Are you the Promised One?

So perhaps if you have your Bible open, you can turn with me to Luke chapter 7,

Luke 7 · chapter mention

from verse 18 to 35, a question and answer session with Jesus to help us to answer the

question, is Jesus the one? Is he the promised Savior? Luke's gospel and the time of Jesus

is like our world in the sense that there are many opinions and many ideas about Jesus.

Even in our first seven chapters, we've seen some people recognize Jesus as Messiah and Son of God,

whereas some people have called him a blasphemer and a false teacher.

Some are following him as their master, some see him as a prophet. So who is Jesus?

Is he, as some say, a bad man, or is he a good man? Is he just a good man, or is he the God man?

And we come to Luke chapter 7, from verse 18 onwards, and I want us to imagine that we're

Luke 7 · chapter mention

being invited to a sit-down interview. There seems to be a growing trend, doesn't there, of those

behind-the-scenes interviews, where you get to know the person behind the celebrity. Well, here,

we have this question-and-answer session with the Lord Jesus. There are three questions that are asked

that give us a chance to hear Jesus' thoughts, Jesus' thoughts on his ministry, so we can think

about how did Jesus live. A question that helps us to think about the identity of Jesus, what's so

important about his coming, and a question that takes us to attitudes towards Jesus, so we can ask

ourselves, what is the right response, and more than that, what is my response to Jesus? On a weekend

when many are asking, you know, what kind of king and what kind of kingdom can we look forward to,

when we've seen in the news that people have made their decision about how to respond to the

coronation of the king, how do we respond to this king, the king of kings? And do we recognize that

this is a choice with eternal significance? So let's think, first of all, about the ministry of

Jesus. We find this in verses 18 to 23, and let's think about the question that comes, a question that

comes from followers of John the Baptist in verse 19, are you the one who is to come, or should we expect

someone else? Jesus, are you the promised saviour, or is there someone still coming? Isn't that a great

question? Jesus, are you the one? Are you the saviour? Who are you? Maybe to help us to think about the

question, we can just take a minute to think about, well, who is John the Baptist who's asking this

question? So we've met him a few times in chapter 1, and we discover that he was chosen by God before he

was ever born. He was chosen to be a prophet, to speak for God. Indeed, he had a particular job to be

the messenger who would prepare for the Lord's coming. One verse to help us to remember that,

this comes from the song of his father Zechariah, as John is born, and you, my child, will be called a

prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him.

And then we meet John a number of years later in chapter 3, as he begins his public ministry.

And we're told in chapter 3, verse 3, that John preaches a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness

of sins. So he calls people to turn away from sin, to turn towards God, the sign of that to be baptism,

to know forgiveness. And then he spoke to the crowds about a coming one, one who is far greater than him,

one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And then we also discover in John chapter 3

John 3 · chapter mention

that John the Baptist is put in prison for speaking against the king, and he's still in prison now,

so he can't come personally. So he sends some followers to ask the question of Jesus,

are you the one? And we need to ask ourselves the question, what's going on when John wants that

question to be asked? He has so powerfully and publicly spoken about Jesus as the one, so what's

going on? I think the likely answer to this is that John the Baptist's patience has failed in some way.

Remember John said he'll baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He was expecting, I think,

for Jesus to come and bring decisive judgment, to get rid of his enemies, to establish his kingdom

now. You know, the disciples had those same thoughts as well, as we read the Gospels. For John the Baptist,

he was expecting the kingdom to come differently and to look differently, and so he wants to check

in and to ask the question, Jesus, are you the one? Now we need to think about Jesus' answer

and what Jesus' answer tells us about his ministry. So look at verse 21. At that very time, the very time

that he's been asked the question, Jesus cured many who had diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits,

and gave sight to many who are blind. What do we see here? We see that God's kingdom is coming,

but it comes by mercy and not by the might of an army. We see that Jesus is the promised one,

but he comes first as a compassionate Savior, one who brings good news of grace to the needy and the poor.

Yes, he will come as judge, but here he comes first as Savior, and he invites the followers of John,

and he invites us to recognize that the miracles he performs are proof that he is the promised Savior.

As Jesus acts both with the power of God and the grace of God in order to transform people's lives,

doing the work only God could do, whether that's dealing with blindness or disability of any kind,

means the healing of infectious diseases. He is showing that he is God, and he is the God of mercy.

