SPEAKER_00: Matthew 11, verses 7 through 15.
SPEAKER_00: As they went away, they being the disciples of John the Baptist, went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John.
SPEAKER_00: What did you go out in the wilderness to see?
SPEAKER_00: A reed shaken by the wind?
SPEAKER_00: What did you go out to see?
SPEAKER_00: A man dressed in soft clothing?
SPEAKER_00: Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses.
SPEAKER_00: What then did you go out to see?
SPEAKER_00: A prophet?
SPEAKER_00: And yes, I tell you, more than a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.
SPEAKER_00: Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there is arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: And yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
SPEAKER_00: From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
SPEAKER_00: For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
SPEAKER_00: If you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
SPEAKER_00: He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the most compelling scenes in Jesus' ministry to me.
SPEAKER_00: He's out in the plains, out in the hills around the Sea of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been to Israel, this is likely taking place around the Mount Arbel area.
SPEAKER_00: It's if the Sea of Galilee is like a clock.
SPEAKER_00: This is around the seven or eight o'clock area.
SPEAKER_00: This is where Jesus has done most of his ministry around Magdala and Capernaum is all around there.
SPEAKER_00: Corzin is up around the lake.
SPEAKER_00: He's done much of his ministry here.
SPEAKER_00: The crowds are following him.
SPEAKER_00: The Sermon on the Mount took place not far away from here.
SPEAKER_00: The Sermon on the Plains was in this area.
SPEAKER_00: The crowds used to be with John the Baptist along the Jordan River, much further to the south.
SPEAKER_00: That was a very desolate area, a day or two walk from Jerusalem, a day or two walk from Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus is in the heart of Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: And now that John the Baptist has been arrested, those thousands and thousands of people that are out there in the wilderness with John seem to have transferred over to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus grew greater, John grew lesser.
SPEAKER_00: That's the language back from John chapter 1 and John chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: His disciples became Jesus' disciples.
SPEAKER_00: And there's just a massive, massive crowd around Jesus now in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: At the Sermon on the Mount and at other places in Jesus' ministry, the feeding of the 5,000, for example, you get a kind of sense that it was thousands and thousands of people, and that's the scene here.
SPEAKER_00: You remember the disciples of John the Baptist came up to Jesus to ask, are you the Savior?
SPEAKER_00: Are you the Messiah?
SPEAKER_00: John is in prison over in Tiberias.
SPEAKER_00: Tiberias is a big city.
SPEAKER_00: It's right next to where this takes place.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus in the New Testament never goes into Tiberius.
SPEAKER_00: There's no mention of Tiberius, but it's where the king lived.
SPEAKER_00: It's the capital of this whole region, and it's where John is imprisoned.
SPEAKER_00: You could see it probably from this place.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the drawing on the screen this morning is a drawing that Stephen made from a picture that was taken right here.
SPEAKER_00: And you can see Tiberius through the rocks on the hill there, and that's about what this would have looked like.
SPEAKER_00: Thousands of people are around Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist disciples don't have to walk for days.
SPEAKER_00: They just walk for a morning over to Jesus and ask.
SPEAKER_00: John has questions.
SPEAKER_00: Are you the Savior?
SPEAKER_00: Are you really the Messiah?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, remember, responds by teaching and doing miracles for an hour, according to Luke chapter 7, and then sending the disciples away.
SPEAKER_00: Now you want the camera to follow the disciples of John the Baptist back to John.
SPEAKER_00: You want to know how John responds to the disciples' news that yes, Jesus says he's the Messiah, he healed a bunch of people, he taught, uh, preached for an hour, he's definitely the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: You kind of want to follow that scene.
SPEAKER_00: But the camera doesn't follow them, the camera stays with Jesus, leaving Jesus on the hillside with a thousand people, thousands of people.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus begins to address the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Now, his tone for the crowd, you have to remember, he sees their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: He knows these people.
SPEAKER_00: They have been around him for a while.
SPEAKER_00: They heard the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them will be back for the feeding of the 5,000.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus knows these people.
SPEAKER_00: Also, Jesus knows that when he is arrested, when he is crucified, these people are gone.
SPEAKER_00: On the Sunday of Pentecost, there is a hundred, a hundred and fifty people with Jesus, the followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The crowds have disappeared.
