Pastor Mike Bickle launches "The Sermon" series on Matthew, defending John the Baptist's gritty resolve against Herod while arguing that rejecting greater revelation incurs harsher judgment than lesser sins. He redefines masculinity as unbending spiritual grit and interprets "the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence" as a mandate for believers to wage holy violence through zealous diligence rather than apathy. Ultimately, this framework challenges modern egalitarianism by asserting a hierarchy of misery in hell and demanding active, Spirit-empowered struggle to work out salvation. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, WAV2VEC2_ASR_BASE_960H, sat-12l-sm, script v26.04.01, and large-v3-turbo
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Assurance for John the Baptist00:09:03
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This morning, we continue our series through the gospel according to Matthew, our text for today.
Is Matthew chapter 11, verses 7 through 15.
Again, that's Matthew chapter 11, verse 7 through 15.
I'll read us our text in its entirety.
When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say, This is the word of the Lord.
At which point, I would appreciate very much if you'd respond by saying, Thanks be to God.
One final time, our text for today is the gospel according to Matthew chapter 11, verses 7 through 15.
The Bible says this As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John.
What did you go out into the wilderness to see?
A reed shaken by the wind?
What then did you go out to see?
A man dressed in soft clothing?
Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
What then did you go out to see?
A prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.
Truly, I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.
Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
This is the word of the Lord.
All right, please be seated.
Let's go ahead and dive in.
By way of introduction, I've written the following.
Christ, the great teacher of the church, takes this occasion to correct the people's misjudgment.
He's speaking now to the people at large, correcting their misjudgment and misunderstanding.
In their fickle hearts, they were ready to cast doubt on John's prophetic office simply because he, like all men, had expressed a moment of weakness.
But Christ, in his kindness and truth, reaffirms John's dignity.
Showing us that God's servants may waver in affliction, yet remain steadfast in calling.
If you were with us last Lord's Day, we dealt with a text where John the Baptist sends his disciples to go and question Jesus.
At that moment, John the Baptist is captured, he is imprisoned by King Herod, and he's awaiting what he probably knows is going to be his certain death.
And we know that that is, in fact, what takes place, that he's beheaded.
And as he's waiting for his execution, he sends his own disciples to go and to speak with Jesus and to question Jesus to confirm whether or not Jesus is in fact the Christ.
In other words, what John the Baptist is doing in that moment is he is at some level pleading with the Lord Jesus for assurance, for affirmation.
He wants to know that his own ministry as a precursor to the Christ, to the Messiah, has not been in vain.
He wants to know that Jesus, in fact, is the promised Messiah.
And Jesus answers the question.
He doesn't rebuke John, but he actually answers John's questions.
John is doubting in that moment, not disbelief, but doubt.
He's wrestling with his faith, his ability by the Spirit to trust in Jesus.
And so Jesus provides for him assurance, confirmation, affirmation, which is a gracious thing for Jesus to do.
John, in his humanity, infinitude, and at some level, even perhaps his fallenness, Is doubting because of his current tribulation.
His life is now on the line.
He realizes that he is probably at the very end of his race, and he wants to know that he has not run that race in vain.
And so, because John questions Jesus through his disciples, it's fitting that Jesus is now addressing this with his own hearers, many of them who were also disciples or followers, hearers of John the Baptist.
He's saying, You've come to me to hear my teaching.
And many of you are the same individuals who would go out into the wilderness to hear the teaching and preaching of John.
And he's kind of restoring, in a sense, John's dignity.
He's not apologizing for John, he's not sweeping any weakness of John under the rug.
But he's saying that despite any weakness on John's part, his weakness does not invalidate the office of his ministry that the Lord appointed to him.
He was a forerunner.
He was a prophet.
And I tell you, even more than a prophet, he was a voice crying out in the wilderness Make way, make straight paths unto the Lord.
He was a prophet.
He was a man.
We'll get to that here in a moment.
Not just male, but masculine.
And he was steadfast, not a reed that bends and breaks.
But he was steadfast.
He was consistent.
He was unbending, uncompromising.
So, even in a moment of weakness and needing to reach out and to cry out to the Lord for assurance and confirmation that He had not, in fact, run His race in vain, even in that weakness, He did not break.
Even in that weakness, He did not ultimately fail or compromise or sell out.
He was not a reed bending back and forth, He was not a politician or a prince in kings' houses.
