Matthew pt. 36 - Faithful and Struggling

Matthew Chapter 11. If you want a title for this

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

one, I've got one for you. Usually I don't.

Faith, faithful and struggling. Faithful and struggling.

Those things can live together. Did you know that you can be

faithful and you can still be struggling?

We're about to see somebody who is faithful but still

struggling. Jesus has just finished.

Remember, he commissioned his 12, He prepared them, He warned

them, He said, hey everybody, I'm sending you out into the

harvest. And then he said, by the way,

it's going to be really difficult for you.

You're going to be like sheep among wolves.

People are literally going to kill you because of me.

As the message that Jesus gave, He never lied.

He never tricked anybody. He never deceived anybody.

He never once said follow me and everything's going to be super

easy all the time. He never implied it, He never

insinuated it. He told the truth from the

beginning. He knew what he was worth.

And he also said, Hey, let me also tell you, if you try and

hold on to everything, you're going to lose your whole life

and your eternity. But if you, if you lose

everything for my sake, you're going to gain everything anyway.

So there's great promises that God gives.

There's great promises that Jesus gives his disciples and

most importantly, he's worth it all.

So he gives the disciples those warnings.

And now we're going to go and zoom in on somebody who has

already tasted and seen and experienced the persecution that

his disciples that the 12 are going to start experiencing and

that his whole church is going to experience overtime.

So we'll read verses one through 6.

When Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples, he

went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ,

he sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the one

who is to come, or shall we look for another?

And Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you hear and see.

The blind receive their sight and the lame walk.

Lepers are cleansed, and the deaf here, and the dead are

raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them.

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.

God, help us to not be offended, not just by your word, but by

whatever it is you want to do in our lives.

We want your will to be done, not ours.

That's why we pray that prayer help our will to align with

yours even more so this morning and give us revelation even into

the mysteries of the things that we don't quite understand and

give us peace when it's something that's out of our

jurisdiction entirely. In Jesus name we thank you,

Amen. You can be faithful and you can

still be struggling. That is exactly what we see here

with John the Baptist, a man in prison.

We're even going to review though and remember who John the

Baptist was. This is a man who in this

moment, let's be really clear what John was doing.

John was saying, hey, Jesus, are you really the Messiah?

He might go, why is that such a big deal?

Aren't people wondering that question?

I'm going to show you why that's a really, really, really,

really, really, really, really big deal.

We're going to look at John's life.

We're going to look at the prophecies.

We're going to look at him and growing up with Jesus.

We're going to look at all that led up and all of John's

ministry to now. John the Baptist comes to this

moment in his place in his life where he goes, Jesus, are you

really the one? He's got doubt.

He's got something he's struggling with.

He's got pain that he's feeling. He's got probably lies that have

been whispered to him. But before we get there, we're

going to look right in in verse one here at Jesus.

Jesus in his in his mission, we're going to point this out.

Jesus goes on, he sends the 12 out.

He says, you guys go that way. And then he says, I'm going to

go this way. And he begins to go into the

harvest, right? Jesus didn't just send others

into the harvest. Jesus said, I am also here to go

into the harvest. Jesus was our example in every

way. He gives us the perfect example

of how to live. He gives us the perfect example

of how to die. He was truly a man on a mission,

but not on a selfish mission. He was on a man on a mission in

submission to his Father, and it was driven by his love for

others, for the joy set before him.

Jesus endured the cross, and for the same reason you and I

endured the cross in our lives, whatever it may be, whatever

challenges may come because of the name of Jesus, because you

will not bow down to the gods of this age or any other age.

It's the same gods, by the way. It's the same demons.

They manifest in different ways. They manifest under a different

banner. Whether it was Molech or whether

it was a right to choose or any other name, it's all the same

demons that have existed for a long time.

We still reject them. We still won't bow down to them,

no matter what their name is. We only honor King Jesus.

So Jesus understands that his disciples are going to

experience persecution, but he doesn't just sit back.

He's not the king who sends his army for it.

He's the King who led the way. Remember, our God is the one who

left heaven and came to earth. He walked in the dirt where

every other God, false God, non existent God, demands things of

his people that they would do better, that they would try

harder. But Jesus comes and leads the

way in every single example. So what does Jesus go and do?

Jesus goes to teach and to preach in the cities.

Teaching means explanation. He's explaining things to them

and preaching. That's proclamation.

What was Jesus teaching? What was Jesus preaching?

I wonder, is there any possible way we could know?

Yes, you already know. Remember the Sermon on the

Mount? That was the gospel.

That's the message of the Kingdom.

The Scripture says that Jesus, when he started his ministry, he

started off preaching and teaching.

Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent. That implies that he's made a

judgment about something, doesn't it?

Let's just keep saying obvious things.

Jesus makes judgments. He he tells his church to make

judgments. Judgment is not the same thing

as condemnation. We don't condemn people, but we

can judge right and wrong. We can judge and say the lights

are on. We can judge and say, you just

punched me in the face. That's a judgment that that was

a wrong thing that you did. I'm also going to make a moral

judgment about what you did. It was wrong.

And now I've judged that person, haven't I?

Everyone say yes, because it's true and also it's not a bad

thing if I condemn them and say therefore you're doomed forever.