SPEAKER_00: These are some that followed Jesus and disappeared.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus turns his attention to them and he asks them some questions.
SPEAKER_00: He begins by asking them, What did you go into the wilderness to see?
SPEAKER_00: This is a reference to them making the long walk to see John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: It's likely their same motivation that has brought them there this very morning.
SPEAKER_00: What did you go to see?
SPEAKER_00: It's a very penetrating question.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus asks it in such a way, it is meant to be rhetorical, you don't get any indication that anybody answered the question.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus turns after his sermon and asks the crowd, what exactly were you looking for when you went to go see John?
SPEAKER_00: What did you want from him?
SPEAKER_00: What did you expect to see?
SPEAKER_00: What did you expect to hear?
SPEAKER_00: What brought you to the wilderness?
SPEAKER_00: And they don't say anything.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus starts to provide some potential answers.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's right to read these as somewhat sarcastic suggestions here.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I know.
SPEAKER_00: Did you go into the wilderness to see a reed shaken by the wind?
SPEAKER_00: Like one of those cattails, you know I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: We have the in Virginia on the off-ramps, like the Braddock Road off-ramp.
SPEAKER_00: They're growing in the Lamarh right there.
SPEAKER_00: You don't pull your car over to look at them.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, honey, look.
SPEAKER_00: It's a reed.
SPEAKER_00: Shaking in the wind.
SPEAKER_00: The geese are sitting around there, a lovely scene.
SPEAKER_00: Picturesque.
SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't pack a lunch and walk for a day to the wilderness next to John to look at the cattails swaying along the banks of the Jordan River.
SPEAKER_00: It's a ridiculous suggestion.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus asks it.
SPEAKER_00: What'd you go out there to see?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe a reed shaken by the wind?
SPEAKER_00: No?
SPEAKER_00: Nobody?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I know.
SPEAKER_00: You went out to see a man in fine clothing, and the ESV goes, soft clothing.
SPEAKER_00: Ah.
SPEAKER_00: A nice tuxedo.
SPEAKER_00: That's what you went out to see is John's fashion show.
SPEAKER_00: Oh man, the guy is dressed to the nines, isn't he?
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
SPEAKER_00: John was wearing a camel hair cloak.
SPEAKER_00: And camel hair is not the color like, you know, the old school 1970s New York jackets kind of camel hair.
SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
SPEAKER_00: Actual camel hair.
SPEAKER_00: Probably smells like the camel.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody would look at it and go, oh, that's that's a trendsetter right there.
SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't go on a walk to go see John in his camel hair jacket.
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
SPEAKER_00: You didn't go out there for fashion, and Jesus says, I'm telling you, if you want to see fine clothes, you go to Tiberius, you go to the king's palace, and he's probably even pointing at it.
SPEAKER_00: He'd go right there.
SPEAKER_00: You picture people probably nodding in affirmation.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus repeats his question now again.
SPEAKER_00: So what did you go out to see?
SPEAKER_00: And it seems like finally somebody says something.
SPEAKER_00: A prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, a prophet?
SPEAKER_00: Is that what you said?
SPEAKER_00: You went to see a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's the right answer, Jesus says in verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: And I tell you, even more than a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus begins to rebuke the crowd.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's three groups here.
SPEAKER_00: We looked at one last week.
SPEAKER_00: The faithful disciple, John the Baptist, who is doubting.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees, we'll look at them next week.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are entrenched in unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: In the middle is the masses.
SPEAKER_00: They're not the religious leaders, they're not the doubting disciples.
SPEAKER_00: They're the masses.
SPEAKER_00: They're here for the show.
SPEAKER_00: That's whom Jesus speaks to.
SPEAKER_00: These are people who are wondering about their relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Is Jesus theirs?
SPEAKER_00: Last week our message was a blessed assurance.
SPEAKER_00: We talked about the nature of saving faith and the confidence that comes with assurance even through times of doubt, like John.
SPEAKER_00: Now this week we look at Jesus' mind.
SPEAKER_00: Question mark?
SPEAKER_00: Are these people in a right relationship with Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus addresses them through a series of teachings on himself.
SPEAKER_00: The first of those is that greatness is defined by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: This is where Jesus begins.