Wearing soft clothing, malachoy, soft, but he really was indeed a masculine, unbending prophet who was appointed by God with a legitimate, valid office as a precursor in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way for me.
So Jesus restores his dignity, and even with his own hearers, it's all about Jesus.
This is the same John the Baptist.
Who previously said, He must increase.
Speaking of Christ, I must decrease.
So it's all about Jesus, and now here is Jesus who knows that it's all about Him, and that the whole focal point of John the Baptist's ministry is that He would slowly decrescendo, and that Christ would crescendo and rise.
My mom would be very proud of me to use those musical terms.
She's not here this morning, but she'll listen to this and she'll probably cry.
It was all worth it.
John the Baptist didn't run his race in vain, and I didn't run my race in vain.
All the piano lessons that I forced upon my son paid off.
But this is Jesus who knows.
He knows that John's purpose was to prepare the way for Christ and that he was to fade out as Jesus is rising up.
And yet Jesus still gives to John dignity.
And part of it is his compassion and love for John.
But part of it also is because his own, not in the objective sense, but in the subjective sense, his hearers and their perception of Christ.
And the subject of sense, Jesus' ministry and his calling, his anointing as the Messiah, it is resting on John saying that it was so.
And so Jesus is validating John and saying, This moment of John questioning me is not a sign that he didn't finish the race well.
He may have doubted, but he did not disbelieve.
He may have questioned, but he ultimately did not bend or break.
And he may have struggled at the end of his life, but he was still a hard man.
He had grit.
Finding Soft Men in Politics00:02:43
Grit's a good word.
That's a word that I like to see come back around.
He was masculine.
He was not soft.
He was not a soft man.
And so this is what's going on.
This is the context of our text today.
The first point that I want to draw out of the text is this ministers should be masculine.
I think it's important that we see ministers should be masculine.
In at least two regards, as we've already seen from the text, that ministers of the gospel should not be as a reed bending, but they also should not be as a prince in kings' houses soft.
Now, I don't think it's a coincidence.
Obviously, you can have malachoy, soft, effeminate men in virtually every realm, in every vocation.
There's not like there's one vocation or one category.
That has a monopoly on effeminate men.
But I do find it significant.
I don't think it's a mere coincidence that Jesus, as he says, What did you go out into the wilderness to see?
A soft man wearing soft clothing?
And then he could have said, No, you'll find those people in the markets.
You know, he could have said that, right?
Those are businessmen.
That's where you'll find them.
Or he could have said, No, you'll find.
You want a soft man in soft clothing, you'll find him over here, you'll find him over there.
He could have named, you know, listed any vocation, any realm, any category, but he lists the political.
You want to find a soft man wearing soft clothing, then look to politicians.
That's where you'll find them.
Where do you find them?
In D.C., in king's houses.
You find them at the courthouse, you find them at the palace.
You find them in Congress.
That's where you find them.
You don't find them in the wilderness wearing camel skin and eating bugs.
Right?
That's not where you find soft men.
That's where you find hard men.
You want to find a masculine man?
Then go off the beaten path.
Do you want to find an effeminate man?
Then look to the chief seats.
Look to the places of honor.
Because soft men will always be.
Find themselves clamoring and clawing and clinging to places of honor.
So Jesus mentions both of these aspects.
He says, John the Baptist is not a reed.
Positional Privilege of Believers00:11:12
And in that sense, he is masculine.
He's not a reed, he's not bending.
And he's also not soft, wearing soft clothing, but rather he's in the wilderness.
He has grit.
Okay, I've written this.
A reed easily moved by the wind symbolizes a man lacking firmness or conviction.
But John was no such man.
True ministers of the word must not be carried about by the changing winds of public opinion, but rather must stand firm.
Likewise, John's rugged austerity directly contrasts with the soft attire of those who dwell in kings' houses.
His camel's hair garments and wilderness dwelling were outward signs of inward grit.
True ministers of the word must be masculine, not merely male.
I'll come back to that in a moment.
They are called to labor diligently, often in hardship.
So it's not just for the sake of appearance, there's a purpose for this criteria.
Why is it that ministers of the word should be male, and that we should assume that included in that criteria of maleness, that that necessarily also speaks to a masculine maleness?
Not just in a biological, strictly biologically, I guess technically, the guy is a guy.
It's not just that he's male, he must be masculine.
