Luke 7:24-30; A Reed Shaken

So today, Luke 7, why don't we just go ahead

and read verses 24 through 30. Luke chapter 7, 24

Luke 7 · chapter mention

through 30. When the messengers of John were departed, he

began to speak unto the people concerning John. Verse 2.

Verse 3. which shall prepare thy way before thee. For

I say unto you, among those that are born of women,

there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist,

but he that is least in the kingdom of God

is greater than he. And all the people that heard

him and the publicans justified God, being baptized with the

baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the

counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. Father,

help us today as we consider your words here, Christ's

words in Luke's gospel, that you would speak to our

hearts today, Father. Give us that food that is needful

for us, the bread from heaven may it come down, Father,

into our hearts to feed us and give us life.

We ask, Father, that you would speak to us in

this moment, for we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Now,

if you want to see the same passage in Matthew's gospel,

you just go to Matthew chapter 11, verses 7 through 15.

Matthew 11:7–15

It's our companion passage here for this particular one. You'll

notice in verse 24, it says, when the messengers of

John were departed, he began to speak unto the people.

In the first century, everybody wanted to know who John was.

Who is this fellow John? And still, actually, people today

are asking that very same question. Who was John? What

was his job? Notice that Jesus waited until the disciples

of John were out of earshot. They had gone. And

maybe Jesus just continued the ministry, but as soon as

they were gone, and they had quite a ways to go.

If they were traveling from just north of the Dead

Sea to the southern part of Galilee, that's a pretty

good hike. So they were They were concentrating on their

mission to go back to John with the answer. Jesus

waits until they're out of the way. Have you ever

had a friend come over to your house, say a friend,

and they come over for a visit maybe, or maybe

they come over for business, to conduct some business of

some kind. And after they leave, while the moment is

still fresh, You point out to your children the person's

godliness or faithfulness or endurance or some other grand quality.

You don't say it while they're there, right? You just

enjoy their presence while they're there. But as soon as

they're gone, you might say to someone else, maybe it's

your spouse or someone else, you might say, that man

right there, mark that man or mark that woman. That

is a man or woman of God. Mark them. Watch them.

And I think that's exactly what Jesus is doing here

with John. He uses John as a teaching illustration. An

example of a life well lived. Jesus does this thing

with John and he uses John here as an example

to exhort and rebuke and to teach his followers. And

he also gives us the final word on John. So

there's a lot here in this passage about John. So

my outline today is going to be three things. Number one,

six questions. Number two, one answer. And number three, two results.

Six questions, one answer, two results. So you'll notice that

when Jesus begins to speak about John... he asked a

series of questions. I have six questions here, and these

are directed to his audience about John. Question number one,

what went ye out into the wilderness for to see? Okay,

when you were a child or maybe a teen, did

you ever go to the circus or the carnival? What

was the attraction at the carnival? or the circus, or

maybe the state fair. State fairs are different, but they

have the carnival atmosphere, you know, in places. What was

there that you wanted to see? What was the attraction? Now, carnivals,

state fairs, they have circuses, they have foods that you

just couldn't get anywhere else. They had fast rides you

couldn't find anywhere else, dangerous rides you couldn't find anywhere else.

And they had weird sights, weird sights that you couldn't

see anywhere else. Of course, now, when I think of

the State Fair, one of the first things that pops

to mind is one of my favorite fair foods, and

that is the hamburger between two donut slices. I love that.

And then, of course, there's the bratwurst that have been

cooking for seven days, you know, on that grill. piled

high with onions and peppers. Those are delicious. Can't get

that anywhere else. It's just things you go to the

fair to see or to eat and to do. The food,

the rides, those really are just add-ons to the main attractions, right?

If you go to a circus, maybe you want to

see the lion tamer. Or if you go to the carnival,

you want to see the bearded ladies. Or the world's

strongest man. Or the world's smallest man. Or the elephant man.

Or the half man half wolf person. Or maybe you

just want to walk through Dr. Turlock's menagerie. And just

see all the weird stuff in the jars. Preserved things

in the jars. Dr. Turlock's menageries. The carnival or the

circus carnival. is such a part of our experience that

movies and books have been written using them as a

backdrop for stories. When I was writing the sermon, the

one that came to mind, I don't know why, I

guess because I have this book in my library, is

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, which is

a story about a carnival with the attraction, the illustrated man.

