The text tonight is verse 35. I want us to look at it, then
we're going back a little bit. Verse 35, Luke 7, but wisdom
is justified of all her children. Wisdom is justified of all her
children. Do you know what that means?
Well, I didn't either, until I looked back a little ways and
found out. I believe what that means. Wisdom
is justified of all her children. Now, John the Baptist was a prisoner
of Herod. He was 33 years old, and his
life was drawing to a close. He didn't know how much longer
he had, but he knew he didn't have long. John the Baptist was in prison.
awaiting death. But John all his life had one
purpose, he had one goal, and that was his goal and purpose
even in these closing hours of his life, to point men to Christ. That was his one desire, that
was the one goal and purpose of his existence. He knew that
he was a special person. His birth was a special birth.
He knew God's hand was upon him. He didn't have any doubt about
that. God sent him. And God sent him to be a messenger. He said, I'm come, I'm sent to
bear witness of that light. That's what God sent me to do,
and that's my one goal and one purpose, is to point me into
Christ. And the whole life of this man,
who just lived 33 years, the whole life of this man could
be summed up in one incident, in one statement, why he was
born, why God sent him, why God anointed him, why God filled
him with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, why God chose
him. Out there one day on the banks
of the Jordan River, while he was preaching repentance and
faith, talking about becoming Messiah and Redeemer, he was
baptizing people in the baptism of repentance. He looked up and
he saw him. He saw him coming toward him.
And he said in a loud voice to all the people, Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. That was his life,
that was his message, that was his mission, that was his delight. There he is. There he is. I guess like Simeon, he could
have said, Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace. I've
seen thy salvation. This is all I need to see. My
life is complete when I see Christ. Jack, when he touches me, my
life is complete. I really don't need anything
else or anyone else. I really don't. As far as need
is concerned, that's nice to have, you know. But need, I need
Jesus, and that's all I need. When I have Him, I have everything.
I'm complete. He's my wisdom, my righteousness,
my sanctification and my redemption. What else did I need? I need
Christ. If I don't have Christ, I don't
have anything. Whatever I have, I don't have
anything. Most of your riches and your homes and your popularity
and your fame and your accomplishments, it's all ashes. But if I have
Christ, I have everything. And John that day said, Behold,
there he is, look! There's the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. He said, I'm not the Christ.
I'm sent to bear witness of the Christ. He must increase, keep
on increasing, and I must decrease and keep on decreasing, till
I become the dust under his feet, to bear him onward on his mission. Nothing. There he is. Well, that's
what makes this such a puzzle in verse 19. And John's sitting
there in prison. Now, his one cause, and he knew
it for existing, his one mission and goal was to point me unto
Christ, to make Christ known. And he knew Christ. He said, he's the Lamb of God.
When he baptized him, God confirmed it. He sent the Holy Spirit down
in the form of a dove on the shoulders of this man, Jesus
of Nazareth. And John said, He who sent me
said to me, the one on whom the Spirit descends
is the Christ. And John said, I saw and bear
witness that he is the Christ, the Son of God. And that's what
makes this so amazing. He called two of his disciples.
And he sent them to Jesus. And he said, you go ask him this
question. Are you the Messiah? Are you
He that should come? Are you the Christ? Or do we
look for another? Why did he do that? Well, I'll
tell you the reason. He was not asking for himself.
He knew Jesus was the Christ. He wasn't asking for himself.
There was no doubt in his mind, Chuck. He knew Christ Jesus,
the Lord was the Messiah. You know why he did this? He wanted these disciples to
see and to understand and to know for themselves that he was
the Christ. I can tell you about Christ,
but you're going to have to hear from him. I can point you to
Christ, but you're going to have to look to him. I can talk about him touching
me, but he's going to have to touch you. And John the Baptist
wanted these men who heard him, who listened to him, who followed
him, he wanted them to personally speak to the Savior and for him
personally to reveal himself to them. Now let me show you
an example of this in John chapter 4. Now this is, it's good, it's
good to hear solid preaching and solid preachers and men who
know God and to hear experiences of those who know God. But it
is not good to settle for that. You need to get in touch with
Christ yourself. You need to be introduced to
him by the Holy Spirit yourself. You need to say, I don't believe that Christ is
the only Savior simply because Cecil taught it in the men's
Bible class and whether man preached it Sunday morning. I believe
it because God revealed it to me out of his word. I know it
in him. I love the companionship and
fellowship and support of other believers, but if I'm brought
by God's providence to stand alone, I can stand on a faith that doesn't
belong to somebody else, a faith that belongs to me. I know whom
I have believed, whatever other men do. As Joshua said, I don't
know about you folks, but it's for me and my house, we're going
to serve the Lord. I hope you folks will join me.
