Jesus and John the Baptist

Well, good morning. We are setting a good example this morning, showing that the spirit is willing, but the body is weak, you know. Praise the Lord. So I hope you don't mind if I sit while we do worship. Yeah, thank you.

Let's stand together and we'll go before the Lord in prayer. Thank you. Thank you, Lord, for just this beautiful sunny day you've given to us. I pray, Lord, that you would just shine your light in our hearts today as we have this time worshiping you and fellowshipping and having time in your word. And just do what only you can do. Touch hearts today. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. All right, let's worship the Lord.

These are the days of Elijah, declaring the word. These are the days of your servant Moses, righteousness being restored.

These are like Jehovah the Son. At the trumpet call. In the vineyard, Lord, just have your way this morning. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You can be seated. Presence is one of the best things we can do. You know, the cool part about it, you don't have to come to church and be in God's presence. And it's so awesome because we have a personal audience with the creator of the universe.

Just go to him in prayer. Let him speak to you through his word. It's great. Thank you so much for who you are. You know what? You're going through.

I threw up just before we came up here.

But it's so awesome that we have people that will come and pray for you. And it's so awesome that God answers our prayers. Whatever you're facing, it's so easy. I'm here to tell you, it's easy to get discouraged. But God is in control. This next song just flat out encourages me, and I hope it encourages you too.

Thank you so much that you have never stand together. I'm not going to say I'm with you. But listen. I'm going to sing this last song together. I encourage you. You know, we've been going through this study with Pastor Ryan on workers, you know, being workers out in the field and stuff. And I don't know how many of you have ever been to Elk Falls up in, you know, to the pottery shop, but to watch Steve Fry working on the clay

and making the beautiful cups and pots and everything they make. And he gives a parable of the potter as he does it. What was it? He's in Elk Falls. He's, anyway, the, you know, we, he's the only potter that I know, but I know right here in this fellowship, we have artists, and I mean, very talented artists. You see these pictures out here on the chalkboard on Sundays, there's somebody in our fellowship

that does that. And there's several people that are very talented. And it's really easy sometimes to say, well, how can I do this? How can I do this? How can God use me if I don't have any talent? I'm not a singer. I'm not a, I'm not a potter. I'm not a painter or something like that. Let me tell you something. God has a specific job for you. And just because somebody does one thing a certain way doesn't mean that's what God wants you to do.

And I love this song. It's coming up. Let's praise God. In my mother's hands. Your hands. Our hands. Honor us. Lord, we thank you so much that you're not ... Lord, that you forgive us of sins when we confess them to you. Lord, you're faithful and just to forgive us when we confess those sins to you. Lord, to cleanse us of all our unrighteousness. You're so good.

We just pray you would open our spiritual eyes and ears as we get ready to hear. Why don't you take just a minute in fellowship and say hi to everybody. Good morning. Good morning. I'm glad you could be here this morning. If you would locate your seat, grab a bulletin. We'll go over some announcements. Over on the left side of your panel, you'll find a little table with all of your books.

left-hand side of your bulletin. We're back in action with everything this week. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a couple of things to pay attention to. Just a reminder that the new women's study will begin February the 24th. I think that kind of got pushed back a little bit because of studies having to get canceled with the snow. So that will begin

the 24th. It's in 1 Corinthians, and there are sign-up sheets out there in the lobby. Also, there's no marriage and family fellowship tonight because there's a football game. And although I'm awfully discouraged as to who's in the football game, but it is what it is. So those are the things that are going on. Also, a couple of things to pay attention to. There's a little reminder here in the middle. I've noticed that some more folks are getting

signed up for Flocknote. But if you'd like to keep track of the things that are going on in the body, check out Flocknote. Get yourself signed. And then two other things coming up or that are going on right now that we need to pay attention to. Hi, everyone. Our church has grown so much over the past few years that we've started noticing a need for an updated church directory so that we can all get better at matching names with faces.

So over the next several weeks, we're going to start doing your family photos immediately following church services. There will be a sign-up table immediately following service today where you can pick a time slot on either February 13th, 20th, 27th, or March 6th. If you are a first service attendee, we will have time slots open for you immediately following the first service on February 13th and 20th. When picking your time slot, the only thing that we're asking is that we leave the first couple of slots open for the families with the really young children so that we can get them in and out as quickly as possible. Sorry if you could hear her the whole

time. Once all of the photos are taken, I'll be uploading them to a gallery so that you can download your family photo for free if you want. So don't forget, sign up to start today and I can't wait to see all of your smiling faces. Very good. So those pictures will take place in this room back behind the sanctuary here and they'll be taken care of that. But that's why you need to be signed up for Flocknote because as

most some of you that are signed up to get pictures taken today took note, I sent out a little reminder yesterday on Flocknote that it was your turn to get your picture taken so that you could go, oh, I should wear nice clothes tomorrow or whatever you want to do. Or we should all match. We should all wear the same t-shirt or whatever it is, whatever you decide to do. So, and then there's one other thing that we need to talk about and that is the kid check thing. So

do you want to come up and share about this one in this service too? No, no worries. Okay, we're good. All right, we'll do that with second service. Okay, if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our unison reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 13. Psalm 13. And as always, we'll be looking at the New American Standard just so we sound the same.

And as you are turning, we're going to be looking at the New American Standard. And as you are turning to Psalm 13, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

Psalm 13. If you would read along with me. For the choir director, a Psalm of David. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God. Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death. And my enemy will say,

I have overcome him. And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. But I have trusted in your loving kindness. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. And Father, we do thank you that you do not, forget us. Lord, that, oh, it may seem like things are going wrong, but you're absolutely in control. And so, Lord, we do rejoice in you and in your loving kindness and in your salvation.

