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So this sermon today is a part two of a sermon I did probably about a couple weeks back but I want to continue on. Our text is we're in Matthew 11 and we're going through a few verses there but first I want to talk to you about some turn to the world of nature and talk to you about something from there.
Many of you are familiar with the salmon. The salmon is what is what's known as an anadromous fish which simply means they hatch from freshwater, they spend their life in the ocean, and then they return to spawn in the streams they were born.
The opposite of that is catadromous. You have something like an eel which falls into that category. So eels actually are born in the ocean, live in freshwater, and return to the sea to spawn. When salmon return to spawn in freshwater they have a very interesting journey.
I don't know if you've seen any nature documentaries on it but they must fight the current, they must dodge animals, you know bears line up to eat them, there are fishermen out there waiting to scoop them up, people are netting them, they leap up waterfalls, they do all of this to ensure that future generations can thrive.
They, you know, the baby salmon need to be born in freshwater where it's shallow and there's very few predators. The salmon is so wholeheartedly devoted to this mission it stops eating once it enters freshwater.
Actually once they hit freshwater they don't eat again until they get back to their home beds and they lay their eggs and they die. In starving itself the salmon pretty much subordinates all of its life to this one goal.
The goal is to reach the beds where it was born, to lay eggs, and then to die from there. Some salmon travel as far as 1 ,800 miles, which is almost the width, I believe, of the entire U .S. And most of them return to the streams they were actually born.
And that's again, that's something that God teaches them, that's not something that, you know, we think animals are dumb but the Lord has given them the ability to return to where they were born. Nothing in the animal kingdom, I don't think, typifies perseverance and violence of purpose more than a salmon.
I think that's one of the best examples. So the journey of the salmon has many parallels with the spiritual life of the Christian on this earth. In Acts 14, 22, Paul exhorts the early Christians in this manner, starting in verse 21 of that chapter.
When they have preached the gospel to that city and have made many disciples, they return to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging continuing the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
While this verse is undeniably an exhortation for believers, because Paul's talking to the churches there, my text today, Matthew 11, 12, is not directed specifically at either saved or unsaved. Rather, it's a call to all.
When Jesus speaks this verse of Matthew 11, 12, he speaks the multitude that contain both those that will be saved and those that won't. So therefore, this morning, I aim to follow my Savior's example, and I'm gonna press this verse on your conscience.
So whether you are saved or not, this verse is important. So please turn to Matthew 11 with me. We'll be briefly rereading the portion of scripture we're going to talk about today, and then we'll get started on it.
And I am reading from the NASB translation. Matthew 11, starting in verse 7. As the men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. What did you go out to 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 clothings are in kings' palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, one that 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 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. So picking up from our last sermon, John had sent his disciples to Jesus and he was to ask if he was the Messiah or not.
Obviously John at this point was in Herod's prison. Jesus gave proof that his ministry was messianic, and as John's disciples walked away, Jesus expanded the discussion. So you can kind of imagine as the disciples come up to Jesus, he's talking to them about what John is, and as they go away, Jesus engages the whole crowd with what the small group discussion he had started.
Starting with a series of rhetorical questions, Jesus gives the crowd an exercise of reflection on John's ministry. Now the people of Israel obviously loved John the Baptist. A lot of them said he was a prophet, he was very popular.
The Pharisees refused to speak against John because they were afraid they'd get stoned by him. But John had a very unique ministry. If you think about it, John was a man of the desert. He didn't live in houses or dwellings, he lived out in the desert.
When he was out in the desert, he was free from the distraction of the world, and he could commune with God in prayer much more easily. If you think about the life of Jesus our Messiah, he frequently would get up early in the morning, he would go to be by himself, and that's where he would pray to the Lord.
And John was very much like that as well. John survived in areas that most people in ancient Israel considered uninhabitable, and took pains to circumnavigate when they traveled. John was a wilderness, he lived in the wilderness.
He didn't live in, you know, the fertile crescent or around the Jordan River. The fact that people would venture to desolate places to hear John preach is another testimony, I think, to the uniqueness of his ministry.
Jesus' rhetorical questions are meant as both a rebuke to mere gawkers, as well as an exhortation to those that really believe John, to realize that Jesus is in fact the fulfillment of John's ministry.
So let's start with reeds. That's the very first question God, Jesus, poses to them. He said, do you go out to see a reed shaken by the wind? If you think about reeds that are around lakes, reeds bend in this and that direction according to the wind.
When the wind comes, they go that way. When the wind comes, they go back that way. You know, idle curiosity seekers, they behave in much the same manner. When people come to church, it's like, well, I want to go to this church, I want to hear this.
