Jesus Esteems John The Baptist - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Hold on to your Bibles and and reach over into the New Testament, specifically in the book of Matthew. In the book of Matthew, it is always a privilege and an honor to be able to open this word, to expound it. And I pray that it would be your joy as well to receive and to open it for yourselves because this book tells us many things, and if there's one thing it tells us, it tells us who god god is. And if you have an honest look at the scriptures, you'll realize one thing about god, he's not like you or me. His ways are not our ways.

His thoughts are not our thoughts. And if there's one thing that you and I will learn about God as we continue to read his word, this truth is undeniable. God esteems and evaluates a man differently than we do. He has different standards. He has different reasons to praise a man or a woman and a different reason to condemn a man or a woman than we would.

That is something that is so clear both in the old and the new testament, and that is important for us to understand as faithful believers. You know why? Because if God has a different standard of esteeming a man or a woman, then it will cause us to live in a certain way where we want to receive his praise even at the expense of the praise of man. That is what that truth gives us as a hope. It gives us a goal to reach when we see God.

You don't look at the outward appearance, you look at the heart. God, you look at faithfulness, not necessarily the effects of our faithfulness. And if there's any place in the Bible where we see God in the person of Jesus Christ giving a tribute to a person in a very special way. Surely, it is found in the book of Matthew chapter 11, where I encourage you to turn this morning. That truth that God esteems and evaluates a man differently than we do should even give us what?

A certain sense of ambition. Right? That I wanna live my life in such a way that by the end of it, that, yes, I will please God, and I will hopefully, by his grace, make an impression on those that God allowed me to be around. Now I want you to think about this. Imagine at your own funeral, your funeral, because it's coming, right, for all of us.

We all have an expiration date. We just don't know what it is. Imagine at your own funeral, the Lord Jesus Christ himself steps in and speaks about your life. What would he say? What would the Lord Jesus Christ, not your father, not your mother, not your siblings, not your friends, not your pastor, what would the Lord Jesus Christ say?

And we can argue that Jesus Christ is in this discourse speaking at somebody's funeral, though it is not directly a funeral. He is giving a tribute to a man who is about to be executed. He's giving a few words to a crowd about somebody that this crowd knew about, but this man who he's speaking about did not know what Jesus was going to say about him. And what we see in this text is quite astounding to realize how Christ can speak on behalf of a man. And there are so many truths in here for us to be stirred and encouraged by, and we're gonna spend our time in this chapter this morning to see Jesus Christ and how he evaluates and esteems a man.

And this man that we are about to discover is no stranger to the Christian, hopefully, John the Baptist. Let's read together from verse one. When Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Verse two. Now when John, we're speaking about John the Baptist, heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look forward for another?

Now let's stop here and examine this. This is John the Baptist. John the Baptist had an important ministry. He was an important man. But we are told here and we are given an insight that he is in prison at this point.

He's in jail. He's arrested. He is subdued. And I find that quite amazing because John the Baptist went from a man who was conducting revival meetings in the wilderness, drawing crowds into the desert. There was no air conditioning where his meetings were.

There was no comfortable pews where he where he was. But he was preaching with such thunder and authority. Mind you that he did no miracles. He didn't do any miracles. But it was the power of his message, it was the piercing word that came forth from his lips that drew a crowd in and cut them to their hearts.

And he was the talk of the nation, and in one moment, he is now in a stinking prison hole. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's amazing. The sequence of events that can happen in a man's life if they live for Christ.

It's amazing how one moment, again, you can be on the news, you can be the talk of the nation, and another you are in a dark hole awaiting your head to be severed. John the Baptist was a man in prison, but for no evil reason. Why was he in jail? Well, all you have to do is go to Matthew 14 and see in verse three why. What are we told?

For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison. For what reason? For the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. Because John had been saying to him, it is not lawful for you to have her. It is not lawful for you to have her, Herod.

Who is Herod? Well, probably the strongest politician in that region. Who was Herod? Probably one of the most powerful men in that day, in that region. And yet John was arrested because he had no fear of pointing his finger towards this man and saying, what you're doing is wrong, Herod.

Now that's important. Herod, we are told in the book of Mark chapter six, attended and gladly heard John the Baptist. This man was wicked. This man was evil. He was pagan, but he he even himself was influenced by this man's power in his preaching.

He himself was drawn out of his palace and came to see this strange man in the wilderness, in the desert, he declaring the word of the Lord. He himself was compelled and he was perplexed and he was even moved. But John the Baptist was not flattered nor was he honored by the presence of such a man. He was not moved. He was not impressed.

He he he was not puffed up to see, oh, even Herod is willing to come hear me speak. No. John the Baptist in the spirit saw Herod as he saw all men, desperate sinners in need of repentance and forgiveness. He saw them all leveled, and he saw them for who they were. Sons of Adam, daughters of Adam.

