There Came a Man (Part 2)

Gospel John, the 1st chapter, the sixth verse says there came

a man sent from God. That's the verse we're looking

at last week and this week. We are slowly making our way

through John's gospel. This is week #10 and we're only

on verse #6 so it's going to take us a while to get through

the entire gospel. But that's OK.

There's no hurry. And we're only going to take the

first part of that verse. Verse 6, There came a man.

The question is what kind of man came?

What kind of man was sent from God?

That's the question. And the unique thing about this

is that Jesus answers that question by saying the greatest

man ever born of a woman is John the Baptist.

Greatest man ever, greater than Moses, greater than Elijah,

greater than David, greater than Jeremiah.

The greatest man born of a woman is the man sent from God.

John the Baptist, the greatest of all commendations comes to

John. Christ commends him extremely,

extremely well in terms that we would never even think to

describe someone, but Jesus does.

And so this great commendation comes to to John the Baptist.

And so we have to ask, to answer ourselves this question, what

kind of man is the greatest man born of a woman?

And the Gospels tell us about this man, John the Baptist.

And so we want to describe him to you.

We're looking at the peculiarity of the man we told you.

We're going to talk about his identity, his ministry, his his

testimony and his legacy. But we must first tackle his

peculiarity. What makes him so peculiar?

What makes him odd? What makes him so bizarre?

What makes him so outrageous? What makes him so different than

everybody else? What separates John from

everyone else that's ever existed?

For Jesus to say that the greatest man born of a woman is

John the Baptist. Well, we began last week by

telling you that we have 8 principles that will describe

him for you. We covered seven of them last

week. We'll cover the 8th 1 today.

But that's not all inclusive. That's just the tip of the

iceberg to help you introduce, introduce to you this man, John

the Baptist, this forerunner to the Messiah.

So as you recall, last week we told you that principle number

one was this is that he was uncompromising in his message.

That's principle number 1. He was uncompromising in his

message. John never backed down, never

backed away from the truth of the Gospel.

The Bible says in John one verse #8 that he came to testify about

the light. In John 1011, it says he came to

talk about nothing but the truth.

So John's whole ministry was to preach the truth about the

light. He did it fearlessly, He did it

faithfully, He did it forcefully, he did it fervently,

but he always told the truth. He was uncompromising in his

message. And if we are going to be men of

God, men like John the Baptist, because he actually becomes a a

model for biblical manliness. Think about that.

If if he is the greatest man born of a woman, he becomes the

quintessential example for manliness in the Bible.

So it ladies, if you're looking for a man, look for this kind of

man. If you're a man, you need to be

this kind of man. If you're a father, you need to

raise these kinds of boys to be these kinds of men.

Then they might understand true biblical manliness.

People that are uncompromising in their message.

When Jesus said, when you went down to the Jordan, what did you

go to see? A Reed blowing in the wind.

Somebody tossed to and fro, somebody changes his message to

whoever comes to talk to him. Nope.

Same message, same person, never compromising, always speaking

the truth. He came in the spirit and power

of Elijah. They came to preach that truth

uncompromisingly. So that was principle number

one. Principle number 2 is that he

was unorthodox in his mannerisms, completely

unorthodox in his mannerisms, Different than everybody else.

The way he dressed, the way he spoke through the things that he

did. Remember John was in in line to

be a priest. His father was Zacharias and so

he was in line of the priesthood.

But but his dress was the contradiction to the priesthood.

The way he lived his life was was one of self denial, not self

indulgence like the religious leaders of his day.

His whole life was a contradiction to the religious

business of the day. And that's why he ate locusts

and and wild honey and and that's why the Bible says that

in Luke one verse 17, that no wine would come up on his lips

because he would take it. A Nazarite vow, a vow for life.

Completely unorthodox, completely unusual, but this is

John the Baptist and he came baptizing Jews and what he did

to Jews was what Jews did to Gentiles when Gentiles wanted to

convert to Judaism. But instead these were Jews

coming down to the Jordan River. These were Jews being convinced

that they were separated from their God, that they, they

weren't a part of who God really wants them to be.

And even though they're descendants of Abraham, even

though they, they are the seed of Abraham, they are, they are

far from God. And they began being baptized by

confessing their sins that they were separated from their God.

