Last week I spent two messages either thinking about John the Baptist or using him to jump to something else. Today, I want to use that same scripture – expanded a bit – to think about John’s Saviour – Christ Jesus. What does Matthew say, and what do Jesus’ remarks about John say, about Christ? We cannot speak too much or too highly of the Son of God. Three messages on John the Baptist might be too many, but three thousand messages on Christ would not begin to be enough. There are about ten things about Christ in these nineteen verses, but I will save at least one for later.
First we see Christ Jesus as the COMMANDER of a small army.
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.” Chapter 10, which we studied for several months, was the ordination charge which Jesus gave to his twelve apostles. Those men had been to Christ’s seminary for several months, and they had graduated. They were far from perfect servants of God, but perfection is never going to be found here on earth. Now they were ready to go. And Jesus commanded them, probably giving them specific towns and routes to take, declaring the Name of Christ.
The word “command” in this verse is found in fifteen other New Testament verses. The majority of the time it is translated as we have it here. But it is also translated “to set in order,” “to appoint” and “to ordain.”
At this church, we take the word “ordain” seriously, because we insist that it is related to special authority. To “ordain” a man to the gospel ministry, means that under the authority of the Son of God, we recognize this man as called of God to his task. I do not, as pastor, have authority to ordain anyone, any more than I have authority to start a church or to baptize a convert. The authority lays in Christ, and it is passed on through the Lord’s church.
In a related way, only a commander has authority to command someone. You might think that it is silly to point to the fact that Christ Jesus has authority to command His disciples. It should be obvious and indisputable, but from time to time I need to point my finger to that fact. Christ is the Commander of His little army of Christian soldiers. He is the Head of His Church – Ephesians 5:23. He is the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. There are situations and occasions when the Lord is not upset when we take limited initiative in things. But may it never be forgotten that He is our Commander, Head and King. He must be respected. More than that He must be reverenced. He must be obeyed; He must be believed; He must be sought out for counsel and direction. Christ is the Commander of this army.
Secondly, Christ is here seen as a TEACHER and PREACHER.
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities.” In some ways, this is somewhat contrary to what I just said. How much authority does Jesus Christ really have? Not only is He King of the Kingdom, Head of His Church and Commander of His Army, but He is the infinite Son of God. Doesn’t it surprise you to see Him stand on a street corner, open His mouth and begin to preach the gospel? We see Him to walk into a synagogue on the sabbath and teach the true meaning of verses that the scribes had gotten wrong for centuries. But just think what Christ, as the Son of God, could have done. It could have been so much more than merely to teach or preach.
To teach the Bible is to make plain the meaning of the scriptures. Sometimes we teach on the level of a 5-year-old, and sometimes we teach college professors and rabbis. There are always varying degrees and depths to which the Word of God can be taught. And of course, Jesus, as the omniscient Son of God, could open up and expose the word better than any which the poor Galileans had ever heard before. To preach, at least in my definition, refers to the ability of someone to take what is taught and to drive it home, making application, drawing out conclusions and eliciting a response. Jesus Christ was both a teacher and preacher – undoubtedly of the highest order ever heard or seen.
But here is the potentially strange thing about it. As the infinite Son of God, He had the authority and the power, to turn every hearer into a submissive student and disciple. As the sovereign God, it might be argued that it wasn’t necessary for Him to do anything. As He had earlier spoken the world into existence, He could have willed these Jewish semi-idolaters into worshipers and servants of God. As privy to the eternal counsels of the God-head, and knowing every elect soul in every crowd, why was it even necessary to teach the Bible or to preach the gospel? He could have simply willed the completion of preaching’s purpose. The answer is – preaching and teaching is an integral part of program of God. Just as it is necessary for God’s elect to repent and to trust Christ, it is necessary for those same people to hear and learn the gospel through teaching and preaching. And it doesn’t matter who is the preacher – John the Apostle, John the Baptist or Jesus the Christ. Still, I firmly believe that there has never been a greater teacher and preacher than Christ. How could it be anything else, when we are talking about the infinite Son of God? But in this, it was the will of the God-head that He not step beyond His human ability
Verse 5 reminds us of something seen earlier in Matthew.
“The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” The miracles performed by Christ had a variety of purposes to them. One was that each was a blessing to the person who received it. Whether it was the restoration of sight, or strength or even life – what a blessing that was to the individual and to his family. Secondly, those miracles drew the attention of the average person and gave him an ear to the gospel. “Hey, there is a man over here who can take a few fish and feed thousands. He has raised the dead and restored the crippled limbs of the impotent man.” But perhaps more importantly than those was that the Lord’s miracles as a group, declared in unequivocal Old Testament language that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is the Messiah. John’s disciples, and perhaps John himself, were wondering if Jesus was the man whom they were awaiting. Christ responded by saying –“check the evidence.”
Isaiah 35 for example carries a description of the future Millennial Kingdom, and that means “Messiah.” “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
Isaiah 35 is one of several such chapters, talking about the effect of the presence of the Messiah. Psalm 146 – “The LORD looseth the prisoners: The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down.” Who is that LORD? Jehovah, in the person of Christ. Isaiah 61 – “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.” We’ve looked at several of these before, so I won’t proceed any farther. Suffice it to say – what Jesus was doing by making this statement to Johns’ disciples was declaring that He is the Messiah.