And therefore, because of this man's piercing vision, he saw past the prestige. He saw past the power and the influence. It did not consider him. He saw past it and he preached the way he would preach to anybody else. He spoke concerning his sin directly.

And he was willing to wound even a man such as Herod for the sake of seeing him turn to Christ. Oh, what an influence. We can use a couple John the Baptists today. Surely this preacher knew the risk of saying such a thing to such a powerful man, but the risk went beyond Herod not giving an offering. The risk went beyond Herod not coming to the meeting anymore.

No, the risk was his own life, and he knew that. But John the Baptist was an ambassador of a different kingdom, and he served a different master, and he longed to be faithful more than popular. He longed to preach no matter who was standing before him. And if you attended John the Baptist's meeting and he knew your lifestyle, John the Baptist would not be ashamed in love to say, Repent and receive this Messiah. Now I say that because I'm sure if many evangelicals heard John the Baptist communicating with Herod, they would not be pleased with his message.

They would not condone it. Perhaps they would look at John the Baptist and and immediately judge him for what he wore, maybe be offended by his attire, maybe be offended by his tone of voice, and they would deem him as unloving, ungracious, unwise to speak to a celebrity like Herod in such a way, John, there are better ways of communicating truth than what you're doing, yet there is no sense of condemnation from Jesus Christ. In fact, what you and I are about to discover is pure commendation, because there are many people who tend to have mixed reviews about a ministry and a message that John the Baptist has. Even today. Even today.

There are only a faithful few that can hear a message like what John would preach and rejoice and celebrate and sense as though it was living water to the soul, but that is not the case for many. Oftentimes, the reason is because people think that if a man preaches repentance and righteousness and holiness and consecration, they are a person who, yes, is preaching truth, but they are missing other truths. That God is gracious, and he is loving, and he is forgiving, and there should be a sense of freedom to know Jesus Christ. And there is freedom. But is that not true?

That when a man has a strong message from the pulpit, that when he declares the uncompromising word of God, people tend to misjudge and say, this man lacks joy. This man lacks freedom. This man lacks liberty. Look at him. So heavy and so serious.

Lighten up a little bit, John. Go get a burger. Stop eating locusts and honey. You don't have to be so serious all the time. You have to be so judgmental and point out sins so clearly and critically.

But we tend to miss a detail about John the Baptist, a spiritual quality that he contained that many do not correlate with a message like he carried. Go to Luke chapter one. John wasn't even born yet, but he was conceived in the womb. And I want you to see a description about John the Baptist even from the womb. When Mary stepped into the scene pregnant with the son of God and visits her cousin who is pregnant with the forerunner to the Messiah.

And when they come into the same perimeters, we see in Luke one forty one 44. Luke one forty four, what Elizabeth says, for behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Leapt for joy. In the spirit, Elizabeth recognized that this unusual child that has been granted to me in miraculous ways was excited when the presence of Christ entered into the room. Had joy, excitement, thrill, pleasure, delight.

Name it what you wanna name it. And what I find amazing is that this preacher of righteousness and repentance was someone who knew joy, was someone that even from the womb was thrilled. And if you question that he had that just at that moment but not later on because he was this prophet in the desert that lived miserably like some kind of a a person out there excluded from society. No. He rejoiced at the voice of the bridegroom.

This man had joy in his blood. And listen to this, that joy, if you really know a joy in God, if you really know God in such a way where you experience pleasure, don't be surprised if you yourself start preaching repentance. Don't be surprised if you yourself find yourself warning even your friends or your family of a strong message. Why? Because you know what they're missing.

You know what their sin is holding them back from. You know that the thing that's getting in the way of the joy that you yourself are experiencing, like John knew, is the iniquity that is offending God. And so even with a shaking voice, you will declare repentance because there's joy bubbling up in your blood. I can tell you that if a man is truly in tune with the spirit and preaches a heavy message, he's the most joyful person that you probably know. Because he's walking with God.

She's walking with God in such a way that she can't help, he can't help but witness to the world and say, if you only knew what I have in God that's available to you, but you need to repent. You need to turn from your sin. You can't play the fool with God. Is it possible to preach such a heavy message, such a strong word in an unloving, unchristlike way? Absolutely.

But it's also possible to do in a Christlike way. It's possible to do in such a way where you testify that you are so in tune with God that this is the overflow of your relationship with him. It's possible. And here's one way that you can know it if you have this sermon, that even if you hear a heavy message from a pulpit, even if you are being pierced by the word of God over and over, the end result, even the mixture in that conviction is, I want to be drawn to Jesus. Even if this is a heavy message, it draws me to the Lord.

I want the Lord more because of this. You can know when it's when somebody preaches a strong message if it's in the flesh because you feel condemnation and you feel that there's hatred, there's a there's a tone of of judgment, sure. But don't be mistaken. The message of repentance that John preached was a baton that Jesus took from him when he left the scene and preached it himself. John knew a joy.

