Jesus and John the Baptist

Well, good morning. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I want to ask you to stand. I'm not able to stand very well, so if you would stand with us, and we'll go before the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this beautiful, sunny day you've given to us. Lord, it's a day you've made. We do rejoice. We're glad in it. We pray that you'll have your way this morning as we sing songs and

worship you, and as we have time in prayer and a time in your Word, time in fellowship, Lord, we just ask that, above all, that you be exalted and just have your way. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's worship together.

Be in a church anywhere. Just look to Him. Pray. You can get in His Word. He'll speak to your heart. I'm so blessed. The Bible tells us that in our weakness, He's made strong. This morning I had a little bout. I normally would be standing up here, but I'm just, you know, still dealing with the cancer thing, and praise God. He's using it for His glory, and that's the main thing.

The thing that I wanted to remind us of is that you know, if you're going through something right now, a problem in your life, Jesus can deal with all your problems. You give it to Him. He will take care of every situation. If you just surrender to Him,

He'll take it from you. It's a voice of experience. You can give it to Him, and just praise God. This next song will really express us how I feel about that when we're faced in trouble.

I thought this is my con. This is my con. Me and I never. Yeah. Lord, we thank You that You failed us. You do never. Let's stand together. You know, there's a lot of people in this fellowship that are very talented. Whether they sing or play an instrument or are artists or do other kind of skills. And so often we can kind of think that we don't have any kind of use for the Kingdom of God.

Let me tell you, God is doing a work in your life right now in a way that you may not see right now. He's using you as part of His canvas and part of His clay as He formed you. I'm so thankful for that. Remind me, I'm one to defend us in the clay. With this yet Lord, He'll forgive sins, confess our sins, You're faithful and just to forgive us. Help us, Lord, to become the people that You want us to be and to reach out to those who read us the message for a reason.

We just pray that You'll bless Ryan as he comes and shares the with each other. Good to see you.

Good morning. Glad you could be here this morning. If you would, begin to locate your seat. And if you would, grab your bulletins. We'll go over a handful of announcements here. As I always like to point out, there's things on the left-hand side of your bulletin that are going on throughout the week. Just about every evening of the week, we've got something going on.

So, find one of those spots. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a few things to pay attention to. First of all, there's no marriage and family fellowship tonight because there's some kind of a football game on. And so, although it's not nearly as exciting now that the right team didn't make it. So, whatever. It is what it is. Okay, and then ladies, the new women's Bible study is going to be starting February 24th, I think.

Did it get moved? Back one week? Yeah, because of the snow. So, the sign-up is still out there if you want to get signed up for that. There's, of course, Monday evening at 7 o'clock and then Thursday afternoon at 1 o'clock. And if you can't make either one of those, you can still sign up to get the studies. And you can just do them on your own, which would be beneficial as well.

And a reminder that signing up for Flock Note would be a wonderful thing for you to do. If you're newer here, we keep everybody up to date on prayer requests and announcements and things like that through Flock Note. I'll try not to inundate you with an incredible number of emails to where it starts sending it to your spam box. But if you get signed up for that, you can kind of know some of the things that are going on within the fellowship.

And then a couple of other announcements that need to be made. First of all is about the church directory, and we're going to watch the little video one more time. 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 are 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 of church. 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, if you have not gotten signed up for that, I do think there's still some people in the back that will be helping you sign up.

We did start doing the pictures this morning between services, and it went very well so far, so things are going smoothly. That also brings up a question that I always forget to answer for people. If you're newer here, some people want to know how we do church membership. Well, here at Calvary Chapel of Arc City, there is no church membership. We don't have a formal membership like some other churches do.

We view it as though if you've come once, you're a guest. If you've come a second time, you're a member. So, welcome. We're glad that you're here, and if this is your first Sunday here, really glad to see you. If it's not your first Sunday here, I'm glad to see you, too. I just want you to know that. So, I'm happy to see everybody that's here. Okay, one more announcement that needs to be made, and I'm looking for what...

There she is. Come on up, Sandra. We're starting a new way that we're going to be checking in kids for Sunday school, jumping into the 21st century with both feet. I'm fighting it, guys. No, not really. As our family has been growing, so has our children's ministry. And it's been... It's been a little bit more difficult to make sure we get everybody in and out,

and who do you belong to, and who's picking you up, and that kind of thing. And as Ryan said, we're starting... It's called KidCheck. It's like everything else. Now, you can do it on your phone. You can get an app. It's super easy. There's a little thing in the bulletin. You can either... Thank you. Scan the QR code, or you can just download the app. It's whether you have an iPhone or Android.

Thank you. You can do that. And if you pre-register, because we're going to start this probably in March, we're going to try and get everybody pre-registered and in the classrooms that they need to be in. And it's super easy. You'll just come in. You'll put in your phone number, or you can check them in on your phone. And there'll be a little table out here.

It'll print out a cute little label. Put it on your kid and send them off. And then we'll know who they belong to. And then if there's any issues or any trouble with them or they need you guys, then we can get a hold of you. So if you have any questions, you can see me. But we'll take these next couple weeks to get everybody registered. And then we'll kick it off in March.

Very good. So that being said, if you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 13. We'll be looking at the New... The New American Standard, just so we all sound the same. If you don't have a copy of the New American Standard, there should be one in your row. If there's not one in a row, time to make a friend.

So as you are turning to Psalm 13, and as Lewis is coming on up, if you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's Word.

Psalm 13. I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Lewis, and the even verses. Psalm 13 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 for who you are and how you do deal very bountifully with us.

I thank you that we can rest in you and trust in you. And Father, I pray that as we spend time in your Word this morning, that you would move by the power of your Holy Spirit as you see fit. Lord, minister to us in the ways that we need it this morning, Lord, where there is comfort needed. Bring that comfort where there is conviction needed, Lord. Even though it may be painful, Lord, bring that conviction.

