So today's Bible reading is from Matthew chapter 11 verses 1 to 6 if you are wanting to use a Bible
I'm reading from the NIV and we have Bibles at the entrance of the church there if you need one
So looking at Matthew chapter 11 verses 1 to 6
After Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples
He went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee
When John who was in prison heard about the deeds of the Messiah
He sent his disciples to ask him
Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?
verse 4
Jesus replied go back and report to John what you hear and see
The blind receive sight
The lame walk
Those who have leprosy are cleansed the death here
The dead are raised and the good news is proclaimed to the poor
Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me
Thank God for his word
Morning everyone again
So if you've been with us for the past few years
You know that we've periodically been in the book of Matthew
for quite some time
In fact, this is the third year that we've been looking at the gospel and
Exploring the wonderful truths of our Lord's mission to this world as told to us by the evangelist Matthew
Now just to get back to where we left off and to get a bit of
Context to the passage that we're going to be looking at this morning
Last time we were in this gospel. We were in chapter 10
Where Jesus was sending out his 12 apostles on their first
mini
Commission to tell Israel about the good news of their coming Messiah
By this point Jesus had shown them what he was capable of capable of they'd seen him heal disease
Control the weather cast out a legion of demons and raised the dead with just a word
From his mouth
But more than that they'd heard him preach and teach on the good news of the kingdom of heaven and
How it had come near to them in the coming of Israel's king
Jesus Christ himself
And in this passage that we're going to look at this morning
That's where Matthew wants to keep our attention on Jesus Christ because Matthew wants to show us yet again
That this Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the long-awaited Messiah that God had
Promised through the prophets in his word to the world
So that we as his disciples might be encouraged to persevere in our faith
And there's a few things that I want to pull out of this passage you for you this morning
But before we do any of that why don't we come before our father this morning and ask for his
Help in the doing would you please pray with me?
Lord Jesus it was said
All those years ago you have the words of eternal life
This morning we are peering into
Great words from you and we ask that by your Holy Spirit
That you would give us ears to hear
That you would give us eyes to see
By your spirit you would work on our hearts and that you our Lord and Savior would be held so high among us
And that you would be pleased to draw all manner of people in all sorts of situations to yourself
This morning through the preaching of the word
We ask for this in your name Jesus and for the sake of your church. Amen
You know one of the funniest quotes from the Simpsons is when Homer's court
Doing something that he shouldn't have by his children and as they catch him out
He screams don't do as I do do as I say and I love that quote
Because though humorous it
Exposes something about many in authority and leadership in that they want you to follow their
Instructions, but not their actions because quite frankly they can't live up to their own
self-proclaimed image
Not so with the Lord Jesus Christ
No, it's as it's already been said this morning the passage that we find ourselves
Here comes off the back of Jesus telling his apostles to go and preach
About the kingdom of heaven and we see a couple of really fantastic things here in just verse one of our text this morning
On one level we're reminded yet again that teaching and preaching is
Incredibly important. It's vital to the advancement of the kingdom of heaven
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word and as Paul says the gospel is the power
unto salvation
So that's the first thing that we're reminded of here
But it's the second thing that Matthew tells us which is what I want us to focus on and that's that our Lord
Never calls us to do something that he's not willing to do himself
Notice that Jesus has just spent all of chapter 10 telling his disciples to go to preach to teach
But then instead of kicking back and kind of watching them walk out into the sunset
Jesus actually goes and travels around their cities himself
We see it here in verse one
Jesus is
continually an example to his disciples as to how they were to carry out their commission
He goes
He preaches and he teaches and
Church, let me just say never
Underestimate how important your going and sharing and teaching the gospel is with others
Of course, Jesus did signs and wonders and miracles
But those things only ever pointed to the authority and the truth of who he is and the message that he had
And that's because the good news of the kingdom
The gospel the news of Jesus is what saves people the Pharisees they saw
Miracles
Theologians of the day they saw the signs
Judas we're told even performed wonders, but none of those things
Ultimately save anyone
No trust in the gospel does and that's something that needs to be shared and taught with others as we go out
Into the context in which we find ourselves
And it's interesting because as the disciples went and they did what they saw Jesus doing
Well, they themselves now became part of preparing the way for the Lord
And that phrase are prepare the way for the Lord might seem familiar to you and it should because
That was the job description of John the Baptist
We met him all the way back in chapter 3 where we were introduced to this absolute
Wildebeest of a man who prepared Israel for their Messiah
As you might remember he was arrested and put in prison and we'll come back to him in just a moment
I want you to notice something here this morning
Yes, John the great prophet the great preacher. He was taken off the scene and locked away
But now the Lord had raised 12 other guys to go and prepare Israel to hear from their Messiah
And I want you to see that
Because we must never think that there is anyone in the church who's indispensable to God. I
Remember when Billy Graham the great evangelist when he passed away
I was like who's ever going to go and do that kind of thing again?