He wasn't a miserable fellow out there as a hermit in the wilderness. Out of touch of society, not knowing the pleasures of life, he had more joy than anybody else in his day, I'm sure. What an honor he had to preach on behalf of Christ. And he was inviting others to that same joy. Let me tell you of something that you can know in the spirit, but you need to repent.

That's the way. That's how you come to this joy. Turn from your sin and turn unto God. He was imprisoned for the message that he preached. But then we see something else happening in verse three.

He has a question. Something interesting happens while he's in prison. He sent two of his disciples to ask a question to the Lord since he did not have access to the Lord himself, and this is what he asks. Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another? Let's translate it this way.

Are you the Messiah? Are you the one that we've been anticipating and that we've studied and read about? Or is somebody else coming to fulfill that role? Wow. Now some are so startled by this question that they can't take it for what it is, and they've interpreted it in this way.

And these are, these are godly men that would say this. John is not asking this question for his sake but for his disciples' sake. In order for his disciples to be strengthened in their understanding of Christ, he is giving them this question, putting it in their mouth so that when they get an answer from the Lord, they themselves will be built up to have an accurate understanding of who Jesus is. That sounds noble, but the problem is when Jesus gives an answer, he says, go and tell who? John.

John. This is for John. I have an answer for the prophet. So go and bring this back to him. So this is, this is John asking this question for John.

That's important to understand because it it changes the meaning of this question. And how how can this be? This question begs many more other questions. Right? How can of all the people, John the Baptist, ask if Jesus is the Messiah or if there's another one coming?

I mean, let us consider for a moment. I'm just gonna read some scriptures to hear how John interpreted Jesus Christ, how John preached Jesus Christ, and then to think how can he come to this point to ask such a question? John one twenty nine, from the lips of John himself. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John three thirty one, John says, he who comes from above is above all.

He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. John three thirty four, for he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the spirit without measure. We can go to different scriptures. But here's John from his own lips, from his own sermons, declares Jesus to be the lamb of God.

He understood Jesus to be the sacrificial lamb that would take away the sins of the world. Here's John the Baptist saying that Jesus is from heaven and he is above all. Here's John the baptist saying that God sent this man and gave him the spirit without measure. These are wild claims. These are accurate claims.

These are strong claims. And yet, it seems like he has a doubt. And here's how we understand John the Baptist's question. He does understand who Jesus is. He has the right understanding, but his understanding of the Messiah did not fully match the present manifestation of Christ in this moment.

See, John preached Jesus Christ as the lamb of God, but John also preached Jesus Christ as the lion of Judah who would judge. Right? Then we see John preaching that as well? Something along the lines of his winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather wheat into his barn, but the chaff, who will burn? He will burn with unquenchable fire.

He preached that message. And so you have to understand that Jesus is the atonement, but Jesus is this coming judge. John wasn't wrong with either understanding of Christ. Where he had misunderstanding is the timing of those aspects of Christ, like many Jews did in his day. He did declare him right, but the timing and the interpretation of when these different unfoldings of Christ's work would happen were mixed.

Because like many others, they read the scriptures and understand that as you know, when the Messiah comes there will be a salvific work done on a political level, on a social level, to redeem this nation from oppression and to lift this nation high above all other nations and to set a king upon that throne forever and ever and ever. They understood that. And they weren't wrong in reading the scriptures that way. It was again the interpretation. And the scriptures have to be read so carefully because all you have to do is read one prophecy, and from one verse you have the first coming of Christ, and the next verse you have the second coming of Christ.

That's how close these prophetic utterances are. And so here's John understanding Jesus is going to bring salvation to the soul. He's the lamb of God. But his salvation work is gonna go beyond the soul. It's gonna deal with us as a people, as Israel.

And here's his understanding. If Jesus Christ is this messiah, this the descendant of David who be greater than David, who will set people free from their sins, yes, but also set them free in different ways, then why am I still in prison? We don't even have evidence that Jesus visited him in prison. Never mind opening the door for him to say, come out. I'm going to destroy injustice and set up my reign.

None of that. And so you have a man sitting in a dungeon wondering, how does this work? What happened to John the Baptist? What can happen to any of us? John's circumstance caused him to doubt the person of Jesus Christ, and sometimes, if the circumstance is just right, doubt can creep into the soul of even some of the strongest and most faithful Christians, where they begin to question the person of Jesus Christ, the ministry of Jesus Christ, the promises of Jesus Christ.

And John was experiencing that for a moment. See, doubt for the Christian is not total unbelief of who Jesus is. It's not a it's not you renouncing this God isn't real. That's not doubt necessarily. What doubt is is a struggle to believe.