Well, now I've gone into the condemnation.

We reject that. We want to walk in forgiveness

towards our enemies, but we are right and wise to make

judgments. So Jesus is teaching, Jesus is

preaching and he is commanding people repent for the Kingdom of

heaven is at hand. But what was he preaching?

What was he teaching? He was continuing to preach and

teach some element or the whole or more than the Sermon on the

Mount. This is what the Kingdom of

Heaven is like. Blessed are those who are meek,

for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are those who mourn what just cry when someone dies?

No, blessed are those who mourn their own sinful state.

Recognize who you are and where you're at.

If you mourn about who you are, then ultimately you'll be

comforted for who God can make you into.

So what did he preach? From day one?

Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And then He went to teach what the Kingdom is like.

That begs the question, right? If he tells you repent, the

Kingdom of heaven's at hand, you're like, I really don't know

what that means. That was the preaching.

He proclaimed something and now he needs to teach you.

Hey, here's what I mean when I say the Kingdom of heaven, it

looks like this and not like that.

You've heard it said this, but I say that.

They go, oh, I don't know if I like that.

I didn't say you would like it. I just told you it's true.

You've heard it said this, but I say that Jesus does it over and

over. The world is upside down and

broken and he turns it right side up and says the enemy is a

pervert. Satan is a pervert.

He distorts and perverts everything.

But the Lord makes it right side and says this is designed, this

is my purpose, purpose. This is the way it's supposed to

look. So this is what Jesus goes out

and and does. And now Jesus presumably is by

himself his 12 or elsewhere. They're still travelling and

John is in prison. John is in prison.

Why? For preaching the truth to King

Herod about King Herod's ongoing adultery with King Herod's

sister-in-law. Mark tells us in his gospel that

Herodias, that's Herod's sister-in-law that he was

committing adultery with. She wanted to put John to death.

She hated him. It says she nursed a grudge

against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not Why?

Because Herod liked him, that's why she wanted to put him to

death for saying these plain and true things.

John making judgments, saying y'all are doing this, that's

bad, don't judge me, I did too late.

And still it's bad and you shouldn't do that.

It's defiling the land is one of the things that was said.

But Herod kept him safe. The scripture even says that

when he heard John preached, he was greatly perplexed and yet he

heard him gladly. What a strange scenario.

What a sad scenario for Herod because ultimately he's a fool

who rejects the message of salvation that was being

preached to him, the message of repentance that was built for

him and given to him. That God loved Herod and

Herodias so much that he gave them their own preacher and

their own sermon. You got your own special

attention to draw you to repentance and you rejected it.

You saw it as a weaponization against you.

You saw it as a hammer and instead it was the scalpel to

remove the cancer to save your life.

And you said, well, that hurts like, well, scalpels hurt and

yet they'll save your life in the hands of the right teacher,

in the hands of the right doctor, in the hands of the

right master. Herod understood.

The Scripture says that John was a man of God.

And Herod had some fear of God, but not enough to repent and not

enough to resist the fear of woman or the the fear of how he

looked to his friends at a party.

But we'll come to that in another time.

But he eventually gives in to the pressure of his mistress,

his wife, his sister-in-law, whatever you want to call her,

who who was convicted of her sin.

And he then has John arrested. So he likes listening to John.

He's like John's like, and you, what are you doing here?

And he starts preaching against him.

And here it's like this is kind of uncomfortable.

He's like pointing out in the middle of the sermon.

But wow, this is a holy and righteous man.

What a what a strange scenario for Herod to I mean, it's just

like just spiritual blindness. It was spiritual blindness.

The enemy's blinding him. And the word is coming, but it

can't really get in. And Herod's just going, this is

fascinating. I will come listen to you again.

Well, listening and listening and listening and listening will

not change your life. But obedience sure will.

Humility sure will. And response to the message sure

will. So eventually he gives in.

He has John arrested because his wife, his mistress, his

girlfriend, his sister-in-law is going.

I hate that. I hate how he's embarrassing.

You know, he preaches this message and now people are

getting more bold about talking about our relationship.

And he goes, all right, all right, I'll put him in prison.

I'll put him in my dungeon. Other history records other than

the Bible tell us that John was in prison in one of Herod's

dungeons for about a year. So one of his dungeons

underneath one of his palaces. And after about a year, John

sends his disciples to Jesus to ask Jesus this question.

Jesus, are you really the one or are you the Messiah?

But let's get back into John's context here.

Let's remember John's mother, Elizabeth was first cousins.

With who? With Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Mary the mother of Jesus, Elizabeth the mother of John are

first cousins, their family. John's parents were past the age

of childbearing. Remember how this happened?

John's birth was prophesied. So remember just quick

clarification. John the Baptist is not the same

one of the the Gospel of John or first John, second John and 3rd

John in the scriptures or the the writer of the Book of

Revelation which is also the same John there.

So John the Baptist's here different scenario, different

person. John's birth was prophesied.

An Angel appeared before John's father Zechariah while he was in

the temple, and the Angel told Zechariah what would happen.

He even told Zechariah that John would be filled with the Holy

Spirit even while John was still in Elizabeth's womb.

Why is all this significant? Because their parents would have

taught them all of this from a very, very, very early age.