Completely unorthodox in all of his mannerisms.

Again, that was that was last week and then #3 was that he was

unequalled among men, unequalled among men, unparalleled among

men, unrivalled among men. Nobody like John.

Why he he was filled with the spirit from his mother's womb

that's unequalled among men. He came in the spirit and power

of Elijah. He came as, as his father said,

the the prophet of El Elian, the God Most High.

He was, He was unequal to among men, so much so that Christ said

he was the greatest born of a woman.

Then #4 We told you that he was unlimited in his mission.

In other words, he realized that he had a mission to accomplish

and that was to be the forerunner to the Messiah.

So whether he was speaking to Jews or whether he's speaking

to, to to Herod, the king, who was an idiomian, who was the

descendant of Esau. He was an Edomite and they hated

the Jews. He he still in a very loving

way, would, would reprimand the king.

He would tell the king that he was living in an immoral

relationship with his half sister, who was The Who was

married to his brother, and that he committed all this

wickedness. And, and John would confront

Herod. Because in all reality, if you

love somebody, you're going to tell them the truth about their

sin and how they need to get right with the true and living

God. So John didn't care about your

ethnicity. He didn't care about your social

background. He didn't care if you were poor

or rich. He didn't care what it was.

You needed to hear the gospel. You need to hear the truth.

His mission was an unlimited mission.

And then #4 he was uninhibited in his ministry.

Nothing stopped him, not even the king.

Or the king would silence his voice by having him beheaded at

the request of his his daughter, which came through Herodias,

Herod's wife. But the fact of the matter is,

is that John was uninhibited. He didn't back down from

confronting Herod, confronting anyone about their sin,

confronting the religious establishment, you brood of

Vipers who who told you to flee from the wrath to come.

He, he was completely uninhibited.

He would not back down even in the midst of of horrendous

circumstances, the fear of losing his life.

He was uninhibited in his ministry.

And then we told you number six, that he was UN unpopular with

the multitudes. Unpopular with the multitudes.

And I'll be honest with you, I got some pushback from this last

week from several of you. Well, how could it be unpopular

among the multitudes? I mean, Herod wouldn't kill him

because the multitudes knew he was a prophet.

And and and there were scores of people coming from Jerusalem to

be baptized by John in the Jordan.

He he was the most popular person around.

Why would you say he was unpopular by the multitudes?

That's because Jesus said he was unpopular with the multitudes.

Listen to what Jesus says in Luke's Gospel, the 7th chapter,

verse 31. To what then shall I compare the

men of this generation and what are they like?

They're like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one

another. And they say, we played the

flute for you, and you did not dance.

We we sing a dirge and you did not weep for John the Baptist

has come eating no bread, drinking no wine, and you say

John has a demon. I would say that's unpopular.

If someone says you got a demon, you're not a very popular

person. And so he was unpopular to the

multitudes. You see that they got tired of

his message. Yes, they were coming down in

scores. The novelty of John would soon

wear off. You know, they were coming down

to the Jordan. They were being baptized and,

and, and everybody got on the, the, the JB wagon and we're

going down to be baptized there in the Jordan River.

But, but soon they, they got tired of the, of the sin and,

and the preaching that gets sin and repentance and, and, and

judgement of God. They got tired of that, that,

that, that war on them, that they wanted to hear the, the

nice cushy, cozy sermons. They wanted to hear those things

that made them feel good on the inside.

And John didn't make anybody feel good on the inside.

And they got tired of that so much so they, they would say he,

he has a demon. Oh, his message was serious.

His message was severe. His message was intense because

he wanted people to know time was short.

The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, so he was unpopular with

the multitudes. Fitting in was not a part of

John's modus operandi. He didn't care if you liked him

or didn't like him. He wasn't out to make friends.

He was out just to do. A gut called him to do.

He wasn't out to, to, to, to socialite with all the, all the

people of society. No, he was just there to do one

thing and one thing only be a forerunner to the Messiah, to

make sure people understood the way to the Kingdom of heaven.

And then there were seven. We told you last week he was he

was unforgettable as a man, completely unforgettable.

Why? Because he's in the he's in the

pages of the eternal word of God always to be commended.