But a lot of times people want to hear the newest thing. They don't want to hear what God has to say. They're always looking for something new. Their God has really unique experiences of worldly pleasure.
They go to churches to hear what they want to hear. They don't go to hear the Word of God. Learning the will of God is usually the furthest things from this person's mind. It's like, I'm not here to hear what God wants to say.
I want to hear what I want to hear. And that's the same thing as a reed. Additionally, if you think about people that like reeds, their morals are always shifting according to the whims of their mind or in conjunction with the world's standards.
So it's not, what does the Word of God say? It's, well, what do I feel like? Or this is how I believe it to be true. And if the world's standards change and the Word of God is all of a sudden unpopular, a lot of people also then are like, well, let's throw God's standards overboard.
Because the world says, I don't believe this anymore, so I'll go with the world. And it's like, well, God created the world. Are we going to go with the world that God created or the creator of everything?
You know, really what happens a lot in these cases, these people lack the solid foundation of the Word of God. They're not, you know, the Romans 116 says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
That's what we need to tell people. Say, listen, we're just the messenger. If you're, if you don't like what we're saying, you have a problem with the Lord. Jesus says this. In the book of Job, one of Job's friends named Bildad, he actually compares the faithless ungodly to reeds.
If you look at Job 11 through 13, Bildad says, can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water? While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.
Such are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless shall perish. So we see here is an Old Testament connection to what Jesus is teaching in the New Testament. You see that Bildad is comparing them to a reed.
What happens to the ungodly? They wither. When the water is dried up, they go away. They have no firm depth of root. Reeds, if you notice, they always grow by water. They have very shallow roots. They're not like a tree or bush.
Trees and bushes put roots deep down into the ground and can suck the moisture up. Reeds cannot do this. In the same way, mere inquisitiveness in religion basically swindles the one who possesses it. Once disaster occurs or suffering starts, the person has no well of truth to draw upon.
If your roots are just, you know, surface deep and you're just living on surface water, when things go wrong or when, you know, you lose your house or you lose your job or someone, you know, close to you leaves the Lord, you just have no depth of surface.
You wither up. And that's why we don't want to be like a reed. That's why Jesus is saying John was not a reed. He didn't have shallow roots. As reeds quickly wither and die without a body of water, so do those who have only ever experienced externalized Christianity.
If your Christianity is merely external, when trial and tribulation comes, it's going to dry up and you're going to fade away because your roots are not into the Word of God. For those who really love John and his ministry, Jesus was encouraging them to not be alarmed by the winds and gales of this world.
There was really a lot going on. John was in prison at this point and John's imprisonment was a significant blow to his followers. They did not see that coming. They thought he was going to be, you know, with them forever and he was in prison and, of course, Herod eventually cut his head off.
The followers of John, they had no home with the Orthodox Judaism of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and many of them were probably still hesitant to accept Jesus as John's replacement. These loyalists flocked to John because, if you think about John, he was impervious to external pressures, meaning he didn't care what people thought of him.
He was very bold and intrepid in his proclamation of the Gospel. He spoke like a prophet about it. John could not be tempted by money. He had no political ambitions. He was not scared of the authorities and he had no desire to be popular.
That's what a man of God should be. He shouldn't be afflicted by anything. It's like, not by money, not by prestige, not by politics, you preach the Word of God. But the winds of contemporary culture, they had no effect on John and that was undoubtedly part of his appeal to his followers.
He didn't care what the prevailing sentiment was. When Herod decided to marry his sister, did John say, oh, it's okay, you can marry your sister? John said, it's wrong for you to marry your sister. It's against the Word of God and that's what landed him in jail.
But, you know, if you notice what Jesus does here, though, is he doesn't focus on John's moment of doubt, like when John sent the disciples to Jesus and said, you know, are you the Messiah or did you come for another?
Jesus harkens back to John's zealous ministry. He goes back to it and now Jesus openly testifies to John's faithfulness in the work of preparing the way for the Savior of mankind. So my first point is Jesus is our advocate.
In this case, he's John's advocate, but he's all of our advocates as well. A few chapters ago in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus made the following promise for all believers. He says, so who everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.
But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. That's Matthew 10, 32 to 34. In John's case, he received the unique privilege of not only having Christ confess him before men as well as in heaven.
All of us that confess Christ on this earth, Christ will confess us in heaven. But John, actually, on this earth, Jesus testified to the faithful of his ministry while he was down here. That was a special gift given to John.