I hope you'll unite with me in an effort and we all go the same
way. I don't know about you, but I do know about me. I've
seen him. And that's what these men said
here in verse 41 of John 4. Look at it. And many more believed
because of his own word. And they said to the woman, this
is the woman at Samaria, you know, ran down and told them
she'd found the Christ. And they said to the woman, now we believe,
not because of your saying, we've heard him ourselves. And brother, don't dismiss this right here.
Don't you let this slide by. We've heard Him ourselves. We know that this is indeed the
Christ, the Savior of the world. I've met Him. I've heard Him. I've seen Him. I've embraced
Him. He dwells in my heart. That's
why John sent these men. That's exactly why he sent these
men. Paul said, I preach that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. He touched me. He convicted me. He brought me
down. He opened my eyes. He brought
me to embrace Christ. He brought me to see that he's
my Lord and my Savior. I know him. Not because you told
me about him, but because I met him myself. You see what I'm
saying? John called to me. He knew what he was doing. John
was a wise man. He was a God-sent man. He knew
what he was doing. A lot of folks don't know what
he was doing, but he did. And these disciples didn't know
what he was doing. Don't you know they went away saying, wonder
what the old boy's doing? What's on his mind, Bob? I wonder,
John told us he was the Christ. I wonder why he's sending us
to verify the fact. Is he in doubt? No. No. He wanted these men to meet the
Savior themselves. And they come away after old
John was dead. And they talk about the time
they spent together and the joys they shared and the happiness
they enjoyed together and the things he taught them and rejoiced,
but they never had to say. They never had to look to John
for their assurance. They met the Lord themselves.
They never had to look to John. And when John was gone, they
still walked the road because they met the Lord themselves.
This is where I hope we don't fail. This is where I hope we
don't fail, that men have to have us around for their confidence,
for their assurance, for their strength. It's good to have a
helper. It's good to have, it's like
your baby. You help her walk there for a
little while, but you want her to walk alone, don't you? Mamas
and daddies, you want your baby to always, when she grows up,
to have to lean on you and have you hold out your arms to catch
her when she stumbles? No. You want her to walk alone. And this is any minister who
is called of God, any true servant of the living God, he doesn't
want those to whom he ministers. to depend on Him for any length
of time. He wants them to walk alone,
to be able to stand. Not using Him as a crutch or
as a walking cane or to pick them up every time they stumble,
but to walk with Christ. And that's why John sent these
disciples. Go down there and ask Him. And
they did. They went down there. And in
Luke 7, look at it here, and when the men were come, verse
20, they said, John the Baptist hath sent us to thee, saying,
Are ye he that should come, or look we for another? And in that
hour the Lord Jesus cured many of their infirmities, and plagues,
and evil spirits, and many that were blind. He gave sight, and
he answered and said to these men, Now go your way. And you
tell John what you've seen and heard. Oh, they've got something
to tell. Come on, tell me what you've
seen. What have you seen? Have you seen anything? See,
John had been telling them what he'd seen and what he'd heard.
And now they had something to tell. And the Lord Jesus sent
them back and said, Now you go tell John what you've seen and
what you've heard. You tell John how the lame walk,
and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead
are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached. You go back
and tell John what you'd seen. And don't you know when they
came back and sat down in that prison cell, evidently let him
have vistas, you know, and they sat down. And there was a smile
on their face and joy in their hearts. And they sat down and
they said, John, I wish you could have been there. John, our hearts
leaped within us. Our spirits were running. Oh,
John, he's the Messiah. He's the Messiah. John, no man
could do the things he did, except God had sent him. John, he touched
the lives of men who were born blind, and we saw the dead raised
and leprous cleansed. John, we saw men who had never
walked down the road. He's here! Boy, they're preaching
to John now. I don't know anything in the
world that thrills my heart more Just here, just what Jack said
a while ago, he touched me. I just sit there and boy, bubble
over. He's telling me what happened. I preached to him, you see, and
I left for him to preach to me. I don't know anything that thrills
me more than to hear somebody to whom you preached and talked
about Christ come and tell you, let me tell you some things what
God has shown me. And they did. They went back
and told him. But before they left, Before they left, our Lord
had a warning for them. Yes, he did. John sent them and
they came and they saw these things. And our Lord Jesus, he
pointed his finger and he said in verse 23, And blessed is he, and blessed is he, whosoever
shall not be offended in me. Why does he say that? Why does
he say that? Well, our Lord knew the danger.