And Lord, where we just need to know. What direction to go. I pray that you would guide us through your Word, by your Holy Spirit. We just thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. And as you're being seated, if you would, open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11.

Matthew, chapter 11.

As we move into chapter 11, the first 19 verses, really focus on one character, a character by the name of John the Baptist. I've always found John the Baptist to be one of my more favorite characters in the New Testament because of just how eccentric he is. If you were with us in some previous studies about John the Baptist, you know that every time I think of him, all I can think of is Phil Robertson, the duck commander guy, because that's what I think of, like beard flowing, absolutely no style whatsoever, and just willing to say whatever is there. Doesn't care whose feelings he hurts as long as he's telling the truth and is very true to himself.

And so, John the Baptist was an amazing man of God. And today we're going to talk a little bit about him, but a little bit of a lapse of faith that he had. Now, I don't know if you ever considered this, because as I've been studying about John the Baptist, I've thought about it. Sometimes, I don't know about you, but I picture John the Baptist as this old gnarly guy, right?

As this guy with gray hair and a bunch of wrinkles. But we forget about the fact that John the Baptist was probably 32 when he died. So he was a pretty decently young guy. Remember, he was Jesus' cousin. He was just a few months older than Jesus, and so was actually probably a pretty young guy when he passed away. And I forget that about him sometimes because of the picture in my mind that I get of John the Baptist.

So really a guy that was cut down in the prime of his life, but a guy who, though for only a short number of years, served God with great intensity. And so as we come to chapter 11, we're going to look at some questions that John has. And so if I was to break down these first 19 verses, I would break them down these three ways. Number one is, Number two is Jesus commending John.

And then the third thing is Jesus rebuking the people. And so we pick up in chapter 11, verse 1, and this is what it says. When Jesus had finished giving instructions to his 12 disciples, he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. Now, when John, while imprisoned, heard the works of Jesus, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the expected one?

Or should we look for someone else? Now, this section starts off with a beautiful segue verse that says, Jesus had just finished giving the instructions to his disciples. Remember, we just came out of chapter 10, where Jesus was preparing his disciples to be those workers in the harvest. At the end of chapter 9, he'd said, The harvest is ripe, but the laborers are few.

So pray that God would send workers into the harvest. And then he looks at his disciples and says, You guys go into the harvest. And as you go into the harvest, these are the things that you're supposed to do. And he gave them their instructions. And then he warned them about the persecution that was to come, but the persecution that, because the message has such great value,

the persecution is absolutely worth it. And so as he has prepared them for this, we segue into this next chapter where it says, Jesus had finished giving his instructions to his disciples, and he sent them off to do their mission. But then notice what Jesus does. Take note of what it says in verse 1, that after Jesus sent out his disciples, if it was me, I would then decide, now is the perfect time for me to sit in an easy chair.

Now is the right time. Now is the right time for me to sit back and let them do the heavy lifting. I'm just going to wait for the crowds to roll in. But that's not what Jesus does here. What does Jesus do? It says, After he sent out his 12 disciples, he departed from there and began to teach and preach in their cities. In other words, as Jesus sent his disciples out,

he acted like a perfect example, and he led by example by doing the exact same thing himself. He didn't expect them to do all of the work while he reaped the benefits. He led by example by also being one who went out and preached the word of God. Now, this really stuck out to me as I was studying this because I thought, man, what a perfect example of what it really means to be a leader.

Because what it means to be a leader is not simply to lead with your words. Because anybody can lead with their words, right? Anybody can tell you the right thing to do. It's a whole other thing to allow your life to be what leads because you're actually leading by example. And now not only is it the words that you say, but it's the life that you live that begins to speak to people.

I think that this plays out in a couple of ways. Number one, as Christians, we can sometimes hold people to a standard that we're not willing to accept for ourselves. And we can actually be harder on other people than we want them to be on us. And that is a failure of us to lead by example. We should either meet the standard that we feel like they should meet,

or we should be as patient with them as we want them to be with us. But where this really stuck out to me and where this really convicted my heart is within my own family. But I need to make sure that my life is a standard. My life is leading by example and not just with my words. You see, I find that with my kids, I'm really good at telling them what the right thing to do is,

but sometimes I'm bad at leading them in that example. I'm really good at saying, do what I say, not what I do. Oh, you eat way too many snacks. Meanwhile, I'm in the pantry, right? And then there's spiritual things too. You're way too distracted by all of your devices while I'm staring at my phone. You're way too distracted by entertainment while I'm watching a football game.

You don't spend enough time in the Word while I'm also not spending enough time in the Word. And brothers and sisters, those of us that are raising these kids of ours, we must remember that they don't listen to what we say. They listen to how we live. And they'll not do what we tell them to do. They'll do what we show them to do. And if you're seeing actions in your kids that aren't very good,

you might need to first examine your own life to see if they're copying you because we're to lead by example. And so that's exactly what Jesus does with his disciples as he leads them by example. Now, while Jesus is out preaching and teaching, it says that John is in prison. It says, when John, while imprisoned, heard the works of Christ. Now, John was imprisoned, if you remember, back in Matthew chapter 4.

He's not been there for just a couple of days. He's been there for a while now. Now, we'll get into more of why he's in prison when we get to chapter 14, but just for a little bit of historical background so you understand what the situation is. Let's talk about why John was in prison. John was in prison because he was willing to confront Herod. You see, Herod had decided that he wanted to marry his brother's wife,

whose name was Herodias. Now, listen, if you want to write a soap opera, you will write a soap opera based on Herod, Herodias, and that whole situation. Like, all the soap opera. All the soap operas of today would be, like, scandalous, right? I mean, you couldn't even hardly keep up with it. You need a program. So, John confronted him because, if you remember from our study

in the book of Leviticus chapter 18 that we just did on Wednesday night, Leviticus chapter 18 says, A man shall not marry his brother's wife. It's an abomination unto the Lord. It's almost like the Old Testament and the New Testament work together, isn't it? And so, John, knowing that and seeing Herod and seeing what Herod was doing, he confronted Herod to his face and said, What you're doing is sin.

