So if you haven't yet, you can go ahead and be Turning to Matthew
11. We're going to be in the first 19 verses of Matthew 11 today.
And let me catch you up, because over the course of this year,
we've been walking through Matthew chapter by chapter, verse
by verse. And so we've gone through the Sermon on the Mount,
the Beatitudes. We've seen Jesus doing ministry and the disciples
watching. And. And we've even got to a place now where Jesus has
sent out his disciples to go and do ministry. And he's told them,
we heard last week, he's told them, you're going to face opposition,
you're going to face rejection, you're going to face persecution.
And today we're going to actually see that opposition can
come from one of the unlikeliest of places, one of the
unlikeliest of people. So let's read in the first three verses
of Matthew 11 and see where that opposition comes from. When
Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples, he went on from
there to teach and preach in their cities. Now, when John heard
in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples
and said to him, are you the one who is to come, or shall we look
for another? This is John the Baptist, the one who was anointed
from birth to go and prepare the way for Jesus to go and set the
table for Jesus to come and usher in a new kingdom. This is the
John the Baptist who, when Jesus was coming up on him as he
was teaching, John the Baptist looked and told his disciples, behold
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is John
the Baptist who actually baptized Jesus. And when he baptized
Jesus, he heard the voice from heaven, God, say, this is my beloved
Son, in whom I'm well pleased that John the Baptist is facing some
doubts now. His circumstances have caused him to wonder, Jesus,
are you the one? Are you the Messiah, or should we be looking
for someone else? Like John's even getting to a place to where
he's questioning the deity of Jesus. He's saying, I know I proclaim
that you were the Messiah, the Son of God, but can you confirm,
Are you sure that you're him? And John is asking these questions
because he's wondering if maybe Jesus let him down. His circumstances
are pretty dire and he's got maybe some reasons to question. He's
questioning the goodness of Jesus. He's questioning, Jesus, do
you know what you're doing? Because my circumstances caused me
to doubt. And I'm wondering if you can Relate. Maybe you're in a
situation currently, or you can reflect back and say, yeah, been
in a situation where I've doubted the goodness of Jesus. I've
doubted his plan. I've doubted even if he was God. Maybe even for
some of you, you've walked with Jesus for years and years, decades
even, but a circumstance has happened and it's caused you to say,
ooh, wait a minute, wait a minute, Jesus. That was not what
I was expecting. And your unmet expectations can cause you
to doubt the goodness of Jesus. And John's message, if you
remember, was one of, if you don't repent, then there's gonna
be punishment and wrath and judgment for you. But if you will
repent, if you will confess your sins, if you will be baptized,
then there's blessing in store for you. And John has not only done
that, but he's preaching that message. Yet he finds himself in
what looks more like a situation of punishment or wrath.
Why am I here, God? How did I get here? And why are you not doing
something about this? You can do something about it. And Jesus
knows. He knows what John is thinking. He knows what John's feeling.
And he responds to John in a loving, gentle, compassionate way,
but in a truthful way, too. Let's look at these next three verses,
starting in verse four, and see how Jesus responds. And Jesus
answered them, meaning John's disciples. Go and tell John what
you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, and the lame
walk. Lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and 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. I love how Jesus responds
to John in this moment of doubt. He points back to his track
record. He says, john, look at what I've done. I've given sight
to the blind. I've raised the lame to walk. I've cleansed lepers.
I'm preaching good news to the poor. You know, John, and your disciples
know that these are messianic prophecies from Isaiah 35 and 61
that speak to me, that speak to what I'm doing. So rest assured,
John, I am the Messiah. I am him who you were looking for. You
don't need to look anymore. And so I'm going to give you a truth
that we see from John that you may want to write down today. It's
the first truth. Jesus responds to our doubts by reminding
us of what he's done to prove who he is. Jesus responds to our
doubts just like he did to John's by reminding us of what he's
done to prove who he is. I had Jesus loving parents who raised me
and my two younger brothers in a way that pointed us towards Jesus.