SPEAKER_00: Greatness is defined by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, first of all, identifies John in verse 10 as the one prophesied to come before him.
SPEAKER_00: This is not new information for us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said this in the wilderness back in Matthew 3 at the baptism.
SPEAKER_00: John has been identified as the one to prepare the way for the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: We know this.
SPEAKER_00: But here it's repeated.
SPEAKER_00: Then Jesus says in verse 11, truly I say to you, among those born of women, there's arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist is the greatest human being to ever live.
SPEAKER_00: Born of a woman.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to insist on Adam and Eve in their own category, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: From Abel forward, John's the greatest.
SPEAKER_00: What makes Abel so great?
SPEAKER_00: He comes from Adam.
SPEAKER_00: He knew God.
SPEAKER_00: His parents walked with God.
SPEAKER_00: What makes John greater than Abel?
SPEAKER_00: That's what you're supposed to wrestle through here.
SPEAKER_00: Why is John the Baptist the greatest person who ever lived?
SPEAKER_00: And it's all about his relationship to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And we understand this.
SPEAKER_00: And then I got up and I said, I want you to know Bill Price, who introduced me this morning, is the greatest human being who has ever lived because he introduced me.
SPEAKER_00: You get that that's a statement about me more than it is about Bill.
SPEAKER_00: It's a very arrogant thing to say.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that person is so great because he got to hold the door open for me.
SPEAKER_00: But that's Jesus' language here.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist is the greatest human being who's ever lived because he held the door open for me.
SPEAKER_00: He led to me.
SPEAKER_00: So that is a statement about the superiority of Jesus over every human being more than it is about John.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter how great the opening act is, it's still the opening act.
SPEAKER_00: When I was in college, there was a tour with Guns N' Roses and Metallica.
SPEAKER_00: I went to know fewer than four of those concerts.
SPEAKER_00: And there was maybe ginned up in the press, whatever, but an ongoing debate behind the scenes about which one was going to open for the other.
SPEAKER_00: Metallica is the greatest rock group in the history of the world, and yet they were the opening act.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if you think of yourself as the greatest act in the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: If you're the opening act, you're the second greatest act in the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist is the greatest person ever.
SPEAKER_00: Because he's the opening act for Jesus, which makes John the second greatest person ever.
SPEAKER_00: After Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Greatness is defined by how well you know Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Greatness is defined by how close you are to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And John was greater than every prophet because he had proximity to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The other prophets were 400 years earlier.
SPEAKER_00: But not John.
SPEAKER_00: Not John.
SPEAKER_00: So first, greatness is defined by your relationship to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Second, repentance is required by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Repentance is required by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: John is the one who came to prepare the way for the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: This is what is meant in verse 14, that he is the Elijah who is to come.
SPEAKER_00: And it's what's meant in verse 10 by the quotation of Malachi chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I send my messenger before your face.
SPEAKER_00: He will prepare the way before you.
SPEAKER_00: The point of the prophecies about John the Baptist and Elijah was that before the Savior comes, God's going to send someone to prepare the ground for the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: So after Israel is sent into exile, around 470 BC, 470 years before Jesus, Israel loses the land, sent to exile.
SPEAKER_00: Basically, they then return around 400 BC.
SPEAKER_00: There's a few more prophets.
SPEAKER_00: There's Haggai and Zechariah.
SPEAKER_00: And then there's just silence.
SPEAKER_00: 400 years.
SPEAKER_00: No more prophets.
SPEAKER_00: And then John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: Malachi says, before the Savior comes, Elijah will come to prepare the way for him.
SPEAKER_00: There will be a prophet who tills the soil for the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a reincarnation of Elijah, but it's a prophet who is a forerunner for the greater prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah prepared the way for Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: A second prophet is going to come and prepare the way for the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Prepare is just a fancy word, it's an agricultural word to till the ground, to make the soil ready.
SPEAKER_00: It's fall in Northern Virginia.
SPEAKER_00: It's time to seed your grass.
SPEAKER_00: How do you prepare your grass for seeding?
SPEAKER_00: Will you mow it shorter because you're going to have to go wild without mowing it?
SPEAKER_00: You make sure it's watered.
