Proven

Luke 7:24 – 35

 

We all like a good show, right? Back in April I took Jacob and David to a Third Day concert for Jacob’s first birthday. It was his first concert ever, the three of us had a blast, and we even ran into one of my cousins from San Jose and her husband there.

 

Just last Friday, Ryan got to go to his first concert too. I took Ryan, Jacob, David, and Tommy to see Ryan Stevenson in Denair. Another fun evening of good contemporary Christian music, and the night even ended with the refrain from How Great Thou Art.

 

Whether it’s a concert, a movie, a rodeo, a football or a baseball game, or even a bowling tournament, audiences like a good show. Everyone that goes is there to witness something, and then after the show they play Monday morning quarterback and evaluate whether it was worth it to go out and watch or not.

 

One such spectacle that stands out in my mind actually comes from history. On July 21, 1861, the first major land battle of the American Civil War was fought at Bull Run. But, if you were 25 miles to the northeast in Washington, D.C. that morning, you wouldn’t have felt terror; you would have felt excitement.

 

The general public in our fractured nation’s capital expected a quick, glorious Union victory. They thought it would be a spectacle to behold. So hundreds of civilian spectators—senators, congressmen, and high-society elites—packed carriages with wine, pies, and picnic baskets.

 

They brought with them food, drinks, and opera glasses and traveled out to the hills of Manassas, Virginia, from here to north Modesto. They literally went out into the wilderness to watch a show. But the festive mood quickly vanished.

 

The reality of war set in. The Union army was routed, the battlefield turned into a horrific slaughter, and those wealthy spectators fled in absolute panic, dropping their picnic baskets in the mud.

 

They wanted a performance, but they were confronted with the terrifying, bloody reality of a war that would cost over 600,000 lives. And looking back, I imagine they realized that they totally misjudged what they went out to see.

 

In today’s passage, as John the Baptist’s disciples leave to take Jesus’ answer back to John in prison, Jesus turns to the crowd and asks them a question regarding John: What did you go out into the wilderness to see? So, open your Bibles to Luke 7:24 – 35, and let’s unpack this passage together.

 

John’s question that his disciples took to Jesus wasn’t asked in private, it wasn’t asked in a vacuum. Jesus was still in Nain, where He had raised the widow’s son from death, and there was still the big, combined crowd of His disciples and those who followed Him to Nain, and the funeral crowd from the town.

 

So once John’s disciples leave, Jesus turns to the crowd who likely overheard John’s question. And some may have started to think that maybe John was mistaken or that he wasn’t really a prophet after all.

 

And in a kind of poetic sort of way, we get to see the focus around John the Baptist flip from his testimony about Jesus to Jesus’ testimony about John. And in doing so, Jesus still testifies about Himself and who He is. Look at what He does here.

 

Jesus essentially asks the same question three times: What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed so flimsy that it’s blown about by the wind? John the Baptist was anything but flimsy and spineless with his fiery preaching about repentance that got him locked up.

 

And who would go see a reed in the desert anyway? That’s such a normal, boring sight to see. Definitely not anything special that would attract a crowd, so the answer is clearly no.

 

Did the crowds go out into the wilderness to see a sharp dressed man? A finely dressed palace official in the desert would be quite out of place and unusual to see. So unusual that it might be worth going out into the desert to witness that.

 

But John was anything but a sharp dressed man. Mark tells us in his gospel that John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. I mean, that in itself sounds like it’s worth going to see, but no, the crowds didn’t flock to the wilderness to see John because of his clothing.

 

What then did they go out to see Jesus asks a third time. A prophet? Yes, a prophet indeed and Jesus says more than a prophet. John is so much more than a basic and uninteresting reed with no backbone that was swayed in the wind of public opinion. John is so much more than a man in soft, fine clothing operating out of a kingly palace.

 

Jesus says John the Baptist is the messenger prophesied by Malachi, with echoes of the Exodus. First look at Exodus 23:20, “Indeed, listen! I myself am sending out my messenger to go before you (lit. face) in order that he may guide you to the land that I have prepared for you.”

 

And now look at Malachi 3:1, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me (lit. face).” God had promised His people that He would send a messenger to prepare the way for Him when He the Lord returned to His temple, to judge His people.