And this is not capricious, it's not arbitrary.
This criteria that the Lord gives.
The reason for it, the purpose for it, is because ministers at times will be under fire.
And so they have to be able to have resolve.
They have to be able to withstand hardship and opposition for the glory of God and the good of the church.
So that's the first thing that we see as Jesus is speaking to the crowd.
He's reaffirming the dignity of John.
One, in compassion for John himself, I believe.
But secondly, insofar as not just John the man who struggled, at least at some degree, in his final moments of life, but not just reaffirming John's dignity for his own personhood in compassion, but also reaffirming John's ministry, not just his person, but his office and what that means, its significance for Christ, who comes as the one who is after John.
Who John was preparing the way for.
So, this is what Jesus is doing.
He's reaffirming John the man, and he's also confirming John the prophet, his office, in order to further validate himself that he is indeed the Messiah and the Christ.
And in doing so, he uses at least two criteria to say no, John was authentic, John was legitimate, John was a man, he was a prophet, he was not a reed.
Uncompromising.
And he was not a politician, he was not soft.
He was not merely male, but masculine, and he was not compromising, but resolute.
The second point, as I see it in the text today, that I hope by God's grace to draw out for you, is this the greatness of John and the privilege for us.
Jesus, he affirms that there was indeed a unique greatness that John possessed.
But he doesn't just leave it with John, but then he further fleshes out that John's greatness was significant, it was high, it was lofty, it was respectable, and yet it pales in comparison to the least in the kingdom of heaven.
So John, in fact, really did possess a greatness, and yet John's greatness means for us not an insubordinate, lesser.
Lesser gift that we receive, but if anything, an even greater privilege that we have today.
The text says this Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
In your notes, I've written this Christ declares that no man born of women, namely those who are born according to natural birth, physical birth, That none were greater than John.
His greatness is not, what's not in reference here, his greatness is not moral perfection.
Because we see the weakness of John in the prior, immediate prior text, where he's questioning the legitimacy, validity of Christ.
So this greatness of John is not in reference to his own moral perfection, but his ministrial privilege.
He's great because he stood closer to Christ than any prophet who came before him.
John's greatness is measured by the clarity of revelation granted to him and his role in introducing the Messiah to the world.
Yet Christ declares that even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.
This does not mean that the believer, for us today, exceeds John in personal piety, meaning.
Holiness, but rather in positional privilege.
It is not that believers today exceed John in personal piety, but rather in positional privilege.
The smallest believer today enjoys a clearer view of God's grace than even John ever did.
In other words, the principle that we can find is this greater grace means greater responsibility.
With great grace comes great.
Responsibility.
The greater of God's revelation, which is, and you have to understand this, God's revelation to man is always grace.
He is not obligated to reveal anything to us.
The fact that God has spoken to his people is grace.
The fact that God came, God himself, the Son of God, in the incarnation and took on flesh and tabernacled among us, dwelt among us.
And revealed himself to us is grace.
And the greater God's revelation, and all God's revelation is a gracious revelation, the greater God's revelation to us, the greater moral responsibility we have to live in light of that revelation.
The person who has received nothing, no word from God, no revelation from God, it will be required of him in terms of his moral obligation, his.
His life's response, there will be a lower bar for him.
Now, you have to be careful with this theologically.
Some have gone so far as to say, well, those who have never heard the preaching of Christ at all, who have never received a single page from the scripture, or some tribe in the deep, dark jungles of the Amazon where no missionary has ever gone, no verse of the Bible has ever reached, that of them there would be zero requirement.
But that's not true.
We know that's not true from the scripture.
We know from Romans 1 and Romans 2 for that matter.
That all men have at least some revelation from God through nature itself.
That God has revealed himself to all people by what he has made.
The creation itself testifies to a creator.
Therefore, you, O man, even the man on a lonely island who's never heard the gospel, all men are without an excuse.
But the fact that all men have received some revelation from God.
Merely by their own life and the breath in their lungs and eyes and ears to see the stars and the sun.
The fact that all men have received some revelation of God and therefore all men are rendered excuseless does not mean that there's not a sliding scale.
So nobody is innocent, nobody gets a pass, nobody can stand before God's throne on that final day and say, I didn't know.
But it is true that some know less.
All know in part.
And the knowing that all have received, the revelation that all have received, makes all at least responsible enough to where God is justified as the judge to send those who do not have faith in his son Jesus to an eternity in hell without God doing any wrong on his part.