It's a mixture of I know this but this doesn't make sense. I I understand this. I've tasted this. But in this moment right now, I can't reconcile my experience with truth. See, when doubt comes in, it's often triggered by a situation that is difficult to interpret and to understand for ourselves.

And John was in that place in this moment. Lord, I have an understanding of you. I have this expectation of you, and it's not being met. It's not coming to life. So you can imagine this man who did not see the light of day for quite some time as he's in this jail, this filthy place.

These thoughts that begin to crash into his mind. And and you think, really? I mean, not only did John preach that this was the lamb of God, John baptized Jesus Christ with a baptism unlike any other baptism that we've seen in this world, with the heavens opened up because the father himself attended the baptism and put a spotlight on Jesus Christ and with an audible voice said, this is my son. And who was there? John.

Anybody here heard the audible voice of God? I mean, how much more do you need than a spotlight to come from heaven upon a man and a voice to thunder from the sky to say, this is him. This is him. Few months later in a dungeon saying, are you him? Are you him?

Think about that. Think about the potential. Think about how this thing can afflict the soul of a man such as John. Surely you and I are susceptible. And we might criticize John.

Right? If I had that experience, I would never doubt Jesus. Boasts are dangerous. And again, put in the right ingredients. Be in a circumstance long enough.

Don't get answers for quite a while, and you'd be amazed to know how your faith will be tested. You'd be amazed to know about all the knowledge, the ministry you had, the sermons you preached. Do you think preachers can't doubt? Okay, because preachers are angels from heaven that have a perfect word with perfect lips. Right?

No. If anybody had lips of fire, it was John the Baptist. If anybody had a fire in his bosom, it was this man. But he was a man. Here's this man wondering, did I miss it?

Am I getting this wrong? Did I believe something that's not necessarily true? So let's have sympathy for this man. And let's understand that he's flesh and blood just like you and me. But what you and I can take from this is actually encouragement.

Not just because he doubted and we can say, okay, I've doubted before, John doubted, that's great. No. It's what he did with his doubts. See, it's one thing to doubt, it's another thing to do something about your doubts. And you know what John does?

Though he is in a crisis of some kind of faith, not on a grand level, I don't believe. I don't believe it was something that was causing him to turn on Christ, absolutely. He's just asking for clarification. We'll get to that. But you know what he does?

What every person who doubts should do, bring them to Jesus. That's what he does. These thoughts come crashing. What do you do when you have doubts about your faith and not just your faith, when the Lord himself is the object of your doubt? This is what you do.

You bring them to the Lord. He puts this into his disciples. He says, go to Jesus, and he goes to Jesus through these disciples, and they present the question to him. When you and I doubt, you can still have faith. Faith can be exercised even in the midst of doubt.

How? When you take your questions and bring them towards the one who calls himself the truth. That's how. Do you realize that as much as he has a question, he's actually operating in faith? You shouldn't worry if you have doubts because it's what you do with those doubts.

Now if your doubts make you run away from Jesus, that's a problem and that's a temptation. But do you realize that even something as dreadful as doubt can pull you towards the Lord? He goes and he says, Just go go ask the Lord. This is from my heart. And you know what Jesus does?

He welcomes the question. He puts an answer in their mouths and he sends them back. He did not scorn. He did not say, Are you serious? You yourself know that you were prophesied about in Isaiah 40.

You have heard the voice of the father, and you're asking me this? Get out of here. No. If there was anybody that needed a strong rebuke for doubting, it was this man. No.

But Jesus embraces it with compassion. And even with a mild rebuke, he does it in such a way where he encourages him with his answer, but he sends him back with something. Know this, that your Lord will have open arms even in the midst of doubt. Because he honors the man or the woman who is willing to even take it to the Lord. That honors him because doubt doesn't intimidate Jesus.

Your questions don't intimidate Jesus. They don't. They might intimidate others, but not the Lord. What an example that this man sets for those who might have a question. And so he brings them to Jesus.

And here's an encouragement for you and I, that as you and I paid close attention, because you have something that John the Baptist didn't. K? At least in fullness. The more you give yourself to this word, the more you accurately study his word in context and you have a full range of his scriptures, the less room you leave for doubt. Because the way Jesus answers is that he goes to the word of God.

John has this question, Jesus gives an answer, and let's see what he's going to do in order to quench this man's questions and his doubts. What's his answer? Shouldn't surprise us that he goes to the bible. He says in verse four, and Jesus answered them, go and tell John what you hear and see. You're witnessing something.

His disciples were around. They followed. They they they understood that this is a miracle worker. This one is this one is different, but he doesn't just they didn't just hold to his experience. He doesn't just hold to his current ministry.

He goes back to the word to say this is this is fulfillment of something. Verse five. The blind receive their sight and the lame walk. Lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. This isn't just he's just not giving his resume here.

