Skip to content Matthew 11:1-19 - Faith in the Face of Doubt | Kingdom Come Bible Study Part 20 Sep 4 · 47 min ...more
Matthew 11:1-19 - Faith in the Face of Doubt | Kingdom Come Bible Study Part 20
September 4, 2025 · 47 min
Discover how Jesus addresses John the Baptist’s doubts and teaches on faith, repentance, and the kingdom of heaven. A study on trusting God even when questions arise.
Series Matthew: Kingdom Come September 4, 2025 · 47 min · Matthew: Kingdom Come
Discover how Jesus addresses John the Baptist’s doubts and teaches on faith, repentance, and the kingdom of heaven. A study on trusting God even when questions arise. ...more Show the full description Show less Discover how Jesus addresses John the Baptist’s doubts and teaches on faith, repentance, and the kingdom of heaven. A study on trusting God even when questions arise.
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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Doubt and Faith: Lessons from John the Baptist 0:00 Doubt is a part of any faith, and doubt can arise even in the most steadfast of hearts. Matthew 11 actually introduces us to doubt from an unlikely place, John the Baptist.0:12 But if we examine this text and how Jesus handles his doubt, perhaps we can embrace principles that disable our doubts. You don't have to let doubt become disabling. Welcome to Kingdom Come0:24 episode 20. Hey, everybody. Welcome into episode 20 of Kingdom Come, and my name is Tim. This is Tim Hatch live on0:36 YouTube, and we are going through the gospel of Matthew with our journals in hand. Hope hopefully, you have the journal. If you don't currently have the journal, well, don't let that stop you. Check it out0:48 at ask at tim hatch live dot com. We can get it out to you probably quicker, but you can also go to tim hatch live dot com slash journal. And that is just to help you engage with this0:59 content. Hello to the pray dot com audience. So glad for all of you. I ask and pray that your, time in this content is helpful and beneficial to your1:11 faith. Also, to our YouTube audience, would appreciate a subscribe or at least a like on the video should this content help you grow in Christ1:23 Jesus. Well, if you guys take out that Kingdom Come journal again, you will notice that we are actually turning the page in Matthew's gospel to what we have termed or titled part 4 of the,1:35 movements of Matthew's gospel, and this introduces us to the idea of the mystery of the kingdom. That is, there is a mysterious nature to the mission of1:47 Jesus. Mystery is a key term actually in the New Testament. There are several mysteries of the New Testament, if you will. Mystery of faith, the mystery of the kingdom, the mystery of the gentiles being1:59 grafted in with Israel to become 1 new people of God. There's several mysteries. There's also the mysteries of Revelation, several mysteries actually in that book alone. By the way, on the2:11 YouTube channel, I have a, revelation study that I did many years ago, the 4 views of Revelation. Check that out at youtube dot com slash tim hutch life. But, anyway, this portion of Matthew's gospel, we2:23 are dealing with Matthew 11 through 16, and we will be studying these texts that underlie the reality that the kingdom has a sense of mystery to it. Now when we talk about mystery in the Bible, we are not talking about2:34 some unexplainable pair you know, riddle that we have to discover. No. It it return the idea of mystery refers to God's hidden plan that has now been revealed in Christ Jesus. This is all over the2:46 book of Ephesians, all over the book of Colossians, and here, though not explicitly stated, is the big theme of Matthew 11 to 16. The Jewish people were looking for a, political savior. They were2:58 looking for a king. They were looking for the true son of David to arise, defeat their enemies, and liberate Israel from the constraints and the bondages of the Roman Empire. Well, God's work was not about that. Christ3:09 did not come to be a liberating political leader. He came to liberate the soul from sin and not the nation from subjection to Rome. This was mystery mysterious. This was unexpected,3:21 if you will, but it was revealed, okay, through Christ. The big idea is that the kingdom had come, but not in the way that the people imagined it to come. So3:33 how does this apply to you? Well, it applies to you very simply like this. In what ways do we put expectations on God, on Christ, on the Christian life that are not aligned with his purpose and his plan3:45 as revealed in Christ Jesus. Now any number of false teachers are are really peddling a false expectation of3:57 Christ, AKA prosperity gospel preachers are basically using the message of Christ to make money or to tease the greed within you. That is4:09 that if you do the following things, God will make you rich because God's plan for you is riches. Well, that's not actually true. Sometimes