It's an abomination to the Lord. And Herod did what most political leaders do when they can get confronted with their sin and they want to shut somebody up. He put him in prison. Sometimes we do worse things than that, but that's what he did. And so, he puts John in prison, but because Herod respected not only John, but he respected his followers, he was not willing to put him to death.

He won't be willing to put him to death until we get to Matthew chapter 14, and it's all because of the lust of his flesh. But we'll get there eventually. So, John's in prison because of what he did, because of standing up for the truth. And while John's in prison, he's hearing from his disciples all of the different things that are going on. He's hearing what Jesus is doing,

but more importantly, he's hearing what Jesus is not doing. He's hearing that Jesus is doing all kinds of amazing works, and works of kindness, works of love, works of graciousness, but what Jesus is not doing is establishing a kingdom. What Jesus is not doing is becoming a political leader. Because, while John was very much understanding of the fact that when Jesus came the first time, it was to deal with sin, he also very much knew that the Messiah would eventually become the perfect king and the perfect ruler.

And just as much as everybody else living in Israel at that time, he had a desire to see the nation not only set free from Rome, but to see the kingdom become what it was intended to be on this earth. And so, when he sees what Jesus is doing and what Jesus is not doing, he begins to have questions. He begins to have doubts. And the important thing is what he does with those doubts.

And so, he sends word to Jesus through his disciples, and he says, Are you the expected one, or should we wait for someone else? It's an interesting question that John asks, because he essentially asks, Are you the Messiah? Are you who I thought you were? Now, it's an interesting question for John to ask, because if anybody should have known better, it was John.

Think about everything that John knew about Jesus up to this point in time. John was raised knowing that he was the forerunner of the Messiah and raised knowing that that's who Jesus was. John is the one who, when Jesus needed to be baptized, he came to John there at the Jordan River, and it says that when Jesus came out to John, John's going, Man, I shouldn't be baptizing you. You should be baptizing me.

And Jesus said, No, this is necessary for righteousness that you baptize. And so as John baptized, remember, Jesus comes out of the water, and as Jesus comes out of the water, there, God the Son is standing. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove upon him, and there's a voice from heaven that says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. He just saw not only the Trinity laid out before him in a very visible fashion, but he was able to hear directly from God the Father that that is the Messiah.

John the Baptist should have known better. Not only that. Remember when John the Baptist was speaking a few days later to his disciples, and Jesus came walking by, and John goes, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He knew that's who it was because he could bear witness to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. Not only that, but as Jesus began to gain a greater following than John,

John's disciples slowly were leaving him to go follow Jesus, which is exactly what should happen. And they said, Hey, don't you realize most of your followers are leaving? And John said, You've got to understand. You've got to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. You've got to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. If anybody should have known better, it was John.

And yet John had this lapse of faith. So I began to ask myself the question, Why? Why at this point in time in his ministry, why knowing everything that he knew is John having this lapse of faith? Well, I think there's three reasons. Number one, Jesus was not meeting John's expectations. Jesus wasn't meeting John's expectations. Remember, John had an expectation of what the Messiah was supposed to do.

The Messiah, yes, was supposed to deal with sin. He understood the spiritual aspect of that. But the Messiah was supposed to establish a kingdom. Jesus was not establishing a kingdom. Jesus was not meeting John's expectations. As a matter of fact, do you know what one of the things that the Messiah was supposed to do? It tells us in Scripture that the Messiah will open prison doors and set captives free.

And yet where was John sitting right now? Now? Very much behind a prison door. Very much not free. Jesus had not met his expectations. Perhaps in your life, you expected Jesus to work in a certain way. He hasn't done that yet. Maybe you thought by now the person you'd been praying for would be saved because you expected that once you'd started praying for them,

that they would just magically get saved. As a matter of fact, you maybe thought that once you started telling them the truth of the gospel, that if you understood it, how could everybody else not understand? Why isn't Jesus answering me in this way? Perhaps your expectation that Jesus isn't meeting is that you expect that you've taught your kids the truth, and yet what you're finding is your kids are walking away from the truth.

And you're like, Jesus, I don't understand. I raised them in the way they should go. I raised them in the nurture and the admonition of you. And yet what I'm finding is that they're walking away from the truth. You're not meeting my expectation. Jesus, your word says that you are a God who heals. And yet I've been praying for healing. And I haven't seen it yet.

You're not meeting my expectations. We may never say that out loud, but it's definitely in our hearts. And sometimes we can feel just like John. Lord, you haven't met my expectations. And now I don't even know what to do. I feel like I don't know you anymore. The second thing I think that we can pay attention to about John is that John felt forgotten. John felt forgotten.

Remember what we said? Scripture says that, the Messiah would open prison doors and set captives free. And why hadn't Jesus done that for him yet? As he sat there in that prison all by himself because of his representation of God and his representation of the word, he no doubt sat there and felt like God had completely forgotten about him. And he didn't know what to do.

And he's going, Lord, I don't understand. I'm here. I'm doing my thing. It feels like you forgot that I'm here. It feels like you've forgotten the place that I'm in. Did you forget that I'm here? It reminds me of Joseph. In the book of Genesis, right? Joseph, who, when he had told someone, hey, when you leave this prison, don't forget about me. And for two years, they totally forgot about him.