There's prophetic tone here. And the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. What's Jesus doing here? Jesus is going to a portion of the scripture that John would have been familiar with because John himself knew that he was the one that Isaiah prophesied about. So Jesus goes back to the book of Isaiah and Jesus mingles two chapters, at least portions of them, Isaiah 35, Isaiah 61.

If you want to turn there, that's fine, but listen to this and see how there's a familiar tone. Isaiah 35 verse five, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. Familiar with Isaiah 61? The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

Now listen carefully. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Interesting prophecy because you take Isaiah 35, you take Isaiah 61, you see that Jesus pulls out the evidence of the Messiah from these texts, but then when you come to Matthew 11, he leaves out one of these details. Look at Isaiah 11, rather Matthew 11. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

Where's the opening of the doors for those who are in prison? That would have been very comforting for John to hear, that when the Messiah comes, he's gonna burst open doors and those who come out of prison will experience his deliverance. And Jesus, listen very carefully, omits that. He doesn't include that in his answer to John. He's saying, why?

People have different reasons. Here's what I believe, and this is probably where John had his doubt from. He knew the scriptures. He knew that what the Messiah would do. And there he is in prison laying down on that cord cold hard floor thinking, Isaiah 61 says he'll preach good news to the poor.

He'll set liberty to the captives. When's he gonna open this prison door? And so you can almost imagine with the knowledge of the scripture that he has, he's trying to make sense of this. The Messiah is gonna open prison doors and he hasn't even come paid a visit. Are you the one that's gonna open prison doors?

Or is there somebody else who's gonna come and open prison doors? And Jesus, knowing that he's in prison, Jesus knowing the scripture says, Listen, when the Messiah comes, the blind will see, the deaf will hear. Lepers, yes, they'll be cleansed. The crippled, they will leap. Good news will be preached.

Make sure that you don't tell him that the prison doors will be opened. Go. That's a paraphrase. And I re the reason why I believe he does this is because that's a spiritual truth. That those who are in bondage in sin, those who are prisoners to the enemy, those who are arrested by their sin nature will be delivered from their sin nature and from hell itself.

And here's Jesus very wisely not giving that specific reference to help John understand that this interpretation deals with a spiritual truth, John. This interpretation deals with the souls of men, and my goal here as you've preached is for me to come and do just that. I'm not here to deal with political. I'm not here to deliver you from Rome. I'm here to deliver you from yourself.

There's a prison that you're in in your soul. I'm here to set you free from that prison. I'm not here to to deliver you from your temporal suffering. Now there is an aspect where he will come abolish injustice, and he will execute judgment rightly unlike Herod. Sure.

But in this moment and with that text, no. I've come to deliver those who are enslaved to sin. I've not come to oppose those who are in places of power that are persecuting those who are for righteousness. John would have understood what Jesus was saying here. But then he goes on to say something else in verse six, and blessed This is the final statement before he sends them out.

Blessed is the one who is not offended by me. You give John these scriptures. He'll know what I'm talking about. But make sure you tell him this, blessed is the one who's not offended by me. How do we interpret that?

What does he mean by that? Well, in the immediate context, we know this. He had an expectation of the Messiah. That expectation wasn't met. It led to doubt.

Do you know what undealt with doubt can bring you to? Offense. Offense against who? Jesus. John did the right thing.

He brought it to Jesus, but some people don't bring their doubts to Jesus. And if you don't bring your doubts to Jesus, you're gonna start thinking differently about Jesus. That's the temptation. And it wasn't just for John. It's for anybody who has an expectation of Jesus, who tries to interpret Jesus in a certain way that fits their understanding.

And if it doesn't come to pass, there is such disappointment and discouragement that it makes you begin to think differently about the Lord you once served so passionately. That is the danger. And Jesus, what he's saying is this, because many were offended by Jesus in his day. People were offended by the questionable relationship that his parents had, where he came from, where he was raised, how he dealt with the leaders in his day. They were offended by him.

Many people had a certain expectation of him, including the religious leaders. And Jesus is saying to John what he's telling to every person of every generation. Blessed are those who had a certain expectation of what I would do in their life, but it doesn't happen, not because God isn't good, he's not faithful to his promise, but because of our own misunderstanding and still love me and crown me as Lord anyway. Many people had an expectation of Jesus in different aspects of life. And because not because he switches his word, not because he is unfaithful, but because we don't understand how he is and how he works completely.

And something begins to now seep into the soul and its bitterness against Jesus. You you don't think that's possible? I can tell you what's possible. People can't sing, though they come to church because they have religious convictions, but because they are so wounded by unmet expectations that they can't talk to the Lord, they can't sing to the Lord the same way again. And what Jesus is saying is this, oh, you're blessed.

