Look past the Bars
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Today's message is a proper heart to heart.
Its from my heart as your pastor to you and I fully believe that its from God, our Heavenly Fathers heart to all of us His children.
John the Baptist.
John the Baptist.
John is without a doubt one of the most extraordinary characters in the Bible.
He is the official last of the Old Testament type Prophets.
He was MORE than a Prophet for he was God’s chosen messenger sent to prepare the way for the Messiah.
Speaking about John this is what Jesus had to say:
24 When the messengers of John had departed, He began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts.
26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.
27 This is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’
28 For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
So lets make sure who our subject is:
John is NOT a weak man.
John was bold, even in the face of kings, John never wavered in his convictions.
John is also the ONLY human being to have been filled with the Holy Spirit since before he was even born!
15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
17 He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Bottom Line: John is no small man of faith.
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Let me introduce you to John the Baptist the first time we see him in scripture:
Mary has just been told that she has conceived a child by the Holy Spirit: Emmanuel - God with us.
She then goes to see Elizabeth who also happens to be pregnant with John, though a little further on in the pregnancy:
39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah,
40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
John is so filled with the Holy Spirit that when through his still developing ears and through the muffled sounds coming through Elisabeth's tummy-
John does not even hear Jesus, he just hears the muffled voice of Mary-
And immediately John knows he is in the presence of the Messiah and in his mothers womb John leaps for joy!
What an amazing event!
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We can look further and we see that one day as John was preaching he looked up and saw Jesus at a distance and proclaimed:
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
John’s “awareness” of God’s Presence that is Jesus Christ is unmatched!
What a man of Faith!
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Let us fast forward in the book of Luke to chapter 7 and catch up with John:
John has been put in prison:
17 And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.
18 Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things.
19 And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
20 When the men had come to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’ ”
John goes from a time where he is so aware of God’s Presence that he feels it in his very spirit to a place where he doubts whether Jesus even is the Messiah.
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What happened and how does Jesus respond?
John is not in a sinful state of unbelief.
He does not deny Jesus.
He does not doubt God.
He is in doubt over what he knows to be true.
He is not doubting THE faith He is doubting HIS faith
Why?
John at this point has been locked up in prison.
He will not see freedom again and will be beheaded at the request of a spoiled teenager.
Prison did this to John.
Note:
Jesus does not rebuke John at all.
What does Jesus say?
22 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
Prison:
Prison:
Prison has the power, even on the best of men like John, to wear you down till you see nothing but the prison bars.
Nothing but the problems.
Jesus tells Johns friends to go back and tell John to look past the bars.
To look past the immediate circumstances of his life and see power, the work, the grace, the goodness, the faithfulness of God at work.
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My dear friends Life has many prisons.
But each one has the same intention: To overwhelm you to such a point that you see nothing but the bars.
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The Prison of Fear
All you can see are the “What ifs”.
The Prison of Physical Pain
Where all you can see are the things you cannot do.
The Prison of Religious Works
Where all you can see is how short you fall and never on God’s grace.
The Prison of Addiction.
Where all you can see is the impossibility of breaking this grip.
The Prison of an unhappy marriage.
All you can see is the faults and flaws of each other.
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Every one of these Prisons seeks to place you in a state of dispare.
To rob you of assurance and strangle your hope.
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Today I thank God that we have a way to escape every prison.
25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.
Johns cure was to see past the bars and see the wonderful work and praise God for it.
Paul and Silas are in prison, but they are not looking at the bars.
They are looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher.
They are not spending their nights sighing at their misery, they are spending their nights singing of their victory.
Instead of spending their time protesting at life, they spend their time Professing God’s greatness.
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When you see past the bars, no chain, no lock, no door can hold back the joy and freedom of the Holy Spirit.
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
No matter how deep and dark your prison is:
18 “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 proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
36 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.
