The NXR Podcast - July 27, 2025


THE SERMON - Blessed Is The One Who Is Not Offended By Jesus

Topics
Christ's patience and victory timeline
Hosted by
Joel Webbon Harrison Smith Antonio Griffith Dale Partridge Wewsley Todd Calvin Robinson
Mentioned
John Bunyan Isaiah Scripture Sabbath Greeks Gavin Newsom Sam Altman Magdalene Gentiles Lazarus Messiah Martha James Peter Byenz Byens Mary Paul
THE FRIDAY SPECIAL - “I’ll Take The Christian, But Hold The Judeo＂ THE LIVESTREAM - Return To The Land, Eric Aarvoll, & Freedom of Association

Episode Stats


Length

56 minutes

Words per minute

134.82

Word count

7,647

Sentence count

441

Harmful content

Misogyny

10

sentences flagged

Toxicity

8

sentences flagged

Hate speech

28

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

John the Baptist, a cousin of Jesus, doubts that Jesus is the Messiah. He does so not in unbelief or disbelief, but in frustration and doubt. This serves as a reminder that God permits his children to experience seasons of doubt. And that does not mean that we don t ultimately belong to Christ.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00 Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform.
00:00:03 I get it.
00:00:04 It's annoying.
00:00:05 Everybody asks, but I'm going to tell you why.
00:00:07 When you give us a positive review, what that does is it triggers the algorithm so that
00:00:12 our podcast shows up on more people's news feeds.
00:00:16 You and I both know that this ministry is willing to talk about things that most ministries
00:00:20 aren't.
00:00:21 We need this content for the glory of God to reach more people's ears.
00:00:27 Amen.
00:00:27 Let's stand for the reading of God's word. Our text for today is the gospel according to Matthew chapter 11 verses 1 through 6.
00:00:34 Again, that's the gospel according to Matthew chapter 11 verses 1 through 6.
00:00:39 I'll read our text for it in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the word of the Lord.
00:00:44 At which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.
00:00:48 One final time, our text for today is Matthew chapter 11 verses 1 through 6.
00:00:53 The Bible says this.
00:00:55 When Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.
00:01:03 Now, when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him,
00:01:12 Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?
00:01:16 And Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you hear and see.
00:01:21 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk. 0.57
00:01:25 Lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 0.83
00:01:34 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.
00:01:38 This is the word of the Lord.
00:01:41 All right, please be seated.
00:01:42 We'll go ahead and dive right in.
00:01:44 By way of introduction, a 30,000 foot view for our text in its entirety, I've written the following.
00:01:50 Christ graciously confirms that he is, in fact, the Messiah, not through signs and wonders alone,
00:01:59 but through the power of his word and works, granting assurance to the weak in faith.
00:02:08 Granting assurance to the weak in faith.
00:02:10 What we see in our text today is the mercy of Christ extended to John, in this case,
00:02:15 namely John the Baptist, a cousin of Jesus, who was doubting in those final hours.
00:02:24 He was doubting. He did not have unbelief or disbelief.
00:02:28 He was truly a Christian.
00:02:31 He ultimately trusted that Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah.
00:02:35 But due to a delay in providence, due to the plan unfolding in a way that he did not expect,
00:02:42 with certain detours, John was in that moment confused and perhaps even frustrated. And so he
00:02:51 leans into Christ. He's not accusing Christ. He's not condemning Christ. But he is leaning in,
00:03:00 pressing in, and pleading with Christ to offer him a greater sense of assurance in his final
00:03:08 hours. One of the first texts in our broader text says this, now when John heard in prison
00:03:16 about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, are you the one
00:03:24 who is to come or shall we look for another? I've written in your notes the following,
00:03:30 John the Baptist's inquiry reveals not disbelief but confusion due to providential delay.
00:03:38 This serves as a reminder that God permits his children to experience seasons of doubt.
00:03:44 There's a difference between unbelief and doubt.
00:03:48 Genuine, regenerate Christians, children of God, will experience to varying degrees and at varying times doubt.
00:03:57 And that does not mean that we don't ultimately belong to Christ.
00:04:02 John's situation is not accidental.
00:04:04 It serves to magnify Christ and display the patience of his saints, or we could say magnifying the glory and supremacy of Christ through the patience of his saints.
00:04:18 As a headline for this first point in our text, I wrote the following, the weakness of even the greatest saint.
00:04:26 It's worth noting that Jesus himself, in regards to John the Baptist, says that he is the greatest born of women.
00:04:34 So we're not talking about just one of the disciples in this broader ring of Jesus.
00:04:41 We know that he had three, namely John and James and Peter.
00:04:46 He had 12 that include others.
00:04:49 And then he had 72.
00:04:50 And then you could argue for 120 that find themselves on the day of Pentecost in the upper room praying and anointed by the Holy Spirit with tongues of fire above their heads.
00:05:01 and speaking in other tongues of men, proclaiming that Jesus is, in fact, the Christ and then broader even than that.
00:05:09 We know that Jesus, after his death and resurrection, but before his ascension, appeared and revealed himself to over 500 of his disciples.
00:05:20 So we know that Jesus had many disciples. Lazarus was a disciple of Jesus, not one of the 12, but he was a disciple.