And the illustrated man is covered in tattoos, and he

can make his tattoos... change shapes and so forth and

yeah so the he's the main attraction there the carnival

really is all about the different the the strange the

unique men are attracted always by what is different by

the strange things the thing that's sort of outside of

the normal right And when Jesus asks this question of

the people gathered there somewhere around the precincts of Nain,

he says, what did you go out in the wilderness

to see? To see. I think this first question strikes

the morbid curiosity of the crowd. Notice that Jesus asked

them what they went out to see, not what they

heard or hoped to hear. They didn't go out to

see John for a devotional exercise. They heard there was

a weirdo down at Jordan preaching in camel's hair. And

they decided they wanted to go see that. They wanted

to see it for themselves. And so when he asked

this question, this very first question, what did you go

to see? I think he's putting his finger on that sore.

They didn't go down there for any good reason. They

went down there because there was something wrong. different there.

They didn't go to hear John preach. Oh, they heard

him though. They heard him. Okay, so that's the first question.

The second question follows up on the first question. And

Jesus asked this, a reed shaken with the wind? So

Jesus is asking the question about what he just asked them.

What did you go to see? Did you go to

see a reed shaken with the wind? Well, Let's answer

that question. Was John a reed shaken with the wind? No.

Was he tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine?

Or was he like the wave of the sea in

James chapter 1 verse 6, driven with the wind and tossed?

James 1:6

Was that John? No, absolutely not. John was a rock.

John was a towering cedar of Lebanon that laughed at

the wind. John himself was the gale of heaven, a

hurricane breeze powered by the Holy Ghost. This was John.

There were plenty of reeds in that wilderness with John,

but he was not one of them. If there was

a reed shaking, it was shaking because John was there.

That's why it was shaking. But it wasn't John that

was shaking. He was steadfast. He was single-minded. That's John.

So the first question, second question, the answer is no. No,

John wasn't a reed shaking. That's not what we went

out to see. Third question, but what went ye out

for to see? Uh-oh. Do you feel the pressure? The

teacher won't let this go. What did you go to see?

I can... When I'm reading this, I was getting goose

flesh because I can remember my teachers standing over my desk,

looking down their nose at me and asking me a

question over and over again, right? A question I knew

I didn't have the answer to, and they knew I

didn't have the answer to, but they wanted me to

confess that I didn't have the answer and stop pretending

like I knew something. So Jesus asked them again, what

did you go to see then? If it wasn't a

reed shaken with the wind, what was it? And now

I said there were six questions, but really three of

them are the same question. He put his finger on

the sore and he begins to push. He did the

same with Peter by the lake. Do you remember that?

Remember what he did with Peter? Do you love me?

Peter answered. Jesus said, do you love me? Peter answered

and then Do you love me? And poor Peter just

broke him. Lord, you know I love you. Really? Really?

Do you love me? Yeah. What they saw when they

came to the Jordan and they saw the man in

the camel's hair suit was not what they expected because

they were looking for the wrong thing. They were looking

for the weirdo. So many people are looking for the

wrong thing. And what did Jesus ask in the fourth question?

A man clothed in soft raiment, is that what you

went out to see? Well, that wasn't John, was it? No,

it's Matthew chapter 3. It's not here in Luke's gospel,

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

but it is in Matthew's gospel. And the same John

had his raiment of camel's hair and a leather girdle

about his loins, and his meat was locust and wild honey.

Nothing about the man was attractive, not his dress or

his diet. Did you go to see a man clothed

in soft raiment? Well, the answer to that, of course,

is no. That wasn't John. Why does the Lord do this?

Why does he use the mean things? Why does he

use the things that are not attractive? Because nothing about

John was attractive. Dress, diet, none of that. And yet,

the Lord decides to use John... predicts that he's going

to use John, and here comes John, and he's not

dressed like everybody else. And he doesn't talk like everybody else,

and he doesn't eat like everybody else. He's a man

of very strict discipline. But you see, Jesus told his

audience how the world operates. When he says, they're a

man clothed in soft raiment, and then he says... Behold,

they which are gorgeously appareled and live delicately are in

king's courts. Yeah. So John breaks the mold of what

the world says is appropriate. He's not good looking. He's

not dressed well. He's probably a little smelly. The apostle

tells us God has chosen the foolish things of the

world to confound the wise. I'm sure John seemed a

little foolish. The apostle goes on, he says, and God

hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound

the things which are mighty. I'm sure that the Pharisees

and the Sadducees sat around and said, well, this guy's nothing.