And so, Father, as we prepare to spend time in your Word this morning, I just ask that you would prepare our hearts for what it is that your Holy Spirit wants to do here this morning. Father, I want to ask that you would bind the enemy from hassling in any way. The Lord bind the enemy with the distractions he likes to bring to our hearts and souls as we pray. And Lord, I just ask that your Holy Spirit would move as you see fit, bringing comfort where there needs to be comfort, conviction where there needs to be conviction, and instruction, Lord, where we need to know which way to go. And we just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.

Amen. You may be seated. And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11. Matthew, chapter 11. This morning, we're going to spend some time talking about John the Baptist, because really this first half, maybe a little more of chapter 11, deals with Jesus and John the Baptist. As I've mentioned before, John the Baptist is one of my favorite characters in the New Testament,

because I think he's such a colorful guy. He was so in that spirit of the Old Testament prophets, and that he was kind of a little eccentric in the way that he did things. Again, I even looked up a picture last night. I always think of Phil Robertson when I think of John the Baptist, because he didn't mind saying what needed to be said. He didn't really, care who he offended when he said it, and just kind of called it like it was.

That's who John the Baptist was as a person. It's kind of interesting, because he really had a pretty short ministry. I think we forget, at least I do, how close in age he was with Jesus. I don't know about you, but sometimes when I think of John the Baptist around the time that he died, I think of him as this old, gnarly-looking guy, when really he was probably like 32 when he died, Jesus did. And so I think sometimes we forget just how young of a guy he was when he was doing this

ministry that God called for him to do. But what we see here today is that John's going to have a question for Jesus. As a matter of fact, John's going to have what I would call a lapse of faith. And yet Jesus is not disappointed in him. Jesus really doesn't even sternly rebuke him. Jesus just simply answers his questions. Because you know as well as I do that in the midst of life,

in the midst of the things that go on in life, sometimes we just genuinely have questions because life hasn't quite gone the way that we thought it was going to. It's always a good reminder that Jesus is so patient with us in our questions and how Jesus feels towards us. And so we pick up in John chapter 11 verse 1. And it says this, when Jesus had finished giving instructions to his 12 disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now when John, while

imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said, are you the expected one or shall we look for someone else? Now if I was to break down the first 19 verses of this chapter, I would do it in this way. John's question for Jesus, Jesus commends John, and then Jesus rebukes the people. And so this first section that we'll look at is John's question that he has for Jesus. Now the first thing that I took note of in verse 1 is

that it says, he had finished giving his instructions to his disciples, and then he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now this is an interesting segue verse because remember in chapter 10, we talked about the workers and the harvest, that Jesus had said, the harvest is right, but the laborers are few. Pray that the Lord would send workers into the harvest. Now you go into the harvest. And he gave them the instructions that they needed to go into the harvest, but he also

warned them of the dangers that would face them, but those dangers should not impede their work. It should instead, caused them to stay focused on what God had called for them to do. And so as we segue into this next chapter, it says Jesus had finished giving his instructions to the disciples. That's the ending of chapter 10. But notice what Jesus goes about doing. After he had instructed his disciples to

go out and preach the gospel, to preach to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Jesus doesn't just send them off and then say, I can take a break now. I can be done. I can just sit and let them do all my heavy lifting for me, and I'm just going to wait for the crowds to start rolling in. No, what does Jesus do? It says that he, meaning Jesus, departed from there to teach and preach

in their cities. In other words, he says, you guys go to all these other places. I'm going to go to your hometowns, and I'm going to start preaching the gospel. I think this is interesting because Jesus was willing to lead by example. And I think that in the culture we have today, especially as parents and grandparents, as those who would lead others, we must remember that the greatest

responsibility is to lead by example. And I think that in the culture we have today, especially as parents and grandparents, we must remember that the greatest leadership does not take place with the words that we speak. The greatest leadership takes place with the lives that we live. And I think it can be so easy, first of all, as believers in Jesus Christ, to hold others to a higher standard than the one that we would hold ourselves to. And we must remember that either A, we need

to maintain the standard that we would hold someone else to, or B, we should be as patient with them as we want them to be with us. But we must lead by example. But what really got me in this was thinking about myself as a father. And as I am raising my daughters, I think the easiest thing for me to do is to tell them, do what I do, or do what I say, don't do what I do. Don't follow

my example, listen to my instructions. Because it's one thing for me to tell them, you eat too many snacks, there's too much snacking going on, and then go to bed and go, let's get snacks, right? Now that's a small thing, but I think I can kind of translate that into other areas of my life, where I'll tell them, this is a bad idea, but I'm going to do it. And I'm going to do it. And I'm

going to do it. And I'm going to do it. And I'm going to do it. And I'm going to do it. And I'm going to do it. It's a bad idea for you, but then I'll find myself doing the exact same thing. You're too distracted by your devices while I'm staring at my phone. You spend too much time on entertainment while I'm sitting there watching TV. You don't spend enough time in the Word while I'm also not

spending very much time in the Word. And it's easy to stop leading by example and start leading by command. And you know as well as I do, that whether it's your kids, or whether it's your co-workers, or the people that you minister to on a daily basis, if they don't see your example, they won't listen to any of your words. And so Jesus was willing to lead by example where this was concerned. But as Jesus is going about doing this, John the Baptist is in prison. It says,

now while John was in prison. Now we need to remember that back in Matthew chapter 4 is when we first read that John was imprisoned. It'll go into more detail about his imprisonment in chapter, I believe it's 14, but let's for just a moment remind ourselves why John is in prison. John is in prison. He's in prison. He's in prison. He's in prison. He's in prison. He's in prison.