00:05:27 And on that note, both Mary, Magdalene, and also Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, were also disciples of Jesus.
00:05:36 They're not commissioned as apostles of Jesus to preach and teach and to write scripture,
00:05:42 but they are disciples of Jesus in that broader ring of disciples.
00:05:47 So Jesus had many disciples. That's the point.
00:05:50 But we're not focusing, in our text today, on one of the 500.
00:05:54 Right. We're not focusing on one of Jesus's disciples who followed him from a distance, who maybe had one or two engagements with Jesus over the course of his three years, give or take, earthly public ministry.
00:06:11 No, we're talking about John the Baptist. We're talking about a man who was commissioned by God to pave the way as a forerunner for Christ. We're talking about a man who Christ himself said was the greatest man born of women.
00:06:26 And this man, still, despite all his greatness and the providence and mercy of God, he finds it necessary in his final hours as he's rotting in jail, probably painfully aware of what's about to happen to him.
00:06:45 He's probably aware that his time in jail is not going to end in his freedom and release, but rather in his death.
00:06:53 And in that state, even the greatest saint, other than Christ himself, finds it necessary to send his disciples, not Jesus, but John's disciples, to go and beseech Jesus to confirm that Jesus really is the Messiah.
00:07:13 He's wanting to know at the end of his life that his life has not been in vain.
00:07:18 He's wanting assurance.
00:07:20 He's wanting confirmation.
00:07:22 he's pleading with the Lord for consolation
00:07:26 Lord you may not set me free and this is Jesus
00:07:30 who according to Isaiah one of the things is not just cleansing lepers
00:07:34 and raising the dead and healing the sick and preaching good news
00:07:38 to the poor but also Isaiah prophesies of Jesus that he is
00:07:42 the one who will set captives free and John literally
00:07:46 is a captive and he could be hoping hey could
00:07:50 that part of Isaiah be fulfilled? In my case, that'd be great. That'd be nice. You know, could
00:07:56 you set me free? And there might be some inkling of that thought process that's going on in his
00:08:02 mind. But even more than that, I'm sure he may have had some desire for his liberty. But even
00:08:09 more than that, his greatest desire is simply to be assured that Jesus is the Christ. More than
00:08:17 being set free, I think his greatest desire, John the Baptist, is if I am to die, I want to know that
00:08:25 I'm not dying in vain. I want to know that I gave my life for the one who really was the promised
00:08:32 Messiah. And so he's pleading with the Lord for confirmation, for assurance. And if the greatest
00:08:41 man born of women can have seasons in his life of doubt where he beseeches Christ for a greater
00:08:51 measure of assurance, then certainly it is permissible for us as well to lean into Christ
00:08:59 in inevitable seasons of doubt, asking for his consolation and his comfort and his assurance.
00:09:08 That's part of why we, in our liturgy, every Lord's Day, have a moment of an assurance of pardon.
00:09:16 Why do you need to be assured of Christ's forgiveness?
00:09:19 You did it last week, and the week before, and the week before that, and before, and before, and before.
00:09:26 Why again? Because it is a common part of our lives.
00:09:33 In this life, when we see him, 1 John says, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
00:09:41 But in this life, seeing Christ, trusting Christ, knowing Christ, is as though we see dimly in a mirror that's been clouded.
00:09:52 We know in part. Now, that doesn't mean that we don't know at all.
00:09:56 What we know, we truly know. But there is a partiality or a partialness, I should say, of our confidence that there's only so much that we know of Christ.
00:10:10 And that's not to say that there's not much that can be known from the Scripture.
00:10:14 And as the Holy Spirit works to illuminate the Scripture and reveal Christ to us through the Scripture.
00:10:21 But the point is that in this life, this side of heaven, our knowledge is still partial.
00:10:27 And so there will be, in various times of trials and challenge and difficulties and persecution and suffering and all the rest,
00:10:36 there will be inevitably moments of doubt.
00:10:39 And if John the Baptist could beseech Christ for assurance, so can we.
00:10:45 So can we.
00:10:46 psalm chapter 73 this is one of my favorite chapters in the psalms and i think that it
00:10:54 serves as a descriptive text i'm not going to read the whole chapter is fantastic and it's worth
00:11:01 reading on your own time but i'm going to highlight some of the verses of psalm 73 but i think it
00:11:07 serves as a as a powerful description of what john the baptist might have been experiencing and what
00:11:14 you and I may experience at times as well the psalmist writes this truly God is good to Israel
00:11:23 so he starts not with what he feels but he starts with what he knows now it's very clear that he
00:11:30 does not feel that God is being good to Israel when you look at the entirety of the rest of the
00:11:37 chapter the rest of the chapter he goes on to describe how he feels but he starts with what
00:11:43 he knows. And I think that that's a good template when it comes to prayer. When we go to the Lord
00:11:49 in prayer, even in seasons of doubt, even when our emotions and our feelings, what we feel, do not
00:11:55 align with what he said, start with what you know and then express to the Lord as humbly as you can
00:12:03 how you feel. But start with what you know. He starts with what he knows. He says, truly God is
00:12:09 good to Israel whether he feels it or not to those who are pure in heart but verse 2 now but as for
00:12:18 me my feet had almost stumbled my steps had nearly slipped I know that God is good to Israel and to
