Welcome to Search the Scriptures, your Internet Sunday School class. As you join with us today to study the Word of God, I highly recommend that you download the PDF file of the outline to have with you as you listen. It will be referred to regularly. Now let's pray. Lord, guide us as we study your Word. Open our eyes and enlighten our minds. May your Holy Spirit direct us into your truth, Lord, and show us how to apply that truth to our daily lives. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. John the Baptist, who we haven't seen since back in chapter three, when he was arrested and put in prison. And he's really dropped off the scene since then. You remember there in those first few chapters, of course, he was really important and his role was really important. So now we're going to come back to that. Luke is going to bring us back to that to talk about John the Baptist. And really, this section has a lot of questions in it. And those questions, which are repeated, are who is Jesus and who is John? And really, when you think back to the birth narratives, those first two chapters, a lot of what those were about were who is Jesus and who is John? And how do they relate to each other? And that's exactly what's going to be picked up now again here in Chapter 7. But it begins in verse 18, and the disciples of John showed him of all these things. John has disciples. They go to him and show him all these things, all of what things? And anything in particular, just everything that's gone before or. And then before that, the centurion. Most people think it's one of those two things. It could obviously just be everything that he's doing. Because if you'll remember the way the last verse 17 ends, it's about how the fame of him is spreading. So everything he's doing is being talked about, being spread around. So it's all being heard about. These kind of things, these things that Jesus is doing, his disciples show to him. Why did they need to show it to him? Why didn't he know if his fame was spreading? Close. It has to do with where he was. He's in prison. He's in prison, and they didn't have televisions back in those days, and prisoners didn't get to watch cable back then. So you didn't get a lot of news. You didn't get to hear a lot of things, unless you had visitors. So his disciples go to him and tell him what's happening. And when they do this, This is going to engender a question with John. John's going to hear all of this. In verse 19, we find out what John's reaction is. And John, calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus. He picks two of them. And Luke is the only one who specifies there's two. Probably why. Why is it important that he sends two? Yeah, it has to do with the idea that was important in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, that there should be two witnesses for everything. So, he sends two of his disciples and he gives them this message that they're supposed to deliver. It's a question. Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? Jesus is doing all of these wonderful things. He's raising people from the dead, at least one person. He's healing all these people. He's casting out demons. He's preaching. John's disciples go and tell John in prison, here's what's happening, here's what he's doing. And John's reaction is, I want you to go ask him if he's the one we're supposed to be looking for. Why in the world would John react that way? How did what he heard lead him to question whether Jesus was really the coming one or not? It just seems like a strange question for John the Baptist to have After hearing all of this, why would that be his question? Why is he asking this? So he's not doing what John expected? And I was going to say that, because John's testimony was repent and be baptized, but maybe the miracles, maybe he wasn't expecting the resurrections or the healings or that kind of thing. It was all a repentance-based mission. Yeah, and if you think back to chapter 3, that was what he taught, what he was preaching, is repent. And then ethic that he was teaching about what people should do to show that repentance, bearing fruit of repentance, he kept telling him. And back in 3.15-17, he talks about this idea of someone coming after him. In 3.15 he says, And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not, John answered, saying unto them, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand, and it will thoroughly purge his floor, and he will gather the wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." That's John's message about the coming one. He's coming to do certain things. It's not happening the way John thought it was going to. I'm clearly confused. Are you the one we're supposed to be expecting? Because this isn't what I was expecting. This is not the kind of behavior I thought was going to happen when you came. It might be that it's the things that he's doing. He's not coming in fiery judgment. going around healing people and preaching good news to the poor and raising the dead, which are all great things, but that's not what I thought was going to be happening. Also, then the people. I mean, he just healed a centurion servant. He just did something good for a Gentile. This is probably very confusing for John. It obviously is, because he has to ask, I need to know, are you the one? Because this doesn't seemed to fit what I thought was going to happen. This is not what I was expecting. So, he sends them to ask this question. And in verse 20, And when the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, and then they repeat his question exactly. At any time in the New Testament, in the Bible itself in narrative, tends not to use direct quotation a lot. There's a lot of indirect quotations. So anytime the writer takes the time to tell us exactly what somebody actually said, it's important. And if they take the time to repeat exactly what they said twice, it's really important. And here, two times, the question is repeated for us. And Luke