And Solomon tells us that that blessed, blessed are the

righteous for they should be remembered forever.

And that was John. He was an unforgettable kind of

man. But note this, even though he

was uncompromising in his message like Oliver should be,

even though he was unorthodox in his mannerisms, even though that

wasn't necessarily his his his push in ministry, he wanted to

live a life contrary to everyone else in the world around him.

And even though he was unequalled as a man, and even

though he was unrivaled as a man, even though he was

unlimited in his mission, even though he was uninhibited in his

ministry, even though he was unpopular with the multitudes,

he was a man that was completely unforgettable.

There was one thing in his life that I think you need to know

and that he was unimaginable for one brief moment.

Unimaginable. And I say that because it's hard

to imagine a man with these qualities would begin to be

disillusioned. Turn me in your Bible to Luke

Luke 7 · chapter mention

Chapter 7. I know we're in John's Gospel,

but we're looking at the man that came from the Lord, John

the Baptist. In Luke 7, John's in prison.

John's in prison at a place called Macarius, which is 7

miles north and east of the Dead Sea.

There are two dungeons at this summer palace of Herod's.

They are deep, they're dark, they're damp, they're

depressing, they're debilitating, they are

discouraging. And John finds himself sitting

in this location. But that's not the dungeon that

weighs heavily upon him, because he's in a different kind of

dungeon, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

He's in the dungeon of disillusionment.

Listen to what it says. Luke 7 verse #18 The disciples

of John reported to him about all these things.

What things? Well, the things that were just

happening. He just raised the widow's son

at name and Christ was doing all kinds of miracles.

The the Bible never tells us that John ever heard Jesus

preach A sermon. Bible never tells us that John

ever saw Jesus do a miracle. He was the forerunner of the

Messiah. He paved the way.

We're 18 months into his ministry.

He's now in prison. And so John's disciples come to

him and say, look, I'm going to report to you the things that

Jesus is doing. So John is caught at the speed

as to this Messiah who's doing all these miraculous deeds.

Then it says, summoning 2 of his disciples, John sent them to the

Lord, saying, are you the expected one, or do we look for

someone else? When the men came to him, they

said, John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, are you the

expected one or do we look for someone else?

Now just stop right there for a second and think about that.

John's the forerunner to the expected one.

The expected one. The Eric O Mai is a is a title

for the Messiah taken from Psalm 1/18/26.

Psalm 40, verse #7 He is the coming one.

In fact, when he goes into Jerusalem on that palm Monday,

not Sunday, on that palm Monday, they quote Psalm 11826 saying

blessed is the coming one who comes in the name of the Lord.

So he is the expected one. That's the title for the

Messiah. That's why there was this great

anticipation around the arrival of the Messiah.

But here's John. We, we would expect the crowd to

ask this question, but not the forerunner to the Messiah to ask

this question. And John comes and says to his

disciples, go and ask Jesus, are you the Messiah?

Are you the expected one? See, this is unimaginable that

this man who would preach as he preached, lived as he lived,

knew that he was a forewind of the Messiah.

His Father had given him all the information that he needed.

He knew who he was and what he was about.

All of a sudden he is completely disillusioned as to what's

happening in his life. Completely.

So much so he begins to doubt that Jesus is who he said he

was. And yet John was a forerunner to

the Messiah. This is a very important passage

of Scripture because you see, every one of us in the room at

some time or another finds ourself in the same kind of

dungeon, the dungeon of disillusionment, where we are

taken back. We begin to question all that

God is doing and why he's doing it now.

This is the greatest man born of a woman, and he is disillusioned

as to the activity of the Messiah.

And so he begins to ask this question.

It's perplexing to us, but it's encouraging to us because when

we ask the question, Lord, what are you doing?

Why are things happening the way they are?

We find ourselves in this dungeon of disillusionment.

John does the right thing. John goes to the Lord.

He goes to, he goes to the source, he goes to the Christ

and he asks them, are you the expected 1?

He sends his men there. How?

How did John get here? How did not?

How did he physically get in the dungeon?

We know how he got there. We know he's going to die soon,

but how did he get here mentally?

How did he get here spiritually, emotionally?

