Okay, Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. And I'm taking
the title for the message from what is said in verse 19. Verse
19. Our Lord Jesus Christ is a friend. He's a friend that sticketh closer
than a brother. He's a friend of sinners. Now you just think about that
for a minute. Do you consider yourself a sinner? If you are,
you have a friend. What a friend. What a friend
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a friend of sinners. What a total, amazing, glorious
statement God Almighty gives us. Now you think about this.
God who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin. He calls
Himself the friend of sinners. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
came to save sinners, didn't He? Sinners. There's no sinner
too great. There's no sinner too bad. There's
no sinner too guilty. There's none too sinful that
the Lord Jesus Christ cannot save. He is the mighty, mighty
Savior. Now listen to this Scripture.
In Romans 5, 6 it said that Christ died for the ungodly. Can you take your place there?
I can. I can. I'm ungodly. By nature,
by birth, by practice, by choice. And then it says in Romans 5,
verse 8, Christ committed his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us while we were yet sinners,
without strength, without help, without hope, and without God.
And then remember back over here in chapter 9, Matthew chapter
9, at verse 10, 11, and 12, remember the Lord called a publican named
Matthew, and went home with him, and was sitting in the house
with many publicans and sinners, verse 10, Matthew 9, verse 10,
and many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and
his disciples. And when the Pharisees, you know,
the self-righteous people, when they saw it, they said unto the
disciples, why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? And
when the Lord heard that, He said to them, they that behold
need not a physician, but they who are sick. You go learn what
this means. I will have mercy, not sacrifice. I am not come to call the righteous
sinners. Sinner to repentance. If I can
find a sinner somewhere, I've got good news. Christ came to
save sinners. It says in Luke chapter 19 verse
10 concerning Zacchaeus, he was another notorious publican. Maribach,
I think he was called the chief publican. And the Lord came to
his house because he came to seek and to save that which is
law. He said to Zacchaeus, salvation's
come to your house this day. You see, there's none too sinful,
there's none too wicked, none too guilty. for the Lord's mercy
to save. Now, we read a moment ago from
1 Timothy, where Paul said, this is a faithful saying, and this
is worthy of all acceptation, the Lord Jesus Christ, he came
to save sinners. Do you identify with that? The
chief of sinners. The chief of sinners. Now, I
want to go back. We'll end up there, Lord willing,
in verse 19. I want to go back for a moment
and look at verse 7. down to verse 15. And here the
Lord described the ministry of John the Baptist, vindicates
his character as a true servant of God, sent of God with his
message. And I think what the Lord says
of John the Baptist, he is describing all of his ministers that are
sent of God, all of his apostles in this day that were ordained
and sent of God. They're plain, simple men who
boldly declare the way of salvation in Christ Jesus. Now look at
verse 7. As they departed, Jesus began
to say unto the multitude concerning John, John the Baptist, the last
Old Testament prophet, what did you go out to see in the wilderness
when you went out to hear this prophet of God? A reed shaking
in the wind? But what went you out to see?
A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing
are in the king's houses. What, weren't you out to see
a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, more than a prophet. He's not
just a mere prophet. He is the forerunner that was
prophesied in the Old Testament saying that he would come to
identify the Messiah. The Lord Jesus Christ speaks
to the multitude. and declares that John was not
about satisfying the popular opinion of men. He was not like
a reed, a weak, shaking reed that's blown about by the wind
and the opinion of men. He didn't go this way or that
way. He stood firm. He was unflinching,
unchanging in his message. Behold the Lamb of God. He was
not carried about by every wind of doctrine, but speaking the
truth in love. John was not moved by the popular
opinion of men. He was not intimidated. His message
was unchanging, bold, and declaring salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember he said, Behold the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Now we've met
John before in Matthew chapter 3. Turn back there for just a
minute. Matthew chapter 3. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. Matthew chapter 3, you see verse
1, remember these verses, in those days came John the Baptist
preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying, repent ye for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. The Messiah is here. For this
is he that was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah 40, the voice
of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord,
make straight his path. The same John had his raiment
of camel's hair, a leather girdle about his loins, his meat was
locusts and wild honey. He was a simple, plain, bold
man, unchanging, and then went out to him Jerusalem and all
Judea, all the region round about, and were baptized of him in Jordan,
confessing their sins. The reason they were baptized
of John, they were confessing that they were sinners in need
of mercy. John was not a man who was living
in pleasure or seeking riches by his ministry. He was a simple
man living on what God provided for him. The voice of one crying
in the wilderness makes straight the way of the Lord. John was
more than any mere man sent from a religious council to seek his
own welfare, but rather the prophet of God who fulfilled the Old
Testament prophecy to prepare the way for the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ. In the last Old Testament book,
Malachi, in chapter 3, let me read it to you. Behold, I will
send my messenger He shall prepare the way before me. The Lord whom
you seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger
of the covenant, whom you delight in, saith the Lord of hosts. John the Baptist came to identify
the Lord Jesus Christ and to prepare the way of the Lord. Now, look at verse 11. Verse
11. Verily I say unto you, that among
them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater, there's
not a greater prophet among those that were born of women than
John. Now you talk about Isaiah was
a great prophet, Jeremiah was a great prophet, Ezekiel was
a great prophet, but the Lord just passes all those by and
said John was the best. He was the greatest, the greatest
of the prophets. But now here's the puzzling statement.
