Matthew pt. 37 - Hard Men in a Soft World

Matthew Chapter 11. I have greatly enjoyed reaching

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

through Matthew to you. As we said when we first started

this series, the book of Matthew has been used by the church for

2000 years as a starting point, as a staple, oftentimes as a

discipleship tool to walk new believers through the book of

Matthew so they can understand Jesus, so they could understand

the Kingdom. We've we've reminded ourselves

multiple times, Matthew was the tax collector.

Jesus called him out. So Matthew is a traitor to the

Jews. He's saying, hey, Romans, Yeah,

I'll help you to extort the people.

I know them. I know their culture.

I know who owns which businesses and how it all works.

You, you line my pockets really well.

I'll line my pockets. In the process, all my people

will hate me, but it'll be OK. Jesus says, hey, I want you to

join me. Fishermen and a tax collector on

the same team. So these men, of course, become

devoted to Christ together. They all lay lay aside their old

lives and then they walk after Christ.

Matthew wrote Matthew for the Jews over and over.

He wants to show the Jews who Christ is.

So throughout the book of Matthew, Matthew says, hey,

remember this prophecy about the Messiah And Jewish readers were

going, yeah, yeah, we know. And he goes, yeah, Jesus

fulfilled that. They go, that was interesting.

He goes, hey, remember this prophecy about the Messiah?

They go, yeah, he goes, yeah, Jesus fulfilled that one too.

Over and over and over, Matthew is writing the Jews saying.

Saying, hey everybody, it's Jesus.

It's Jesus. It's undeniably Jesus if you

honor the Old Testament, if you honor Moses as Jews claim to do,

the honor Abraham as Jews claim to do.

That you will run smack dab into Jesus.

Moses and Abraham were looking forward to Jesus and Jesus came.

So Matthew makes that point clear over and over and over

again. Jesus did the same thing about

himself and now here we are. Remember we finished Matthew

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10. Jesus has warned his disciples

about the persecution to come, and then he says, hey, he

always. Prayed for the.

Harvest and they prayed. And then he says, good luck or

good news, boys, the Father has answered your prayer.

You're going to go work the harvest.

There is now workers in the harvest.

Their names are you. And he sends his disciples out.

Now John is in prison. We found out last week John's

death is nearing. John might not know that yet.

And John starts to doubt and he sends his disciples to ask

Jesus, hey, are you really the one or should we look for

another? And we looked at the

ridiculousness of that question from John's prophesied birth

over and over. And you stack up the mountain of

things that John experienced in his life, the stories that

Zechariah and Elizabeth and Joseph and Mary would have told

those two little boys growing up at every family reunion, over

and over and over. Here's how the Angel prophesied

your birth son. You are the forerunner for him.

He is the Messiah. The angels spoke on the night of

his birth all throughout their lives.

And now John, a year and a dungeon, you're in a dungeon can

bring some doubt. Anybody ever spent a year in a

dungeon can bring some doubt, can bring some discouragement.

It's not the same thing as unbelief.

Unbelief is the full rot of doubt, but doubt is just the

just the questioning. It's a hesitation.

And Jesus doesn't rebuke John. He encourages John with the

word. And then Jesus, he's not going

to let anybody misunderstand John.

This is not going to be the last thing you hear about John the

Baptist. And Jesus makes sure of that to

everybody listening. To everybody listening, that's

the context now. So we talked about that, how we

should bring our doubts to Jesus, and now Jesus has been

bringing that encouragement now in verse.

Seven, as they went away, so John's disciples, they have to

make the journey back now to John and his dungeon in Herod's

dungeon, and they're going to go tell John what Jesus said, which

is going to encourage John and sustain John to say, John, you

did well. I know you have questions.

I know you're wondering why I haven't maybe conquered the

Romans and gotten you out of prison yet.

You fulfilled your part. You were the last Old Testament

prophet and you brought in the Messiah.

Well done is the message that John would have received.

As they went away, Jesus began to speak.

We're in verse seven, begin to speak to the crowds concerning

John. So this is where Jesus doesn't

let people go. Yeah, that was awkward, John's

doubting. Jesus is the Messiah.

This isn't how Jesus lets it in, He says.

What did you go out into the wilderness to see?

He's referencing about John because everybody's thinking

about John. Everybody's speaking public.

Rabbi John wants to know, are you the one or should we seek

another? And Jesus answers everybody.

But now he's talking to the whole crowd.

His disciples very likely have returned to him at this point.

What did you go out into the wilderness?

To see a Reed shaken by the wind, it's a rhetorical

question. The answer is an obvious no.

He's referencing back when John was ministering, 1218 months

ago, when John was ministering and preparing for me out in the

wilderness, out on the Jordan River in the middle of nowhere.

What did you go out to see? A Reed.

Blown to and fro by the wind. Is that what John is?

No. What then?

Did you go out to see a man dressed in soft clothing?

A rhetorical question. The answer, again is no.

He says, Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in King's

houses. What then?

Did you go out to see a prophet? Yes.

I tell you, and more than a prophet, this is he of whom it

is written. Behold, I send a messenger

before your face who will prepare your way before you.

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen

no one greater than John the Baptist.

Yet the one who is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater

than he. From the days of John the

Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,

and the violent have taken it by force.

For all the prophets in the law have prophesied until John.

And if you're willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

But to what shall I compare this generation?