This is another symbol, I think, of the uniqueness of John's ministry. To be a contemporary of Christ is a great honor. That's an incredible honor to live in the time of Jesus. Being chosen to herald Christ's entry into the world is an even greater honor.
However, Jesus' public praise is the highest honor that a person can receive in this life. John sacrificed very much for the Gospel, and Jesus made sure this work would not go unrewarded. In this example, Jesus is showing all believers that devotion to him will always receive a full reward.
So my first application is, Jesus will never forsake true believers, and he promises to be with us in our hour of doubt, just as he was for John the Baptist. Romans 8, 16 says, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
If you think about Jesus in this passage, he didn't scorn or dismiss John for his doubts. Rather, he gently encouraged his faith and pointed him to his messianic signs, which vindicated his ministry. In his earthly ministry, I see a lot, Jesus was as gentle as a mother in helping to strengthen the faith of those whom he conversed.
He wasn't just like, why don't you believe this? But he was very gentle and kind and nurturing and leading them to the truth. Upon his ascension, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to continue this work. We can read about more about this in the 14th chapter of John's Gospel.
So John 14, 26 says, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and remind you of all that I said to you. Jesus was actually, there's a word for the Holy Spirit or Helper in Greek, I believe, it's Paraclete.
The Holy Spirit is our second Paraclete, but before the Holy Spirit came, Jesus was the very first Helper. And you can see how he dealt with people on this earth. That's exactly how the Holy Spirit deals with Christians as well.
When Jesus, Jesus reminded John of his messianic signs. So he told John, when John said, sent his disciple and said, are you the Messiah or should I look for another? John, Jesus pointed him to the signs.
The Holy Spirit does the same thing. The Holy Spirit brings the Word of God to our mind when we need it most, and it points it to the truth of the Bible and what the Lord has said there. Jesus never abandoned John when he was languishing in prison, even though he personally wasn't with John.
As God, he was everywhere. And the same way, the Holy Spirit never leaves us. The Holy Spirit is with us wherever we go. David said, if I go to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you're there.
There's nowhere you can go to be without the Lord. This ministry of encouragement really set Jesus far above John, because if you think about it, John's ministry was more of a ministry of exhortation.
But Jesus was exhortation and encouragement. He dealt with people one-on-one, and he shepherded and guided people. This, you know, John's ministry, like I said, it was more, you know, strong exhortations, rebukes, heralding the gospel.
But Jesus added the personal touch and the kind concern of a loving mother. So you see in Jesus, the perfect attributes of a loving father and a mother, all united into one person. For those that believe in Jesus, and there's a great promise that the Lord's given us, if we believe in him, we shall all be as his brothers, sisters, and mothers.
John never said that either, as well. But Jesus said, those that believe in me, those are my brothers, those are my sisters, those are my mothers. Jesus had a relational ministry that was much more multifaceted than the ministry of John.
And finally, too, if you think about Jesus, the writer of Hebrews says, if you read Hebrews 3, 4 through 5, it says, for Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.
For every house is built by someone but the builder of all things of God. It's a wondrous truth, I think, worthy of constant meditation, that Jesus could be the Savior of all mankind, and yet he still has a personal relationship with each and every one of us.
He's not an impersonal force, he's a God who loves and died for us, and he has a personal relationship with all of us. In the Garden of Gethsemane, when he was awaiting his crucifixion on the cross, he was praying for our faith at that time.
That's what Jesus was doing. Rather than focusing on himself, he said, Lord, all those that you have given me, I pray that I will lose none of them. And I think there's nothing more selfless than that, when you're facing your crucifixion, to be praying for all the believers.
My second point is Jesus praises self-denial. So that's, it's that one second. So, moving from the world of nature to the world of men, Jesus poses another question to John's followers regarding John's choice of apparel.
Did John dress himself in soft clothing? From earlier chapters, we know that John wore a garment of camel hair that was girded about with a leather belt. This choice of a garment was very practical, as camel hair has great insulating properties that would keep him warm when the desert temperature dropped after sunset.
Some misconceptions people have about the desert, they think it's always hot. Most deserts and areas on the earth have extreme fluctuations. They're very hot in the morning, and they're very cold at night, because there's no vegetation, there's no water to moderate the climate.
So, if you're out in the desert, you need little clothes in the morning, and you need a lot at night, or you'll freeze. This choice, you know, clothing often reflects the character of the people that wear it, and John was no exception to this rule.
His clothing revealed that he was a prophet, he was non-materialistic, he was disciplined, and he was a sojourner. Old Testament prophets wore very distinctive clothes that set them apart as God's heralds.
We see the attire of a prophet defined in Zechariah. If you look at Zechariah 13 .4, it says, and it shall be in the day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. They will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive.
