Rejection of Redemption Luke 7:18-35

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June 11, 2023 Morning Worship Service Faith Bible Church - Sacramento, California Message "Rejection of Redemption" Luke 7:18-35

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This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it The scripture reading this morning is from the book of Malachi Malachi chapter 3 verses 1 through 5
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Behold I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the
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Covenant and whom you delight Behold, he's coming says the Lord of hosts But who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears?
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For he is like a refiners fire and like launderer soap He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver
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He will purify the sons of Levi and Purge them as gold and silver that they may offer to the
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Lord and offering in righteousness then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the
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Lord as in the days of old as in former years and I will come near you for judgment.
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I will be a swift witness against sorcerers Against adulterers against perjurers against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans and Against those who turn away an alien because they do not fear me says the
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Lord of hosts May the Lord has blessing to the reading here in his Holy Word Please turn with me to Luke chapter 7
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Luke chapter 7 verses 18 through 35 Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things and John calling two of his disciples to him sent them to Jesus saying are you the coming one or do we look for another?
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When the man had come to him they said John the Baptist has sent us to you saying
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Are you the coming one or do we look for another and that very hour he cured many of infirmities afflictions and evil spirits
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And to many blind he gave sight Jesus answered and said to them go and tell
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John the things you have seen and heard that the blind see the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised the poor have the gospel preached to them and Blessed is he who is not offended because of me
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When the messengers of John had departed he began to speak to the multitudes concerning John What did you go out into the wilderness to see a?
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Reed shaken by the wind But what did you go out to see a man clothed in soft garments indeed?
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Those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in Kings courts But what did you go out to see a prophet?
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Yes, I say to you and more than a prophet This is he of whom it is written
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Behold I send my messenger before your face Who will prepare your way before you?
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For I say to you among those born of women. There is not a greater prophet than John the
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Baptist but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he and When all the people heard him even the tax collectors justified
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God having been baptized with the baptism of John But the
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Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves not having been baptized by him and the
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Lord said To what then shall I like in the men of this generation and what are they like?
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They're like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another saying we play the flute for you
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And you did not dance. We mourn to you and you did not weep For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine and you say he has a demon the son of man has come eating and drinking and you say look a glutton and a wine bibber a friend of tax collectors and sinners
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But wisdom is justified by all her children This is the word of the Lord Let us pray
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Father we're thankful By the new covenant era that your son
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Jesus has Inaugurated through his death on the cross. We pray that we would notice and Delighted the great magnitude of difference between the new and the old and The fact that we get to be a part of the new covenant people through faith in Jesus We pray that your spirit would work in all of our hearts this morning in Jesus name.
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Amen so Today we return back to John the
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Baptist and we haven't seen this figure since Luke 3 when John the Baptist baptized
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Jesus in the river One big question that people often ask is this
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John the Baptist an Old Testament prophet or the New Testament prophet in One sense he belongs to the old covenant because he prepares
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The way for the new covenant to come through Jesus Christ Right John the
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Baptist can't be part of the new covenant because only Jesus starts the new covenant but in another sense
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John the Baptist shows up in the New Testament and I think the question is a bit
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Improper I think the better question is of the better categories to see
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John the Baptist is in the era of promises Rather than the era of the fulfillments in the gospel of Luke There are two time frames the time of promises
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Which consists of the Old Testament prophets and the law and then there's a time of fulfillment
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Which is inaugurated by Jesus Christ himself in one sense
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John the Baptist is the last of the prophets of the time of the promises who is pointing his finger
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Signing signaling everyone. There's a new era coming and it's
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Jesus. It's through Jesus and What we see here this morning is
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One this great prophet John the Baptist is in need of a reassurance as They've read to us this morning from Malachi 3 1 through 5
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We see that the role of John the Baptist is there as Luke quotes
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Malachi 3 1 in the passage today but notice the context of Of that eschatological prophet the prophet of the last days
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There's a restoration. There's a judgment. There's a ruling over the world by the
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Messiah by God himself but What does
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John the Baptist see just the walls of his prison cell
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This is not to say that John the Baptist was expecting a Roman overthrow or even overthrow of Herod but he was in need of Reassurance are you the coming
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Messiah Or do we look for another? Do we wait for another?