John was in prison because Herod had decided that he wanted to marry his brother's wife. And so he convinced his brother's wife to leave his brother and marry him. Now interestingly enough, we just studied this on Wednesday night in the book of Leviticus, did we not? Did we not just study the fact that you were not to marry individuals in those situations? That it was an abomination to

marry your brother's wife, especially when you pull her away from the person that she's married to? God considered that to be an abomination to marry your brother's wife, especially when you considered that an abomination? Well, because John the Baptist spoke the truth and didn't care who heard the truth, didn't care who he offended with the truth. He confronted Herod and said, dude, you're living in sin. This is a direct violation of what God said, and God's going to

judge you for it. And so Herod reacted like most political leaders react when they're confronted with the truth. He tried to shut it up. He tried to stop it. And so he put John in prison. Now, he always kind of respected John and respected the people that were in prison. But he didn't follow John. So he couldn't quite bring himself to put John to death. That's going to come with a

really sad story later in Matthew. But that's why John's in prison. He was there because he'd spoken the truth. And he hadn't just been there a couple of days. He'd been there a while now. And so it says, while John had been imprisoned, he heard of the works of Christ. And so he sent word by his disciples. In other words, while he's in prison, his disciples are coming to speak to him. And so

they're saying, man, this Jesus guy is pretty amazing. He's healing lots of people. There's lots of things taking place. But there's a question in John's mind. Because in John's mind, Jesus was the Messiah, which is absolutely true. And for those who had an Old Testament understanding of the Messiah, it usually meant one main thing. The one main thing that a Messiah meant was one that would

deliver the nation politically. Now, I believe that John knew the spiritual aspect of that as well. It's just that John also knew that there was a political aspect because he knew the Old Testament. And quite frankly, if you don't understand that there's near fulfillments and future fulfillments of some of the prophecies in the Old Testament, you can get a little bit confused because Jesus came to fulfill the Savior portion the first time. He'll fulfill the political portion

the second time when he rules and reigns as the perfect king. But because of this, John has a question. And so John sends word by his disciples and he says, Are you the expected one or shall we look for someone else? Now, as John asks this question, I think it's kind of interesting because if anybody should have known who Jesus was, it was John, right? If anybody should have known that Jesus was the Messiah, it was John. Because

John was raised knowing this, right? Remember, Jesus was his cousin. Jesus would have been closely associated with him. He was his cousin. He was his cousin. He was his cousin. He was his cousin. He was his cousin. He was his cousin. He was his cousin. He was his cousin. He was his cousin. He was his cousin. John. So he would have been raised knowing this. Not only that, but John baptized Jesus. Remember

that time when Jesus comes down to John at the water and John's like, feels like a bad idea. Feels like you should be baptizing me. And Jesus says, no, this needs to be done for all righteousness sake. And so he baptizes him. Remember what happened when he baptized him? Came out of the water. And as he came out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove and a voice from

heaven said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Of course, John should know who Jesus was. And then it doesn't stop there because remember when Jesus later on was walking and teaching, John looked at his disciples and he said, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And when more people were following Jesus than John, John said, that's okay. He must

increase. And I must decrease. You see, if anybody should have known who Jesus was, it was John the Baptist. And yet, John finds himself right now in prison and he finds himself asking the question, are you the one or should we be looking for somebody else? Well, as John has what I would call a momentary lapse of faith, I think I had at least put these out there. I can't remember. I think that there's three things that we should pay attention.

Number one, Jesus was not meeting John's expectations. Jesus was not meeting John's expectations. Boy, that's real talk, isn't it? How many of us have found ourselves in a place where we thought we knew what Jesus was going to do, where we thought we knew what God was going to do, and he didn't do that. And when that happens, we find ourselves mildly disillusioned,

right? Because we know, we know certain things and we say, oh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. This is how God's always going to act. This is what Jesus is going to do. And then when that doesn't happen, we go, but wait, you're Jesus. Why didn't this happen? My wife was telling me, she goes, I'm reading the book of Job right now. And Job is a hard book to read. And I said,

that's the greatest understatement I've ever heard. Because Job is a really hard book to read. She goes, it really makes you question a lot about God. Because why would God, ever do this? It doesn't seem like how God should act. It doesn't seem like what God would do. Essentially, my wife said, what John said here, that's not meeting my expectations of who God is.

And I would be lying if I didn't say, I have felt the same way at times about the book of Job, where I've gone, Lord, that doesn't seem like who you are. That doesn't seem like the expectation that I have for you. And yet, that's exactly how God acted. And may I say, in my life, there's been times where I've thought, but this is what you're supposed to do, at least according to my understanding of who you are.

But this isn't what you're doing. Lord, you're not meeting my expectations. Now, I think the most important thing that we can do is get really real with ourselves. And when that happens, own up to the fact that we feel that way. I appreciate the honesty and the candor of John right now to just call it like it is and say, hey, I'm having a hard time. I'm believing with what I'm seeing right now. And may I say, when we feel like Jesus doesn't

meet our expectations, it doesn't hurt his ego for us to say, that's not meeting my expectations, because he's happy to answer us in our place of doubt. We'll get to that. The second thing I take note of about John is I think John felt forgotten. I think John felt forgotten. Do you remember one of the things that said that the Messiah would do, that he would open prison doors and set

captives free? And yet, where was John sitting right now? John was sitting behind prison doors, and he had definitely not been set free. And I think that as John sat there, as we've said, for not just a couple of days, but for quite some time now, John probably felt forgotten. God has forgotten that I'm here. Jesus, my cousin, the Messiah, the one I thought was the Messiah,

has completely forgotten that I'm here. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever been in a dark place in life? Have you ever been in a place where things aren't going your way? Have you ever been your way where Jesus wasn't meeting your expectations? And in the midst of all of that, you're going, I think he forgot that I'm here. I think he forgot that he's supposed to come see me

now, that he's supposed to set me free now. And sometimes we can feel forgotten when it comes to God. I hesitate to go back to the book of Job, but when you go back to the book of Job, remember what Job started saying? I think God forgot me. I think God forgot that I didn't actually do anything wrong here, which is when God had to deal with Job. It's so easy for us to feel forgotten in this world that we're living in.