So, you see here the false prophets of God, they would wear coarse hair to give them authority. Much as today, you'll see sometimes ministers will wear like elaborate robes and capes and special hats to try to give themselves some self-authority, the false prophets do the same thing.
They're gonna wear this special robe of camel's hair and say, I'm from God because I'm wearing this robe. Additionally, John came in the spirit of Elijah. Jesus actually mentions that in our text. So, his clothing choices were aligned with this famous Old Testament prophet.
If you look at 2 Kings 1 .8, here's how Elijah's wardrobe is described. They answer him, he wore a garment of hair with a belt of leather about his waist, and they said it's Elijah the Tishbite. So, you see not only was he like Elijah in his ministry, but he was dressed like Elijah as well.
Animal skin is not the most comfortable covering for a human skin. If you look at like how civilizations have progressed, we tend to switch from animal coverings to plant-based coverings. A lot of times today, we're into very, you know, hybrid polyester and other types of materials.
Plant-based coverings are generally easier to make, they're easier to customize, and they're more pleasant to wear as your primary garment. If you've ever worn like a wool shirt just against your skin, it's scratchy.
If you're worn like leather, usually those are better as outer garments. They're not good as undergarments. It's funny, though, if you think back to Genesis, though, animal skins were the very first coverings that were given to Adam and Eve in the garden.
Using animal hides as clothes gave the early humans in us today, it's an incontrovertible and indelible, you know, reminder that without blood, there is no atonement for sin. Whenever you wear an animal hide, it's like an animal had to die because you were a sinner.
And that's what John, if you see in his ministry, is kind of going back to that. It's like, I'm wearing a camel hair cloak because I'm a sinner and must be clothed, you know, an animal had to die, there has to be blood for my sin.
Over time, this message, you know, might fade as people switch to cotton, exotic linens, fine silks of the garment of their choice. The appearance of God's prophet, in this case, John, and he was the last of the Old Testament prophets, would give people a stark reminder, the ultimate reward for sin is death, and that nature itself, if you look at Romans 8 .22, it says, nature groans in agony under the wickedness of mankind.
The lives of prophets preach sermons as much as their actual words, right? It wasn't just, a prophet didn't just preach the Word of God, he lived the Word of God. John was the final prophet to wear this attire because he heralded the great sacrificial lamb, Jesus Christ our Messiah.
There's no more need after John for the blood of animals because you have the blood of Jesus Christ, and the blood of Jesus Christ is perfect forever, he died once for all, so John was the last of the line of the prophets to wear this.
We no longer need a garment of hair to remind us of our sin as God's provision for our salvation because we have a risen Savior who bears the marks of crucifixion on his hands, feet, and side. So you see in John's ministry a transition from animal-based sacrifices to Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice.
John's heavenward focus was not only shown by his style of clothes, but his asceticism, or his refusal to collect clothes, was another sign of the inauguration of the new covenant. While there were many Old Testament saints that were blessed with riches, it's notable the New Testament features very few rich men.
There's not a lot of rich people in the New Testament that were saved. We do have a few, we have Joseph Arimathea, Philemon, Nicodemus, but in this manner John was also foreshadowing the ministry of Jesus.
Jesus had no place to lay his head and he had very few clothes for his name. While having a variety of clothes is not a bad thing in itself, oftentimes the reason we maintain a large wardrobe is to attract attention, gain acceptance of the world, and find fulfillment.
John treated his clothes as a means to an end. He wasn't here to collect clothes and he was just, as a popular prophet, he probably could receive as many clothes as he wanted. If you think back to Elisha, when Elisha healed Naaman, what did Naaman do?
He tried to put all of his clothes in this gold and silver and say, here, take it. So if John wanted, he probably could have had all the clothes he wanted, but he refused. He said, I'm just wearing a camel hair garment.
However, John disciplined himself and he learned to live with a bare minimum of apparel. Basically, he was saying, I'm going to devote my whole body and soul to the gospel. And the other thing that's important about this, too, is he was avoiding accusations.
He was in the ministry for lucre, which is, you know, unrighteous gain. A lot of pastors, when they preach, they preach because they want stuff. If you look at John, he lived in the desert, he wore a camel hair cloak.
There's no way someone can accuse him of preaching for money. He has no money. He lives, he's a home, he's basically a homeless man. He lives in the desert. But Richard Baxter has a good quote in his Christian directory.
He writes this, he said,. And he's referring there to the early patriarchs who moved in tents, who didn't have, you know, when you don't have a lot. It's like when you have little, it's harder to focus on this world when you purposely don't have much in this life.