I remember when Tim Keller and J.I. Packer and I see sprawl died
I thought who is ever going to teach the Bible like that again. I
Remember even our own
Dear Martin Isles when he left our shores. I thought to myself who is ever going to explain the Australian news to me like that ever again?
You might think of your own influential names, but this is the thing
We're all expendable in God's kingdom
John the Baptist was the most powerful preacher in his day and when he was put in prison
People must have been shocked
But out of what seemed like a hopeless situation
God raised up 12 more guys to take his place so that they could go out and
Prepare the way and spread the gospel even further and wider than John had imagined
And so when once one of God's servants is taken off the scene
We must never panic that the gospel of Jesus Christ is far too important to be lost in this world
Jesus loves his disciples far too much for that to happen
And you can see this love even in the way that our Lord is preparing his disciples
for his departure. I
Don't know about you, but sometimes I think to myself
Things would be so much easier if we physically had Jesus here on earth so that we could
Read his daily tweets and follow him on Facebook live
But Jesus knew for both his immediate audience and for us that
Most of the kingdom mission most of the kingdom work in this world
Wasn't going to be done with Jesus
physically present
Now Jesus knew for his disciples that he was going to depart soon and so he wanted to give them a little taste of what it was going to be
Like what it was going to be like for them when he wasn't there
In other words this commission was real deal
training
The apostles had to do the preaching and they unlike Homer Simpson
Had to live in line with what they were preaching and what they were teaching
It's many of you know I was a drum teacher for about a decade
before I went to Bible college and I mentioned that to you because sitting with a student and
teaching them the great truths of rhythm and groove and music theory
Well, it only goes so far no not until they have sticks in their hands and jump behind the kid and feel the beat
Do they really understand music and what drumming is really all about a
Good teacher tells a good teacher shows and then they get their student to do what they say and do
What they've demonstrated and that's what we're seeing here in just this first verse
Discipleship really hits home
When we as the disciples of Jesus are engaged in the gospel work of the kingdom
Brothers and sisters, it's great to be gathered and come and listen to a sermon on a Sunday
It's great to watch lectures on YouTube and get great theology. These are wonderful things
These are good things
But we learn best by sharing with others and we teach best when we're practicing
What we're preaching now
That's exactly what Jesus calls his disciples to do
He calls them to go and share and live
What they are teaching and preaching
I wonder this morning, who are you sharing with?
It doesn't need to be in depth. It doesn't need to be a Bible college lecture
But let me encourage you here this morning brothers and sisters
There is nothing quiet like sharing what you have learned about the gospel from the Bible with others. I
Know lots of people with no formal training who are wonderful
Godly teachers because they've lived out their faith for years
I won't mention names here because I don't want to embarrass anyone
But I personally get so much out of spending time with some of you because of the great wisdom and
insight that you bring from the scriptures
because
You practice what you preach
You live out what you're convicted by
It's a wonderful thing to share Jesus with others and many wonderful gospel truths
really hit home when we are sharing and
teaching
helping and
discipling others
and
Our Lord he puts his disciples into that very situation
He essentially said you've heard the gospel you've seen how I've taught and preached now go
Go and do the same
go and live what you have heard and
Teach people prepare the way for me
So go and do as I say and do as I do
Now we kind of glossed over him before but after Jesus after he commissioned his
Disciples Matthew brings our attention in our text this morning to another group of disciples
And they were from John the Baptist as we see here in verse 2
Now to set the scene John has been locked away in prison for his preaching and him being in prison
That is no small detail for us to just skip over
You see Josephus a first century
Historian well
He actually wrote about the very prison that John was locked up in a place called Macarus
Now I won't go into all the details here, but essentially ancient prisons of this type
They were cesspools of blood vomit and human excrement
And he had probably survived for as long as he had because his disciples
Were allowed to bring him such essential things like food and water
All this to say John is in a really bad place
both
physically and mentally
To the point that he sends his disciples to ask verse 3
Are you the one to come or should we expect?