So everyone has received enough gracious revelation from God to therefore be excuseless and held.
Accountable, but that does not mean that everyone has received the same degree of revelation.
It is undeniably true that some have received more grace, all have received some grace and enough grace, sufficient grace for what judgment apart from faith in Jesus Christ.
But that does not mean that all have received equal grace, and that's what Jesus is saying here, where he says, John the Baptist is the greatest born of women.
He's saying, up until this point, there is none born of women, no one of physical human birth who has been in a greater position.
Not just meaning he was the greatest person, not personally, but positionally, none have been in a greater position of revelation to see with clarity who I am, what I've done.
And what I've said, John had up to that point the greatest degree, the highest degree of gracious revelation from God.
Greater Responsibility to God00:04:07
And therefore, Jesus says, without mincing words, complete integrity, he's not being tongue in cheek.
It is true when Jesus says, John the Baptist is the greatest man born of women.
And then it's also true when he says, and yet the least in the kingdom of heaven.
Is greater than He.
Another biblical reference to help validate this principle is when Jesus pronounces judgments on certain Jewish towns in Israel.
Woe to you, Tyre and Sidon.
And then he compares.
He says, For if the works, the miracles that he performed in these places, if they had been performed in Sodom or Gomorrah, He says they would have repented.
And so, what is Jesus essentially saying?
Sodom and Gomorrah are off the hook.
No.
No, the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah were temporally judged by fire and brimstone.
God destroyed those cities and eternally judged.
Not just temporally, but eternally.
They died apart from faith in Christ, as far as we know, as far as what the scripture teaches.
So, therefore, the cities were temporally burned.
And the residents are also eternally in hell.
That's not something that we're happy about, but we certainly have to acknowledge that if we believe that the scripture is true in the Word of God.
So Jesus is not exonerating Sodom and Gomorrah.
He's not saying, hey, Tyre and Sidon, because you're this bad, that means that they're not bad at all and that they're off the hook.
No, he's saying they were judged.
They were judged by God justly.
They did not pass through the judgment.
They were temporally destroyed and eternally, those residents are also being destroyed.
And yet, the judgment for you, these towns in Israel, will be even greater.
Why?
On what basis?
What's the determining factor?
Because, according to Jesus, these Jewish towns had received more grace.
More grace by what means?
In what form?
Revelation.
They had seen more.
You saw me work mighty miracles.
You guys are witnesses of the resurrection of Lazarus.
Dead guys came back to life.
Lepers were healed.
The lame walked before your very eyes.
The blind see, the deaf hear.
You saw me multiply food for 5,000 just the men.
Incredible divine revelation.
God has graciously revealed much of himself to you.
And so, therefore, what you're rejecting is more.
And therefore, your rejection is worse.
You are more morally responsible for your rejection of God's grace through the means of revelation than others who also rejected God's revelation.
Which is also gracious, but a smaller degree.
Sodom still had revelation.
Well, what revelation did Sodom have?
Well, two, they had natural revelation and special revelation.
How?
Well, natural or general revelation, they had beating hearts, they were alive, they saw the stars, they saw the sun, and it's a Romans 1 situation.
God has made himself plainly manifest by what he has made.
Special revelation now, they have Lot.
Revelation Beyond Old Testament Saints00:04:15
Now, I'll be the first to say, Lot is no Jesus.
He's not performing signs and wonders.
He's not going around raising the dead.
And he's also a little bit of a deadbeat, morally speaking.
And yet, the scripture says, righteous Lot.
Was his soul not tormented within him as he lived among the heathen year after year?
Righteous Lot.
And this is the same Lot who carried his own family line in some very distasteful ways.
And I'll just, for the adults, you can.
You can look that up in the Bible later if you're unfamiliar with what I'm saying, but we are family integrated and have kids in the church, and so I want to be careful.
But Lot did some not great things, okay?
Not great things.
And yet, the New Testament refers to him as righteous, which is crazy.
And whatever righteousness Lot possessed, certainly I think, positional righteousness, forensic righteousness, I believe that Lot is a Christian.
I believe that Lot is in heaven.
So he had the positional righteousness, the perfect righteousness, not of his own, but of Christ, which is received through faith.
Regardless of what time in history you live, Old Testament saints are saved the same way New Testament saints are.
