INTRODUCTION:

1. In Matthew 4:12, we are told that John the Baptist was cast into prison, but no details are given. It simply says, "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee."
2. More details are given in Matthew 14:1-13.
3. Luke refers to this briefly in Luke 9:7-9.
4. Here in Luke 7, John the Baptist was still alive but was being kept in prison by Herod. Herod had John arrested and imprisoned because John reproved him for his adultery.
5. While in prison, John sent two of his disciples to our Lord (Luke 7:19, 20).
6. Much has been said about John's doubts, but before we consider that, let us remember that our Lord paid a marvelous tribute to John (Luke 7:24-28).
7. As far as we know, only John the Baptist received this kind of tribute from the Lord (7:28).

1. JOHN'S MESSAGE TO OUR LORD
2. OUR LORD'S MESSAGE TO JOHN
3. OUR LORD'S TRIBUTE TO JOHN

 

I. JOHN'S MESSAGE TO OUR LORD

1. John the Baptist was perplexed and so he sent two of his disciples to Jesus, saying, "Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?" (7:18-20).
2. John was a preacher accustomed to preaching in the great outdoors (Luke 3:2-18).
3. John was not used to being cooped up, but here he was locked up in a dreary dungeon prison. Perhaps John was discouraged.
4. Furthermore, John the Baptist said the Messiah "will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable" (Luke 3:17).
5. Perhaps John was perplexed that this wasn't happening. It will happen at the second coming of Christ.
6. In any event, John knew that he might never get out of that prison alive. That would mean his disciples would be left without a leader.
7. Perhaps John wanted his disciples to go follow the Messiah, but thought he should just send two of them ahead first.
8. It was John the Baptist who said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).
9. We have looked at John the Baptist's message to our Lord (7:19, 20). Now let's look at our Lord's message to John the Baptist (7:22, 23).

 

II. OUR LORD'S MESSAGE TO JOHN

1. The Old Testament prophets taught that certain things would happen when the Messiah came -- "how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached" (Luke 7:22).
2. For example, the prophet Isaiah said, "And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness" (Isa. 29:18).
3. And, "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..." (Isa. 35:5, 6).
4. And, "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" (Isaiah 61:1).
5. These were the signs and proof that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Luke 7:21 says, "And in that same hour (while John's messengers were with Him) He cured many of their infirmities..." They saw for themselves these signs and evidences that Jesus was the Messiah.
6. Therefore, Jesus answered them, "Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard..." (7:22).
7. Matthew Henry said, "These cures, which they saw him work, were not only confirmations of his commission, but explications of it."
8. "Explications," meaning, "the process of making something clearer."
9. Someone has said, "Christ will not explain Himself, but instead He will reveal Himself" (W.H. Griffith Thomas, Outline Studies in Luke).
10. "And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me" (7:23), literally means, "And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be scandalized by me."
11. Matthew Henry says, "We are here in a state of trial and probation and it is agreeable to such a state that, as there are sufficient arguments to confirm the truth to those that are honest and impartial in searching after it, and have their minds prepared to receive it."
12. In other words, "Blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me," and, Cursed is he who will be ashamed to take a stand for Christ.
13. Our Lord said, "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad" (Matthew 12:30; Luke 11:23).

 

III. OUR LORD'S TRIBUTE TO JOHN

1. When the messengers of John were departed, our Lord began to speak to the people concerning John (7:24). John the Baptist had repeatedly borne witness of Christ, and now that John was in prison, our Lord gave a wonderful tribute to John (7:24-28).
2. Our Lord commended John's character and his ministry by asking and answering the same question three times.

• "What went ye out into the wilderness for to see?" (7:24).
• "But what went ye out for to see?" (7:25).
• "But what went ye out for to see?" (7:26).

3. "A reed shaken with the wind?" (7:24b). No. John the Baptist wasn't shaky and unstable, like a reed blowing in the wind. Ahijah the prophet said to the wife of King Jeroboam, "For the LORD shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water" (I Kings 14:15).
4. But John the Baptist wasn't like a weak and shaky reed. He was like a strong cedar tree!
5. "But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment?" (7:25). "Soft raiment" suggests a soft, self-indulgent preacher. We have many of these sissy preachers around today, and they are a blight on America.
6. Mark 1:6 says, "And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey."
7. "Behold, they which are gorgeously appareled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts" (7:25). But John did not live in luxury. He lived out in the desert. And now he was locked up in prison.
8. "But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee" (7:26, 27).
9. John the Baptist was God's messenger -- a great prophet, "and much more than a prophet" (7:26). John the Baptist was the last Old Testament prophet, and the first New Testament prophet.
10. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and all the rest of the Old Testament prophets, looked forward to the coming of Messiah, but it was given to John the Baptist alone the great privilege of actually presenting the Messiah to Israel and proclaim, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
11. John the Baptist "was filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb" (Luke 1:15). John the Baptist was a remarkable man.
12. John the Baptist had the honor of baptizing the Lord Jesus Christ. At first John objected, and said, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" (Luke 3:14).
13. But our Lord said to John, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" (Luke 3:15).
14. Over the years there have been many great Baptist preachers, but John was the first Baptist preacher.
15. On the wall of the First Baptist Church in New York City there is a large painting of their first pastor John Gano baptizing George Washington in the river. At the time John Gano was the chaplain of the Continental Army, and George Washington was the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.
16. It was a great privilege for John Gano to baptize George Washington in the river, but nothing compared to the privilege of John the Baptist baptizing the Lord Jesus Christ in the Jordan River.
17. As the forerunner of the Messiah, John the Baptist fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (Luke 7:27). Malachi 3:1 says, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me."
18. Isaiah 40:3 says, "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (cf. Luke 3:4).
19. John the Baptist prepared the way for the LORD (Jehovah God). This is another verse affirming the deity of Christ.
20. The first half of Luke 7:28 is easy to understand, but the latter part has puzzled many people. The idea is that John the Baptist ushered in the beginning of the Messianic kingdom but did not live long enough to see it established.
21. Our Lord said in Matthew 11:13, "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John." This means John came along after the law and the prophets (that is, the Old Testament era).
22. Our Lord said in Luke 16:16, "The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it."
23. In Acts 10:37, Peter says the Gospel was preached "after the baptism which John preached."
24. Spurgeon said, "The new dispensation was on a higher plane...So John, though first of his own order, is behind the last of the new or gospel order. The least in the gospel stands on higher ground than the greatest under the law" (A Popular Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew).
25. In other words, "greater" in Luke 7:28 should be understood as "greater in privilege."

 

CONCLUSION:

1. John's preaching had a twofold effect. On the one hand, "all the people that heard him, and the publicans (tax collectors), justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John" (7:29).
2. They "justified God" means they publicly acknowledged that God was righteous and just. By submitting to John's baptism they bore witness that they were trusting God and obeying God.
3. On the other hand, "the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him" (7:30).
4. H.A. Ironside said, "These proud, haughty legalists refused to take the place of lost, needy sinners, and so, would not stoop to a baptism which spoke of the necessity of repentance" (Luke).
5. They "rejected the counsel of God against themselves" (7:30). They rejected the will of God, or the purpose of God, for themselves.
6. The Bible says it is not God's will "that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9). So when sinners reject the Gospel they are rejecting God's will for their lives.
7. A.T. Robertson said, "They annulled God's purposes of grace so far as they applied to them" (Word Pictures in the New Testament).