Little boy Jesus and little boy John were six months apart.

John is only six months older than Jesus.

Zechariah, Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary would have regularly at

family gatherings and each individually told these boys,

here is how you were born, here is what your purpose is.

They heard this over and over and over and you go, no, maybe

they needed more. Well, there's a lot more.

We're not even halfway finished with John's context yet.

The Angel made Zechariah mute for nine months because

Zechariah doubted the word of the Lord.

He said, I'm Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God and because

you've doubted my words, you want to to know that what I say

is true. You won't be able to speak.

You say something stupid like that, Zechariah.

Now you're not going to be able to talk for nine months.

So he made Zechariah mute for nine months when he doubted the

word of the Lord during John's mother's pregnancy, during

Elizabeth's pregnancy. So now Elizabeth conceives not,

not through the Holy Spirit like Mary did.

Mary was a virgin. Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was not a virgin. So this was still through, this

was still a supernatural thing because they had never had a

child, even though they wanted to.

They're past the age of childbearing.

And now God finally breaks through with that miracle.

But six months into Elizabeth's pregnancy with John, Mary goes

to see her because Mary has been visited by an Angel and Mary has

conceived in her womb. The moment that Mary greets

Elizabeth, she walks up and she says greetings, cousins.

So her cousin Elizabeth is older than her, but she greets her.

The moment that Mary greets Elizabeth, John inside of

Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy at the sound of Mary's voice.

And in that same moment, Elizabeth is filled with the

Holy Spirit. Then what else happens when John

is finally born? There's a lot of people around.

When a baby is born, it's a celebration.

People have gathered and the baby has come.

And of course, people know that Zechariah saw vision nine months

ago, and they just, he just has to write and say, the Lord spoke

to me in the temple. So nine months, you know,

Zechariah can't talk anymore. I guess that's it for him.

But finally they say, what should we name the baby?

What should we name the baby? And John writes on a tablet, his

name is John. And the moment he wrote that

down, his mouth was opened and he begins to speak again.

His mouth is finally opened. He begins to praise God.

He's filled with the Holy Spirit.

He prophecies and he sings what we read earlier.

And when Jesus was born, as you already know, there were many

other miraculous signs. The stars moved to preach and

fulfill prophecy. The night of Jesus birth, heaven

opened up and filled the skies. Hundreds of thousands of

millions of angels fill the sky and these shepherds get to watch

it and they run down the hills into Bethlehem to say here's

what just happened. Just thing after thing,

supernatural miracle after supernatural miracle around

John, around Jesus's birth, to confirm who they both are so

that they can both know who they are.

The shepherds saw it all. They run down to Bethlehem to

see Jesus into worship, to tell Mary, to tell Joseph and Jesus.

And John, of course, their second cousins, they grow up

together. Joseph, Mary, Zachariah,

Elizabeth would have told him all these things again and again

and again. John knows who he is.

John knows what his assignment is.

So in adulthood, when John begins his ministry, John's a

Wildman. He eats locusts.

You ever had a locust? You want that at the OR are

those going to be at the luncheon?

We should do a John the Baptist theme at the luncheon.

That's our theme. Locusts and honey.

Yeah. Honey sweetens it up, I guess.

When asked about his ministry, because he was preaching

repentance, he was preaching for one who was to come.

When asked about his ministry and his assignment, he replied

with prophecy from Isaiah 40 verse three.

He said I am the voice of the one crying in the wilderness.

Make straight the way of the Lord.

As the prophet Isaiah said, they understood what that meant.

John understood what that meant. His listeners understood what

that meant. He's not saying I'm just another

prophet. I'm the last prophet.

I'm the prophet who gets to bring in the Messiah.

All prophets have prophesied about the Messiah.

All Scripture is about Jesus. The whole Bible's about Jesus,

from Genesis to Revelation, everything's about Jesus.

But John says in particular, I'm the one.

I'm not just saying hey everybody do better and make God

happy. It's not the message of any

prophet, by the way. So let me clarify that.

They would say walk in obedience to the Lord and love him and

honor him. But John says I get to announce

the King, He's here. So this is John's message.

This is who he is, This is what he's doing.

He went on to tell them, I baptize you with water.

But among you stands one who you do not know.

So he's saying he's already here.

Among you stands one you don't even know.

Even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I'm not

worthy to untie, John knows who he is.

He knows who he's prophesying for.

The next day, John saw Jesus coming through the crowd and

John said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of

the world. You ever talk about your cousins

that way? We're like, no, my cousins bring

sin into the world. But like, I don't, you know, let

me introduce you to my cousin. My cousin takes away the sin of

the world. John knows who Jesus is, doesn't

he? It seems as though he's got a

clue at this point. His whole life, his whole

mission, he's a Man on Fire, filled with the Holy Spirit in

his purpose and in his calling. And he's going I know who I am.

I'm not worthy to untie his sandals.

I'm telling you all about him. It's all about Jesus the

Messiah. Behold, the Lamb of God who

takes away the sin of the world. After me comes a man who ranks

before me because he was before me.

He says he ranks above me because he was before me.

Wait a second, I thought, John is older than Jesus.

He's six months older than Jesus, right?

Yes, but so how does Jesus come before John?