didn't need to do that. He could have just said, and they went and delivered the message, or they went and asked what John He takes the time to say it all one more time, which just tells you that's what this is about. That's why this is important. That's what this whole section is about. Is he the one? Are they supposed to expect somebody else? Is he the one that is coming? Art thou he that should come? Or look we for another? So that's John's question. I want to know, are you the one? And interestingly, Jesus never answers him directly. Jesus never says, yes, I am the one. He leaves it unanswered in that way. He does answer indirectly with proof without a direct answer. And it's interesting what's going to happen next is when they come, they ask the question and rather than responding verbally, Jesus does something. He says right then in verse 21, in that same hour, a phrase Luke is fond of using to point out an important time, at this very hour, this very important moment. And in response to what they just asked, in that hour, he cured many of their infirmities and plagues and of evil spirits and unto many that were blind he gave sight. So he cures people, that's his answer. You want to know if I'm the one? Come here and let me show you something. What he shows them is curing people of their infirmities and plagues. What's the difference between an infirmity and a plague? Do I have an infirmity or do I have a plague? How do I know the difference? Yes, and that is in the medicine of the time, these two words were used to designate what we would call chronic conditions versus acute conditions. Something that's just been ongoing and it's just always there versus something that has happened recently and it's more of an emergency kind of a thing. And we've seen that already in the gospel. But he heals people with diseases and then he cures them. cures of the evil spirits. So again, Luke makes clear that there's a difference between diseases and demons. Diseases aren't demonic and demons aren't diseases. They're two different things, but he uses the same vocabulary for curing both of them, for healing both of them. It's the same basic idea. He cured their infirmity, then he cured their evil spirits. And then unto many that were blind he gave sight. He's pretty much doing the same thing that they were reporting to John about. Right. Doing the same thing again with them there. This is the first report we've heard about anybody having, any blind person having sight given to them. He does that now. And the word for gave sight, it's not the normal word for just giving somebody something. It's related to, it's from the word for grace. He graced them with. He was gracious to them in getting them something. He benevolently gave something to them. So he does that. That's his kind of non-verbal answer. That's what you want to know? Am I the one? Well, let me show you. And then he verbally tells them the same thing. Jesus answering said unto them, go your way and tell John what things ye have seen and heard. what he just did in verse 21. Go back and tell him that. Seen and heard. And now he's going to explain those, go into more detail about those, and generally says what you've seen and heard. Now he's going to be more specific. The things that they've seen, the deeds of Jesus, the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. And then the words of Jesus to the poor the gospel is preached. He does these things and then he says to them, go back and tell John what you just saw. And let me remind you what you just saw. And he explains it to them. These are the things that I am doing. Now, how do these have anything to do with him being the coming one? Well, there are references in Isaiah where he uses the same wording. In Isaiah 35-5, the blind receives sight. In 61-1, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Those were prophecies of what would happen when David was to come. Right. And this is really just a litany of allusions to Isaiah. There are several things. Isaiah, you mentioned 35-5, 48, 18. 43, 8, 29, 18, and 19. And then most importantly, Isaiah 61, 1, because back in chapter 4 and 18, when Jesus is in the synagogue in Nazareth, he says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of the sight to the blind. to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. He's quoting from Isaiah 61 there. He said in his inaugural sermon, this is what I'm here for, this is what I've been anointed for, this is what God has empowered me for, to do these kind of things, quoting Isaiah. And now here, talking to John's disciples, he goes back over that again and says, this is what I've been doing. I've been doing what I was anointed to do. And if you knew Isaiah, you would know. that these are the kind of things that I would be doing. He's doing what he was anointed to do, and he's sending them back to say that. And then Jesus ends this in verse 23, his answer to them that they're supposed to deliver back to John. Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. So again, he never answers John, yes, I am the one that you are expecting. I am the coming one. He shows what he's done, and then he ends by saying, blessed is the person who isn't offended in me. What does that mean? Offended is a word from which we get the word scandal. Who isn't scandalized by me. What does that mean? Whosoever shall not be scandalized in me. About what? Yeah, it's regarding what's in me. It means regarding what I'm doing. talking about his earthly life. Blessed is the person who's not scandalized by my life and by my ministry and what I'm doing. People who see his life and ministry for what it really is. And he said, you'll be blessed are the people who aren't ashamed of, aren't scandalized by what I'm doing. And again, he's saying this to John who is asking him Okay, are you the one? So there's an extent to which John is scandalized by it. He's not understanding it. He's got to question it. And Jesus is saying, you know, the person who's blessed is