He doesn't have my edumacation. He doesn't belong to the

right group or the right crowd. He doesn't know the

right things. They thought he was weak. The apostle goes

on there in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And the base

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

things of the world and the things which are despised

God hath chosen. Notice that word chosen there three times.

He has chosen the foolish things. He has chosen the

weak things. He has chosen the things which are despised. Well,

that was John, wasn't it? And the things which are

not to bring not things that are. And why? Why? Why?

Paul tells us clearly that no flesh should glory in

his presence. You see, the men who are dressed gorgeously

and live delicately and run around king's courts, are they

giving glory to God? No, they glory in themselves. They

think they're somebody. John didn't think he was anybody. He

knew he was nothing. He wasn't even able to untie

the shoe of Messiah. Yeah. He knew who he was.

Notice that the foolish, weak, base, despised things are chosen

by God. And why is that? That no flesh should

glory in his presence. That's why. Because God wants this

glory for himself. And friend, he will have it. Whether

we give it to him or not, he will have it.

Why then does the church in our day run after

methods and means? Trying to make everything attractive, gorgeously appareled

and delicate. Why is that? Why do we have to

have somebody come in here and tell us how we

need to upgrade things? Is it really about the upgrade?

Is it really about the beauty? Is it really about

the things, the means, the methods? Is it really all

about that? No, it's not about that at all. God

doesn't use that. He's chosen the weak things, the despised things.

He's chosen the foolish things. And guess what God will

do when he has those things? He will glorify himself.

You see, a great way to pack them in is

if you do the gorgeous, delicate things. Because men are

attracted to what is beautiful and delicate and kingly, but

it's not God's way. Not at all. God's way is

in the preaching of the gospel. And oh my, did

John preach. Did John preach. And you might say, well,

the preaching like John gave them You know, when he

said the axe is laid to the root of the

tree and every tree which doesn't bear good fruit is

going to be hewn down and cast into the fire.

Nobody wants to hear that kind of message. That's foolish, John.

You need something positive. You know, tell me how to

live my best life now, John. Notice the fifth question.

Verse 26. What went she out for to see? Oh,

here the teacher... Again, third time, third time's charm. What

did you go to see? If you didn't go to

see a reed shaken with the wind, that's not John.

If you didn't go to see a man delicately clothed,

that's not John. What did you go to see? Answer me.

Did you go to see a prophet? Jesus is leading them,

isn't he? He's leading them with these questions. Reed shaken,

man delicately clothed. Or did you go to see a prophet?

So he provides the answer. And the answer here is

not no, but it's yes. They weren't looking for a prophet.

They went out to see the weird thing, the strange thing,

the uncommon thing. But what they got was a prophet.

A prophet hadn't arisen in Israel for over 400 years.

They were not used to prophetic ministry. They didn't know

anything about that. And I guarantee you, as that fellow

used to say on TV, I guarantee, I guarantee nobody

in the synagogues or in the temple was preaching a

prophetic message. John comes preaching a prophetic message and everybody

is shocked. What's going on here? This is not what

we normally get. This is not our normal fare. A prophet? Yes,

a prophet. It would have It would have been wonderful,

wouldn't it, if they were looking for a prophet. But

their gross imaginations were looking for something to please their

flesh and their pleasures. They wanted to be entertained, tickled, scared, amazed.

They did not want to be confronted about their sins.

And that's exactly what John came to do. Therefore, Jesus said, Yea,

I say unto you, and much more than a prophet,

John was the last of the Old Testament prophets. The

Old Testament is going to close on John's ministry. And

the New Testament opens up With the resurrection of Christ.

Now those are the six questions. Our Savior gives them.

Leads the people. And here's verse 27. Here's the answer.

Six questions. One answer. This is he of whom it

is written. Behold I send my messenger before thy face.