of questioning his claims to be the Messiah because of his
lowly appearance. You see, not just the Pharisees
said, why, is not this the carpenter? Not just the Pharisees, but some
disciples said, well, can anything good come out of Nazareth? Look
at his background. Look at his friends. Look at
his schooling. Look at his associates. Look
at His appearance. Is this the Messiah? They saw
no signs of royalty about Him. They saw no signs of deity about
Him. They saw no signs of glory about
Him. They saw only a man to all appearance,
poor as any of them. As poor as any of them. Surrounded
by fishermen. publicans and harlots and sinners. And when they first walked up,
and there He was, there was no beauty about Him that we should
desire Him, no comeliness, no loveliness. And their pride must
have rebelled at the idea that this is our long-awaited Messiah,
this is the King of the Jews, this is the Christ, there must
be some mistake. There has to be. And our Lord
read their thoughts. And he said, blessed is he that
shall not be offended at me, in spite of my lowly appearance,
in spite of the absence of what the human mind decides to be
signs of royalty and deity and glory and these things. Blessed
is he that shall not be offended. Christ and his gospel of substitution
is as offensive today to human pride as it was then. Men are
still trying to dignify the flesh. We're still trying to dignify
the cross. We're still trying to dignify
the gospel. We're still trying to do away
with the offense. We're still trying to work our
preaching in such a way that men will not be offended. Take
the offense out of the gospel, you take the power out of the
gospel. Take the offense from the cross, and you take the saving
power from the cross. Our Lord said to these men, before
you leave, I've got something to say. Blessed is he that shall
not be offended in me. And it's offensive. This message
of our being guilty, lost, undone, helpless, hell-deserving sinners
who cannot save ourselves. who have nothing from the sole
of our feet to the top of our heads but sores and wounds and
bruises, putrefying souls, in whose flesh dwelleth no good
thing, who in the flesh cannot please God, this is offensive. And the reason Christ was in
that lowly condition is because he was numbered with us and was
taking our place before the law. And this message that we must
give up our dignity and our righteousness and our goodness because it is
as filthy rags compared to the holiness of God, that's offensive. We must totally trust another,
look to another, wait upon another, lean upon another, look to another,
for mercy is offensive. I know it's offensive. A natural
man cannot, you mean to tell me, that I can live all my life and
do the best I can, and I can be good to my friends and good
to my children and good to my neighbors and pay my bills and
stay out of meanness and be honest and do all these things and go
to hell when I die. Yes, sir, that's what I'm saying.
I'm saying that the best you've got is altogether vanity. I'm
saying if you could live better than any man or woman ever lived
on this earth outside of Jesus Christ, God Almighty would look
at you and see nothing but filthy, grimy, dirty, corrupt, selfish,
evil, criminal deeds. That's offensive. But blessed
is he that shall not be offended. Blessed is the man who has seen
his sin, not in the light of his own judgment, not in the
light of a church's standard, not in the light of human merit,
but in the light of God's immutable, immaculate, perfect holiness,
and is made to cry, O wretched man that I am. Most of us think we're pretty
good folks. That's the reason we're so quick
to gossip. That's the reason we're so quick
to condemn. That's the reason we're so quick to advocate capital
punishment. That's right. That's the reason
we're so quick to want a man to suffer vengeance. That's the reason we're so ready
to assume the place of authority. We think we're pretty good folks.
But God says He knows our frame. He knows we're dust. He knows
the best man is altogether vanity. That's the best man that ever
walked this earth. And that's offensive. I know it is, and
that's what Christ preached, and that's what He said to these
men. Don't be offended. If there's
ever reason to be, human pride's offended, human wisdom's offended.
Don't tell me I've got more education than you have. You mean I'm going
to church and listen to a man preach, and I've been to this
school and that school and the other school, and I'm a doctor
or a lawyer or a physician or an attorney or a businessman. I've been successful and he hasn't.
That's what the Pharisees said to Christ. Do you teach us? No. Want to know what they said?
Who are you? Who are you? What are your credentials? My only credential is God sent
me. If he sent me, I don't need anymore,
Chuck. If he sent me. That's what I got to find out
if he sent me. If he sent me, I don't need it. If he didn't
send me, I need all I can get. I need a passport. I need everything
I can lean on if God didn't send me. Oh, I need help. But if he
sent me, I don't need anything. I don't even need to take a script
with me. I don't even need to take a change
of clothes. He sent me, he'll provide everything." That's offensive. You mean to tell me that that
Jew with blood running down his face and a crown of thorns on
his head and the spittle of evil soldiers in his beard and a cat
of nine tails that's cut his back to pieces, that helpless
mass of flesh that doesn't even look like a man hanging on a
cross on Golgotha's hill outside Jerusalem between two thieves. That's my Savior! Ain't nobody
but a fool would believe that. Nobody. I'll take my chances
with the lost. I'll take my chances with the
sacraments. I'll take my chances with the
church. I'll take my chances with that fellow dressed up in
that funny looking hat over there in Rome, Italy. If that's all
you've got to point me to, preacher, listen to him down there. He
saved others. Himself he can't save. That's
right. That's how he saved others. That's foolishness. That's offensive! That's the reason they've added
all this stuff in the church and made it the way of salvation.
