559. Gospel of Luke - Chapter 7 (#3) - Jesus Proclaims the Reason why John the Baptist Came - May 23, 2024

[00:00:06] and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:21] But in prayer, Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord,

[00:00:27] I pray that you give everyone ears to hear and I heart to receive everything you have in

[00:00:32] store for them today. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen. This is Proverbs 23 beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:42] When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you and put a

[00:00:49] knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies for they are

[00:00:58] accepted food. Do not overwork to be rich because of your own understanding, cease.

[00:01:06] Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings.

[00:01:14] They fly away like an eagle toward heaven. Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor

[00:01:23] desire his delicacies. For as he thinks in his heart so is he. Eat and drink, he says to you,

[00:01:32] but his heart is not with you. The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up and waste your

[00:01:40] pleasant words. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your

[00:01:48] words. Do not remove the ancient landmark, nor enter the fields of the fatherless, for their

[00:01:56] redeemer is mighty. He will plead their cause against you. Apply your heart to instruction

[00:02:04] and your ears towards a knowledge. Do not withhold correction from a child. For if you beat

[00:02:13] him with a rod he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod and deliver his soul from hell.

[00:02:20] My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice, indeed I myself. Yes, my inmost being

[00:02:32] will rejoice when your lips speak right things. Do not let your heart and be sinners, but be

[00:02:41] zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day. For surely there is a hear after and your hope

[00:02:50] will not be cut off. Hear my son and be wise, and guide your heart in the way. Do not mix with wine

[00:03:00] bivers or with gluttonous eaters of meat. For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty

[00:03:09] and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. Listen to your father who begot you and do not despise

[00:03:18] your mother when she is old. Buy the truth and do not sell it. Also wisdom and instruction

[00:03:27] and understanding. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice and he who begots a wise child

[00:03:37] will delight in him. Let your father and your mother be glad and let her who bore you rejoice.

[00:03:44] My son give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways for a heart is a deep hit and a seductress is a narrow well. She also lies in weight as

[00:04:01] for a victim and increases the unfaithful among men. Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has

[00:04:13] intentions? Who has complaints? Who has woe without cause? Who has redness of eyes?

[00:04:23] Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine

[00:04:32] when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly. At the last it bites like a

[00:04:42] serpent and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things and your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you

[00:04:53] will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea or like one who lies at the top of the mast saying they have struck me

[00:05:04] but I was not hurt. They have beaten me but I did not feel it. When shall I awake that I may seek another drink?

[00:05:15] Friends today I'd like to take a closer look at verse four and proper 23 verse four says this, do not overwork to be rich because of your own understanding

[00:05:31] cease. Friends, we will take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today but what I'd like to do is continue in our

[00:05:41] study of the gospel according to Luke. And I ended yesterday's podcast with verse 17, but I gave it some thought and I had

[00:05:54] forgotten to read a very important commentary for verse 16. So friends, I am reading out of the Nelson study Bible and what I'd like to do is go back to yesterday's

[00:06:11] ending and we are in chapter seven and I'm going to begin in verse 16. Then fear came upon all and they glorified God saying,

[00:06:24] a great prophet has risen up among us and God has visited his people. Now the commentary for verse 16 says this,

[00:06:37] the crowd recognized the parallel between Jesus raising up the widow's son and the work of the great prophets Elijah and Elijah.

[00:06:52] And each of those people, the great prophets of old had raised a young child and given the child back to the mother. So that happened for Elijah in first

[00:07:09] times. And that happened for Elijah in second Kings, but I really wanted to get that point across because now they are comparing what Jesus is doing to what the great prophets Elijah and Elijah had done many

[00:07:31] moons ago. So let's pick up today's story beginning in verse 18 and this is entitled, John the Baptist sends messengers to Jesus. Then the disciples of John reported to him,

[00:07:49] concerning all these things. And John calling two of his disciples to him sent them to Jesus saying, are you the coming one or do we look for another? When the man had come to him they said,

[00:08:08] John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, are you the coming one or do we look for another? And that very hour he cured many of infermities,

[00:08:25] afflictions and evil spirits, and to many blind he gave sight. Let's go to verse 22. Jesus answered and said to them, go and tell John the things you have seen and heard that the blind see the lame walk,

[00:08:50] the lepers are cleansed, the death here, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

[00:09:03] Now friends, my first point today is Jesus tells John's disciples to tell John the things they have seen and heard. And what I'd like to do is go over the commentary for verse 19.

[00:09:21] And this asks the question, are you the coming one? And I thought this was very interesting.

[00:09:30] John's uncertainty may have been due to the fact that Jesus did not show signs of being the political and conquering Messiah that most Jews were anticipating in that period.

[00:09:49] And that question is still going on today among a certain tribe or sect of the Jews. They felt that Jesus, the coming Messiah was going to be basically a ruler and have a kingdom on earth.

[00:10:12] But that is not what Jesus was sent here to do. He was sent by God to overlook and to overcome all of the sins of mankind for all time by dying on a cross.

[00:10:31] That was Jesus's primary mission. And that's why a lot of Jews at that time did not understand what he was there for.

[00:10:42] I would like to go back to the last part of verse 22 and it says, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Now that was very important that Jesus do that as well.

[00:11:00] He wasn't just sent here to heal people and here in this particular verse it says that the blind now see the lame people who could not walk before now can walk.

