The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E42 - John the Baptist

Episode Date: June 16, 2020

Hey, church family. Welcome to Devo time. If you got your Bible, we're going to be in Matthew Chapter 11. And one of the things I want to look at is this, is we've talked about it before, but just a little different angle. Sometimes people will ask, if God is good and God is loving, then why do bad things happen? The prosperity gospel teaches that if you follow Jesus, then you are guaranteed health and wealth and happiness. And the problem with that, historically has been the Bible. In Matthew chapter 11, we see this. We'll just pick it up. It says this, when Jesus had finished instructing the 12 disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. Now, when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ,

he sent word by his disciples. Now, real quick, John the Baptist is in prison. The reason John the Baptist is in prison is because he was speaking about, speaking out against Herod the Tetrarch, because Herod the Tetrarch, that's like King Herod, King Herod had divorced his first wife, and he married his sister-in-law, his brother's wife. And John the Baptist had no problem pointing out the immorality of politicians in his day. Well, he did it long enough, and he was loud enough that eventually Herod imprisoned him. And so while he's in jail, John the Baptist sends word to Jesus, about Jesus. And here's what the disciples of John the Baptist come to Jesus.

And they say to Jesus, are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another? You ever struggle with doubt? Never scratch your head and say, is God really in charge? Does God really love me? How can this be happening? Well, maybe you've heard me say this $100 million. times, the opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is really fear. If you've got doubts, you can make a great disciple. John the Baptist in this moment looks around at his circumstances,

and John the Baptist has doubts. Now let me tell you a few things about John the Baptist. John the Baptist is prophesied about in the Old Testament. In the book of Malachi, the very last book of the Old Testament, Malachi says there will be one that comes to prepare the way of the Lord. he will come in the spirit of Elijah and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their sons and sons to their fathers. And then there's a blank page in your Bible. That's 400 years of silence.

And then when you get to the Gospels, you found out that when Mary's sister is pregnant with John the Baptist, that it is prophesied over him, this is the one that comes in the spirit of Elijah, and this is the one that will turn the hearts of fathers to the sons and sons to their fathers, and that the reason God prophesied about John the Baptist is that his role would be to prepare the way that Jesus would come. And John the Baptist goes out into the wilderness and he's preaching and preaching and thousands of people are coming around and he's

baptizing them in preparation for the coming Messiah. And it is John the Baptist himself that announces Jesus' public ministry. In the book of John, John the Bible. says, behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world. And he baptizes Jesus. And as Jesus' ministry begins to grow, John the Baptist's disciples come to John the Baptist and they say, hey, his disciples are growing and they're baptizing people and ours are kind of fading. And John the Baptist famously says, he must increase and I must decrease. And then, I don't know how much time has passed. But this guy that was in ministry preaching Jesus, pointing to Jesus, bowing down to Jesus, now he looks at his circumstances and

he's thinking, this is not the way I thought it would turn out at all. So what do you do when your circumstances are overwhelming? I mean, you're a Jesus follower. You know that he's the Lamb of God. So John the Baptist sins the disciple. and says, are you the one, or should we be looking for another one? Now, you would think, if you don't know what's in the, if you haven't read this part before, you would think that Jesus, who, by the way, is a really big fan of John the Baptist. In fact, Jesus says, Jesus says about John the Baptist,

there have been none greater born of women. I mean, I know you think you're awesome, but you're nothing, you're JV compared to John the Baptist, that he is a really, really big deal. And so you would think that Jesus would throw in his cape and he would, you know, fly into wherever John the Baptist is in prison and he would kick down the door and he would release him from jail. Instead, this is the response of Jesus to his first cousin that he thinks is the best man ever born of woman. Verse four, and Jesus answered them, go and tell John what you hear and see.

And then verse five, not only is Jesus describing, what is happening in the ministry of Jesus, but he's quoting from the same place in Isaiah that he read from in Luke 4. Do you remember this? We talked about this like, I don't know, two weeks ago or something, that Jesus goes into the temple in Nazareth to teach.

They hand him Isaiah, the scroll of Isaiah. He rolls it out, and he says, I am the anointed one, I came to preach the good news to the poor, the blind would see, the captives would be set free. Remember that text? So he's quoting the same text here. He says, go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf here,

the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them, period. Now here's what's happening. John the Baptist knows this messianic text. John the Baptist believes that Jesus is the anointed one. So when the disciple of John the Baptist comes back and he began, ticking through the messianic prophecies of Isaiah, he's like, okay, all right, the blind sea and the lame walk and the dead arise and the poor and spirit get the gospel. And then guess what the last one is?