He did what he did, alright, he did that, but now wait a minute,
you've got to do something. You've got to do something. That's
the reason they've added, that's offensive. That scene over there, and they
took him down and put him in a tomb, not even his own, but
somebody else's. He didn't own a square inch of
land, he didn't have a place for his body to be buried. He
had a bar he wanted. But the reason he borrowed it,
he wasn't going to use it long. He was coming out of there. And you mean to tell me I must
be content? I must be content to be saved
the same way as that prostitute? You mean me? I was raised in
the church. I'm a good woman. I've been pure
and chaste and clean Faithful all my life. Like the elder brother,
you know, he used to say, Father, I've never left home. I've never
wasted your money. I've never done any of these
things. And here this bird, this reprobate, this rebel, this fellow
comes home and, Father, you give him the fatted calf and the ring
and the shoes and the robe and the crown. What about me? You mean to tell me, preacher,
that you expect me to be saved the same way as that fallen woman. I hear people say, well, she
ain't no good. She's had two illegitimate children. You'll
be saved the same way she is or you'll never come to Christ.
You're just as guilty. God just never turns you loose.
It makes my stomach roll when I hear people look down their
pious noses and talk about some fallen creature. If it wasn't
for God's grace, you'd be in hell. In fact, you'd be running
it. you'd be running it. I've got
to go to heaven, I've got to be content to walk that road
flanked by publicans and harlots and arm in arm saying, here we
come, the chief of centers, here we come, here we come. That's offensive. I know it's
offensive and I know they don't like it down there at that dignified
church where they got all their special folks, you know, but
that's the message, that's the gospel. That's the reason they
turned thumbs down on Christ. He said, I didn't come to call
you righteous folks, I came to call sinners. The well don't
need a physician, those that are sick need a physician, and
this physician is going to the sick and bypassing you well folks.
That's offensive. You mean to tell me I must confess
that all that I am and all that I have and all that I ever will
be and all that I know is by the grace of God, even my repentance? And Bruce, like that article
you gave me, even my want to is of God. That's right. I don't know. They misuse the
old time altar, but sometimes I wish we still had one. I really
do. I wish sometimes we still had
a place. before people that a rebel could
fall on his face and let the whole world know that he ain't
worth a dime. I know we've misused it, I know
that. People put their salvation in it and they've done all these
things, but they abuse and misuse everything God Almighty ever
sent. Everybody needs an opportunity
to let somebody know what to think of themselves. and what they think of Christ.
What think you of Christ? Our proud hearts do not like
mercy. Our proud hearts do not like
grace. Our proud hearts are offended. Oh, how offensive. Let us beware
of being offended. Our Lord said, Blessed is that
man who is not offended. Blessed is that man who can watch
the Holy Spirit strip him and say, praise the Lord. Watch the
Holy Spirit knock all his foundations out from under him and say, praise
the Lord. Watch the Holy Spirit humble
him and break him and say, praise the Lord. Blessed is that man
who can turn his eyes to Calvary and say, that one, that criminal
on the tree is me. getting what I deserve in the
person of my substitute. Praise the Lord. Blessed is that
man who can say, God, if you give me what I deserve, even
for the last five minutes of my life, you'd send me to hell.
Blessed is that man. I know that's not being preached.
I know that's not popular. I know that's offensive. But
that's the gospel. A man takes the first step toward
heaven, not when he believes on Jesus, but when he sees his
need of Christ. And when these disciples departed,
our Lord, He had a message for them. And then when they left
and went back to John, He turned to the people. Look, if you will,
at verse 24. And when the messengers of John
were gone, He began to speak to the people about John. And
He said, What did you go out there to see? You heard John,
you heard my servant, you heard my messenger, my ambassador.
What did you go out there to see? What did you expect to see? When you go to hear a preacher,
what do you expect to hear? What do you expect to see? A
reed shaking with the wind. Now you know what that is. A
reed is a little holler growth. Fragile. And the wind blowing
this way, that's where it leans. Wind blowing this way, that's
where it leans. Wind blowing this way, that's where it leans.
They're going this way, that's the way it'll end. Now is that
what you expected? You expected to go out there and see an unstable,
wavering, changeable man who's not sure of his message? Who's
not sure of his goal? Who's not sure of his purpose? No sir, not God's man. Bob Mount's paid me the highest
compliment anybody's ever paid me before. He said I was the most serious
man about the gospel he ever met. But I'll tell you this, if I didn't believe what I preached,
I mean believe it, I wouldn't expect you to. If I wasn't dedicated,
separated, consecrated to one message, I wouldn't expect you
to believe it. If you're unsure about it, don't
tell anybody else about it. I think it was Benjamin Franklin. He used to go hear George Whitefield.