00:12:28 those who are righteous who are faithful to him pure in heart but for me personally I had a season
00:12:34 And I had a moment where that truth, verse 1, that God is good to Israel and he is good to his own people.
00:12:41 That truth that I know is true, as for me personally, I had a moment where I almost slipped.
00:12:47 I almost stumbled. I almost failed to hold on to that truth.
00:12:52 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
00:12:59 For they have no pangs until death.
00:13:02 He recognizes that the wicked eventually get what they are owed.
00:13:07 They receive their due.
00:13:11 But in life, up until their death, it seemed to him, and it can seem to us at times,
00:13:17 that some of the most vile and wicked people on the planet, up until death,
00:13:22 it seems as though they suffer no difficulty at all.
00:13:26 No challenge, no suffering, no sadness.
00:13:29 that the lives of the righteous would be marked by persecution and suffering and difficulty,
00:13:36 and yet the wicked get off scot-free all the way up until the pains of death. Their bodies are fat
00:13:44 and sleek. It seems as though they have no want. Verse 5 now, they are not in trouble as others
00:13:51 are. They are not stricken like the rest of mankind. But when I thought how to understand
00:13:59 this, how do I reconcile this with the truth of God's word? I want to believe that God is just
00:14:06 and that he only does that which is just. And yet I see so many wicked prospering and so many
00:14:14 righteous suffering. And so I'm trying to resolve this in my heart and in my mind.
00:14:21 I far be it from me to accuse God, but at the same time, I'm struggling not to believe my
00:14:28 lying eyes. So when I sought how to understand this, to reconcile the wicked prospering,
00:14:35 the righteous suffering with the fact that God is just, it seemed to me a wearisome task.
00:14:42 and I think we all have those moments I have those moments where I'm sitting there and
00:14:48 theologically I'm trying to you know do the math carry the one make sure that it all adds up in
00:14:56 the end but it feels like I'm taking a square peg and trying to force it into a circle whole
00:15:02 God is just and he's sovereign over all things he does all things well there is no injustice
00:15:07 with God whatsoever, and there's Sam Altman.
00:15:10 How do I explain that?
00:15:14 You know, what do I do with that?
00:15:16 Like, what do I do with the fact
00:15:18 that there are all these people in the world today
00:15:21 that are faring far better
00:15:24 than many people who are righteous?
00:15:28 How do I resolve and reconcile these two things
00:15:33 that are seemingly, at least in human terms,
00:15:36 according to my finite perception
00:15:39 directly in contradiction with one another.
00:15:43 So when I sought to understand this,
00:15:45 to reconcile this,
00:15:46 it seemed to be a wearisome task.
00:15:49 Amen.
00:15:50 Until, skipping forward now,
00:15:52 verse 17,
00:15:54 until, what's the solution?
00:15:56 What resolves the tension for him?
00:15:58 Until I went into the sanctuary of God.
00:16:02 And then I discerned their end.
00:16:07 That is the end of the wicked.
00:16:09 He's looking at the wicked in terms of the present.
00:16:14 They're doing great.
00:16:16 They're doing great.
00:16:19 Everybody's locked in their home.
00:16:22 And Gavin Newsom is dining at the French Laundry.
00:16:25 And if that's the only perspective in that moment,
00:16:28 then it's hard to reconcile that with the perfect justice of god but it's when he goes into the
00:16:37 sanctuary so he's not just sitting there trying to understand everything with his finite mind
00:16:43 but he commits himself to worship right sometimes it feels like i need to solve all the world's
00:16:49 problems now sometimes what you need to do is go to church you just need to go to church
00:16:55 and you need to pause the world's problems,
00:16:58 the world will, it'll worry about itself.
00:17:01 God has it under control.
00:17:03 The problems will be right there.
00:17:05 You can pick them right back up where you left them.
00:17:07 I think of what Jesus says about worry and anxiety.
00:17:10 Don't worry for tomorrow.
00:17:11 Tomorrow can worry about itself.
00:17:14 And there's something immensely merciful.
00:17:17 It's not just a duty.
00:17:18 Oh, God has another command,
00:17:20 another thing that I need to obey,
00:17:22 another thing I need to do.
00:17:24 No, it's something that you need to do, not just in obedience and honor towards God,
00:17:29 but you need to do it for yourself because you're finite.
00:17:34 You can't just go seven days a week without rest, without pause.
00:17:40 You can't.
00:17:42 God initiated the Sabbath.
00:17:43 Remember what Jesus says.
00:17:45 God did not create man for the Sabbath, but he created the Sabbath for man.
00:17:49 the point of the sabbath was it wasn't that god said i have this holy day and it's really important
00:17:56 for me to be honored and worshiped on this holy day so i guess i need to create some creatures
00:18:02 in my image who might be capable of keeping my special holy day no it's the opposite god makes
00:18:10 man on the sixth day and in light of making man he says man's kind of weak and this is before sin
00:18:20 enters the world so before fallenness you still have finitude before fallenness in a pre-lapsarian
00:18:27 world you still have finitude and so even in light of man in a state of integrity without sin having
00:18:35 even come into the world. Even man unfallen is still finite. An unfallen man, how much more now
00:18:44 us since sin has entered the world. But even unfallen man in his finitude, God sees fit that
00:18:52 he would require a regular pattern of rest. And that that rest would ultimately be found not just
00:19:00 in the forsaking of obligations and duty, not just in naps, not just in recreation, but that true rest