And that's what John did. Discipline and self-control, those are both integral parts of sanctification, or the most important part. If you think about it, like, becoming self-controlled in thought, words, and actions, it requires constant diligence on the part of a Christian.
I mean, I don't know about you, but like, it's very, self-control is one of the hardest things in the Christian life to achieve. If you read in Paul's letters to the Ephesians, Paul has the following to say.
He says,. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against this, as such, there is no law. That's Ephesians 5, 22 through 23.
It's no coincidence the Holy Spirit lists both long-suffering, or patience, and self-control in the list of nine fruits of the Spirit. So, to me, when I see these fruits, they're two sides of the same coin.
Long-suffering is bearing with others and the circumstances that God has given us. So if the Lord puts you through something, that's long-suffering. Or if you're trying to endure something, that's long-suffering.
Self-control is becoming master of our own body, emotions, will, and not letting it master us. That's the second part of it. In his earthly ministry, John really excelled at the first. He was a master of self-control.
But you can tell long-suffering was something that he had to work on more. Because, you know, when he sent his disciples, he was like, are you the expected one, or we should look for someone else? It was tough for John, that aspect of his life.
I think God was using Herod's jail cell to purify and refine John's faith, so the fruit of long-suffering could ripen in his soul. And the Lord does a lot of this with different Christians. Some of us may be long-suffering, some of us may be self-control.
But John clearly had the self-control part down, but the long-suffering part, the Lord was training him on. My second application is self-denial makes us more useful for the kingdom of God. God places a very high premium on self-denial.
The author of Proverbs, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes, he who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit is better than he who takes a city. If you think about it, storming a city was a very difficult feat in ancient Israel.
Cities were often built near natural barriers, like lakes. If you think about Sodom or Tyre, they were built like on a lake. Tyre was built in the Mediterranean Sea. Sodom was most likely built on the lower part of the Dead Sea, or on a hill.
Jerusalem was built on Mount Moriah. This was to ensure that attackers only had a few possible avenues to attack a city. Additionally, many cities had towering walls and weapon systems that were designed to inflict maximum damage on the invading army.
You could wait for the city to run out of food or water. That's what Titus did when he invaded Jerusalem in 70 AD. But this took many months, as most cities would have internal sources of water, they'd have large reserves of food.
Without determination, violence, and patience, an invading army could not be successful in a siege. It was very tough to do that. Does this sound difficult to you, to take a city? Well, the Holy Spirit says self-discipline is much harder of a task.
It's even tougher. Richard Baxter says the following about resisting temptations. He says, keep as far as you can from those temptations which feed and strengthen the sins which you would overcome. Lay siege to your sins, starve them out by keeping away the food and fuel, which is their maintenance in life.
And you see Baxter is kind of playing off that Proverbs and saying, you know what? You lay siege to your sins. You don't let them master you and you say, I'm going to starve this sin out and, you know, keep it away from me.
John's life of active self-denial, it really made him the perfect messianic messenger. He didn't have a wife or children, so he could devote himself wholly to the ministry. He didn't have a home, so he could devote all his time to building up the Lord's house.
John ate food for sustenance, not for pleasure. He ate, you know, crickets and honey. He wasn't enjoying the finest veal and wine. Protecting his clothes from the elements were the furthest thing from his mind.
John sacrificed all creature comforts and gave himself entirely to propagating the gospel. If this sounds familiar, it's because John's life was a partial foreshadowing of the life of our Savior. Jesus' condescension was even greater than John's, as he's the creator and the sustainer of the entire universe.
Imagine, if you will, a king that lives homeless in his own empire. You know, think about a fine chef that forgoes eating his own food. Consider the case of maybe a talented musician that stops himself from hearing the music he produces.
Do these scenarios sound a little ludicrous to you? Like, why would they do that? If I reveal these people made these sacrifices for a family member or a close friend, then these sacrifices make sense.
I don't eat my food because, you know, my wife's allergic to it, I keep it out of the house. Or I live as a homeless man so my subjects can live well. Consider the power, the privilege, the honor, and elements of knowledge attendant with deity that Jesus voluntarily laid aside to come to this earth that he created.
No one in human history has ever practiced more self-denial than Jesus did during his earthly ministry. Additionally, while we may deny ourselves for a family or close friends, Jesus practiced self-denial to save those who were his bitter enemies.
We were all enemies of God if Jesus did this for us. Through his actions, Jesus showed how highly he valued the souls of mankind. Paul wrote the following in his letter to the Romans. If you look at Romans 5 .10, it says, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, the death of his son.
