The Expected One | Matthew 11:1-6

So today's Bible reading is from Matthew chapter 11 verses 1 to 6 if you are wanting to use a Bible

Matthew 11:1–6

I'm reading from the NIV and we have Bibles at the entrance of the church there if you need one

So looking at Matthew chapter 11 verses 1 to 6

Matthew 11:1–6

After Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples

He went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee

When John who was in prison heard about the deeds of the Messiah

He sent his disciples to ask him

Are you the one who is to come or should we expect someone else?

verse 4

Jesus replied go back and report to John what you hear and see

The blind receive sight

The lame walk

Those who have leprosy are cleansed the death here

The dead are raised and the good news is proclaimed to the poor

Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me

Thank God for his word

Morning everyone again

So if you've been with us for the past few years

You know that we've periodically been in the book of Matthew

for quite some time

In fact, this is the third year that we've been looking at the gospel and

Exploring the wonderful truths of our Lord's mission to this world as told to us by the evangelist Matthew

Now just to get back to where we left off and to get a bit of

Context to the passage that we're going to be looking at this morning

Last time we were in this gospel. We were in chapter 10

Where Jesus was sending out his 12 apostles on their first

mini

Commission to tell Israel about the good news of their coming Messiah

By this point Jesus had shown them what he was capable of capable of they'd seen him heal disease

Control the weather cast out a legion of demons and raised the dead with just a word

From his mouth

But more than that they'd heard him preach and teach on the good news of the kingdom of heaven and

How it had come near to them in the coming of Israel's king

Jesus Christ himself

And in this passage that we're going to look at this morning

That's where Matthew wants to keep our attention on Jesus Christ because Matthew wants to show us yet again

That this Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the long-awaited Messiah that God had

Promised through the prophets in his word to the world

So that we as his disciples might be encouraged to persevere in our faith

And there's a few things that I want to pull out of this passage you for you this morning

But before we do any of that why don't we come before our father this morning and ask for his

Help in the doing would you please pray with me?

Lord Jesus it was said

All those years ago you have the words of eternal life

This morning we are peering into

Great words from you and we ask that by your Holy Spirit

That you would give us ears to hear

That you would give us eyes to see

By your spirit you would work on our hearts and that you our Lord and Savior would be held so high among us

And that you would be pleased to draw all manner of people in all sorts of situations to yourself

This morning through the preaching of the word

We ask for this in your name Jesus and for the sake of your church. Amen

You know one of the funniest quotes from the Simpsons is when Homer's court

Doing something that he shouldn't have by his children and as they catch him out

He screams don't do as I do do as I say and I love that quote

Because though humorous it

Exposes something about many in authority and leadership in that they want you to follow their

Instructions, but not their actions because quite frankly they can't live up to their own

self-proclaimed image

Not so with the Lord Jesus Christ

No, it's as it's already been said this morning the passage that we find ourselves

Here comes off the back of Jesus telling his apostles to go and preach

About the kingdom of heaven and we see a couple of really fantastic things here in just verse one of our text this morning

On one level we're reminded yet again that teaching and preaching is

Incredibly important. It's vital to the advancement of the kingdom of heaven

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word and as Paul says the gospel is the power

unto salvation

So that's the first thing that we're reminded of here

But it's the second thing that Matthew tells us which is what I want us to focus on and that's that our Lord

Never calls us to do something that he's not willing to do himself

Notice that Jesus has just spent all of chapter 10 telling his disciples to go to preach to teach

But then instead of kicking back and kind of watching them walk out into the sunset

Jesus actually goes and travels around their cities himself

We see it here in verse one

Jesus is

continually an example to his disciples as to how they were to carry out their commission

He goes

He preaches and he teaches and

Church, let me just say never

Underestimate how important your going and sharing and teaching the gospel is with others

Of course, Jesus did signs and wonders and miracles

But those things only ever pointed to the authority and the truth of who he is and the message that he had

And that's because the good news of the kingdom

The gospel the news of Jesus is what saves people the Pharisees they saw

Miracles

Theologians of the day they saw the signs

Judas we're told even performed wonders, but none of those things

Ultimately save anyone

No trust in the gospel does and that's something that needs to be shared and taught with others as we go out

Into the context in which we find ourselves

And it's interesting because as the disciples went and they did what they saw Jesus doing

Well, they themselves now became part of preparing the way for the Lord

And that phrase are prepare the way for the Lord might seem familiar to you and it should because

That was the job description of John the Baptist

We met him all the way back in chapter 3 where we were introduced to this absolute

Wildebeest of a man who prepared Israel for their Messiah

As you might remember he was arrested and put in prison and we'll come back to him in just a moment

I want you to notice something here this morning

Yes, John the great prophet the great preacher. He was taken off the scene and locked away

But now the Lord had raised 12 other guys to go and prepare Israel to hear from their Messiah

And I want you to see that

Because we must never think that there is anyone in the church who's indispensable to God. I

Remember when Billy Graham the great evangelist when he passed away

I was like who's ever going to go and do that kind of thing again?