SPEAKER_00: You treat it for weeds before you seed it so you're not blasting the seed with poison afterwards.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you prepare the ground.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't do those things, the seed might not work.
SPEAKER_00: It's time to plant a tree.
SPEAKER_00: You don't just buy the tree and drop it, you know, and it's with his root ball in its burlap sack in the middle of your yard and hope for the best.
SPEAKER_00: No, you prepare the ground.
SPEAKER_00: You dig a hole, maybe twice as big as the root ball.
SPEAKER_00: You get the rocks out of the hole.
SPEAKER_00: You make sure there's drainage in the hole.
SPEAKER_00: You put fertilizer in it.
SPEAKER_00: You dig a little trench around it.
SPEAKER_00: You do some work.
SPEAKER_00: Then you plant the tree.
SPEAKER_00: The Savior comes.
SPEAKER_00: There's spade work that has to happen in the human heart in order to receive Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That spade work is repentance.
SPEAKER_00: You don't just ask Jesus into your heart and hope for the best in life any more than you'd plop a tree in the middle of your front yard.
SPEAKER_00: No, you come to the Lord through repentant faith.
SPEAKER_00: Your heart is humbled and is broken, and you're moving rocks out of your ground.
SPEAKER_00: You're doing spade work through repentance.
SPEAKER_00: So John comes first, telling people to repent, for the wrath of God is at hand, the kingdom of God is at hand.
SPEAKER_00: Turn from your sin.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus comes not with the baptism of water, which is that of repentance, but with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is that of regeneration, and fire, which is purification and sanctification.
SPEAKER_00: There's a little trajectory here: repentance, conversion, sanctification.
SPEAKER_00: Now we understand that you can't be moralistic.
SPEAKER_00: You can't try to make your life right in order to get ready to receive Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But you do have to be convicted by your sin.
SPEAKER_00: You have to be broken by your sin, and more in that later this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But first, repentance is required by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Third, prophets point you to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Prophets point you to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says it this way in verse 13: the prophets, all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
SPEAKER_00: All the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
SPEAKER_00: It's an unusual turn of phrase.
SPEAKER_00: The law prophesied.
SPEAKER_00: In Greek, the word prophecy, it's even emphatic here.
SPEAKER_00: It could be implied by the concept of prophets, like prophets are doing work until John.
SPEAKER_00: But then Jesus puts in the word law.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets are obviously doing work.
SPEAKER_00: The law was doing work, and the work the law was doing was prophesying.
SPEAKER_00: In the Jewish mind, you had three categories of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: The Old Testament breaks into three categories: the law, the prophets, and the writings.
SPEAKER_00: The law being the Torah, the prophets being the major prophets, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and the minor prophets, the twelve.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says the law is doing work prophesying the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets are doing work prophesying the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: At the baptism of Jesus, we saw how the law was fulfilled by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He said it was appropriate for him to be baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was fulfilling the law from the inside out.
SPEAKER_00: He kept the law.
SPEAKER_00: And remember the illustration I used was the Edsel unramp when they closed that unramp and replaced it with a new one.
SPEAKER_00: The people put a big tire there with flowers in it, ceiling at that unramp is closed forever.
SPEAKER_00: You can no longer access the freeway there because that big flower pot is in the way.
SPEAKER_00: The law was closed by Jesus at his baptism with John.
SPEAKER_00: You can no longer access God through obedience to the Torah.
SPEAKER_00: That highway is closed by the obedience of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So the law has been fulfilled by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now Jesus uses that same terminology to apply to the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets recall had pointed in two directions.
SPEAKER_00: Every prophet points backwards to the law and forward to the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: So the law tells you the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_00: The law says, do this and live.
SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_00: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_00: Do that and you'll live.
SPEAKER_00: That's the law.
SPEAKER_00: And you recognize I can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: I do break the law all the time.
SPEAKER_00: So the law breaks you.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets come along and say, hey, remember the law, do that.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, I can't.
SPEAKER_00: And the prophets point the other way and say, the Savior's coming to take care of that problem.
SPEAKER_00: That's the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus says, the prophets have finished their work because John introduced me.
SPEAKER_00: You can't overstate how radical this is that Jesus is taking the Jewish law and the Jewish prophets and saying they are both closed now.
