That hymn was based upon our passage for our Old Testament reading, which is Isaiah 61. We’ll read verses 1 through 7. Prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 61, verses 1 through 7. It’s found on page 720 in the Pew Bible. Listen to this. This is the very Word of God. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins. They shall raise up the former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks. Foreigners shall be your plowmen and vine dressers, but you shall be called the priests of the Lord. They shall speak of you as the ministers of our God. You shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame, there shall be a double portion. Instead of dishonor, they shall rejoice in their lot. Therefore, in their land, they shall possess a double portion. They shall have everlasting joy.
And then for our New Testament reading, please return with me to Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 7, where our text And the passage for the message this morning will be verses 18 through 35. Luke 7, 18 through 35. Keep in mind, this follows immediately on the account of Jesus healing the desperately sick servant of the centurion. And then, as we saw last week, Jesus raising the the dead son of this poor widow in the town of Nain. And on the heels of that, listen to this, because this is God’s word.
The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?
In that hour, he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits. And on many who were blind, he bestowed sight. And he answered them and said, go and tell John what you’ve seen and heard. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John.
What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing live in luxury, and live in luxury are in king’s courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. I tell you, among those born of women, none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like?
They’re like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, we played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not weep. For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine. And you say he has a demon. The son of man has come eating and drinking. And you say look at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. yet wisdom is justified by all her children. That’s the reading of God’s word.
Let’s humbly pray for his blessing upon it now. Oh, Lord, as we come now to the preaching ministry of your word, we pray that we would hear Christ’s voice speaking. We pray that Christ would be lifted up before the eyes of our faith. We pray that your word would not return to you void, but that it would accomplish what you desire and succeed in the matter for which you sent it. All to the glory of our Savior. And we pray it in his name. Amen.
I’ve never preached through the gospel according to John, but like probably most of you, I’ve read it many, many times. And in some of my more recent readings of John’s gospel, one thing that has sort of jumped out at me and seems to be a theme maybe a sub-theme or secondary theme, but a theme nevertheless in John’s gospel is just how uninformed and confused so many of the people were in Jesus’ day. John’s Gospel records several major and prolonged dialogues between Jesus and the people.
Sometimes it’s just the people at large, sometimes the religious leaders. But if you read John Chapter 6, John Chapter 8, John Chapter 10, and you read the interactions that took place, and then even later on in John’s Gospel, as the people perhaps at a feast or are discussing amongst themselves, who is this Jesus? And what is he or what isn’t he?
I’m struck lately by the degree of misinformation, the degree of confusion that the people had. So much of what they said, and apparently so much of what they believed was based on half truths and even superstition. And it shows us how necessary Christ’s teaching is for us, because we would be equally as confused, equally led astray, equally bound up in superstitions if it weren’t for Jesus and His Word bringing the truth to us and educating us and informing us. and for the Holy Spirit’s ministry, how dependent we are upon the ministry of the Spirit each time we come to the Word, to illumine the pages of Scripture so that we can understand truly. And I bring that up because in this passage, there are some incidents of confusion, incidents of uncertainty, particularly on the part of John the Baptist himself, and even some examples of downright unbelief on the part of the Pharisees and the lawyers, for example. I titled this sermon, Christ Brings Clarity.
I almost titled it, Doubt Versus Unbelief, because this passage presents examples of both to us. We see a clear example of a man struggling with doubt, but you also see examples of unbelief, And I would assert to you that doubt and unbelief are two different things. And I hope to help you understand the difference. Because there are similarities between the two. And both those things are portrayed in our text today. But there are also some very crucial differences between doubt and unbelief. And we’ll see that in a moment.
But what this passage shows us as Jesus in three kind of distinct episodes in our text today. It shows us that in crises of confusion and uncertainty, Christ brings clarity. In crises of confusion and uncertainty, Christ brings clarity. Actually, I could have maybe stretched this text, this passage into three sermons. But since they all seem to center around John, and he’s kind of a connecting theme in them, we’ll treat the whole passage together today.
And what we’re gonna see, first of all, is that Jesus reassures doubts. When his people have doubts, Jesus, through his word and spirit, reassures doubts, reassures us in the midst of those. We see, secondly, that Jesus commends faith. Jesus commends faith. And then finally, Jesus rebukes unbelief. But first of all, Jesus reassures doubts.