God has only saved people one way through faith in Christ.
Old Testament saints are looking forward to Christ through prophecy, through types, through shadows.
And we are looking back toward Christ.
Which is the whole point that I'm making, that I believe Jesus is making in the text.
That's why we are so privileged.
Because in looking back to Christ, we're able to look to Christ with more clarity, more revelation.
And therefore, it is more gracious on God's part to reveal to us so much more of Himself.
We see this in Hebrews chapter 1.
Long ago, God spoke.
To our fathers through the prophets and the law, many ways, many times.
But in these last days, he has spoken to us through his son.
Who is what?
What is Jesus in that context of Hebrews 1?
He's the exact imprint, right?
No more types and shadows.
No, he is the substance, he's the exact imprint of the Father's nature.
Just a chip off the old block.
Nope, he is the block.
He's the exact imprint of the Father's nature and the full radiance of the glory of God.
So, for those who are looking back to Christ, whether you were privileged to see him in person 2,000 years ago at the time of his earthly ministry, or whether you are a New Testament saint, such as you and I, who still get to see Jesus with far more clarity than Old Testament saints.
Not because we get to shake his hand or watch him on earth raise the dead, but because we get to read of Jesus all his teachings and works.
Not all, if all his works were written down, then all the world would not be able to contain the books.
That's what the Gospel of John says.
But we get to read much of his works, his miracles, and his teachings, his sermons that Old Testament saints before Christ came did not have access to because it hadn't happened yet.
And yet we do.
We have greater revelation.
We have greater clarity.
We have greater grace.
So, whether it's Tyre and Sidon, it's not that Tyre and Sidon, this is important to get.
It's not that these Jewish towns had committed more heinous acts.
Varying Degrees of Eternal Reward00:04:40
There's at least two, I think, two categories, okay?
Two categories of degrees of sin.
Have you heard, right?
We'll do some Bible myth busters for a moment.
All sin is equal, right?
Wrong.
No, it's not.
All sin is equal insofar as all unrepentant sin, apart from faith in Christ, is equal in its ability to separate you from God for all eternity.
So, in that sense, yes, all sin, be it serial killer or white lie, all sin is equal in that sense, yes.
But not all sin is equal in its temporal consequences.
We don't teach our children, hey, you know what?
If you do this, some small infraction, you get a timeout.
And then if you do this other thing, that's also a timeout.
No, we teach our children from a young age there are certain behaviors that have more severe consequences than others.
I don't want my kids to grow up and become adults and think, you know what?
If I get a little cute on my taxes, that's bad.
And also if I murder my neighbor, that's kind of bad too.
And, you know, tomato, tomato.
No, It's not tomato, tomato.
All right, one of these things is not like the other, these things are different, and so there is a category of greater degrees of sin in terms of the infraction, the transgression itself.
But there's also, and I think this is what many pass over, there's also what's clearly expressed in the scripture by Christ Himself is another category of determining whether someone gets a light beating or a severe beating.
And those are the words of Jesus, like Joel's talking about beating people.
I'm not exegeting right now, I'm just quoting.
Quoting Jesus, your problem once again is with Jesus.
He says, To one will be given a light beating, to another, a severe beating.
Based off of what?
Well, in that context, what Jesus is talking about is, again, not the degree of transgression or the degree of infraction, but in that category, he's talking about transgression in the midst of varying degrees of revelation, varying degrees of grace.
That's why Jesus is saying, Woe to you, Tyre and Sidon.
Why?
Because you've done worse things?
Maybe, but that's not explicitly referenced in that context.
That may be the case.
But what Jesus says for sure is, Woe to you because you have hardened your hearts, rejected me, gone on in your rebellion and sin in the midst of great revelation.
And Sodom and Gomorrah, also guilty, also judged temporally and eternally.
But their rebellion was in the midst of some revelation, enough to condemn them, to make them morally culpable, but a lesser degree of revelation, and therefore their punishment will be lesser.
A punishment nonetheless, eternal nonetheless.
I'm not teaching annihilationism.
John Stott's hardest hit.
God bless him.
He had a lot of good stuff, but not that.
So I'm not saying that, you know, the people in Sodom and Gomorrah will go to hell for, you know, Temporarily, you know, they'll be there for 10,000 years and then other people will be there for 20,000 years.
No, it is eternal.
It's what the Bible teaches.