Which shall prepare the way before thee. Jesus quotes here

from Malachi chapter 3 verse 1. which says, Behold, I

Malachi 3:1

will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way

before me. And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly

come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant,

whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith the

Lord of hosts. Do you notice the Trinity there in

that first verse of Malachi 3? I will send my messenger,

and he shall prepare the way before me. We have

the Father and the Son together. Both recognized in that verse.

And the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to

his temple. Yes. Where else in the scripture can we

find this testimony about John? Well, Jesus quotes here from

Malachi chapter 3. And guess what that does to Malachi?

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

That affirms Malachi. Everything that Malachi said in Malachi. All

of it. All four chapters. Jesus comes in here. And

he puts his foot down in Malachi chapter 3 verse

Malachi 3:1

1 and says, this is John. Malachi was right. He

told you who was coming. And he has come before me.

The Son of God. The Lord who's entered into his temple. Well,

where else do we find it about John? Well, we

can go just back to Luke chapter 1. And in

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 1, I think it's in verse, what verse

Luke 1 · chapter mention

is it? In verses 76 through 79. we have John's

father prophesying. He says, Then in Luke 3, in verses

4 through 6, this is also found in Matthew 3,

Matthew 3:3

verses 3 and 4. We have this, as it is

written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet, saying,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye

the way of the Lord, make his path straight. Every

valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall

be brought low. The crooked made straight, the rough way

shall be smooth. All flesh shall see the salvation of God.

And you'll find that in Isaiah chapter 40, verses 3

Isaiah 40:3

and 5. Basically, exactly as is quoted there in Luke

and in Matthew. The voice of him that crieth in

the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord. Make

straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every

valley shall be exalted. Every mountain and hill shall be

made low. The crooked shall be made straight. The rough

place is plain, and the glory of the Lord shall

be revealed, and all the flesh shall see it together,

for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Then

in Mark, if you go over to Mark's gospel in

chapter 1, you have this in Mark 1, 2, and 3.

First chapter, first three verses. The beginning of the gospel

of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is

written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before

thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee, The

voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the

way of the Lord, make his path straight. So Mark

even quotes from the prophets. And of course, that's Malachi 3,

chapter 1. And then again, we have in Matthew chapter 11,

Matthew 11 · chapter mention

our companion passage for today. And in addition to what's

in Matthew's gospel, which is the same as Luke, we

have something unique in Matthew that's not in Luke. And

if you look at Matthew chapter 11, verses 13 through 15,

Matthew 11:13–15

you have this little extra piece here. And Matthew says, Now,

Matthew is referring there in he's referring to Malachi's prophecy

in Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 and 6 when he

Malachi 4:5

says behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before

the coming of the great and dreadful day of the

Lord so Elijah was to come Matthew's gospel Jesus says

this is Elijah which was to come He shall turn

the hearts of the fathers to the children and the

hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come

and smite the earth with a curse. So you see,

all of this is prophesied about one man. One man.

The greatest prophet, absolutely he's the greatest prophet. Now Jesus

goes on there in verse 28 to say, For I

say unto you, among those born of women, there is

not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. Not only

was John a prophet in the fulfillment of prophecy, but

he was also the greatest of all the prophets. But

why was John greater? Well, just a couple of things.

Number one, other prophets spoke of Christ from a distance.

They saw him down that long hall of history and

looked down there and said, there he is, he's coming.

But John spoke of him as present. He could turn

around and point to Jesus by the Jordan and say,

the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of

the world. What a privilege. All the prophets must have

envied John. Second, John was the prophet that was prophesied

to come. So not only was he a prophet, but

prophets prophesied about him to come and speak of Jesus.

So he's greater than the prophets. Thirdly, other prophets searched

out the grace of God. Remember what Peter said. Of

which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who

prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. But

John pointed out the Lamb of God. They searched diligently.

John pointed him out in real time who would take

away the sin of the world. And other prophets, they

were searching what or what manner of time the Spirit

of Christ was in them did signify When it testified

beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow,

that's again 1 Peter 1. But John preached that the

time was now. You remember what he preached? He said,

and now also the axe is laid under the root

of the trees. It's now. They were saying it's coming.

John preached it's now. Now is the time. There's one

coming right after me who I can't untie his shoes.