God's, riches are there, and they come to many, many people. But sometimes4:19 people who are truly a faith also struggle financially or go through seasons of poverty or maybe even lifelong poverty. And James says that God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith. Right? So that's 1 example of where4:30 we put these false expectations on God, on Christ, on the movement of the Christian life, and they don't align with God's purpose in Christ Jesus. So when we talk about the mystery of the kingdom, that's what we're4:41 talking about. Let us not fail to see Jesus for who he is. When we do, that leads us to the first section under part 4, which we have titled doubt in the4:53 face of faith. And that, again, is in your kingdom come journal. Take it out, and you will see exactly what I mean. So this is Matthew 11 to 16, a new part, a new segment of the gospel. Let's get started because5:05 here's the fact that we are met with right on the first couple of verses. Okay? Right in the first pericope of Matthew 11. Doubt can arise in the most experienced5:17 of saints. John the Baptist, believe it or not, is case in point in that regard. Matthew 11, Bible's out. Let's take a look at the text. Verse 1. When Jesus had finished5:29 instructing his 12 disciples now remember that was the commissioning sermon of Matthew 10 because he saw the needs of the sheep without a shepherd, people harassed and help us, sends them out, heal the sick, cast5:41 out demons, cleanse the lepers, preach the gospel, Do this, wherever you can find a receptive audience. Okay. That's the message that has been finished. Verse 1. So he went5:53 on from there to teach and preach in their cities. He joins the mission. He sends out the 12 and he also does it himself. But verse 2. Here we go. Now when John heard in prison about the deeds6:05 of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him this is the question that John the Baptist poses to Christ. Are you the 1 who is to come, or6:17 shall we look for another? Now of all the people that you would expect to doubt Jesus' ministry, how many know John the Baptist would have been on the bottom of the list? But here we are, the mighty preacher of the6:28 wilderness, the radical evangelist and prophet, the the the true forerunner of the Lord Jesus who said, I saw the spirit descend on him as a dove. This is the 1 whose tongs I am6:39 unworthy to untie. This is the 1 who will baptize me with fire, with the Holy Spirit. This is the 1 who is greater than I. He should be baptizing me. Remember? Remember all that? I mean, you can't get much more6:50 confidence that Jesus is who he is than John the Baptist. And now this great man is wondering, Jesus, are you the 1 are you the 1 who is to come, or should we hold7:02 out for somebody else? It is just unimaginable to me, right, that that this great man could struggle with what he's seeing in Jesus. But here's a couple of good points about doubt that7:14 might encourage some of the doubters out there. And I'm 1 of them and you're 1 of them. No matter who you are, there are going to be doubts in the Christian life. Number 1, everyone doubts. Number 2, expressing your7:23 doubts is not sinful. Jesus does not rebuke John, as we're gonna see in this passage. Number 3, your doubts can actually lead you to greater trust in God as I believe it does here for John the Baptist. The question, of7:35 course, is why does John doubt? And I think that we can un unpack or tease out some reasons why we doubt. So there's a couple of hints right here in the text. Number 1,7:47 that John was in prison, and he's only hearing about the deeds of Christ. And he's disconnected, isn't he? He's disconnected from Jesus in this whole in this whole event, in this whole movement. So let's revisit the7:58 ministry of John the Baptist just so that we remember. This is the guy who said, you know, produce fruit in keeping with repentance. He challenged the Pharisees. He challenged the Sadducees. The the religious leaders who8:09 were so confident in their religious, you know, law keeping that he said, you you're you're not actually doing what god wants. And don't presume that you're children of Abraham, and god can raise up from the stones the8:20 children of Abraham. And then this line, verse 10, the ax is laid at the with the trees. Every tree that doesn't bear fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you see that John's ministry is a ministry of real8:31 prophetic utterance. The he is right in line with the Isaiahs and the Hoseas and the Amuses and the Malachis of the Old Testament, the Elijah Elisha motif. These guys who8:43 are hard hitting, no nonsense, powerful prophets of God calling people to repent. Don't assume you're safe. The ax is coming. The fire's on the way. Repent. And then he even says, the 18:55 that comes after me, what's he gonna do? He's gonna baptize you. The word baptize means to immerse