And then the third thing that I take note of is that those things led John to be very discouraged. John was very discouraged. I believe one of the great ways that the enemy likes to attack us is to attack us through discouragement. Perhaps you've been there. Seems like one thing after another just keeps going wrong. One thing after another just keeps not going the way that

you had intended or thought that it was going to go the way that you had intended. And so, you know, it's not that it was going to go. And pretty soon you find yourself going, what's the point? Maybe I should just give this whole thing up. I've been there. I've been there in my walk with Jesus Christ where it just felt like, man, it feels like all of my prayers are

hitting the ceiling. It feels like Jesus isn't doing what I thought he was going to do. I feel like he forgot me. And quite frankly, I just don't know if this whole thing is worth it. I just don't know if I can keep going. I just don't know if I can keep putting one foot in front of the other because quite frankly, I just feel so discouraged right now. Some of the greatest men and women that God has used through the centuries have battled

discouragement because you know as well as I do, what does discouragement turn into? Discouragement turns into depression because it just feels like nothing's ever going to work. Here's what's really cool about what Jesus does is that John, first of all, John does exactly what he's supposed to do. And when he is having these feelings, he says, I can do is take these feelings to Jesus. Here's the lie that the enemy would want to tell you is

that when you're feeling that way, which listen, are natural human things that we all go through, you are not a super saint that's never going to deal with discouragement. You are not a super saint that's never going to feel like God has forgotten you. You're not a super saint who doesn't feel like Jesus has let you down sometimes because none of us are super saints. We're all just human beings clothed in flesh that's subject to all the weaknesses of this world. And so when

the enemy tells you, you can't go. You can't go to God with all those doubts because he's going to be angry. And so we hold them all in. But I love what John does here because he's not afraid to take them directly to the source and say, this is where I'm struggling. And so he sends these messengers to Jesus and says, are you the expected one or should we look for someone else? So in verse four, we start to see

Jesus respond. Notice what it says.

And so as Jesus responds, he goes, go and tell John what has been. Go and tell John the things that I have been doing. Now, here's one of the cool things. When Jesus is questioned in the gospel of John by the religious leaders about who he is, how he can claim to be the Messiah. Do you remember what he said? He said, the very works I do testify of me. Remember, we said Jesus didn't just lead by speaking. He led by example. He put the, as my

junior English or my junior history teacher would have told me, he said, she said, the proof was in the pudding. In other words, his action proved his statements. And so that's exactly what he did. He said, I want you to go and I want you to tell him what you've seen. And as he says, go and tell him what you've seen, he gives us several different things that were listed in the prophecies of Isaiah. He says,

first of all, the blind receive their sight. Remember, we read about that. The lame walk. We read about that. The lepers are cleansed. We read about that. The deaf hear. We will read about that. I don't remember if we've done that one yet. And the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel. The people preach to them. He gave them several different snippets of prophecies from the book of

Isaiah that had to do with the Messiah that said, when the Messiah comes, these are the things that he's going to do. He not only pointed to his works, but he pointed to the word. And this reminds me of how Jesus deals with us in our time of doubting. If we're willing to take those things to Jesus, there's three things, again, I think that we pay attention to about the way that Jesus handles his doubting. Number one, Jesus.

Was very patient with his doubts. Oh, I did have her put that there. Jesus was very patient with his doubts. Did you notice what Jesus did not say to John's disciples? What do you mean John has questions? How could John have questions? He should know better than that, right? That's how we think if we go to God with a doubt, right? Is we think that God's going to be like, you should know better

than that. You've been raised in the church. You should know better than that. You own a Bible. You should know better than that. You've come to salvation. You've seen the work I've done in your life. You should know better than that. But he doesn't do that, does he? He says, hey, listen, this is what I want you to go tell John. He's very patient with our doubts. God's very patient with every aspect of us.

God's very, very patient with everything that we do in life, but especially with those honest doubts that we have, with those honest feelings of concern that we have. He's very patient with his doubts. The second thing I'll show you, that Jesus does is Jesus points him to the word. And isn't that true of what Jesus does with us? You know, one of the greatest things he'll do is as you're experiencing these doubts,

if you're going to spend time in the word, he will bring out things of the word that will prove that he absolutely is who he says he is, that he can absolutely do the things that he says that he can do. But you know what else is really cool? When you're in your time of doubt, and you're not spending time in the word, he's still really good at showing you those things from the word. Let me give you a little bit of an example. So when I went away to Bible college,

I experienced a certain amount of homesickness when I first got there. It was, I was a small town Kansas kid that was not only the only kid from my state, I was the only kid from my region of the nation at Bible college. And so when I was out there, I experienced a great deal of homesickness those first few weeks. weeks, and I was like, oh, Lord, I just don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can be here.

And God gave me a verse to let me know that I needed to stay. He met me in my place of doubt in this way, if you will. It was out of the book of, I believe, 1 Thessalonians, and it says, he who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. And it's amazing because I saw it everywhere. Matter of fact, I stopped. We had a little guard shack that people had to check in at before they

came on the campus of the college, and I went up to talk to one of the security guys. It was a buddy of mine that was working security, and I looked at the computer screen. You know what the screensaver said? He who called you is faithful, who also will do it. We got in my buddy's car to go up to a coffee shop, and do you know what verse the pastor was preaching on on the radio? He who called you

is faithful, who also will do it. I couldn't get away from that verse. It was everywhere that I went. Why? Because when we have times of doubt, God brings us back to the word, and he's so faithful to do it. He's patient with us, and then he begins to speak to us, and it's kind of an amazing thing. I love when God shows up in those ways, and they come in the most fascinating places possible.

