
is unable to see and understand the things of God. He can't see
who God really is. He can't see who he really is,
and he can't really understand the gospel because he's spiritually
blind. If you're blind, you can't see.
Glasses won't do you any good. You cannot see. He is lame, crippled,
unable to walk in God's commandments. He is leprous, and leprosy in
the scripture is that great type of sin. He's a leper. He's deaf. He's unable to hear the gospel.
He's dead. Dead means dead, completely unable
to perform the functions of life, dead, poor. He has nothing to
recommend himself to God's favor. But here's the gospel once again. The blind A blind person is somebody who
really cannot see anything in himself that would cause God
to look his way in favor. He can't see one reason in himself. that would draw God's affection
out toward him. He doesn't argue against the
great truth of scripture. He doesn't argue against election
and predestination and particular redemption, saying that's not
fair. He sees why God wouldn't choose
him. Can you see why God wouldn't
choose you the way he passed you by? Can you see why Christ
would refuse to die for you? Can you see that? Can you see
why he wouldn't have mercy on you? A blind man can't see one
reason in himself that God would look his way in favor. He doesn't
argue against the gospel. He sees the truth of it. Now,
the blind man is made to see. He is made to see how God can
look in his favor, look his way in mercy for Christ's sake. You
know, I can see why God would save me for Christ's sake. I
can see how I can be clean in God's sight through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can see how I can be righteous
in God's sight. Christ's righteousness is mine.
I see. I see. I was blind, but now I
see. Those who are lame Unable to
come to Christ. Unable to walk with Christ. Here's
the gospel. Those who are lame. Unable to
walk in God's commandments. Unable to believe. Unable to
repent. Unable to love. It's a thing
out of their grasp. The lame walk. They're unable
to do what they cannot do. The Lord said to that man with
the withered hand, stretch forth thine hand. He couldn't. It was
withered. But the Lord told him to do it.
He did it. He stretched forth his hand. The lame are made to
walk. They're made to believe. They're
made to repent. They're made to love God as He's revealed
in the Scriptures. They're made to do what they
could not do. Men who were leprous are cleansed. Now, leprosy is the great type
of sin in the Scripture. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Leviticus chapter 13? I get excited about this passage
of scripture every time I think about it. Leviticus chapter 13. Now, you'll see here in Leviticus
12, 13 and 14, there's a lot of attention given to the leper.
Verse 9. When the plague of leprosy is
in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest and the priest
shall see him and behold at the rising be white in the skin and
It has turned the hair white and to be quick, raw flesh as
living flesh, quick, raw flesh. That's talking about there's
there's healthy looking flesh along with the leprous flesh
in the rising. It's an old leprosy in the skin
of the flesh and the priest shall pronounce him unclean and shall
not shut him up for his unclean. He's still to go around with
a rag over his mouth, crying out unclean, unclean. And if
a leprosy break out abroad in the skin and the leprosy cover
all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even
to his foot, wheresoever the praise looketh, he doesn't have
one square inch of healthy flesh. There's nothing quick. It's all
leprous. Now you think of what a horrible
condition this fellow is in. He comes up to the priest being
nothing but leprous. Then the priest shall consider
and behold, if the leprosy hath covered all his flesh. He shall pronounce him clean. He shall pronounce him clean.
Now that doesn't make sense. You mean he's covered from head
to toe? And he doesn't have any healthy
flesh? And the priest pronounces him clean? Why is that? I can answer that question. That man is nothing but sin.
He doesn't have anything that's healthy about him. He's nothing
but sin. That's the person that Jesus
Christ died for. Christ came to save sinners. Have you and have I ever stood
before God as nothing but sin? Please consider that. Don't let
it go in one ear and out the other. Have you ever stood before
God as nothing but sin? Now, that is the only person
who is cleansed. If you have any healthy flesh,
the priest says, go back to the leper colony, you're still unclean.
It's only the sinner that Christ came to save. And thank God,
His blood cleanses every sinner without exception. His blood
cleanses every sinner from all their sin. That's the one who's
cleansed, the one who's completely leprous. He says, now you go
tell John, the lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. Those who could not hear the
gospel now hear. I hear. I hear what's being said. There was a time when I didn't.
I do now. I hear. The dead hear. The dead are raised. Now you go tell John about this,
the dead are raised. Christ died. And he was raised
from the dead and all in him were raised when he was because
of union with him. And the spiritually dead are
raised. They're made to see. They're
made to hear. They're made to feel. They're
made to smell. They're made to taste the glories of the gospel.