The next line, see what it says there? Notwithstanding, or nevertheless,
he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. Now that takes a little bit of
understanding to get a hold of what's being said there. The
Lord Jesus Christ highly commends John as the greatest Old Testament
prophet, none greater. Others spoke of his coming, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, all the other prophets. But John had the privilege
of baptizing the Lord Jesus Christ. John had the privilege of identifying
the Lord Jesus Christ as a Messiah. He said, behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of God's people in this world. He acknowledged
and declared unto the people that this is the Messiah. John
said of himself, he must increase, I must decrease. I must decrease. John said, I baptize you in water,
but he that comes after me shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit
and with fire. But notwithstanding, nevertheless,
he that's least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John. Now, that's a difficult statement
for me to get a hold of. What does it mean? What does
it mean? Well, let's take a look at it
for a minute, and let's consider it for a minute. Now, I've read
many other preachers of the present and past on this statement, and
it seems like they all have a different opinion. But to me, the way I've
come to understand this is like this. I'm a simple man. I like
simple things. I like things that are simply
understood and simply told out. What the Lord is doing here is
making a comparison between those who are born of woman, you see
what he says there, among those who are born of women and those
who are born of God. That's the comparison there.
You see what he's saying? The Lord is making comparison
between those born of women in a natural birth in a natural
conception and those who are born in the kingdom of God by
the special regeneration of God the Holy Spirit. Those who are
born of women, that flesh will one day die. Those who are born
of God will never die because they're one with Christ. Remember
our Lord said to Nicodemus, the Pharisee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see, he can't understand, You can't enter into
the kingdom of God. Those born into the kingdom of
God are far greater than any person that is just naturally
born of a woman, whether he be a president or a prophet. Those
who are born of God are greater in the kingdom of heaven. By
our first birth, we're born in sin, shaped in iniquity. By our
second birth, we're born of the Spirit of God and made new creatures
in Christ, which is what? Far greater, isn't it? Far greater. By our first birth, the sinful
flesh will grow weak and frail and eventually back to the dust
from which it came. And the promise of God said the
Spirit will go back to God. I talked to a man the other day.
I met him in the community and we were talking about the frailty
of the flesh. We were both about the same age
and we were comparing our aches and pains. And this man, as far
as I know, was not a believer. I said, well, this flesh is going
back to the dust. And he said, mine's not. And
I said, how's that? He said, I'm going to have my
body burned. I said, you're still going back to the dust. I said,
when they burn your body, take your ashes and put it in my garden.
I need the fertilizer. But he thought somehow he was
going to escape going back to the dust. After this, judgment. You're going to stand before
God in judgment. So our first birth, sinful flesh,
weak, frail, Back to the dust. By our second birth from above,
we shall never die. Do you know that? Death to a
believer is just separation from this body of death. Our flesh
dies, but our spirit goes to be with the Lord. By our second
birth from above, we shall never die. Listen to this scripture.
Our Lord said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe this?
I do. That's what God says in his word.
That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of
spirit is spirit. The Lord gives us eternal life
and we shall never die. We shall never perish. He that
is the least one, the lowest sinner, the vilest beggar, born
of the Spirit of God, is one with Christ and greater than
all. What's true of him is true of
us. What's true of the head is true of the body. Our Lord said,
I in them, thou in me, that we may be made perfect in one. He
that's born in the kingdom of God is greater than he that's
just born of woman. You see what he's saying there?