It is like children sitting in the temple, sitting in the

marketplaces and calling to their playmates.

We played the flute for you, but you didn't dance.

We sang a dirge and you did not mourn.

For John came neither eating nor drinking.

And they say he has a demon. And the Son of Man came eating

and drinking. And they say, look at him, a

glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.

God bring revelation and light, bring strength, bring conviction

and clarity, bring hunger and thirst.

In Jesus name we thank you. Amen.

Jesus wants to make sure that people don't get the wrong idea

about John. Jesus defends John, Jesus

affirms John, he says born among women, which is everybody.

There's nobody greater than John.

He's not soft. He's just human.

Jesus is explaining and clarifying.

John's having a human moment in a dungeon right now, but John's

not soft. John's not swayed.

John's not pliable. John's not a punk.

He wants to clarify. This will be the legacy of John,

that he's the greatest among all men and he's the greatest among

all prophets. This is Matthew clarifying this

point for the Jews, and this is Jesus clarifying this point for

the Jews. Because the great prophets.

Elijah, Moses, these are the great prophets that we would

look back and go, and because we all love dead prophets, right?

It's the dead prophets that are the heroes, the living prophets.

We all say calm down, pipe down. That's a bit extreme.

Dead prophets though, Oh, they were, oh, if I had been there,

I'd have been on their team for sure.

So John's dealing with some doubt, which the Lord helps him

with, but Jesus affirms him and says, look at who he is.

And Matthew's pointing this out to the Jews.

Look at the greatest prophet. You thought these prophets were

great. There's a greater one and

they're going, why is he greater?

We're going to answer that. So John's dealing with doubt.

We want to clarify this again, doubt is different.

We make a distinction between doubt and unbelief.

We see the Lord harshly. Jesus rebukes harshly, unbelief

in the Scriptures. He's harsh with it, He's

frustrated by it, he's annoyed at it.

He rebukes it with a stiff rebuke for people's unbelief.

It's not the same thing as doubt.

So what's the difference? Well, like we'd said earlier, a

doubt is a question, a doubt is a hesitation.

But whenever it's something that we meditate on, when I meditate

on my doubt, when I hold on to my doubt, when I nurture my

doubt, when I serve my doubt well, that apple gets one spot

and then another and then another, until finally I have

something completely rotten and completely shriveled and there's

no nutrient in it whatsoever, and the whole thing is worthless

and the whole thing is gone. That's what happens when doubt

isn't taken to the Lord. I've got a doubt.

Then do what John the Baptist did with your doubt and take it

to Jesus. Don't do the stupid thing, the

foolish thing, the hard hearted thing.

I've got my doubts so I won't go to church anymore.

No bro, the opposite thing there.

Oh, I'm not feeling passionately in love with my wife this week,

so I guess I won't speak to her anymore.

Hey buddy, I want to let you know something that's going to

guarantee that you'll feel the same way or worse next week.

You understand that this leads darker.

This leads to a worse and a worse and a worse place.

If you follow every feeling, every doubt and every

hesitation, those things end up in a fully rotten place.

It takes the crucifixion of flesh, it takes the cutting out

of that little spot that shouldn't have been there, so

that things can then be healed, so that things can then be

strengthened. So we don't want to.

Normalize doubt, although we have room for it, we then take

it to the Lord so it doesn't become unbelief, because

unbelief is a hard heart where seed cannot grow in whichever

area you may be dealing with unbelief.

So Jesus is affirming John, and he's saying he's not a swaying

Reed. So down on the Jordan River,

just like a lot of rivers, there's reeds.

And what are reeds? Stiff, or are they pliable?

They bend and flow with the wind.

And this is a point that Jesus keeps making in this passage

with John. He says John is hard, this world

is soft, John is consistent, this world is unfaithful.

And he holds John up as the pillar to be emulated and to be

copied. And he makes a point here about

masculinity. And I'm going to prove it to

you. We're going to look in a little

bit of the Greek so you can understand a little bit more of

the context of what's going on. But John is not flimsy.

He's not flimsy. He doesn't bend when Herod's

wife threatens him. And or here's or here's the

rumors. Hey, John, pipe down on these

sermons about Herod and Herodias and their affair and their

adultery. Like, you know, just stay out of

their bedroom. That's really not your business.

You know, be be a nice guy. He doesn't bend when the

Pharisees question him. He doesn't bend when people are

put off by his message or by his his methods.

Jesus is proud of John and he holds him up as an example for

all of us to learn from. I want to read a quote to you

from a a dead a dead preacher. Again, everybody's favorite kind

of preachers are the dead ones. AW Tozer, He, he lived from the

late 1800s, died in like 1963. Tozer said this If Christianity

is to receive a rejuvenation, it must be by other means than by

some means now being used. If the church.

In the second-half of this century, this is a man who died

in 1963. If the Church in the second-half

of this century is to recover from the injuries that she

suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of

leader. The proper ruler of the

synagogue type will never do. Neither will the priestly type

of man who carries out his duties, takes his pay, asks no

questions. Nor the smooth talking pastoral

type who knows how to make the Christian religion acceptable to

everyone. All these have been tried and

found wanting. Another kind of religious leader

must arise among us. He must be the old.

Prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and who has heard

a voice from the throne. When he comes.

And I pray. There will not be one, but many.

He will stand in flat contradiction to everything our

smooth, smirking civilization holds dear.