00:19:08 might be found in worship. True rest is worship. It's worship of the triune God on the Lord's day
00:19:18 as we gather together with the excellent ones in all the earth, that is the saints. That is where
00:19:23 true rejuvenation comes from. There is a way of resting that actually makes you even more tired.
00:19:32 Have you ever rested like that? I just, man, I've been clocking in hours at work.
00:19:39 I'm run too thin. And I just, I just need to rest. And then the rest that you indulge in
00:19:47 is a shallow and vain rest it's just packing your day off with watching television or or something
00:19:57 shallow something trite and you don't actually feel rejuvenated when it's all said and done
00:20:06 no true rest is not merely recreation but it's worship and god created this sabbath day of rest
00:20:16 for man, and not the other way around. It's not that God created a special day on the sixth day,
00:20:23 and then made man on the seventh to keep a special day. He made man on the sixth day,
00:20:28 and then created the day, or issued the day of rest, which is worship, so that man might have
00:20:36 a regular pattern of rest in his finitude, even without being fallen, because he would need it.
00:20:43 it is something that god requires but it is also something that we need a sabbath day of rest and
00:20:51 so the psalmist being overwhelmed and tired that word is intentional wearisome the task of trying
00:21:00 to reconcile and resolve the tension between the wicked seemingly prospering in this temporal
00:21:07 plane and yet God somehow being sovereign and just over all things these two realities seemingly
00:21:16 it's an apparent paradox is what we would refer to that as and so seemingly according to the human
00:21:24 perspective we're directly at odds with one another and he could not resolve this tension
00:21:30 on his own. And it's not until he goes into the sanctuary, rest through worship with the saints,
00:21:39 that all of a sudden he's able to resolve the tension. And he resolves the tension by going
00:21:44 into the sanctuary and then seeing from God's perspective. And what is it to see from God's
00:21:51 perspective in this regard? Well, one aspect of seeing through God's perspective, seen through
00:21:58 heaven's eyes is to see the eternal to not merely look at what is presently taking place but to look
00:22:09 to the wicked's end he's looking at the wicked's present situation but when he goes into the
00:22:16 sanctuary then all of a sudden he begins to take into account the long game then i discerned their
00:22:24 end. Verse 18 now to finish. Truly, you set them in slippery places and you make them fall into
00:22:34 ruin. It's the exact inverse of where he starts. In verse 2, he says, my feet had almost stumbled.
00:22:43 My steps had nearly slipped. But by the end, when he has a divine perspective, because he's entered
00:22:50 the house of the Lord and begun to see through God's eyes and not merely his own, he now sees
00:22:57 that although he was about to stumble, that he was about to slip by accusing God
00:23:04 of doing something unjust, now all of a sudden he sees that he doesn't need to stumble. He doesn't
00:23:11 need to slip. He doesn't need to condemn God of injustice because it's actually the wicked who
00:23:17 have been set up by God for the greatest fall. Their fall may not come today, but it will
00:23:26 inevitably come. And the fact that God for a time temporarily might exalt the wicked, seemingly
00:23:36 in temporal ways, only positions the wicked for their fall to be all the greater. All the greater.
00:23:46 So John the Baptist is rotting in prison.
00:23:49 And even the reason for being in prison,
00:23:52 I can only imagine.
00:23:54 I mean, why am I in jail again?
00:23:57 Oh, that's right.
00:23:59 That's right. 1.00
00:24:00 Because a wicked Jezebel feminist 1.00
00:24:03 propagandized and brainwashed her daughter, 1.00
00:24:09 a teenage daughter, 1.00
00:24:10 to dance like a whore at a party 1.00
00:24:14 in front of a bunch of men 1.00
00:24:16 so that a weak, perverted king 0.99
00:24:19 in a moment of drunken stupor 1.00
00:24:22 might make a deal with the devil
00:24:24 and then in a spirit of vengeance, 1.00
00:24:28 the mother might take it out on me 0.97
00:24:31 to provide a hedge 1.00
00:24:33 for me calling her out on her adultery.
00:24:38 That's right.
00:24:39 Okay, so like it's one thing
00:24:41 to lose your head in glorious battle
00:24:43 fighting against men and vikings and kings it's probably really frustrating to lose your head 0.97
00:24:50 because of a teenage girl dancing for her mom who's a feminist
00:24:56 right there's a lot of ways to go that probably wouldn't be my top pick you know i'd be like 0.84
00:25:04 really? Really? This is the way I go? So he's having a tough time, right? The long and short of it. He's
00:25:15 having a tough time. But it's really similar to the psalmist in Psalm 73. And what do we need in those
00:25:23 moments it's it's not that we're wrong not not in the immediate sense right the psalmist isn't
00:25:33 wrong it's not like god he goes into the sanctuary and god corrects him and says no the wicked are
00:25:38 suffering right now no the the implication is it if anything god agrees with the psalmist
00:25:46 you're right the wicked are doing great they're doing great for now for now
00:25:55 but their ease their comfort their affluence
00:26:00 their their temporal power will be a vapor it will be short-lived and in the end
00:26:10 i have positioned them and set them up to fall and for the righteous the psalmist being included
00:26:19 i have kept your feet from slipping i've positioned them to fall and preserved you from falling
00:26:28 that's the case for the psalmist that's the case for john the baptist and that is the case
00:26:34 for you and I in those moments when we're tempted to doubt and in those moments when we even give