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Help me see That you are the coming Messiah and in one sense that's what we need
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To be reassured of as we wait for the second coming of Christ There are hard days in this country to be
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Christian It seems like everything is just degenerating And we all long for the day for Christ to call us home and we need that reassurance
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Are you coming back for us? How long
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Oh Lord and this morning?
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The passage tells us That we must be careful
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Not to justify rejecting God's God's faithfully fulfilled redemptive plan
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Because it becomes too easy to judge what God is doing in human history and Just reject it
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Well, it doesn't fit how I view the world. It doesn't really fit my agenda
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It doesn't fit my plan So we must be careful not to justify
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Rejecting God's faithfully fulfilled redemptive plan first Jesus reassures
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God's redemptive plan by fulfilling scriptures promises Jesus reassures
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God's redemptive plan by fulfilling scriptures promises Now after showing
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Jesus significant miracles We see a visitation from the messengers of John the
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Baptist right, Jesus healed the servant of a centurion from a distance by saying the word and Everyone's thinking what kind of authority is that and that Gentile centurion would actually believe this man
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Second Jesus revived a dead man Who was being carried out in his own funeral procession and Unlike the former prophets who had to request
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God to raise the man Jesus only says the word arise
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What kind of man is Jesus that he could do that? And now we get to John the
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Baptist There's a bridge again from John the Baptist to Jesus First verses 18 to 19 set the context then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things
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John has heard about the miracles that Jesus is doing from his prison cell
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John's in his prison cell and he's hearing about these miracles and verse 19 tells us that he wants some reassurance that Jesus is
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Truly the Messiah and John calling two of his disciples to him sent them to Jesus saying are you the coming one or do we look for another?
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Yes, the miracles are happening. And yes, they're splendid but this does not look like the picture of Eschatological restoration and judgment that we see in the
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Old Testament now It is important to not charge
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John the Baptist as unfaithful or doubting After all Jesus speaks extremely well of him in this passage.
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I don't know about you the greatest man ever born of the women That's something to hear from Jesus Yet we need to consider the
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Old Testament background of the Messiah in passages like Daniel 7 13 and Isaiah 9 6 through 7 the
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Messiah comes down to set all things right in Rule eternally and Expansively, it's not that he's just ruling over Israel.
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He's ruling over the whole world He's not just ruling over the whole world. He's ruling over the whole world forever there's no end temporally or spatially and John the
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Baptist was not seeing that From his prison cell. I'll quote in Isaiah 9 6 through 7 which we read on Christmas quite often
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For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will
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Be called wonderful counselor mighty God Everlasting father prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace.
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There will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and Establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever the zeal of the
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Lord of hosts will perform this These titles are Astounding how can a man a mere man be called mighty
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God? Everlasting father there's something of Divine authority when the
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Messiah comes that people will all experience not just Israel But all the nations after all there is no end now
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Compared to the expansive and endless rule of this Messiah that Isaiah 9 shows us
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Jesus has not conquered a single nation Even Israel is still under the
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Roman rule Not only that John the Baptist himself ended up in prison for speaking truthfully against this paganistic
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King Herod right committed adultery For John he needs to know whether this messianic restoration is happening or not
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Are you the one or not and he sends two disciples because Under the
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Jewish law Deuteronomy, right two witnesses were required by the law to verify any serious claims
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And verse 20 shows us that these two witnesses faithfully carried out their teachers requests
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When the men had come to him They said John the Baptist has sent us to you saying are you the coming one or do we look for another?
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Word -for -word quotation here. They asked Jesus the question that was on John's mind
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Right. This is not repetitive It's actually to show that the messengers were faithful to the requesters request
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Are you the coming one or do we look for another? and now instead of an immediate answer
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Luke shows us the context of this interaction between Jesus and John's disciples and That very hour he cured many of infirmities afflictions and evil spirits and to many blind he gave sight
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Right before John's disciples eyes Their very eyes Jesus heals and liberates those who are oppressed by diseases and demons
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Those who are oppressed by sin and effects of sin the difference between the infirmities and afflictions are
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The degree of intensity The afflictions are more powerful diseases
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Now this is important because of how Jesus will respond to John's question in verse 22
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Jesus answered and said to them go and tell John the things you have seen and heard
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That the blind see the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the dead are raised the poor have the gospel preached to them
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How Jesus reassures John is through the evidence of the fulfillment of scriptural promises the prophet
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Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 35 5 through 6 a The first part of its verse 6 the very healing miracles that the messengers witnessed
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Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened the ears of the deaf shall be Unstopped and the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb sing
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The poor hearing the gospel is from Isaiah 61 1 and The dead being raised is the previous passage all of this is
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Not just sheer words only Well this happened. You just have to ask someone else
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You just missed it but This is what happened in my ministry go tell
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John No Jesus Shows through evidence that he is the coming
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Messiah by fulfilling the promises of Scripture and his his response ends with a call of faith called to faith and Blessed is he who is not offended because of me
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To Be offended by Jesus here literally means to be tripped up by Jesus trip over Jesus Jesus tells
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John that at the center of the messianic fulfillment of Jesus is the person of Christ himself.