you in the Holy Spirit and and fire. In other words, John's ministry had a sense of divine retribution9:07 upon sinners to it. God's going to cut down the prideful. God's going to bring a purifying fire on the nation. And John's message is absolutely commensurate with the Old Testament prophets. They often describe the9:18 nation's spiritual condition and proclaim that there was a judgment coming. John was just like them. Here's why John is doubting, because Jesus comes along. What is he doing? He's healing people. He's setting them free.9:29 He's cleansing lepers. He's opening blind eyes. He's healing centurion servants, centurion servants. He's helping Jairus, the temple the synagogue leader's daughter from dying, raising9:41 her from the dead. He's touching the untouchables. He's showing mercy, compassion, and kindness. He's feeding the thousands. He's called these tax collectors in to be part of the movement,9:53 and Simon the Zealots, and Peter, and John, and these fishermen, these average ordinary. And John has some questions. He he he's he's wondering, how come, Jesus, you're doing these things10:05 that that don't don't align with what I was talking about? You know? Where's your ax? Pick up your ax and get chopping. You know? Get that get that match and start lighting some fires. See, for John, judgment on the10:16 nation was overdue. For John, the ax must fall, And Jesus comes as a compassionate, merciful servant of God, bringing hope, bringing mercy to those who were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Here's10:27 what John did, and it's something that we all do. Are you ready? He superimposed on Jesus his own ambitions. There are so many Christians that do that. We superimpose on god our own imagination of what god should do and10:38 what god should be. Have you ever done that? I've done that. In fact, I would suggest to you that this is the greatest impediment impediment? Yes. Impediment to growing faith. That god does not meet your10:50 expectations, and therefore, you are cast into a sea of doubt. And if you let those doubts start taking up ownership of your heart, you will prove yourself to have never actually been in the faith because you11:02 believed in an imaginary Jesus, not the actual Jesus, believed in a fabricated god, not the actual god, a god of your own making, if you will. Now I said in the beginning, and I mean this, there is nothing wrong11:14 with expressing doubts. In fact, if you have doubts, best to express them to people who can help you, let them just harbor them within your heart and pretend like everything's fine because everything's not fine. Now what11:25 I love about John, and let's give him credit for this, he goes to the source with his doubts. He goes to Jesus. And what you love about Jesus is the response. The response is so wonderful because Jesus is merciful and11:36 kind even without ours, and that's good news for everybody here. Verse 4 says, and Jesus answered them, go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight. The lame walk. Lepers are cleansed. The deaf11:46 hear. The dead are raised. The poor have the good news preached to them. Oh, by the way, before we go any further, can we just look at this look at the answers, the needs and the answers. Blind get sight. Lepers get11:57 cleansing. Deaf hear. Dead come alive again. But the poor don't have money given to them. Do you ever think about this? Anybody who tells you that Jesus is a socialist socialist, think think again. The12:09 poor get the good news preached to them. Poor don't get money because money can become just another snare in their life. No. The poor get the good news preached to them. The good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ empowers12:18 people to take ownership of their life, to take responsibility for their situation. And then through the power of the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, the wisdom of God coming into their life, they can become12:27 productive members of society and provide for the needs of their own family. Anyway, back to the original point of this teaching is how do we handle doubts? We go to Jesus. And that's what I love about John. He goes to12:38 Jesus directly. And in Jesus, this is what you see. The answer that Jesus provides, John, what does he do? Now you don't see it unless you have your paper Bible out or study12:50 Bible out. You will see little letters next to verses here in verse 5. You'll see little letters that refer to Old Testament passages. And what Jesus does is what he always does. He goes back to the Old13:02 Testament. He goes back to the scriptures, the Jewish scriptures, and the prophecies about Messiah. And he basically says, John, I am fulfilling scripture. Now this is all gonna lead to 1 teaching point, but I gotta13:14 unpack it for you for a second. The first text that we could go to is in Isaiah 35 verse 4 to 6. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. Now13:23 that's what John the bat John the Baptist wanted. Yes. Vengeance, recompense. He will come and save you. Woah. Woah. Wait. What? It's like it's almost like this as if it just turns on a hinge there. And then verse 5, the13:32 eyes of the blind shall be opened. The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped, the lame will leap like a deer, the tongue of the mute was saying, the waters will break forth in wilderness streams in the desert. So so the13:40 judgment of God how do we reconcile this text? The judgment of God, the vengeance of God is coming, but also the merciful works of God's grace shall13:52 appear. They both go together, friend. Here's how they both go together. In Christ Jesus, we see the benefits of God's love and compassion and mercy towards sinners. The eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and the14:04 lame, leaping like a deer. God will show mercy, and God will bring vengeance and justice. And he does this, are you ready, perfectly in the person of his14:15 son, Jesus. Jesus heals the sick, raises the dead, cleanses the lepers, and we all know this now. We're gonna this is not a big surprise if you know anything about the gospel of14:27 Matthew. Jesus will bear on himself the judgment for the sins of those who believe on him at the cross. So the recompense of God is laid on Christ. The14:39 vengeance of God is laid on Christ for all who believe in Christ, and their eyes will be open and their ears will be unstopped and they will leap like a deer. K. See how that works together. See how those texts see how14:50 this text only can possibly come together in Christ because in Christ, you have the merciful acts of God's kindness toward those who believe on him, and then you have him taking the judgment for their sins upon himself.15:00 Now everybody outside of Christ bear the consequences of their sins in hell forever. So it is always best to believe in Christ because in Christ, you have payment for your sins. Otherwise, you pay for them. Now15:12 there's another text that that Jesus references here or alludes to in, what he tells John to look at. The the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up. The poor of good news preached to them.15:22 Well, there's another text that Jesus has in mind here, and that is Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to what? Bring good news to the poor. So that is almost a direct quote15:32 there in Matthew chapter 11 from Jesus, from Isaiah chapter 61. And then he's binding up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to the captives. Notice that Jesus doesn't include that 1. He doesn't include that15:44 1 to proclaim liberty to the captives because John is in prison, and I'm sure he thought I could use some liberty right now. But Jesus doesn't quote that verse. Kind of as if to say, John, got bad news for15:56 you. You're in prison. You're gonna be bound, and that that deliverance is not going to come in this life. But what Jesus is doing to John is he is revealing that he has come16:07 to fulfill the expectations of the Old Testament, the old covenant prophecies of Messiah. Now what did John expect in Messiah? He expected judgment. He expected the ax.16:19 He expected the fire. He expected the hammer to be thrown down. Well, it was thrown down on the person of Christ to those who believe on him. And, also, merciful acts of kindness16:31 were ex expressed in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. All that to bring you to some of the things that I believe are the roots of our own doubts. If you have ever wrestled with doubts, I think in16:43 order to handle your doubt properly, you have to wrestle with where they come from. Number 1, I would suggest that they are misaligned expectations of God. I wanted God to, heal my dad and he died. I16:55 wanted God to give me this great, you know, marriage and he didn't. I wanted God to give me a ministry and this authority and I didn't get and what you were really serving was not God. You were actually serving your own17:07 desires and you wanted God to just kind of be the means to that end. God refuses to be the means to another end. God is the end and everything else is the means. Got it? There's another root of doubt that we struggle17:17 with and I think it is this disappointment with life. John was in prison. John was in prison for doing what? What was John in prison for doing? For calling out sin. Remember, he calls out the sin in Herod's life17:29 and, his, his, sorry. He's marrying his wife's his brother's wife, and, John calls it out. And he17:41 gets he gets punished, basically, for doing the right thing. Basic. Let me sum it up. John gets punished for doing the right thing, and that can sometimes be a disillusionment to our17:53 own faith. God, I'm doing what you want me to do, and all I see is pushback. All I see is hardship as a result. And