MORE ABOUT JESUS WOULD I KNOW

Matthew Chapter Eleven

Ladies and Gentlemen, in Matthew chapter eleven there was a man who wanted to know more and more about Jesus. John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Art Thou He that cometh or look we for another?”

John had been hearing a lot about Jesus, but now John wants to hear from Jesus. You can hear a lot of things on the radio and television about Jesus that did not come from Jesus, or anywhere in His Word. John was confused and he wanted to hear from Jesus.

He had told the people, “He that cometh after me will use an axe to cut down unfruitful fruit trees.” He would come with a fan and blow away all chaff from the grain. Not only that but he said something about baptizing in fire.

John, shut up in the prison, heard about the activities of the Lord and sent his disciples with this question, “Art thou He that cometh or look we for another?” John, in prison, had begun to doubt. He was hearing about Jesus, but where was the axe? Where was the fan? Where was the fire that he had prophesied? If this is the Messiah, what am I doing here in jail?

Sometimes we may have doubts. If Jesus is the Messiah why did I lose my job? Why am I sick and in pain? When you also have any doubts like John about spiritual matters, the best thing to do is go to the Word of God and learn more and more about Jesus. Somewhere between the covers of the Word of God you will find the answer. Art Thou He that cometh or look we for another?

John heard about the works of the Christ; he wanted to know more about Him. This seems to be the most natural thing to do. If I heard about someone today who had walked on water and could raise the dead, I would be curious to learn about Him. Many are aware of the fantastic life-style of Jesus and have no interest in searching the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to learn more about such an unusual person.

Jesus answered by telling them to return and tell John what they saw and heard. Several things were mentioned. He said, “Tell him the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have good tidings preached to them, and blessed is he whosoever findeth no occasion of stumbling in Me?” Many people stumble over Jesus.

Peter refers to Jesus as the cornerstone, the rock of offence. They stumble at the word being disobedient. There is no place where people stumble over Jesus as at the point of His identity as the crucified and risen Son of God who died for our sins, and by whose blood we are redeemed.

In this cluster of things that Jesus mentioned one thing stands out above the rest, the poor have good tidings preached to them. The rest are miracles. Why was preaching good tidings added to this list of miracles? At second glance, preaching the gospel does belong in the group of miracles because the preaching of Jesus was just as big a miracle as anything else that He did. His message was a supernatural message because it came down from Heaven like the rushing of a mighty wind and they preached that day as the Spirit gave them utterance.

These are days when people want to get in on the miracles. Fake healers are everywhere. Did you ever know of a fake healer to invite people to come to his services and watch him walk on the water or raise the dead? Obviously not! If you really want to get in on the miracles the best way to do that is to preach the gospel, and when someone responds to the Lord and repents and is immersed for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord works the miracle of salvation; the greatest miracle of all. The song says it for us:

“It took a miracle to hang the world in place,

It took a miracle to put the stars in space.

But when He saved my soul, cleansed and made me whole,

It took a miracle of love and grace.”

This message they took to John would be the best way to tell him more and more about Jesus. Then Jesus began to say a lot of things in this chapter that would tell us more and more about Jesus.

WHAT WENT YE OUT INTO THE WILDERNESS TO BEHOLD?

As the disciples of John went on their way, Jesus asked the multitude, “What went ye into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?” A reed grows by the riverbank and will bend whichever way the wind blows. Jesus asked, “Is this the kind of a preacher you went out to hear?”

There is a disease that has infected the brotherhood. It is very infectious. No one has ever seemed to be able to identify it until now. Recently I looked through the microscope of faith and was able to see it plainly. This funny looking germ is called THE BENDS. Our preachers have become infected with BENDITUS. The symptom is whenever a preacher begins to sway back and forth as he preaches. His message is determined by whichever way the wind is blowing.