This is why John was greater. But then Jesus says

something completely different. I mean, if you're looking for the

carnival part of this, if you're looking for the different

and the strange, this is it. The contrast that he

creates here is mind-blowing. John was the greatest Old Testament prophet,

and then Jesus says this, but he that is least

in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Least

in the kingdom of God is greater than John. You

know what that means? You know, I was sitting at

my desk writing this sermon this week, and I thought

of my 10-year-old granddaughter. All she knows is that Jesus

died on the cross for her. That's all she knows.

She doesn't know a whole bunch of stuff. All she

has done is simply, in childlike faith, trusted Christ. And she,

my little 10-year-old granddaughter, is greater than the greatest of

the Old Testament prophets. What in the world? Yes, absolutely.

Why is it so? Well, because the elect have received

his grace in a way that the prophets never did.

And of his fullness have we all received in grace

for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but

grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That's what John said. Second,

because the elect become the sons of God and experience

new birth. But as many as receive him, to them

he gave power to become the sons of God, even

to them that believe on his name, which were born

not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor

the will of man, but of God. That's John chapter 1,

John 1:12

verse 12, 13. Thirdly, because the elect have been freed

from the curse of the law. Paul writes in Galatians,

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 that Christ has redeemed us from the curse

of the law, being made a curse for us. For

it is written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree.

And then fourthly, the reason why the least in the

kingdom is greater than John is because the elect have

received the spirit of God. In Galatians 3.14, Paul writes

that the blessings of Abraham might come on the Gentiles

through Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of

the Spirit through faith. The prophets knew nothing about the

Spirit through faith. They received the Holy Spirit. They prophesied

as they were inspired by the Spirit of God, but

they didn't have the indwelling presence that we do. The

least in the kingdom is greater. Because we've received his grace,

we become the sons of God, we have been freed

from the law's curse, and because we have the spirit

of God dwelling within us. Those are just, I just

picked out four things. You could probably make a whole

big list. Adoption and sanctification and justification and imputed righteousness

and the whole thing. All of it. That we have

a mediator who is both prophet, priest, and king. And

he mediates on our behalf. We have all of that.

This is why we are greater than the greatest of

all the prophets. And then we come to the result.

And I see I'm just almost out of time here,

so I'm going to get to this. The results. 29

and 30. 29 is the first result. Those who heard. Finally,

finally we have people hearing. Now, Let me just say this.

In some of your Bibles, this is not in red letters,

29 and 30. As a matter of fact, in my

King James, I paused a moment at the end of

28 because I was shocked that they did not include

29 and 30. Some people will say that Jesus didn't

say this, but this is a commentary by Luke. He's

making a comment on this. But I think Jesus spoke

these words. I think this flows naturally in the conversation.

that Jesus would say this. And so if I were

doing this, I want to make it plain that I

believe that these are the words of Christ, what we

have in 29 and 30. Okay, having said that, let

me proceed. All the people that heard him, the publicans

justified God. All the people that heard him and the

publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism of John.

Jesus would know this because he was there. They heard

John preaching repentance and righteousness, and guess what? They humbled

themselves and said the Lord was just and right to

make such demands of them, to say they were sinners,

they needed to produce fruit, that the ax was laid

to the root of the trees, and they didn't want

to be that tree. They repented before God of their

sins and were ready then for the coming of Christ.

Republicans and the people, all these folks, They were ready.

So here's the first result. The first result is people

hearing John. They didn't just go to see him, but

when they saw him, they heard him, and they justified God,

meaning they said, Lord, you're right. They didn't say, John,

you're right. They said, Lord, you're right, because they heard

the voice of the Father coming through the prophet, and

they said, that's me. I'm a sinner. And they were

baptized by John for remission. of sin and preparing for

the ministry of Jesus. But then there's the other side

of the coin. And remember, folks, there's always two sides

to the coin. Verse 30. But the Pharisees and the

lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not

baptized of John. These legalistic interpreters of the law refused

to admit the need of confession of sin on their part,

and so set aside the baptism of John as a

mean thing. That's A.T. Robertson's comment on that. And I

was thinking, as I was reading this, I was thinking

about 2 Kings. And 2 Kings gives us a really

beautiful It's not beautiful, it's horrifying, but it's very plain.