How did he come to this place where he's doubting the fact

that Jesus is the Messiah and he is the preordained forerunner to

the Messiah? How does he get here?

Four ways. One was simply because of

personal affliction, personal affliction.

When personal affliction arises in our lives, personal

persecution arises in our lives. We can come to a place of

complete and total disillusionment.

John was a faithful preacher. John was a consecrated man.

He was a courageous man. He knew about his mission in

life. He knew about his calling in

life. He fulfilled that calling.

He didn't back away from it. He was very, very faithful.

It wasn't like John was living in sin.

Like John had had a, had a young girl in every little village

that he went to and he he spent the night with her.

No, it, it was not that way. John wasn't living a sin.

It wasn't that he was sinless, but he wasn't living in known

sin. He wasn't rebelling against the

Messiah. He wasn't backing away from his

call, so he'd be thrown into prison.

No, he was faithful. He was true to the Lord.

He was committed to his God, and now he's in prison.

So is this what happens when when the Bible says he wants me

for Samuel 2:30, I will honor? Is this the honor John gets?

He's honoring the Lord with his life and now he's thrown into

prison. Who does that?

Why would God do that? It's it's like the person who

says, you know, I'm committed to serving the Lord.

I want to honor the Lord and, and live for the Lord and raise

the godly family. And then and then all of a

sudden one of my children dies said, well, wait, wait a minute.

I'm not living in sin. I'm not rebelling against the

Lord and and yet the Lord takes, takes my child.

I don't understand or, or you're, you're, you're, you're

living the life you're, you're obedient to the Lord, you're

serving in the church and you're, you're glorifying his

name. You're you're preaching the

gospel to everybody you know, and you go to the doctor and

says, you got an inoperable cancer.

You got three weeks to live and then you're going to die.

You're like, whoa, time out. I've been faithful to the Lord.

I've been true to his word. I've been committed to Christ.

And this is what I get death three weeks from now.

This is what I get my child being killed in an accident.

Or you're married for 4050, sixty years and God has brought

you through your life together with your your your wife and and

your husband. And all of a sudden your spouse

dies. You're left all alone and you

don't know what to do. You see.

Wait, wait a minute. Lord, our marriage honored you.

We are faithful for all these years.

We are true to you. We served you together.

We lived in in harmony together. We raised the godly family and

and now you, you take my my husband from me and I'm all

alone. You become disillusioned.

This is the plan and purposes of God in your life happens.

Here's John, he's going through a personal affliction.

He's thrown into prison not, not because of any sins that he's

committed, not because of his rebellion or disobedience to

God, simply because he's been faithful to the Lord, true to

his God, honoring his God. Now he's in prison.

His responses, Well, maybe, maybe he's not the expected one.

I mean, didn't he come to release the the captives set the

set the prisoner free and here I am in prison.

Well, what's the deal with that? How come things are the way they

are? Why is it I'm a I'm about to die

and I've been called to be the forerunner of the Messiah.

I was, I was willing to step aside.

I was willing to say he must increase.

I must decrease. I was willing to do all that,

Lord. And this is what I get Death.

Is this a result of a faithful, courageous, true, committed

ministry? You know, sometimes we go into

those places in our lives and realize, realize that a lot of

that's out of out of ignorance and unfortunately selfishness

because somehow we, we, we think that there are certain things we

do not deserve. And if we get them, what's wrong

with God? That's why I would get it.

I don't deserve this. And we would say John didn't

deserve that. But you know, God has a plan and

a purpose for everything. He's in charge.

Which leads us to the to the next, the next element.

Not not just personal affliction, but how about this

popular misconception? John had a popular misconception

about the Messiah. He had bought into the populist

view of the Messiah. Even though the Bible taught

that the Messiah would come and die, Old Testament teaches this,

that he would rise again. Even though the Old Testament

taught this, there was this misconception about the Messiah

that was taught by the religious establishment that the Messiah

would come as a as a military conquering hero.

He would overthrow Rome, he would set up his Kingdom, he

would rule from the throne of David in Jerusalem, and we'd all

be at peace together and he would destroy the enemies.

That was a popular misconception.

And believe it or not, John to some degree bought into that.

I mean, after all, Peter bought into that, right?