And he absolutely felt forgotten. But God did not forget. And that's probably how John the Baptist feels right now. He feels somewhat forgotten. The third thing I think that John dealt with is that John dealt with discouragement. Because Jesus hadn't met his expectations. Because John felt forgotten. John was now living a life of discouragement. I think one of the greatest weapons that the enemy likes to use against us

is the weapon of discouragement. He likes for us to feel like what we're doing is pointless. The work that you're doing is pointless. Your pursuing of Jesus is pointless. Your prayers are pointless. Everything that you do means nothing. And we get really discouraged. And you know what the problem with discouragement is? You know what discouragement always leads to?

Depression. I've seen it happen over and over again. And the enemy loves to use these things in our lives. And so as John was dealing with these three things, as he was dealing with this Jesus not meeting his expectations, as he felt forgotten, and as he was so discouraged there in that prison, he did the one thing that you and I sometimes fail to do. He took all of those feelings to Jesus.

You see, you and I can sometimes buy into the lie of the enemy, right? Because what the enemy will do is he'll lie to, he'll lie to us and say, you can't tell God about those doubts because God expects more of you than that. You should know better than that. And God knows you should know better than that. You can't tell him you've got all those doubts because he's going to say,

you should have known better. You should know better than to have these expectations that you know I'm not going to meet. You should know better than to have all of these doubts. You should know better than to live in this discouragement. You should be better. Because that's what we tell ourselves, right? Is we say, we should be better. I shouldn't be struggling with this.

But you know what that really says? I'm a super saint. I shouldn't have problems. Listen, brothers and sisters, there's not a single one of us here that's a super saint that's going to not end up having some time in life where we have some doubts that we struggle with. Because if anybody in the world should have never struggled with doubt, it was John the Baptist.

If anybody in the world should have never had these questions, it was John the Baptist. If anybody in the world, should have felt condemned that he even did, it was John the Baptist. And yet, what did John do? He took them straight to Jesus. Because listen, Jesus isn't insecure. He's not. He's not scared of your questions. He's not sitting there going, gosh, I hope they don't ask a question I can't answer.

What if I can't defend myself on this one? Right? That's not what God does. He's not insecure. He wants you to take all this stuff to him. He wants you to cry out with all of these things to him. And that's exactly what John does. Is he sends them directly to Jesus. And then notice how Jesus responds. Verse four, it says, Jesus answered and said to them, go and report to John what you hear and see.

The blind receive sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at me. Jesus answers in such a way that he says, Jesus answers in such a way that he says, Jesus answers in such a way that he says, Jesus answers in such a way that he says, Jesus answers in such a way that he says, He says, go and tell John what I've been doing. Go and tell John what's been happening.

Remember, in the book of John, the gospel of John, not John the Baptist, the other John, Jesus is presented with a question by the religious leaders to prove who he is. And do you remember how he responded to them? He said, my very works testify of me. He said, the very things that I do prove who I am. He says, go tell them what you've seen, or go tell John what you've seen,

and go tell him what you've heard. And then Jesus proceeds, to give a handful of things that the Messiah was supposed to do from about three places in Isaiah. He says, tell them what you've seen. Tell them that you've seen the blind receive their sight. We've studied about that, right? Tell them that the lame walk. Well, we've talked about that. That Jesus has done that.

The lepers have been cleansed. I don't think we've talked about the deaf hearing yet, but that's coming. He said, and the dead are raised, and the gospel is being preached to the poor. Go tell them all of these things are taking place, and as soon as, John would hear those things, he would know that those are prophecies from Isaiah, that the Messiah, and only the Messiah was going to do.

And so when he heard those things, he would know, yes, he is who he says he is, because he's doing all of the works that the Messiah is supposed to do. Now, I love the way that Jesus handles this, because as Jesus handles this, he's dealing with one of the greatest men to ever live, and yet he deals with him in a very gentle way. And that tells me that when Jesus deals with us in our doubts, he'll deal with us the exact same way. So how does Jesus handle us when we go to him with these doubts?

Well, again, I'd like to point out three things to you. Number one, Jesus is very patient with doubts. Jesus is very patient with the doubts. Again, I'd like to point out to you what Jesus did not say when John's disciples got there. What Jesus did not say was, you tell John he should know better than that. You tell John he shouldn't have these questions. He should be that far along in his faith by now

that that shouldn't be a problem. Jesus didn't say that. Why? Because Jesus is patient with us in our doubts. Because, listen, he understands our flesh, that we are but dust. My mom had a friend when I was growing up who used to always say God's so patient with us because we're but dust, right? And it's a beautiful thought, like, yep, that's all we are, just a bunch of but dust.

And so it's just so neat that God's so patient with us because he understands how frail our frame is. He understands how weak we are. So when we go to him with our doubts, he doesn't go, you should have known better, he says. I'm glad you're here. Because he's so ready to offer hope in that process of our doubts. He's so patient with us in those doubts. The second thing that I'd like to point out to you

is what Jesus does. Jesus points him to the word. Jesus points him to the word. There's no better place to go with our doubts than for God to take us to the word. Now, I've seen God as I have spent time in the word and I ask him questions where I genuinely have doubt. As I'm spending time in the word, he is so faithful to answer all of those questions. I have asked God specific questions.

I say, Lord, I just don't know how I feel about this. I'm having a hard time believing this. I need you to speak to me. And there is an unmistakable moment when God will speak to you through his word about that area of doubt, so much so that no one can ever change your mind because you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was God that spoke that to me and no one else.

And maybe you're saying, but Ryan, I can't always be in the word. And quite frankly, I struggle with faithfulness about that. Can I still take God, my doubts? Yep, because you know what God's really faithful to do? Speak to you through the word even when you don't have your Bible open. Let me tell you what I mean. When I was in Bible college, I went through a time when I first got there,

I was very homesick. It was like, this is not what I'm supposed to be doing. I was doubting God's call in my life and I was doubting God's plan for my life with me being in Bible college. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a kid. I was a Kansas kid that came from a very small town and I was not only the only one from my town, from my state, but from my time zone, right?