SPEAKER_00: They are both fulfilled because I'm here.
SPEAKER_00: That's why he says prophets prophesied until John.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Implication, no more prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Implication, Joseph Smith, not a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: They knock on your door and say, you know, there's the newest prophet.
SPEAKER_00: There's a prophet in the Mormon church right now.
SPEAKER_00: And you should respond in your own minds with this verse.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets prophesied until John.
SPEAKER_00: It's closed, my friends.
SPEAKER_00: John was there and said, introducing Jesus Christ, and John is in prison.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Matthew doesn't follow the can the cameras don't follow the disciples of John the Baptist, so to speak, back to see what happens to John.
SPEAKER_00: The story's not about John anymore.
SPEAKER_00: John's run his race.
SPEAKER_00: John has done his work.
SPEAKER_00: It's so interesting, even when the gospels describe the martyrdom of John.
SPEAKER_00: It's done retrospectively.
SPEAKER_00: It's not even, you know, you're not even up to speed with the story.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the story has moved on.
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, by the way, John was killed.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that?
SPEAKER_00: He's not the star of the show.
SPEAKER_00: The prophets prophesied until John.
SPEAKER_00: What was true of John is true of all the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: They introduced you to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, this pattern is repeated in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Moses introduces you to Joshua, who is greater than Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua led them into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: Moses couldn't.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah introduces you to Elisha.
SPEAKER_00: Elisha did twice as many miracles as Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: And then John introduces you to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to get all Bible codish on you, but I will for just a little second.
SPEAKER_00: The names Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus are basically the same name.
SPEAKER_00: With, you know, 400 years in between them.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same name.
SPEAKER_00: There's a pattern in the Bible of the lesser introducing the greater and the greater being named the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Moses introduces Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Elijah introduces Elisha, and now John, who's even taken on the mantle of Elijah, camel hair and everything, introduces somebody greater than himself.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus will be with both of them, won't he?
SPEAKER_00: In the resurrection, even in the Mount of Transfiguration.
SPEAKER_00: There is Jesus with Moses and Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: The law and the Prophets in their transfigured glory, they point to Jesus and they move off the scene.
SPEAKER_00: So greatness is defined by Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Repentance is required by Jesus, and the prophets point you to Jesus, but Christians have Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Not pointed to him, they possess him in that sense.
SPEAKER_00: Christians are those who have laid hold of the kingdom of God, who are in possession of the promises of Jesus Christ, who are adopted into Jesus Christ, who have a relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The Spirit of God dwells in our heart, the Spirit of Christ dwells in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We have Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 5.1, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 2.1, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 1 3, we have fellowship with one another, and our fellowship is with the Father because we have fellowship with the Son, Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 4, 14.
SPEAKER_00: Since then we have a great high priest who passed through the heavens, namely Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We have a high priest because we have Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We have peace because we have Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We have fellowship because we have Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We have an advocate because we have Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And this is reciprocal.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has us.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 5.24.
SPEAKER_00: We belong to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so John the Baptist is the greatest person in the world because he points you to Jesus, but Christians possess Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And that is why Jesus can say the second part of verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: The most immature baby Christian got saved five seconds ago, couldn't find the New Testament in his Bible if his life depended on it.
SPEAKER_00: That brand new baby believer has more knowledge of God, more knowledge of Jesus Christ than John the Baptist did.
SPEAKER_00: Because John the Baptist is pointing forward, whereas that person possesses the reality.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist can't see out of his prison cell.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know the miracles Jesus is doing.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's going to report them to him.
SPEAKER_00: We, through our faith in Christ, know the crucified and resurrected Savior.
SPEAKER_00: He died on the cross, he rose from the grave.
SPEAKER_00: So the least in the kingdom of God knows more about Christ than John did because John was anticipatory and we have the reality.
SPEAKER_00: John was about the shadows, we have the real thing.
SPEAKER_00: And so again, the most baby Christian, the most the Iwanicid with the vest and the one star knows more about Jesus Christ than John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: The least in the church is greater than the greatest Old Testament prophet.
SPEAKER_00: That's the joy of what it means to be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't happen accidentally.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14, if you're willing to accept it, he is Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist prepared the way for the Savior if you are willing to accept it.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see the dig back at the crowd?