Remember in Matthew 16 when, when Christ said to them that he

was going to suffer and die? And Peter says, Oh no, no, Lord,

no, no, you're, you're the Messiah, you're not going to

die. And Christ said to him, get thee

behind me, Satan. Why?

Because Peter had bought into the popular misconception about

the Messiah, his coming and how he would operate when he arrived

and what he would do when he got there.

He'd been sold the bill of goods.

Habakkuk was the same way, was he not?

Habakkuk's praying for, for revival in the, in the nation,

praying that that God would raise them up and strengthen

them. And, and so he's praying and God

says, I'm not going to do that, Habakkuk.

Habakkuk says, what do you mean you're not going to do that?

No, no, I'm going to do something different.

In fact, I'm going to send the the most wicked people I know

that are going to take them into captivity and they are going to

learn so much in that captivity and the back says why?

Why are you going to do that? Why?

He's completely disillusioned until God begins to explain his

providential plan to backup to Finally he capitulates to the

plan of God and realizes that God knows exactly what he's

doing. But it's easy to buy into a miss

the conception of the Messiah, His plans and purposes for our

lives. Abraham did right.

God says he's going to have a son.

Well, years went by, still didn't have a son.

So he and Sarah got together and conjured up a plan to have a son

to Hagar the handmaid, because they had a, a, a, a

misconception as to how God was going to orchestrate his plan in

their lives. Getting that same thing hit all

these men. And God wills him down to 300.

And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, 300 men.

We can't, we can't go against the enemy of 300 men.

Completely disillusioned as to what God is doing.

Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, the Angel Gabriel

comes to him. This is your wife.

Elizabeth's going to have a son. He's like, whoa, she's 80 years

old, 80 year old women don't have kids.

And God made him deaf and dumb for for nine months so he could

not speak or hear. Why?

Because he was disillusioned as to the plan of God in his life,

even though he was told his wife would conceive the forerunner of

the Messiah. See, we get there because there

there is this, this conception that we have with the Messiah

that unfortunately has been sold to us by TV preachers and books

that have been that have been printed today.

We we've been told, hey, yeah, you give your life to Christ,

man, your marriage is going to be great, man, just give your

life to Jesus and, and marriage will be great.

I give my life to Jesus and my marriage is in shambles or give

your life to Jesus and your children will be obedient to to

you because now you love the Lord and and they're going to

follow the Lord and they're going to serve the Lord.

And I give my life to Christ and my wife gives the life to Christ

and my children rebel like nothing else.

Give your life to Christ. Got to give you a great job,

best job, more money. What give my life to Christ.

I lose my job, I lose my money. Well, why is that completely

dissolution? Because there's this popular

misconception that if you if you come to Jesus and you give your

life to him, everything is going to be a bit of roses.

You're going to be walked into the primrose path of success and

everything will be fine. That's you didn't read that in

this book. This is only a book that

matters. Jesus said if you give life to

me, I'm going to I'm going to divide your family.

I'm going to separate the father from the mother.

I'm going to separate the husband from the wife.

I'm going to separate the daughter from from the father.

I tend to bring a sword, not peace.

If they hate me, they're going to hate you.

If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute you, right?

It's been granted to you. Not just to believe on his name,

but to suffer for his sake. Philippians tells us, See, we've

been sold the bill of goods. We have this popular

misconception of the Messiah and what he does and how he works

that when it doesn't meet the standard that I think it should,

I completely disillusioned as to his working.

This is John the Baptist, it's where he is.

It's like, I don't understand. I don't get it.

So go ask Jesus if he's the expected one because I'm

expecting things a little bit differently than what I'm

getting right by now. And so just just go ask him,

right? And then another one is, is

partial revelation because we don't have the full revelation

of of all that God is doing. Here's John.

He only has the Old Testament. Although the Old Testament

taught about the coming, the Messiah, the death of the

Messiah, the resurrection of the Messiah, that the Messiah was

divine, even though it's clearly taught in the Old Testament, not

all that was, was, was connected together in his mind.

See all the pieces of the puzzle.

We're not fitting together perfectly for John.

So he's disillusioned and that's because he only had partial

revelation didn't have all of the truth didn't have didn't

know anything about the second coming.