Franklin wasn't a professing believer as far as I can determine.
I don't know about that. That's just as far as I can determine.
Somebody asked him one day, why do you go hear that man Whitefield?
You don't believe what he preaches. Franklin said, yeah, but he does.
And I sure like to hear a man who believes what he preaches.
Yeah, but he does. Now if Christ said, what did
you expect? Did you expect to go out there when God sent His
servant and see a fellow that was shaky and unstable and wavering
and not sure? Somebody says, you shouldn't
be so dogmatic. God's dogmatic. Christ is dogmatic. Christ said,
I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father
but by Me. The apostle Paul was dogmatic.
He said, if anybody preaches any other gospel, I don't care
if it's an angel from heaven, let him be accursed. That's pretty
dogmatic. My Lord said, you put your hand
to the plow and turn and look back, you're not fit for the
kingdom of God. That's pretty dogmatic, Jim.
That's about as plain as you can put it. And that's what our
Lord said. Now when you went to hear God
say, I tell you this, if you go out and you see a reed shaking
in the wind, you better leave that reed. It won't make a very
strong thing to lean on. And then He said secondly, what
did you go out there to see? Verse 25, a man clothed in soft
raiment, gorgeously appareled, living delicately, you'll find
them in king's houses, supported by kings. They're the mouthpieces
of kings. Say what the kings let them say.
Not my servant. He cannot be bought. He can't
be bought by praise. He can't be bought by possessions.
He can't be bought by position. He's not looking for any bigger
place. He feels inadequate where he
is. This is what always amazes me about preachers. Why? Preachers
are always at strains that God always calls them to a bigger
place. I've always been amazed at that. God never calls a man
to a lesser place or a lesser position or a lesser salary or
a lesser place of honor. The step is always upward. Why?
The Ethiopian eunuch. Philip was down there in Samaria
in a great revival. God was saving people. Hundreds
were hearing him preached and God said, Go down in Samaria
to the desert and one fellow I want you to preach to. One
fellow, Lord, you've got the wrong address, haven't you? I'm
Philip, you know, I'm the big fellow. You know, the fellow
that's preaching. I know who you are. I know who you are. What did you go out to see, verse
26? A prophet? A foreteller? A whole lot more than that. John was the subject of prophecy. Not just a prophet, but the subject
of prophecy. And do you know this? If you
can find a man today, that you've got some idea that maybe God
sent him, then he's more than a prophet.
He's the subject of prophecy. For my Lord said plainly that
he would send his witnesses, he would send his ambassadors,
he would send his preachers. He said that. And John was one of those and
our Lord went on and he said, verse 28, I say unto you, verse
27, this is he of whom it is written. He is the subject of
prophecy. Behold, I send my messenger before my face, he will prepare
my way. The greatest blessing God can
give any community is one of his servants. And I know that
a great blessing is his people, a great blessing is this, that,
and the other, but one of the greatest blessings is that the
people of a community can have some thought or some idea that
perhaps they're hearing not just a man, but hearing a man whom
God sent. He's the subject of prophecy. It is written, I'll
send my servant. I'll send my servant. And God
is chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. How? Watch this. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved, but how shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sinned? How beautiful are the feet of
them that bring glad tidings! How beautiful! They sure ought
to be upheld, they sure ought to be sustained, they sure ought
to be heard if there's one around anywhere. And it said in verse
29, "...and all the people that heard him, and the publicans
justified God." They received His message about
themselves and about Christ, and they were baptized, and they
acknowledged God's justice and God's mercy and God's truth and
God's goodness, and they justified God in His judgments, in His
condemnation of their sin, and they followed the Lord in baptism.
But, verse 30, but not the Pharisees, not the lawyers, They rejected
the message. They rejected John's message. They rejected Christ's message. They rejected the counsel of
God, not only against themselves, but within themselves. They rejected
the message. God sent his messenger, and they
rejected the messenger. They rejected his message. Now,
three things in our clothes. There is here a parable, a problem,
and a conclusion. In verse 31, our Lord, this leads
me to my text. You get the background. I'm preaching
too long, but will you stay with me? We may learn something here.