You're blessed if even your allegiance to me brings you to a circumstance and a situation that you did not anticipate. Think about John. This is not what it's explicitly saying, but let's let's understand it from a human point of view. Here's John faithfully obeying the call of God, and in a moment for doing what God called him to do, you're gonna have your head severed. Blessed are those who are not offended by me because of the things that are thrown at them because of me.

Because things will be thrown at you in life if you're as faithful as John was. Words, actions, betrayal, name it. And you know what else that can bring about in your life? If you're not careful to think that everything will be rosy and daisy and it will just be nothing but revival and praise and blessing upon your ministry? Offense.

Be prepared now in your heart to say, Lord, even if you throw me and allow something to happen in a way in which I don't understand or I can't interpret it, I won't be offended by you. I'll praise you and love you and worship you still. There's blessing in that. It's not just for John. Now, that was his message.

Go tell that to John. John's disciples looked at Jesus, they nodded their heads, they looked at one another, and they said, let's go. They turned their back and headed towards that prison again. And Jesus now looks at the crowd that was there. Perhaps the crowd even heard the question, and perhaps the crowd heard the answer, and even the mild rebuke that Jesus offered in that last statement.

So Jesus now is about to do something quite amazing. He's gonna look to the crowd and give a tribute about this man John. John would never hear the words of Jesus concerning himself. But what Jesus is gonna do is defend the man's integrity. What Jesus is gonna do now is step up and speak about his servant because this servant has spent his life speaking about him.

John spent his life testifying about Jesus and now Jesus is gonna spend a portion of his ministry to testify about John. And so as he's there, this is crucial for many reasons. Here's one of them. If the people heard the potential doubt that came from John, that would affect how they understood Jesus. For people to understand who John is is crucial because it's important because the link between John and Jesus is inseparable.

If you know who John is, then you know who Jesus is. That is the wise part of it, but this is very real and very human. Even in a moment of what you can say weakness, a need of clarification, Jesus steps up to say, I know this man's heart. I know his character and I'm gonna solidify it by standing for him right now. And look what he says.

Look at verse seven in your bibles. He began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then didn't you go out to see?

A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. Now let's just stop there. He gives two descriptions about John the Baptist. First thing he says is, listen, you've heard him preach.

You've seen him in the wilderness. Some of you have repented because of him. So let me ask you a question. What did you go out to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

You know what that means? You have a reed in the field or field of reeds? There is no stability there. There is no consistency there. A reed, because of its weakness, is bent into the direction based on an outside force.

And no matter what that outside force presented and pressured, that reed would go into that direction. And what Jesus is saying is, that's not like John. The man had convictions and he stuck with his convictions. The man had a message and he preached that message. The man had something to say, though it was unpopular and even if it cost him his life, he went with that message.

You know, the Bible talks about that danger. You know, it's possible to be a professing Christian and to be like a reed shaken by the wind. Listen to this in Ephesians four fourteen. He says here, so that we may no longer be children. He's talking to Christians.

Paul does. Tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of what? What's the word? Doctrine. By human cunning, by craftiness, and deceitful schemes.

There are people today who can be like reeds, that whenever a new teaching comes out, they go into that direction. Here's a new popular teaching, it goes into that direction. Here's what the popular message is, though it's an imbalanced view of the scripture, and they go in that way as well. And what he's saying is John is not like that. Now hold on.

John just questioned who you were. John just asked if you were actually the Messiah. Isn't that not a reed shaken by the wind? And Jesus, knowing that that's a potential thought in their minds, goes on to say no. Because I know John, and John is simply asking for clarification.

And when he gets this answer, it's gonna be enough for John. You know how we know that? He never asked a question again. It satisfied him. What Jesus had said in those two short sentence, that was enough for John.

And you know what it what happened? John gladly, when he was called for his execution, I'm sure had a smile of faith on his face and it was chopped because his heart received what he needed and it was enough. I praise God that Jesus knows what's in my heart even if men question my faith and questioned my integrity and questioned my motives, I could care less. And you shouldn't care either. Here's a man, the perfect man, giving tribute about another man.

And he has the most important opinion. You didn't see a reed shaken by the wind. He was a voice, a unique voice, yes. But listen, just because it was a he was a unique voice didn't doesn't mean that you can't be a unique voice either. You and I have the same opportunity to be attributed in the same way that John was in this moment.

Why? Because you have a message and you have convictions, and you are a fish swimming against the stream of this culture. And I wonder if Christ were to speak at your funeral or mine, could he say the same, this was a man, this was a woman that was not like a reed shaken by the wind? When they had convictions, they stuck with it. When they had the word of God, no matter who stood against it, they were for it.

And whatever answer I gave them from my word, they were satisfied with it. But he goes on to say in verse nine, what then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, I'm more than a prophet. But before that he goes on to say, did you go out and see a man dressed in fine clothing?

So now he's now he's speaking about his lifestyle. Now this is where we gotta pay attention here, because we can misinterpret this, and everybody in here is gonna start wearing camel skin and eating locusts and honey. Because what did you go out and see? A man living in luxury? A man living for creature comforts?

