Are You the One? The Faithfulness of Christ

Welcome to the Whole Council Podcast, I'm Jon Snyder, and today we're having what we would consider our

New Year's Opening Podcast. I think that it would be helpful for us to look together at a passage from the book of Matthew.

We're going to look at chapter 11 in the opening verses, and I want us to see a situation that is strange to us.

You know it's strange when you look at commentaries and you have good commentators disagreeing with each other because it's so strange, they're not sure what to make of it.

But I think that it's clear enough for us to benefit from it, and we'll look at what it says today.

Now the theme that I want us to consider from this passage is the theme of the

Christian's struggle, when there are questions that arise within our own hearts and minds, and these are good questions, they're questions that ought to be answered.

And they are questions that bother us, they're not the kind of thing that you can set aside and say, well, one day

I'm sure the Lord will help me to answer this question. Many questions that come to us are like that, where we can put them on the back burner and we say to the

Lord, as we're good students of the Scripture and applying what we understand, we can say to Him, this is something

I don't understand, and I'm asking you in the right time to help that be clear for me.

But there are some questions that come to us and they're deeply troubling, and these are questions that we need answers to, and there are answers for those kinds of questions.

We're going to look at an event in the life of John the Baptist, when he had questions for Christ, and they're shocking questions when we consider who they come from.

Now I mentioned that Christians have these questions, of course, unbelievers have questions. Doubts rise up and they're dealt with in a very different way when it's an unbeliever.

And there are questions that rise up in a believer that, if not handled in a right way, or if flowing from a wrong motivation, a wrong source, they can become toxic, they become polluted and poisoned, and it's like a wound that's not cleaned out and dealt with, a cut that becomes infected.

And a question that might have been an appropriate question at one point has become a source of complaint and murmuring against God, if not dealt with.

So we want to be careful there to distinguish. And I think really the distinguishing mark between an appropriate question and an inappropriate question is whether that question flows from love and real belief, real trust in God, or whether it flows from kind of an indifferent, antagonistic unbelief.

In other words, there are questions that come to the Christian because we believe what the Bible says. And as we're working through our

Bible, we come across a passage that confuses or that raises questions. And whether it's just from the text itself or whether the text informs us and we look at the world and we don't understand why there seems to be a gap between what we're reading and what we're seeing.

And when that occurs, it bothers us, not because we're unbelievers, but because we believe this is the book that the living

God, who cannot lie, has given us. And so there must be an answer to this. Sometimes we come to God in periods of great doubt and we cry out to the

Lord. And perhaps a Christian might be brought so low that at some point we might even cry out, certainly

I have done this before, God, are you even listening? God, are you even there?

Have I imagined you? Are you not the God of this book? And the very fact that you're coming in prayer to God with these kinds of heartbreaking complaints is an evidence that you do believe.

Why else would you go to God to ask him why it seems that he hasn't been listening or why you feel as if he's abandoned you?

If you didn't believe, why would you go to him? I've never gone to Santa Claus in my prayers and asked why

I didn't get my favorite present, because I don't think that Santa is real. So why would

I spend any time talking to an unreal person about why he doesn't seem to be real?

In Matthew chapter 11, the situation is that John the Baptist is in prison.

And he's in prison because he has been faithful. He's been faithful to point out the Messiah.

Here he is, the Lamb of God. He's preached, he's prepared the nation. The people have come to be baptized in preparation, cleaning out the rubble in the road between them and the true

King. And John has baptized Jesus, even though it bothered him. He felt that he should be baptized by Christ.

But Jesus, in that public embrace of his people who were all sinners,

Christ tells John, this is what the Father requires. And so John baptizes Jesus, so faithful.

And John rebukes Herod, the king, for his wicked and immoral choices. And Herod has

John put into prison. And we know that John will be beheaded. Between being put in the dungeon of Herod's palace and being beheaded,

John in his prison cell is receiving reports of what's going on with the work of the

Messiah. What's Jesus doing today? And as John hears these reports, it raises questions.

Well, let's look at the passage. And in Matthew chapter 11, verse 2, we start a new section.

It says, Well, again, strange passage.

Let's look at it carefully. First thing, John's questions, I believe, and I agree with those commentators that say this and their reasons.