And so he points them to the miracles, but he does more than that.

He invites John and his listeners, and us as well, to think back, to think back to Old Testament promises.

Jesus will fulfill those promises as proof. Because then in verse 22, he replied to the messengers,

go back and report to John what you have seen and heard, the blind receive sight, and so on,

and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Why did we read Isaiah 35 this morning?

Isaiah chapter 35 anticipates this great day when God's promised one would bring salvation,

Isaiah 35 · chapter mention

when the glory of God would be revealed, when the Lord himself would come to save.

And these are the signs. These things that John, that Jesus is doing, these are the signs

that God promised his Savior would perform. He has come to establish this highway of holiness,

to lead his people back to God and to eternal life. And so Jesus is saying,

I am the fulfillment of the great hopes of the Old Testament. And because of that,

he is good news to the poor, the great hope of God's Word, the great hope for people.

We find it in the ministry of Jesus, the Savior. And so he sends the messengers away in verse 23,

saying, blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. You are blessed if you don't fall

off this tree, if you don't fall into a trap, but if you recognize that in Jesus, God's King is here,

and he's establishing his kingdom of mercy and grace for his blessing.

So in the spotlight, in this Q&A session with Jesus, is how did Jesus live? We often think,

and we should often think, about how did Jesus die and why did Jesus die? But it's good for us to

think about how did Jesus live? Because isn't it beautiful to see our Savior as he cared for ordinary

people? Indeed, as he came like an ordinary person, didn't he? Born to a poor family,

growing up in a small, unimportant time, working as a carpenter, didn't come with the robes of pomp

and ceremony. He cared for and came as an ordinary person. And he loved, didn't he? He loved those

the world often hated and ignored. So in Luke's gospel, we've seen him welcome tax collectors.

We've seen him reach out and touch the despised leper. We've seen him honor the faith of an enemy

centurion. We've seen him. We've seen him. We've seen him. We've seen him wait for his blessing.

And all the way along, as you watch the life of Jesus, you see grace and mercy shown to the

undeserving, teaching us that his kingdom doesn't come. We don't enter the kingdom because we are worth it.

We come as we recognize, like the centurion last week, that we are not worthy,

but that God is full of grace and love. And as we think about the way Jesus lived, we can understand

that his love is revolutionary. It was utterly different and unique. It wasn't the way of the

Jewish leaders, and it certainly wasn't the way of first century Rome. The pattern of the society

around Jesus was that people who are powerful, they would use power selfishly. Perhaps we recognize

that. The people that would get help would get help only if it was of benefit to me.

And the message was you cared for your own, you kept a distance, or you even hated your enemy.

But what have we seen from Jesus? We have seen and heard him say, love your enemy.

We have seen and we have heard him speak of mercy to the least. We will see Jesus meet hatred with love.

We will see in Jesus a Savior who saves by self-giving, loving sacrifice.

We see the compassionate love of Jesus in the way that he lived.

I read an article this week with a title that captured my attention. It said,

Western society is Christ haunted. And what the author meant by that is that the values of Jesus

are still with us in 21st century Scotland, even as so many people don't recognize Jesus is Lord.

So the ideas and the values in our society that we take as common sense are only common sense,

because Jesus has transformed the whole way that we look at the world.

I was walking past the quarter mile this week, and for the first time, walking past the old,

the hospital there in the quarter mile, I saw an inscription on the side of the wall.

It's straight out of Matthew 25. I was sick, and ye visited me.

Why is it that Christians throughout history have built hospitals?

Why is it that society believes in human rights for all people, and not just for the great and the good?

Why is it that even when we struggle with our own economy, we still feel it is right to send

international aid to countries that are struggling and suffering?

Why do we believe that it is right to release slaves and to lift people out of poverty?

These things are not instinctive and common sense.

They're common sense only because Jesus has transformed the way the world thinks.

Compassion, equality, justice, these are the values of Jesus.

And Christianity has shaped our world in thousands of wonderful ways,

as the people of Jesus have sought to live like Jesus.

And so even today, as so many people have no clue that Jesus is Lord,

and they have no clue that Jesus has shaped our modern Western world.

It still remains true.

Dick Lucas, who was a minister down in London,

he said this,

God did not give Christianity a watertight case.

He didn't send us a set of logical arguments.

He gave us a watertight person.

When we look at Jesus, don't we discover,

here is one I can trust.

Here is one who loves and who saves.