How much more being reconciled shall we be saved by his life? For those that are in this room today, consider what Jesus sacrificed for us and weigh it against what he asked us to sacrifice for him. Is living a holy life such a probation for us, like a hardship?
Do we dare to tell Jesus that the sacrifice that you require us, God, is too difficult, it's too onerous? True Christianity is not characterized by a desire to do the bare minimum and squeak into heaven.
That's not true Christianity. Rather, true Christianity seeks to emulate Jesus by being both passionate and resolute in the works that he's prepared for us. Paul writes the following in 2 Corinthians.
For our light affliction, which is for but a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. When we balance our light momentary afflictions on the scale against the weight of glory that God's prepared for us, a clear winner emerges.
What are the affliction of this life? What are the things we go through? Being a son and daughter of God and living with God forever, that's such a great privilege. To those who have not found peace with God, I have the following to say.
Are the trinkets and titles of this world worth spending an eternity in hell for? Do you desire the blessings of God and not God himself? If so, you treat God as people treat prostitutes. They take what they can from the person, and they have no desire to build a respectful relationship.
And the way a man treats a prostitute is horrible. But for a man to do that to Almighty God, who made him and created him and gives birth every day, that's cosmic treason, as R .C. Sproul would say. The third point I'm gonna go to here is, Jesus basically confirms John's heraldic prophetic ministry.
So let's talk about, this basically will start in verse 9 and 10. If you think about, living in a king's house is a great honor. It's not one that John ever experienced, per Jesus' words in Matthew 11, 8.
He says in Matthew 11, 8, what did you go out to see? A man who wears soft clothing? Those who wear soft clothing are in king's palaces. However, if you think about it, simply getting to live in the house of a king can be less of an honor than it appears to be at first glance.
To keep a sovereign or a ruler comfortable, there's an army of servants or slaves are required to staff a palace, right? So every sovereign that's ever ruled has had either a bunch of servants. A lot of times they have slaves that may do this stuff for them.
Although these people may take some of the pleasures of palace life, their duties and responsibilities keep them from completely enjoying it. Additionally, if you think about it, like take palace guards, for example.
They're exposed to the elements while guarding the palace. Prisoners in the palace dungeon take little comfort from the fact they share residence with the king. But think about us, we were invited to live with the God of the universe.
That's a far greater honor than dwelling in the palaces of men. David summed it up succinctly when he said, in Psalm 8410, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
John gave up the opportunity to live in the palaces of men. He could have, you know, probably been out there, just preached whatever, got accolades, lived wherever, but he gave that up. Instead, John became a Nazarene and devoted his mind, his body, and his soul completely to God.
The gift of living in heaven forever, it's a universal gift. We all receive that. If you trust in the Lord, you will go to live with him one day. John received that gift, but he also had the far greater gift of being a prophet and a herald of the Messiah.
Listen to what Jesus said about him in verses 8 and 9 of Matthew 11. What did you go out to see, a prophet? Yes, I tell you, more than a prophet. This is of he of whom is written. Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.
John MacArthur writes the following about John and his comments during these verses. John was both the prophet and the fulfillment of a prophecy. He was the Lord's messenger who would prepare the way for the Messiah and even baptize him.
He announced the Messiah and actually ministered to the Messiah with his own hands as no other prophet would, as no other prophet has done or would ever do. After thousands of years of God's preparation and prediction, John was given the unequaled privilege of being the Messiah's personal herald.
All the other Old Testament prophets, they all represented God. But John received the privilege of being the living herald of Jesus Christ. As Corinthians says, the other prophets, they looked into a dim mirror and a dark glass.
But John was able to, he met the second person in the Trinity during his life. Touching the human body of Jesus was an experience that Old Testament prophets probably never had in their wildest imaginations.
And yet John was gifted this privilege when he baptized Jesus in the water. When Jesus said he was more than a prophet, he's not primarily referring to John's character traits or his godly lifestyle. Those are important.
But what he's pointing to is, who did John herald? The Messiah. That's why he's more than a prophet. He's the Messiah's herald because of Jesus. When I was reading these verses this week, I noticed a difference between the text in Malachi 3 .1 that Jesus quoted and the verse that Jesus recited to his hearers in Matthew 11 .10.
I've included a couple of versions below. If you read Malachi 3 .1, I'll read two translations. The ESV says, behold, I send my messenger, and he'll prepare the way before me. The King James Version says, behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.
But if you look at Matthew 11 .10, it says, this is the one about whom it is written. Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you. That's the Nazby. And the King James Version says, for this is he of whom it is written.
