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6.7.20 Luke 7:18-35 Pastor Sam Porges · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, good morning, church. It's good to be with you today. Thanks to Bob and to the worship team for leading us this morning in prayer and in singing. We are going to continue our series in Luke this morning, so if you've got your Bibles, open them up to Luke chapter 7, verses 18 to 35. And if you are joining us from out of town or out of state, we want to say welcome. My name is Sam. I'm the youth pastor here at Highland, and I get the honor of sharing the word with you this morning.
• 0:31
  Luke chapter 7, we're going to read through it and then we'll dive in. But Luke chapter 7 verse 18 says,
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  He healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended by me. When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see?
• 1:29
  A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in king's courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John.
• 1:56
  Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. When all the people heard this and the tax collectors too, they declared God just having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. To what then shall I compare the people of this generation and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another. We played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not weep.
• 2:26
  For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, he has a demon. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by all her children. Let's pray. God, I pray this morning that you would open our eyes and give us wisdom to see not only what your word says and how it applies to our lives, but also
• 3:06
  how we can walk as people of wisdom and people of light and honesty in this country with everything that's going on right now. We need your wisdom. Be glorified as your word is preached and change us into the likeness of Jesus as we hear it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, our country is really hurting right now. The death of George Floyd and the riots have...
• 3:38
  compounded the suffering caused by the coronavirus. And right now, it seems like everyone, including businesses and celebrities and social media warriors, are coming out with statements proposing solutions to our problems. As is the nature of suffering, these events have dissolved the superficial social veneers of many Americans, and it's revealed who we truly are. Believers all over the world right now are wondering whether or not God and the Bible have adequate
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  solutions to our complex problems. And many are asking, where is God? And this is a legitimate question because it's during times like these where doubts about the character and the work of God can creep into our minds. And it's this morning's passage that addresses doubt. Personally, I have wrestled with various sorts of doubts for a long time. Sometimes my doubts are
• 4:33
  Related to current events, like what we're experiencing in the culture right now. Sometimes my doubts are more intellectual, intellectual skepticism about claims of God or of the Bible. And sometimes I just feel this kind of nagging anxiety in my heart about the things of God that I can't shake. In college, I had a Greek professor. He was old, really old. I mean, he was at least 40. I'm just kidding. But this guy was old. And I remember...
• 5:02
  sitting in his class and hearing him talk about his life and his testimony and at one point he said I have never doubted God or my faith in all of my Christian experience and I sat there feeling very distanced from this professor because I thought well I've had a lot of doubts and I wrestle with that and I'm much younger than you so what am I supposed to do with that?
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  In Luke 7, 18 to 35, we encounter doubt in the heart of someone that we would never expect, John the Baptist. And I hope this morning that those of us who have doubts can be comforted by this passage as we acknowledge the reality of doubt and as we see Jesus' response to the doubt of John the Baptist. And so first, let's look at John's reality.
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  We know from Matthew's account of this story that John was in prison when this happened. He had been imprisoned by Herod for calling out Herod's sin in having his brother's wife. And it's possible that at this point in Luke's gospel, John the Baptist had been in prison for months, maybe even a year, which meant that his ministry usefulness was pretty much ended and he was approaching the end of his life.
• 6:20
  And so apparently some of his disciples had updated him on the ministry of Jesus, telling him of Jesus' miraculous healings, the exorcisms and casting out demons, the raising of the dead, and his authoritative teachings. And John's response gives us a glimpse into John's reality. Let's look again at verse 18. The disciples of John reported all these things to him.
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  And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for one another? In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear.
• 7:14
  The dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them, and blessed is the one who is not offended by me. And so John tells his disciples to go and ask Jesus if he truly is the Messiah, or if they should look for one another. And this seems kind of backwards if you think about it, because this narrative begins with John's disciples coming and reporting to John all these things that Jesus is doing, right? And last week we looked at this first part of chapter 7, where Jesus
• 7:42
  heals a centurion's son from afar, right, with just a word. And then he raises a widow's son from the dead. So John is hearing these things, and yet he still has these questions. He still wants a confirmation of Jesus' Messiahship. And so it seems like John had doubts. And the question we have to ask ourselves is, how could John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, and possibly the greatest prophet up to that point,
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  And so surely if there was anyone who would never wrestle with doubt, who would have a doubt-free life, it would have been John. And yet, that's not the case. I think it's very possible that
• 8:41
  John was experiencing a tension which many of us have become acquainted with in our lives, and that's the tension between our theology and our reality, our belief and our experience. John's theology was correct. John knew the Old Testament scriptures that spoke of the coming works of the Messiah, including passages like Isaiah 61, in which it says the Messiah will set the captives free.
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  It is also possible that John, like many others in Israel at this time, expected the Messiah to bring political and national salvation and freedom to Israel. And so his theology told him who Jesus was, but his reality seemed to butt up against that theology. It seemed to contradict it. And so if Jesus really was the Messiah, why was John in prison? Like, I've read Isaiah 61. Why am I in prison?