That is John the Baptist and we don't just need one, we need a

million and one. In verse 8, Jesus says what

then? Did you go out to see a man

dressed in soft clothing? So the word soft here, we have

to look into Greek a little bit here to get some more context.

The word soft here is not merely a reference to fabric.

We know John wore camel skins and camel hair, which is

scratchy and uncomfortable. We know John ate locusts and the

honey. John is a lean, scrappy prophet

who is not too interested in what you think about him.

He's not trying to present himself so well to you as much

as he is eager to present the Lord Jesus to the whole world.

But this word soft here is the Greek word malachus.

This word is only used in one other place.

It's actually used in Luke, but it's the same story where Jesus

is explaining John. He's saying he's not soft.

The other context it's used is in First Corinthians 6, where

it's describing effeminate men and homosexuals.

Where the Lord is rebuking this softness, it's the same word.

So it's very likely that all these ideas were being conveyed

together. Jesus is not merely making a

fabric reference. John doesn't wear cotton, he

wears camel skin. But John's also, Jesus is also

referencing men who are not effeminate, men who are not

soft, men who are not pliable, men who are not passive.

I won't go too much into. Detail in the definition of the

word. You can go look it up later and

you can see that I am underselling the point rather

than overselling it. So Jesus is commending John as a

great man, as a firm man. Let's say what's obvious and

let's say what's true. It's one of the values in our

church. We have different values.

One of those values is we fight where the fight is.

So that doesn't mean every single week in the pulpit, I'm

I'm pounding the pulpit on, on what was in the news cycle.

Obviously not. I'm not preaching the news to

you. I'm preaching the word of God to

you. And when the Word of God though

brings us the obvious opportunity for moments that are

cultural in our day, don't be naive and don't be deceived.

Don't be a pliable Christian who thinks our pastor is too

political. Every pastor should be political

because everything is political. Because Jesus is king over

everything and everybody and everywhere and everything is his

jurisdiction. And what is the churches

responsibility in the earth? To be the pillar of the truth,

the government's responsibility. Punish the evil doer, reward the

righteous. That's it.

That's your jurisdiction. Well, they've overstepped that.

Yes, indeed, they have in a massive, massive way, in a

million different ways, but that's their role.

It's a God-given Jesus Christ assigned role.

The household has a God-given Jesus Christ assigned role, and

the church has a God-given Jesus Christ assigned role.

The church is to clarify to the other two spheres what is truth,

what is male, what is female? It's not our government's job to

define that. That's out of their

jurisdiction. Hey, hey, that's not your role.

We've got that where the church will tell you what that's about.

Well, says who? Well, says Jesus.

God in the beginning created them.

Male and female, young men, young women.

It means something to be male. It means something to be

masculine. If you're a boy, it's good to be

a boy. If you're a girl, it's good to

be a girl. If you're a man, you should seek

to be more manly. There's a way to be more

masculine. There's a way to be less

masculine. There's a way to be more

feminine. There's a way to be less

feminine. And this is a part of our

sanctification. This is part of our

sanctification. God did not make us generic

humans. You're not a generic Christian.

You're a man as a Christian. You're a woman as a Christian,

and your Christianity even has a different look depending on it.

There's many, many, many things that are unified, obviously, and

yet there are particulars, which is why the Scripture even

commands men to act like men. The implication being a man

could be a man and yet not act in a manful way.

So Jesus is affirming and commending this masculine

strength in John because that's what a man should be.

That's appropriate for Father's Day, isn't it?

He's saying John's not soft and even in saying.

This John is mocking or Jesus is mocking and taking a jab at

Herod, Mr. Nice Jesus. I know he didn't have the

bracelet yet they said what would Jesus do?

So he he didn't know any of the Western nonsense that was trying

to soften him. He's mocking Herod and those in

the palace and he because he goes.

Did you go to see a soft man? No.

You know who wears soft clothing?

Those in King's houses, they're not thinking about fairy tale

kings like you and I may be. They're thinking about literally

King Herod. They know where his palace is.

The one who put John in his dungeon.

Jesus is mocking that. And that whole political sphere.

Bunch of wimps, a bunch of Nancy's, a bunch of pansies.

We have other language that we use for it in men, in men's

circles. We don't use as much in front of

you ladies, but you know what we're talking about.

You say that, yes. Why?

Because we want to mock effeminacy in one another.

Why? Because it's bad.

Effeminacy in men is bad. So we correct one another, we

tease one another, we do it in fun ways, we can do it in

stronger ways. And we say, hey man, nice shirt,

thanks. Do they make it for men?

Like we can tease one another and play, but why?

Because we always want to call one another into a stronger

masculinity. I want you to be strong.

I want you to be stiff. I want you to be firm as a man

because that's what the Lord intends.

You to be in which ways will the most important way faithfulness

to God faithfulness to God. The way John the Baptist was to

say I'm going to be faithful to God, well, we're going to cut

your head off. We're going to fire you from

your job. We're going to demote you.

We're going to take away your social media account.

I didn't say you wouldn't do any of those things.

I said what I was going to do. I'm going to be faithful to God.

Oh, you thought I could be bought.

Oh, you thought I would be afraid?

I understand. Good try, but no, I won't.

Well, we'll kill you. Jesus warned that all that's

coming. They'll flog you in their

synagogues. They'll drag you before courts.

