Trust His Character • Luke 7:18-35
1:06:15 Teaching begins
Notes
You have an expectation and a hope in God that isn’t met. You’re disappointed. God is letting you down. What do you do?
John the Baptist is such a strong personality that you don’t think of him having a hard time, a moment of doubt. Just like Elijah, he was a man just like us. He had tough times where he didn’t understand what was going on and why God didn’t seem to help him.
Out of this mess comes one good thing: because John had a tough time we get to see what Jesus did to help him. It doesn’t look like Jesus helped him at all, but He did. He gave John the tools by which you live life.
You trust in the character of Jesus while not understanding everything that He’s doing.
I’m reading in Luke 7, from verse 18 (to 35).
1. John the Baptist reaches out to Jesus.
A. John’s disciples report to him about Jesus.
1. He has been arrested by Herod and is in prison.
2. His disciples tell him about what Jesus is doing all over Judea and the surrounding district: healing the centurion’s slave without having to be there, just speak a word. They tell him about Jesus raising the widow’s son from the dead in Nain.
B. He sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus: are you the Coming One or do we look for another?
1. John pointed Jesus out to Israel: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
2. Now he’s asking Jesus, are You the One? He questions Jesus.
C. John is having a hard time understanding what’s going on.
1. At one point he was leading an awakening in Israel. He was calling people to repentance and they were listening to him.
2. He saw Jesus and His disciples baptising more disciples than him. He told his own disciples, “A man can receive nothing except it comes from above. He must increase and I must decrease.”
3. Now he’s in prison for obeying God and Jesus is healing the sick and raising the dead. I think it would be natural for John to think, “He could easily get me out of here. Has He forgotten about me? What am I doing here?”
D. So he sends two disciples to ask Jesus. Deuteronomy 17:6 says you need at least two witnesses to prove anything in court. You guys be witnesses of Jesus. Are you the Coming One, or do we look for someone else?
E. These disciples ask Jesus directly and publicly, right in front of crowds.
2. If I were Jesus this would be an awkward moment. My own forerunner doesn’t believe in Me. But He’s not upset, He answers John in two parts.
A. First, Jesus heals, casts out demons, restores sight to the blind, raises the dead. Watch Me. Watch what I do.
B. Second, Jesus connects what He does with the witness of Scripture, in Isaiah 35 and 61. He is fulfilling Scripture which no one else could do. Listen to Me.
C. In John 5 Jesus points people to two witnesses to Him being the Messiah. His works which no one else ever did, and what the Father said of Him in Scripture. Jesus gives the two disciples two witnesses to take back to John, what He does, and the Scriptures.
D. Jesus adds, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
1. To be offended is to say that Jesus was not doing something He was supposed to be doing, or doing something that He shouldn’t be doing.
2. Jesus is saying, “I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”
E. Jesus knows that John is in prison and probably expecting Him to get Him out of there. Jesus answers John, “No, I’m not going to get you out of prison.”
3. The crowd listening to all this might get the impression that Jesus doesn’t consider John to be important. But He goes on to say that John is absolutely significant.
A. He asks the people three times why they went out into the wilderness.
1. Did you go out there to see a soft plant waver in the breeze? You didn’t need to work that hard, you could watch that at home without making the trip.
2. Did you go out there to see a sharp-dressed guy? Wrong place to go, there are no sharp-dressed guys in the wilderness.
3. You made the effort and travelled to see something that hasn’t existed in four hundred years: a prophet, and more than a prophet.
B. This prophet fulfils Scripture foretelling his coming.
1. Elijah is important to God. He comes once, is prophesied to come before the great and terrible day of the Lord, and Jesus said that Elijah is still to come at His second coming. That’s three times. This man is written about in Isaiah 40 and Malachi 4.
2. There aren’t too many men who are prophesied about, that fulfil Scripture, at all.
C. And then Jesus says that the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John, greater than any man in history. It is absolutely greater to be born again of God and His Holy Spirit and have eternal life.
D. John is important because your reaction to him determines your destiny.
1. All the people who listened to John acknowledged God’s justice. They repented and submitted to baptism. They said, God is right and I am wrong.
2. The Pharisees and experts in the law of Moses rejected God’s purpose for themselves because they didn’t think they needed to repent. We’re already right. John is wrong. So no wonder they rejected Jesus. They had already rejected repentance. You don’t need a saviour if you’re convinced you’re doing okay.