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  The results of Jesus's ministry at that point were not what John expected. Now, was Jesus lying since he didn't set John free from prison? No, I think rather Jesus was carrying out the plan of God according to God's timing and according to God's wisdom. And for John at that point, his plan did not involve setting John free from prison. What Jesus did, however, was he encouraged John to trust in him rather than in his own.
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  This is why Jesus says in verse 23, Many in Jesus' day took offense at Jesus because they were not willing to lay aside their expectations of who the Messiah should be and trust in who he is. And Jesus is warning John the Baptist of that exact thing. John, don't give in to your expectations of who I should be, but rather trust in who I actually am.
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  And we can be incredibly encouraged by this interaction between Jesus and John because we, like John, encounter doubts. We can feel like there are cracks in the foundation of our faith when we experience a personal trial and we wonder why. Or when we pray and we don't hear an answer. Or when we look at the state of the world and we wonder, God, where are you? Or when God's plan just doesn't line up with our own. I think that sometimes in the church we can label doubt.
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  as an unforgivable or even a contagious sin. Where it's like, if you struggle with that, like don't say anything because then you look like a faithless person. And we can label it as unforgivable sometimes. Personally, I've been shocked at the number of people whose testimonies include walking away from the church because no one in the church would answer their questions or their doubts. It blows my mind.
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  Because I think that God has some answers and I think that the church can be a place that is safe for doubters. You know, for centuries we have judged the disciple Thomas for doubting. We have nicknamed him Doubting Thomas as if we were wholly immune to doubt. Yet, I think if we're honest, we find ourselves in good company when we're seated with Thomas. And so to those who doubt, I want to say that you are not alone. Some great people in church history have really wrestled with doubt, including...
• 12:03
  C.S. Lewis, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, and Mother Teresa. I was reading accounts of all of these people this last week who at some point in their ministry, they would encounter a trial or a doubt that brought them really, really low. John Calvin said this, surely while we teach that faith ought to be certain and assured, we cannot imagine any certainty that is not tinged with doubt.
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  or any assurance that is not assailed by some anxiety. Doubt is a much more common reality than we often recognize. Even the most prolific writers get writer's block, and even the boldest artists sometimes lack inspiration. We doubt, but all we have to decide is what to do with our doubt. It is wise, I think, as believers to voice our doubts, to...
• 13:01
  close believing friends, and then to search the scriptures for an answer because unvoiced doubts give the enemy a foothold in our lives. It was funny. I was here at the office on Friday and I was preparing this sermon and my wife, Jelica, came in and I wanted her to proofread it and give me feedback. And I was feeling really uncertain about this.
• 13:28
  And I kept telling her, I don't know how to word this. I don't know how to say this. And I was really doubting. And I didn't even see that. And she said, you know, I think you're writing the sermon on doubt. I think that you're doubting yourself and you're doubting that God's going to use this. And I had to admit, like, oh, yeah, this doubt is right in front of my eyes. And I couldn't even see it.
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  And so it's funny, she said, you know, Sam, I think it'd be wise for you to voice your doubts to a close believing friend and then search the scriptures for an answer because unvoiced doubts give the enemy a foothold in your life. And I'm just like, oh, you know, but she was totally right. So as we search the scriptures for an answer and seek to resolve our doubts, we must be warned. God will not always give us a simple, straightforward answer or the silver bullet to our doubts.
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  John the Baptist, he will often call us to examine his trustworthiness and lean not on our own understanding, right? It's interesting that Jesus never gave John a straightforward answer. He didn't say, are you the Messiah? And Jesus says, yes. Rather, he continued ministering and then told John's disciples, go tell John what you have seen. Examine the evidence and then make a decision for yourself.
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  And as we see from Jesus's response to John in this passage, God is incredibly patient with us as we work through our doubt. So first we see John's reality of doubt as he's sitting in prison and his experience and his theology seem to be contradictory. But then we see Jesus's response to John's reality. And it's beautiful. Look at verse 24. When John's messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John.
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  What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in king's courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written. Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John.
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  yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. I love this. Jesus doesn't reprimand John for questioning, but instead speaks highly of him. He calls John the greatest man who ever lived and the greatest prophet who was spoken of in Malachi 3, which is an interesting passage because it says this messenger is going to come and prepare the way for the Lord who is coming to his temple.
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  And so John, Jesus says, was more than a prophet because rather than just predicting the coming of a future Messiah, he prepared the way before the Messiah and saw him come. It's ironic, I think, that Jesus would praise John's steadfastness and stability immediately after addressing John's insecurity. But I think it shows how gracious Jesus is.
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  John doubted Jesus, but Jesus never doubted John. And it's here where we find the principle of this passage, which is God can handle our doubts. He knows our frame and he remembers that we are dust and our doubts don't create an impossible chasm between us and God. Christ knew John's heart and he would hold on to John tighter than John could ever hold on to him. And church, the same is true for us.