These are the kinds of things that I want to prepare my sons

for. I think they'll have to face

worse things than I faced. I think my grandchildren have to

face even worse things and. The one of the.

Priorities, like I said at the beginning of service, is that

they actually meet and walk with the Lord face to face.

Not just Daddy's conviction, not just talking points.

Not just the thing I'm supposed to remember.

But it's only a man who's met and been with the Lord.

It's only a woman who has seen him face to face that will have

conviction on that day. Because otherwise you're trying

to remember a script. What's the line?

What's the party line? What are we supposed to say?

What are we supposed to do? Jesus is king.

Whatever that means for me, let it.

Mean it, We'll throw you in the fire.

You, you throw me wherever you need to.

Just know I will never bow down to your idol.

I will never bow down to your idol.

That's John the Baptist. He comes in the Spirit.

And power of who? Elijah.

That was the prophecy. That was what the Angel told

Zechariah. He says your wife's going to

give birth to a son and he's coming in the spirit and the

power of Elijah. Elijah was just a sweetheart of

a prophet, right? Remember your Old Testament?

Just a nice guy. He wanted to make sure that all

the prophets of Baal had a seat at the table, right?

A seat at the table. And that the phrase we're

supposed to use nowadays is that right?

Let's make sure everybody has a seat at the table.

Isn't that gross? It's very gross.

Often men in King's houses are specifically in King's Houses or

White Houses or Congress houses or other places in politics or

in the workplace. Why?

How have they been able to ascend many?

It's because they are soft, because they are pliable, and

because. They have been swayed because

you can be bent to the party line and that makes you useful

to us. And therefore you get promoted

and you will say, and there will come a day where you have to say

the thing that we need you to say.

So you can fake it and you can pretend whatever you want.

But when it comes time to vote on that particular issue on that

day, here's how you'll vote. And then you can go mealy

mouthed in front of the press, and you can go mealy mouthed

again. And you can persuade and and

deceive naive Christians. Who thought I thought he was our

guy? Like I'm still your guy?

Here's why I voted in a way that proves that I'm not your guy.

But you can believe me. Don't be confused, don't be

deceived. There are many liars in the

world. The word of God is safe.

God is faithful, God is true. Who are you talking about?

I have someone in mind, but it's irrelevant.

It's irrelevant. He's a he's we, we were.

Told about about this particular politician when he was put into

his position like. This is the Christian

nationalist your Mama warned you about.

And I was like, let's go Christian nationalism.

And it turns out he's a traitor. But you know what?

That's between him and the Lord. Let's walk faithful.

I don't put my hopes in men. I don't put my hopes in the next

election. I don't put my hopes in

Congress. I don't put my hopes in the

speaker of the House or any other role the government.

Has a limited role underneath King Jesus, but we don't want to

be like these soft and pliable men like reeds, easily swayed,

soft, delicate and dainty. Keep going in verse 9.

What then? Did you go out to see a prophet?

Yes, And I tell you, more than a prophet.

Whoa, prophets are awesome already.

To put John in the category, Prophet Jesus goes.

John's amazing because the Jews held up their prophets as they

should, and he says more than a prophet.

Wow. More than a prophet, How is John

More than a prophet? Keep going, I tell you.

More than a prophet, this is he of whom it is written.

Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will

prepare your way before you. Truly, I say to you, among those

born among women, there is risen arisen no one greater than John

the Baptist. So how is John greater than a

prophet? John is greater than the rest of

the prophets all combined because John is the last prophet

of the New Testament. They all prophesied about the

sunrise and John is the one who prophecies as the sun comes up,

John gets to be present with Jesus.

Not only that, John's greater than the other prophets because

the other prophets prophecy about John.

He's not just prophesying. All the prophets prophesied

about someone, about the Messiah, as they should.

All the prophets prophesied about Jesus to come, God's

Kingdom. But John is a prophet who has

prophecies about himself. You with me.

So Jesus brags on John. He says there is no one greater

than him. No, no prophet, not Moses, not

Elijah, no one. And then Jesus goes, and yet the

least in the Kingdom, the least in the Kingdom of heaven is

still greater than John. Are you wondering what that

means? You could Don is everybody else

is like, no, I know what that means.

Why don't you have everyone else explain it to Don, since

everybody else knows what's going on?

Yeah. So if, if John is the greatest,

there's no one greater than John.

This is a paradox, right? Jesus does this stuff off and he

says it's like this and it's like that.

Yeah. How can they be?

Well, it must. So there.

There's a way in which. All of these things are true.

So the least in the Kingdom of heaven is that me?

Am I least in the Kingdom of heaven?

Maybe. Is it you?

Am I least in the Kingdom of heaven?

Or even still on this side of the cross and on this side of

the resurrection? It doesn't mean that you and I

have greater character than John.

It doesn't mean we have a greater ministry calling the

John. It doesn't mean we can be a

greater prophet than John. It does mean that we have a

greater light than John because like I said, John prophesied the

sunrise. But as John's ministry was being

fulfilled, Jesus's ministry begins and John's ends

instantly. He says he must decrease and he

must increase, and I must decrease and decrease.

He does. He vanishes.

He's taken into prison where he stays until his head gets cut

off. And Jesus's ministry continues

to elevate John. Congratulations, you're the

greatest of all prophet. And of course you would have to

die for it because that's what happens to great prophets.

They're not nice guys. They're not loved by all.