We may learn something about ourselves. These people, they
rejected Him. Christ is still talking about
John the Baptist. That's right, he's still talking about verse
30, the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel against
themselves, being not baptized of whom? Of him, of John the
Baptist. That's who Christ is talking about, John. He said,
I send my messenger, my prophet. What did you go out to see? A
sissified coward? What did you go out to see? A
man who could be bought off? What did you go out to see? Just
a preacher, a prophet? I tell you, my messengers are
a whole lot more than just prophets. They are subjects of prophecy. And I'll tell you, there's never
been a man born of a woman as great as my prophet, my messenger,
my servant. And the publicans and harlots
and those folks, they heard him. They heard him. And they justified
God. They justified God. They said,
He's telling us the truth. He's telling us the truth. He's
dealt honestly with us. They justified God in His judgments
and in His righteousness and in His mercy and in His holiness,
but not the religious people. No, sir. Not the Pharisees, not
the lawgivers, not the lawyers. They rejected the counsel of
God. So our Lord said to them, now
watch this, here's where we're going. He said, Whereunto then
shall I liken the men of this generation. What are they like? What are they like? What are they like? He says,
verse 32, they're like children sitting in the marketplace down
at the town square, down at the courthouse. And they're saying
to one another, while we piped under you, we played happy wedding
music, and you haven't danced. And they said, we have mourned
to you. We've played funeral songs and
sad music, and you don't mourn. You don't mourn and weep. Nothing
pleases you. Nothing pleases you. You see
what he's saying? We get on in a minute. We get
the picture. He said, what are these folks
like of this generation? They're like kids sitting around
the square down at the courthouse. And one kid says, I've played
happy music to you and piped to you and you haven't danced.
And so I thought, well, I'll play another way. I'll play sad
funeral music, but you haven't mourned. You sit there in indifference. Now read on. John the Baptist
came neither eating bread nor drinking wine. John the Baptist
lived a retired, simple, self-denying life. He never mingled with anybody. He never went to their wedding
feast. He never went to their social functions. He never dined
out with them. He lived out in the wilderness.
You wanted to hear him, you went out to hear him. He was a recluse. He was a loner. He was a man whom thousands heard,
but they went out to hear him. He lived on locusts, that's a
fruit on a tree over there, and he lived on wild honey, and he
wore camel's-haired girdle. And he was a prophet. And boy,
I tell you, when they went to hear him, they came back scalded
too. He swept the legs out from under them, and yet they said
he has a devil. All right, we'll go on. The Son of Man's come
eating and drinking. Christ came and he adopted habits
of their social life, like the ordinary man. That's right. That's
what offended him. He mingled among them. He went
to their wedding. He did it. He performed his first
miracle at a big wedding. He rubbed shoulders with them.
He sat and talked to the publicans and the harlots and talked to
the Pharisees, walked through the marketplace, was there in
the temple, all around, any time you wanted to see him, there
he was. He adopted habits like the ordinary man. He ate with
them. He drank wine with them. He associated with them. And
they said, he's a winebibber. He's a glutton. He's not holy. He's not holy. Okay, that's the
parable. What's the problem? Here's the
problem. John Cain retired a recluse,
self-denying, powerful, dependent on no one, associate with no
one, coming out of his cave just to preach the Word and going
back in. And they said, he's got a devil, he's a fanatic,
he's a radical, he's a nut! Christ came eating, drinking
wine, eating at their feast, associating with. He's a wine-bibbering
gluttonous. What was the problem? Here's
the problem. These men were determined to receive no message from God
no matter how it came. Their objections against the
messenger was not objections against the messenger at all.
It was a cloak to cover their hatred of God's truth. That's
what Christ said. It's not John that offends you.
It's not me that offends you. It's God's Word that offends
you. And your rejection of me is nothing
in the world but a cloak. I've known men that couldn't
go to church anywhere. They go hear this preacher, they
didn't like this. They go hear this and didn't like that. Go
hear this and didn't like that. Go hear this and didn't like that.
I'll tell you what they don't like. They don't like God's Word. They don't like God's Word. They
don't like the truth about themselves and the truth about God and the
truth about the gospel and the truth about salvation. If God's
preacher withdraws from men and lives a hermit's life, occasionally
he puts in an appearance to cry out against sin. to appoint men
to Christ alone, to declare God's righteousness. He's narrow-minded. He's sour in spirit. He's not
friendly. He's unapproachable. But if God's
minister goes into society, and he mingles with men, and he's
identified with men, and he's friendly with men, and he's one
with men, and he socializes with men, he's not holy enough. No,
we're better than he is. What's the plain truth? What's
the problem? All these splits and splinters and divisions and
conflicts and cliques and all in churches. What's the problem?
The plain truth is natural men hate God. They hate God. The natural mind is enmity against
God. That's what the Bible says. It
is not subject to the law of God. It dislikes God's law. It
dislikes His gospel. It dislikes His way of saving
sinners. It dislikes His charges against
them. It dislikes mercy. It dislikes
grace. It dislikes God's people. And
these complaints against God's messengers are only excuses not
to hear God. It's not the messenger. It's
the message. And that's what Christ is saying
right there. He says, I'll tell you what this generation, I'll
tell you what your trouble is. You're like little kids playing
games. You're playing games. And the
most dangerous game you can play is play with your soul as the prize. Let the potsherds
of the earth strive with the potsherds of the earth. Let them
wrestle and argue and debate. Don't let a man strive with his
maker. That's what the Bible says. If you want to play games,
you better play with something else besides your soul as the
prize. And he says to the little children,
somebody says, well, we've gone this route and it didn't please
you and gone that route and that didn't please you. What's wrong?