[00:11:16] People who had leprosy now had clean skin and they looked like normal people. People who had been deaf and unable to hear now could hear.

[00:11:30] And earlier in this story a man was raised from the dead actually at a funeral procession. And Jesus simply came and touch the coffin and he was raised from the dead.

[00:11:46] But Jesus also was very concerned about the spiritual condition of the people of that time. So he wanted the good news, the gospel preached to the people.

[00:12:01] Let's go on to verse 23 and blessed is he who is not offended because of me. And that is my second point today and it's a crucial point.

[00:12:16] Blessed is he that is not offended because of me. Now friends Jesus was a revolutionary. He was totally different than anybody who would ever come and they could not understand that.

[00:12:37] And Jesus' words to people were follow me. Simply follow me and a lot of the people that time, especially their religious leaders could not stand what he was doing because they went against the traditions of that time.

[00:12:58] They did not follow the law and for them that was the most important thing. Jesus and his disciples, it's like they upturned everything.

[00:13:13] We're changing the status quo. Everything that had gone on for years and years and years and generation and generation Jesus was simply turned it all upside down and said, come follow me.

[00:13:30] Forget about the law, forget about everything you've always done and simply follow me. And that was a point of contention from the very beginning of Jesus' ministry. Let's go to verse 24.

[00:13:47] When the messengers of John had departed, he began to speak to the multitudes concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see?

[00:13:59] A read shaken by the wind. He asked a second time, but what did you go out to see? A man clothe in soft garments. Indeed those who are gorgeously uphaired and live in luxury are in King's courts.

[00:14:20] And he asks a third time. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you and more than a prophet. This is he to whom it is written.

[00:14:41] Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you. So friends, the third point that I want to make is Jesus discusses the purpose of John the Baptist and why he came to earth.

[00:15:04] So now what I'd like to do is read a bit of commentary. I really want you to understand why was John sent. And it says the questions that Jesus asked were designed to emphasize that John the Baptist played a special role in God's plan.

[00:15:27] The crowds did not go out to the wilderness to see scenery or a man dressed in special clothes, but to see a prophet. Let's look at verse 27, my messenger.

[00:15:45] The citation here is from the book of Malachi chapter 3. It's also mentioned in Matthew's Gospel chapter 11 and the first chapter of Mark.

[00:15:58] John the Baptist was the promised Elijah figure who would point the way to the arrival of God's salvation. And what was John's message?

[00:16:13] John the Baptist message was repent, repent, repent of your sins.

[00:16:23] But let's go on to verse 28 and we'll close after this verse. For I say to you, among those born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.

[00:16:40] But listen to this but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he and listen to the commentary for verse 28.

[00:16:53] That verse I always had a difficult time understanding but listen to the clarification in this commentary.

[00:17:06] Jesus emphasizes the contrast between the old and new era. John was the greatest prophet everboard, but the lowest person in the new era of God's kingdom is higher than the greatest prophet of the old era.

[00:17:32] I know that may be a little bit difficult to grasp, to comprehend, to truly embrace. But that is what this verse is telling us. He is telling us that we today, if we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, are greater than John the Baptist who was the greatest prophet.

[00:18:02] That is so significant. Friends before we close today I'd like to go back to our verse of the day and I told yesterday that I often try to get a verse that is talking and corresponds with our lesson for the day, and today I picked out verse 4.

[00:18:26] He says, do not overwork to be rich and certainly John the Baptist is an example of that. He was not dressed in fine clothes which was a second question. Jesus asked them, did you go see someone in fancy clothes out in the desert?

[00:18:48] John didn't care about that. A matter of fact, he wore old, wore out clothes. He ate locuses. He certainly did not care about the clothes that he wore or making an impression on people.

[00:19:06] Let's go to the second part of that verse because of your own understanding cease. Now friends, the book of Proverbs often talks about not being lazy.

[00:19:20] But this verse is telling us not to do the opposite of that as well. So let's look at the commentary in my Bible for this verse. It says,

[00:19:32] This verse calls for moderation in work. Do not overwork to be rich, although the Proverbs discourage laziness they also discourage any overworking whose purpose is greater wealth.

[00:19:52] Friends, our families are more important than the jobs that we do. They are part of who we are, but our family must come before your job.

[00:20:08] And I know some people don't really want to hear that. It's important that you have a job, but you're not supposed to spend all of your waking hours or as many as you possibly can simply to make money.

[00:20:23] You need to do your job, you need to go home and you need to take care of your family. Friends, what I'd like to do today for the call of action is to think about John the Baptist.

[00:20:38] Think about how he was pictured when he was on earth. He lived in the desert and people went out and saw him and he preached a good message, but he preached repent, repent, repent, change your ways.

[00:21:02] And friends, I'm telling you today the same thing. Repent, repent, repent and turn to God. It's the most important decision you'll ever make.

[00:21:15] And if you have never made that decision, I am going to invite you to make that decision right now.

[00:21:23] Simply repeat this prayer after me. Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and indeed of a Savior, I ask that you come into my heart, I ask that you leave me and guide me from this point forward.

[00:21:38] I make you my Lord and Savior. Friends, that is all you need to do and you are now a member of the family of God.

[00:21:48] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:22:01] Friends, please join me again tomorrow as we close out the week with wisdom today.