A miracle has taken place. The dead are raised. Born from above. And the poor,
he says, have the gospel preached to them. Now, you have to be
poor for it to be gospel to you. But when you're poor, when you
have nothing and do not have the power or even the potential
in yourself to be anything else, it's good news to hear the gospel
when you're poor. Now, the big question is, what
is the gospel that the poor have preached to them? Turn over to
First Corinthians, Chapter 15 for a moment. Hold your finger there
in Matthew 11. Paul says in verse one, moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. And here's Paul's
definition of the gospel. You ask 10 different people what
their definition of the gospel is, you'll probably get 10 different
answers. But here's Paul's definition, as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
This is God's gospel right here. Want to hear it? Here it is.
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. The gospel which
I preached unto you, it's the gospel I've always preached,
which also you've received, wherein you stand, by which also you're
saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
you've believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of
all, that which I also received. Here's the gospel. It's how that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was
buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures. What's the gospel? Well, it's
that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures.
Not just Christ died for our sins. You can say that all day
long and never preach the gospel. Christ died for our sins. If
that's what I said, Christ died for our sins, I've not preached
the gospel. It's how that Christ died for our sins, according
to the Old Testament scriptures. and he was buried and he was
raised again from the dead according to the Old Testament Scriptures.
Now here's the gospel. Everything, and it's only gospel
to you if you're poor, everything that God requires of me is found
in the life, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. Everything that God requires of me is found in the Life of
Christ, there's my righteousness. The death of Christ, there's
my sin payment. The resurrection of Christ, there's
my justification before God. All that God requires of me,
he looks to his Son for. Now, that's good news to you
if you're poor. If you have anything else, that's
really not good news to you. Now, to the poor, the gospel
is preached. Art thou he that should come,
back to our text in Matthew 11. Art thou he that should come,
will you show John again those things which you see and hear?
The blind receive their sight, 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. But you know, that's
not the end of this. Look at verse six. and blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me." This is part of that message
of reaffirming the truth to John. How blessed by God is that person
who is not offended in me. That word offended is where we
get the word scandal from. Everybody here knows what a scandal
is. Blessed is that one who is not scandalized by me. A scandal is a stumbling block.
It's something that arouses prejudice. and offense and even causes people
to turn back in disgust or to fall away. They stumble at that. Well, I just can't get past that.
I'm going back. That's what an offense is. And
our Lord says, blessed is that man who is not offended. He doesn't turn back. He doesn't
fall in me. He's not offended in me. Now,
the language is very important. Notice he says he's not offended
in me. He doesn't say he's not offended
by me, although that thought is included, but he says he's
not offended in me. Now, what's he talking about
when he's talking about in him? He's not offended in me. Well,
turn with me to Colossians, Chapter 2. Colossians, Chapter 2. Verse 9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. How immense is God? How vast
is God? All the fullness of God dwells
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And look what he says next, verse
10. And you are complete in him. You are complete. Now this is
said of every believer. You are complete. That means
there's nothing that can be done to enhance your salvation. There's
nothing that can be done to make you any more saved than you are
right now, any more loved than you are right now, any more accepted
than you are right now, any more holy than you are right now.
You are complete. It can't get any better. You
are complete in Him. There's nothing you can do to
make this better. You're already complete. This
is not something that's going to happen. It's something that
is right now. You are complete in Him. Nothing lacking. Why not? That will lead people
to sin. Well, that's a scandal. If you
really believe that, what motivation do you have for obedience? What
motivation do you have for good works? That's the way a natural
man responds to that. Why? That's scandalous. That's
going to lead people to sin. That can't be true to say you're
complete, or you don't have any motivation to do anything. That's
going to make people apathetic. It's going to make people like
Knopf almost. That's not going to do anybody any good. I'll tell you who's not offended
by it. That person who has no other hope but that. He's not
offended by it. Blessed, oh, how supremely blessed
by God is that man who's not offended, scandalized in me. Now, the fact of the matter is,
the natural man is offended by the Lord Jesus Christ. When we
nailed him to a tree, we demonstrated how offensive we found him to
be. If you want to know what the
natural man, what I am by nature and what you are by nature, how
God sees you, you look at the cross and you'll see. The one
time you're allowed to do what you want to do, you've nailed
Jesus Christ to a tree. You know, one of the things that
makes me know that the gospel we preach is the gospel is seen
in how men are offended by the gospel. Now, please don't misunderstand
me. I don't want to offend men by
my personality, and I'm sure I've done it. I'm sure I've said
things from the pulpit that people have found offensive, and they
should have been offended by it. I'm sure if you're around me long
enough, I'll offend you somehow. And Blackwell. I mean, the opposite's
true, too. You'll offend me, too. I mean,
it's people. But I'm not talking about That
kind of offense, where I say something wrong or I say something
stupid, or you say something wrong or say something stupid.