I remember when Tim Keller and J.I. Packer and I see sprawl died

I thought who is ever going to teach the Bible like that again. I

Remember even our own

Dear Martin Isles when he left our shores. I thought to myself who is ever going to explain the Australian news to me like that ever again?

You might think of your own influential names, but this is the thing

We're all expendable in God's kingdom

John the Baptist was the most powerful preacher in his day and when he was put in prison

People must have been shocked

But out of what seemed like a hopeless situation

God raised up 12 more guys to take his place so that they could go out and

Prepare the way and spread the gospel even further and wider than John had imagined

And so when once one of God's servants is taken off the scene

We must never panic that the gospel of Jesus Christ is far too important to be lost in this world

Jesus loves his disciples far too much for that to happen

And you can see this love even in the way that our Lord is preparing his disciples

for his departure. I

Don't know about you, but sometimes I think to myself

Things would be so much easier if we physically had Jesus here on earth so that we could

Read his daily tweets and follow him on Facebook live

But Jesus knew for both his immediate audience and for us that

Most of the kingdom mission most of the kingdom work in this world

Wasn't going to be done with Jesus

physically present

Now Jesus knew for his disciples that he was going to depart soon and so he wanted to give them a little taste of what it was going to be

Like what it was going to be like for them when he wasn't there

In other words this commission was real deal

training

The apostles had to do the preaching and they unlike Homer Simpson

Had to live in line with what they were preaching and what they were teaching

It's many of you know I was a drum teacher for about a decade

before I went to Bible college and I mentioned that to you because sitting with a student and

teaching them the great truths of rhythm and groove and music theory

Well, it only goes so far no not until they have sticks in their hands and jump behind the kid and feel the beat

Do they really understand music and what drumming is really all about a

Good teacher tells a good teacher shows and then they get their student to do what they say and do

What they've demonstrated and that's what we're seeing here in just this first verse

Discipleship really hits home

When we as the disciples of Jesus are engaged in the gospel work of the kingdom

Brothers and sisters, it's great to be gathered and come and listen to a sermon on a Sunday

It's great to watch lectures on YouTube and get great theology. These are wonderful things

These are good things

But we learn best by sharing with others and we teach best when we're practicing

What we're preaching now

That's exactly what Jesus calls his disciples to do

He calls them to go and share and live

What they are teaching and preaching

I wonder this morning, who are you sharing with?

It doesn't need to be in depth. It doesn't need to be a Bible college lecture

But let me encourage you here this morning brothers and sisters

There is nothing quiet like sharing what you have learned about the gospel from the Bible with others. I

Know lots of people with no formal training who are wonderful

Godly teachers because they've lived out their faith for years

I won't mention names here because I don't want to embarrass anyone

But I personally get so much out of spending time with some of you because of the great wisdom and

insight that you bring from the scriptures

because

You practice what you preach

You live out what you're convicted by

It's a wonderful thing to share Jesus with others and many wonderful gospel truths

really hit home when we are sharing and

teaching

helping and

discipling others

and

Our Lord he puts his disciples into that very situation

He essentially said you've heard the gospel you've seen how I've taught and preached now go

Go and do the same

go and live what you have heard and

Teach people prepare the way for me

So go and do as I say and do as I do

Now we kind of glossed over him before but after Jesus after he commissioned his

Disciples Matthew brings our attention in our text this morning to another group of disciples

And they were from John the Baptist as we see here in verse 2

Now to set the scene John has been locked away in prison for his preaching and him being in prison

That is no small detail for us to just skip over

You see Josephus a first century

Historian well

He actually wrote about the very prison that John was locked up in a place called Macarus

Now I won't go into all the details here, but essentially ancient prisons of this type

They were cesspools of blood vomit and human excrement

And he had probably survived for as long as he had because his disciples

Were allowed to bring him such essential things like food and water

All this to say John is in a really bad place

both

physically and mentally

To the point that he sends his disciples to ask verse 3

Are you the one to come or should we expect?

someone else

Straight off the bat some of you might be a little bit shocked by this whole scene

Because you might remember in the opening chapters of this gospel of Matthew

John is introduced to us as this fearless

Profit standing up to the religious elite and government all the while pointing people to their coming

Messiah

But now as Matthew reports to us

John's locked up like a caged animal and

From his prison cell he struggles to see how this Jesus could be the long-awaited Messiah