someone else
Straight off the bat some of you might be a little bit shocked by this whole scene
Because you might remember in the opening chapters of this gospel of Matthew
John is introduced to us as this fearless
Profit standing up to the religious elite and government all the while pointing people to their coming
Messiah
But now as Matthew reports to us
John's locked up like a caged animal and
From his prison cell he struggles to see how this Jesus could be the long-awaited Messiah
That he had preached about
Church this shouldn't surprise us in light of what he belted out there in the desert if you remember in chapter 3
He said to the Pharisees and the Sadducees you brood of vipers
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produced fruit in that comes with repentance
The ax is already laid at the root of the trees and every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down
And thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance
But after me comes one who's more powerful than I whose sandals are not even worthy to carry
He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire
His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor
gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire
Notice the emphasis in John's preaching there
John saw that when the Messiah came his righteous wrath would utterly hack down
unrepentant hypocrites and sinners
I
Want to be really clear with you this morning
What John was commissioned to preach to Israel was in no way made up
Now there's many passages in the Bible that speak about the Messiah
Coming to judge the wicked and rule in total righteousness. That's certainly going to happen
But it seems that as John heard from his disciples of Jesus's teaching and his preaching and his healing ministry
He's eating with sinners
That he was perplexed
On the one hand John would have not been ignorant to the fact that the Messiah had said of him that he'll come to heal the brokenhearted
But on the other hand Jesus he hadn't walked into Jerusalem like he thought
To overthrow tyranny and take the throne of David all the while setting the world on fire
Something even Jesus's own disciples expected and struggled to understand about the ministry of Jesus
And so John
He sends his disciples to get some answers
Now again
John's preaching was heaven sent in fact
We're going to look at this throughout the next couple of weeks in the rest of this chapter
but in saying that John
Emphasis that the emphasis that he had led him to an application
That though was certainly there in the Old Testament was not taking into account other passages
That spoke of the Messiah's servant hood and he doubted
And we're going to see in just a moment how Jesus
So wonderfully takes John right back to the scriptures to help him understand
What he was missing
But before we look at that I want us to pick up on a theme that we see in our text this morning
As we've seen over the past few weeks in the book of Psalms
Doubt is a horrible beast to wrestle with
And we must never be surprised how quickly it rears its ugly head when we go through trials and tests
And he doubt is the enemy of faith and everyone even the most
maturist believers
are prone to it
especially
when hard times hit
John he was a powerful preacher who was commissioned by God to teach Israel
But now as we've seen he found himself doubting Jesus because his hopes in Jesus
Hadn't turned out to what he thought
Jesus wasn't doing what he thought he would do
And on top of that John was now rotting away in prison
Certainly not what he envisioned
happening to himself
And if you'll hear this morning and you're in a place where your
Circumstances are bleak and your hopes have been crushed
Dear friend
It's not surprising that you too might be struggling with doubt
That's not to accuse anyone
That's saying that your faith is based on your circumstances
Please don't hear that being said this morning, but that's not to say that our circumstances
Don't have an effect on our faith
Disappointments dashed hopes broken dreams whatever the case might be
External circumstances can be weighty when it comes to matters of the heart
So those dear those feelings of doubt in that circumstance
As we see here even the greatest prophet to ever live
Struggled when hard times
This is what's so beautiful in this whole thing
We see that John had pretty much hit rock bottom and like David in Psalm 13 that we looked at last week
He may have screamed from the pit how long Lord?
But notice that John asks the right question from that pit of despair
Look again with me at verse 3
Are you the one to come or should we expect someone else?
It's a yes or no answer
There's no if buts or maybes
John wants the answer are you are you or are you not the Messiah?
Because for John for his disciples for us in this very room this morning the answer to that question
Is the most important question of questions that need to be answered?
Because the way in which Jesus goes on to answer this
Well, it leaves us all with a question to answer ourselves
And that question is will you embrace Jesus as the Messiah?
Or will you reject him because he hasn't met your expectations?