00:26:41 in to that temptation and we do doubt is God just will Christ ultimately win will his church be
00:26:51 victorious will the mustard seed in fact grow into an all-encompassing tree will the little
00:26:59 bit of leaven actually have the potency to work through the whole batch of dough. The thing that
00:27:07 that helps us in those moments is entering the sanctuary, leaning in to Christ. In the case of
00:27:16 John the Baptist, it's sending his disciples to go and speak with Christ so that they might bring
00:27:22 back to John. What? A word from Christ. John the Baptist needs to hear Christ's word. I need to
00:27:30 hear directly from him. I need Christ to speak to me. And I'm willing even to die for him.
00:27:39 But leading up to my death, to my martyrdom, I need to hear the word of my Savior.
00:27:45 you the psalmist likewise i need a word from god where do i go in his case the sanctuary
00:27:53 in john the baptist case during the earthly incarnation and ministry of christ physically
00:28:00 on earth it's going and beseeching christ in person through his disciples to bring back a word
00:28:05 In our case, it's the Sabbath.
00:28:09 It's gathering with the saints.
00:28:12 It's the Lord's Day.
00:28:14 We can't afford to miss church.
00:28:18 We can't afford to not rest in God through worship,
00:28:23 receiving a word from Christ at least one day in seven.
00:28:28 Because apart from that, maintaining and sustaining our belief and our faith that God truly is just and that he really is sovereign.
00:28:44 when we see so much wickedness
00:28:47 in this world,
00:28:49 to do that apart from the Lord's day,
00:28:51 apart from receiving a word from Christ,
00:28:54 apart from leaning in,
00:28:56 is indeed a wearisome task.
00:29:00 The second point from our text today,
00:29:03 the works serve to validate the word.
00:29:06 We've seen this principle time and time again
00:29:08 throughout the Gospel of Matthew.
00:29:11 And here we see it once more.
00:29:14 Jesus says to John's disciples,
00:29:17 go and tell John what you hear and see.
00:29:22 Not just what you see.
00:29:25 It's both.
00:29:27 John's disciples are sent by Christ
00:29:31 to go back to John and not merely say,
00:29:34 tell John what you've seen.
00:29:37 What is John even doing questioning?
00:29:40 How dare he question me?
00:29:43 has he not seen the works that I've done?
00:29:47 Or at least if he hasn't,
00:29:49 then you go back and tell him the works that I've done.
00:29:52 I've raised the dead.
00:29:54 I've multiplied food and fed 5,000, 1.00
00:29:58 just the men. 1.00
00:29:59 I've walked on water.
00:30:01 I've turned water into wine.
00:30:04 I've healed the sick. 1.00
00:30:04 I've cleansed lepers. 1.00
00:30:06 I've caused the lame to walk 1.00
00:30:08 and the blind to see, 1.00
00:30:09 the deaf to hear.
00:30:11 how could he question how could he doubt go back and tell john what you see
00:30:19 but jesus says that but it's not all that he says in the mind of christ which is very relevant
00:30:28 we should care about how he thinks christ seems to find it necessary to not only validate the
00:30:38 fact that he is the Messiah by what he does and what can be seen, but also what he says and what
00:30:47 can be heard. Go and tell John what you hear and see. In your notes, I've written this. When Christ's
00:30:54 divinity is questioned, he does not appeal to novelty, but rather even Christ, who is God
00:31:02 incarnate. He appeals to the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies. He appeals to what is
00:31:11 written, the Word of God. His miracles are not mere wonders, but visible tokens of his promised
00:31:20 redemption. Our faith, therefore, as it is with John the Baptist, so it is with us. Our faith
00:31:27 lies upon Scripture's testimony
00:31:30 and not upon our own personal experiences or emotions.
00:31:38 Jesus doesn't just say, I did this or I did that.
00:31:42 He says, I've done this and that
00:31:44 in direct fulfillment to the word.
00:31:49 And one of the things that he does to fulfill God's word
00:31:53 spoken through the prophet Isaiah
00:31:55 is not just wonders that can be seen,
00:31:57 but sermons preached good news preached to the poor it's not only opening the eyes of the blind
00:32:06 and the ears of the deaf raising the dead and cleansing lepers but it's also Jesus the preacher
00:32:14 it's not merely the works of Christ but the words of Christ and all this done in fulfillment
00:32:22 to the word of God, namely the word of God spoken through Isaiah, chapter 35, verse 5 and 6, which
00:32:29 says, then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then shall the
00:32:37 lame man leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. So three main points, as I see
00:32:48 it in our text today. One, even the greatest saint has moments of weakness, and in those moments
00:32:56 we may doubt, but we may not disbelieve, and we should lean in to Christ and go into the sanctuary
00:33:04 where we gain perspective. Number two, the works of Christ serve to validate the Word, and our faith
00:33:13 ultimately rests on God's
00:33:15 written testimony, the Scripture
00:33:17 itself, and not our own
00:33:19 personal experiences
00:33:21 or emotions. And now the third
00:33:23 and final point.
00:33:25 We may be confused
00:33:27 and doubting,
00:33:29 but we may not
00:33:31 be offended.
00:33:34 Jesus doesn't
00:33:35 say to John's disciples,
00:33:37 go back and tell him this
00:33:39 and that, and
00:33:41 also
00:33:42 blessed is the one who never asks questions
00:33:46 or blessed is the one who never doubts
00:33:50 or blessed is the one who is never confused.
00:33:56 All those things, although certainly not ideal
00:34:00 and we'd like by the grace of God, the power of the Holy Spirit
00:34:03 to aspire beyond confusion and doubt and questions.
00:34:09 But all those things, although not the ideal,
00:34:13 implicitly from Jesus' response seem to at least be permissible