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  God faithfully holds onto us much tighter than we hold onto him. And when we are faithless, he remains faithful. Listen to these lyrics from a modern hymn called, He Will Hold Me Fast. When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast. When the tempter would prevail, he will hold me fast. I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path.
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  For my love is often cold, he must hold me fast. Those he saves are his delight, Christ will hold me fast. Precious in his holy sight, he will hold me fast. He'll not let my soul be lost, his promises shall last. Bought by him at such a cost, he will hold me fast. For my life he bled and died, Christ will hold me fast. Justice has been satisfied, he will hold me fast.
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  The great promise of Jesus to the doubting heart is that everything is going to be okay. In fact, God is using us more than he used John the Baptist.
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  John announced the kingdom, but we get to participate in and advance the kingdom, which is why, in verse 28, Jesus says, After Jesus spoke to the crowds this way about John, there was a mixed reaction. Verse 29 says,
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  But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. The people declared God just or right or vindicated because they recognized that God's will for them in the baptism of John, which was a baptism of repentance, and then through the authority of Jesus, that that way was right. It was good. However, the Pharisees...
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  rejected, he says, the purpose of God for themselves. Now, the purpose of God that they rejected here wasn't some sort of eternal decree of God, but rather, I think, the heart of God toward all people, including the Pharisees, which was that he wanted them to recognize the preaching and ministry of John the Baptist as from God and submit themselves and be baptized and repent and then to follow Jesus.
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  Because of their unwillingness to humble themselves and acknowledge their need to repent, they took offense at John and at Jesus. And so to describe that generation or these Pharisees, Jesus tells an analogy. Look at verse 31.
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  For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, he is a demon. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by all her children. Jesus calls out the Pharisees for their determination to be dissatisfied with any messenger or Messiah that did not fit their criteria. And this same exact thing is true of every generation.
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  There will always be people who stay entrenched in their own ideology, and no matter what you say, they will not be pleased. Right now in our country, we are seeing 2 Timothy 3.13 at work, and it says, Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
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  You guys, our responsibility as the people of God during this time in our country is to rise up and shine the wisdom of God into our communities. Our nation desperately needs the wisdom of God. It does not need hatred and it does not need social media rants by people who think that their opinion is more important than it actually is. We don't need that. That's not the wisdom of God. I think we need to have conversations.
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  humbly, biblically, prayerfully, and sincerely. And when we let the wisdom of God bear fruit in our lives, his wisdom is proven as good and right to those whose hearts are open to God. This is what Jesus means in verse 35. Wisdom is justified by all her children. It's that you could say that the path we're going to walk is wise.
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  But you have to look at the results of that in order to see if it actually is wise. So wisdom is proven by the deeds or the results. And when the church rises up and says, we're going to humbly display the wisdom of God and seek reconciliation between people, genuine, heartfelt reconciliation that has lasting effects, when we stand up, then the world will see that God's wisdom is right.
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  And God will save some, and some people will get worse. But that's the responsibility of the church. In this context, the crowds were proving the wisdom of God. Because God's way is salvation at this time, where you see John, and then he points you to Jesus, and you see that that's right. But the Pharisees had no idea what the wisdom of God was. And Jesus' response to John's doubt in these verses is hopeful, and it's reassuring for us.
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  We can have hope that even when we wrestle with doubts of various kinds, Jesus can handle our doubts and he can be trusted to lead us through the doubt into deeper faith in him. So we don't need to look for another besides Jesus. Do you doubt your faith? Know that God is within you and he will hold you fast. Do you have trouble seeing God at work in the world right now?
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  Keep your eyes open to see God's invisible hand at work. Look for what one pastor called evidences of grace. And remember that eternity is on the horizon. And are you afraid? Take the hand of Jesus and walk through the darkness. And I pray that we would be the kind of people who are honest with our doubts and our questions, who press into the faithfulness.
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  and trustworthiness of Jesus, and then who display the wisdom of God in the dark world that we're living in right now. Let's pray. God, it's amazing that you, in your sovereignty, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, would include this story about Jesus and John. What an encouragement to know that our doubts do not change the truth. And sometimes it seems like it does, but you remain steadfast.
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  You remain truthful and you're willing to take the time to lead us through our doubts and to grow our faith. You are not impatient with us. You are immeasurably kind toward us in Christ Jesus. And as we look at the state of the world right now, God, I pray, like Bob said earlier, that we would see churches rise up and be the true church and display the wisdom and love of Jesus.
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  I pray that you would bring unity and peace to those who are hurting. I pray that you would continue to give our nation wisdom as justice is dealt. But God, we want to see lasting, lasting change in people's hearts. We want to see them transformed by the gospel. And so help us to be honest about you and about our doubts that we can go and make a change in the world. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.