I remember when I was in high school, my senior year of high school, I was meeting with the other FCA officers, and this girl brought us this little card. She goes, I went to go use the bathroom at this place, and sitting on the little place where the toilet paper is in the bathroom was this little card with a Bible verse on it, and it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. She said, we should start making cards like these and putting them in the bathrooms. Why? Because when we have

genuine doubts, God will make his word pop up anywhere to make sure that we are taken back to the truth of what the word has to say, and that's exactly what Jesus does. He takes John back to the word. He says, this is the work that I've done, and it's according to what the word of God has to say, but not only does Jesus patient with his doubts, which is so comforting, not only does he take him back to the word, but Jesus points him to the work. Jesus points him to the work.

For John, it was the work that the Messiah was supposed to do. This is the work of the Messiah, and therefore, when you know that these things are taking place, you can know only one guy was prophesied to do all of these things, and that's the Messiah. For you, it may not necessarily be that God points you back to the work of what the Messiah is supposed to do. You know what God's really good at doing? He's really good at taking you back to the work that he's already done in

your life. You start to have all these doubts, Lord, and you start to have all these doubts, I just don't know. I don't know if I still believe in you. I feel like I've forgotten here. I feel like you're not at work in my life anymore, and he starts reminding you of everything he's done to bring you to this point, and he starts reminding you of all those places where he's

been that you didn't see him, all those places that he's been at work that you never realized he was. There's this great David Crowder song off a really old, when he was still David Crowder band, a really old CD, and the song is all about the doubts that he was going through, and as you get to the, basically it was, where were you when all these things were going on? At the very end of the song, there's this verse, and he says, I didn't notice you were standing here. I didn't notice you were crying too. I didn't realize that that was you washing

my feet, and that's the point of what Jesus is so good at doing in our lives, is when we go through those times, and we're willing to, in that bold, humble way, just say, I didn't notice you were saying, Lord, I'm struggling right now, because it feels like you should be here, and I don't see you. He's really good at taking you back and saying, well, that was me right there. Oh, I didn't realize that was you. I didn't know that that was you that was holding me in that time. I didn't

know that that was you taking care of me. I didn't know that that was you encouraging me, and he goes, this is the work that I have done. This is the work that I've been doing, and this is the work that I want to keep doing in you. He's so faithful to do that in our place of doubt. He does this with John the Baptist, and he's willing to do it with you. Take all of those

things to Jesus. Amen? So, Jesus gives this message to his apostles, or excuse me, to John's disciples, and they take it back to John. Verse 7, we begin this next point of Jesus commending John. Notice what it says. It says,

But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you. Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is more than John the Baptist, who is more than John the Baptist, who is more than John the Baptist,

who is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. For all the prophets in the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. I love it. It says, Jesus began to speak.

Now, when did Jesus begin to speak? After John's disciples had left. Why is that important? Because all of these commendations that Jesus is about to give John the Baptist, who, by the way, just expressed great doubt in the Messiah, all of these commendations that Jesus is about to give for John the Baptist, John won't hear. Isn't that kind of interesting? You know what's kind of

interesting is that we don't always hear what Jesus has to say about us that's so good. We don't always hear all those things, but it doesn't mean that it's not true. And so John's disciples go away, and Jesus begins to commend John, the Baptist, for the great things that he has done, and the great man of faith that he is. But that brings me to another really interesting point, and it's one that I've made lots of times in our studies in the Old Testament, but one that I think that begs to be made again.

Jesus remembers our faith, not our failure. Jesus remembers our faith, not our failure. You know what's amazing is to read Hebrews chapter 11. I'm sure I've shared this with you before, but hey, I like to repeat myself. It's amazing to read Hebrews chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11. If you've never read it, first of all, write it down so you can go home this afternoon and read it, because it'll be more interesting than a football game that doesn't

involve the Chiefs. But it is called the Hall of Faith, and in this Hall of Faith, it lists all of the great works of all of these men of the Old Testament, men and women of the Old Testament. And all it mentions is the great things that they did by faith. But you know what's kind of interesting? If you go back and do a study in the Old Testament, of the men and women that are mentioned in the Hall of Faith, they all also had great failures.

Failures that really some of us would think would have disqualified them to be mentioned in the Hall of Faith. And yet in Hebrews chapter 11, those failures are not mentioned. They're not mentioned one little bit. Those men and women are only known as great men and women of faith. Why? Because God doesn't remember our failures. He remembers our faith. You see,

we have a tendency to keep record of all of our wrongs, right? Well, what does Jesus do with our wrongs? It's a great old song we used to sing, as far as the east is from the west. That's how far He has removed our transgressions from us. That's how far He's removed all those things. I had a friend in college that gave me a great illustration of this. He said, sometimes we view God as wiping

the slate clean, but what God really does is breaks the slate and gets a whole new one. That's how much He does not remember all of our wrongs. All of our failures. And yet He does remember all of our faith. It reminds me of one of the coolest things God showed me here a few years ago. There's no place that we're told that God keeps a record of all of the things that we've done wrong. So what records are kept of us,

of God, according to what Scripture has to say? Well, there's three things that are kept. I didn't ever put these up there because I'm just thinking of them now. The first is that God writes our names down in His book of life. Actually, it says we're inscribed upon His palms. He keeps track of our name when we come to know Him because we're one of His kids.