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I Think this is really important when we consider Jesus ministry You cannot separate
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Jesus Ministry from the person of Jesus himself Oftentimes we hear people say
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I like what Jesus did I like what Jesus did with the poor how he fed the poor
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But man, I I don't really care for the teaching. I don't really believe he's God. I Don't really believe he's risen from the dead far from it
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Jesus says You got to take the whole package or leave it You like the ministry you like the messianic ministry of restoration you better not be offended by the risen
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Christ You better not be offended by the crucified Lord You have to consider all these messianic miracles done by Jesus And if it leads to faith in Christ Then you are blessed your state of blessing depends on the person of Christ and how you receive him
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And if not, of course, you're not blessed Jesus is at the core of the faithful response
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Even John the Baptist has to go through Jesus now
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John's need of reassurance is because he believed that the coming of the Messiah Would be only once and for all and because of that the judgment and restoration had to occur globally at that time now
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Although Jesus didn't come to judge and physically rule over the nations in his first coming he reassures
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John and his that his miracles fulfill the messianic promises of Scripture Jesus doesn't just talk the talk
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He walks the walk Jesus verifies and reassures his messianic title not by a mere speech
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But through the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises many of which the messengers themselves got to witness
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It wasn't just that they heard about it. They saw it themselves now
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How can we be reassured by who Jesus is? After all when
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Luke is writing the gospel of Luke according to Luke To Theophilus It's in one way to reassure the early church of who
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Jesus said he was and what Jesus did are true
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Right This is an apologetic writing. It's a defense of faith and for us we can be reassured by who
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Jesus is By looking at how he fulfills the Old Testament Prophecies We can be reassured that Jesus is the
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Messiah Because of his impeccable track record of fulfillment
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Just as Psalm 22 through us verses 16 through 18 predicted Jesus hands and feet were pierced and his enemies divided the garments just as Isaiah 53 5 prophesied
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Jesus was pierced for our rebellion and he healed us through his stripes
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Psalm 16 10 prophesied that the Prophesied the coming resurrection because God will not leave the ultimate
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Davidic King in the realm of the dead These are just three of many fulfilled prophecies by Jesus first coming what would happen?
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When the Messiah comes our reassurance of who
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Christ is Ultimately does not come from the warm feeling we might get from hearing the worship music
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Ultimately does not come from logical arguments that I might give to an unbeliever ultimately our reassurance of Christ's coming is
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From scripture by looking at his perfect record of fulfilling the scriptural promises
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That's how we can be reassured this morning. The government may pass another wicked policy the media will show another wicked show
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Hollywood will produce Another perverse movie and the world may be in chaos as we go into Maybe another conflict or war the need of the reassurance is still fulfilled
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Just as it was fulfilled for John the Baptist This morning that the reassurance is still satisfied
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By how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies It's through scripture.
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That's how we know For the Bible tells us so now
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How do people respond to the fulfillment of the promises in Jesus? Despite the fulfillment of God's redemptive promises many will still justify rejecting his redemptive plan
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Despite the fulfillment of God's redemptive promises many will still justify rejecting his redemptive plan
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After John's disciples leave to relay the message of Reassurance Jesus addresses the crowd who's already there
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Regarding John through a series of rhetorical questions What did you go out into the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind?