And then of course, John ultimately does get superseded

by truly the greatest of the greatest of the greatest, which

is of course Christ himself in his own category.

Wouldn't even compare anyone to him.

He's incomparable. So we have this privilege.

How are we greater than John the Baptist 'cause we have this

privilege now of living in the sunrise and living in the

sunlight. We live in the new covenant with

God. We are born again and made a new

creation. John dies before the cross.

He's still looking ahead to what's to come.

And you and I get to look back and say, now all that daylight

washes over us. In this sense, we're greater

than John the Baptist and that we have the fullness of the

light of the Kingdom now being born again and made a new

creation. We look back to the cross and

the resurrection as new creation Saints.

But John was still a prophet looking forward.

It's in that sense that we're greater because now we have a

greater perspective, not. Better than, but better off.

Because we have the new and the better covenant keep going in

verse 12 from the days until John the Baptist until now, the

Kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it

by force. There's, there's three main

interpretations of this passage I'm going to share with you.

The one obviously that that I think is most accurate, but

everybody's not unified on this. You know, faithful believers

say, well, I think it's going here.

I think he was going here with this.

I think he was going there with that.

Some would say, so for the days of John the Baptist that that

wasn't that long ago when Jesus is preaching right from the days

until John the Baptist until now, 18 months ago, from the

days until John the Baptist until now, maybe something like

that. Jesus is saying the Kingdom of

heaven has suffered violence. So some would say that the

Kingdom of heaven is experiencing the violence of

people who are pressing into it in a good way, people who are

repenting and coming in and saying, yes, this is a, this is

a violent thing and the Kingdom of heaven's enduring it and

violent men advance through it. The thing I think is most

likely, considering the context of the persecution Jesus was

just sharing with his disciples here and now, the persecution

that John is now experiencing is this approach and that is simply

that persecution is coming against the Kingdom of heaven

from the outside. The Kingdom of heaven is

experiencing and enduring these violent things.

Violent men are taking these things by force.

They took John by force. They're going to take his life

by force. Jesus is saying they're going to

take me by force. But what's the point of what

Jesus is saying? The violin are taking it by

force and he goes from all the prophets, all the prophets and

the law of prophesied until John.

So he's he's connecting all these dots.

And I think when you read it all together, I think the point that

Jesus is making is violence comes against his people and it

takes strength to endure. Be strong.

Pressure is coming. You want to be strong.

Like the prophets. And like we said at the

beginning of service, what made them unique?

Did they just get superpowers to endure?

No, they didn't. The superpower to endure is

meeting with the Lord. That's the secret.

What's the secret sauce? Meeting with the Lord and

walking with him, that's your ticket.

That's your secret. Not this book, that book, that

conference, that preacher. Your secret, your ticket is to

be the one who meets with him with an unveiled face.

That's your guarantee to faithfulness.

That's how you'll endure whatever may come, because when

you're faithful to the Lord. It's going to cost you.

Being a faithful, righteous man in a wicked age will cause you

to die alone. John found that out.

Jesus found that out. Jesus knew that that was his

whole purpose in coming. Paul found that out.

Many of the disciples found that out.

Many faithful Saints have found that out over time.

Why? Remember persecution?

Remember the way it works. Don't be confused.

You will not be thrown in prison just because you're minding your

own business and you just love Jesus so much.

You will be thrown in prison because you refuse to bow down

to the false gods of the age. That is what it will always be.

You'll always be called something false.

You'll be called a hateful bigot, a homophobic, whatever.

It will always. Be you.

Don't bow down to this God. Well, I bow down to Jesus.

No, that's fine. You can have Jesus, but also

give your pinch of incense to this God.

We said no. No, I'm not bound down to your

demon God. Don't call him that.

Well, I did, and he is, and Jesus is king now.

Now you're in big trouble. I didn't say I wasn't in big

trouble. I'm just saying I will not offer

your God anything except mockery and lots of it in the spirit and

power of Elijah. And this pleases the Lord.

That's what faithfulness looks like.

There's a stiffness to the Christian life.

That's what manfulness is, so that's why I'm challenging you.

Particularly, the men act like men.

Be. Strong.

That's what righteous men do. We hold the standard.

We hold the line, we hold the perimeter.

That's one of the reasons we test one another.

Hey, I'm poking at you. You're poking at me.

We're teasing and we're testing. You're strong.

You're strong. Why?

Because one day we're going to have to hold a perimeter

together and I want to know. Who's beside me?

Are you faithful? Can I count on you?

Can I trust you? What if you can't?

Well then, God help me to stay faithful to the end, Paul said.

Everyone left me. He said.

Everyone left me, he said. But I don't count it against

them because the Lord stood. Beside me and strengthened me.

He's like, if they hadn't left me, maybe I wouldn't have gotten

that supernatural extra blessing of the Lord coming and standing

beside me, he says. So you know what, Lord, forgive

them for their weakness. Lord, keep me faithful to the

young. As Paul moves up through the

Roman courts and in his last days as he's writing his letters

and he writes second Timothy, go read Second Timothy.

That's Paul's last letter. He says, I'm like a drink

offering. Get ready to be poured out.

He knew it was coming. He knew he was going to be

poured out out of his neck when his head was cut off.

He knew what Nero was going to do to him.