I guess I should put it that way. At the

end of the kingdom of Israel, when the Assyrians came

in and destroyed Israel, here's what the prophet says, beginning

there in 2 Kings 17, 13. Yet the Lord testified

against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets and

by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil

ways and keep my commandments and my statutes according to

all the law which I commanded your fathers and which

I sent to you by my servants, the prophets. Notwithstanding,

they would not hear, but hardened their necks like to

the neck of their fathers that did not believe the

Lord their God. And they rejected his statutes and his covenant,

and he made with their fathers and his testimonies, which

he testified against them. And they followed vanity and became

vain and went after the heathen that were round about them,

concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should

not do likewise. And they left all the commandments of

the Lord their God and made them molten images, even

two calves, made a grove and worshipped all the hosts

of heaven and served Baal. They caused their sons and

their daughters to pass through the fire and used divination

and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the

sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Therefore

the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them

out of his sight. There was none left but the

tribe of Judah only. Also Judah kept not the commandments

of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes

of Israel which they made. And the Lord rejected all

the seed of Israel and afflicted them and delivered them

into the hand of the spoilers until he had cast

them out of his sight. What's the very first thing

in that passage that the prophet says? He says in 13,

The Lord testified against them by all the prophets and

all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways.

Does that sound like John? It's exactly John. Exactly John.

But what happened? They hardened their hearts. They stiffened their necks.

And when you stiffen your neck and harden your heart,

then destruction comes suddenly, as Solomon said, and without remedy.

But not yet. Because look at this list of things.

They went after the people around them. They worshipped all

the hosts of heaven. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters,

made them pass through the fire, used divination and enchantment,

sold themselves to do evil. And how long did that

go on? Hundreds of years that went on. Because from

the moment Israel, the northern kingdom, was founded, they founded

it upon idolatry. Immediately they created the golden calves. Ahab

came in and he brought in Baal and all of that.

And they never got rid of any of that because

their hearts were hard because they refused to listen. You

see this first group there in verse 29 says, The

people that heard him, the publicans, justified God. What if

Israel in the Old Testament had justified God when they

heard the prophets and they said, we've sinned. And they

went and they tore down all the altars and got

rid of all that worship. Well, God would have spared them.

He would have been merciful to them. But they didn't.

They just kept right on. And the prophet says, they

provoked the Lord to anger. But the Lord's long suffering,

and it took hundreds of years before the Lord said, okay,

that's enough. Look at these people here in verse 30.

The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God

against themselves. It wasn't that they were rejecting John. They

didn't reject John just like the people didn't accept John.

They humbled themselves and justified God. These people rejected the

counsel of God against themselves. Friends, There is a consequence

for rejecting the counsel of God. These people rejected the

counsel of God against themselves, not being baptized of him.

It wasn't that baptism was going to do anything. What

baptism was, it symbolized what had happened in their hearts.

And guess what? Nothing had happened in their hearts because

they were like, oh, well, he's... He doesn't have the education.

He doesn't have the papers. He doesn't have the group meet.

He is not a part of the right people. He

comes from the desert. Who knows what he knows, what

he says. Look at him. Look how he's dressed. Look

what he eats. Listen to his words. Repent of your sins. What? See,

that's what they did. They were not baptized of him.

These legalistic interpreters of the law. As A.T. Robertson says

they refused. And what did they get for it? well

those are the two results so how do we let

me bring this to a close imply this a little

bit john was the end of the old testament the

law and the prophets were until john that's what jesus

says in luke 16 Now everyone who trusts in Jesus

is greater than John. And I ask you the question then,

if you trusted in Christ Jesus, do you have all

those things that I mentioned? Are you shaken with the wind?

Are you playing dress up, but inside you're empty? A

lot of people today on a Sunday playing dress up,

going to church, but inside there's nothing. Because they don't

know Christ. And they reject the counsel of God against themselves.

Are you ready to justify God and humble yourself before him?

Or will you, like these Pharisees and Israel, ignore him? Father,

thank you for John and his example and all that

we've learned here. Lord, we just ask that you'd help

us now as we conclude our service today with this

final song. Speak to our hearts, Lord Jesus, for we

pray in your name. Amen.