SPEAKER_00: The crowd is stuck on, is John technically Elijah?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Are you willing to accept this?
SPEAKER_00: Are you willing to humble yourself and repent from your sins and lay hold of Jesus Christ and not let anything pry your fingers off of him?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12, from the days of John the Baptist until now.
SPEAKER_00: What a strange phrase that is.
SPEAKER_00: John is still alive when Jesus says this.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the days in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: Thousands, tens of thousands of people until this moment.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, this truth applies even right now.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force.
SPEAKER_00: This is a very hard verse to translate because the concept of violence and taking can have a positive or negative connotation.
SPEAKER_00: Normally, violence in English is negative connotation.
SPEAKER_00: The NIV even says here, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
SPEAKER_00: You would never use suffers violence in a positive way, right?
SPEAKER_00: How was your day?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was good.
SPEAKER_00: I suffered much violence.
SPEAKER_00: But you could translate the same Greek phrase like it's growing aggressively.
SPEAKER_00: Which, if that's cancer, it's bad, but if it's the kingdom of God, that's good.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is advancing forcefully and aggressively.
SPEAKER_00: And it is only the forceful that lay hold of it.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are strong lay hold of it.
SPEAKER_00: Those who have convictions lay hold of it.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is saying here.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of heaven, it is growing.
SPEAKER_00: Lock John in jail all you want.
SPEAKER_00: Cain can murder Abel.
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to slow the kingdom down.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah can be sawed in two.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what?
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't slow the kingdom down.
SPEAKER_00: John the Baptist can have his head chopped off tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to stop Jesus from going to the cross and being resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God is going to keep growing.
SPEAKER_00: But it has to be grabbed.
SPEAKER_00: The violent take it by force, or those with convictions lay hold of it.
SPEAKER_00: There is a need of striving and violence in order to enter the straight gate.
SPEAKER_00: The road to eternal life is narrow.
SPEAKER_00: The gate is narrow, and there are very few who find it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says that in Matthew chapter 7, a few chapters earlier.
SPEAKER_00: Not all who run the race win the prize.
SPEAKER_00: There are lots of bodies strown along the side of this marathon.
SPEAKER_00: There are lots of people in the crowd in front of Jesus who are going to disappear when the persecution comes.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 13, verse 17, many prophets, many righteous people long to see what you see, Jesus says, and didn't see it.
SPEAKER_00: They long to hear what you hear and they didn't hear it.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, those that have land for themselves in heaven, those who are going to heaven when they die, that possess a land there, they have that land not because they inherited it from their parents.
SPEAKER_00: They have that land not because they bought it with their money.
SPEAKER_00: They have that land not just because they developed good habits in this life.
SPEAKER_00: They have that land in heaven because they aggressively sought it.
SPEAKER_00: They eagerly desired it.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted it.
SPEAKER_00: They more than anything else in this life, and they lay hold of it and they'll never let go of it.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, heaven can't be bought by good works, it can't be bought by money, but it can be bought by faith.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been a Christian for long, you might have to work hard to remember this.
SPEAKER_00: But do you remember what it was like when you were convicted of your sin, but before you knew Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Your conscience vexed you, your conscience convicted you that you were a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: You couldn't stop yourself from sinning, and you became aware that it was wrong and that you deserve judgment.
SPEAKER_00: You became afraid of what was going to happen to you when you died.
SPEAKER_00: You'd lay up awake at night, scared about death, and wondering what was going to happen to you and what's eternity like, and not understanding it and it just crippling your soul.
SPEAKER_00: And then when you are awake during the day, you want to go to sleep because your conscience is condemning you.
SPEAKER_00: That's a normal situation in the world.
SPEAKER_00: But what do most people in the world do with that?
SPEAKER_00: Well, they don't think about it.
SPEAKER_00: They fail their life with entertainment and sports and success or drugs and alcohol or family or whatever.
SPEAKER_00: They start to pursue a hundred other things to go after, you know, not thinking about that.
SPEAKER_00: Not so this person, not so the violent.
SPEAKER_00: The violent person says, that's my that's my biggest burden.
SPEAKER_00: I will push through anything to lay hold of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: What must I do to be saved?