Again, John is clarifying that he knows that Jesus always

existed. Children, adults, everybody.

Jesus didn't start to exist when he came on to the earth.

He has always been. In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and then

eventually the Word became flesh.

That was just the beginning of Jesus's flesh on the earth.

But Jesus has always been as the Word of God, as a person, a

personality, desire, with anger, with joy, not with any sin.

But the Father, the Son, and the Spirit have always been

together. So he's saying after me comes a

man who ranks before me because he was before me.

I myself did not know him. But for this purpose I came

baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel.

I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it

remained on him. I myself did not know him, but

he who sent me to baptize with water told me so.

This is what the Holy Spirit told John.

John's telling everybody. The Lord told me, here's how it

would work. He on whom you see the Spirit

descend and remained. This is he who baptizes with the

Holy Spirit. John goes on and I have seen and

borne witness that this is the Son of God.

Then he baptizes Jesus and then God the Father says out loud,

out loud so everyone could hear. This is my beloved Son and I am

well pleased with him. Let's keep going.

Then finally when John's disciples came to warn him that

everyone was going to Jesus. So after John had said it's all

about Jesus, his disciples are going, hey, everybody's going to

Jesus now. Like it seems like your ministry

is kind of shrinking and Jesus is is growing.

John replied, A person cannot receive even one thing unless it

is given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness.

You remember that I said I'm not the Christ, but I have been sent

before him. The one who has the bride is the

groom. The friend of the groom who

stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the groom's voice.

Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete.

He's saying finally the groom has come for the bride and I'm

the groom's best friend. So when I hear the groom coming,

I get to announce it. The groom is here, everybody,

the groom's here. He's come to get the bride.

So at that time, that's how it would work.

The groom would come and take the bride from her father's

house and take her to his home. So the the best friend is

saying, hey, the groom's here, everybody.

And John saying this is my joy, this is my purpose.

I just get to be the doorman. I just get to be the announcer.

It's all about the groom. So his disciples like John.

What about our ministry? What about our thing?

John says our thing was him. He's our thing.

He's he's all there is. This joy of mine is now

complete. He must increase, but I must

decrease. He who comes from above is above

all. He who is of the earth belongs

to the earth and speaks in an earthly way.

He who comes from heaven is above all.

He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one

receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony

sets his seal to this, that God is true.

For he whom God sent utters the words of God, for he gives his

spirit without measure. John talking about Jesus.

He's saying Jesus has the Spirit of God without measure.

The Father loves the Son. This is John the Baptist still

talking about Jesus. The Father loves the Son and has

given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has

eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son

shall not see life, but the wrath for God.

But the wrath of God remains on him.

That Saint John is now asking, are you the one who is to come,

or shall we look for another? I hope you're already

encouraged. Have you ever walked through

anything with the Lord that was special?

Have you ever sensed the Lord's nearness, His closeness, his

presence? And then later you doubt it and

you go, Was that the Lord? Was that me?

I'm not so sure about this. Or maybe you just had prayers

that are unanswered. Maybe you just have pain that is

unresolved, like we sang the mountain or the valley, wherever

we are. Maybe you've got all of that.

How long does it take you to doubt whenever you've got pain?

How long does it take you to doubt whenever you've got

unanswered prayer? How long does it take you to to

doubt whenever things just aren't perfect?

Doesn't take me long. It took John about a year and a

dungeon. I don't know that I would have

gone a year and a dungeon before I would have had my my

challenges and my struggles in ancient dungeon in ancient

times. How much trouble and turbulence

does it take for you to doubt all that God has spoken to you?

How much trouble and turbulence does it take for you to doubt

all that God has done for you, all that God has done through

you? For John, it was about a year

and a dungeon, and there's all kinds of dungeons.

Sometimes you'll need to be reassured while you wait.

Sometimes you need to say to the Lord, I know what you said to

me, Lord, but would you just say it again?

Would you just reassure me? Would you just comfort me again?

Lord? I know you spoke.

I believe that was you. I know you moved.

I know you led me in that way. I know you comforted me at that

time. All the confirmations, all the

blessings, all the reward, all the goodness that God has poured

into your life and you go. But this isn't how I thought

this was going to go. I, I, I was ready to have faith,

Lord, for this long. I, I, I had measured it out and

I knew I had enough to get me to hear.

But now we're in this space. I got, I got nothing for here.

What am I supposed to do in this space?

I ran out back here. Where?

What do I do here? Well, thankfully we also have

the answer here. You take your doubt to the one

who can actually do something about it.

You take your pain to Jesus. You take your question to the

Lord. John doesn't sit and wander in

the dungeon and start to pull his disciples unto himself and

go, you know what? Think you guys got to break me

out of here? Maybe I'm the Messiah.

Maybe the like, this guy's not doing what I thought he was

going to do, and maybe the Lord hasn't done what you thought he

was going to do. Maybe John still had a certain

expectation of how Jesus was going to do things.

Maybe John, although he understood his assignment,

still, he's a man. He's still got his own problems,

his own challenges, and he still has his own expectations of.

But really, we are going to overthrow the Romans though,

right? Like because the Messiah brings

peace to the earth, he's supposed to bring peace.

That's what we've been told. That's what the prophecies say.