 

Jesus never simply announces, “I am God.” Instead, He reveals Himself through the testimony of Scripture and the evidence of His life and ministry. When God declared in Malachi, “I will send My messenger before Me,” Jesus makes it unmistakably clear that He is the Lord whose coming John prepared, because Jesus and the Father are one.

 

John is the prophet tasked with preparing God’s people for a new exodus, a deliverance from slavery to sin over to freedom in Christ. John is the prophet tasked with making ready a people for the Lord, preparing the way before Him.

 

But look, in Jesus proving who John is to the crowds in the wake of his moment of uncertainty, Jesus is also proving God right.

 

Jesus vindicates John, and in doing so deliberately vindicates God’s redemptive plan for His people, and therefore His own identity. By proving, through Scripture exactly who John is, Jesus again proves exactly who He is. Every faithful witness points to Christ, and John’s identity confirms Christ’s identity.

That’s why Jesus says John is the greatest of those born among women. John witnessed what no other OT prophet ever saw, the arrival of God’s promised kingdom in the person of Jesus Christ. He stood as the bridge between the OT promises and their NT fulfillment.

 

Yet Jesus immediately reminds us that even the least citizen of God’s kingdom is greater than John. As great as John’s privilege was, he stood on the threshold of the kingdom. And make no mistake, John is in heaven, but those who belong to Christ now live in the fulfillment John longed to see.

 

How should people respond to a revelation like that? Luke doesn’t leave us wondering. Before Jesus says another word, Luke gives us a glimpse of the division that was already taking place.

 

The testimony about John and ultimately about Jesus, demanded a response. No one could remain neutral. Just as in the first century, there are still only two responses to God’s offer of salvation. You will either humbly acknowledge that God is right and receive the gospel by faith. Or, in your own self-righteousness you will reject God’s message, God’s Son, and God Himself.

 

In v.29 we see that when all the people heard this, including the tax collectors (you know, those awful sinners), the ones who were baptized by John, they declared that God is just.

 

The ones who received John’s gospel of repentance sent by God declared God right, they affirmed His righteousness. Those who humbled themselves recognized God’s righteousness, received God’s purpose for their lives, and declared God to be right.

 

But those who reject God’s way reveal the true problem is their own hearts. Look at v.30, the Pharisees and the lawyers, literally the experts in God’s Law, rejected John’s preaching of repentance.

 

They rejected John’s baptism, and in doing so they rejected God’s purpose for their lives. The ones tasked with knowing God, and understanding His Word better than anyone, flat out rejected God.

 

The great reversal continues.

 

The ones who were last, the poor, tax collectors, prostitutes, sinners became first in the kingdom of God. Meanwhile the ones who were first, the ones entrusted with shepherding God’s people and preserving God’s Word, found themselves not just last, but outside of God’s kingdom entirely.

 

And then we see Jesus compare that generation, that generation being those in this age who oppose Jesus and the gospel and stand in opposition to God’s children. Jesus compares them in this little parable to children in the marketplace playing games.

 

There’s two groups of kids the parable in v.32, the first group are the people in Jesus’ day. The second group represent Jesus and John the Baptist. That group is calling out to the first group to play, but the first group wanted nothing to do with neither John nor Jesus.

 

They played the flute for them, an instrument commonly played at weddings, and the children of that generation refused to dance. They sang a dirge, a funeral and mourning song, and the children of that generation refused to cry.

 

The children of that generation were invited to play cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians, or any other childhood game, and they refused. They basically picked up their toys and they went home.

 

And Jesus makes the connection explicitly clear in vv.33 – 34. John the Baptist came eating no bread and drinking no wine, he came with somber seriousness, calling people to mourn and grieve over their sin, and repent and turn back to God.

 

And the people of that generation said he had a demon, and they rejected the message, the gospel that he brought.

 

And the Son of Man, Jesus, comes eating and drinking, he comes with all sorts of festive joy because He is the Bridegroom and the wedding feast of the Lord is being prepared.

 

And again, rejection, they call Him a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. The ones who rejected Jesus counted themselves as better than Him, they trusted in their own self-righteousness rather than trusting in God Incarnate Himself.

The problem was never God’s messengers. All of God’s prophets throughout the OT, including John who bridged the eras, were rejected by God’s chosen people. John came and brought the message one way, and was rejected. Jesus came and delivered the message another way and was rejected. The problem wasn’t God’s method.

 

The problem wasn’t John or Jesus; the problem was their refusal to repent. The problem was the same then as it is today, self-righteous people with hardened hearts unwilling to humble themselves before God.