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of person that will that will find salvation, the kind of person that that first of all believes that God exists, and second, that God will reward them for diligently seeking him.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have that kind of faith, you do not have any saving faith at all.
SPEAKER_00: There is no other kind of saving faith beyond the kind of saving faith that says, I one believe that God exists, and two, that he is worth more than everything else in the world.
SPEAKER_00: He will reward me.
SPEAKER_00: I've found the field of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the field.
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of this field is my title deed to heaven, it is the gospel, it is the kingdom of heaven, and I will sell everything I have in this life to get the field, and I will do so with joy.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of person that has land in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of person that's going to heaven when they die.
SPEAKER_00: Not the kind of person that just is going through the routine of just the rituals of I have friends at church, and my life is kind of built around church.
SPEAKER_00: And I, you know, I sing and I like the Bible and I talk to people, and they're just, there's no desperation in that person.
SPEAKER_00: They're just stuck.
SPEAKER_00: They've gone to church for years and they're just going through the rituals, and they're stuck.
SPEAKER_00: There is no desperation.
SPEAKER_00: There is no, I will sell my life, I will lose everything.
SPEAKER_00: As long as I'm holding on to Jesus, it is worth it.
SPEAKER_00: That person's fear of damnation becomes the biggest burden in their heart until they find the joy that comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And then they say, I can lose everything, it doesn't matter because I have Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: If I obtain heaven and nothing else, I call it a win.
SPEAKER_00: If I lose everything but get the field, it's all good.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of person, there's no changing his mind.
SPEAKER_00: There's no talking him out of it.
SPEAKER_00: This kind of person at 16 is consumed by going to heaven and loving Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Who cares about their sports team?
SPEAKER_00: Who cares about their grades?
SPEAKER_00: At 18, they're not concerned where they're going to college.
SPEAKER_00: They're concerned about knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: At 25, they're less concerned about who they're going to marry than they are about holding on to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And follow that all the way through their whole life.
SPEAKER_00: The elderly person is so consumed by holding on to Christ above everything else, it doesn't matter their legacy.
SPEAKER_00: They just want Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They want the joy of Christ to be found in him.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever I lose, whatever I gain, doesn't matter compared to the joy of knowing Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus says in the middle of this.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of heaven is advancing aggressively in the world, and only the person that lays hold of it above everything else will have it.
SPEAKER_00: Who counts everything else as loss.
SPEAKER_00: Not the kind of person who just goes through the motions.
SPEAKER_00: Who's happy at church because their friends are at church?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, so ask yourself this question.
SPEAKER_00: What did you come to church for today?
SPEAKER_00: Your alarm went off and you came here?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: What did you come to church to see?
SPEAKER_00: Did you come for the donut holes in the shuttle?
SPEAKER_00: I tell you, there's better donut holes at Dunkin' Donuts than on the shuttle.
SPEAKER_00: Did you come for to see a person in fine clothing?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's people way better dressed than me.
SPEAKER_00: In DC, go there.
SPEAKER_00: Did you come for the goldfish?
SPEAKER_00: I had a child tell me that recently.
SPEAKER_00: Why'd you want to go to church for the goldfish?
SPEAKER_00: There's better snacks at Costco.
SPEAKER_00: Go write the free samples.
SPEAKER_00: Did you come to church because your friends are here?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'll grant to you that Christians make good friends, but come to church for the friends is like the groom showing up at the wedding for the wedding dress.
SPEAKER_00: Not for the bride.
SPEAKER_00: What did you come to church for?
SPEAKER_00: For the politics of the place?
SPEAKER_00: I tell you, there's better politicians at K Street.
SPEAKER_00: There's better politicians on Capitol Hill.
SPEAKER_00: There's better politicians at churches in Leesburg if you want.
SPEAKER_00: Politics, you can find it somewhere else.
SPEAKER_00: Better than you'll get it here, I'll tell you that.
SPEAKER_00: What did you come to church for?
SPEAKER_00: To lay hold of Christ and nothing else.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that's why you came here.
SPEAKER_00: God, we know that the way to eternal life is narrow, and we are thankful that you have opened our eyes to see the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Help us walk the narrow road to lay hold of the glorious prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We want to hold on to Christ more than anything else.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for the privilege of knowing Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's in his name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now, for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: location, go to TMS.edu.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.