That he had preached about

Church this shouldn't surprise us in light of what he belted out there in the desert if you remember in chapter 3

He said to the Pharisees and the Sadducees you brood of vipers

Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

Produced fruit in that comes with repentance

The ax is already laid at the root of the trees and every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down

And thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance

But after me comes one who's more powerful than I whose sandals are not even worthy to carry

He'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire

His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor

gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire

Notice the emphasis in John's preaching there

John saw that when the Messiah came his righteous wrath would utterly hack down

unrepentant hypocrites and sinners

I

Want to be really clear with you this morning

What John was commissioned to preach to Israel was in no way made up

Now there's many passages in the Bible that speak about the Messiah

Coming to judge the wicked and rule in total righteousness. That's certainly going to happen

But it seems that as John heard from his disciples of Jesus's teaching and his preaching and his healing ministry

He's eating with sinners

That he was perplexed

On the one hand John would have not been ignorant to the fact that the Messiah had said of him that he'll come to heal the brokenhearted

But on the other hand Jesus he hadn't walked into Jerusalem like he thought

To overthrow tyranny and take the throne of David all the while setting the world on fire

Something even Jesus's own disciples expected and struggled to understand about the ministry of Jesus

And so John

He sends his disciples to get some answers

Now again

John's preaching was heaven sent in fact

We're going to look at this throughout the next couple of weeks in the rest of this chapter

but in saying that John

Emphasis that the emphasis that he had led him to an application

That though was certainly there in the Old Testament was not taking into account other passages

That spoke of the Messiah's servant hood and he doubted

And we're going to see in just a moment how Jesus

So wonderfully takes John right back to the scriptures to help him understand

What he was missing

But before we look at that I want us to pick up on a theme that we see in our text this morning

As we've seen over the past few weeks in the book of Psalms

Doubt is a horrible beast to wrestle with

And we must never be surprised how quickly it rears its ugly head when we go through trials and tests

And he doubt is the enemy of faith and everyone even the most

maturist believers

are prone to it

especially

when hard times hit

John he was a powerful preacher who was commissioned by God to teach Israel

But now as we've seen he found himself doubting Jesus because his hopes in Jesus

Hadn't turned out to what he thought

Jesus wasn't doing what he thought he would do

And on top of that John was now rotting away in prison

Certainly not what he envisioned

happening to himself

And if you'll hear this morning and you're in a place where your

Circumstances are bleak and your hopes have been crushed

Dear friend

It's not surprising that you too might be struggling with doubt

That's not to accuse anyone

That's saying that your faith is based on your circumstances

Please don't hear that being said this morning, but that's not to say that our circumstances

Don't have an effect on our faith

Disappointments dashed hopes broken dreams whatever the case might be

External circumstances can be weighty when it comes to matters of the heart

So those dear those feelings of doubt in that circumstance

As we see here even the greatest prophet to ever live

Struggled when hard times

This is what's so beautiful in this whole thing

We see that John had pretty much hit rock bottom and like David in Psalm 13 that we looked at last week

He may have screamed from the pit how long Lord?

But notice that John asks the right question from that pit of despair

Look again with me at verse 3

Are you the one to come or should we expect someone else?

It's a yes or no answer

There's no if buts or maybes

John wants the answer are you are you or are you not the Messiah?

Because for John for his disciples for us in this very room this morning the answer to that question

Is the most important question of questions that need to be answered?

Because the way in which Jesus goes on to answer this

Well, it leaves us all with a question to answer ourselves

And that question is will you embrace Jesus as the Messiah?

Or will you reject him because he hasn't met your expectations?

Let's have a look at the reply that Jesus gives them in verses 4 and 5

Jesus said go back and report to John what you hear and see

The blind receive sight

The lame walk

Those who have leprosy are cleansed the death here the dead are raised and the good news is

proclaimed

to the poor

It's verses 4 and 5

Now we're not going to spend

Oodles of time here because there's so much going on, but I just want to point out to you

That's incredibly interesting that Jesus points these people

straight back to the Bible

And he says essentially think on what the Messiah was prophesied to do

And then go back and report what you see me doing

That's the answer that Jesus gives look at what God said about the Messiah watch and observe me and

Then you have your answer

Now what Jesus is drawing on here is based on the book of Isaiah

But what's so interesting is that the two passages that we're going to have a look at what Jesus alludes to here

Well, it's where judgments and

servitude

Meet at the same time

And so he's answering the question and Jesus leads John and his disciples to another perspective on the passages

In which they've missed

First

Isaiah 35 verses

46

Isaiah 35 verses 46

As I say say to those with fearful hearts be strong and do not fear

Your God will come he will come with vengeance with divine retribution

He will come to save you

Let me just say before we look at the rest of the verse here. John's really got that part down pat