some of us, we would allow that disappointment to lead to doubt, unfulfilled expectations18:05 or plans or agendas, and it hurts and it could lead to doubt. Here's number 3, comparison with others. Don't you think, and this is not in the text explicitly, but it could be implied, that maybe there was a part of John18:17 that thought that Jesus's ministry, which gained from John's ministry, which was kind of launched from John's ministry and was succeeding way more than John's ministry ever was. But why wasn't Jesus18:28 suffering as John was? While the suffering was about to come, In fact, worse suffering was about to come upon Christ than John's suffering. But perhaps, maybe, there was just a hint of comparison of why does everybody18:39 seem to love this guy and they all hated me. It it maybe. I'm I'm not saying that this is something that comes from the text. I'm just saying for you, maybe that comes to a place where you start to doubt God's goodness18:49 and maybe even Christianity. Here's another 1. Cultural pressure. I think this is a large 1 for younger people. That cultural pressure, you wanna be liked, you want people to think well of you, you don't wanna be an18:58 outcast, you don't wanna be an outsider. It's tough. It's tough when you're young to not to not have everybody like you. And perhaps John was bending a little bit under the weight of suffering. Again, we can only surmise19:08 these points, but I do believe that these are some of the key roots of our own doubts. And young people especially need to hear this. Just because the culture doesn't like you, doesn't mean you're you've missed out on19:19 God's blessing. You will only, through living, realize that cultural approval is at best temporary,19:30 and at at the very most, inconsequential to the validation of yourself. At best temporary and at the very most, inconsequential to validating yourself, which means19:43 you can gain the approval of culture. But once you gain it, you have to keep it. And to keep it, you have to keep dancing. You have to keep dancing and performing because here's the thing about culture. It shifts. It19:53 changes. It ebbs. It flows. What's popular today is not popular tomorrow. Just ask or look at any celebrity who reached the pinnacle and then had to realize very quickly they have to shift, they have to change, they have20:04 to agree, they have to disagree, they have to do you know, something else has to become, you know, part of their shtick in order to stay relevant. And this is the problem that we all wrestle with at some degree to some20:14 degree even as Christians because there is a shiftiness to culture. We will never truly appease people, and trying to please people is a fool's errand. Here's number 5,20:26 disconnection from Christ, which I think, if you remember, John is in prison. He has only been able to hear of Jesus's ministry, not watch Jesus's ministry. And that disconnection, that isolation,20:38 if you will, from the movement of Jesus could have been the seedbed of his doubt, which is an easy 1 for us to apply. If you wanna grow your doubts, don't go to church. If you want to increase your20:49 skepticism of the Christian faith, don't be involved in the visible attributes of the Christian faith. Just skip a couple Sundays. Don't have a small group community. Be on your own. Only listen21:01 to podcast and worship music, and I guarantee you the doubts will creep in. The fear, the anxiety, because there is something supernatural that happens when the church gathers. There is something supernatural. It is21:12 unquantifiable. It is special. Even when I, yours truly, goes away on vacation and I am disconnected from the body of Christ, there becomes within me just not I wouldn't say21:24 doubt, but there becomes within me this, you know, kind of gross nature, this kind of gross version of myself. I hate seeing it because I've been out of relationship. I've been out of fellowship. And I think, if you take21:36 a look at these, maybe screenshot that, those are the 5 areas that I think become seed beds for doubts in our walk with Christ. Anyway, Jesus21:48 does something here back to Matthew 11 that is absolutely essential we see. He brings him to the Old Testament and says, John, I want you to remember what the22:00 Old Testament scriptures teach. He wouldn't have said Old Testament. He would have just said scriptures because these were they're scriptures and there are scriptures. But we call them Old Testament scriptures the Jewish22:08 scriptures, if you will. I want you to look at the scriptures and see me on the page. Did not Isaiah speak about got good news to the poor? Did not Isaiah speak about22:20 healing of the sick? The lepers leaping like a deer. The deaf ears open. So I need you to hear something. Ready? Are you ready? The answer to your doubts is always the word of Christ.22:32 Romans 10 17 says, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. This