No. You didn't go out and see some guy out there in pump, in style, concerned about the exterior, concerned about the pleasures of life. No. You saw a man who lived by a different calling and lived for the message that he preached. You saw a man who had a different step and he walked to a different beat.

And Jesus prays that. Now again, does that mean that we change our diet and we don't buy clothes? No. What it does mean is that there's an attitude that you and I possess though. And the attitude that Jesus is promoting here is the same attitude that he preached in his own sermon when he said, Don't live for clothes and don't live for food.

Seek the kingdom. Set your priorities straight. John was a man who had his priorities straight to the point that in his own context he wasn't worried about anything concerning the external because he sought the kingdom first. He sought the kingdom first and unfortunately what you have today is believers that live for food and clothing before they do for the kingdom. I wonder if Jesus would say that at many people's funerals that come to church.

They lived for fashion and they lived for food. The kingdom of God was like third on their list, not John. Not John. He didn't go out and see that. So what is Jesus saying about John with these two statements?

One, that he was a man that was not concerned about pleasing man. And two, he was a man that was not concerned about pleasing himself. Wow. What a tribute that Jesus gave a man or a woman. John did not live to please others.

That's why his head is about to be chopped off very soon. And John was not a man that sought his comfort above the kingdom. The kingdom was his comfort. This is my tribute to him. And I think to myself, wow, Lord.

Imagine the disciples just stuck around to hear that before they left. Can you imagine what they would have said to John? Do you know what Jesus said about you? Take courage. You might not hear what Jesus says about you and your faithfulness now, but that day is coming.

That day is coming. Hold on long enough. Be faithful long enough. Live for truth long enough, and you will hear those words from his lips one day. Jesus knows when.

But what Jesus is about to say now as we close in a moment is unique to John. We can't imitate John at this point. We we stop. We've reached the border and now we step out and we study something very crucial that is important for us to comprehend. Again, it goes back to his case.

If you understand who John is, then you will know who I am. Verse nine. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, more than a prophet.

Not just a prophet. Not just a messenger. Not just a miracle worker, though he didn't perform miracles. He was more than a prophet. He was the prophet of prophets, you can say.

And he goes on to say, yes, I tell you more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. This is huge because when you go back to the text that Jesus is quoting from, do you want to prove the deity of Christ in your evangelism? Do you want to prove that Jesus Christ is Yahweh? This is the text, at least one of them.

Malachi three one, you read that the speaker of this verse is God himself. And what God is saying through the prophet to the nation is what Jesus is quoting. Behold, in Malachi three one he says, I will send my messenger who will prepare my way. He will prepare the way before me. That's God talking.

I will send my messenger. You know what Jesus is saying? John is that messenger. I will send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. That's God speaking.

Did John know that about himself? Yes. In John one, when the religious leaders came up and says, who are you? Are you the Christ? Like, can you please tell us who you are?

We need some clarification. And John answers, I'm not who you think I am. I'm not the Christ. I'm not the prophet. But I am the one who is what?

Sent by the Lord to prepare the way for the Lord, Isaiah 40. John knew that about himself. K. So so then let's just pause here for a moment. Let's do a simple equation.

If John is that messenger to prepare the way for the Lord, what does that make Jesus? The Lord. If Jesus is using Malachi three one to speak of John and also of himself, then Jesus is declaring to an entire crowd, I am Yahweh in the flesh. John is the messenger to prepare the way for Yahweh, and he's here. And if you can tell this to somebody, if you can convince somebody of who John is, like what Jesus is doing, what an evangelism tactic.

If Jesus is using John to prove his own deity, use John to prove his deity. The crowd must have been stunned if they were smart enough to make the correlation. And what Jesus says next is amazing as well. Truly, you know what he's trying to say to a crowd just like this, maybe surely more? Pay attention.

This is a this is a sure word that I'm about to tell you. I say to you, among those born of women, there is arisen no greater than John the Baptist. That's amazing. He didn't say among men, he said among those who are born of woman. There is nobody that was born of a natural conception that is greater than John, humanly speaking.

His miraculous birth testifies of that to a certain degree, but it is his unique prophetic call that makes him stand above all other men. He had a privilege and an honor that no man had. He is the greatest among all who have been born of women, including Mary including Mary. Was she blessed among women? Sure.

But if there's an argument to say that she should receive such a veneration, where's John's? He is blessed, most blessed among all who have been born of woman. Side note, different sermon, different time. I say to you among those born of women there has arisen no greater than John the Baptist. If you think that's amazing, it's the next part that should blow us away.

Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. You and I have been studying John the Baptist. His untouchable standard of conviction and commitment. And if you were there listening to Jesus up to this point, you're hearing like, John is there. John, are you saying he's above this, above this prophet Daniel and Ezekiel and Isaiah?