A fourth conclusion that we can make about Christ is that He is the great BLESSER.
Verse 6 – “Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.” As we have often said, the word “blessed” refers to a very special, heaven-sent happiness. It is higher than anything that the world has to offer us. It is inexplicable to the mind of average unbeliever. In the context of this chapter it is equivalent to deliverance from sin and union with eternal glory. In my own authority, if I were to repeat what Jesus said here, the idea would be ludicrous.
Christ Jesus is the heavenly “blesser.” It wouldn’t take much of a push to say that this is equivalent to Christ, the Saviour. If you are offended by the Christ of the Bible, then you are not a Christian – you remain spiritually dead. To paraphrase I John 2:23 – “Whosoever offended at the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that is not offended, but loveth and acknowledgeth the Son, he hath the Father also.” No one can deny the Son of God, the Christ of the Bible, and still have any claim in God. Only in Christ, the blesser, do any of us have God in any way other than in eternal judgment.
Again, I ask as I tried to do last week, are you offended at anything in Christ? If so, woe unto you. It had been better if you had not been born, than to die without salvation in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Verse 10 reiterates something quite important – Christ is the King, and thus the Judge, of all creation.
“This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” The Lord Jesus was making a reference to the second to the last chapter in the Old Testament. Malachi 3:1 – “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.” Verse 5 – “And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 4 – “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.”
When Jesus identified John the Baptist as His messenger and preparer, He also declared Himself to be the one for whom the way was being prepared. Christ is the King and also the Judge. He will establish His Millennial Kingdom, and prior to that, He will judge the world with unspeakable plagues. Then following the Millennium, He will again judge, but at that time it will be a judgment the individual soul. We cannot enter a blessed eternity without the Christ of Matthew 11. Without Jesus Christ we are lost and eternally undone.
One of the things suggested in verse 11 takes my last point one step farther.
“Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” Forget for a moment what is said about John – he is not our subject for this morning. What does this say about the One who is speaking? He is assessing the nature of John the Baptist. I repeat the question that I asked last Wednesday – have you ever misjudged someone? Have you ever decided that someone was a great guy, but later you found out that he wasn’t? Or have you ever misjudged someone, deciding that you’d better avoid that person, later finding that you’ve only hurt yourself, because he was actually pretty wonderful?
While we have probably done that, Christ Jesus never did. One reason, of course, is that the Son of God, possesses the attributes of God, the Son. One of those attributes is omniscience – Jesus thoroughly knew all the people who had ever been born. “Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.” “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” With Christ’s complete knowledge He could boldly and positively say, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist.” You may be tempted to question that assessment, but don’t. You will only embarrass yourself. Christ is the greatest of all judges, because there is nothing hidden from Him.
And what might He say about you? Would Christ say that you are a fraud, only pretending to be a Christian? Would He say that you appear to be a good person, but there are enormous sins hidden in your heart? Would He say that you have potential, but you are so self-centered that you will forever miss the great blessings that God has for you? Remember, Jesus knows.
Another thing about Christ is stated in a backward sort of way.
Verse 19 – “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber.” Despite being King, Christ was not on the same level as Henry VIII – 300+ pounds. He was no William Howard Taft at 335 pounds. When Jesus referred to other people calling him a glutton and winebibber, He was not admitting that He was. He didn’t frequent pubs and bars, and he wasn’t eating in the great restaurants. He was saying nothing more than, in the everyday activities of life, He was not unlike any other Galilean.
Remember that at this point, Christ was comparing Himself with John, who was definitely not mainstream. John dressed funny, and he ate even funnier. But Christ ate the food of the common man, and even ate with those common men. And in order to get the gospel to the elite in society, He often dined on expensive fair supplied by His hosts. For that he was injustly accused of being a glutton and a wino – a drunkard. Of course the charge was completely false – there was no sin in Him of any kind – this was slander. But the fact remains that in many ways, he took upon him common human flesh.
Lastly, and perhaps the most important for us – Christ was and is a friend of sinners.
“The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” The enemies of the Lord probably meant every part of this statement – in a negative sort of way. They sneered when they said that He was a friend of sinners. If they meant that to be a friend of sinners was to join those sinners in their sins, it would have been a terrible thing all the way around. Christ was not a co-conspirator with sinners; he was not an accomplice with anyone in crime.
Here is how He really is the great friend of sinners – Romans 3:10 – “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 5:17 – “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Romans 5:6 – “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The most important friend that you could ever have as a sinner is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If He is indeed your friend, then it means that He has provided the greatest possible gift that you could ever receive. It was He who gave His life as God’s sacrifice for your sin. He, it was, who made an atonement for your soul, and who purchased your soul out of eternal judgment. It was Christ, the sinner’s friend, who can reconcile you to God – but it was through His shed blood. There is no other friend that we need as far as our souls are concerned.
You came into this world a sinner – an enemy of God. You have been in need of a friend, who can bring your name before the Lord. Here is that friend, Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord Jesus Christ, the infinite Son of God. Have you ever bowed in submission to Him? Have you ever repented before God? Your only hope, in the light of your sinfulness, is the grace of God in the Person of this Friend. Repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring you with joy and peace before the throne of God. Please, please, cast your soul upon this Friend of sinners.