John’s ministry, as we’ve read about it already together and been through it in our time in the gospel according to Luke, John’s ministry pointed to Jesus and declared unequivocally that he was the one who was to come. He was the promised Messiah. He was the one of whom the scriptures spoke. But by the time we get here to Luke 7, there in verse 19, we see John sending messengers to Jesus and asking for confirmation. After he boldly preached in the wilderness and had that extended ministry, of repentance and being the one who was the forerunner of the Christ. Now it appears that John was doubting. Why would he send these messengers to Jesus and ask him, well, are you the one who’s to come or not? When he seemed so sure during the heart of his ministry that Jesus was the one.
I would say, just as an aside, there are some people think that, including some writers and some commentators that I respect very greatly and love, They think that John wasn’t the one doubting. They think that John was sending his disciples to Jesus to convince them that Jesus is the one to come.
And I won’t get into all the rationale for that. But the idea is basically that John knows he’s going to die before long. And he wants to be sure his disciples, you know, catch the right train. In other words, become followers of Jesus. And perhaps some of his disciples weren’t quite convinced that Jesus was the one. And so, John sends them to ask this question for their sake.
And I can understand, I can follow the argument, but that’s not what I think is happening here. I think what’s happening here is John himself is struggling with doubts. And even though that’s sad, there’s a sense in which it can comfort us. I’ll show you what I mean. Because if you just turn back in Luke’s gospel a few pages back to chapter three, and let’s revisit a snippet of John’s ministry.
In Luke three, verses 16 and 17, here’s what John said when he was still baptizing in the wilderness. He said, I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming. The strap of whose sandals I’m not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” So there you have this fiery ministry of John and he’s declaring judgment. Judgment’s coming and he’s warning about it.
And that was very much the tenor of John’s ministry. And yet, as his disciples come and report to him what Jesus is doing and saying and teaching, it doesn’t appear that any divine retribution is forthcoming, at least not anytime soon. And while John had so powerfully preached the coming judgment, when the coming one arrived, he’s preaching a gospel of peace and of reconciliation with God. and of the forgiveness of sins. So that had to confuse John, especially when he was locked up in prison, and couldn’t go out there and see for himself what’s going on here with his own ears, the preaching and teaching of Jesus.
And on that same subject, John’s own ministry had been terminated. His ministry was over. He had been involuntarily retired when Herod threw him into prison. And by the time of this incident in Luke chapter seven, John had probably by then been in prison for about a year, languishing in prison and wondering what in the world was going on. And so he’s frustrated. He can’t preach anymore. The Lord raised him up to be a preacher, to be a herald, and he’s in prison and can’t preach. He can’t baptize, which he was sent to do.
So no doubt. Put yourself in his place. Would you be discouraged? Would you be confused? And so there John is. wondering, was Jesus the Messiah after all? He had preached that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, but is it after all? What about judgment? Why are we not seeing it? Why hasn’t it come? So it’s entirely understandable. I think it’s fair.
Wouldn’t you admit it’s entirely understandable that John might be having questions, that he might be sensing and feeling doubts, Charles Spurgeon on this subject wrote, it’s no unusual thing for the bravest of hearts to be subject to fits of doubt. John, though a man of iron, was but a man. Those are very gracious words coming from a man who is known as the Prince of Preachers, but also himself struggled with melancholy. If you know anything about Spurgeon in his life, sometimes he struggled with depression. So he of all people could understand why John might be a little depressed, a little confused and having and entertaining some doubts. about this one whom he had heralded.
So the disciples of John go to Jesus. You notice how faithfully they communicate verbatim the message and the question that John had sent them to ask. And when we get to verse 21, it says, in that hour, in the presence of John’s messengers, in other words, Jesus performs an array of miracles. He heals. And then he answers them, go and tell John what you’ve seen and heard. And in those answers that he gives to them, the ones that we see in verse 22, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed. Those are quotations, or at least paraphrases of passages from Isaiah, including the one we read as our Old Testament reading. Jesus cites portions of Isaiah chapter 26, Isaiah chapter 29, chapter 35, and then 61.
You remember, John and Jesus were relatives. Jesus was just a little bit younger than John. They knew each other. And I think there was probably a very subtle personal message being sent to John when he sent this report back to John through these disciples. And remember how faithfully John’s disciples transmitted John’s question to Jesus. No doubt they as faithfully and as carefully reported back to John what Jesus had to say in response. He said, go tell John what you’ve seen. Tell him what you’ve heard.