He's going to bring peace. So that means the Romans have to

be eradicated. That means, like Jesus is going

to be the king, right? But if he's not being the king

and he's just going, what's he doing, John?

He's like preaching and teaching and just kind of still doing the

same thing he was doing when he got arrested.

But our parents told us, it's got to be me.

It's got to be him. This has to be the moment the

stars changed the prophecies. Like all the things that

happened. I heard God the Father say that

Jesus was his Son. But did I hear that?

I, I, I, the Holy Spirit came on him like a dove.

And the Holy Spirit filled me and I spoke those things with

clarity and truth. That was the Lord and not me,

right? This is John's disciples are

sitting there through the prison gates talking to him.

I don't know. I don't know what you tell us.

What do you want? Go ask.

Just ask Jesus if he's the one. Just ask him that for me.

He can't text him. He can't e-mail him.

He can't call him. It's going to be days at least

to get there and then days to come back.

Sometimes we need to be reassured, but John goes to the

one who can reassure him. So many times Christians, when

they're hurt, when they're disillusioned, when they're

discouraged, when they're confused, they turn from the

Lord. And this is the other warning

that Jesus gave. And verse six, Blessed is the

one who is not offended by me. Jesus, I thought you would do it

like this. Blessed is the one who's not

offended by me. Don't be offended by me, Lord.

I thought it would have happened by now.

Lord, I thought you would have answered it this way.

Blessed is the one who's not offended by me.

Stay close to me, stay warm with me.

I love you. I'm your shepherd.

Sometimes you've been praying for something and you haven't

seen the Lord move in the way that you thought he would.

The Lord still loves you. The Lord is still with you.

He hasn't changed. Your perspective is changing and

pain can do that to us. Sometimes if I get my eyes off

of the Lord and I get my eyes on my pain, pain has a way of

distorting and confusing and changing me in bad ways.

It's not inevitable, though. It is not inevitable.

The Lord's love is inevitable, but that's also something for me

to receive. Although John had his doubts, he

took them to the right place. More specifically, he took them

to the right person. This is what you should do.

This is what I should do. Take it to the Lord.

Don't turn away from the Lord. Don't be offended at the Lord.

Don't be angry at the Lord. Often times I've heard people

say God can handle this and God can handle that.

God can handle anything, and yet for your own heart's sake, you

would be very wise to still walk into humility before the Lord.

John doesn't go. What the heck's going on, man?

So John has enough fear and honor and love for the Lord to

even talk to him in the right way.

I'm not saying you don't feel feelings, but I'm saying honor

the Lord in the way you even come to Him still.

He's still a father. My boys could feel frustration

with me and still they need to approach me as their father, not

as a hey dude, I'm sick of you. And now I'm going to talk to you

differently. No, you're going to talk to me

like I'm your father. No matter what you may be

feeling, there's still a way to do that.

And as your father, I'll love you and I'll comfort you and

I'll and I'll do what's best for you.

Can't you handle it? I can handle a lot of things.

But for your heart's sake and for what would please the Lord,

there's still a right way to approach the Lord.

So Jesus is not your homeboy. Jesus is your Lord and your

Master and your King, and he's to be loved and he's to be

honored. And he's also, God is also our

Father. So he is to be approached

knowing that you will be received.

But our life has already looked different than we thought it was

going to. Everybody who's been around for

a few minutes can attest to that, right?

Lord, I thought you would answer it like this.

I thought you would move like that.

And I did not see this coming. This is so surprising.

This is so discouraging. This is so frustrating, but

don't be offended at the Lord. Remember, there's a few things

going on. The world is broken.

We did that, our Father Adam did that, and now we're all born as

sinners. And on top of that, we have an

enemy, Satan. So there are factors that are

working against us. There is actual brokenness in

the world. Things have not yet been fully

restored. That's always in play.

Also, you bring in Joe Michael's own foolishness, his flesh and

his stupidity and yours too. Sure, none of you have any, but

I do, so you bring that into play.

That's a big factor as well. And then the enemy, the devil,

is real. He's not to be feared, but he's

real and he has a limited degree of influence in the earth and in

the world. You add those three factors up.

You come up with calamity and problems and and brokenness and

death and and unanswered prayers.

We see that throughout the Word of God.

But yet when it happens to me, all of a sudden it's like it's

never happened to anyone before. And I go, wow, now I know how

Job felt like any inconvenience in my life like this must be

what it was like for Job. You know that car that pulled

out in front of me and made me late.

I can relate, Job, you and me. I'm exaggerating, but it's not

far off. And yet when we when we see and

Daniel, Daniel prays and he prays for 21 days.

He's praying and fasting and finally an Angel comes and

brings the answer. And the Angel said, the Lord

sent me the moment you started to pray.

But I've been warring with the Prince of Persia for 21 days.

What in the world is going on there?

I don't quite know, but it seems as though the Prince of Persia

is some demonic influence and the Angel was having a limited

like there's friction there. But if Daniel had just prayed as

day one. God, I pray this the end.

Well, I guess it's not God's will.

It didn't happen instantly. And if it doesn't happen as soon

as it comes out of my mouth, it must not be God's will, right?

What foolishness and immaturity. But as Daniel prays and press on

Angel goes, hey man, thanks. That was a crazy fight.