And so we are invited to consider Jesus

and to come to Jesus,

to receive and to recognize in him

there is a unique compassion

and goodness

and love

and grace

that we see in his way of life

and

in the way of his death

as he dies on the cross.

Even there he is transforming.

The cross, of course,

was a symbol of Roman power,

a way for Rome to humiliate enemies.

Now that's not how people see the cross anymore, is it?

We think about the cross as a symbol of love,

of sacrificial love,

as God's demonstration of saving love,

pouring out grace,

giving us forgiveness.

So in the ministry of Jesus

and in the sacrifice of Jesus,

we have good news.

Good news when we recognize

that we are spiritually poor,

that we by ourselves

are unable to deal with our guilt

and our shame,

that we are unable

to earn our way

into God's kingdom.

There is good news to recognize

Jesus,

our compassionate Lord,

has completed

the work.

And so the gospel of Jesus

continues to be

good news to the poor.

Now let's move from the ministry of Jesus

to think about

the identity of Jesus.

As you look here at verses 24 to 28,

the next question

in this Q&A

is a question that Jesus himself

asks.

Verse 24,

Jesus began to speak to the crowd

about,

John,

what did you go out

into the wilderness

to see?

By which he's

inviting the crowds

and us

to ask the question,

who is John?

And why does it matter?

And I want us to see

that to understand

John and his ministry

allows us to learn

more about Jesus

and his identity

and ministry.

Jesus, of course,

answers the question,

who is John?

What did you go out to see?

In verse 26,

what did you go out to see?

A prophet.

Yes, I tell you,

and more than a prophet.

You went out to see

a man of strength

and courage

in his convictions,

in his words.

He wasn't like a reed

swaying in the wind.

You went out to see

a man who lived

as a prophet.

He wasn't known

for luxury

as he enjoyed

his desert experience.

He looks and sounds

like an Old Testament prophet.

So why does Jesus say

you went out to see

more than a prophet?

He explains.

It goes back

to John's calling.

Verse 27,

this is the one

about whom it is written,

I will send

my messenger ahead of you

who will prepare

your way

before you.

So just as

Malachi

in the Old Testament

anticipated,

just as Zechariah

in his song

anticipated,

John came

to be the messenger

preparing

for the coming

of the Lord.

So the whole

Old Testament

is anticipating

when will the

Redeemer

come?

Some people speak

about the Old Testament

as the age of promise

because it's all

looking forward

to when the Redeemer

and King

would come.

Well,

John is the last

of the prophets

in the age

of promise

because

it's as if he gets

to open the door

and announce

the King

has come.

Jesus,

your Lord,

is here.

And that's

the significance

of verse 28.

Jesus wants

to give John

great dignity.

I tell you,

among those born

of women,

there is no one

greater than John,

but he also wants

to make plain

that everybody

after John

enjoys a still

greater privilege.

privilege.

See there he says,

yet the one

who is least

in the kingdom

of God

is greater

than he.

John lived

in the age

of promise.

Jesus says,

for us who live

in the age

of fulfillment,

there's something

greater.

There's greater

privilege,

and we're going

to come back

to that

in a couple

of minutes.

But let's think,

how does John

help us

to understand

who Jesus

says?

So,

Jesus says

he prepares

people for

the coming

of the Lord.

So,

Jesus is none

other than

God,

who has

become a man.

Son of God

enters into

the world.

And John

is significant

because he marks

this change

of era.

Jesus can

declare the

kingdom of God

has come.

Why?

Because Jesus

is the king

who's bringing

in the kingdom.

John the Baptist,

when he saw

Jesus,

what did he say?

He said,

behold,

he said,

everybody look.

Don't look at me,

look at Jesus.

Behold the Lamb

of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

In the ministry

of John,

he was preparing

us

for Jesus,

the Lord,

the Son of God,

to die a

sacrificial day

as the way

for our sins

to be dealt with.

As he baptizes

Jesus,

what happens?

There is that

voice from heaven,

you are my Son

whom I love,

with you I am

well pleased.

The ministry

of Jesus

bears witness

to this reality

that Jesus

is God

and Savior

and the Father

is delighted

with him

for carrying

out his mission.

And as

Jesus'

popularity

grew,

John is the

one who said

he must

increase

and I must

decrease.

Pointing people

always

to Jesus

as the source

of hope

and salvation

was John's

calling.