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Some people translate this figuratively like a reed shaken by the wind as someone who is
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Easily shakable movable change his mind easily and because John John didn't change his mind
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That's how he ended up in prison and died there But I think it's it needs to be read literally because of the context
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Because the second set of questions is to be read literally regarding the king of people who wear gorgeous garments
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Now, what does this mean? First it is important to remember that John's John the
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Baptist ministry happened in the wilderness Right. He ate locusts and wild honey
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He was a peculiar man even under in the ancient standard and most people
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Normally did not go out to the wilder into the wilderness right unless there was a reason to The wilderness was dangerous
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The wilderness is something you pass over not Not the destination so what
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Jesus is saying here is How important how important John is in God's redemptive history
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Right. The irony of these questions is that these people the crowd much many of them
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Probably who have been following John the Baptist but started following Jesus, right?
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He's addressing them. Hey, you guys didn't go into the wilderness For the scenery you didn't go out to see the reeds swaying in the wind.
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Oh how nice by the river. Hmm No After all, what is there to see?
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The implicit answer here is of course John the Baptist The great crowds gathered in the wilderness to hear
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John the Baptist preach Because they believed God sent him for a redemptive purpose
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John the Baptist preached the need for repentance to turn to God because they're all sinners
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Now the next set of rhetorical questions drive the point home But what did you go out to see a man clothed in soft garments?
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Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in Kings courts
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Surely it wasn't John's position Nor glamour that attracted the crowds after all he was wearing garments made out of camels hair
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Even back then that was weird these two questions
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Highlight it's neither John's position nor glamour that attracted the crowds
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It was John's message It's what John taught It's what
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John did These two questions highlight the importance of John the Baptist ministry in God's redemptive history
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It was neither the location nor the status of the person that drew such a great number out into the wilderness the barren land
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Rather it was John the Baptist and what he taught in the next verse specify the magnitude of John's significance in God's redemptive history verse 26
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But what did you go out to see a prophet? Yes, I say to you and more than a prophet
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This is he whom of whom it is written behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way prepare your way before you
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According to Jesus John was not just any other Prophet there are a lot of prophets in the
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Old Testament some of them unnamed yet powerful powerfully working miracles
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Powerfully proclaiming God's message to the people What Jesus is saying is that he is the eschatological prophet.
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He is the prophet of the last days Which God has promised the real prophet
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Malachi John is a crucial figure in God's redemptive history to prepare the world for the coming of the
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Lord John is the bridge that links the
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Old and the New Testaments together John is the transition from the promises of the old to the fulfillment of the new
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John's specific role in God's redemptive history is to prepare
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God's people to receive the Messiah and his deliverance That's what made
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John's ministry great. We don't hear about John's miracles. Who knows?
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Maybe he's performed one I don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us it's not for me to speculate
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But what made him great Was his role in God's redemptive history because he was the forerunner
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To the Messiah to prepare the coming of the Lord That's what made
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John great And in verse 28 Jesus lifts up the praise even higher
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For I say to you Among those born of women there is not a greater prophet then who
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John then John the Baptist It's biologically true that all people are born of women which means
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John the Baptist What Jesus is saying is the greatest prophets that ever lived
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Up to that point in history Moses was born of woman.
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Elijah was born of woman. Elisha was born of woman, right? They were all born of women but next to John the
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Baptist John's greater and This is because of John's unique role in preparing the nation of Israel to receive the
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Messiah Christ John is functionally the greatest prophet of the old
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While the praise is toward John Jesus is actually laying the foundation
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For the supremacy of the new era that he is bringing in the end
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He lifts John up to show how much greater the messianic era must be imagine one of the politicians who has declared to run for president and he's about to speak and Before before he speaks to the crowd
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He is introduced by someone influential named Bob. Maybe he's a senator.