Like, I was very alone, it felt like, when I was out there and I just kept wanting to quit. And God was so faithful to give me a word from the word. The word from the word came out of, I believe it's 1 Thessalonians. I don't remember the exact reference, but I can tell you what it says. It says, he who called you is faithful, who also will do it. And it was such an encouragement to me

and I would love to tell you that I was deep in the study of God and I would listen to God's word and God was like, there it is. But that wasn't what it was. I saw it everywhere I went. Everywhere I went, that verse was written. I remember one of my buddies was a security guard. We had like a guard shack where people had to check in when they came on campus

because it was a retreat center as well. And so I went to see my buddy at the guard shack and the screensaver on the computer said, he who called you is faithful, who also will do it. We got in one of my buddy's cars to go over to In-N-Out and as we got in the car, which by the way, that sounds amazing right now. We went to the car and we said, we got in his car to head to In-N-Out.

Some guy was teaching. Guess what verse he was teaching on? He who called you is faithful, who also will do it. It was everywhere that I went. Why? Because when we have doubts, God always takes us to the word. Even if we're not being faithful to the word because that's who God is. Even when we're faithless, he remains faithful. When I was in high school, I was an FCA officer

and one of the girls who was the other FCA officers, we had an officer meeting and she comes with this little car and she said, man, I was at a basketball tournament this weekend. I went to go to the bathroom and sitting on the little toilet paper holder was this Bible verse card and it was exactly what I needed to hear. We should start putting Bible verse cards everywhere because brothers and sisters, you never know where God's gonna meet you with the word. And when you're going through those times of doubt, God is always faithful to bring you to his word.

Not only as John presented these doubts to Jesus, was Jesus very patient with John. Not only did Jesus take him back, to the word and what the word had to say in Isaiah, but Jesus also reminded him of his works. He pointed him to the work. Now I think that this is really important because sometimes you and I can find ourselves thinking, man, I feel like I haven't seen God at work for a really long time in my life.

Lord, are you still there? Are you still at work? Because right now I'm going through a season of silence. And when we go through those seasons where it feels like the Lord's not meeting our expectations, where it feels like the Lord's not meeting our expectations, we're all alone and we're really discouraged. We can get our minds focused on all of that and forget

all of the work that God has done. And you know what God is so faithful to do? If we will take those doubts to Jesus, if we will take those concerns to Jesus, he is so faithful to remind us of the work that he's done. He's so faithful to remind us of everything that he's done up to that point in time. Because it's so amazing to remember what God has done in the past and how faithful

God has been in our lives. The work that he's done in our lives in the past. But you know what else God is faithful to do? He's faithful to show you the work that you don't even see that's going on. There's a song by David Crowder. I don't remember the name of the song because I'm terrible at remembering those kinds of things, but I definitely remember the lyrics. As he goes through this song,

it's the end of one of his old albums. He was still David Crowder Band at the time. It's one of his older albums and he goes through all of these things of where were you, Lord, when all these things were going on? Where were you? I thought that this was what you were going to do, but you didn't do it. I didn't see you in all these things. Where have you been? And in the very last verse,

I love it and it always brings tears. Tears to my eyes, he says. I didn't notice you were standing there. I didn't notice that was you holding me. I didn't notice you were crying too. I didn't know that that was you washing my feet. And that's exactly what God wants to do. It's when we come to him with these doubts, we say, Lord, I don't even see you at work in my life anymore. Do I even know you? Do I belong to you because I

don't see anything happening? He goes, what you haven't seen is this. Your eyes were too fogged. The discouragement was too great. The things you're going through were too much and you couldn't see how I was sustaining you through this. But this is what you didn't see me doing. And this is where you didn't see me meeting your needs. And this is where it didn't feel like I was there,

but I was actually right there the entire time. I remember going through a difficult time and listening to that song and saying, okay, Lord, you're going to have to show me. And you know what he did? Man, it was so powerful to where I could look and see that was God. Meeting me in my place of doubt. And I didn't even recognize it. That's what he does with John here is he takes John and he encourages him and he's patient with

his doubts. He points him to his word and he points him to the work. But then notice what he says. He says, but tell him one more thing. Blessed is he who doesn't take offense at me. Now, I think he says this for two reasons. Number one, I think it's a little bit of a soft rebuke. It's not heavy, but he knows what John's facing. And he says, remember, blessed are those who don't take offense

at me. In other words, who don't find themselves in a place of falling away because of their doubts. But do you know what else it is? It's an exhortation because he knows what John's about to face. He knows that this thing isn't going to end well for John. And he says, blessed are you if you don't take offense at me. And so we go on from there. So Jesus gives,

this message to John's disciples. And as he sends John's disciples along their way, we see Jesus begin to commend John the Baptist. Notice what it says in verse seven. As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. Would you go out in the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in king's palaces.

But would you go out to see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, 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 the 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. Violent men take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you're willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Now, as Jesus begins to commend John, once he knows when he starts to talk, it says in verse seven, as these men were going away,

Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. That means that this commendation that Jesus gives of John, him speaking so highly of him, is after John's disciples left. In other words, this commendation is after John's disciples left. Now, there's one part of me that's like, why didn't Jesus just tell him? Well, because we're supposed to walk by faith. You see, I bet you, you don't realize everything great Jesus has to say about you. Now, listen,

don't get too big headed here. But you probably have no idea of everything that Jesus has to say about you. And you probably won't find out until you get to the other side of eternity. When God says, well done, good and faithful servant. And you probably won't find out until you get to the other side of eternity. When God says, well done, good and faithful servant. But the other thing I

think is kind of interesting is this. This is right after John the Baptist just came to Jesus with some of the greatest doubts he's ever had. And rather than Jesus rebuking him, he begins to praise him. Now, this plus a few other places in scripture have prompted me to come up with a little saying here. And it goes like this. Jesus remembers our faith, not our failures.