He says, but I'm going all the way to the top to tell this

false God who really is king because he loved Nero, because

he loved this whole broken world and everybody in it, because God

had been so merciful to Paul and Paul wanted to share the love of

God with the world, but he was a stiff man.

He wasn't a Reed who's being swayed.

Hey, preserve your life, use wisdom, be wise.

Also known as bow down to the false God.

Just temporarily bowing down isn't that big of a deal.

Just like bending your back. It doesn't mean anything.

Just getting on your knees. It doesn't mean anything.

No, it means something. I can't do that.

That's the whole point. It means something.

It means something to those who are enforcing it.

And that's the problem with the mob.

They'll never be satisfied with whatever you.

Do the boundaries will always move, always move.

That's the bondage that Satan brings people into.

That's the bondage of fear in the in the in the world.

The line used to be here. Now it was enough to say this.

Now you also have to say that. What else do I have to say?

Well, now you have to say this and now you have to say that the

line will keep moving and Satan goes.

I love these naive Christians. They believe that there's such a

thing as neutrality that like, we could all just be kind of

neutrality, Hey, you do your thing.

I do my thing. Satan loves it as he continues

to shove the church off the Cliff and.

We're like, whoa, we want to be nice.

Jesus was nice. Sorry, world, the church is

supposed to be stiff and immovable, a lighthouse that

stands firm in the middle of the hurricane.

The hurricane keeps raging. Move.

Nah, I'm not moving. I'm gonna stay right here, and

I'm gonna keep my light on, too. That means there's a joy in it.

There's a joyful delight. There's a joyful swagger in the

church. We're not afraid of these

things. And we're not angry at people.

We don't wrestle with flesh and blood.

This is a spiritual war. So we do hate our enemy, but our

enemy is a people. Our enemy is the devil.

Verse 14, verse 13 and 14 for all the prophets in the law

prophesied until John. Jesus is showing again.

John is the culmination. Matthew's showing that again to

the Jewish readers. What?

It all leads up to John. What's the significance of John?

I'm so glad you asked. The significance of John is

Jesus. For all the.

Prophets in the law prophesied and tell John, and if you are

willing to accept it, he is the Elijah to come.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear John's Elijah.

Elijah's John. What?

What's happening here? Well, the Angel clarified it for

Zechariah. He's going to come in the spirit

and the power of Elijah. He is not Elijah the person.

John the Baptist and Elijah the person are two separate people.

And yet John is the Elijah to come.

He came in the spirit and the power of Elijah.

So the spirit and the power of. Elijah, what does that mean?

So when John was asked, they come to him, the Pharisees, they

asked him that specifically. Are you Elijah?

Because they knew the. Prophecies.

They knew that Elijah would come and they said, are you Elijah?

And John said I'm not Elijah. What?

The Angel said he's Elijah. John says I'm not Elijah.

Jesus says that was Elijah. Later he'll say later Jesus will

say it again, that was Elijah. Which is it?

Well, what was going? On there I think is John is

basically trolling the Pharisees and and the Sadducees when

they're coming and asking him. Are you Elijah?

And he knows how they're thinking, very literally.

Are you Elijah and John goes no, I'm just a voice of the one

crying out in the wilderness. Prepare prefer you the way of

the Lord because they wanted to emphasize the Elijah Ness of it

all, and he wasn't going to let. Them do that.

He's Elijah. He's Elijah.

Stop. You're missing the point you

morons. It's about Jesus and he.

John understood his mission. John understood he was never

supposed to be anybody and Jesus.

Said that's why. I love him.

So much. He's the greatest because he

pointed all the way to me. John, are you Elijah?

No. What?

I'm just the one who's saying. Prepare you the way of the Lord

like we wanted you to be Elijah. That'd have been so cool.

He's not interested in them lifting him up as the Elijah.

He knows who he is, which is why he trolled them and told them

now. And now Jesus says if you can

receive it, John's Elijah like, but he said he was and he's

like, I know he is though. John is Elijah and he came in

the spirit and the power of Elijah.

So Jesus is explaining that John really is Elijah, not exactly

the same person, but a bold spirit filled ministry.

So remember Elijah now we mentioned him earlier.

What did Elijah look like? Elijah?

Do you remember what he did with the prophets of bail?

He had the competition, the contest.

He said, all right, here's what we're going to do.

You're going to set up an altar and you're going to call for and

we're going to say whichever God sends down fire, that's the true

God. So you can set up your

sacrifice. You guys can go first.

So they set up their sacrifice and then they begin to worship

and cry out to Baal and say Baal send fire, Baal send fire, Baal

send fire. And Elijah doesn't just sit back

and go take your time. He he starts mocking them around

midday. He mocks them hysterically.

He says, guys, maybe you should be louder.

Maybe you just need to be louder.

Maybe he's asleep. Maybe he's going to the

bathroom. Maybe he's going away on a trip.

Beat louder. So these people, these demonic

people work themselves up to him to a frenzy.

They're screaming. They're cutting themselves with

rocks. I just like these morons.

And he mocks them, and he mocks their God.

And John comes in the spirit and the power of Elijah, and he

says, call on and call on and call him in all day, and no fire

comes down. And John says God's turn.

Elijah says God's turn and he goes and he sets it up.

He says pour water on the sacrifice.

Pour water on the sacrifice. This isn't how you light things

on fire. Pour water on the sacrifice.

Dig a trench, pour water on the sacrifice.