These are questions that John has for Christ. These are real questions. These are not hypothetical questions that John sends his disciples, those that are still following him.

He doesn't send those disciples to Jesus in order for Jesus to answer the question for the benefit of the disciples, though surely they would have been benefited.

When Christ answers the question, he does not direct the answer to the disciples themselves, to John's followers.

But he says to John's followers, I want you to take this message back to John.

So I don't think there's anything in the text that would make us right in assuming that John is just asking a hypothetical question for the benefit of others, doing a soft pitch to Christ so he can knock it out of the park and explain to everyone who he is.

The only thing that makes us doubt that these are real questions from John is that it is hard for us to comprehend how a person in the

Bible that when we read the accounts of his life, perhaps you read it with a glow, with a halo above his head.

This is the greatest prophet born of woman. This is the greatest man born of woman.

This is the greatest human servant. We have the

God -man who, of course, is the owner of the house and the faithful servant in the house. But John is the greatest of all normal men serving in the kingdom.

His task is the greatest. He has pointed to Christ. John has been faithful.

The questions don't come from compromise. We have no reason to think that they come from any sinful motivation, fear, or, you know, the regret.

Why am I in prison? I wish I hadn't done these things. So why is it that John asks the questions?

Well, the text tells us why. It is because of what he's hearing reported to him from his disciples.

It's the accounts that he's hearing about the work of Christ. Christ is traveling throughout

Galilee. At this time, he's doing so many wonderful miracles. He's teaching.

He's pointing to the hope that there is in God alone of the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises and then he's demonstrating the realities of all those biblical lessons in the way that he is meeting human needs, whether it's the leper or a child that is deathly ill, you know, or a woman who has an issue of blood.

We read all these miracles and John is hearing how Christ is teaching compassionately to the sinners and healing.

And this somehow raises questions in John's mind that are so significant to John that he has to send these questions.

Are you the one we thought you were? Are you the expected one? Are you the Messiah? I told people you were.

I was right in saying that, wasn't I? If you're not, I guess we are supposed to look for someone else.

Now, that's been John's life. John surely understood from his parents that he was the promised forerunner of the

Messiah, the messianic message. We know the Christmas accounts there. John has prepared his entire life to be the forerunner of the

Messiah, to prepare the people for the King. You can imagine the anguish of heart that comes with this doubt.

Was I wrong? Did I misunderstand? Well, Christ's answer is simple.

He sends the disciples right back to John and he says in verse 5, tell John this, the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Now here's a question. Why does Christ think that this is an answer that is appropriate to John's question when we know and surely

Jesus understands that it's hearing these very events that makes

John question? It appears that John in reading his

Old Testament and in preparing his heart to serve the Messiah, he has gotten some things out of balance.

He believes his Old Testament and because he believes his Old Testament, what he sees in the events of his day, what he sees

Christ doing don't seem to match his interpretation of the Old Testament passages that talk about the

Messiah. So John asked the question, when I read the Bible, it says you will do these things.

When I hear the reports, you're doing some different things. Why the discrepancy?

And that's a good reason to ask God questions. When it is in our experience that what we're reading in the

Bible doesn't appear to match what we're seeing in our life as a Christian, in the life of the church, in the life of the unbelieving world, when

God's activity doesn't seem to match the scripture, I think it's very appropriate to take our question to God.

Now notice that John doesn't take his question to everyone else. He doesn't send his disciples to Jesus's disciples and say, hey, can

I ask you a question? John's really confused. Why is Jesus acting this way? It bothers John.

John's afraid he has pointed people to the wrong person. When deeply troubling questions arise from the apparent contradiction between what you're studying and what you're seeing.

It is good to take those questions to the one who wrote this book. But you have to be careful how you voice those questions to others.

There are ways of voicing our questions to younger believers that damage them because perhaps they look up to you as an older believer, as a pastor, a parent.

And if you say to them, I've got real questions for God and I'm going back to the scriptures and I'm going to get on my knees and in my prayer closet,

I'm not going to leave the Lord alone until he gives me the answer. I need the answer to this question.

I think that's wonderful. But if you say it to others in a way that simply complains and doesn't explain where to go with a question like that, then the younger believer is confused.

Well, why would an older believer doubt God? Why would an older believer complain? Why has this older believer become sour?