Jesus remembers our faith, not our failures. There's a great chapter in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 11. It's called the Hall of Faith. It's called the Hall of Faith because it goes back and recounts all of the great men and women of the Old Testament who lived their lives by faith and did great things for God. And as they did great things for God, it was because of the great faith that they had. And not one bad thing is written in

Hebrews chapter 11 about any of those people. But you know what's a fascinating study to do? To go back and study all of those people mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 where nothing bad is written. Instead, it's only written about their great faith. And find out just how many bad things they did. Just how much they failed. Just how much one moment they were at the top of the heap as far as faith was concerned, and the next minute they were at

the bottom of the pile because they were screwing up royally. And yet, when God chose in the New Testament to recount the things that they did, he chose not to talk about their failures. What did he instead mention? Their faith. See, you and I, we have a tendency to hold on to all of those things. We have a tendency to hold on to all of those things. We have a tendency to hold on to all of those

failures, don't we? We tend to keep a record of our own wrongs. Meanwhile, Jesus does not. As a matter of fact, we're told in Scripture that as far as the east is from the west, that's how far he's removed our transgressions from us. A friend of mine in college gave me a great illustration, and I remember this day. He said, sometimes we view our confession of sin and God's forgiveness

as God wiping the slate clean. He said, it's not the right way to view it. We should view it this way instead. He said, it's not the right way to view it. We should view it this way instead. God breaks the slate and gets a whole new one, because that's how far he removes our transgressions from us. He doesn't remember all of those things. He only remembers our faith. As a matter of fact,

do you know there's only three things that it tells us for believers in Jesus Christ that God keeps a record of? Three things that it says are written down. Number one is for everybody that belongs to Jesus, their name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life in heaven. And actually, we could go so far as to say that it says that our names are inscribed upon his palm. It says that

God keeps track of that. So when you put your faith in Jesus, God wrote it down. He keeps track of it. Second thing it tells us in scripture that God keeps track of is that he keeps our tears in a bottle. For some of us, our bottles are a little bigger than others, but he keeps track of all of our tears in a bottle, right? And then the third thing it tells us that God keeps track of is

written in the book of Malachi. It says that every time that God's people began to speak of him, a book of remembrance was kept and it was written down. That means every time you have a conversation about the Lord, God keeps record of that thing. You know what it doesn't tell us that he keeps record of? Any of our wrongs. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, God doesn't do that. He only remembers your faith. And so as

you are keeping that record of wrong, stop. Stop and allow yourself to understand that God only remembers your faith. So he goes on from there. He says, hey, would you go out in the wilderness to see? Because he's talking about John the Baptist. Were you looking for a reed that was shaken by the wind? In other words, like a little stick that's sticking up that moves back and forth

with every wind that comes along. He says, no, you weren't looking for a reed that was shaken by the wind. I loved reading J. Vernon. McGee about this because he said, John the Baptist, my friend, was not a reed that was shaken by the wind. He was the wind that shakes the reed. And we could use a lot more preachers like him today because that's exactly who he was. He was not a guy that bowed to political pressure. He was

not a guy that went with every wind of doctrine. He didn't poll test every sermon that he taught. He just taught what the Bible said. And if the people liked it, amazing. And if they didn't, well, that was their problem because he was going to tell you the truth. He said, they didn't go out there to see it. Reed shaken by the wind. He said, did you go out there to see a guy in soft clothing? We'd call it

fancy clothing today. Is that what you went out there to see? No, you didn't. Guys in fancy clothing, they live in king's palaces. What'd you go out there to see? A prophet? You're darn straight you did because he was more than a prophet. Listen, if there was anybody who was not easily shaken and did not wear nice clothing, it was John the Baptist, right? Clothed in camel's hair and ate locusts and wild honey for his meal.

Can you imagine listening to him? I can't help it. All I can think is, man, I want to hear a sermon by John the Baptist. See that sweet camel hair clothed man, beard flowing full of locust legs and honey, hair on fire and just preaching the truth. I can't wait to see that. I hope we get to see replays of it in heaven and everybody going, right? Like, oh my gosh, I repent. He's

like, come on down. So I don't know why he got Southern there for a minute. It seemed like the right thing to do. He said, no, you went out there to see a prophet. And man, he was more than a prophet because he was, as it says here, he was the one about whom it is written, behold, I send my messengers ahead of you who will prepare your way before you. Now, this is a quotation from two places in scripture. And I think I had her put him up there on the

second service, Isaiah chapter 40, verse three, the Malachi chapter three, verse one. You don't need to turn there, but you might write them in the margin of your Bible if it's not in there already, because this is a fulfillment of this prophecy that's mentioned there is what John the Baptist fulfills. He was more than a prophet because he was the last of the prophets, the one who would not only declare the Messiah is coming, but that the Messiah is here. He goes on in verse 11 to say, truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist. That's the coolest compliment anybody could ever receive, that the creator of the

heavens and the earth, the very Messiah, is coming. And he goes on in verse 11 to say, the Messiah himself just said that this guy is the greatest man to ever be born, right? You know, Moses and Abraham were like, Jesus said it though, so we know it's true. He said, he is one of the greatest men. He's the greatest man that has ever been born. But then he goes on after paying this

amazing compliment to say this, but he who is least, yet the one, middle of verse 11, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Well, why would that be? Well, because remember, John was born under and lived under the old covenant. As a matter of fact, some would say, and we'll talk about this in just a minute, that he marked the end of the old covenant. That means he lived that old covenant life of having

to every year go make atonement for his sins on that day of atonement, of constantly having to make sacrifice for sin. His relationship with the Holy Spirit was different than our relationship with the Holy Spirit, because in the end, he was born under and lived under the old covenant. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come on someone for a particular time and for a particular job, but now you and I have this indwelling Holy Spirit, which is why he who is the least in the kingdom of heaven is even greater than John. So what does that mean? What does it

look like to live under this new covenant? Well, we're greater for three reasons. Number one, because our sins have been washed away. Our sins have been washed away. We don't have to go every year for that day of atonement. We don't have to make sure we pick out the perfect sacrifice every year, because our sins have been washed away. We don't have to make sure we pick out the perfect

sacrifice every year. Our sins don't just get covered for another year. Our sins get done with for all time, as far as the east is from the west, completely gone, never to be held accountable for them again. The second reason that he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater is because we've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ. You see,