Now look at verse 12. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom
of heaven suffereth violence, and we can look at that in a
way that there was believers who were severely persecuted
for the gospel, and the violent take it by force. Now here's
a companion scripture And I think there's a reference there, yes,
if you look in your center reference there on verse 12, Luke 16, 16,
you see that? And here's what that scripture
said. The law and the prophets were until John, since that time
the kingdom of heaven is preached and every man presses into it. The kingdom of heaven or the
kingdom of God, the kingdom of God's grace and the preaching
of the gospel has a violent powerful effect upon the hearts of sinners. Those sinners, truly convicted
of their sin, they violently and passionately pursue and seek
salvation where it's found in Christ Jesus. They violently
seek Christ. They must have him or else I
die. You remember this psalm we had
a week or so ago on Wednesday night, Psalm 110. I quote this
verse quite often because it's so powerful and so revealing.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of God's power. He makes
us willingly to violently pursue Christ who is everything in salvation. That's why the Apostle Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew or
to the Gentile. In that gospel is the very righteousness
of God revealed from first to first, from faith to faith, first
to last, one degree of faith to another. And then the Apostle
Paul said, I count all things but loss, dull and ruined. that I may win Christ and be
found in Him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in that same chapter,
Philippians 3, verse 14, he says, I press toward the mark of the
high calling of God, the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ. I press toward that. He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him. We studied this morning Hebrews
11, verse 6. Now, I've been looking back through
my notes. We went through the book of Matthew
20 years ago. 20 years ago, we went through
the book of Matthew. And I dug out my notes from 20
years ago, and here's what I wrote down on that verse. Those guilty
sinners, made alive by Christ, eagerly pursue mercy, earnestly
seek the Lord, violently love Him, and press their way into
an intimate relationship and union with Him. They must have
Christ. Now how does he make us willing
in a day of his power? He makes himself irresistible
to us. It's like that little boy in
the candy store who will not leave until mama buys him a lollipop. He must have, he must, he just
keeps squalling and squalling and squalling until he gets that
candy bar. And when he gets that candy bar,
he shuts up. Now that's a homely illustration,
but what I'm saying is this. God's people passionately love
Him, and because they passionately love Him, they seek Him where
He's found in the Word of God. Guilty sinners may lie by Christ,
eagerly pursue Him, and they see Him as altogether lovely,
something that they must have. to you who believe he is precious
by making himself irresistible. Now look at verse 13, 14, and
15, and we'll move along here. For all the prophets and the
law prophesied until John. All the Old Testament says someone's
coming. John identified him as the Lamb
of God. And if you will receive this,
and we do, we receive it by faith. If you will receive this, this
is the fulfillment of the scripture, this is Elijah which was to come. That is the Lord Jesus Christ,
John the Baptist, came in the spirit and boldness of Elijah
the prophet of God. That's what he's saying there.
all the prophets of the past, and all the Old Testament prophets
declared plainly that salvation is only found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. John was the last one to do so
who came in the spirit and manner of boldness of Elijah. To him
give all the prophets witness. Our risen Lord said to his apostles
in his day, all things must be fulfilled which are written in
the law of Moses, in the prophets, and in the psalm concerning me. And then there's another scripture
that's given unto us in the last Old Testament prophet of Malachi
chapter 4 verse 5. Behold I will send you Elijah
the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day
of the Lord. Now John the Baptist was not
Elijah reincarnated. John the Baptist came in the
spirit and the boldness of Elijah being sent of God. That's what
he's saying there. Now, verse 15, he that hath ears
to hear, he that hath ears to hear, would you hear that? Believers do. Believers do. They receive that. They hear
that. Now, that gets me down to verse 16, 17, 18, and 19. Where unto shall I liken this
generation? It is likened to children sitting
in markets, in the markets, calling unto their fellows, saying, we
have piped unto you and you wouldn't dance. And then we went the other
direction, we mourned, we weeped, and you wouldn't weep. You just
wouldn't play our game. When we played music, you wouldn't
dance. So we went the other way. We
started crying and weeping, and you wouldn't weep with us. And
then our Lord makes this illustration. For John came neither eating
nor drinking, and they say, he had the devil. The Son of Man came eating and
drinking, and they say, behold, a gluttonous man, a wine-bibber,
a friend of publicans and sinners. Wisdom is justified. justified
of her children. Now, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ
has a sharp, stern rebuke for those self-righteous Jews who
were seeking salvation by the deeds of the law. If you'll turn
one page to Matthew chapter 12, he has a very sharp rebuke here. Matthew chapter 12, look at verse
34. Oh, generation of vipers, How
can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Look down to Matthew 12, look
at verse 39. He says, An evil and adulterous
generation seeketh out for a sign. There shall no sign be given
it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. And then he talks about,
Behold, a greater than Jonah is here. Talking about the resurrected
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, our Lord says of his generation
that they're evil and wicked, and we can say of our generation,
my generation, my generation is no different than that generation.
We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. My generation
is like that generation. There are many religious people
going about to establish a righteousness by their own doing and have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God that's revealed
in the Lord Jesus Christ. This generation, like that generation,
is a bunch of selfish children who are not satisfied with any
true preaching, not satisfied with the true Christ of God.
We piped and you wouldn't dance. We mourned and you wouldn't weep.