Yes. Yes. Yes. And you can just imagine what they're feeling and then all of a sudden this bomb is dropped, but those who are least, not greatest, least in the kingdom are even greater than he. What a way to shock people.

Meaning what? What is he trying to say? I believe what he's trying to say is simply this, as great as John was, he was on the other side of the cross. He was on the other side of his dispensation, but there is a dispensation coming very soon where those who enter into relationship with me under that dispensation will be deemed greater than even John himself in privilege and honor. How can that be?

I think for many reasons, and I hope this would stir you as much as it should, You and I have not just part of Revelation, the full counsel of God and his message. If John the Baptist had a message to preach, surely you and I do. And we are on the other side of the cross, declaring greater truths. John knew the truth of him being the sacrifice, yes. But you and I have truth expounded on that.

You and I have a message that we carry, that John would have been ecstatic to know in fullness. You have that. I have that. And not only that, we know what the cross brought about, The Holy Spirit's indwelling in a permanent way. Being the house of God, being the habitation of his presence, and living like that, being sealed by that promise.

John did not know that nor than any other prophet. They knew what? They knew the Holy Spirit upon them, but to have him in him I heard somebody say this once and and it it blessed me. It humbled me. Humbled my the way I view the covenants in the bible.

It humbled the way I view the Old Testament and the New. He says something along along the lines of this, that when we get to cre when we get to heaven, many Christians will look to to Moses and David and say, David, what was it like to kill Goliath? What was it like to experience the deliverance in such a supernatural way? Moses, what was it like to see the the Red Sea split and to see bread come from heaven? And Moses and David and other saints would look at this Christian and they would not even answer before asking their questions saying, What was it like to have the Holy Spirit living inside of you?

We don't think of it that way. We look at the old covenant and we go, if I just live then, if I just live there, then why is it that we don't sense this privilege and this honor? I I I think there's an answer because most believers have not tapped into the power and the potential of the inheritance like we study on Friday. To know why a verse like this is possible. It's greater.

It's something greater. And I can't help but read a verse like this even late last night and thinking to myself, Lord, if you say that it's greater, if you say that there's something on this side that is much more honorable, let me tap into it. I don't know what it looks like. I don't know what it feels like. I don't know what I just want it.

I want it. Don't let me live my life in such a way where I miss out on it. I wanna know the greatness that you were speaking of here, Lord. So don't let me waste my life, and don't let me be misdirected in life. I want to know what you said is reserved for those on this side of the cross.

Grant it to me, Lord, please. Oh, God is so gracious to us and so compassionate that if you're at least in the kingdom of heaven, you've been stamped with promises and an inheritance that the prophets of old long to look into, that angels in heaven peek over the balcony of glory and say, what is it like? We nod our heads this morning. We say, I agree with you because it's in the Bible. I'm not asking if you just agree with it.

That's the the first thing I'm asking is, do you wanna dive into it? I hope so. I hope so. And here's a Jesus that opens his arms not just to those who doubt in their faith, but even to those who say, Lord, can I know this greatness? Can I know this privilege?

Can I know this honor? Can I know this I don't wanna cruise through this life and not know it, God? Let me know it. Surely he will not reject those who ask. This is what we have from the tribute to a man, because the tribute that he has for a man is a message to all men this morning.

Let's pray. This morning, there's gonna be an unusual call and it's a very simple one. Bring your doubts to Jesus. Bring your doubts to Jesus. Bring your questions to Jesus.

I'm sure this morning if everybody got honest and came up to this pulpit, we would have a 100 different questions and doubts that it might have threatened people's faith. You'd be amazed to know what people struggle with sometimes. And in a season like this, in a nation that is struggling, surely the circumstance is enough to pressure us to ask some questions. But here's what you and I are called to do. One, bring them to Jesus, but Jesus has given us a book full of answers.

And the more we come to this book, the more you leave out the possibility of dealing with the drought of doubt. Oh, what a wonderful savior. It's amazing. The man has an eager expectation and it's not met. What he can do to their faith.

Lord, we believe this morning, but help our unbelief. We know you are who you say you are but right now perhaps in this place there are people who need an answer and need some clarity. Grant it to us, Lord. Meet us where we're at, God. And help us know that even in a state like this, you do not shun us.

You don't scorn us. You don't whip us. You don't beat us. You don't speak ill of us to those creatures that surround your throne. Nor do you agree with the devil who accuses us for our moments of doubt.

No, lord, you are faithful. You're worthy of praise because of that. And Lord, in this moment, if there's anything that we need help with, it's to live for your tribute. As we sing today, we believe that you are who you say you are. And we give ourselves to you in worship and adoration.

Lord, our hearts brim with joy to know that you are so gracious enough to receive our questions. And we love you for that. In your name, we pray.