4. The people who don’t repent measure everyone by themselves and are irrelevant.
A. The people who reject Jesus are like children playing in the marketplace who aren’t happy with anyone because they’re not playing their game.
1. They played the flute and you didn’t dance.
2. They sang a dirge and you didn’t weep.
3. Everyone in the marketplace focuses on making a living. They don’t have time to play along with little kids so they ignore them. The little kids aren’t happy because they make like they’re important and everyone ought to listen to them. Nobody has time for this.
B. The Pharisees make themselves the standard of what is right. They measure everyone else by themselves.
1. So John the Baptist comes preaching repentance and living an extreme life. He’s not dependent on the usual things you eat in society. They say, “He’s crazy!” Which means, “I would never live like that.” When you have a demon it means you’re mentally mixed up. Confused.
2. Jesus ate the usual things, but He went to the outcasts of society, tax collectors and harlots and non-religious people. The Pharisees say, “He’s a glutton and a drunkard just like those He hangs with.” Which means, “I would never associate with people like that.”
C. How do you know who’s right? Jesus says, “Look at the fruit in their lives. Look at the results.” Jesus and John are still affecting generation after generation. The Pharisees don’t influence anyone toward wanting to get right with God and receive eternal life. They are arrogant and irrelevant.
5. So what?
A. Things aren’t going the way you assume they should go. It feels like God is ignoring you. He’s disapointing your expectation.
B. And it’s not like you don’t have faith in God. Can God do what you’re expecting? Of course He can. There’s no question about it. He can still heal the sick, give sight to the blind, raise the dead.
C. John the Baptist was in this exact situation. There is no reason in John’s mind why Jesus couldn’t get him out of prison, or out of being beheaded by Herod. That’s coming.
D. When you are in this situation you can be tempted to question God’s goodness.
1. You are tempted to think Jesus doesn’t know your name and doesn’t care.
2. You are tempted to think God doesn’t care because you’re not important.
3. There are people who question your goodness and make God’s blessing depend on you. They’ll tell you you haven’t fulfilled the requirements of faith and obedience so God is not doing what He’s supposed to do. You don’t have enough faith. You have sinned. It’s not God’s fault, it’s all your fault.
4. So here’s our choices: it’s God’s fault, or it’s your fault. Neither one of them is correct!
E. Realise that Jesus knows all about you and He considers you important.
1. Psalm 40 says His thoughts toward you cannot be counted for multitude. He knows every detail of what you’re going through.
2. Just like Jesus considered John important He considers you important. You are part of His eternal plan. Your role is more important than you think.
F. John’s role was to fulfil Scripture, which is the will of God.
1. In Mark 9:11-13 They asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.”
2. Where is that written? It is the course of Elijah’s life. God worked unmistakeable miracles through Elijah to prove that He is God, and still people did not believe and repent. Elijah calls down fire from heaven and kills all the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth and still Jezebel says, “I’m going to kill you tomorrow.” That’s where Elijah falters in his faith, where he flees to the wilderness, where God speaks in a still, small voice, and doesn’t explain anything to him except, “I have reserved for Myself 7,000 men who have never bowed the knee to Baal. You’re not the only one left.” Elijah has to trust in God without understanding what God is doing.
G. Just like John, just like Jesus, your life is to fulfil Scripture, which is the will of God. Everyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer, for doing what is right, not what is wrong. You will especially suffer course corrections which you do not understand. You think God will do this, and He doesn’t. You will have to go through unmet expectations, it will look like God won’t come through for you, you’re trusting Him, but He won’t deliver.
H. You can be like a Pharisee and measure all things by yourself and say, “Well, I wouldn’t do it that way, I would do it like this!” You can demand an explanation, why are You doing this to me? You probably won’t get an answer. God isn’t coming down to your level. He is the Lord.
I. You trust Jesus without understanding what He’s doing. How you do that is go back to the roots of your faith that testify of Jesus’ character: the works that Jesus did, and the word of the Father that proves that Jesus is God.
1. The most important work of Jesus is that He died for you. He redeemed you from all evil. He rose from the dead, and that’s the promise that you will rise from the dead. That’s your salvation, that’s eternal life.
2. Can you trust the Son of God with your life right now? That’s what He’s asking of you: trust Me. I will work all this together for good.
3. He does answer if you have a listening heart. He’s talking all the time in Scripture, and He is fulfilling that word, which is His will. That will is good, acceptable, and perfect.
J. Can you trust the character of Jesus and know that He will work it all together for good for you?
Let’s pray.