I won, of course, but I'm here now to bring the answer from the

Lord. So what am I supposed to do when

I suffer? Paul tells Timothy.

Endure, endure suffering like a good soldier.

Man, that was not the promise I want to put on the refrigerator.

I just want the blessing again. I just want the mountaintop.

I don't want any valleys. Lord, I placed my order a while

back. I don't know if you've gotten it

yet. Kitchen might be backed up, but

I just ordered like all the good stuff, you know, like just all

the sweets. Like, no, no broccoli, just just

the goodies. What am I supposed to endure?

Endure suffering like a good soldier.

Why? Because we're in war and we're

experiencing conflict and combat and John was on the front lines

of that. John, you walked faithful to the

Lord. You know, there's there's some

who actually would debate and say, you know, did John, did

John venture from his assignment and calling?

Was he too much in in Herod's business?

And that's why, you know, his mission was Jesus and did he

venture off? I think that's pretty

speculative. And I don't land there.

I land more on the side of like John's a preacher of

faithfulness and righteousness and he's calling out wickedness

in the land. And particularly when it's

flagrant in public, you can be flagrant in public with it.

I don't think he was like that with every, every, every folk in

the every person in the neighborhood.

But when your leaders are doing something, well, hey, it's good

for the goose. It's good for the gander.

If you want to be public in your sin, then you I'll be public in

my correction. But John's on the front lines of

ministry. And then John experiences what

Jesus has just been preaching to his disciples about.

Guys, they're going to flog you in their synagogues.

They're going to beat you in church is what that means.

The church leaders are going to beat you is what he was telling

them. The Jewish rulers are going to

beat you. He said because of me.

He said they'll do it because of me.

It won't be because of you. It'll be because you're not

doing things the way they want you to.

You're not doing things the way that they expect you to.

And maybe John had those expectations.

Maybe he didn't think that Jesus was going to take over the world

through his church over the next 2000 and some years.

We're still not finished yet, clearly.

So John, John's thinking in a much shorter timeline probably

too. Why am I in this dungeon?

Jesus came to set the captives tree.

Like they had a very specific way of thinking about that.

I'm a captive. It's been a year.

When's it like, when am I going to be freed?

We're speculating a little bit now.

What was John's expectation? But here we are still longing

like John for the fullness of our Lord's Kingdom in our lives

and all over the earth and all throughout creation.

And you and me are like, Lord, come through on that thing this

week. But what if it's another 2000

years before the Lord returns in glory?

What am I going to do? Lord, help me to be faithful.

Lord, help me to be, to endure suffering like a good soldier.

Help me to walk close to you. I got questions that have not

been answered and you know what, it doesn't matter compared to

knowing him, Paul had a different perspective.

Right when Paul's in the prison, when he's in jail in the

midnight hour, he's praising God.

They're thanking God that they were counted worthy to suffer

for the name. That's what the that's what

Peter and the others did when they when they took a beating,

they said they were literally rejoicing and praising God's

hand. What an honor we do you realize

what just happened to us as they're bleeding backs and

suffering bodies and and the others would be attending to

them and caring for them. They said what a blessing.

How could you say that because we just got to suffer like Jesus

did. We got to follow him in his

suffering and of course all 12 eventually, well, except for

John. They tried to kill John, but

they were unsuccessful. But all 12 disciples end up

dying for the cause of Christ. They endured suffering.

Paul does the same thing. So praising God is another way

to go to God. We don't just have to go to God

in the literal way that John does with a question.

Although you're allowed to Lord, I have a question about this.

Lord, I don't understand this. Lord, help me with this and he

will. He will.

Don't shake your fist at God. Don't charge him with

wrongdoing, but go to the Lord and say Lord, I am confused.

I'm having a hard time. That much is sure.

I'm I'm questioning this. I'm not sure about that.

That's one way to go to him. Another way to go to him is what

we already talked about and that's praise glorifying his

name. Well, is that going to move my

mountain? It'll move your heart for sure.

Another lyric in that song and I'll send that to you later

today on Voxrot. I thought it would tie in well

with this message and it'll bless you.

It it might not, might not always move a mountain, but

it'll always leave a mark. It's always going to do

something so praise again, it's not for us, it's for the Lord

and yet in his kindness, he still blesses and strengthens us

through the process. Whereas you might go to Lord if

you're just going to the Lord in prayer demand.

I need an answer on this. I need an answer on that.

I need an answer on this. Well, hang on enter his courts

with Thanksgiving. You have much to be thankful

for. You've zoomed in on the on the

one thing you're not thankful for.

He might not have even have done it, might just be the enemy in

other circumstances, but you've zoomed in on that thing.

You've blamed him for it, which he might not have even done at

all. And now you, you're putting him

on trial instead of God. Thank you for my salvation.

Thank you that my name is written in heaven right now.

For those of you who have put your faith and your trust in

Jesus and his blood, and you've received His grace.

There is a book in heaven. It exists at this very moment.

If we were there, we could turn the pages and your name is on

it. Your name is in that book.

Not only that, more importantly, your name is written in the palm

of His hand. I'm struggling to believe that.

All right, well, well, that would be the thing to encourage

your faith in. And we're going to see how do we

encourage our faith? How does Jesus encourage faith?