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Maybe he is a governor I don't know but he is an important figure and now right after the introduction a lengthy introduction with accomplishments character family man right
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The candidate finally goes up To the podium He goes up to the mic and of course he says he thanks the person who introduced him
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Bob Thank you Bob is the greatest man in this country because he got to introduce me tonight
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Imagine if someone said that if someone said that who's the greater person
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The one who is introduced the one who came later, right? in one sense
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John's unique significance and supremacy over all the Old Testament prophets
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Actually shines the spotlight at the climax of God's redemptive history the coming of Jesus Christ only the greatest coming
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Messiah Will be introduced by the greatest prophet The person of Jesus is so central to all
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Of human history that the one who has a privilege of preparing the way is the greatest of all the prophets
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The focus is rather not on John but on Christ Not only that the last sentence escalates the reality of Christ's new era
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But he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he these words are
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Not hard to understand But they're hard to grasp
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Because of how great the magnitude of difference is Jesus kingdom of Fulfillment is so unparalleled
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To what has come before Even John the greatest prophet of the old era of promises is less than the least in Jesus new ministry
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Imagine that even the very best the cream of the crop of the Old Testament prophets is less
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Than the least of the ministers in Christ's kingdom again, this is not to highlight
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How great the ministers of Christ's kingdom are? It's to highlight how great the kingdom of Christ is and how great the king must be
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That the lowly peasant under Christ Must be greater than the greatest prophet of all in the
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Old Testament According to the old era who must this person be that this reality is true
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What kind of man is Jesus? to proclaim something like this right an unknown
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Christian minister Under the era of fulfillment is higher than John the
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Baptist of the old era of promises all of you who believe in Christ Are greater than John the
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Baptist of the old Again, this screams the supremacy of Christ and his role in God's redemptive plan
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Christ cannot be just another prophet He is far superior
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Even the greatest of the Prophet pales in comparison to who Christ is The great when what
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Jesus Christ brings to the world is incomparable To what the world has seen so far in human history
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What Jesus brings to the world is greater than what Moses brought out of Egypt? What Jesus brings to the world is what greater than what
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Elijah did on the mountain? What Jesus brings to the world is greater than what
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Daniel prophesied and prayed for in Babylon Jesus is better The greatness of Jesus kingdom is unrivaled to anything in God's redemptive history
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Everything up to Jesus was just a small sample of the appetizer
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Jesus is the main feast now verses 29 to 30 showed two different responses to John and Jesus and When all the people heard him that's
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Jesus Even the tax collectors justified God having been baptized with the baptism of John Justified here means to see and hear what
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Jesus is proclaiming and said that is right That is right.
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That is righteous for sure and How does that show it? How do they respond in agreement?
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They get baptized by John the they got baptized by John the Baptist But the
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Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves not having been baptized by him there's a contrast there
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First it shows that how one receives Jesus the Messiah depends on how one actually received and viewed
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John the Baptist This is because God is the one who sent both
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Jesus and John You can't Pick -and -choose and in fact, they didn't
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It was either all in yes, Jesus and John both sent by God for his redemptive purpose
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Or all out. No, they're lunatics if you trusted in God's redemptive plan
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Logically you had to both trust in John and Jesus While the text collectors and the common folks viewed
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God's redemptive plan through John and Jesus as right. That's correct I believe that Hence they got baptized by John Yet the
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Pharisees and lawyers did not accept John's baptism are baptized under the name of the
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Lord the Father the Father Son and the Holy Spirit This baptism proclaims the spiritual reality of your union with Christ This baptism does not save you
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But it shows the whole world Both physical and spiritual to whom you belong
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Because you've been bought by Christ's blood Now now that we clarified that John's baptism was unique to that part of history
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During John the Baptist ministry time No Christians are baptized into John's baptism today
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Now Let's point out the irony of the Pharisees and the lawyers the lawyers are not priests and the
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Pharisees are not priests most of them were They're Jews, but they're not priestly
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Jews. They're not Levites really They devote their lives into studying scripture.
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They devote their lives in studying the law and Interpreting it and they served in high positions
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Civil authorities right rabbis teachers They made decisions judgments
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Right in a theocratic nation judgments are done by religious leaders
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They were powerful but what what stood them what what what made them stand out was their expertise and scripture
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Now here's the irony the irony of verse 30 of the
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Pharisees and lawyers rejecting John and Jesus is That those who studied the law rigorously missed the very will of God by rejecting
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John the Baptist Those who knew the Word of God the best in the greatest depth
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Rejected God's action in human history. Oh, they knew the
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Word of God so well If you poked one of them, it would have flowed out like a fountain, but they missed when
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God Started intervening in human history What's more is they missed it when
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God entered the world? remember in Luke None of the
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Pharisees and lawyers showed up to celebrate the birth of Christ priests and Levites didn't but The shepherds did an old woman named
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Elizabeth did she who celebrated the coming birth of Christ? Now to illustrate the
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Pharisees and lawyers rejection Jesus tells a parable from verses 21 to 32
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To what then shall I liken the man of this generation? And what are they like?