I mean, there's two comings. What do you mean the second

coming didn't know anything about the church age knew

nothing about the the mystery of the church, nothing about the

mystery of the lawless one. Second Thessalonians said the

two knew nothing of the mystery of 1 body Ephesians, yet the two

knew nothing of the of the mysteries of of Christ in you

the hope of glory didn't know any of that because they had

partial revelation. We can become very disillusioned

when we only know parts of the Bible and not all of the Bible

like we should. We know bits and pieces here and

there and we glop on to those verses, but there are so much

more in the Scripture that explain to us our God.

That's why that's why theology is the greatest study, the study

of God. You need to know your God,

right? What did Daniel say?

Those who know their God will do great exploits and take great

courage. But if you don't know your God,

you can't. You got to know him.

And so we, we come to to life and we have a little bit of the

Bible here and a little bit of the Bible there.

And then all of a sudden things begin to go haywire and we're

like, whoa, what's going on here?

And not knowing that that God is sovereign and God is all

authoritative and that God, God's Providence is at work and

that God is orchestrating every event in life to bring about his

great glory. And the reason God answers

prayer is not to meet my needs, but that the Father will be

glorified in heaven. John 1413 But I'm, I'm going to

prayer thinking he's going to meet my needs and, and my needs

aren't being met. And I'm praying fervently.

And it says the affectionate, fervent prayer of a righteous

man, the faith of much and nothing's happening in my life.

That's because God answers prayer not for your sake, but

for God's sake that he might be glorified.

That's because we only have partial revelation.

That's why you need to be in the book.

You need to be in the Word, studying the Word, learning the

Word, growing in the Word all the time #4 that's this.

A perceived expectation. A perceived expectation.

Whenever you expect the expected one to meet your expectations,

you will always be in the Dungeon of Disillusionment.

Whenever you expect the expected one to meet your expectations,

you will always find yourself in the Dungeon of Disillusionment.

That's John. John had expectations.

He's coming with an axe, with a widow and fork in his hand.

I baptize you with water. He's going to baptize you with

fire. And he's healing everybody.

He's letting the blind see. He's raising the dead.

He's curing everybody. Where's the fire?

Where's the axe? Where's the judgement?

Where's the throne? Where's the military prowess of

the Messiah? Where is all that?

And Jesus is just showing the kindness of his mercy, His love

to those all around him, eating with tax gatherers and sinners,

presenting the Kingdom of heaven to them.

So many times we have expectations, do we not?

We expect God to do this or do that and he doesn't like, why?

Why wouldn't you do that, Lord? Why won't you answer this or why

won't you do this for me? You know, you know, I, I, I, I,

I grew up at home and I, I expect to get married.

But now I'm 35 and I'm not married.

Those are my expectations. I I grew up and I grew up at

home and I get married and I expect to have children, but I'm

barren and I have no children. And I find myself in the dungeon

of of disillusionment wondering, God, what are you doing?

How come? How come my expectations are not

being met? Here's John the Baptist asking

his disciples to go and say to Jesus, are we supposed to be

looking for somebody else or are you the guy?

Because if you're not the guy and we need to know now, but if

you are the guy, why is it that our expectations are not being

met? So look at the next verse.

If you're still in Luke 7, verse 21.

Luke 7:21

That very time he cured many people of diseases and

afflictions and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who

were blind in one motion, in one word, in one wave of the hand.

However he did it, everybody that was there instantaneously

totally healed from any disease they had.

They were blind. They could see, they couldn't

walk. They could walk if they had a

demon, demon, demon in them. That demon was cast out.

Just a one moment, one brief moment, boom, everything's gone,

every sealed. And he says this.

He says go and report to John what you have seen and heard.

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are

cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor

have the gospel preached to them.

You go tell John that everything I said in Isaiah 35, everything

I said in Isaiah 42, everything I said in Isaiah 26, everything

I said in Isaiah 61 just happened before your eyes.

Because all this is a preview to the coming Kingdom of God.

And I'm showing you how it all happens instantaneously.

In a moment. You go back, you tell John that,

and then as you go back, you tell him that.

Tell him this too. He says this verse 23.