You can't be pleased. So give up the idea of pleasing
natural men, whether in the church or out of the church. The attempt
is a total waste of time. Find a man or a woman that is
so anxious to hear God's Word that they really don't care who
brings it. I'll tell you this. You find a man that's hungry.
He's got a ravishing appetite and hasn't eaten for days. And
you can feed him off of a bare card table in a tin plate and
let him drink out of a broken cup and he won't say a word.
He won't say a word about the cup, he won't say a word about
the plate, he won't say a word about the card table. He'll talk
about the food. Oh, that was a good, that's good
steak, I appreciate that. Boy, them Irish potatoes were
good. Man, what I had to drink, I didn't
notice that old cup. I sure did like that good cold
tea. But you get a little old finicky, picky, fella that he's been drinking
out of the cisterns of the world till he's bloated with his own
self-righteousness. And he's been eating the husk
from the hog pen so long that he's bloated with his own importance. And sit him down there and he'll
say, I ain't going to drink out of that thing, that's for sure.
I'm used to eating out of China, so bring me some China. He don't
care. He'd rather have China with nothing on it. He'd rather
have a fine, fancy China cup with nothing in it. And he'll
go around bragging about how you set the table, not what you
fed. But the hungry man doesn't care
how you set the table. He does care what you feed. That's
what I'm saying. You can go to the fancy church
with the fancy china and the preacher with all the credentials
and all the education and all the intellect and talk about
what a beautiful building, what a fine program, what a beautiful
choir, what beautiful cantatas, what fine instruments, what gorgeous
rugs, what an educated preacher. What'd he say? Well, he didn't
say nothing, but it sure was pretty. You're not hungry. You're not hungry. And the whole
problem is, I'll tell you the problem, it's not the messenger. That's what Christ is saying
here. It's not the messenger. It's the message. God is sovereign. I don't know
any other way to say that. God's boss. That's what our kids
used to say around here. God's boss. Do you know God's
boss? He's boss. He created everything just like
He wanted to, and He runs everything just like He wants to according
to His will for His glory, and He'll save whom He pleases. I
don't know any other way to say that. I don't know any other way. And
Jesus Christ the Lord is the surety and the substitute, and
He redeemed us by His life and by His death. I don't know any
other way to say that. It's the blood that makes atonement
for the soul. You miss Christ and you go to
hell. And man is a fallen, wretched, depraved creature who has no
hope outside of Christ. I don't know any other way to
say that. I'm not going to hide the cross
under enticing words of man's wisdom so that men will not be
able to see that it's the blood that makes the guilty soul as
white as snow. And the Holy Spirit calls sinners
and regenerates them, and God's not trying to do anything. God
doesn't try to do anything. God does what He pleases. None
can stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? And the
Holy Spirit regenerates and calls, and true holiness is not just
in deed, it's in attitude. It's not just in action, it's
in motive. And true holiness will produce
a life of righteousness and holiness and truth. And it will bring
people to the feet of Christ together in unity. I'll write the conclusion, verse
35. And you say, Preacher, it sure took you a long time to
get to that verse. But I'll tell you this, I believe
you'll understand it a little better now. Verse 35, and Christ
closed the message with this, but he said, wisdom is justified
of all her children. What does that mean? It means
this, though religious men are hardened, and though they are
unreasonable, and though they reject the word of God, and they
will not have the true message and the true gospel, God does
have a people who are called the children of wisdom, the children
of God, who see in that message, and in that gospel, and in that
crucified Redeemer, and in that risen substitute, they see the
wisdom of God. They see the power of God. Turn
if you go to 1 Corinthians 1. Let me show you that. 1 Corinthians
1, verse 23 and 24. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 23,
we preach Christ crucified. Offensive. Hated. We preach Christ crucified to
the Jew, a stumbling block, to the Greeks, nonsense, foolishness,
but unto them which are called, children of wisdom, children
of God, both Jews and Greeks. The cross, Christ crucified,
is what? It's the power of God. The power
of God to atone, the power of God to redeem, the power of God
to reconcile, the power of God to ransom, the power of God to
raise the dead, the power of God to give life, the power of
God to convert, the power of God to do all that the sinner
needs, the power of God to salvation, and the wisdom of God. How God
can be just and justify the ungodly. I see the wisdom of Christ dying
for me. How the law can be honored and
justice can be satisfied. I see the wisdom of Christ dying
on that cross. I can see the wisdom of the cross. There's no other way that a man
can be reconciled to God except by death, because the law says
the soul that sinneth shall die. Sin brings forth death. So for
God's law to be honored and God's justice to be satisfied, my substitute
must die. In order for God to reveal His
mercy, He has to satisfy His justice. In order for God to
show His love, He must satisfy His truth and His righteousness.