Let's have a look at the reply that Jesus gives them in verses 4 and 5
Jesus said go back and report to John what you hear and see
The blind receive sight
The lame walk
Those who have leprosy are cleansed the death here the dead are raised and the good news is
proclaimed
to the poor
It's verses 4 and 5
Now we're not going to spend
Oodles of time here because there's so much going on, but I just want to point out to you
That's incredibly interesting that Jesus points these people
straight back to the Bible
And he says essentially think on what the Messiah was prophesied to do
And then go back and report what you see me doing
That's the answer that Jesus gives look at what God said about the Messiah watch and observe me and
Then you have your answer
Now what Jesus is drawing on here is based on the book of Isaiah
But what's so interesting is that the two passages that we're going to have a look at what Jesus alludes to here
Well, it's where judgments and
servitude
Meet at the same time
And so he's answering the question and Jesus leads John and his disciples to another perspective on the passages
In which they've missed
First
Isaiah 35 verses
46
Isaiah 35 verses 46
As I say say to those with fearful hearts be strong and do not fear
Your God will come he will come with vengeance with divine retribution
He will come to save you
Let me just say before we look at the rest of the verse here. John's really got that part down pat
That was pretty much his sermon outline out there in the wilderness
But here what else Isaiah goes on to say and
Where Jesus directs our retention verses five and six
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and
The years of the death
Unstopped then with a lame leap like idea and the mute tongue
shout for joy
Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert
Notice what our Lord is doing there
He's drawing on the very passage that John knew well and preached on but Jesus in his answer
He points out that there's more to the story of the Messiah John
Jesus like Isaiah said would happen had come and he was opening the eyes of the blind
Opening the ears of the death
Healing the lame and he goes further than Isaiah even imagined
In that he was raising the dead
The other passage is one that we heard read out for us already this morning
Isaiah 61 verses one and two
the spirit of
The sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim
Good news to the poor notice that in our text back in Matthew chapter 11
Good news to the poor
He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim freedom for the captives and
Release from darkness the prisoners to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God and
to comfort all who mourn
Again church Isaiah knew this passage well
And it may have been the one that really bothered him
Because think about it
This is where Isaiah says the prisoners will be set free
I
suspect that that would have been really hard for John as he sat there in that
dark
damp
prison cell
Changed like an animal waiting to be set free
But again Jesus points to the parts that John hadn't focused on
about the mission of the Messiah in the healing and the proclamation of the good news
Brothers and sisters Jesus teaches us all a powerful lesson this morning
And that's that when doubt creeps in and tries to strangle our faith because of hard circumstances
The word of God is alive and active
And as we're told in the book of Hebrews it penetrates even to the dividing of the soul and spirit joints and marrow
It judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart
You see John's messianic
Expectations didn't line up with what he understood the Bible to say and thus his heart was doubting
And so Jesus deals with John's doubt tenderly and pastorally by helping him to understand the scriptures
in light of the whole picture
In other words Jesus pointed John to the parts that he was missing to encourage him in his circumstances
You may have come to an understanding of Jesus and have at times been somewhat
Disappointed with how you thought things would work out for you as a Christian
But as we see in our passage this morning Jesus showed John
That though he was different to what he expected him to be
Jesus was so much better than John had ever hoped to imagine
And the way that we see Jesus act towards his disciples in this passage
Or to show us something about how he treats his disciples
Even today
Will hard times come?
Absolutely
Will we doubt?
Unfortunately we will
I know that I have
But look at how Jesus deals with his people
He doesn't come down on John like a ton of bricks or rebuke him publicly
For his struggles know he tenderly deals with him by pointing him back to the word and he shows him from the scriptures
What he was missing?
That's what we might call tender gospel encouragement
It's a beautiful pastoral move on behalf of Jesus
But also he gives him tender rebuke in light of the gospel as well
Notice that Jesus ends his whole section by holding out to John
to his disciples
And even to you and me this morning
saying in verse 6
Blessed is anyone who doesn't stumble on account of me
What's the point of our Lord here
Well, we're not gonna understand everything that Jesus does all the time
And so we must be careful not to become bitter and fall away just because some things in this life
Don't make sense to us
Jesus is bigger. He's better than we could ever hope to imagine and Jesus shows us all this morning
That just because we don't understand
some things in the moment
Or what's going on around us
That that's no excuse to ultimately reject him
Brothers and sisters we all struggle all of us from time to time
Maybe you're here this morning and you're really struggling with your faith
you're really struggling with
figuring out what is going on and why God is allowing certain things to happen
Well my dear friend
Let this passage be an encouragement to all of us
In your weakness in your despair in your doubt
You have a savior who is mighty to save and
And he will gently and tenderly lead and guide those who come to him
Jesus is not in the business of rejecting those who come to him
No, he came to seek and save the loss and to set the captives free
Something that John certainly is experiencing right at this very moment
So let these words from the apostle Paul be of an encouragement to you this morning from
2nd Timothy
If we died with him, we will also live with him
If we endure we will also reign with him
If we disown him he will also disown us if we're faithless hear this
He remains faithful
For he cannot disown himself
Let's ask the Lord to help us in these things. Would you pray with me?
Lord Jesus we began our time this morning by asking
That you would be held high among us by the work of your spirit through the word
Lord God, you know exactly what's going on in this room with the different hearts and the minds that the hurt
The hope
the crying
The secret sin the things we struggle with
But as you've shown us in your word this morning, we can cry out to you in the pit of despair
Lord Jesus we would ask that you open the eyes of our hearts
That you would enlighten us to the truth of our salvation
Lord you would raise our eyes above our circumstances and through the eternal things to the gospel
That we would seek you above all else
seek first the kingdom
We ask for this with the help of your Holy Spirit because we are too weak to do it ourselves
We ask for this in your name. Amen.