And verse 22 goes on, but look at the end of verse 22, and how before that rebuke in verse 23, the last thing that’s mentioned, Jesus says, the poor have good news preached to them. And that’s from Isaiah 61, verse one. But in Isaiah 61, one, which we read together just a moment ago, it goes on to speak of liberty to the captives. And the prison being opened, but Jesus leaves that part out. He stops short of that.
And perhaps that was his way of communicating to his cousin to say, John, stand firm, keep the faith, but you won’t be coming out of prison. And Jesus concludes his statement, his message back to John in verse 23 with this gentle rebuke. It’s gentle, but it’s a rebuke nonetheless.
But at the same time, it’s a word of encouragement, a word of reassurance. Blessed is the one who’s not offended by me. That word can mean repelled. Blessed is the one who’s not repelled by me. John, don’t let my ministry and my message cause you to stumble. saying.
So, he’s reassuring John’s doubts. That’s what Jesus does. When any of Jesus’ children come to him with their doubts, Jesus will reassure you through his word. Because whenever we face crises of confusion, or uncertainty, or both, Christ brings clarity for us. So, Jesus is indeed everything that Scripture says that he is. And so, I exhort you to trust in that. Trust in Him. John had to go on. He had to carry on and hold out in simple faith. There wasn’t going to be any release for John. There wouldn’t even be any additional light. No additional explanation. And isn’t it the same with us?
We have to carry on day by day in simple faith, even if we’re confused. even if we’re struggling with doubts. We mustn’t let our circumstances shake our faith.” And I don’t believe that John ultimately allowed his circumstances to shake his faith, because Jesus reassures our doubts. Well, then, Jesus also commends faith, secondly.
So, the messengers depart. These messengers sent from John, they go back to John to take the answer that they’d received. And then Jesus begins to talk to the crowd about John, because he And so, Jesus gives clarity in the midst of our uncertainty and our confusion. And Jesus doesn’t want these crowds that are with Him to be confused about who John was. So, He’s going to give clarity to that.
John had been Jesus’ herald. He was Jesus’ forerunner. And now He’d sent these messengers to Jesus to question who He was. Are you the coming one? And perhaps the people, sent those messengers back with kind of a mild rebuke. Maybe they were inclined to think, well, maybe John wasn’t who we thought he was. But in verses 24 to 28, Jesus honors John. He vindicates him in case anyone was wondering, well, was he the real deal or not? And Jesus vindicates and honors John with a series of questions.
What did you go out into the wilderness to see? Did you go out to see a reed shaken by the wind? I personally am inclined to think that these first couple of questions maybe would have elicited a few chuckles from the crowd. When Jesus begins to have this sort of pastoral conversational encounter with the crowd. What did you go out to the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?”
In other words, was John the kind of man who’s irresolute or wavering? Was he the kind easily blown about by winds of doctrine? Was he a shakable kind of person? Can you imagine somebody laughing at that question? Was John, having been such a firm, faithful, powerful preacher, No, he wasn’t a reed shaken by the wind. He was an oak of righteousness. He was a rock. He was steadfast and immovable. So that’s not what they went out to the wilderness to see. Far from it. And Jesus says, well, what then did you go out to see?
A man dressed in soft clothing? Was John known to to get dolled up in the Ralph Lauren or Dior of his day? Was that his garb? Again, people might have laughed because even what little we know about John, we don’t know a whole lot about him. But one of the things we do know is what he wore.
He wore this garment of camel hair with a leather belt. And That’s just to indicate sort of an austere way of dress. It hearkened back to Elijah, because the Old Testament teaches us that that’s what Elijah wore. And John, being the New Testament fulfillment of the ministry of Elijah dressed in the same way. So John didn’t dress in a glamorous way.
So the obvious answer to Christ’s second question is no, but then he asks, well, what did you go to see? Did you go out to see a prophet? And now the discourse gets very serious. A few people might’ve gotten a laugh out of the first two questions, but when Jesus says, did you go out to see a prophet? I bet people were on the edge of their seats. Their ears perked up. Because here was the moment of truth. The people held that John was a prophet. But what was Jesus going to say about him? He wasn’t a reed shaken by the wind. He wasn’t a man dressed in soft clothing. Is Jesus about to tell us that John wasn’t a prophet either?
But Jesus says, yes, yes, you went out to see a prophet. And I tell you what, you went out to see more than a prophet. And then Jesus cites Malachi 3, speaking of John. These words that generations of Jews had heard read in synagogue. Jesus says they were talking about him. They were talking about John the Baptist. Jesus also spoke about John, after the transfiguration. Listen to what he said in Matthew 17, verses 9 through 13, and listen to the clarity that Jesus brings to the confusion of his disciples.