Blessed is he who does not take offence at me, or blessed is he

who does not stumble over me. Or better translation, blessed

is the one who doesn't quarrel with me about the way I do my

business. That's the blessed person.

Stop questioning me. You want to be blessed?

Stop questioning the way I do my business, the way I operate.

I'm in charge. I got a plan.

It moves perfectly. It moves exactly as it designed

it to function. So just trust me.

Wait upon me. Tell John to trust and wait upon

me. Tell John to just just wait.

The plan is an operation exactly as it designed it.

And blessed are all those who do not take offense at the way I do

my business. This is this.

When the message of John had left, he began to speak to the

crowds about John. What did you see, or what did

you go out into the wilderness to see?

A Reed shaken by the wind. But what did you go out to see?

A man dressed in soft clothing. Those who are splendidly clothed

and live in luxury are found in royal palaces.

But what did you go out to see? A prophet.

Yes, I say to you, and one who was more than a prophet.

This is the one about whom it is written.

Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare

your way before you. I say to you, among those born

of women, there is no one greater than John.

It's in this context when John's in the dungeon of

disillusionment, when John had that unimaginable moment in his

life when he began to question the way God did his business.

Is it that moment that Jesus says that this is the one, the

greatest man born of a woman, John the Baptist?

Jesus didn't condemn him. Jesus didn't RIP on him.

Saying what a what a lousy prophet this guy is.

He doesn't even believe in who I am.

Who chose him to be the forerunner?

What was my father thinking? I don't know.

Oh, Jesus responds. This is what you go out to see?

Reach shaking the wind Guy dressed the soft clothing.

You kidding? Camel's hair?

Smelly body, no brush, teeth, hair all dishevelled, eaten

locusts and wild honey. What do you think you went out

to see? I'm going to tell you this guy.

This guy is the one who prepared away in the wilderness.

Here's the guy. And this man is the greatest man

born of a woman. But the next phrase says this.

Yet he was least in the Kingdom of God is greater than the

greatest man born of a woman. John the Baptist.

Whoa, what? How can that be the least in the

Kingdom any of us? The least in the Kingdom of God

is greater than the greatest man ever born of a woman.

Not not greater in character, not greater in influence, the

greater in terms of a revelation because of what we know, because

of what we have, we got the the entire New Testament.

We know all about the rapture of the church.

John didn't we preach Christ crucified.

John never did that. We preach the fullness of the

Gospel itself, that Jesus came and and and lived and died and

rose again and it's coming back again.

John couldn't preach that. He didn't know about that.

John knew nothing about how God wouldn't dwell you.

He knew about God with us, God above us, God among us, but he

never heard about God in us. That's a mystery reveal in the

New Testament. We preach Christ in you, the

hope of glory. And Jesus says, let me know this

guy is the greatest man born of a woman yet.

Yet those in my Kingdom, the least in my Kingdom, the very

least in my Kingdom, is going to be greater than John because of

the revelation you will receive about who I am.

Wow, what a great passage of scripture.

For I know that everyone of you, including myself, have all

experienced the dungeon of disillusionment and ask

ourselves, what are you doing, Lord?

Why are you operating this way? And and God is patient.

He is so kind, He is so loving, doesn't rag on us or RIP on us,

beat us over the head. He's very kind and gentle, just

leads us to a greater understanding and knowledge of

Himself that we might fully come to grips with the plan and

purposes and Providence of the living God.

And so they would go back and they would tell John what took

place and John would die. He'd lose his head.

But you know what, I bet you, when John died, he couldn't

wait. He couldn't wait to be in glory.

And that's where he is today, in the presence of Almighty God.

And so we come today to realize that that there is a man sent

from God. What kind of man?

Well, we described him a little bit for you.

And next week we'll move on to the next phrase.

There was a man who was sent from God.

As we make our way slowly through the Gospel of John,

let's pray together. Father, we thank you for today.

We thank you for what you've done and our doing.

We are a blessed people. You've given us the knowledge of

the Scriptures. You've given us your word that

will allow us to understand the blessedness and the beauty of

your character and your plans. We thank you for that.

For everyone in the room today, Lord, I pray that you do a

mighty work in their heart and life.

Draw them closer to your presence until you come again,

as you most surely will, in Jesus name, Amen.