That was pretty much his sermon outline out there in the wilderness

But here what else Isaiah goes on to say and

Where Jesus directs our retention verses five and six

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and

The years of the death

Unstopped then with a lame leap like idea and the mute tongue

shout for joy

Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert

Notice what our Lord is doing there

He's drawing on the very passage that John knew well and preached on but Jesus in his answer

He points out that there's more to the story of the Messiah John

Jesus like Isaiah said would happen had come and he was opening the eyes of the blind

Opening the ears of the death

Healing the lame and he goes further than Isaiah even imagined

In that he was raising the dead

The other passage is one that we heard read out for us already this morning

Isaiah 61 verses one and two

the spirit of

The sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim

Good news to the poor notice that in our text back in Matthew chapter 11

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

Good news to the poor

He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaim freedom for the captives and

Release from darkness the prisoners to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God and

to comfort all who mourn

Again church Isaiah knew this passage well

And it may have been the one that really bothered him

Because think about it

This is where Isaiah says the prisoners will be set free

I

suspect that that would have been really hard for John as he sat there in that

dark

damp

prison cell

Changed like an animal waiting to be set free

But again Jesus points to the parts that John hadn't focused on

about the mission of the Messiah in the healing and the proclamation of the good news

Brothers and sisters Jesus teaches us all a powerful lesson this morning

And that's that when doubt creeps in and tries to strangle our faith because of hard circumstances

The word of God is alive and active

And as we're told in the book of Hebrews it penetrates even to the dividing of the soul and spirit joints and marrow

It judges the thoughts and the attitudes of the heart

You see John's messianic

Expectations didn't line up with what he understood the Bible to say and thus his heart was doubting

And so Jesus deals with John's doubt tenderly and pastorally by helping him to understand the scriptures

in light of the whole picture

In other words Jesus pointed John to the parts that he was missing to encourage him in his circumstances

You may have come to an understanding of Jesus and have at times been somewhat

Disappointed with how you thought things would work out for you as a Christian

But as we see in our passage this morning Jesus showed John

That though he was different to what he expected him to be

Jesus was so much better than John had ever hoped to imagine

And the way that we see Jesus act towards his disciples in this passage

Or to show us something about how he treats his disciples

Even today

Will hard times come?

Absolutely

Will we doubt?

Unfortunately we will

I know that I have

But look at how Jesus deals with his people

He doesn't come down on John like a ton of bricks or rebuke him publicly

For his struggles know he tenderly deals with him by pointing him back to the word and he shows him from the scriptures

What he was missing?

That's what we might call tender gospel encouragement

It's a beautiful pastoral move on behalf of Jesus

But also he gives him tender rebuke in light of the gospel as well

Notice that Jesus ends his whole section by holding out to John

to his disciples

And even to you and me this morning

saying in verse 6

Blessed is anyone who doesn't stumble on account of me

What's the point of our Lord here

Well, we're not gonna understand everything that Jesus does all the time

And so we must be careful not to become bitter and fall away just because some things in this life

Don't make sense to us

Jesus is bigger. He's better than we could ever hope to imagine and Jesus shows us all this morning

That just because we don't understand

some things in the moment

Or what's going on around us

That that's no excuse to ultimately reject him

Brothers and sisters we all struggle all of us from time to time

Maybe you're here this morning and you're really struggling with your faith

you're really struggling with

figuring out what is going on and why God is allowing certain things to happen

Well my dear friend

Let this passage be an encouragement to all of us

In your weakness in your despair in your doubt

You have a savior who is mighty to save and

And he will gently and tenderly lead and guide those who come to him

Jesus is not in the business of rejecting those who come to him

No, he came to seek and save the loss and to set the captives free

Something that John certainly is experiencing right at this very moment

So let these words from the apostle Paul be of an encouragement to you this morning from

2nd Timothy

If we died with him, we will also live with him

If we endure we will also reign with him

If we disown him he will also disown us if we're faithless hear this

He remains faithful

For he cannot disown himself

Let's ask the Lord to help us in these things. Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus we began our time this morning by asking

That you would be held high among us by the work of your spirit through the word

Lord God, you know exactly what's going on in this room with the different hearts and the minds that the hurt

The hope

the crying

The secret sin the things we struggle with

But as you've shown us in your word this morning, we can cry out to you in the pit of despair

Lord Jesus we would ask that you open the eyes of our hearts

That you would enlighten us to the truth of our salvation

Lord you would raise our eyes above our circumstances and through the eternal things to the gospel

That we would seek you above all else

seek first the kingdom

We ask for this with the help of your Holy Spirit because we are too weak to do it ourselves

We ask for this in your name. Amen.