the person who's not questioning it, who understands, who sees what's going on and understands it, and therefore won't be offended by what I'm doing. So that is Jesus' answer to him. Don't be offended by what I'm doing. not what you were expecting, but that doesn't matter. So that was the delegation from John. They're sent back to deliver this message. And unfortunately, we never hear the end of the story. There's no clue what happens after this. What happens to John? When John hears this, what does he say? Okay, I understand. You're right. What was I thinking? Or does he say, I still don't get it. I don't understand why you're doing this. We're never told what John's reaction was. The next time we hear about John and his disciples is when? The next time we hear about him in Luke. It's actually not in Luke, it's in Acts. Remember what happened with John's disciples in Acts? They were found somewhere else in Peter or Paul? Paul. I don't remember where they found them, but they were preaching Jesus and they said, isn't that the one where they said, we haven't heard of the gift of the Spirit or something like that? Yeah, it's in Acts 19. In Acts 19, Paul finds these disciples of John, I believe in Ephesus, or near Ephesus. And they still follow John. This was many years later. Decades later. And they're still following John. His disciples continued to follow him. for a long time. And I think we talked about this fact that John's disciples were around for at least another hundred years, maybe a couple of hundred years. And some people think that they're still around because there's still a group in Iran who claim him as their leader, the Mamdians. They even have a website. You can get on their website. So his disciples continued on. And so it's interesting just because we're in the dark. He sends this delegation to ask, Jesus sends his answer, and then we never know. All we know, all we can say for sure is that decades later his disciples were still following him. Whether all of them were, whether any of them, what happened, there's no way of knowing. But clearly John has doubts. Then in verse 24, Jesus is going to talk about John to the crowd. When the messengers of John were departed, they've left now and gone back, He began to speak unto the people concerning John. So now Jesus is going to ask some questions. Actually, he's going to ask the same question three times. He's going to ask, who was John? John wanted to know, am I him? Who am I? Well, now I'm going to ask you all, who is John? What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? What did you go out there for? A reed shaken in the wind. Now obviously this answer is in the form of a question, but it's a proposed answer. Did you go out to see a reed shaking in the wind? And of course the assumed answer is no. You didn't go out to see a reed shaking in the wind. What does that mean? You didn't go out to see a reed shaking in the wind. If the reed is supposed to describe John, then is it weak, fickle, unstable, Was that what John was like? Obviously not. Or he's just saying, did you go out to see something that is just so trivial there would be no need to go see it. Are you really going to travel out into the desert to watch a reed be shaken by the wind? No. That would be a rather trivial thing to do. And then he asks again, what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment, again, a question that's really a proposed answer. Is that what you went for? To see somebody clothed in soft clothing? And the obvious answer is no. And then Jesus elaborates on the no. Behold, they which are gorgeously appareled and live delicately are in king's courts. What is he saying then about John? You didn't go out to see somebody clothed in soft raiment. You didn't go out to see a reed because who would waste their time on something so trivial as to go see a reed shaking in the wind. Here, why would you go out to the desert to see somebody dressed this way? Because there aren't people dressed that way in the desert. They don't live there. They live in palaces. That's where you'd go to find them. You weren't going to a palace. You would not be looking for that kind of person out there. They knew they wouldn't find that kind of person there. So that's not who, what they were looking for. Right. Right. Not a, not a royal figure. So we got two questions with two answers that were not correct. And now the third one, what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yay. So he says, yes, it was a prophet that you went out to see, which is to be expected. Because if you think of the Old Testament, many times prophets are associated with being out in the wilderness. They did not live in palaces. They were usually out on their own. Ye, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. So Jesus says, yes, he was a prophet, but he was even more than just a prophet. And now he's going to expand on that. He's going to explain what he means by that. He says, This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Quotation from Malachi 3.1 and part of it is from Exodus 23.20. So he says, that's who he was. He was more than just a prophet. He was what? What is this? What does this quote from the Old Testament tell us about him? What does it mean that he's more than a prophet because this was said about him? How does that make him more than a prophet? Didn't that what prophets do? OK, my messenger, you're going to prepare the way for you so that He's to prepare the way for you so when you come, the job is done. And essentially he's saying, you know, he's not just a prophet, he's the last one. There won't be a need for any more after him because he's the one bringing in the person that they've been prophesying about. So he's more than a prophet because he's the last one. He is bringing an end to that age. And then in verse 28, Jesus' assessment of John. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." This verse has always had a lot of question about what he's saying. Among those born of women, which simply means humans. Among humans, there is no greater prophet than John the Baptist. Humanly speaking, looking, there is no one no prophet greater than him, but whoever is least in the kingdom is greater than he. Okay, what is he saying? John's the greatest, but what does it mean to say he that's least in the kingdom is greater than he? Okay. Well, he definitely says that it's the ones who are in the kingdom. The least in the kingdom is greater than he is. Some people do take it like you're saying to me, but when he says in the kingdom, what does that mean? There's some people who say what that means is that they have already died. They're already in heaven and the least there is greater than the greatest here. He's comparing two different realms. Well, it would seem to indicate that, wouldn't it? Well, the next verse, and this is the American Standard, says, when all the people in the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John. So, there's a group there that were baptized into John's baptism, and as your outline says, they justified God. So there was something about that phrase, yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And that's key to what they recognized about God's justice. I mean, whichever translation you take, justify God or acknowledge God's justice, there's something about God's justice here that relates to that phrase. Well, it's a difficult, I mean, obviously, ultimately, he's saying John is a great man. His assessment of him is, yes, he is the greatest, but he's also then saying something about this other set of people. And one way it's taken is in a dispensational way that there's the kingdom of God, which doesn't start yet, and John the Baptist isn't part of the kingdom of God because he's from the Old Testament era, and so he's not part of that kingdom comparison of those two kingdoms. Some people think it's just a matter of trying to emphasize that kind of upside-down reversal of status as part of the kingdom of God, that people who may be great in the world's estimation in the kingdom of God aren't, and the other way around, that the way God compares people, greatest and least and all things, are not by human standards, that it's an entirely different understanding of status, which you brought up, verse 29. And this is really a parenthetical statement. John interrupts the narrative here to make a comment about the people's response to John. Again, he's talking about how they responded to John the Baptist now. And all the people that heard him and the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized of him. So there were these two responses to John. All the people that heard him and the publicans heard who? Well here I think he's talking about John. Heard John. He's talking about the people's responses to John when John was preaching to them. And all the people that heard him and the publicans, if you look back in 313, that's where the publicans went out to hear John. When they heard him, they justified God being baptized with the baptism of John. So they justified God and that was shown in, that was proven by, the way they did that was being baptized. So what does that mean, they justified God? Does God need to be justified? Part of it comes down to what justified means. It does literally just say justified to God. That's all it says. What does it mean in this context? And this is going to come up here in the very last verse we're going to look at too, the same phrase. probably it just means to accept or acknowledge what God is doing, what his plan is, to acknowledge that this is what his will is. Because the opposite of it in the next verse is they rejected the counsel of God. So probably the justifying God is the opposite of rejecting the counsel of God, which means that you have acknowledged God's plan and what he's doing, which is again, what this section is about, because John's saying, are you coming? Are you the one who's coming? Because I don't understand what you're doing. This doesn't seem to fit in with what I thought you were going to be doing. And here, Jesus, Luke is saying that these people, when they heard him acknowledged God's plan, they accepted his plan. They said, yes, this is what God's plan is and it that was shown in their being baptized. And your baptism is a figure for the repentance, everything involved, including the repentance that John was preaching. They were assuring themselves. By being baptized? Or by the acknowledgement. Well, they were aligning themselves with God's purpose. They were admitting this is what God is doing. This is what God wants us to do. And so we are going to repent and we're going to be baptized, not because it makes us repentant, but because we are repentant, we're going to go through this and align ourselves with what God is doing. So was this in the present tense then, as this speech was going on? Were they saying, okay, we acknowledge that this is God's way, so let's No, I think this is just a parenthetical comment from Luke where he's saying this is what happened in the past. He's looking back at what happened with John. Who is reassuring them? The publicans and all the other people in verse 29. 