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They're like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another saying Right in this parable
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Those who reject John the Baptist and his baptism are compared to children Usually children are viewed really favorably
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In the Bible not here That's why we have to read everything in the context, right
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There are brats here They are brats who make up the rules as they go Listen to this we play the flute for you, and you did not dance
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We've mourned to you and you did not weep The rule of the game changed
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Mid -game The rules of engagement reverses willy -nilly
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What's Jesus saying? verse 33 for John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine and You say he has a demon remember
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John John was Really different in the wilderness, right?
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He's diet stood out. He was eating locusts and wild honey the
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Pharisees and lawyers See they see John They see the crowds following they hear the crowd saying this must be
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God's redemptive plan This is someone significant But They say he's a bit weird he
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He probably is a demon so the Pharisees and lawyers Justified the rejection of the very prophet who came to prepare
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Israel for the coming of Christ by claiming that His lifestyle is a bit too bizarre
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Even demonic they didn't look at the content of the message.
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They didn't look at the teaching No, they just picked and chose what the standard was will decide the standard of how
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God saves when God saves will decide
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Whether that's right or not now You would think they would gladly receive
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Jesus who maintained a normal diet the Son of Man has come eating and drinking and You say a look a glutton and a winebibber a friend of tax collectors and sinners
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They change the rules They justify rejecting Christ now not because his teaching went on against scripture
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Not because his miracles did not fulfill the scriptural promises not at all
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They justify rejecting Christ by changing the standard which they have
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Implemented on John all of a sudden that same standard will not work and ironically
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Those who are supposedly devoted to the law of God Attempt to dictate what
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God says and does in history Right those who are supposedly devoted to the law of God attempt to dictate what
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God does in history Verse 35 shows that not all will reject
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John and Jesus But wisdom is justified by all her children This first refers to the people like the tax collectors who did receive
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John the Baptist From verse 29 who viewed
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God's action in history as righteous Those who received
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John and Jesus wisely are the children of wisdom they're able to see it
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They're the fruits The irony here is that those who thought they were wise in rejecting
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God's redemptive act Were the true fools and this is relevant to us today even
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You will hear people rejecting Jesus and the gospel for all sorts of reasons that are changing
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I Can't believe in a God who saves like this right,
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I Can't worship a God who humbly dies on the cross. You might see that and hear that from people
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Who are into People like Andrew Tate Right manly man.
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No, I can't believe in a Savior who humbly dies on the cross No, I I want a conqueror right
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And then you get the opposite. I Can't worship a God who violently judges
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We have the same God in the Bible who judges Righteously and sometimes it gets bloody in fact
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The most amount of blood will be spilled later. All the
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Old Testament judgments are just a shadow of the true judgment that's coming and then we have this
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I Can't believe in a God who exclusively saves through Jesus. That is too limited.
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It's too restricted How can you say the Buddhist? Hinduist Hindi Muslims that they don't have it, right
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How judgmental of you? right in a judgmental tone now
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And then there's the opposite I can't believe in a God who graciously forgives even murderers and thieves
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Are you trying to tell me a serial killer could be saved by believing in Jesus can't have that in heaven
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No way Are you saying that a gay person who turns his life around believes in Jesus can be saved
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You can't have that in heaven. You can get you get both ends both standards The question for us this morning really in the end is who gets to set the standard of redemption the
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Redeemer or the redeemed or soon to be redeemed or Potential redeemed right the tax collectors and the commoners
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Gratefully received a John and Jesus at the crux of God's redemptive history while the
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Pharisees and lawyers Justified rejecting God's redemptive plan by the standards that they set up Well when
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God comes to say well not like that or like that Then I'll believe in the end the
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Pharisees placed themselves higher than God They became the judge they became the
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Redeemer Instead of receiving what God has done through Christ Many Will reject his plan
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Because it was not done according to their standards and that is a serious problem of self -idolatry in Which it seems even more rampant than ever in our society and the same holds true
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How are you going to receive Christ someone who has fulfilled
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The promises of the Old Testament to the tea
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That is the question that all must answer One day let us pray father.
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We're thankful that We get to be part of Christ's kingdom, which is far superior to whatever was before Thank you that even the least of us
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Are greater than the best of the old and thank you that we can be reassured of Christ's faithful Re -entry into the world
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Knowing that he has an impeccable record of faithfulness He's fulfilled what
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Scripture said about him perfectly Help us to trust him until the last days of our lives in Jesus name