But oftentimes as a teenager, I didn't like their rules. I didn't
like their restrictions. I would frequently tell them that they
were the strictest parents in town and they wore that as a badge
of honor, saying, good, that's what we want. But even though I didn't
understand what they were doing, they were still raising me
in a way to point me towards Jesus. And so thank you, Dad. I appreciate
that. And here I find myself 30, 40 years later and I have four
children, three of whom are teenagers. And they frequently don't
like or understand things that their mom or I ask of them. They
don't like the circumstances, they don't like the decisions. And
so we have a saying in our house that that comes up more often
than I'd like to admit that says, my only desire is to bless
you, never to harm you. My only desire is to bless you, never
to harm you. And that's come up so often that I'll get a look
from them that says, I don't know if I believe that, and that's
fair, that's a fair response. But it gives me the opportunity to
point to my track record. And so I'll take them back and say, let
me tell you about all the ways that I've sought to bless you time
and time again. You can look at my track record and see my desire
is to bless you, never to harm you. And because of that, you can
trust me even when you don't understand, even when you don't like
it. You can trust me. My desire for you is good and I'm an
imperfect Father. But this is actually what our perfect Heavenly
Father tells us. You can turn to it or you can look on the screen.
But in Jeremiah 29:11, a verse many of you are familiar with, this
is what we hear from our Heavenly Father. For I know the plans
I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and good
and peace, and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Our Heavenly Father has good plans for us, not evil. He doesn't
want to harm us. His plans are good even if we don't know them fully.
He knows he cannot give us his plan fully. He can't lay it all out
and say, okay, then this is going to happen, then this, then
this. Because we're selfish in controlling children who would say,
I know you thought that that would be a good idea, God, but that's
going to be too hard. That's going to be too challenging. I don't
want to go through that trial, I don't want to go through that grief.
So let's go this way. Wouldn't this be better? God knows if he gave
us the plan, that's what we would do. But also his desire is
that we would trust him when we don't know the plan, that we would
trust that He's a good God. He goes on to even give us a new Beatitude
that speaks to this in verse six there. If you had memorized the
Beatitude, you may not have realized there's one more that you
need to add to the list. And blessed is the one who is not offended
by me. Another way that you can think about this. Blessed is
the one who is willing to let God unfold his plan as he sees fit.
Blessed is the one who is willing to let God unfold His plan
as he sees fit. I think if we're honest, we get upset with God
or we feel like he's letting us down when our plans don't come
to fruition. Because we love a God who is a Savior who would save
us from eternal punishment. We love a God who is a comforter who
meets us in our brokenness and brings us comfort. We love a God
who is a provider and gives us what we need and even what we want
sometimes. But if we're honest, we don't always love a God
who is ruler, a God who is Lord, a God who gets to dictate our
circumstances, who gets to dictate the plan that he has for
us because we want the plan. And the problem is we can let our
circumstances dictate the kind of expectations we have of Jesus.
John's circumstances caused him to have a temporary short sighted
view of Jesus. And he may have even been wondering something that
you may have wondered before too. Jesus, if you can change their
circumstance, why have you not changed mine? If you can heal them,
why have you not healed me? If you can save my child, if you can
save their child, why would you not save mine? If you can change
their circumstances, why have you not changed mine? And John's
wondering that because his circumstances are pretty dire. He's
in prison. Herod's put him there because he spoke truth to Herod
about his marriage to his brother's wife Herodias, and said,
you shouldn't have done that. And so Herod doesn't like him. Herod's
wife hates him. And so he's in prison. He may not realize it yet,
but we know he's on death row. And so his circumstances are pretty
dire. And so he's bringing maybe out of those circumstances
what could be a fair question to God, to Jesus. And Jesus, in His
loving way, just kind of gives him a rebuke and reminds him of what
he's done that points to who he is so that John can remember that
he's a part of a bigger plan. John, I'm not out just to save your
circumstances. I'm out for a bigger plan than that. And your circumstances
are a part of my plan. But the thing that John does that we ought
to learn from is he brings his doubt to Jesus. He doesn't hide it.
He doesn't sit on it. He doesn't go somewhere else. He brings
his doubt to Jesus. So the second thing I want you to write
down today is the right response to doubt is to take our
doubt to Jesus. The best thing you can do with your doubt is to
take it to Jesus. And the inverse of that is true. The worst
thing you can do with your doubt is to go anywhere else other
than Jesus. But that's what we feel like sometimes we should do.