word of Christ means, yeah, we hear22:43 what? The word of who the Messiah is. Faith does not just simply come from reading the Bible as a book. Faith comes from seeing Christ in22:55 it. Did you get that? Huge key. If you wanna grow in your faith, examine the scriptures to see Christ in the pages of holy scripture because23:07 that is what scripture is about. Scripture is about Jesus And that's exactly what Jesus does here for John's doubt. He ties his life and ministry to Old Testament prophecy. In Luke chapter 24, it's a great passage.23:19 Let me see if we can get there. Luke chapter 24, and this is on the morning of the resurrection. Jesus is walking on a road with some guys who are on the road to Emmaus, very, very23:31 important passage scripture. And they are saying, look. We're really bummed out because we had hoped. Right? Verse 21. We had hoped that he was the 1 to redeem Israel. And I got a new23:43 feature here, guys, on the channel. And all this, the third day since these things happened, some women told us that the tomb is empty. Now we don't know what's going on. What does Jesus say? Foolish ones23:54 and slow of heart to believe, all the prophets have spoken. Should not the Christ suffer these things enter his into his glory? And then check out this verse. And beginning verse 27 with all the prophets and Moses, he24:06 interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Jesus is making clear that if you want to properly read the scriptures, you24:18 have to interpret the scriptures through the lens of how they reveal Christ. And so then he does this for 7 miles, 7 mile journey from Jerusalem to24:30 Emmaus. He gets to their house. They implore him to stay. He takes the bread. He breaks it, gave it to them, then their eyes were opened. They recognize him. He24:41 vanishes. Now look at this next line that they say to themselves. Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road while he opened to us the24:53 scriptures? Hearts burn when scripture is opened. Okay. But but don't miss this. When we see in the scriptures,25:06 Jesus. Hearts burn when the scriptures are opened and we see Jesus on the pages of scripture.25:17 That is exactly what John the Baptist experiences here in Matthew chapter 11. John, go back to the old, again, the25:29 scriptures and see that what I'm doing has been prophesied. So then leads me all to, verse 6. And blessed is the 1 who is not offended by me. Now25:41 the word offended is the Greek word skandalizo. I don't think we have to do much, you know, etymology here to understand that we get the word scandal from this word. But basically, it means to cause someone to25:52 experience anger or shock because of what has been said or done. Jesus is saying, listen. I have come to fulfill scripture. I have come to reveal the father. I have come to reveal who the father is,26:05 not who you think he is. And when that process happens, those who are not offended, those who are not put off, there's a great blessing for26:17 them. You're going to be blessed. If you can see Christ in the pages of scripture, if you can receive the father through the the revelation that is that is in Christ Jesus of the father, as Paul as Jesus will say26:29 to Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. And if that does not offend you, there is a blessing in store for you. Let me tell you who doesn't get offended by the scriptures revealing26:41 Christ as God for who he really is. You know who doesn't get offended? God's people. God's true people do not find offense in the26:53 biblical text because they see Jesus in the text. They believe it. They receive it. It is beautiful to them. God's true people do not get offended when God's word says something that culture27:05 doesn't agree with. God's true believers don't get offended when Jesus confronts the sins that our culture believe are no longer sins. False believers get27:16 offended. False believers get up and walk out and leave. I can't take that. How dare the pastor say that? K. We don't get upset about that because those people are not God's sheep.27:29 Jesus says in John 10, my sheep hear my voice. They know me. They follow me. They won't follow a stranger. Okay. All that the father gives me shall come to me. All that the father gives me shall come to me and I will no27:40 wise cast out. To receive the scriptures without offense is a great blessing because it is a revelation of the condition of your soul27:52 that you are truly a believer. Isn't that beautiful? So as a pastor, can I I just can I can testify? This gives tremendous liberty to the preaching28:04 of God's truth in the pulpit of my church. I need only to express Christ and him crucified. And those who believe it are God's sheep. And they will hear it, and28:16 they will receive it, and they will not get offended. And those who will get offended, all it is all that is is the sifting of the