"Go, Tell John!"
Matthew 11:1-6
INTRO.John the Baptist was a cousin of our LORD Jesus Christ. He was also the forerunner of Christ. He was not a wealthy man, for he adored himself in camel's hair and a girdle of skin about his loins. He ate what he could find in the wilderness of Judea, with a diet mostly of locust and wild honey.
He preached with a fiery spirit the message of repentance. The thrust of his message was: "Repent ye: For The Kingdom of heaven is at hand." He didn't preach himself, but of One whose shoe latchet he was not worthy to loose. John went all throughout the lands of Jerusalem, Judea, and the region of the Jordan preaching repentance for the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.
He had the extreme privilege of baptizing our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. It was John who announced, "Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the World." John never got to see the Kingdom, but he preached the Kingdom.
In our text, in Matthew 11:1-6, Jesus is teaching and preaching the Kingdom. John the Baptist is in prison for his preaching of the Kingdom, facing death at the hands of a sinful world. You will recall that John soon lose his head by the request of Herod's daughter. We see John, here in prison, disturbed, despaired, and disenchanted. The message of the Kingdom which he has preached has been rejected. Jesus, the promised Messiah has been rejected. All hope seems gone!
In v2 of our text, John heard of the works of Christ and he sent two of his disciples to inquire of Him. John the Baptist wanted to know, "Have I wasted my life, or Is Jesus really the Messiah? The two disciples of John ask Jesus , in v3, "Art thou He that should come or we look for another?" Jesus responds in v4, "Go and tell John those things which you hear and see..."
I want to title the message today, "GO, TELL JOHN!"
GO TELL JOHN THE KINGDOM IS:
(1) Where The Rejected are Received
Matthew 11:5a—“The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear…”
A. REJECTION IS THE WAY OF THE WORLD. Man rejects others on the
basis of social status, economic status, cultural differences,
deformities etc. We all have a tendency to disassociate ourselves from
people who are different than us. If a person doesn’t talk like we do or
walk like we do or see things as we do then we tend to stay away from
them or else talk badly about them. Rejection can take many forms.
Sometimes it is silent avoidance and at others steady antagonism.
B. RECEPTION IS THE WAY OF THE LORD. Men may reject us, but not
Christ! God is willing to receive all who will come to HIM. He will save
all who truly in faith call on His name! (Romans 10:13). God is no
respecter of persons. The ground is level at Calvary and all are invited
to be part of God’s Kingdom. No one who comes to the Lord in faith
shall be turned away. (John 6:37).
(2) Where The Dead Have Life
Matthew 11:5b—“…the dead are raised up…”
A. WE ARE ALL BORN WITHOUT LIFE (Ephesians 2:1). Physically we
are life, but spiritually we are dead! Romans 5:12 tells us, “Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” We are as
Ephesians 2:12 describes us, “…without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and Without God in the world.”
B. WE ALL CAN BE BORN AGAIN TO AN INCREDIBLE, ABUNDANT
LIFE. We were all dead spiritually, until Christ saved our life! Jesus
said in John 1O:1O--"I am come that they might have life and that they
might have it more abundantly" No one has ever truly lived until Christ
makes him alive! 1 John 5:11-12 tells us, “And this is the record, that
God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath
the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son hath not life.” The Lord
intended not for our lives to be dull but to be dynamic! Friends, we
should never lose the awe and wonder of what being a Child of God
truly means!
(3) Where The Gospel Is Preached To the Poor
Matthew 11:5c—“…the poor have the gospel preached to them.”
A. WHO ARE THE POOR? Albert Barnes in his notes on the Bible writes:
the “poor” have always been overlooked by Pharisees and philosophers.
No sect of philosophers had condescended to notice them before
Christ, and no system of religion had attempted to instruct them
before the Christian religion. In all other schemes the poor have been
passed by as unworthy of notice. (Albert Barnes’ Notes on The Bible).
But I truly believe Jesus was not merely referring to material poverty,
but also to spiritual poverty. All without the Gospel are poor! (Psalms
72:12, 13).
B. WHO ARE THE RICH? Our Lord Jesus spoke to the Church of
Smyrna in Revelation 2:9 and said, “I know thy works, and
tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)…” A person may gain all this
world’s wealth and still die a pauper. Why? Material riches do not
make a person rich. Receiving the Gospel makes one rich! When we
believe it, WE ARE RICH! We become heirs of God and joint-heirs with
Jesus Christ.
ILLUS: During the Depression, Charles Darrow could find no work.
Although he was broke and his wife was expecting a baby, he
wasn't discouraged. Every evening they played a game which
he had devised. Remembering happy vacations in nearby
Atlantic City, he laid out his own little boardwalk on a square
piece of cardboard and pretended to be rich. On his
"properties" he put miniature houses and hotels he had carved
out of small pieces of wood. The game, called "Monopoly," was
later marketed by Parker Brothers and ultimately made
Darrow a millionaire. Christians may not have earthly wealth,
but they have a wealth that should cause us to never get
discouraged. We have the wealth of our heavenly Father.
Ephesians 1:3
CLOSING: Christ told John's disciples, “See, the KINGDOM is being built, Go,
tell John about the things you see and hear.”
Christ wanted John to know he had offered pleasing service to God. He had done what he should have done.
You ask, "Well, what does that mean for us?" The message of : “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” preached by John, is still our message today! Are we preaching Christ to
the rejected, the dying, and the poor?
Are we preparing men, women, boys and girls for the Kingdom? We must not quit!
PREPARED BY BROTHER BRYAN L. BROWNING, PASTOR OF BEECHMONTBAPTISTCHURCH, BEECHMONT, KY
FOR SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 28, 2008.