I graduated from Bible College in 1945. The president urged the class to remain firm in our preaching of the gospel. He said if we did not, it would be with chagrin when we would someday stand before our Master. Now in the early part of the twenty-first century, over sixty years later, I am preaching the same gospel with the same terms of pardon that I preached in 1945. There have been some great changes in the world since that far off day, but the Lord has not changed His Word.

Many gage their message by what is popular at the moment. Many preachers I personally know have switched their emphasis on the biblical response to the gospel and come down with a severe case of BENDITUS.

WHAT WENT YE OUT TO SEE?

Then Jesus repeated the question and said, “Were you looking for a man wearing soft raiment? Behold they that wear soft raiment are in King’s houses.” John wore a camel’s hair coat and ate locust and wild honey. Hear him as he preached one time and said concerning King Herod, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.” Herod had stolen his brother Philip’s wife. But did John have to remind him of that? Why should he be so negative? He could have preached a positive message and left that out, and he could have prolonged his ministry. If he had only left that part out, he could have been around and helped Peter preach the first gospel sermon on the Day of Pentecost. It really was not expedient for John to say, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.” Expedient means, it was not good for business for John to say it.

You see the trouble with John is he did not live in the soft-raiment syndrome. There was nothing anyone had that he wanted. He did not play politics to vie for a prominent place in the hierarchy of the brotherhood. All he wanted to do was preach the Word of God. May his tribe increase? We have said it many times before and we say it again, “It is just as disloyal to the Word of God to leave something out as it is to contradict the Word of God.” Don’t expect things to change, because we enjoy living in the King’s house, wearing the King’s clothes and driving the King’s car.

BUT WHAT WENT YE OUT TO SEE?

And then Jesus said it again from another angle, “What went ye out to see? A prophet? I say unto you, much more than a prophet.” Jesus said that John was the greatest. He was the greatest of all the prophets because it had been predicted in the Old Testament that he would come. And then he not only predicted the coming of the Messiah himself, he actually saw Him, and proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.”

Remember, Jesus said that he that is but little in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he; greater, because we have a greater message today. John could never tell what Peter told them to do on the Day of Pentecost. That plan of salvation had not yet been given, so John could not preach the message of the New Covenant that began after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

WHEREUNTO SHALL I LIKEN THIS GENERATION?

Then Jesus said something else that tells us a little more about Jesus. He said, “Whereunto shall I liken this generation? He said, "You are like children sitting in the marketplace who pipe unto their fellow and say, we piped unto you and ye did not dance and then we wailed and ye did not mourn.”

The Lord’s description of His followers is perfect for today; they are like children playing in the marketplace. The church is a spectator sport. Attend the services and see the spectacle. If the music has a good beat, and if the program is a good show, and a few refreshments won’t hurt the situation, we will return next Sunday. Like King Herod Jesus is regarded as a sideshow. He wanted to see Jesus do a miracle. When the Lord would not oblige, he got rid of Him and sent Him back to Pilate. Actually some looked upon the crucifixion as a good show. Matthew tells us, “And they sat and watched Him there.” That describes the church today. Many come to see the show. Put on a good show and we will be baaack! The church has become a playground instead of a battleground.

SHALT THOU BE EXALTED INTO HEAVEN?

Then Jesus said something that sounds completely out of character. He began to upbraid the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done, because they repented not. Does that sound like Jesus? Jesus is so loving and gentle, He would never upbraid anyone. Actually no prophet, Apostle, or modern-day preacher ever said anything harsher, than what Jesus said when He upbraided Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Caperrnaum. We need to remember there is such a thing as tough love. Love is not always uttering sweet things. He upbraids for our own good. Those who think otherwise have a warped and twisted idea about the real Jesus.

Woe to thee Chorazin, Woe unto thee Bethsaida. Think of it! Bethsaida was the hometown of Peter, Andrew and Philip--three Apostles of Jesus. Is it not unthinkable that Jesus would say, Woe to the people in the hometown of at least three Apostles, and then Woe unto thee Capernaum, “Shalt thou be exalted into Heaven?” This question was a good question to ask concerning Capernaum. Capernaum was the headquarters of Jesus after He left Nazareth. Jesus worked more miracles here than anywhere else. They had every reason to be exalted into Heaven. They had been signally honored.