I'm not talking about that kind of offense. I'm talking about an
offense from the message. The natural man is offended by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Always have been, always will
be. That's part of what men are by nature. I mean, that was proved
when we nailed him to a cross. Men find Christ offensive. He does not fit our natural idea
of a Messiah? Why, He's the carpenter. We know
His mom and dad, His brothers and sisters. They're in the Messiah. They're offended by His claims.
He said before Abraham was, I am. You know what Scripture says
next? Then took they up stones to stone
Him. They were so offended by His
claims. He claims to be God. He claims to be equal with the
Father. He claims to be God the Son. He claims to be the only Savior
of sinners. We'll not have this man reign
over us. I mean, he claims that I'm in his hand. I'm not going
to have that. As if you have a choice. Men
were offended by his claims concerning himself. They still are. Men
were and always will be offended by his followers. A bunch of
nobodies, ignorant, uneducated fishermen with no worldly power,
with no worldly credentials. Who are you? I mean, what makes
me think I don't listen to you? They were offended by his followers.
They just didn't have the credentials that made them think they were
worth listening to. Most especially, men are offended
by his gospel. Would you turn with me to Galatians
chapter 5? Verse 11, Paul says, And I, brethren, if
I yet preach circumcision. And when he's talking about preaching
circumcision, he's talking about salvation by works. That's what
that's a reference to. Circumcision, as painful as it
may be, is the easiest commandment to keep. It's easier to be circumcised
than it is to not tell a lie. It's easier to be circumcised
than to have a pure heart. So he's representing salvation
by works, by this thing of circumcision as part of the law. He says,
if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?
Why are there people still persecuting me for this message? Then is
the offense. the scandal of the cross ceased. If I preach salvation by works,
he's saying nobody's going to be persecuting me because I've
taken the offense of the cross away. Now, what is the offense
of the cross? I'm going to say more on this
tonight because we're going to consider the doctrine of the
cross, but the cross is that word that represents. The whole counsel. Of God. It's the word that represents
the entire gospel message, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And men find this message offensive. Let me give you some reasons
why. The message of the cross, the message of the gospel, salvation
by crucified Savior, the message of the cross, men find this offensive,
first of all, because it offends their sense of wisdom. Here's why. The message of the
cross, the message of the gospel, you can't figure it out. You are totally, I am totally
dependent upon God revealing the truth to me. And if he doesn't
reveal it, I'll die and go to hell and God will do justice
to me there. That's the message of the cross. You can't figure
it out. You're totally, I am totally
dependent upon God. to reveal it to me. I can't figure
it out. It's not learned through education,
but by revelation. I'm totally dependent upon him. That offends men's wisdom. The
gospel offends men's sense of personal rights. Because it says
because of our sin, we have no rights. Everybody wants their rights
protected. I want my rights protected, don't you? I want my rights.
I don't want people to mistreat me. I want to have my rights.
And this generation we live in, they make such an issue of our
rights, our rights. I've got a right to this, a right
to that. And people are so offended by the gospel message. For instance, according to the gospel, God
chose who he would save before time began. He didn't choose
everybody. Some he passed by. Now that's
just the truth. That's what the Bible teaches. You can't deny
that. How's that fair? That's the natural
man's response. That's not right. I mean, God
owes us that. It's not right for him to choose
one and pass by another. Oh? You can tell me it's not
right for him to pass you by? That's what you're saying. When
you say that, when we object to the gospel like that. Or we
hear that Christ died for the elect. And that's what he did
on the cross. He died for God's elect. He redeemed them. He put
away their sins. If he died for you, you must
be saved. Somebody that ends up in hell, he didn't die for
that person because they wouldn't end up in hell if he died for
them. The cross clearly teaches that
Christ Jesus accomplished salvation for all. He died for a few. Well,
how could that be fair for him to die for some and not die for
others? And what we mean by that is my rights were being violated.
I had this coming to me. No, the cross says we don't have
any rights because of our sins. Do you believe that? If God passed you by and sent
you to hell, would your rights be violated? The only thing we
have by right is what? Hell. That's the only thing we
have by right. And the gospel, when it's preached,
the true gospel, it offends men's sense of personal rights because
it says we do not have any right. The gospel offends men's sense
of personal righteousness. Because it says we don't have
any personal righteousness. There is none righteous. No,
not one. That's the message of the gospel. The gospel offends men's pride
because it declares a salvation that is all of grace. Every bit of it. Now, would you
please listen to me carefully? When we talk about salvation,
it's a work of grace. Unmerited favor from the beginning
to the end, every bit of it. Election is an act of grace,
isn't it? God choosing who'd be saved before
time began, that's the grace of God. Redemption. Paying for your sins by blood,
that's an act of grace, isn't it? You didn't earn that. What
about justification? God declaring you to be just,
look at you, and God says you're just? Is that an act of grace
or what? That's an act of His grace. Regeneration
being born from above. You couldn't contribute to this
thing. You didn't cooperate in this thing. This is His work.