Let's come back

to that idea,

the least in the

kingdom of God

is greater.

Before we move on,

we need to

think about this

privilege that

we enjoy.

Three ways,

I think,

that we can

think about

our greater

privilege.

The first,

in the sense

that we know

the whole

story.

John was

preparing people

for the ministry

of Jesus.

We have

in the Bible

the whole story,

don't we,

of Jesus'

perfectly obedient

life,

of his completing

the plan of

God,

in dying on

the cross

to save

sinners.

We have

the victory

of Jesus

displayed to

the world

at the

resurrection.

We have

the return

to glory

where Jesus

has received

his coronation

in heaven

as King

of Kings

and we've

been told

that he'll

be coming

again

to take

his people

to be with

him.

So we

have this

privilege

because of

where we

stand

in our

point in

time in

history

that we

can understand

that God's

plan to

save his

people,

God's

plan to

live with

his people

comes to

pass through

Jesus.

It's a

great privilege.

We're told

that the

Old Testament

prophets,

even the

angels,

longed to

know what

we can

come to

know in

the Word

of God

and in

the Gospel.

I also

want to

think about

the sacraments.

Today of

all days,

it seems

good for

us to

recognize the

privilege that

we have,

that Jesus

has given

the church

both baptism

and the

Lord's

Supper.

As two

more ways

that Jesus

wants his

church to

hear good

news,

there is

good news

that in

Jesus,

God has

made a

way for

our sin

to be

washed

away,

for us

to be

united to

Christ.

That as we

share the

Lord's

Supper as

God's

people,

we are

being taught

and reminded

that God

saves by

grace through

the sacrifice

of the

Lord Jesus

and that

through that

sacrificial

death and

through the

life that

comes to

us,

we enjoy

fellowship

with our

God,

through

Jesus,

and with the

work of the

Holy Spirit.

And that's the

third privilege.

Remember,

John said

that this

coming one

would baptize

with the

Holy Spirit

and with

fire.

But what

John

promised,

the coming

of the

Spirit,

the sending

of the

Spirit,

that reality

belongs to

us as the

church.

When we

have faith

in Jesus,

we are

united to

Christ by

the Spirit.

That the

Spirit of

God takes

up residence

within us.

that the

power of

the Spirit

is at

work in

us,

making us

more like

Jesus,

causing us

to want to

glorify our

God.

And so we

have these

wonderful

privileges

because of

where we

stand in

history,

in the

age of

fulfillment.

And as

is often

said,

with much

privilege comes

much

responsibility.

John had

a calling in

his day,

didn't he,

to bear

witness to

Jesus as

Lord.

We, too,

have that

responsibility to

bear witness to

Jesus, the

King of

love and

grace.

We have this

responsibility to

encourage one

another by

sharing the

hope of the

gospel together.

And we have

this responsibility

as we seek

that others

might come to

know the

goodness of

Jesus for

themselves.

Let's think

lastly about

the attitudes

to Jesus.

we find in

verses 29

to 35.

So we've

sat in on

this Q&A.

Jesus has

been revealing

truth about

his life and

his ministry,

his identity

and his

mission,

but now

the focus

moves out

into the

world.

We can

say the

focus moves

towards our

own hearts

to consider

attitudes and

responses.

there's a

question in

verse 31,

to what

then can

I compare

the people

of this

generation?

What are

they like?

Let's

personalize

that.

What am I

like in

my response

to the

ministry of

Jesus, to

the mission

of Jesus?

There are

two options

that are

presented

here.

In verse

29, there's

the way of

the little

people, all

the people,

even the tax

collectors, or

there's the

way of the

lawyers in

verse 30.

So let's

think about

verse 29,

these little

people, all

the people,

even the tax

collectors, when

they heard

Jesus' words,

acknowledged that

God's way was

right because

they'd been

baptized by

John.

So there is a

group who

receive John's

baptism gratefully.

They knew

they were

sinners.

They knew

they needed

repentance and

forgiveness.

They were

ready for

John's

ministry,

they're

ready to

receive Jesus

and his

ministry and

his message,

to receive

the good

news that

we are

saved by

grace,

that good

news comes

to the

poor and

to the

least.

But then

there's the

lawyers.

We're told

in verse

30, they

rejected God's

purposes for

themselves because

they'd not been

baptized by

John.

They rejected

God's

purpose.

It's really

significant that

they ignored

John and

then ignored

Jesus.