00:34:17 in the mind of Christ.
00:34:20 But the one command he gives
00:34:23 as something that is explicitly forbidden,
00:34:28 that is not permissible,
00:34:30 is taking offense at him.
00:34:35 You can have questions for Jesus.
00:34:37 and you can at times even have doubts about Jesus.
00:34:44 But what you're not permitted to do
00:34:46 is to take offense at Jesus.
00:34:51 The very end of our text says this,
00:34:53 and blessed is the one who is not offended by me.
00:34:57 In your notes, I've written the following.
00:35:00 Many take offense at what part,
00:35:04 what characteristic of Jesus?
00:35:06 Well, there are many.
00:35:09 But within the context of our passage today,
00:35:13 perhaps the specific attribute of Christ
00:35:17 that John may have been tempted to take offense at,
00:35:21 he did not.
00:35:23 It causes him confusion.
00:35:25 It causes him doubt.
00:35:25 But he ultimately is not offended.
00:35:28 But the one characteristic or attribute of Christ
00:35:31 in the context of our passage
00:35:32 that John could have been offended at
00:35:35 would have been the humility of Christ.
00:35:38 Many stumble because Christ is far more patient than we are.
00:35:43 True faith clings to Christ
00:35:45 even when his kingdom appears to be hidden
00:35:48 and contrary to expectation.
00:35:51 In the context of our passage,
00:35:55 it's not that Christ is not victorious.
00:35:59 And none of this goes against
00:36:01 the gradual progressive increase of his kingdom through the church here on earth in this temporal
00:36:10 plane throughout the gospel age in visible tangible ways there's nothing in our text or
00:36:18 any other text for that matter that that says that well that's that's an impossibility or that
00:36:25 wouldn't be biblical right so the idea that that Christ who is head of the church and that the
00:36:31 church is Christ's body here on earth and that the church on earth is militant the church militant
00:36:37 and that the church because of Christ will ultimately gradually progressively succeed
00:36:43 throughout this gospel age and permeating the whole earth so that the whole earth is filled
00:36:49 with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea all that I believe is true
00:36:54 to say it simply the point that i'm making here at the end of the sermon is not a point against
00:37:03 post-millennial eschatology but it is a point to say that even if post-millennial eschatology is
00:37:10 true as i believe it is even if it's true there's still the reality that it may happen
00:37:19 slower than we would like.
00:37:23 There are seasons where it feels as though
00:37:26 the kingdom of Christ is advancing
00:37:28 by leaps and bounds.
00:37:31 And then there are other seasons
00:37:33 where it feels as though
00:37:34 the kingdom is not advancing at all.
00:37:38 And in those moments,
00:37:40 it is possible,
00:37:42 it can be tempting
00:37:43 for disciples of Christ
00:37:46 to take offense at Him.
00:37:49 Jesus, why are you seemingly, in this place, at this time, being so slow?
00:38:00 Or, if we throw all caution to the wind, and we're not exercising the fruit of the Spirit, that is self-control,
00:38:09 we might even give in to the carnal temptation of accusing Christ, not merely of slowness, but of weakness.
00:38:18 Why are you being so weak?
00:38:22 Win, Jesus.
00:38:25 Win.
00:38:28 Show your enemies your power.
00:38:31 Your enemies are mocking you.
00:38:34 They laugh at you.
00:38:36 They laugh at your people.
00:38:40 Why would you allow this?
00:38:44 Show them your strength.
00:38:47 display your glory, your supremacy, your might?
00:38:54 Why would you let the tech lords
00:38:56 presume to be demigods? 1.00
00:39:02 Why would you allow all the rest of the world 0.99
00:39:06 that worships false gods to invade and infiltrate 0.99
00:39:13 and conquer what were prior Christian nations?
00:39:18 And why, for that matter, 0.85
00:39:19 would you allow those Christian nations themselves 0.53
00:39:21 to, for long now, apostatize
00:39:26 and turn their back on you?
00:39:30 There have been glorious days in the past
00:39:36 where Christianity was strong
00:39:39 and all the earth seemed to marvel.
00:39:46 And now we're being laughed at.
00:39:51 We're being mocked.
00:39:54 I think of John Bunyan,
00:39:56 the author of Pilgrim's Progress.
00:39:58 He talks about a character in the story
00:40:02 who was a fair-weathered fan.
00:40:07 Mr. I believe it was buy-ins.
00:40:10 Mr. Byenz, who basically wanted to follow Christ
00:40:14 and be a pilgrim on his way to the celestial city
00:40:18 when, according to his own words,
00:40:21 the character in the book,
00:40:22 he says, I love to walk with religion.
00:40:25 And he's using religion in a positive way.
00:40:28 This is before all the,
00:40:30 all the, you know, it's a relationship,
00:40:33 not a religion.
00:40:34 Like, religion is okay.
00:40:35 It's good.
00:40:36 Religion is a good thing.
00:40:37 And so he's using religion positively, and he says, I love this character, Mr. Byens, the fair-weathered follower of Jesus.
00:40:47 I love to walk with religion when she is adorned with splendor and walking through the city streets in her glass slippers.
00:41:01 In other words, he's saying, I love to go when the wind is at my tail.
00:41:10 When the wind is at my back.
00:41:12 I love the Christian religion.
00:41:16 I love following Jesus in those moments of time and place where Jesus is glorified.
00:41:25 I would love to be a Christian in the 1500s.
00:41:31 or the 1600s, or the 1700s, in England, or maybe in Spain. 0.77
00:41:39 I would love to be a Christian when Christianity is at its high watermark.
00:41:45 But in other times, when there's no longer tailwinds, but rather headwinds,
00:41:51 when there's great hindrance and opposition, and when there's a cost to following Christ,