Jesus doesn't just see a bunch of not guilty sinners. He sees a bunch of righteous saints. When he views you, if you're born again, he views you in the same way that he views you. He views his own son, because the righteousness of Christ is now put upon you. Clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And then, of course, the third reason is that we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because remember what Jesus said, we will come and we will make

our home inside of him. We will make our home inside of you. In other words, there is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit that John did not experience, the old covenant saints didn't experience, that only those who've been born under the new covenant can experience. So he says, even though John's the greatest man to ever live, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than him. It says in verse 12, from the days of John the Baptist, he continues to speak 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. This is what we that teach the Bible call a hard verse to understand, right? You can go ahead and use that phrase anytime you come across a verse that you're like, hey, that verse is hard to understand. Go ahead and use that phrase.

All the Bible commentators that I read said the exact same thing. This is a hard verse to understand. Sorry. None of us get creative with this. So I've done the best I can to ascertain exactly what's being spoken of here. And I think it's kind of twofold. It says, from the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence. What does he mean by that?

Well, from the time of John the Baptist to Jesus, that short little bit of time, the kingdom of heaven has been suffering violence because Jesus has been being persecuted by the religious community because they've been rejecting him. But you know, you even go further back than that. And you realize that any of the messengers of the truth of God's word had been attacked by violence. And so the kingdom of heaven is something that suffers violence from the time of John the Baptist through Jesus. And now even down through the centuries, that's that persecution

we talked about last week. The next part's where it gets a little bit complicated because he says, and violent men take it by force. So what does that mean? Does that mean that violent men are going to end up taking over the kingdom of heaven and we have nothing that we can do about it? I don't think that's what he's saying there. I think what he's saying there is that the kingdom of heaven is being taken by those who are persistently pursuing

it. Those who are persistently pursuing the kingdom of heaven. What do you mean by that? Well, when you become born again, you now have the opportunity to pursue God with your whole being. Are you doing that with your whole being? Because he says, In other words, they are pursuing it with their whole heart. They are pursuing their knowledge of God with their whole heart. But not only that, there should be a pursuit in us of getting the

truth of the word of God out to everyone around us. There should be, and I'll use this word a lot, there should be an intensity about the way that we not only approach our relationship with the Lord, but in the way that we approach our service of the Lord. But unfortunately, we live in an age of apathy. We live in an age where people are content with mediocrity in every area of our lives, but especially in our faith. We can be so content with the mediocre in my pursuit of God. We can

view my pursuit of God as something that I do, not the only thing that I do. We have a tendency to view our intensity of our pursuit of God as something that will add to my life, not something that is my life. And because of that, because that's what we do, we have a tendency to view our pursuit of God as something that we do, not something that we do. And because of that, because the lives of the church look like right now, the rest of the world looks at the church and they go, I don't think that's for me. Because they live the same mediocre life that I do. There's no

excitement in it. There's no joy in it. There's nothing that would cause me to go, that's what I need. Do you know why in the midst of great persecution, people just kept coming to the early church? Because though people were being killed for their faith, their excitement and joy over what God had done in their lives and their pursuit of God caused them to be in a state of

the rest of the world to go, I don't know what they've got, but I want some of it. And so the blood of the saints became like seed for the church because there was an intensity in the way that they pursued God. But you know what else there was? There was an intensity about the way that they presented the truth of God, that the truth of the gospel was not just something that would add to somebody's life, right? We view the gospel in the Barbie form right now. It'll give

you a great life in your own apartment and you're going to love it. Life is going to be awesome. No, the gospel doesn't give you a greater life. The gospel gives you life. And if we don't start giving out the truth like that, then we're not these violent men taking on the kingdom to spread it to the people that are around us. When did we start losing this intensity? When we started

caring more about what people think of us than what God thinks of us. When we started caring more about what was going to put rear ends in the seats of a church more than what was going to get souls into the kingdom of heaven. When we started focus group testing all of the things that we'd say to make sure that we didn't offend people. You see, John the Baptist was a man who violently took the kingdom of heaven by force because he was intense in the way he pursued his relationship with his savior and he was intense in the way he presented the truth to the people around him. He goes on from there to speak more

of the kingdom and say this. He says, for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. In other words, he was a man who took the kingdom of heaven by force because he was intense in the words. John represents the ending of all of the old covenant. He represented the ending of the law because he said the one who kept the law, the one who fulfills the law is not just coming, he's here.