This is a

group of

people who

refused to

admit that

they needed

to repent.

We don't

need John's

baptism.

We can be

good enough

by ourselves,

thanks very

much.

This is a

group that

refused to

accept Jesus

as Lord and

Savior,

didn't see

their needs.

What of a

Savior sent

from heaven?

To illustrate

their attitude,

there is this

question then of

who calls the

tune in verses

31 and 32.

Jesus paints a

picture, a

picture to

show us

Jewish leaders

stubbornly

rejecting God's

message.

And the

picture is

like a group

of sulking

kids.

They won't

play the way

I say they

should play,

so we're not

happy.

They're not

happy with

John and

they're not

happy with

Jesus.

And the

problem, they

won't dance to

their tune.

The religious

people, they

disliked God's

message as it

came from

John.

They disliked

God's message

as it comes

from Jesus.

What did they

say about

John?

John the

Baptist came

neither eating

bread nor

drinking wine.

You say he

is a demon.

John is too

extreme.

He's too

extreme in his

desert living.

He's too

extreme in his

ministry calling

people to admit

that we're guilty

sinners, that we

need to turn

back to God.

It's too

extreme and so

they reject it.

Jesus'

ministry was

quite different.

The Son of

Man came

eating and

drinking and

you say here's

a gluttered

and drunkard,

a friend of

tax collectors

and sinners.

What about

Jesus?

He's too

extreme as

well.

Why?

They love to

keep themselves

separate.

We're better

than them.

We're on the

right side.

Jesus feasted.

with those

regarded as

bad and

sinful.

Inviting people

into the

kingdom of

God by

grace, not

by merit and

law keeping.

Jesus is too

extreme.

So John is

rejected and

Jesus is

rejected.

The purposes

of God are

rejected.

The wisdom

of God is

rejected.

Whenever we

fail to

receive this

message from

John that we

need to turn

away from sin,

when we fail to

receive the

message of

Jesus, that

we need to

be saved by

him, by

his grace.

Jesus says in

verse 35,

wisdom is

proved right by

all her

children.

The wisdom of

God and the

ministry of

John and

Jesus is seen

by those with

faith, but

not by all.

In this Q&A

session with

Jesus, we can

imagine Jesus

turning the

microphone out

from him to

us.

What are

you like

today?

What am I

like today?

What is my

attitude and

my response to

Jesus today, to

his ministry that

turned the world

upside down by

his amazing love

and grace and

kindness and

compassion, by

his refusal to

rule by force,

his refusal to

judge by merit

and achievement?

How do we

respond to the

identity of

Jesus, the

one who comes

as Lord and

Son of God, as

the appointed

Savior who

rescues people, as

the King who

dies on the

cross to save

sinners?

How do we

respond?

Jesus wants

the followers of

John to

understand.

He wants us to

understand.

He is the one

God promised.

He is the only

Savior.

And he calls

us today to

wisdom, to

receive him as

Lord by faith.

And he calls

us to worship,

to worship him

as the King of

love, the one

who loved us

and gave

himself for us.

I'm going to

pray in just a

moment, and

perhaps we can

get the junior

church in, and

then we will

move towards the

Lord's Supper.

Lord, we are

so thankful for

Luke's gospel as

an opportunity

for us to see

the love and

compassion of

Jesus, our

Lord and

Savior.

Thank you for

the care he

showed to the

weak and the

suffering and the

poor.

God, we

thank you for

the invitation

and the

welcome that

he extended to

those who were

rejected by

many, who

were ignored and

kept at a

distance.

Thank you for

the love of

Jesus that would

lead him to the

cross, to die

in the place of

sinners, to take

the punishment that

we deserve, to

give us his

perfect record of

righteousness, to

give us forgiveness

and eternal

life.

We thank you

that he truly is

the king who

came not to be

served but to

serve and to

give his life as a

ransom for many.

Thank you that he

is the king who

gives gifts to

his people, and

especially we thank

you for the gift of

forgiveness and

eternal life, for

the gift of your

spirit in our

life.

Lord, we pray that

our attitude to

Jesus would be

one of grateful

worship, as we

consider the love

that he would long

to show to each

one of us, the

saving love he

would give to us.

Help us to trust in

him now and

always, and we

pray in Jesus'

name.

Amen.

Now we're just

going to wait a

little moment while

the boys and

girls come in from

their classes.