And I don't know exactly what that looks like, but according to the words of Jesus, there are some people that will be in hell forever and it will be miserable.
And there are others who will also be in hell forever and it will be more miserable.
I think the scripture teaches this, right?
Which is just another, it's funny.
It's just another example that just rubs our liberalism a little raw, right?
I'm a modern Christian.
20th century liberalism, in the heart of liberalism in many ways, is egalitarianism.
But according to scripture, egalitarianism doesn't even exist in hell.
Even in hell, there's a hierarchy.
Even hell has a hierarchy.
Different degrees of judgment and punishment.
Hell is not equal, heaven is not equal.
There are varying degrees of eternal reward.
Everyone will be eternally happy.
Peace, joy, wiping away every tear, no more sorrow.
Hierarchy Even in Hell00:06:32
We know that.
But there are scriptures that speak to varying rewards, heavenly rewards for our lives here on earth.
The reward of salvation itself is a reward not for our work, but for Christ's work on our behalf, which we receive by grace alone, through faith alone, in Him alone.
But we know that heaven will have degrees of honor, hell has degrees of honor.
Of misery.
And earth has degrees of vocation and role and influence and authority.
Hierarchy is inescapable.
It's God's world.
It's not ours.
It's His world.
He designed it, He made it, and He determines the rules.
And God is not egalitarian.
So, the greater the grace, the greater the responsibility.
What does that mean for us?
Well, what it means is this.
On this side of Christ, with all the resources that in God's gracious providence have been made available to us today, all men are without an excuse, but we especially are without an excuse.
You have the Bible, brothers and sisters.
You have the infallible words of God inscripturated, both inspired by the Spirit and preserved by the Spirit.
And on top of the Bible, if it could possibly get any better, We are sitting on the precipice of a millennia of Christendom in the West and what God has done.
We have volumes of commentaries and systematic theologies.
If you're too lazy to even read them, you can now listen to them.
You can be washing dishes and listening to John Owen.
And you don't even have to go out and buy a book, you can find most of it for free.
We have received so much revelation.
And I want you, when you hear revelation, I want you from now on to think revelation, grace.
Revelation, grace.
We have received so much revelation.
God has revealed so much truth to us, which is a gracious thing of Him to do.
So you have received so much grace.
Rebellion toward God is always wrong.
And we are always responsible for that moral failure.
But rebellion toward God on the backdrop of greater degrees of grace is even more of a moral failure.
And I think that that's one of the main points from the text today.
John the Baptist really was great.
And at that time, up to that point in redemptive history, he was truly the greatest.
And yet, for you and I, right, on one hand, it's.
It's encouragement.
It's hopeful.
It's a great honor.
On the other hand, though, we should hear it with fear and trembling.
It's like, John the Baptist is the greatest.
Well, I don't like that.
That sounds like hierarchy again.
And I believe that the Bible is liberalism.
It's not.
It's not.
But I understand.
I, too, live in 2025.
I feel it.
I've been indoctrinated just like you.
I've been trained to bristle, you know, every time I hear something that, you know, comes from.
I don't know, something before the 1960s, the way that everyone used to think, not just Christians, but everyone.
So I get it.
I have the natural aversion that you do.
But then, with that, as a modern Christian, modern Western Christian, John the Baptist is the greatest.
No!
But then you can kind of almost have like a sigh of relief that at least it's followed up with, but even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than, oh, whew.
And at that precise point, that's where I want to respond and just with a pastoral warning and say, don't be relieved by that.
When the statement of John the Baptist is the greatest, but even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than him, don't hear that with a sigh of relief.
Hear that with a, oh no.
What then does God require of me?
What then is God's righteous and just expectation from me?
How then will I be expected to live my life if John was not a reed and didn't bend or break?
How much more resolute and steadfast and firm should I be?
If John was not a politician in soft clothing in D.C., King's houses, how much more grit must I have?
I think that's what Jesus is giving us.
He's doing more than one thing at the same time.
Yes, he is reaffirming John and restoring his dignity.
And yes, he is doing that both in compassion for John's person, but also to validate himself as the Messiah and the Christ because of John's office as a precursor.
And I think he's also then raising the bar for everyone else, for you and I, even 2,000 years later, to say, yeah, John was great, but his greatness was not ultimately.
Stemming from his personal piety, but his positional privilege and your positional privilege, if anything, is even greater than his.