Second thing it tells us is that He keeps all of our tears in a bottle. For some of us, those bottles are bigger than others. But He keeps track of all of those. But I think one of my favorite ones is in the book of Malachi where it says that there was a book of remembrance kept that every time the people spoke of God, that He wrote it down. You see, this is the Old Testament proof that God keeps track of our faith, not our failures.

Anyway, it's always spoken to me. And so as he begins to commend John the Baptist, he looks at the folks and says, hey, what did y'all go out there to see? What were you thinking you were going to see when you went to see John the Baptist in the wilderness? Did you think you were going to see a reed shaken by the wind? In other words, a flimsy piece of grass that went with every wind of

doctrine that was willing to be blown all over the place, depending on what the public opinion polls said at that time? Nah, you didn't go out there to see that. I loved, I think it was J. Vernon McGee's commentary. He said, now, friends, he was not a reed shaken by the wind. He was the wind that shook the reeds because that's the kind of guy he was. And of course, J. Vernon McGee goes on because he was

hardcore too. Like, I think he was a modern day John the Baptist kind of a guy. He goes, and friends, we need a lot more pastors that will be wind that shakes the reeds because we've got to quit being driven by every wind of doctrine and every public opinion poll ever, which is why sometimes when I'm done preaching, I'm here on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night. I think that may be my last one because sometimes you just have to say what needs to be said. And that's who John the Baptist was.

Beard flowing, hair on fire, yelling about what was the truth. He said, hey, did you go out in the wilderness to see a guy that was dressed in soft clothing? Or we would say fancy clothes. No, those kind of guys are in king's palaces, not living in the wilderness, eating locusts and honey, right? John the Baptist wasn't even fancy like Applebee's, right? I mean, he just, he wasn't fancy at all,

right? Honey and bug parts dripping from his beard, right? That's the kind of guy he was. He goes, now, what'd you go out there to see? You went out there to see a prophet, didn't you? He wasn't just a prophet. He was more than a prophet because you see, he was the one who was prophesied about that he would come and prepare the way for me. Matter of fact, this little quote

that he gives us is a combination of two quotes from John the Baptist. He says, I'm not a prophet, I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet.

I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I'm a prophet. I didn't have her put these up here, but you could write these down on the

margin of your Bible. One is Isaiah 40 verse 3. Isaiah 40 verse 3. And the other is Malachi chapter 3 verse 1. Isaiah 40 verse 3 and Malachi chapter 3 verse 1. He says he was more than a prophet. He was the one who was chosen to prepare the way for the Messiah. If I need to give you those after service, just come see me. So he goes on from there to say, truly I say to you, verse 11,

among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist. Could there be any greater compliment that's ever been paid to any human being, to anyone that has actually walked topside of planet earth, that the creator of the heavens and the earth, the very Messiah himself said, as far as those who are born of women, in other words, as far as those who are human in nature, as far as those who are born of women, as far as those who are born of women, as far as those who are human in nature, as far as those who are born of women, as far as those who are in nature, no one is greater than John the Baptist, right? You know, Moses was like, what? You know, Abe was like, what? No, I'm just kidding. They weren't like that at all.

But that's how great of a guy he was because he had been given the responsibility of being the last Old Testament, Old Covenant prophet to prepare the way for the changing of the old guard to the new guard, for the changing of the old covenant to the new covenant, for the preaching of the one who would not only cover sins for another year, but would take away sins for all time. So he was the greatest to ever live. And then Jesus follows it up with this statement. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Well, what does he

mean by that? What does he mean by the fact that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist? Well, if you remember, John the Baptist lived under the Old Covenant. You see, John the Baptist still had to go every year on that day of atonement and offer atonement for his sin. He still had to have his sins covered every single year. He didn't know what it was like to be clothed in righteousness. And his experience of a relationship

with the Holy Spirit is different than our experience of the relationship with the Holy Spirit. You see, under the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit would only come upon someone for a specific time for a specific task. It's different than the relationship you and I have with the Holy Spirit. And so, you know, John the Baptist still had to go every year on that day of atonement for his sin. You see, John the Baptist still had to go every year on that day of

atonement for his sin. You see, John the Baptist still had to go every year on that day of Holy Spirit today. That's why, as New Testament believers, as those who are members of the kingdom of God, we're actually greater than John the Baptist. Why? Again, three things. First of all, our sins have been washed away. Our sins have been washed away. That's so much different than the way the people of the Old Covenant lived. So much different than

the way the people of the Old Testament lived. They had to come every single year and offer another sacrifice to God and hope that their sins would be covered for another year. Hope that the high priest was worthy to be in that position, that their sins could be covered for another year. Our sins are completely washed away, like I said, as far as the east is from the west.

Number two, you and I have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. In other words, when God sees us, He doesn't just see someone who has had their sins washed away. He views us in the same way that He views His own precious Son, because we are wearing His righteousness like a garment. We wear His righteousness like a brand new set of clothes. And so that's how He

views us, because that's who we are now in our spiritual nature, is clothed in the righteousness of Christ. But not only that, number three, you and I have that indwelling Holy Spirit. Remember what Jesus said, we will come and we will make our home in you. You see, the Holy Spirit doesn't just come upon you for one time, for one specific purpose to achieve a task. He makes His home inside of you. Your relationship with Jesus through that

indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is different than any old covenant saint ever knew, because it was so personal in nature. And so He says, of those born of women, John, he's the greatest, but he's still nothing compared to even the least of those who are in the kingdom of God. He goes on to speak more about the kingdom. He says, from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force. For all the law

and the prophets prophesied until John. And if you're willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. Now this verse 12 is kind of an interesting verse, and every commentator I read said the exact same thing. That's a tough one to translate. So I've done the best I can to ascertain exactly what is meant by this verse. If you have an issue with it, I'm fine with that.