And the prisoners are set free. Guess which one Jesus doesn't quote. And the prisoners are set free. Yeah, Jesus essentially says, yeah, John, I am the one and you're going to die in prison. and in fact he does die in prison in a super weird way King Herod is having this like super scandalous party one night at his house

and there's this young girl it's actually his like sister-in-law's daughter comes out to strip for him and he gets all worked up and he makes this promise he's like I'll give you whatever you want and the stripper goes to her mom and says what do you want

and she says ask for the head of John the Baptist because she's tired of John the Baptist talking schmack about her in public. And so this girl goes to King Herod and says, I'll take the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And that's how this preacher, this prophet, this man of God, dies. And Jesus essentially says, yeah, I'm the one that came to take away the sins of the world. And John the Baptist says, you follow me.

I'm not going to release you for prison. And it's not going to get better. You're going to die in prison. I mean, when's the last time you heard that message? Follow Jesus. It could end poorly. You just don't. And then he says this,

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. You see, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not that if we follow after Jesus, he makes all of our lives better. The good news of the gospel is that he is better than life. Now, I'm going to be honest. most of the time he does make our lives better. Forgiveness is better than unforgiveness.

Fellowship is better than isolation. Being loved is better than not feeling loved. All those things are true, but nowhere in the scriptures is Jesus promised that things will be okay for us on this side of eternity. You know, some people ask the question, so what about things happened to good people? There was only one good man.

His name was Jesus, and the worst thing happened to him. The next press person who ever lived, according to Jesus, is John the Baptist, and he was beheaded for standing up for what is right. So what do you do? What do you do, man? When you look at your circumstances and they're overwhelming, well, you do not rely on some kind of promise that does not exist in the scriptures, but you rely on the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ that he and he alone is more than enough. If you flip over to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 is known as like the Hall of Faith. The writer of Hebrews, he really, he starts with like Cain and Abel. He starts with Abel and he talks about the

stories of faith all throughout the old covenant. He talks about the faith of Abraham. He talks about the faith of Isaac. Talks about the faith of Moses. He just keeps talking about the faith that the Israelites had to cross over the Red Sea on dry ground. And then eventually in verse 32, he says these words. He says, And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barack and Samson and Jeff Fath. Those were all judges in the book of judges. Or of David, like King David, David and Glyath, that one,

of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms and forced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. They quench the power of fire. They escape the edge of the sword. We're made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, they put foreign armies to flight, women received back their dead by resurrection.

Now don't you want that kind of faith? Don't you want the faith of Shadraqq and Abedigo that can go into the fire and you don't even smell like smoke? Or like the faith of Daniel that can go into the lion's den and you know that God shuts the mouths of lions or the faith of David that puts armies to flight? But he doesn't stop. There's not even a conjunct.

It's a word there. There's not a conjunction to tie these two thoughts together. He says, women received back their dead by resurrection, period. Next sentence. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sown into, they were killed with a sword. They went about in skims of sheep and goats. Destitute, afflicted, mistreated. By faith, some of them went about destitute, afflicted, and mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wondering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised

since God had provided something better for us, that's Jesus, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. What do you do when you suffer? Here's what you do. By faith, you cry out to God. And let me tell you what this world does not need. This world doesn't necessarily need another successful Christian because when people look at your success and what you want, they don't want the giver of your success. They just want success and God will not be an idol. He won't. And so, does God promise everything's going to be okay? Yes and amen. Maybe not this side of heaven, but we are strangers in a distant land, that we are pilgrims here, that our kingdom is not a kingdom of this world, and our kingdom is not a kingdom of stuff and success and popularity. Our kingdom is a

kingdom of God. And there will be a day when he will wipe away every single tear. He will write every single wrong and we will be in his presence forever and ever and ever. And it is that eternal perspective that fueled the faithful men and women unnamed in Hebrews 11. It was that kind of perspective that would fuel John the Baptist to though he had doubts, he would never renounce Jesus. that's his Lord and Savior, and it is that kind of perspective that fuels you and I. In this ever-changing world, please, please, please do not trust in or try to cling to your circumstances. They will always let you down. Cling to your sovereign Savior. Your future in him, your eternal future in him, is bright. Trust that. Let me pray for you.

our good and gracious heavenly, Father, Lord, I pray that we would take your advice, God, that we would not fear the one that can only kill our bodies or ridicule us or persecute us, but God, we would put our trust and faith in you, the one that offers eternal life. God, a lot of times we are like John the Baptist. We look at our circumstances and we begin to question you. Lord, I pray that we would flip that around. I pray that we would see our circumstances through the light of the cross. that God, at the cross, from a temporary human perspective, it looked like things were out of control.

And yet it is the foundation of our salvation that you were at work in all things, especially the cross, for the good of those that love you, are called according to your purpose. And if you did not spare your own son for us, then God, we must know that you love us. you have a purpose and a plan for us, and that is to prosper us and to give us a hope and a future. Maybe in this life, but for sure, forever an eternal life with you. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.