You have even more revelation.
To you has been given even more grace.
And with great grace comes great responsibility.
Final point waging holy violence.
Waging holy violence.
The text says, From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence.
Waging Holy Violence00:07:27
And the violent take it by force.
I've written in your notes the following Christ declares that from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom has suffered violence.
The violent shall take it by force.
This does not mean that men can somehow, in their own strength, wrestle the kingdom from God's hands, but rather that true conversion always involves earnestness, spiritual struggle, and holy zeal.
Salvation is not gained by sloth, but by the Spirit's quickening power.
It is the Spirit, notice this by the Spirit's quickening power which leads to urgent and effectual seeking of God.
Romans 3.
A description of unregenerate man, the Bible's anthropology, if you will.
One of the characteristics, no one seeks for God.
And yet, Matthew chapter 6, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, Seek and you will find.
Knock and the door will be opened.
Ask and you will receive.
Well, we've just found another biblical contradiction.
The schizophrenic God who can't make up his mind.
No.
Now, wherever there seems to be a contradiction in the Word of God, I assure you the contradiction lies ultimately in you, not God.
When Jesus tells us that we should seek Him, it's because for the Christians, seeking God really is possible.
Because we've been given eyes to see and ears to hear, new hearts that are inclined towards the things of God.
We've been given new hearts, a new nature.
If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.
And with this new nature, there is to us afforded new desires.
And with new desires, therefore, it is made available to us a new spectrum of choices.
One of those choices being seeking after God, knocking at the door of heaven, asking and petitioning the Lord of hosts that he might reveal himself to us and be kind to us.
So the Christian must seek God and can, by the Spirit's quickening power, seek God.
The Christian must not be slothful.
The Christian must not be apathetic.
The Christian must be violent in terms of spiritual violence.
He must wage holy violence.
The Christian should daily be seeking the kingdom of heaven with, on the one hand, an assumption that Christ is holding fast to him and with assurance of his salvation.
And on the other, With an assumption that we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and that no one waltzes into heaven.
And that if we are vigilant and violent, to use the word of the text, not my own, if we are spiritually violent, righteously violent, in the context of what Jesus is saying, we should know.
That is required to enter the kingdom of heaven, and also if we meet that requirement, we should know it is the Spirit's work within us that caused us to meet such a requirement.
Well, how do we know this?
I think perhaps one of the best texts in scripture that describes this miracle is Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 through 13, which says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now.
Not only in my presence, this is the Apostle Paul speaking, but now that I'm gone, even much more in my absence, work.
Rest, work, relax, work.
No, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
The kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent will take it by force.
Wage holy violence, work spiritually, work out your own salvation with holy fear, holy trembling, holy violence.
That's on the one hand.
And both of these things, believe it or not, while seeming to be a contradiction, are actually simultaneously true.
Here's the other side of the coin.
For, assuming that you do, it is ultimately God who works in you, both to will and to work.
Both your desire, your will, your choice, and your action, your life, and your work.
It is God through you, in you, doing this, who is working in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
So, who will enter the kingdom of heaven?
The violent.
That is, the vigilant.
The diligent.
The disciplined.
And who are such people?
Well, those who the Spirit is producing that within.
So, there really is a criteria.
And yet, at the same time, if this criteria be met, it really is God who gets all the glory.
Because it really is His work.
In and through us that brings this about.
So I think those are the three big ideas from the text today.
Ministers should be masculine, not soft, and not bending.
Not a reed, not a politician, not a prince.
Also, the greatness of John only speaks to an even greater privilege for us.
With great grace comes greater responsibility.
And lastly, the need to wage holy violence.
To be vigilant about the things of God, to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and to do so not with sloth but with diligence, and yet at the same time to maintain a position of humility, knowing that if we do so well, it is the Spirit's work in us and not our own.
So, in conclusion, in this passage, Christ honors His forerunner John the Baptist, corrects the people's misconceptions, and reveals the inbreaking of God's kingdom.
John stood as a faithful witness, unshaken by popular opinion or the comforts of the world.
Yet, even his greatness pales in comparison to the glory now revealed in Christ.
The kingdom has, in fact, come.
Therefore, let us, on this side of the cross especially, strive by the Spirit's strength to press into this kingdom with holy violence.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you for your word.
Bless it to your people that you might bring about for yourself greater glory.