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The verse from Matthew seems to detail a conversation between God, the Father, and Jesus. Well, Malachi refers to Jesus' appointment of John as a herald.
This is not a discrepancy in scripture. A lot of times people try to say, that's something wrong, or it's slightly, it's off, or there's an error. It's not a discrepancy. Rather, Matthew's gospel highlights the decision of the Godhead to appoint John as a messianic forerunner, whereas Malachi talks about Jesus saying, he's my forerunner.
This is another unique feature of John's ministry. He seems to be the only prophet where the scriptures record the conversation between members of the Trinity concerning his selection as the messianic forerunner.
So God the Father said, this is the messenger, I send him before your face. That's a very unique thing for John. My third application is, we are all heralds for Jesus Christ, all of us. John was the messianic herald, but we are all called to be sub-heralds of the good news that God has given us.
This task could not be a chore, it should not be frightening to us, but it should be a privilege and delight to those of us who have truly been born again. If we lack the necessary mindset to evangelize, we need to passionately plead to God.
God, give us more fear of yourself and remove the fear of man from our lives. The Bible says the fear of man is a snare, and it is. So many times in my own life, the fear of man has kept me from saying what's right, speaking up for the Lord, doing things I should.
You don't want the fear of man. And if you have the fear of man, say, Lord, please remove it. Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians. He says, now we are all ambassadors for Christ as God were pleading through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. That's 2 Corinthians 5 .20. God pleads to sinners through us. When we share the gospel, that's God saying through us, be reconciled to me. And Paul said we should implore people to turn from their sins to Jesus Christ.
This is the proper attitude we should have in our evangelistic efforts, right? We shouldn't be combative, we shouldn't be lethargic when we share the gospel. Both are different violations of the greatest commandment.
When people are very combative when sharing the gospel, that shows a lack of love for others. Jesus says we're the two greatest commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself. When you're combative, you're not loving your neighbor as yourself. When you're lethargic, you reveal very little love for God. I mean, what if you go up to people just like, yeah, trust the Lord, and you're not passionate about it?
Do you really love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength if you're not passionate about spreading his word? The Great Commission is not limited to pastors and elders. There are some people that try to limit the Great Commission and say that's just for pastors or elders.
No, the Great Commission is for every Christian to do. And you've not completed it if you've only witnessed your family members and close friends. That's not, the commission is for all the world. Those are the words that Jesus used.
So you should start with your family members and close friends. That's a good place to start. But everyone, when you meet people on the streets, you should be saying, Lord, give me an opportunity to evangelize this person.
When God says, as I said earlier, when God says all the world, that necessarily means everyone. That doesn't mean just people in your circle. Now, starting with people in your circle is a good idea, too.
But try to ask the Lord, Lord, when someone comes to my door to deliver something or have a contractor coming over, how can I use this to share the gospel with them? Second, John found his ultimate purpose in life in being a messenger for Christ.
That was John's ultimate purpose. If we're looking to find our purpose or worth in anything else other than the Christ, we're going to be sorely disappointed. Even if you place, God has given us many good gifts, our family, our church body, our kids, great theology.
But if you place any of those things before Jesus, that's idolatry, because even good things can be idols. This will ultimately lead to delusionment in the short term, because all those things are going to let you down sometime.
Your family will let you down, your church can let you down, your kids will let you down, and even theology will let you down. But only God will never let you down. And in extreme case, it can lead to eternal damnation.
If you're trusting, if you are a Christian, you have those idols, God's going to discipline you. If you're not a Christian, those are your idols, that will take you straight to hell. That's very, that's sobering.
And so we need to look at our hearts and say, Lord, remove idols from me. John Calvin said, the human heart is a factory of idols, and there's no truer thing. Our hearts pump out idols every day. Whether it's things we're doing, things we're wearing, what we want to do, that's what our hearts do.
Augustine is a famous church father. One of my favorite quotes by him, probably one of my favorite quotes by most anyone of the church fathers. He says, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.
You're not going to find any rest until you rest in what Jesus did on the cross. Everything in this, your heart has a God-shaped hole inside of it, and only God can fill that. So you can try to cram stuff, titles, people, possessions, whatever the world offers you, you're going to be left empty.
It's like drinking salt water. You can drink as much salt water as you want, you're always going to be thirsty. That's what it's like trying to live for this world and trying to put your love on things of the world.
If you're unconverted today, you'll never have true peace until you seek heaven with holy violence. This is a call to you as well. If you think about Jacob in the Old Testament, when the angel of the Lord came down, that was the pre-incarnate Christ, Jacob wrestled with him and held on to him.