Look at the gentleness in the kindness of Jesus here.

He doesn't give a sharp rebuke. John's disciples come.

Jesus and him grew up together, being told, being told, talking

about the things of God together, even as little boys,

even as young men. And then, of course, when it's

the time of ministry, you know, their hearts were on fire.

Jesus come from heaven, John, just a normal man, not also God

at the same time. But what a joyful moment for

them to interact at the river in that baptism.

And John's confused. He's like, why am I baptizing

you? You should be baptizing me.

And Jesus, like, roll with it. Do what I do, what I tell you to

do. And just like, oh, got it, I can

do that. They got all this memory, all

this history, all this joy. And John sends his disciples to

Jesus and Jesus doesn't go. Are you serious?

Jesus rebukes unbelief throughout the Gospels boldly.

He's not always gentle. Whenever it comes to somebody's

unbelief, he gets very frustrated visibly.

He says, you faithless generation, how long must I bear

with you? Ouch, Lord.

But when John comes and John brings his question, why?

Because John is faithful. John is actually faithful and

walks with the Lord. He's not just doubting.

He's not just an accuser, He's not an enemy, He's not a wolf,

he's not a pig, He's not a dog. He's actually faithful like you.

He's faithful to the Lord. But he's going.

I'm struggling. Jesus doesn't go.

Guys, are you serious? John told you to ask me that.

Yes, Lord. And you thought it was a good

idea to come all the way here and ask me that?

I'm not even. I'm not even going to dignify

that with an answer. I said he didn't rebuke John

sharply. He doesn't give him a plain and

simple yes, though. Look what he gives in verse

four. And Jesus answered them.

Go and tell John what you hear and what you see, which is all

any disciples required to do. That's what you're required to

do. Tell what you hear and what you

see. In the sermon.

No, in your life, tell what you hear and see what's the Lord

done for you. That is your testimony.

You stand in the court of the world and they go, what's this

thing about God? You go.

He saved me. He's changed me.

He made me a different person. Well, I don't believe it.

I didn't. I can't make you do anything.

I'm just telling you. This is my testimony.

Here is I was dead and now I'm alive.

I was lost. Now I'm found.

I was blind. Now I see.

He tells them, go tell what you hear and what you see.

And then he does something very specific.

He quotes John's favorite prophet, Isaiah.

He doesn't give him the obvious, yes, but he does give him the

obvious, yes. He goes go tell him what you

hear and see. But he doesn't just leave it

there. He quotes specific passages from

Isaiah, that prophecy about the Messiah explicitly.

So he is plainly saying with a big flashing light and sirens

and horns, John, Of course I am. Of course I am.

But he does it by saying, tell John this, Tell John that you

know the prophecy about the Messiah, what he would do, Tell

John I'm doing that. You know this other prophecy

that the Messiah was definitely going to do, Tell John, I'm

doing that. The other prophecy that the

Messiah was going to do, tell John I'm doing that John.

John identified himself through the prophet Isaiah's prophecy

about himself accurately. John knows the Scriptures well.

Jesus comforts and he says tell John what you hear and see.

The blind receive sight. The lame walk lepers are

cleansed and the deaf here and the dead are raised up and the

poor have the good news preached to them.

So these are different passages that Jesus has hopped around

from Isaiah and he's going Messiah, Messiah, Messiah.

John, it's me. Don't doubt, don't be afraid, be

faithful to the end. What a comfort, what an

encouragement. You can and you should expect

the same kind of comfort. You can and you should expect

the same kind of comfort when you go to the Lord.

Specifically, John had an issue of doubt here, but we can lump

it in with anything else, pain, suffering, you can bring it to

the Lord. And we don't want to conflate

things here. We don't want to confuse things.

And I point this out to you every time I see it.

We don't want to confuse John's persecution with unanswered

prayers that you don't have promises for, because when you

do have a promise from the Word of God, you shouldn't move off

of that promise, right? And yet how many have been

standing on promises that they still haven't seen?

But it's not the same thing as persecution.

We are promised persecution. So it's going to happen.

We may escape it. And the Lord says if you can get

away from it, by all means get away from it.

I don't want you to just deliberately martyr yourselves.

So get out of harm's way when you can be as wise as a serpent,

be hard to hit. But it's not the same thing as

his promises. When the Lord is given another

promise, a blessing, you should stand on that.

So don't hear your pastor encouraging you towards doubt

and unbelief when the Scripture has been plain on something.

But do hear your pastor saying sometimes that timeline is

longer than we thought it was going to be, right?

That's where faith lives. There's the moment that I asked,

there's the moment that I receive, What's this gap in the

middle? This is where I need to actually

have faith. I don't need faith when I see

it. I need faith right here and here

and here and here and here. And then it comes and you go, of

course it's a relief, it's a blessing, but it's not a shock.

Why? Because if you're in faith,

you're not, you're not shocked when the thing happens.

If you're actually shocked when something happens, that was a

pretty good indicator that you weren't actually in a heartfelt

faith. It was a mental game you were

playing. I don't condemn you for it.

I've been there many times where I say the right things because

the Bible says so. It's a good practice.

But remember, faith is not a formula.

Faith comes out of the heart and it comes from God.