I can't bring this to Jesus. I'm embarrassed. I'm ashamed. What
is he going to think of me? I've been walking with him and now
he's going to think I'm a failure. But Jesus is a compassionate
God. He wants us to bring our doubt to. Just like he wants us to
bring our fears to him, our anxieties to him, our needs to Him.
He wants us to bring our doubt to him because he wants to meet it
with his compassion and his truth. Let's see his compassionate
response to the people about John. He doesn't tear John down.
He actually builds him up. Let's look at verses 7 through 15.
As they went away, John's disciples, 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 wear
soft clothing are in king's houses. 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. Truly, I say
to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater
than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is Least in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist
until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and
the violent. Take it by force for all the prophets and the law
prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he
is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
What Jesus is doing here is he is building up John and his message.
And he is further connecting what John said about Jesus to the
fact that I have done those things. John has been a faithful
prophet. And so he's telling the people, because they're probably
wondering, Jesus, what are you going to do about John's situation?
If you care about John, what are you going to do? And Jesus is
saying, john has fulfilled what he came to do. John has fulfilled
his plans that my Father gave him to do. And because of that, he
is a great prophet. He doesn't criticize his doubt. He says, actually
he's a great man of faith because he was faithful to the end.
You see, John was the first one, the first prophet, the first
word of God. For 400 years there was silence. And then God sent
John prepare the way to be the Elijah for Jesus. And so the thing
that we see here from John brings us to the third truth. I want
you to consider. Having doubt doesn't make us faithless. It reveals
our need to remember Jesus faithfulness. Having doubt doesn't
make us faithless. It reveals our need to remember Jesus faithfulness.
Listen, doubt isn't a sin. Okay, let me say that again. Doubt
isn't sin. But what doubt does is it brings us to a fork in the
road where we can either go towards unbelief or we can fall back
on Jesus and what we know to be true about him. The greatest risk
today, our greatest risk today is not the doubt that we came in
with. It's whether or not we'll let Jesus replace our doubt
with faith. All right? That's what we're at risk missing out on
is letting Jesus take our doubt and replace it with his truth
and with faith in him. This is what Jesus points to next as he calls
out that generation and calls them immature children. Let's look
at what he says in the last four verses, starting in verse 16.
But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children
sitting in the marketplace and calling to their playmates. We played
the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you
did not mourn. For John came neither eating nor drinking. And
they say he has A demon, the Son of Man, came eating and drinking.
They say, look at him. A glutton and a drunkard, a friend
of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.
Jesus is addressing the immature faith of that generation.
He's saying, you cannot receive what I'm teaching because
you're acting like children. Children who would play in the marketplace,
play a flute or play a dirge. He's not. He's counterbalancing that
against. When he's spoken before about childlike faith. He's
saying, that's not how you're acting. You're actually acting with
a childish, immature faith because you just want me to meet
your expectations. But the truth is, Jesus did not come to meet
anybody's expectations. He came to build his kingdom, his way.
He didn't come to build my kingdom or your kingdom. He didn't
even come to build his kingdom, our way or their way, the
way they wanted. They wanted him to overthrow Rome. And he said,
I got bigger plans than that. I'm building my kingdom, my way.
And so you can either grow in your faith and have a mature faith
and understand that, or you can stay in a childish faith, a child
who may be stubborn or selfish, or only want their way and
throw a fit when they don't get their way. That's what Jesus
is calling them. And if we're honest, sometimes we can respond
that way, too. We can get mad at Jesus because he's not doing what
we think he should do, because maybe he's not getting us out of
our circumstance, maybe because he's not building kingdom
or letting us build our kingdom, our way. And Jesus is saying,
that's not what it's about. It's so much bigger than that. My
kingdom is so much bigger than that. If you'll just lean into me,
if you'll trust me, I'll reveal to you that I'm building my
kingdom, my way. And so I think we need to take our cues from
John. He didn't run from Jesus. He didn't try to hide his
doubt. He took his doubt to Jesus, the one person who could replace
his doubt by pointing him back to truth. Because Jesus loves to
respond to our doubt with compassion and truth. We love the
compassion part. It's the truthful part that sometimes hits
us between the eyes. And we're like, oh, man. But that's what we
need. That's what we need to be reminded of. And that's even what
he says in verse 19 when he's talking about wisdom is justified
by her deeds, Jesus is pointing to the fact that my wisdom
and the wisdom of my Father is greater than you can understand.