The rocks are soaked, the sacrifice is soaked, and there's

a trench full of water around the entire altar.

Pour in more water, Pour in more water until water is flowing

away from the whole thing. And then God of course brings

fire from heaven. And then?

Do you remember your Bible? Elijah turns to all them and

says, now aren't you sorry? God bless you all.

I hope you learned a great lesson here today.

He says, grab every single one of the prophets, don't let him

get away. And then he cuts all their heads

off down by the river. That's right, Elijah, that

wasn't very nice. That's why I named my son

Elijah. He's going to have a powerful

ministry That's a joke, but that will but that'll probably show

up in my trial someday. That line it'll be it'll be

funny. We'll laugh.

We we make a joke in my family about are the trials that we're

going to stand on someday and all the audio clips and video

clips from niece, from myself and my boys that all.

Did you say that? Yes, I did.

Would you like to recant? Nah, get the truck, get let's

go. We all know where this is going.

I'm not backing off anything, Just do it.

That's what Elijah was like, not yielding to the gods of his day.

So he didn't work to make sure the prophets of Baal had a seat

at the table. But like I said earlier, we love

our dead prophets, don't we? They're the heroes.

But the ones alive today, we think they're too hard, we think

they're too stiff, We think they should be more yielding and more

compromising. But this is the very point that

Jesus is making. He doesn't want compromise.

Verse 16 But to what shall I compare this generation?

So he's been talking about John. Here's what I think about John,

everybody. And they're like, oh wow, he

sees a lot, He thinks a lot about John.

He goes, but what should I say about this generation, this

leadership, this rulership, this system in place?

You want to know how to think about that?

I'm like, oh, I bet it's about to get heated.

It's like children sitting in the marketplaces calling to

their playmates. So there were two games that

children would have likely played because there were two

big feasts and things that were taking place, wedding and

funeral. So the wedding would be a

celebration. The funeral would be the sad

thing. But remember, whenever someone

would die, you would pay people to come mourn professional

mourners. So children being children would

would mock. So you'd be walking down the

Parade St. doing this service during this ceremony and these

professional mourners are and the kids in the distance.

Like like, like making fun of these people, like they're

crying because they're paid to cry.

And the wealthier you are, the more mourners you could afford

to come to your funeral. Your loving the funeral.

All these people and all the kids are like, children have a

way of like pointing out the obvious thing.

Right. And making it like.

Don't do that. Why are we doing this like just?

Roll with it, OK? I know it doesn't make any

sense. Adults are prideful, and we need

you to learn how to be prideful like us.

But Jesus is is saying this present generation is like

these. Children playing these games in

the street. Because children will also say,

hey, play the flute. We'll play wedding.

A wedding would be a multi day feast that kids would have loved

and looked forward to in their culture.

And a funeral would have been something that they would have

seen often that they would have also played.

So we played the flute for you, but you didn't dance.

We couldn't manipulate you and get you to do what we wanted you

to do. Hey, I'm playing the flute.

Play wedding with me now. I played the flute.

John the Baptist. We're playing the flute.

Now it's time to play wedding game.

John's like, no, I'm good. I'm going to do what I'm going

to do. OK, We'll we'll play the funeral

game. We're sing, we're singing the

dirge. Do that with us.

And Jesus goes, Nah, Nah, I'm going to do what I'm going to

do. He says this is this present

generation, do this, John goes no, do this.

Then Jesus goes no, for John came neither eating nor

drinking, and they say he has a demon.

And the Son of man came eating and drinking.

And they say, look at him a glutton and a drunkard, a friend

of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her.

Deeds. They won't be satisfied with

anything. John and Jesus ministries look

different, but they were both faithful to God.

One of them is eating locusts and honey in the wilderness.

Like a wild man. And the other one is he's he's

going to parties, he's going to events, he drinks wine and

they're like a glutton, a drunkard, a friend of tax

collectors and sinners. Jesus pointing out to you,

faithful Christian, you can't be moved by the mob because the mob

won't be satisfied with either end of godliness because the mob

hates godliness because the mob isn't influenced by God.

So there's no place you can go that would appease them, except

the mushy middle, and that's the one place you have to stay away

from. Well, just stay pliable.

Remain a Reed who will sway and who will bend.

I won't sway. I won't be bent, I won't yield.

Jesus is correcting and mocking the.

Foolish perspectives that people had about John and then also

about him. John's too judgmental.

Jesus is too loose. Bend to our pressure.

Yield to our demands. But the firm man stares those

demons in the eyes and says no, because he loves God and because

the mob will never stop moving and it will never stop trying to

move you. You've got to realize this.

But again, these are helpful pieces of knowledge.

But these are not the same thing as the deep revelation of seeing

him face to face. That's the protection, not just

knowing the rules of engagement and how to navigate manipulators

and culture. I think there's a lot of wisdom

in understanding how to navigate and how to stand up against

manipulative conversation and, and, and gaslighting

conversation. I think there's wisdom in that.

But even if you don't have any of that, like I said earlier,

you can be as dumb as a box of rocks.

And if you have met with the Lord, then you can just go, That

ain't right. That's all I know.

I just know it ain't right. Something ain't right here and

you can't get me to do the wrong thing.

Explain that to me. I don't know that.

I have the words to be able to do it, but I'm not going to do

it. Well, if you can't make your

point, I can't make a point about it.

I can't articulate. I can't say it.