And I see wisdom. Wisdom is justified of all her
children. How can God be just? I see it. How can God be righteous and
how can the law be honored and how can the rebel be conquered?
I see it in the person of Christ. I actually already died for my
sins. I've actually already been punished. You know the reason I'm not going
to hell? I've already gone to hell in the person of Christ. You know the reason the law can
bring no charge against me? I've already obeyed it. perfectly
in the person of Christ. And that's the only way God can
take me to glory. If I'm in Christ, I'm as sure
for heaven as if I was already there in Christ. Because the
law has nothing against me. Justice has nothing against me.
It's all been done. It's finished. And I see the
wisdom and power of God. And then watch this. There will always be those who
will justify the wisdom of God who sent the gospel. And in doing
that, they prove themselves to be wise. Now, if you know the
gospel, you're a wise man. You're a wise man. You're wise
in things that this world doesn't understand. And you don't learn
this. You can't learn this. There's
no way to learn this. in college or high school or
seminaries or anywhere. You don't learn this. The flesh
and blood doesn't reveal this. It's revealed by the Spirit of
God. That's the reason this witnessing business, I know, they train
soul winners and they send them out. They're butchers is what
they are. And they go out and butcher men's
souls. They tell them things that are
just not so. This thing of dealing with a human soul about the things
of God is an awesome, fearful responsibility. We need to be
taught of God. We need to have these things
revealed to us. This is not something your flesh
and blood can't reveal. You don't understand it. That's
what Christ said, "...eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard,
neither hath it entered the heart of man, the things God has prepared
for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth the deep things of
God, yea, the deep things of God." And if you understand How
God can be just and justify the ungodly. You're a wise man. You're
taught of God. You're a student. Watch this.
No man, Christ said, can come to me except my Father which
sent me draw him. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. As it is written, they shall all be taught of God. And he that hath heard and learned
of the Father cometh to me. That's a wise man. Let's pray that God will teach
us. We don't know anything. We're not born knowing anything. We don't grow up knowing anything.
We get more ignorant as the days go by. Let's ask God to teach
us. Lord, make me a learner. That's
what the word disciple means, learner. Make me a learner. Make
me able to sit me down at the feet of my Lord and shut my mouth.
That's the first thing. That's the first thing God does
when he saves a sinner, he shuts his mouth. He shuts his mouth,
and God will never open his ears until he shuts his mouth. And
when he shuts his mouth, he'll open his ears, and he'll start
teaching. And he'll give him something
to say, and someday he'll open his mouth. And when he opens
his mouth then, wisdom will come out. Wisdom is justified of all
her children. Justifies God. That thou mightest
be just when thou condemnest. Justifies the cross. Justifies
the gospel. and justifies everything God
has done. Our Father, if we just had the
words, if we just had the words to praise Thee as we ought, oh,
if we just could understand a little bit of what You've done for us,
if we could just possibly understand our position We'd shout all over
this place. Our hearts would be so filled
with the glory of Christ that our feet wouldn't touch the ground
between here and home if we could just understand the inheritance
we have in Christ Jesus. If we could just get a little
glimpse into what's prepared for them that love thee. We'd never complain about another
thing that happened down here. We'd never find fault with another
act of your providence. If we could just see what we
have in Christ Jesus, if we have it, why, we'd never find fault
with another thing that happened. We just thank God and praise
God and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Paul saw it. That's the reason
he could rejoice sitting on a prison stool, chained to soldiers. That's the reason he could rejoice
when they were coming to behead him. That's the reason he could
rejoice when he said, the time of my departure is at hand. I
have a desire to depart and be with Christ. We hang on to this
old sorry life because we've seen so little of the next life.
We hang on to this flesh because we've seen so little of the Spirit,
and we find ourselves groveling here in the dust, picking up
rocks and pebbles, when we've got diamonds and gold and jewels,
precious jewels, that are our own through Christ. Lord, help
us. Help us. Open our eyes, how blind
we are. what earthbound people we are. We ought to be like Abraham who
had nothing and lived in tents and looked for that city whose
builder and maker is God. It's ours in Christ. Make us
grow up if it please thee. And if we don't have that knowledge,
give it to us. Give us a message. Give us here
in this congregation Wednesday night, from thy servant, thy
word. Sunday, let us hear from thee. We're tired of listening to people.
We'd like to hear from God. And everywhere your Gospels preach,
these blessed brethren of ours that you've given us in fellowship,
we pray for every one of them.