But this is what I have done in my studying of my understanding. First of all, he says, up to this point in time, from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence. What does that mean? It means that there has been violence done against the kingdom of heaven, both through Satan, who has done everything that he can to destroy the prophets.

He's done everything that he can to destroy the message. He's done everything that he can to destroy the messengers and prevent the coming of the Messiah. He's done everything that he can. Those that he used as his instruments, humanity, that had tried to silence the message, that had tried to silence the nation, that had tried to destroy the nation through whom the Messiah would come, there was great violence.

And even in Jesus's time, from the time of John the Baptist, from the time he started preaching about Jesus until that point in time, violent men, those who were opposed to the message, the religious leaders of that time, were violently standing against the kingdom of heaven. And may I say, it's no different today. That there is great violence that is being done against the kingdom of heaven. But then he goes on to make, and this is what I think is a tough one to translate, to make this next statement in which he says, and violent men take it by force. So what does he mean there? That's the question that arises.

What does he mean, violent men take it by force? Does that mean that those outside who are trying to take on the kingdom are going to take it by force because of their violence? I don't think that's what's intended here. What's intended here is this. Those who would be a part of the kingdom of God, it requires a great deal of persistence and effort, not to become a part of the kingdom of God, but to continue the

work of the kingdom of God. That there is great intensity for those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ. Violent men take it by force, speak of the intensity that we should have as believers in Jesus Christ, not only in our pursuit of our knowledge of God, but in our pursuit of serving him and continuing to be those workers in the harvest. Do you know what the biggest problem we're facing right now in Western culture, true Bible-believing churches is? A lack of intensity. We've stopped being violent men

who are taking it by force, and we've started being those who are sitting back and being pacifists in the way that we handle not only our relationship with Jesus Christ, but also in the way that we handle the way that we give out the truth. I remember listening to a guy teach, his name's Tim Chaddock. I listened to him speak at a youth pastor's conference one time. He said, when did the church start being scared to ask questions?

When did the church start being the ones who were scared of the questions that might come to them? When did we stop asking people the hard questions that needed to be asked with boldness and confidence? When did it happen? It started happening when we started letting other people come in and tell us what the Bible says instead of letting the Bible tell us what the Bible says.

It started happening when we started deciding that we cared more about the Bible than we cared about the Bible. It started happening when we cared more about public opinion than we cared about the truth of God's word. It started happening when we cared more about what people thought of us than we cared about what God thought of us. And all of a sudden, when we stopped caring, we stopped being violent men who took it by force. We stopped being those who pursued our relationship with Jesus Christ, not because it's

the right thing to do, but because it's the only thing to do. We stopped being those who pursued a relationship with Jesus Christ, not because it gave us some kind of a hope for the future, but because it was our only hope for future. future. Not because it added to my life, but because it is my life. And quite frankly, we stopped giving out the gospel like it's the only thing that can change the world and started giving

it out like it's just maybe something that could help change the world. And until we begin to view our relationship with Jesus Christ as the only point of life that I have and getting out the truth of who Jesus Christ as the only point that I have in my life, until we get to that point, we'll be those that have stopped being violent men that take it by force. We'll continue to be a church in which Jesus says, I'd rather you be hot or cold, but instead you're lukewarm, so I'm going to spew you out of my mouth. He says, that's what's going on. That's the way that it should be.

Notice what he says about John the Baptist next as far as the kingdom is concerned. He says, for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. Now, I don't know if you've picked up on this. I don't know if you've picked up on this. I don't know if you've picked up on this. But that's an incredibly powerful statement that he just made about John. In other words,

he just said, John brought about the culmination of all of the law and the prophets. He marks the end of an era. He marked the end of that particular part of history, because he was the end of all of the law and the prophets. Why? Because the one that he prepared the way for, he didn't just say he's coming someday. He said, he's here. The culmination of all of the law and prophets is sitting right there because he is the one who

fulfills it. He is the one who keeps it. He is everything that all of the law and the prophets spoke about. He's the personification of the righteousness of God. He is the personification of the holiness of God. And he is the only one who can fulfill all of the righteous requirements of the law on behalf of all of humanity. That's what makes John the end of the law

and the prophets, because he didn't just say he's coming. He said, it's here. And he's standing right there. He said, that's who John is. He says, as a matter of fact, verse 14, if you're willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who is to come. What does he mean by that? Well, if you were to look at another verse in the book of Malachi, I think it's the

very end, very last verse, not only at the end of the book of Malachi, but at the end of the Old Testament, it says that Elijah will come before the great and terrible world. And he's standing there. He's standing there. He's standing there. He's standing there. He's standing there. He's He says, if you're willing to accept it, he fulfills that role of Elijah. But you see,

they didn't accept that that's who he was because they wouldn't accept that that's who Jesus is. And because of that, he was only a foreshadowing. He was only a partial fulfillment of that. The ultimate fulfillment will come in what we read in the book of Revelation, I believe chapter 11, although I may be off. And that's when it says that there's those two witnesses who I personally believe will be Moses

and Elijah because they represent the law and the prophets. If other people have an issue with that, I'm okay. J. Vernon McGee thinks one of them is going to be John the Baptist. And I have no problem with that if that's who it is. Honestly, God can make it whoever he wants. It's going to be okay with me. But I believe that's who it's going to be. And they will prophesy before that

great and dreadful day of the Lord when he finishes pouring out his wrath. On this earth, he says, but you're not willing to accept it. Therefore, it's only a partial fulfillment. And he goes on from there to say this, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. This is the first time we read this in the book of Matthew, but we're going to find that throughout the book of Matthew, especially when we get into the