And it's so easy to let that occur. So John's a great example here. Real questions brought to Christ, not simply gossiped about with other believers until it becomes a complaint, a murmuring against God.

It's good to remember that we have an enemy that will always take honest questions and he will bend them and twist them if we let him.

And it's like there's this unpleasant whisper in the back of our mind that says,

I told you you can't trust God or his ancient question, has

God really said? You look in the mirror, you look at yourself and you think the scripture says that God will work in these ways in a believer and these things can be expected.

But I don't seem to be making progress here. And the enemy comes along and adds to that question, why?

And he adds his insinuation. Has God really said these things?

Maybe this book is not to be trusted. So you must guard your heart and guard your mouth in times when deeply troubling questions arise.

Well, John is a good pattern for that and he takes his question directly to Christ. Now, I mentioned

Christ's response and it seems strange because all he does is say the very same things that John's disciples have already been saying.

And it's those things that have raised the questions. So why does Christ think that this is any help at all? And the answer is clear.

In your Bible, if you have a Bible that puts quotes from the

Old Testament in all capitals, most Bibles do. So as you're reading through the text, you notice that the print changes and you realize, well, that's a quote from the

Old Testament. If you have a Bible with cross -references, then the place in the Old Testament that he's quoting from becomes apparent.

In verse 5, you'll find a lot of those quotes. Jesus Christ is saying the same things that the disciples had told him.

Jesus is healing. He's healing these people and these people and these people and these people. But the difference is, he is quoting the

Old Testament prophets. So he answers John by quoting Old Testament prophets who said that the

Messiah would do these kinds of things. Now, what is so wonderful about this is

Christ doesn't give John a different answer than he already knows, but he clarifies

John's perception. In other words, John believes the Old Testament.

And because John believes the Old Testament, he's expecting the Messiah to do certain things. As I mentioned, he's gotten something out of whack.

Perhaps John expects that the Messiah at this time would come and judge the nations and would set up his rule.

But that's not the calendar that God has for his Son. This visit is clearly stated in Scripture is one of mercy to deal with sin and sinners in such a way that brings them to God.

When Christ returns, he will come not in reference to saving us from our sin, but in judgment.

So John has his calendar wrong in some way. He's expecting what is yet to come to be occurring right now, and it's confused him.

But when Jesus quotes the Old Testament and he reiterates his healing ministry from using

Old Testament quotes, John recognizes those verses. And I imagine that this answers every question

John has in this area. In other words, Jesus recalibrates John's understanding of the

Old Testament. So when John reads the passages in the Old Testament, they're still as true as he ever thought they were, but now he has a more biblical understanding.

Christ has corrected the lens through which John is looking. John's misunderstanding of certain biblical expectations, this has been corrected.

And now John has the right expectations. He understands these things the prophet said are the very things

I've been hearing about, but somehow I didn't catch that. So Jesus corrects

John's questions by correcting his perspective of the scripture and the biblical expectations.

Now, let's bring this to an end. In this year, 2024, you may be much like John.

You may be in difficult places spiritually because you've been faithful, and the difficulties and the confusion you feel in your heart, the unanswered questions in your mind, they might be really pressing hard on you.

What do you do with those? Do you just push them aside and say, real Christians don't ask those questions? But that's not a healthy way.

So you take them to God. You take them back to the scripture. You take them to God in prayer.

And you do the hard work of searching the whole counsel of God from Genesis to Revelation.

You can ask other believers that you feel can give you help. You can get good commentaries.

You can get solid books. And in that way, other believers are used by God to help teach you.

But ultimately, it's you and the Lord. And your heart, your mind needs those answers.

As you search the scriptures, don't be surprised if what you're seeing in the world, it doesn't change.

And what you're seeing in yourself, well, it doesn't change. But as you're viewing the world, and you're viewing the activity of God there, and you're viewing the activity of God in your own heart, in your own home, in your own church, what is changing is your biblical perspective.

That the Bible teaches, the Bible is the best commentary on itself. So one passage clarifies another passage.

And as you're looking at that, you realize, God has not failed me.

God has not abandoned me. The slowness of my sanctification. You know, the sorrow that we see in the world.

That just seems to, you know, one tale of bitter sorrow after the next. God has explained these things in Scripture.