Jesus said that if the mighty works had been done in Sodom that were done in Capernaum, it would have remained unto this day. What a terrible thought for those who reject the divinity of Jesus—more tolerable for the land of the Sodomites than for Capernaum. Sodom had been destroyed over 1800 years before that time and Jude said, in verse 7, “They are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” What a terrible thought that there were people who had been damned four thousand years ago who will be better off on the Day of Judgment than people who reject the divinity of Christ today. Hear Him again, “THOU CAPERNAUM, thou shalt go down unto Hades.”

Capernaum was blessed above all other places. Great works took place there. The healing of the man let down through the roof, also His speech on the bread of life after the feeding of the 5,000, the healing of the centurion’s servant, the healing of the man with the unclean demon and many others. All of these miracles had the same effect, rejection.

Capernaum should have been the easiest place in the world to go to Heaven from, but it became the easiest place in the world to go to Hell from. In a similar manner we have been greatly blessed. America has heard more gospel than any other place. Mighty works of God have been done in our streets. His word has been heard coast to coast, America is the easiest place in the world to go to Heaven from and it is the easiest place in the world to go to Hell from. THOU CAPERNAUM-THOU AMERICA!

CONCLUSION

Now in conclusion, after Jesus pronounced judgment on the unrepentant cities He raised His voice in prayer, “I thank thee O Lord of heaven and earth that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding and didst reveal them unto babes. Yea Father, for so it was well pleasing in Thy sight.”

Some things are hidden from us and we will never know in this life. The actual date of the Second Coming of Jesus is hidden from us. Jesus said so. He said, “No man knoweth the day or the hour when the Son of Man cometh.” The Apostles got a little inquisitive about coming things and Jesus told them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father hath set within His own authority.”

Some things are indeed hidden from us. Why does God allow earthquakes, cyclones, hurricanes, and volcanoes to destroy human life? That is what all the talk-show hosts ask preachers on television every time it happens. The answer has to be, “I don’t know. God has hidden some things from us.”

Then again some things are neither hidden nor revealed. God leaves some things for us to find out for ourselves. Paul surely could have made good use of an SUV on his missionary tours. And what a blessing a laptop computer would have been when he wrote the epistle to the Romans. Why did not Moses fax Pharaoh a message, “Let my people go?” Can you imagine the Apostles with cell phones? What a blessing for Peter if he could have used his cell phone at the feeding of the 5,000, “Hey John, I am over here in section A, do you need any more fish back there in section Y? All right, I’ll send Andrew over with a fresh batch.” Some things are hidden, some things are revealed, and some things are neither hidden nor revealed. God put the oil in the ground, and the iron, and all the other elements and He lets us find out a few things for ourselves.

The plan of salvation has been revealed to us and is easy to understand. The Word of God says, “What God hath joined together let not man put asunder.” The Great Commission as recorded by Mark says, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Belief and baptism have been joined together by that conjunction AND-And what God hath joined together let not man put asunder. On the Day of Pentecost Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Repentance and baptism have been joined together by that conjunction AND-and what the Holy Spirit hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Some things are hidden, some things revealed, and some things neither hidden nor revealed.

Then immediately at the close of Matthew eleven the Lord Jesus invites those who understand what has been revealed, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls for My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

He said, “Learn of Me.” You can learn many things from Jesus if you will submit to His yoke. A yoke fits on the necks of two oxen and makes it possible for them to carry a heavier load. When we wear the yoke of Christ, He helps us carry the load of the loss of a Christian loved one. The yoke of Christ helps us carry the load of sickness and disappointments. The yoke of Christ helps to bear the load of our natural depravities. The yoke of Jesus is the easiest and most comfortable way to live because Proverbs 13:15 tells us, “The way of the transgressors is hard.” Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls for My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Those who wear the yoke of Jesus can sing, “I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.”