parables, Jesus is going to use this phrase a lot. Now, I think this is an important phrase. I think it's an important phrase because it is a reminder for us of the importance that our ears be spiritually tuned in. That's what he means. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Tune in to what the Holy Spirit wants to say through this, because if you can't, you'll miss it all, right? I talk to kids all the time. I talk to two of them

every day because they belong to me. And I talk to a handful of them every morning because I teach them in Bible. And then all my little daughter's friends like asking me questions and stuff, and I talk to them all the time. And I usually end up asking one question when I'm trying to talk to kids. I'll look at the one that's actually listening to me and I'll say, you can hear me, right? Like you can hear the words

that are coming out of my mouth because it feels like none of them are listening to me, right? Because that's kind of who we are. And you know what I think God sometimes does? He looks at the one person that's listening and goes, you can hear me, right? You have ears to hear. And I believe that God is looking for those that will listen. God is looking for those that have those ears to

hear what he has to say. And I think that's what he's looking for. And I think that's what he's looking to say. Maybe you can't hear with your physical ears. You can only hear them with your spiritual ears. And it's because you're spiritually tuned in to what God wants to say. I hope as these things are going on in the world right now, you have ears to hear because God's speaking to us

right now. He is. I was talking to another gentleman. I helped work a funeral as an usher the other day. And I was talking to a guy by the name of Norman Reeves who pastors a church out in Maple City. And he does hospice work too. And he said, right now I'm averaging two funerals a week. And he said, now I thought I did a lot of funerals. I was like, dude, you win. That's a lot of

funerals. And he goes, part of it's that I work with a lot of elderly people. He said, but the other part is almost unexplainable. He says, everybody always says, are they a lot of COVID deaths? And he says, no, they're really not. He said, it's all kinds of things. He goes, but this is the most intense I've ever seen it be with doing funerals. And I would agree from my experience last year. I told Erin yesterday, I said, I've only done one

this year. She goes, shh. But you know what he said? He and I were talking about it. I said, man, it just feels like God's doing something right now. He said, you know what God's doing? He's trying to wake us all up. He's trying to get us all to pay attention. That's what's happening in our world right now. And every time some other crazy thing happens in the world, I go, gosh, I sure hope we can get here. I'm going to get here. I'm going to get here. I'm

going to get here. I'm going to get here. I'm going to get here. I'm going to get here. I'm going to get here. What the Spirit wants to say. Well, let's finish off this little part about John the Baptist, shall we? We finish it off with a rebuke of the people. Notice what it says, verse 16, but to what shall I compare this generation? It's like children sitting in the marketplaces who call

out to the other children and say, we played the flute for you and you didn't dance. We sang a dirge for you and you didn't mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say he has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. Now, he follows this, he who has an ears to hear, let him hear. He follows

it with a rebuke of the people. He says, what am I going to liken this generation to? Notice he uses the word but there. But, in other words, most of you don't have ears to hear. At least that's what he's saying to them. I'm not necessarily saying that to you guys. He says, but to what am I going to liken this generation that doesn't seem to have ears to hear? Man, you're like kids who are like,

hey, we played a happy song for you. But you didn't laugh. We played a sad song for you. You didn't cry. In other words, we can't do anything to make you happy. May I say that the generation Jesus was speaking to right then sounds a lot like the generation we're living in now, where you just can't make anyone happy. I've never lived in a time where it seems like people are bound and determined to be upset

about something. There's nothing you can do to make them happy, especially religiously speaking. Sometimes as a pastor, it feels like you fight battles on every end of everything. Like for some people, you're a little bit too liberal because you think you should be reaching out to people that they think aren't worthy. To some people, you're way too conservative because you hold a biblical line. Then you fight battles with all of the

other things of life beyond that. People outside of the church that don't like anything that you have to say one direction or the other. And you're just fighting battles all over the place. And you go, Ryan, it's not just pastors. I'm dealing with that too. Of course you are because we live in this generation that you can't make them happy. But we have these controversial ideas. Even this one guy, Jesus said he came as a shelter

in his chariot that I need to take off. And it was where God is slain. And so this man is a family man. Mmm. He's saying he's a brother, brother and sister, brother and sister, brother and brother and somebody is born in the promoting relationship. And Jesus is saying, hey, John came. And he came as this aesthetic, right? He came as somebody who was the most disciplined human being known to man

and you call me some sort of a loose living guy. He goes, how can we ever make you happy? And Jesus closes it up with this one statement. He says, but wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. And may I say, as you are fighting these battles where it feels like you're fighting them on every end, allow the fruit of your life to be what ultimately fights the battle. Because listen,

you can try to defend yourself to everybody in the world. I can try to defend myself to everybody in the world. But ultimately, the best thing I can do is allow the fruit of my life to be the greatest testimony of my message. Because that's what Jesus did. And that's what John did. Because wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. Brothers and sisters, if John the Baptist, one of the greatest

men that ever lived, still struggled with the doubts of the flesh, still needed those words of commendation from Jesus, he would have been a great man. He would have been a great man. How much more us. Take those things to him and allow not only his patience, but his word and the promise of his work to not only take away our doubts, but to replace it with that peace. Amen?

Let's all stand. As we prepare for another week and not knowing what that week holds, let's all continue to rest in the fact that while we don't know what it holds, God absolutely does. Because he sees it from the beginning and the end. Father, we can't wait to see you again. We can't wait to see you again. We can't wait to see you again. We can't wait to see you again. We can't wait to see you again. We can't wait to see you again.

We come before you and thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning. Lord, I ask that you would continue to minister to our hearts as we go out from this place. Take your word and soak it deep into us. Make it a part of us so that we come out smelling just like you. Father, we thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.