It's a work of His grace. The fact that you're preserved
up to this point, don't you know that that's a work of His grace?
The fact that you've held on this far, that's His grace, isn't
it? When you're glorified and when you're made just like the
Lord Jesus Christ, when you stand and are accepted on Judgment
Day, aren't you going to know that's a work of the grace of
God? There's no room for pride, is there? The gospel, the gospel
offends men's sense of pride, because it declares that salvation
is all of grace. And the gospel offends men's
love of self. Because you know what the call
of our Lord is? Whosoever will come after me,
let him deny self. Take up his cross and follow
after me. That's the word to the gospel.
That offends men's love of self. But our Lord says, How blessed
is that one, blessed by God, that is not offended in me. Now let's think of this thing
of being offended. Do you know it is impossible
to offend the chief of sinners? If you're offended, there's only
one reason. You don't really believe you're a sinner. That's
the bottom line. If you find this message offensive, you can't
defend the chief of sinners. Oh, it's easy for me to say that.
It's another thing to really believe it. You know, I said
this before. If I say I'm the chief of sinners
and if you agree with me, I'm going to get mad at you. What do you mean by that? Well,
that's what you said. I'm really believing this. I really believe
I'm the chief of sinners. I'm not going to be offended
by the gospel message, am I? As a matter of fact, the only
hope I find is in this message. That's it. I'm going to close
by looking at a passage of scripture in John chapter 6. Verse 59. These things said he in the synagogue,
as he taught in Capernaum. Many, therefore, of his disciples,
when they had heard this, what he taught, they said, this is
an hard, offensive saying. Who can be expected to hear such
teaching? This is hard. This is harsh.
This is narrow. This is offensive. When Jesus
knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it. He said unto
them. Does this offend you? Do you find this scandalous?
What if you should see the Son of Man ascend up where he was
before? Now, what our Lord is saying is if you're offended
now, Get my words. You're really going to be offended
when you see who I really am. When you see me as God the Son
sitting on the throne where I was before. Verse 63 is the spirit
that quickens, that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. And
the words that I speak unto you that you find so offensive, 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 unto him of my father. Now you're offended at my sayings,
but I'm not looking at myself as a failure. Boy, I wasn't able
to win him over. He said, no, you can't come to me. You can't
believe. You can't hear unless God gives you the grace to do
it. You can't even come to me except it were given to you of
my father. He's saying I'm not discouraged. The fact that you
all are offended by this. I'm in control of all this. Verse
66. Verse 65. And he said, Therefore
said I unto you that no man can come to me, except it were given
in the name of my Father. From that time, many of his disciples
went back and walked no more with him. And I've often tried to put myself
In the place of the 12, now he had just fed 5000 people. And
it seemed like something good was happening. I mean, these
people had a high opinion of Christ. So the disciples thought
before this took place and now every one of them leave. They left him. Verse 67. Then said Jesus. Under the 12. You fellas want to leave? Here's the door. What do you
say? The Lord's not going to have any unwilling disciples,
is he? You fellas want to leave? Everybody else has. Here's your
opportunity. You can flip out incognito. There's the door. You fellas want to leave? Then
Simon Peter answered him, Lord, Where would we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, these words that they find so offensive. We find them to
be the words of eternal life. We don't have any hope except
in what you said. And we believe and are sure. That thou art that Christ, the
son of the living God. Now, here, you want to know something
I believe in and sure of? Are you absolutely sure you're
saved? Do you know beyond a shadow of
a doubt that you're saved? Now, as soon as I ask you that
question, you start wondering, don't you?
When I ask you that. Are you sure you're a Christian?
I don't think I am. I hope I am. Let me ask you another
question. Are you sure that he is the Christ?
Yep. I am sure of that. I'm plum flat
out sure that he is the Christ, the son of the living God. I believe that, and I'm sure
he is the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered
him, have not I chosen you twelve? You know, I think it's interesting.
The Lord doesn't say, well, I'm glad at least some of you
believe. No, he said, the reason you believe is because I chose
you. That's why. And that 12, one
of you, Judas, he said, not all of you, one of you is a devil.
One of you is a devil. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the
son of Simon, for it was he that should betray in being one of
the 12. And that's why he said that. What did John need He's standing down. Are you he
that should come? Or look we for another? For what
he needed is what you and I need once again. You go show John
again, the things that you've seen and the things that you've
heard, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.