00:41:57 Well, in those times, I like to just kind of take a break and just sit on the sidelines and wait for fairer weather, for fairer moments.
00:42:10 And then I'll get up and follow Jesus once more.
00:42:18 And I think that there are many ways to be offended by Jesus.
00:42:24 You can be offended by his strength.
00:42:27 And there are many today,
00:42:29 many who even profess to be followers of Jesus,
00:42:31 who are offended by his strength,
00:42:34 offended by his holiness,
00:42:37 offended by the fact that Jesus is not a relativist,
00:42:40 that Jesus is not a tree-hugging hippie,
00:42:42 that Jesus actually has universal, immutable,
00:42:46 transcendent laws and morals and standards.
00:42:50 There are many who are offended by that Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible.
00:42:56 But I think that our text is timely and relevant for us in our context, because as far as I'm aware, there aren't many in our church who are offended by the strength of Jesus.
00:43:09 Many of us, we long for Christ to truly be king.
00:43:13 He is king. But we long for him to be worshipped and respected as king. We want to have a Christian
00:43:22 nation. We want Christian law. So we're not offended by Christ in his strength. But we could,
00:43:30 like John the Baptist, be tempted to be offended by Christ in his humility, by Christ in his
00:43:37 patience. And notice, there is a dynamic difference between the weakness of Christ, as it were,
00:43:48 versus the patience of Christ. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 21 through 25.
00:43:57 The Apostle Paul says this, for since in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through
00:44:03 wisdom. It pleased God through the folly, the apparent seemingly folly, foolishness of what
00:44:12 we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, endless 1.00
00:44:21 debates of philosophy. But we preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block to Jews, they
00:44:31 They want signs of strength and falliness to Gentiles, to the Greek. 1.00
00:44:40 Because this is like a philosophy that they've never even encountered before. 0.99
00:44:46 How would God save the world through the death and humiliation of His Son?
00:44:56 Verse 24 now.
00:44:57 But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks alike, to those who are his people being saved, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
00:45:10 Both strength and wisdom.
00:45:12 For the foolishness, as it were, that seems as foolishness.
00:45:18 There is no true foolishness with God.
00:45:20 But from our human perspective, what we might be tempted to think of as foolishness of God, even that is wiser than men.
00:45:30 And what we might be tempted to perceive as the weakness, as it were, of God is stronger than the strength of men.
00:45:41 This same concept, I think, is also espoused.
00:45:45 If we cross-reference over to 1 Peter 3, verse 9, it says this,
00:45:49 The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise.
00:45:53 I think that's what John the Baptist is struggling with
00:45:56 as he awaits his death in prison.
00:46:00 The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise,
00:46:03 as some count slowness.
00:46:05 But He is weak? No.
00:46:09 Patient.
00:46:11 The patience of Christ can look like weakness to men.
00:46:16 And if we're not careful,
00:46:19 We may not merely doubt,
00:46:22 but we actually might transgress
00:46:24 and fully step over the line
00:46:27 and actually take offense at Him.
00:46:31 Christ is not weak,
00:46:33 but He is patient.
00:46:36 So the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise
00:46:39 as we might see slowness,
00:46:42 but rather He is being not weak,
00:46:44 but patient toward you.
00:46:47 Notice that too.
00:46:48 It's not just that he's being patient towards all the unbelievers out there who need to get saved.
00:46:54 That's in the verse. That's the very next part.
00:46:57 But there's also a patience toward you, even those who are already his disciples.
00:47:03 Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
00:47:10 It's no secret. All of you know my eschatology.
00:47:13 you. I believe that Christ will not win despite a losing church. I don't believe that we win
00:47:23 with a buzzer beat. I don't believe that we're just going to be saved by the bell, losing and
00:47:30 losing and then losing even more all the way up until the very bottom of the ninth. And then
00:47:37 Christ comes in and things turn around.
00:47:42 I actually believe that Christ doesn't win despite a weak losing church, but that Christ
00:47:48 wins through a militant and victorious church gradually throughout the gospel age.
00:47:56 But even with that eschatology, there are moments we can see merely by history and observation.
00:48:05 There are moments, and some of these moments, far longer than we would prefer, where the church takes two or three steps forward, but then takes one or two steps backward.
00:48:19 And in those moments, it can be tempting, especially for those who have a view of Christ and his gradual victory in this temporal gospel age through his church.
00:48:34 It can be tempting for us to take offense at Christ and to perceive him as weak, when in reality he's slow.
00:48:44 And there is, again, a dynamic difference between Christ being weak versus Christ being slow.
00:48:50 His seemingly slowness has everything to do with his patience and nothing to do with a lack of his power.
00:49:01 it's not a lack of power but a presence of patience and his patience is not just toward
00:49:09 the unbeliever who he intends to save but he's being patient toward you there's something he's
00:49:16 doing in you through suffering there is something he's accomplishing and forging in you through
00:49:25 difficulty. His slowness, as we see it, is his patience. A patience in a universal sense
00:49:34 that none of his own, that is the elect, should perish, but that all might be saved. But also his