And he's actually pointing to the Gospel, saying, you cannot understand
why a gracious, perfect heavenly Father would send His Son
to give his life. You want me to stay here and overthrow Rome,
but I'm actually laying down my life so that you can have life
in our kingdom. I'm willing to die so that you can have a relationship
with us, so that you can learn what it looks like to trust in me,
trust in my Father, so that you can actually allow my Holy Spirit
that I'm going to send to you, remind you time and time again that
I'm good, that I love you, that I only want to bring blessing
to you, not harm. I don't know what kind of hurt or pain you may
be facing today. Many of you walked in with doubt, doubting the
goodness of God, doubting if he was going to change your circumstance
or your situation, wondering maybe even if he is the Messiah.
Maybe a financial hardship has caused you to have concerns. Maybe
loss of a relationship or a loved one has caused you to have
doubts in the goodness of God. Maybe because you haven't found the
right job or the right partner, your doubt has grown. Maybe
because he hasn't healed you the way you want him to, you're doubting
if he has the power to heal. And if he doesn't have the power
to heal, maybe he's not God. Whatever doubt you came in with,
Jesus wants you to respond by bringing your doubt to Him. He wants
to meet you with compassion and truth. He does not want you to
live in a perpetual season of doubting Him. And so I. I know many
who are hearing today who are watching online have doubt, have
seeds of doubt even that have been planted maybe long ago. Maybe
something happened to you as a child or a young adult and it's planted
seeds of doubt that are bearing fruit that are not the fruit
that Jesus wants you to bear. And he wants you to bring that to
him so he can uproot that seed of doubt and plant in new seeds of
truth. So there's a couple of ways that I'm going to ask you to
consider responding today. For some of you, you've never come to
Jesus and made him your Savior or your Lord. Maybe you have had
doubt in the fact that is he the God. Or maybe you think you've
done too much and so you doubt if he can save you based on everything
you've done. Surely he cannot save me. He Loves saving people no
matter what they've done. So my prayer for you today is that you
would respond by surrendering fully to Jesus, that you would bring
your doubt, that you bring your hurts, that you'd bring sin
and lay it down before him and say, jesus, I trust you. I'm not
holding back anymore. I trust you. You are the Messiah. You are
the Savior. You are the Lord. There is no other. Will you save
me? There may be some of you who need to respond with baptism
today. Maybe you have been doubting that Jesus hasn't transformed
your life yet. Maybe you gave your life to him. But you haven't
followed through in believer's baptism because you've been waiting
to see some evidence in your life that makes you feel like, okay,
I'm good enough now to get baptized. You're never good enough
to get baptized. He just wants you to trust in him and say, I am
sanctifying you day by day. You can trust in me for your next
step of faith. And so if you've never taken a step of baptism,
today may be the day I pray. You wouldn't leave with that question
lingering out there. We want to talk with you about that. But
there's also many in the room that have doubts, that have unmet
expectations of Jesus. Doubting isn't a sin. Jesus does
not want to condemn you. He will not condemn you for having doubt.
He invites you. He invites us to bring that doubt to him. He will
respond with compassion and truth. You don't have to be afraid
of him. He's a loving God. His only desire is to bless you, never
to harm you. Whatever doubts you may have, whatever hurts you
may have, you can bring them to him. He wants to meet you in that.
There's going to be pastors and prayer team members down front.
You can come to us. We would love to pray with you. We'd love
to remind you of the truth of Jesus. You may just want to come
to the altar and go straight to Jesus yourself. You may want to
go to somebody else in the room, a mentor or friend, and have
them pray over you. My prayer today is that you won't leave this
room with doubt. Whatever doubt you may have, you would bring
it to Jesus and let him remind you of what he's done and who he
is. So I'm going to ask the prayer team to come forward. I'm
going to ask you to go ahead and stand. Whatever way the Holy
Spirit wants to move in. You trust Him. It will be good. His desire
for you is good. Let's respond now.