And as I'm studying the whole of the Bible, and I'm really putting in the hard work, depending on God to make that effective, then my lens that I'm viewing life through, this biblical lens, it's cleaned up.

It's adjusted. It's brought into focus. And my understanding of the

Bible, as it becomes more clear, more biblical, and as my errors are removed, then

I see what's happening around me through that clear biblical lens. And I've recalibrated.

And now I understand. And instead of seeing the ruin of sin that occurs throughout the world, instead of seeing the impact of sin even in believers, which once might have brought me doubts, instead of seeing the slowness, you know, the two steps forward and three steps back of my own sanctification as an evidence that God has abandoned me, looking at the

Scriptures, I understand these biblically. Now, it may call for repentance. God may, through the

Bible, show us that we're the problem. But it may not. It may just clarify that we had wrong expectations.

And as our expectations are corrected by Scripture itself, then the heart is put at rest.

And we see that these are not evidences of God's unfaithfulness, but of God's faithfulness.

Let me give you an example. It's not entirely hypothetical, but it happens in many ways.

And so, there's not a single person I'm thinking of. But imagine a person comes to you who claims to be a

Christian and their life is miserable and empty. And they say to you, I'm miserable.

And you told me that if I followed Christ, that there would be a deep abiding joy. Or, I'm miserable.

And you told me that the Bible was true. And in the Bible, I read that he came to give life and life more abundantly.

And I don't have the abundant life. What do you do with that? Well, when you look at the life of the person, and you look at the teaching of Scripture as a whole, when we don't just take one phrase or another, we see that the

Bible clarifies these things. It cleans up the lens that we're looking through. We're not just saying, well, he comes to give life and life more abundantly.

And someone who says, but I embraced Christ and my life is not abundant, there's an answer for that. Or, I don't have any joy and you said that Christ would bring joy.

Well, there's an answer for that. Think of John 15, verse 9, 10 and 11, where Christ explains that in following his pattern, of walking in harmony with the

Father, and doing the will of the Father, he lived in the delighting love of the

Father. He was aware of the Father's delight in him, and he had joy. And he promises the same kind of love, and the same kind of joy to his disciples, when they walk that same path.

Not perfect obedience, not sinless Christianity, not perfection, but real, heartfelt, by grace, day to day, the choice of the believer is,

I want to do what my God wants me to do. I want to walk in obedience to his word. And as we do that, there's joy, and there's the awareness of that kind of love from him.

So, when you look at a person, and their experience, or your experience, seems to contradict the scripture, you look at the whole of scripture, and by the grace of God, like Christ did for John, he does for us today, through his word, he corrects or recalibrates our expectations, and we understand, this is the

Christian life here, or this is where I got off the path, and I need to come back. In doing that, the faithfulness of God is so clear.

When a man professes to love Christ, and lives for himself, and he is as miserable as can be, it is not evidence that God is unfaithful to his word.

It is proof that God is faithful. When a Christian sins, and is okay to stay there for a while, and God makes them miserable, he disciplines them, as a father does his child, for their good, to bring them back.

It's not an evidence, their misery is not an evidence that God has abandoned them, it is an evidence that God is very active in their life, just like he said he would be, disciplining them.

The emptiness, and the sorrow, are expressions of God's work, God's love.

And so, when we look at the scripture correctly, we see that I was mistaken. It's not that he has forsaken me, he is keeping his word.

In this year, what if you made it your determination to have a more full and complete understanding of what

God says, from Genesis to Revelation, and you didn't allow yourself just to go to your favorite chapters, your favorite books of the

Bible, but you wanted to walk with God, by the help of his spirit, to walk over every acre of the land of scripture, and day by day, humbly ask him, what do you say to me from this acre?

And what about this chapter? And what about this chapter? And trust him to clarify things, like Christ did for John, so that you will be gripped by the faithfulness of your

God, and enabled to walk with him in a way that you could never do while paralyzed with doubts.

Who knows what the Lord will do in the life of a young person or an older Christian who grabs hold of God's faithfulness, and through the hard work of the study of the scriptures, has recalibrated expectations and sets their foot on a path of renewed obedience.

Well, may God help us all until we see the King face to face. It could be this year, but it may be many years for us.