I heard somebody say it one time, but I can't say it the

same way they said it. But I can't do it.

I can't violate my conscience. And the Holy Spirit is trying to

protect me right now. Well, make a point then.

If you can't explain it, then you must.

You're a bigot. You're A and now all the

accusation comes, Well, you cave.

Well, you cave. I can't answer any of your

objections, but I still say to you I will never bow down to

your idol. I will never bow down to your

idol, and if I get delivered from the fire, great, and if I

don't, great, I'm still delivered from the fire.

One way or another, I am delivered from the fire.

Jesus says those who are faithful to the end, those who

endure to the end will be saved. So Jesus compares John with soft

men back and forth in this passage, Jesus defends and

affirms John. He will do the same thing for

you when you're faithful to him because you still are greater

than John. As you get to walk with Jesus,

as you get to be faithful to Jesus, Jesus loves you the same

way Jesus loves John. Jesus cares about you and knows

about you the same way he does John the Baptist, his second

cousin, who he grew up playing with, who was six months older

than him, who they had both been prophesied about.

He will do the same for you when you're faithful to him, and

God's wisdom will prove out completely in the end.

That's what Jesus means when he says, yet wisdom is justified by

her deeds. Why doesn't he just say it more

plainly? That is the condemnation and the

judgement and the wrath of God against the prideful.

The very fact that he won't make it more plain is for the

prideful. It's a blockage for them.

They can't get past it. They're not curious enough to

stick around. They're not humble enough to sit

at the master's feet. The disciples later can always

go, hey, Jesus, I'm kind of dumb.

So what did that mean? He goes, you are kind of dumb.

Let me explain. Let me help you.

Let me teach you. Let me disciple you.

But you're you're humble and you're here versus the one who

goes that don't make no sense. I'm out of here.

And he goes, Yep, it's working, it's working.

I'm always sifting. He doesn't want to push anyone

away, but the way he ministers always divides.

We saw that before. He comes not to bring peace, but

a sword. And the sword always comes and

divides. And if there's not division

between light and dark, then that should concern you.

Should we walk wisely? Yeah.

He already commanded us to do so.

Walk in wisdom. Wise as a serpent.

It means I'm hard to hit. I'm wise as a serpent, but I am

as innocent as a dove. I will not break my convictions

and sin in that process. So wise doesn't mean cowardly.

Wise can never mean bendable. Even though a serpent is

Serpentine, I'm not being bent by others.

I'm wisely paying attention to my environment and my situation.

Lauren, help me to stay faithful and when it comes down to it,

when I'm asked point blank and when there's no way dodging it,

no king, I will. I did not bow down to your

statue. I will not bow down to your

statue. No matter what.

Well, you only have to do it for this or that or the other.

I never will, under no circumstance.

Why? Because I want to be who God has

called me to be. I want to walk faithful to Jesus

because he's worth it. Because he's worthy.

And someday even sermons like this are going to seem stupid.

20,000 years from now we're going to go.

Remember when we needed courage? That was crazy.

Remember when we're standing in his glory, when he's made a new

heaven and a new earth and we're ruling and reigning with him

100,000 years from now, 200,000 years from now and we're just

ruling and reigning together in love, walking with Jesus,

walking with the Father and we're going to go.

Remember when we were scared of people?

That was crazy. I really that was a long time

ago. Jesus delivered us from it all

and he has reset the garden and the snake is suffering forever

and and and the and Babylon smoke will rise up forever and

in the judgment and wrath of God, be watchful, stand firm in

the faith, act like men, be strong and let all that you do

be done in love. Heavenly Father God, we ask that

you'll bring us to a deeper place of revelation of you.

We need to see more of you. We need to know more of you.

John knew exactly where to take his doubts.

He knew exactly where to take his fears.

Let that be our response. Let that be our concern.

Let that be the same response that we have to bring everything

to you and then to be strengthened again and again and

again. God keep us faithful, help us to

endure like a good soldier all the way to the end.

Whatever our end looks like, we don't choose it.

We don't design it. We just want to walk faithful

today because we are carrying the good news of the gospel of

the Kingdom. There is a King, His name is

Jesus, and that's good news for every person, because Jesus took

your sins on his cross. He carried them in his body.

The perfect man was treated like a guilty man so that all the

guilty men could become perfect in Christ.

And now the Father looks upon his church and he sees his Son's

blood, and he is pleased. So he has given him the name

that is above every name, and he will make his enemies his

footstool. God, I pray you would grow us in

strength as men. I pray that you would grow us in

strength as Christians, that we would be godly men, that we

would be godly women, that we would be godly boys and godly

girls. Faithful to you, faithful to

you, faithful to you. Thank you for strength.

Thank you for your example. Thank you for your

encouragement. Make us a blessing to our

brothers and our sisters when we see them struggling, when we see

them attacked, when we see them surrounded by hungry lions.

Help us to be the Saint who runs, to join them in the center

of the arena so that they wouldn't suffer alone and that

we could rejoice together. To to be counted worthy to

suffer for the name, whether that suffering comes from the HR

department or a dungeon, or a kangaroo trial or pressure at a

family cookout. Make us wise as serpents,

innocent as doves, and doing all that we do in love.

We thank you Lord, in Jesus name.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine down upon you and be gracious to

you. The Lord lift up his countenance

upon you and give you great peace in Jesus name.

Amen. Yes.