 

God’s perfectly righteous way to deliver His people from sin and death is rejected by those who are convinced that they know better. They reject God’s way of deliverance because they refuse to humble themselves, admit they were wrong, and acknowledge that God is right.

 

To repent and confess means saying, “God is right, and I am wrong” That’s what confession is, agreeing with God that what He calls sin is sin. And when you confess your sin to God in genuine, humble repentance, you’re saying God you are right, and I need your forgiveness and deliverance. And He gives just that, 1 John 1:9.

 

And regardless of if some people reject truth, the truth of our passage today is this, God is just, and His way is always right, even when it’s rejected. Rejection by man never voids God’s truth. Gen. 6.

 

You must acknowledge that God is right and humbly submit to His way.

 

The Pharisees and experts in God’s Law trusted in their self-righteousness and refused to acknowledge that God was right and they refused to humble themselves and repent, and in doing so they rejected God and His purpose for them.

 

The people, tax collectors, and sinners recognized their desperate, sinful condition, acknowledged that God is right and just, and they humbly repented and submitted to God’s purpose for their lives.

 

Jesus ends His parable, and this passage, by saying, “Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” God’s wisdom doesn’t depend on universal acceptance. God’s plan, God’s way doesn’t become wrong because people reject it.

Human rejection never overturns divine truth. Those who receive His wisdom, who receive Jesus, demonstrate that God’s way was right all along. And you can demonstrate that God’s way is right too.

 

First, receive God’s Word with a humble heart. The tax collectors and the people didn’t have all the answers. They didn’t live spotless lives. But they had one thing the Pharisees lacked: they were willing to receive what God was saying.

 

Every week, God gives us opportunities to hear His voice through His Word. Sometimes it’s during a sermon. Sometimes it’s in your daily Bible reading. Sometimes it’s through a godly friend who loves you enough to tell you the truth. Sometimes it’s your spouse gently reminding you of what God has already said.

 

So how do you receive God’s Word when it comes to you? Do you receive it with humility, or immediately begin looking for reasons why it doesn’t apply to you? A humble heart is more concerned with hearing God’s voice than critiquing God’s messenger

 

So this week I challenge you to come to church expecting God to speak through His Word. I challenge you to open your Bible expecting God to correct, encourage, and shape your heart.

 

I challenge you to invite mature believers to lovingly speak God’s truth into your life. I challenge you to ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you need to repent and where you need to grow and I promise you that He will.

 

Next, humble yourself when God exposes your sin. Every time God exposes some sin in your life, you have a decision to make. Will you justify yourself, or will you declare that God is right?

 

The Pharisees justified themselves while the tax collectors declared that God was right and just. They weren’t better sinners than the Pharisees, they were simply willing to humble themselves and admit that God is right and they were wrong.

 

So when God exposes your anger, your gossip, your lust, your selfishness, your bitterness, or your lack of forgiveness do you look to justify yourself, or do you simply say, God, you’re right and I’m wrong.

No one embraces God’s grace by faith until they first acknowledge their need for it. So humbly confess and repent. When God exposes your sin, admit God is right and turn to Christ for restoration.

 

Lastly, stand with Christ when His truth is rejected. John was rejected, Jesus was rejected, His followers have been rejected and will continue to be too. The world and its culture calls evil good and good evil. Will you drift away because of others around you that have?

 

Instead, remain faithful by consistently being in God’s Word, by consistently remaining connected to God’s church, by consistently living out and preaching the gospel to those around you, and consistently making repentance a way of life.

 

You can be a part of proving God right, of justifying God’s wisdom in salvation when you visibly live out your faith in Christ.

 

Because they rejected Christ, the Pharisees didn’t do any of that, the experts in the Law didn’t either and many in that generation walked away. But God’s way doesn’t become wrong because people reject it.

 

Every person who repents, every sinner who trusts Christ, every believer who submits to His Word becomes another testimony that God was right all along.

 

John’s testimony has been proven right. Jesus’ testimony has been proven right. The cross has been proven right. The empty tomb has been proven right. And the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, has been proven right.

 

And one day, when Christ returns in glory, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. On that day no one will question whether God was right.

 

The only question is whether you will acknowledge that today and have eternal life, or will you wait until that day and lose your soul. Because God is just, and His way is always right, even when it’s rejected.