wheat and the tares. All that is is the revelation of the true condition of the soil of28:28 that person's heart. And if they get offended and and believe me, 27 years of pastoral ministry, I have seen people get offended at the silliest of things, the silliest of things, the smallest of28:40 details in the biblical text. They walk out, they think I'm gonna make a statement. I'm gonna walk out on this church. You're not making a statement about our church. You're making a statement about you. You're telling28:50 us who you really are. This this word is true. This word is sure. This word has stuck around. Your date all the way back to the Old Testament scriptures, 3500 years. You've been on this earth29:02 for 35 years. You think you're better than the scriptures? You think you're smarter than that ancient wisdom? Get over yourself. Seriously, move on. And pastors preach the word and let the chips fall where they may. Can29:14 I get a good a can I get a good amen in the comments? Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's go on in the text because I could talk about that all day. Verse 7. As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. Now29:23 this this is great because Jesus uses this opportunity of John's doubt and his addressing of that doubt to address John the Baptist. And he's going to address not John the Baptist, but he's gonna address the condition of29:33 the generation to which he and John the Baptist ministered. But first, he draws a comparison between him and sell himself and John the Baptist. So he says, okay. About John the Baptist. What did you go out into the29:43 wilderness to see? When you looked at John, what did you see? Did you see this guy that was weak, a reed shaken by the wind? What did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft29:51 clothing are in king's houses. In other words, John the Baptist was a tough guy. And remember, this is all in the context of the mystery of the kingdom. The kingdom comes in a way that you do not yet see until it is30:00 revealed to you in Christ Jesus. So the ministry of John the Baptist, tough, hard nosed, no nonsense preacher. He is a man who did not bend, a man who stood firm, a man who looked and dressed like a30:12 prophet. That's why Jesus says, what did you go out to see a prophet? Yes. I tell you more than a prophet. Verse 9. Verse 10. This is who this is he of whom it is written, behold, I'll send my messenger before your face30:21 who will prepare your way before you. Jesus says John is more than the there's Old Testament prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, these great men of God. Guess what? John was more important than them. God John was30:31 more than them. He was a messenger. Malachi 3 1. That's the that's the quote from verse 10. I will send my messenger, more than a prophet, a messenger, before30:43 me. He will prepare the way before me. He will come right before Christ comes. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. That's all Malachi 3 verse 1. So John had the explicit30:55 privilege, the once in a hundred billion privilege to be the messenger, the forerunner of God in the flesh,31:07 more than a prophet. By the way, John looked a lot like Elijah. Remember, he wore camel's hair, belt leather belt, ate wild honey and locusts. He He had the look of the prophet, the sound of the prophet, the attitude of31:17 a prophet, challenging sinners and calling them to repentance. Then Jesus says, truly, I say to you, verse 11, among those born of women, there is not arisen, there has arisen31:29 no 1 greater than John the Baptist. In other words, he is at the top of the list of all men born to women. Yet, big qualifier here,31:41 yet the 1 who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Now, Jesus says31:53 something here that you could possibly misinterpret. How could we? How could I? I could not be considered greater than John the Baptist. Now this is what it this is what Jesus needs to say. Let's understand the32:04 term greater. Jesus is not here saying that everyone is greater in terms of their importance. Every member of the kingdom is greater in terms of their importance than John. I don't think you get much more important than32:15 being the forerunner of Jesus in terms of your role. What I believe Jesus is saying here is that we are greater in terms of our standing and privilege before the father.32:27 The fact is that John, for as great as he was under the old covenant, failed to experience the blessings of the new covenant. He didn't fail himself. He was executed for his testimony and for32:39 his witness. He was executed for his prophetic ministry. He will have his head cut off. John's role greater than yours. John's privileges less than yours. That's how it works.32:52 Consider, friend, your privileges in Christ. All your forgive all your sins forgiven. Ephesians 1 7. You are adopted as a son or daughter of God. Romans 