2930 are a parenthetical statement by Luke, so this was written decades after this happened. Jesus wasn't saying that to them to give them assurance you did the right thing. This is much later, looking back at it, telling us this is what the people did. There were these two responses, and this is what those two responses symbolized. The response of being baptized symbolized that I acknowledge what God is doing. I acknowledge that this is his plan and his will. And the ones who didn't were rejecting God's plan, his purpose in all of this. John's Baptist mission was to come and prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight, and so forth. And he was preaching repentance from sin. So the people, and particularly the tax collectors who were just the obvious egregious people in doing wrong, they went to him in the wilderness, they were baptized, repenting of what they had done. Okay, then Jesus comes, and Jesus doesn't really teach much about repentance. He's teaching about the character of God and the people's response to that and so forth. I'm wondering, could that have been a question in John's mind as to why he sent those guys? Like you said, he wasn't expecting that. He may have been expecting that, you know, he was preaching repentance and now here comes the vengeance. He's not talking vengeance here. Contrast these two groups. The people, the tax collectors, they get baptized showing they have truly repented. The Pharisees rejected John the Baptist and his message. And ultimately, this plan that God had of sending John to prepare the way, tell people about their sin, cause them to repent, and then Jesus comes and shows them salvation and provides the salvation. And they rejected all that. Right. Yes, I think that's exactly what he's saying. And it starts with John. I think John's purpose was to come and preach repentance. And this baptism was that symbol that I am repenting of what I've done. Apparently John's thought was, okay, I'm going to preach repentance to those who don't repent. And he's coming right behind me and the ones who don't repent are going to get whacked and the ones who do are going to be blessed. And it didn't happen exactly the way that he thought. He didn't just come and start killing his enemies. It was not the way he thought it was going to be. He was showing mercy and compassion to people. That's what drove John's question. But quickly, this last section, Jesus is going to talk about those two varying responses to him and to John. And the Lord said, where unto then shall I liken the men of this generation? And what are they like? The people of this generation, people alive now, They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace and calling one to another, saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced. We have mourned you, and you have not wept. For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine. Ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of Man is come, eating and drinking. And ye say, Behold, a gluttonous man, a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of all her children. This is a somewhat obscure parable. this little song the children are singing to each other, said the people of this generation, their responses to John the Baptist and to me are like this. They're like kids sitting in a market, calling out to each other, why don't you dance? We want you to dance and they won't do it. And the other is calling back, well, why don't you mourn? You won't do it. So those kids are like this generation. And then he's going to apply that to how this generation responded to Jesus and John. He said, John comes and he's, you know, he's aesthetic. He doesn't eat fancy stuff. He doesn't drink wine. They don't like John because of that, because of his lifestyle. So they think, ah, there's something wrong with this guy. He's got a devil in him. He's demonic because he's living this way. He's not acting the way that is conventional. He's deviant in that way. the majority don't accept him. And the Son of Man comes eating and drinking. So they're like, okay, you know, he comes this manner of life. And you say, well, that's not good. Shouldn't be that way. So Jesus comes the opposite. He does eat and drink with publicans and sinners. He said he must be a glutton and a drunk and a friend of sinners. They didn't like the way he was acting. not conventional, hanging out with people that he wasn't supposed to be hanging out with, at least it's in their view. And so his lifestyle was deviant as well. And so they rejected both of them. And in that way, they were like these children, these very immature children in a marketplace. But then Jesus ends it with, but wisdom is justified of all her children. Wisdom being what here? Yeah, exactly. Looking back at 29, when it says that they justified God, or if they didn't, they rejected his counsel. Here, wisdom is that wise plan, that wise counsel of God that's being proclaimed, is justified, is acknowledged as correct by all her children. Who would the children then be who are acknowledging God's wise plan? Yeah, the ones who have aligned themselves with his purpose and his plan, they're the ones that are acknowledging that plan. They're the ones who believe, the ones who follow, those are the ones that are acknowledging the wise plan of God in all of this. So he kind of wraps up this whole section. He doesn't seem to be doing what people thought he was supposed to be doing. His ministry was not what some thought it was supposed to be. But he says at the end, those who accept God's plan, those who understand it and accept it, they're the ones who acknowledge God's plan for what it is and won't be scandalized by me for doing this, for having this kind of ministry, for doing these things. All of that's going to lead into now the next section, which is about Jesus eating with a Pharisee and what happens at this supper and the lessons that are to be taught grow out of what we just learned here. But I have gone too long, so let's close in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your wise plan. Lord, I pray that as we study this passage, as we think about it, that you'll help us to remember that many times your plan, the way that you act, the things that happen may not be the plan that we would have, may not work out the way that we think they're supposed to. but that your wisdom, your sovereignty is at work, and we just need to be faithful to believe you, to follow you, and to just align ourselves with your purpose rather than demanding that we understand what you're doing all the time. Lord, I pray that you'll just help us to have the kind of faith that we need to have to believe in you, to trust in you, and to follow you. I pray that you will just help us to be more like Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.