And what is Jesus giving to John?

By giving him the Scriptures? He's giving him faith because

faith comes from the word of God.

You want faith? I need faith.

I need to believe more. I need to believe more.

Faith comes from hearing the word of God.

Your faith is being built up even this morning.

Why? Because the Word of God comes.

And when the Word of God comes with the Word of God travels

faith to receive it. You know, wild how everything's

a gift from God. You don't get to.

You don't get to be the hero. You don't get to beat your chest

or anything. Go.

I had faith. Where'd you get that?

The Lord gave it to me, right? Yeah.

He gives everything, He gets all the credit, He gets all the

glory. Receiving something, not a big

deal, kind of an easy thing to do.

The Lord gets the credit, the key, because he's the giver,

because he's the initiator. We're going to close wrapping it

up, but this is the point. I want you to see the gentleness

of Jesus, not a sharp, not a sharp rebuke, but an

encouragement from the Word of God.

You should expect the same gentle strengthening when you

bring your pain, when you bring your doubts, when you bring your

struggles to God, and when you consider persecution or any kind

of pain or even your own will having to be laid down, which is

the life that we signed up for, even your own will being laid

down. Remember, the disciple is not

greater than his Master. Our Lord Jesus brought his pain

to the Father in the garden on the night of his betrayal before

His crucifixion. He brought all of his pain to

the Father. Father, not my will, but your

will be done. Jesus did want it.

Jesus did choose this. This is why he's doing it.

And yet in his flesh, he does not want to experience what he's

about to experience. Since also from a little boy,

the little boy Jesus would have seen Roman crucifixion.

And he knew what his next 12 hours was going to look like.

He knew what a scourging looked like and he knew what he was

about to endure. He knew and he was innocent, and

even beyond all that, He knew he was going to be separated from

the Father. Father, not my will, but your

will be done. Aren't you thankful that Jesus

was faithful? Aren't you thankful that Jesus

endured his suffering like a good soldier, obedient to the

Father? As an example, our King did

everything first. Our God calls us to some

difficult and challenging things.

It's OK to say that. It's OK to acknowledge that.

It's OK to be honest about that. But our King did it all first.

Our king doesn't just go do it. I said so.

Our king says I didn't follow me.

Follow me into the life that is truly life.

Take up your cross. Follow me.

Remember, you take up a cross. You don't go back.

You see a man carrying a cross. But there's one thing you know

about that man. Wherever he's going, he's not

coming back from it. This is his last day.

This is his last walk. Christian, this is your last

walk. This is the only walk you should

take. And for John, he ends up being

killed in that dungeon. That's where it ended, and

that's where it all began. John's doing real well right

now. You're going to get to meet John

the Baptist. You're going to get to talk to

John the Baptist. You're going to get to say, man,

tell me about the dungeon. He's like, I don't want to talk

about the dungeon. That's embarrassing.

I doubted the Lord like I doubted him too sometimes, John,

but he is faithful to us. He's faithful to you.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your faithfulness.

Thank you for the strength of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for the gentleness that you give us through your

word. As you minister to your people

or whatever pains we have, we bring them to you.

We don't run away from you or your church.

We come to you in praise and in prayer, sometimes in confusion.

Father, would you please comfort your people?

Would you send them out in joy today?

Would you send them out in strength?

Even though there's questions they still don't have answered,

Even though there's prayers that we still haven't seen the

breakthrough for. There's loved ones that we've

been praying for. They after all these years, they

still haven't come into the Kingdom.

There's pain that we feel, there's questions that we have.

There's challenges that we're facing, there's attacks, all

kinds of things. How would you help us to endure?

By getting our eyes off of our situation and on to You?

Would you make us a people of gratitude that we would enter in

your courts with Thanksgiving? That we would enter into Your

house with praise? You're still so worthy, and You

deserve it all. Keep us faithful even when we're

struggling, God. Keep us faithful even when we

have doubts. Keep us faithful, Lord, even

when we're in pain. We know who our healer is.

We keep coming to you. We ask and we seek and we knock

because you promised that if we ask, if we seek, if we knock,

that it would be given, that we would find, that the door would

be open. The timeline is in your, your

jurisdiction. We rest in knowing that our

Father is good, that the Shepherd is with us in the

valley or on the mountain, in the dungeon or in the palace.

We're already seated in heavenly places with Christ.

We already have a position of great joy and privilege and

love. Thank you for saving us, God.

Thank you for writing our name in the Lamb's book of life.

God, I pray that you would save people even right now, even as I

pray for anyone who hasn't called on the name of Jesus to

be their Lord and Savior. That they would confess their

sins, that they would turn from their sin, and that they would

be rescued because Jesus suffered the wrath of God on our

behalf. So that we wouldn't have to

suffer, so that we wouldn't have to go to hell.

So that we wouldn't have to be separated from God anymore, but

that we could be a new creation and have a new life right here

and now and forever in glory. Whoever calls upon the name of

the Lord shall be saved. Jesus is King now and forever.

There is no other way to get to the Father except through Him.

Holy Spirit, thank you for your comfort and your reassurance.

I pray that as your people go out today that they would go out

with the fire of God in in their spirit and on their head,

reassured and comfortable, even in mystery, 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.