He represents the end of the prophets because all of the things that the prophets were prophesying about was the coming of the Messiah and he wasn't saying the Messiah is coming, he said the Messiah is here. He represented the end of all of that, that changing of the generations. And so he then goes on to say, and if you're willing to accept it, verse 14, John himself is Elijah who was to come. If they had been willing to accept it, he would have been that culmination of the Elijah that was spoken of in the Old Testament prophets. You see, we're told in the Old Testament,

the book of Malachi, the very last verse of the Old Testament says that before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord, Elijah will come to turn the hearts of the people back to God. But you see, the people rejected John the Baptist, therefore they rejected Jesus. Therefore, John the Baptist couldn't be Elijah. Now listen, Elijah is still coming. As a matter

of fact, if you were to look at the book of Revelation chapter 11, you'll realize that during that tribulation period, Elijah is coming. As a matter of fact, I think those two witnesses that are coming in Revelation chapter 11 are Moses and Elijah representing the law and the prophets. He says, but you weren't willing to accept it. As a matter of fact, he says, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. You see, Jesus points out something to us. He says that in

order for you to take in everything that I'm saying, you need to have these spiritual ears. Your ears need to be tuned in to what the Holy Spirit is saying. It's a phrase that Jesus will use here and other places in the book of Matthew to tell people, I'm telling you something, but your ears need to be tuned in to it. And may I say, as the church today, our ears need to be tuned in to the things that are happening around us.

We need to be tuned in to the things that are happening in the world because God is constantly speaking. He just needs for us to be listening. As I'm looking at the things that are happening in the world right now, I'm seeing that God is trying to get a hold of people. He's trying to get a hold of the church. As I see the things happening on a global stage, I see God is trying

to get a hold of the world. He's trying to get a hold of the church so that we will wake up out of our sleep to be who God has called for us to be. But it's not just on the world stage that that's happening. It's on very personal levels that it's happening. I helped out with a funeral the other day. I helped out with a funeral the other day. I helped out with a funeral the other day.

as an usher. And as I was helping with an usher, I talked to a good friend of mine that's a pastor. His name's Norman Reeves. Norman pastors the church out in Maple City. I was talking to Norman, great guy. I said, man, how's it going? He goes, I got to tell you, I've averaged about two funerals a week for the past two or three months. And I thought, wow, I thought I did a lot of funerals.

You win. And so he's, now he works with hospice. He says, it's partly because of my job of working with hospice. And it's partly because I've got a lot of elderly people in my congregation. He said, but this is different than anything I've ever seen before. He said, a lot of people ask me, so are most of these deaths COVID? And he said, you know what's fascinating? They're not.

They really are not mainly COVID deaths. He said, people are just dying. And it's the most intense season I've ever seen of death. I said, man, what do you think's going on? Like, I've seen it too. I've noticed it too. What's going on? And what he said echoed the very cry of my heart. He goes, God's trying to wake his people up. He's trying to get a hold of us and get us to listen. He's trying to tell all of us,

he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Because you see, some people look and go, whoa, that's crazy that funeral homes are so busy. I look and I say, God's trying to get a hold of people. And he's doing that by taking some people home. You look at the world stage and you say, man, I really don't like our president, which I don't care how you feel about that. I really don't like

our president. I think he's doing a bad job on the world stage. I don't see bad political moves. I see God preparing his people for what's coming. Next. I don't just see bad economic moves. I see God preparing his people to wake up and quit having their hope in this earth. But you see, you have to have ears to hear in order to start paying attention to those things. The bad things that are happening in

the economy aren't just bad for your retirement account. They're to wake you up and make you realize this place is not our home. All of the people that you're losing, they're to tell us this place is not our home. All of the strife that's taking place on a global level is to remind us this place is not our home. But we have to have ears to hear in order to hear that.

Well, Jesus goes on from there to rebuke the people and we'll wrap up with this. He says, 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 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. A friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. He says, what can I like in this generation too? Because they are not those that have ears to hear. He said, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. But that's not what this generation is doing. Because remember, this is that generation is the one that rejected Jesus. He said,

this generation, you can't make them happy with anything. It's like a bunch of children saying, hey, we played a happy song and didn't laugh. We played a sad song and didn't cry. We can't do anything right for you. Man, can we describe our culture right now any better? We can't do anything right for you. We can't make anybody happy. Have you noticed that? Nobody's happy right now.

Some people are mad because of what the police are doing. Some people are mad because what the police aren't doing. Some people are mad because the truth is being presented and it's angry. Some people are mad because nobody's presenting the truth. You can't make anybody happy right now. Why? Because we're the same kind of generation. We're just like them. We're just like it was in the first coming of Jesus,

which would indicate to me that we're right near the second coming of Jesus, right? And he says, listen, John didn't make you happy. He came as this super disciplined guy that lived out in the wilderness like a hermit. You thought he was crazy. I come along living just like the average guy. You tell me that I'm some sort of a gluttonous guy who only hangs out with sinners.

He closes out with this. He says, but what you have to understand is wisdom. It's vindicated by her deeds. What does that mean? The proof is in the fruit, the fruit of your life. Though there's battles on every side that you face, the fruit of your life will be the greatest proof of who you are. The fruit of the life of John the Baptist proved that he was who he said he was.

The fruit of the life of Jesus proved that he was who he said he was. So people are going to have all kinds of different opinions, probably a lot of them rejecting, but the fruit of your life will be the greatest proof of who you are. So brothers and sisters, you may feel just like John the Baptist right now. You may feel like somebody who Jesus hasn't been meeting your expectations. You feel a little bit forgotten,

and quite frankly, discouraged is the best word to describe who you are. Brothers and sisters, take those things to Jesus because he's first of all so patient with us. He answers in such an amazing way. He always remembers that faith more than he remembers all of your failures. Amen. Let's all stand.

We have another very intense week coming up. We need to be praying for our soldiers who may or may not be in harm's way. We need to be remembering to pray for the people all over the world that are having to deal with things that you and I can't even imagine. And in all of it, we need to remember that Jesus is in control. Father, we come before you and thank you for the time that we've

had in your word this morning. And just ask that you would continue to use your word as you see fit in our lives. Father, fashion in us the hearts of the men. Women of God that you want for us to be. And we just thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

God bless you guys. Have a good week.