Jesus had been up on the mountain. He’d been transfigured before the eyes of three of his closest disciples. They’re coming down the mountain after that event. And Matthew 17 says, as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, tell no one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.
Then the disciples asked him, why then do the scribes say that first Elijah must come? He answered, Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come. And they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.
Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. So therein lies the greatness of John. When Jesus says in verse 28, I tell you, among those born of women, there’s none greater than John. Wherein consisteth the greatness of John?
Well, he’s the only prophet about whom there was prophecy. He was a prophet of God who was foretold in prophecy. And he was the fulfillment of Elijah. He was the Elijah who was to come. He was the forerunner and the herald of Christ. He was really the last prophet of the Old Testament, last prophet of the Old Covenant. We meet him, we encounter him in New Testament scripture, but he really belonged to the Old Dispensation. He was not a New Testament prophet. He was an Old Testament prophet. He was the last of them. And he’s the one who introduced the people of Israel to their Savior. He ushered in the new covenant.
And he was a man of faith, and Jesus commends faith, both John’s and ours. But before we go on, what do we make of the end of that verse? Jesus said some, gave some very high praise, spoke very highly of John. You could hardly speak higher of anyone. But then he says this, although there’s none greater than John, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. What does that mean?
It means that, yes, there were people of great faith in the Old Testament. God’s people in the Old Testament lived by faith. The righteous have always lived by faith under the Old Covenant as well as the New. We know that from Hebrews chapter 11. So there were men and women in the Old Testament who had tremendous faith. John was among them.
But John never lived to see Christ die for his sins. John didn’t live to see the risen Christ after he came out of the tomb. John didn’t live to see Christ ascend into heaven, whereas over 100 of Jesus’ disciples did see that with their own eyes. John wasn’t there when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the New Testament Church.
John had none of those privileges. He had none of those benefits. And what the end of verse 28 means is that the least and the weakest Christian since the resurrection and ascension of Christ and the day of Pentecost has fuller revelation and fuller blessing than John ever did. The least and the weakest Christian. has the indwelling Holy Spirit, which John did not experience. John was filled with the Spirit, but since the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit indwells God’s people. John didn’t have that privilege.
And so Leon Morris in his commentary says, Jesus came to inaugurate the kingdom, and the least in that kingdom is greater than the greatest of men. Well, then finally we see that Jesus rebukes unbelief. He reassures doubts, but he rebukes unbelief. And the objects in this last section of our text, the objects of his rebuke were, and a quote from the passage, the people of this generation. That’s how Jesus put it. Now, obviously not, he’s not speaking in total. He wasn’t speaking of all the people that lived in Israel. at that time, because obviously some of them were true disciples. That’s what verses 29 and 30 tells us. Many of the people, including even tax collectors, had been baptized by John. They had submitted to the baptism of John. They had repented. They had believed. Now they were following Jesus. So many of them were faithful, but some were not.
The Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves. You know, what that means is they refused to be baptized by John. And the rebuke of the Lord Jesus is aimed at them. His rebuke is aimed at those who rejected God’s message, those who rejected God’s messengers. Those are the ones who are the target of Jesus’ rebuke here. And Jesus declares such people to be like children, and not in a good way.
There are places in Scripture where God and the Lord Jesus uses illustrations of children in a positive way. For instance, when he says, I tell you, unless you enter the kingdom of heaven like a little child, you shall not enter at all. Or when Jesus was giving instruction about greatness in the kingdom, or principles of Christian leadership, he would take a child and set the little child in the midst of his disciples and say, you need to become like a child. You need to become the servant of all. So those are favorable analogies and comparisons using a child.
But this is not a favorable analogy. Jesus declares these people to be like children in a bad way, in the way of irritated children. You have children or ever had children growing up in the home, you know how it is when your kids get irritated. They can’t be consoled, can’t be satisfied. When they’re discontent, Jesus is saying, this generation is like spoiled children. Children that would neither dance nor mourn. In other words, nothing satisfies them. Nothing is good enough. Nothing is acceptable. And it’s evident from their response to two ministries of very contrasting style, the ministry of John and the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Both John and Jesus were criticized and rejected by the scribes, the Pharisees, the teachers of the law.