8 15 to 16. You have access to33:03 the father through the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans, Hebrews 10 19. You have the indwelling Holy Spirit, John 7 39. You have a living hope, first Peter33:15 3 verse 3 and 4, chapter 1 verse 3 and 4. You have authority over spiritual enemies, Luke 10 19. All of these are your privileges in Christ Jesus, and therefore, you are greater33:27 than John the Baptist, the least in the kingdom of heaven. The person who has small faith, even they have all of these privileges in Christ Jesus.33:39 They are yours not on the basis of your, level of faith. They are yours based on the efficacy of Christ's work. My hope is in Christ. I have33:51 authority over spiritual enemies not because I am some great spiritual saint, but because of the name of Jesus, the name above all names, the name at which every knee will bow and every tongue confess and every demon34:01 must flee. Right? I have forgiveness of sins not because I have worked to gain that forgiveness, but because Christ has paid it all at the cross and I am set free in34:13 Jesus' name. I have adoption as a son not because I'm, a good person or, you know, I'm I'm attractive to God or whatever, but because Christ has made34:24 me his own. I have access to the father because the veil was torn at the cross. I am a new creation because of what Jesus has done and not because of what34:36 I have done. Amen. That is the point of Jesus telling us that the least in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist, who was the greatest among among those born of women. Okay. Now verse,34:48 12. Let's continue. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent taken by force. Now this is a text that gets, very misconstrued. There there are 235:00 basic interpretations of this text text, and you can take either because I believe they work together. The first option is that the kingdom has been attacked. Okay. The violence has been suffered by the kingdom of35:12 heaven since the John the Baptist. Remember John the Baptist was put in prison. And so there's also a, an undercurrent, if you will, of animosity35:23 and attack against Jesus as people are starting to question and doubt and attack him and condemn him and say, you know, maligning things about him. So that is potentially the35:35 interpretation of this text. And so there are violent people who are gonna come and take the kingdom by force. They're gonna take hold of the kingdom. That is, they won't own the kingdom. They would just attack the35:42 kingdom by force. Option number 2 is this, that entering God's kingdom is a matter of violence, that is, is a matter of you're going to35:54 have to have a dogged attitude, a dogged attitude to enter the kingdom. You will have to strive to enter the narrow gate. You will have to beat your body and make it subservient to Christ, and his will, first36:06 Corinthians chapter 9. You will have to war in the heavenly places, Ephesians chapter 6. Many early church preachers believe that that was the interpretation of this text because they suffered greatly for the36:18 kingdom of God. They suffered violence as they lay hold of the kingdom of God. So what's my answer out of those 2 options? I believe both go perfectly together. If you think being in the kingdom will36:30 not take dogged determination, think again. It will. It will take that dogged determination because there will be violent attacks against you. Now, in America, we are so disconnected from this. We have no idea.36:41 But the large portion of Christian history and Christian throughout history, the majority have experienced some measure of physical or legal or36:54 emotional, familial, cultural attacks against them for their faith. And so you will have to fight. You will have to fight to enter into the kingdom of37:06 heaven because those attacks will come. They'll push you back on your heels. And if you're not truly in the cry in Christ, you will fail, you will doubt and your doubt will give way to disbelief.37:18 That is what Jesus is speaking here in Matthew 11. Then he turns and he says, for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah too who has come. So so he is the37:29 Elijah too who is to come and all the prophets prophesied. Now, he's the final messenger. Jesus lays it out right there. Matt this is, Malachi 4 verse 5,37:41 last verse of the Old Testament. I send you or second to last verse. I send you the prophet Elijah before the great and awesome day of the Lord. And then verse 15, he who has an ear, let him hear. Will we be those who37:51 hear this and receive it as the mystery of the kingdom is unfolded through the person of Jesus Christ? It doesn't mean there won't be wrestling. It doesn't mean we won't have doubts. It doesn't mean we won't haveShow more In this video 0:00 Doubt and Faith: Lessons from John the Baptist
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