00:49:42 patience towards you. It's a patience that he might wait so that he would be able to justify
00:49:49 all the unbelievers he intends to save. 0.95
00:49:53 But it's also a patience
00:49:54 so that he might sanctify you
00:49:57 and all those he already has saved.
00:50:00 There's a further sanctification
00:50:01 he intends to accomplish in his people
00:50:05 before the culmination
00:50:08 of his ultimate and final victory.
00:50:10 And he is using a momentary setback,
00:50:15 what seems like us losing,
00:50:16 in order, as a scalpel, to make the incision
00:50:22 so that He can go in and perform surgery on our hearts
00:50:25 to forge us more and more into His image.
00:50:31 And then He sews us up, and all of a sudden,
00:50:34 it's a shout on, pray on, we're gaining ground once more.
00:50:37 And the church experiences three steps forward. 0.91
00:50:41 Or you and your Christian household experience three steps forward. 0.97
00:50:45 And then in his patience, presence of patience, not lack of power, he seems to be, in our perception, slow again. 0.98
00:50:59 We're not getting quite the results that we'd like to get, or at least certainly not in the timing that we would like to see.
00:51:07 but once more it's his patience it's his kindness patience for the unbelievers who are elect who he
00:51:15 intends to justify and patience towards those believers who through setbacks and suffering
00:51:23 he intends to sanctify and this is the normative Christian life and all of this none of it
00:51:32 goes against or contradicts victory.
00:51:36 And not just ethereal victory in the 17th dimension,
00:51:40 but gradual, temporal, tangible victory here and now.
00:51:44 But victory on his timeline, not ours.
00:51:50 And the victory he's trying to accomplish,
00:51:53 we should keep in mind,
00:51:54 like the psalmist in Psalm 73,
00:51:56 when he enters the sanctuary,
00:51:58 he gains perspective.
00:52:00 he's able to see from a higher point of view
00:52:07 that we're seated with him in heavenly places
00:52:09 and we can see perhaps a bigger picture
00:52:12 when we ascend the hill of the Lord on the Lord's day
00:52:16 to go and to worship him in spirit and in truth
00:52:19 that we can see from the delectable mountains
00:52:23 to use Pilgrim's Progress again
00:52:24 we can catch a glimpse of the celestial city
00:52:27 and maybe get at least a notion
00:52:29 of why God might be taking his time
00:52:33 more than we would if we were in charge.
00:52:36 And if anything, the reason is this.
00:52:40 I can't tell you all the particulars
00:52:41 with all the particular situations going on in your life.
00:52:45 But in the big picture, I can say this.
00:52:47 The reason that Christ is slower
00:52:50 in bringing about his victory here on earth
00:52:52 than we would be if we were in charge
00:52:54 is because he wants his victory to be greater
00:52:57 than the victory that you and I would settle for.
00:53:01 If we were in charge, we'd want a faster victory,
00:53:04 but we would settle for a lesser victory.
00:53:06 We would.
00:53:08 And the victory that he's committed to achieving
00:53:12 is a victory that is total
00:53:14 and a victory that is thorough.
00:53:18 It's not just that all the nations
00:53:20 would be Christianized,
00:53:22 but it's that his church, you and I,
00:53:25 would be sanctified.
00:53:27 Thoroughly, deeply, and that comes through His providence in suffering.
00:53:36 And there is a way, when we step into the sanctuary and see through heaven's eyes,
00:53:42 there is a way that this seemingly wearisome task of reconciling a victorious Christ
00:53:51 and a sovereign and just God
00:53:53 with a temporal world
00:53:56 where the wicked seem to prosper.
00:54:00 This can be reconciled.
00:54:03 But it's reconciled when we rest
00:54:06 in worship and enter the sanctuary.
00:54:09 In the case of the psalmist,
00:54:12 or to put it differently,
00:54:13 but the same concept
00:54:15 in the case of John the Baptist.
00:54:17 It's reconciled when we get word
00:54:19 from Christ. John needed to hear Christ's word and assurance. The psalmist needed a word from God
00:54:29 as he entered the sanctuary. And we too need a continual word from the Lord. We receive that
00:54:37 all week long as we disciple one another, as we study the scripture that is the word of God,
00:54:45 But we especially receive a word from Christ on the Lord's day where he promises to be not only present.
00:54:53 Christ is always present for his people.
00:54:55 But he promises to be especially present when two or three are gathered in his name.
00:55:02 And he promises to give to us a word.
00:55:06 And man is not sustained by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
00:55:13 And that word gives us, grants us perspective to see the end game, to see the big picture.
00:55:23 Christ really is sovereign. He really is just.
00:55:26 And for his reasons, the wicked momentarily may prosper and the righteous momentarily may suffer.
00:55:38 And that's it. Here are a few applications to the weak.
00:55:41 To those of you who have been struggling with doubt, take heart.
00:55:46 Christ knows your frailty and he gently strengthens you.
00:55:51 He does not condemn your doubt, but he will condemn you taking offense.
00:55:57 He does not scold the weak in faith, but confirms their hope through his word.
00:56:03 He did it for John the Baptist. He'll do it for you.
00:56:07 To the strong who are not presently struggling with doubt,
00:56:10 Do not despise the weak, but imitate Christ's patience.
00:56:17 And to all of us, a final application,
00:56:20 let your assurance rest not in circumstance,
00:56:24 but in the unshakable promise of God revealed and fulfilled in Christ.
00:56:30 Let's pray.
00:56:30 Father, thank you for your word.
00:56:32 Bless it to our souls that you might bring for yourself great glory
00:56:38 in this life and the next.
00:56:40 We pray this in Jesus' name.
00:56:42 Amen.