That’s what verse two is all about. we played the flute for you, you would not dance, we sang a dirge, you would not weep. And then verse 33 goes on to apply those that little parable or that illustration to that generation. Now, there’s one perspective in which, in which we can understand that parable, so to speak, as that applies the generation to the people who wouldn’t dance or wouldn’t mourn. In other words, Jesus is the one came playing the flute, but the people wouldn’t dance. John is the one came playing, singing a dirge when they wouldn’t mourn.
And there’s, you know, you can see it that way. But I think the better way to see it is the generation is the one who’s complaining that John wouldn’t dance when they played the flute, that Jesus wouldn’t mourn when they played the dirge. You can see it either way. Maybe you have an opinion on that. The thing is, whichever way you look at it, whichever perspective you take, the message is still the same.
For the people, John was just too stern. He was austere, and they didn’t like that. They were put off by his strict discipline and his seriousness. But then Jesus comes along, and he’s everything John wasn’t. He feasted with the people. He ate and he drank. And what do they say about him? Oh, he’s too indulgent. They accused him of sin. They accused him of gluttony. They accused him of drunkenness and of excess, excess in various forms. And they didn’t like the fact that he associated with the wrong crowd. They hung out with sinners. tax collectors, prostitutes. And then Jesus’ conclusion is, well, that’s what you say, but wisdom is justified by all her children. In other words, you’ll know the tree by its fruit. And this was his rebuke of the unbelief of that generation. So it appears that John was struggling with doubt. In contrast, the Pharisees and the lawyers were bound up by unbelief.
What’s the difference? What’s the difference between doubt and unbelief? The simplest way I can put it is that when experiencing doubt, the faithful go to Christ. Unbelief turns away from Christ. The difference is the direction it’s going. Doubt is an infirmity that believers may suffer, but their faith that still persists in the midst of their doubts, their faith compels them to take their doubts to Christ, to seek answers and to seek help from the scriptures. Their faith compels them to trust in him for strength and for answers. even when struggling with doubt. In contrast, unbelief is proud. Unbelief makes its own assumptions and proceeds from there. Unbelief puts God on trial. Thinking back to John’s gospel, Jesus was doing all these signs, and there are people who are saying, you can’t deny, this must be the Messiah.
And then somebody says, well, he comes from Nazareth. Scripture says, the Christ will come from Bethlehem. But it seems that nobody took the time to say, by the way, where were you born? You grew up in Nazareth, we know that, but is that where you were born?
No, they made their own assumptions, and they pressed on in their rank unbelief. That’s what unbelief does. Unbelief puts God on trial. And I say, put your doubts on trial. Listen to God’s Word and trust Him more than your doubting heart. Is it true that real believers, genuine Christians can wrestle with unbelief? Yes, it happens. It’s not good, but it happens. But understand this. Unbelief isn’t merely weakness. I find it very tender that moment when the man whose son was demon-possessed, and he came to Jesus because the disciples couldn’t cast the demon out.
And Jesus rebukes this man’s unbelief. He said, all things are possible for those who believe. And the man says what? He says, I believe. Help my unbelief. That wasn’t just an admission of weakness. It was a confession of sin. Because unbelief is sin. Unbelief has the power to condemn. It’s not merely weak faith. Unbelief is sin, and you must put it to death. And the way you do it is you go back to Scripture. You go to prayer. You seek the power of the Spirit. You seek Christ through His Spirit and ask you, Lord, bring clarity to my confusion and my uncertainty.
Wasn’t that the whole reason Luke wrote his gospel? In the opening verses, doesn’t it say that Luke wrote his gospel so that Theophilus could have certainty concerning what he’d been taught? Well, this passage we’ve just examined together presents a crisis of confusion and uncertainty, and into that crisis, the Lord Jesus Christ brings clarity. And he’ll bring it into your crises as well.
Well, we’re about to come to the Lord’s Supper. And Jesus strengthens our faith by giving additional clarity through these outward and visible signs that we’re going to participate in together. We have His Word, which we hear with our ears and our hearts, but we also have the sacraments, which we see. And in the case of the Lord’s Supper, things that we can feel, that we can touch with our hands, things that we can taste, with our mouths. So if you’re struggling with any doubts today, brothers, sister, we come now to the table.
And at this table, you can have your faith strengthened. That’s what it’s for. This ordinance is something John never got to experience. Even the very least of you, the very least of you has a privilege that he never enjoyed. So as we get ready to come to the table, let’s pray. Oh, Lord God, through the power of your spirit, as we fix our eyes on Jesus, please strengthen our faith. And now as we come to the table, we pray that you’d be in our midst and that you’d make this ordinance a means of grace for all those who are trusting in you. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.