He said, I'm not going to let you go until you bless me. That's how you should approach your Christian life. You say, Lord, I'm not going to let you go until you show me that I'm your son or I'm your daughter.
That's what you need to do. And a lot of times, when you live like this, people are going to call you crazy. They're going to say, you know what? You're too religious, you're too righteous, you're trying to be too holy.
Well, guess what? One day when we stand before God on Judgment Day, no one's ever going to look back and say, I was too righteous or I was too holy. We're all going to look back and say, God was holy, I should have been more righteous.
God is just, I should have been more just. God is sovereign, I should have been. That's the important thing. The important thing is, what does God think? We passed around at a conference, I think three months ago, and he said, whenever the trials in your life threaten to outweigh what's going on, think about the 200-year view.
Let's look forward 200 years in the future. None of us will be alive in 200 years. Will what you worry about today matter then? Your car, your house, your relationship, what will matter? Your relationship with Jesus Christ and whether you trust in him alone.
And if you didn't trust in him alone, you didn't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, that'll be your worst mistake and you'll regret it for eternity. And if you did trust Jesus Christ and you did put your hope on him, you'll have peace and joy that surpasses all understanding.
The Puritans said, you know, the devil, one of the devil's greatest lies is he tells people, the Lord doesn't want you to have pleasure, the Lord doesn't want you to have fun. You know, the Lord created the eye, the Lord created feeling, he created the world.
Do you think the Lord doesn't know how to reward those who love him? God invented pleasure, the devil corrupted pleasure. So when the devil comes around and says, you know, just go for the gusto, get the pleasure of the world, just remind the devil, the Lord created pleasure, and I'm waiting on my reward, and my reward is greater than yours.
That's when you tell the devil. Jesus promises all that come to him, he'll never cast out. You know, you can boldly approach, when you would trust in the Lord, you can boldly approach the throne on judgment day because Jesus is not only your judge, but he's your high priest and your advocate, and he bled and died that you might be made whole.
That verse, if you think of that verse, I can't, I don't remember the exact reference right now, but it says we can come bold before the throne on judgment day. That's a pretty, it almost seems a little like, it almost seems like a little like,.
What the word am I looking for here?
Like we can go bold before the Lord, like who made the heaven and the earth, but yes, through Jesus you can. That's how great Jesus's, that's how great Jesus's death was. He opened a way where you can walk boldly up to that throne and say, I know I'm a sinner, and I know that I've done many things wrong in this life, but I'm trusting the perfect Jesus Christ who lived a spotless life, who died a perfect death for my salvation.
And if you do that, you can be bold. My prayer for all of us is today that we would all live with holy violence. If you're a Christian, you're called to live with holy violence. If you're not a Christian, you're called to use holy violence to pursue heaven.
And say, Lord, you know, if you feel like you're not the Lord, then you read the Bible, you pray, you ask the Lord, Lord, keep pressing in and say, Lord, make me your own. And the Lord, you know, when God gives that call, all those that come to me, I'll never cast them out, he means it, right?
So take him at his word. Say, Lord, you promised that if I come to you, I'll never cast you out. And the Lord will do that. I can testify in my life and many other lives that, you know, Jesus does change lives.
He changed the lives of a lot of people. You know, the Old Testament says, we were idolaters, we were adulterers, we were fornicators, such were some of you. We were all like that. All of us in our mind had broken God's law.
If we haven't done it in deed, we've done it in our mind. And like, until you see the depths of your sin, you're never gonna see the holiness of God or the greatness of Jesus, Jesus' work on our behalf.
Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for everything you've given us. Lord, I praise you, Lord, that you didn't sit back and take it easy in this life, Lord, but that you, Lord, you denied yourself.
You gave up your rights, your privileges. You gave up some of your knowledge. Lord, you did all of this for us. I pray that you would be the pattern that we would follow. We would not consider any sacrifice too much to make for you.
Lord, thank you for that, and thank you that. Lord, you've given all of us, Lord, you've given us many chances, Lord, today. You said today is a day of salvation, tomorrow is too late. Pray that you would have us reach out to you today and say, Lord, please save me, Lord.
You're not just able to save, you're willing to. Your willingness extends to all sinners, Lord. And not just the best of sinners, Lord, you've said, you've come to heal the sick, you've come to heal the wicked.
Those are the ones, Lord, that you've come to save. And Lord, we cast ourselves upon you and say, Lord, we are wicked, we're sinful, we're depraved human beings, Lord, but you are great, you are holy, you are good.
And Lord, there's no other salvation shall be found on this earth but.
Through your name.
Thank you for everything you've given us, Christ's name, amen.