The Lord has been pleased through generation after generation to
send out His true prophets with the message of salvation in Christ
alone. Those true prophets have piped
sweet promises of the gospel, and men would not receive them. He came unto His own, His own
received Him not. The Lord has sent out others
with strong warnings of judgment. Take heed, judgment's coming,
and they would not hear. And John came with a message
of repentance and conviction. And they said, he's got a devil. He must be demon possessed. He
can't live in a normal house. He has to live in the wilderness
eating locusts and wild honey. He must be a crazy man. No, he
was God's man with God's message. Behold the Lamb of God. And then
in verse 19 he said, the Lord Jesus Christ came preaching the
same gospel John came preaching, repent, the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
went out preaching, you know what he said? Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Same message, same gospel. But
he dwelt among people, attended a wedding, making water into
wine. Maybe that's why he said he's
a wine giver. dwelt among sinners in need of healing, in need of
salvation. He healed all those that came
to him, feeding the multitudes with bread and fishes. They said,
well, he's a gluttonous man. He's a wine-bibber. He's a man
of excess with no temperance. He overeats, and he's drunk all
the time. What wicked things people will
say of God Almighty in the flesh. Oh, and they said, oh, by the
way, on top of all that, they charged him with this crime.
You know, the Pharisees said, I thank God I'm not like that
man. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ dwelt
among those publicans and sinners. This man goes to the house of
notorious sinners, and he even sits down and he eats with them. Remember, the Pharisees said,
why does your master, Why does your master even have anything
to do with those people? Remember what he said? I didn't
come to call the righteous. Sinners, I'm after some sinners. I came to call sinners to repentance. Luke 15, it says that this man
receives sinners and he eats with them. What a blessing. Now
look at this last statement here. I'll wind this up. A friend,
a friend, of publicans, the notorious outcasts, sinners. Jesus Christ is a friend of sinners. If you're a sinner, if you know
that you're ungodly and by nature ungodly, unholy, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the friend of sinners. He's your friend. I need a friend
like that. He's a friend that's taken closer
than a brother. You see, he came to seek and
to save his people. He came to save his people from
their sins. Christ came to save all kind
of sinners. No sinner too great. No sinner
too low. No sinner too ungodly for the
Lord Jesus Christ to save. No sinner too young. No sinner
too old. He came to save sinners. Now
listen to me carefully. I'm not glad that I've sinned.
And we've all sinned. It comes short of the glory of
God. I'm not glad that I've sinned against God. But I'm glad I'm
a sinner. You see what I'm saying? I'm
glad I'm a sinner. Those who confess their sins,
He's faithful and just to forgive their sin and He cleanses from
all our sin. Christ proved His love for us
in that He is that one, that friend who laid down His life
for us. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. He loved
us so much. He laid down His life for us.
What the religious Jews thought the Lord Jesus Christ, what they
thought was his greatest weakness, was actually his greatest strength.
One of his greatest attributes. Because he came to save sinners.
He delights to show mercy to sinners, doesn't he? To sinners. He will have mercy on whom he
will. You see, there is grace for the guilty, right? were justified
freely by His grace through the redeeming blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is mercy for the miserable,
right? In Christ. There's grace for the guilty
in Christ. There's mercy for the miserable in Christ. The
publican cried out, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner. There is salvation for sinners,
where? in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
redemption for sinners in Christ, those who are ruined in Adam.
He obtained for us eternal redemption with His own blood. Our Lord
Jesus Christ proved His love for us, didn't He? He proved
His love for us. He's a friend that loves us at
all times. He proved His love for us by His incarnation. God
incarnate. That's why He was incarnate.
He came to save us. He proved His love by His association
with us. He was numbered with transgressors.
He proved His love for us by seeking to call out His sheep.
His sheep hear His voice. They know Him and they follow
Him. He proved His love for us in
that He laid down His life for us. that He might take it again. He proves His love for us and
that He ever lived to make intercession for us. Hearing His love, not
that we loved God, but that He loved us. And He sent His Son
to be our sacrifice for our sin. Last statement, the last part
of verse 19. Wisdom is justified of our children. Wisdom is Christ. Wisdom The
Lord Jesus Christ is justified and vindicated by those who are
His children saved by the covenant of grace. They say He is all
our salvation. That's what they say. In whom
we have redemption through His blood, forgiveness of sin, according
to the riches of His grace. Christ is our wisdom, and because
He is our wisdom, we give Him all the glory in our salvation,
don't we? God forbid, Paul said, I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The son of man came eating and
drinking, and they say, behold, a gluttonous man, a wine beaver,
a friend. He's a friend of sinners. And
Christ is justified, vindicated by his children who say that
salvation is all of the Lord.