Sermon Tone Analysis

We are continuing our series called Faceless: A Character Study of John the Baptist.

In the first week, we saw that he was a forerunner of Jesus Christ.

We spent some time looking at his parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth, who were unable to conceive a child.

But while they were old, during a time of impossibility, God heard their faithful prayers over the many years and blessed them with a son.

When we face the impossible, prayer is the appropriate response.

Take it to the Lord.

And when He does answer prayer, give Him the praise He is due.

Praise the Provider.

Because of Zachariah’s unbelief God caused him to be mute for 9 months and when he could speak again his first words were praises of God.

We need to tell those around us the great things God has done for us in our life.

Last week we learned how John was always pointing people back to Jesus.

We looked at Zachariah giving adoration to God.

He praised God for what He had done in his life.

Adoration is something that Christians should be doing.

Our prayers should not be just full of petition and supplication; requests that we have and things that we want.

We need to praise and adore God in the good times and in the bad.

We were then challenged to Assess our Attitudes.

Jesus gave John a great compliment when He said he was the greatest born of all women.

John could have become proud by this but he didn’t.

He humbly served God and pointed people to Jesus.

He lived on purpose according to God’s will.

And lastly we were challenged to advance the gospel.

Our assignment is to make disciples of all nations, Matt.

28:18-20.

One of the reasons God has us on earth still is to be a mouthpiece for Him.

To reach those in our circle of influence.

We need to be intentional about that mission.

Jesus is Not Who They Wanted

This week’s message is titled, “Jesus is not who they wanted.”

We are going to be in Matthew 11 this morning if you will turn with me there.

We’re going to see how there were some wrong expectations about who Jesus was, who they were expecting Him to be, and how it’s possible that we might have some wrong expectations about Him as well.

The text we will be reading from was written by Matthew.

It’s always good to understand who is writing the text, who he is writing it to, and why.

Matthew was a Jewish tax collector who left everything to follow Jesus.

He denied himself, gave up his job and his wealth to follow.

Now he is a Jew writing to the Jewish people the account of Jesus’ life and showing them how Jesus was the Messiah (the anointed One).

Watch for that to unfold as we read through the text.

Look at verse 1 with me: When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.

In Chapter 10, Jesus was instructing His disciples to go strictly to the lost sheep of Israel.

At this point in God’s plan, the message of the good news of the kingdom of heaven was to go to the Jewish people first.

The Jews are God’s special, chosen people.

Jesus made the disciples aware that they were being sent out as “sheep in the midst of wolves.”

You can imagine what that looks like.

A sheep going into a field full of wolves; it’s not going to end well for the sheep.

Jesus is telling them that they will be hated and persecuted.

Their families will even turn against them because of Him the Teacher.

Jesus made it very clear to them what to expect on their mission.

And we can tell from the way Matthew writes here that it appears Jesus and the disciples separate for a short time.

In their cities is referring to the region of Galilee; this was the center of where Jesus’ ministry took place.

I. John’s Question (2-3)

Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to Him, “Are you the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”

The first question I would ask is, Why is John in prison?

What happened?

Matthew doesn’t record what happened to John until chapter 14.

I’m going to summarize what happened.

Herod Antipas is the governor of the region of Galilee.

He had John imprisoned because of his wife Herodias.

Well, why was she upset with John?

She was not happy with him because John rebuked Herod and told him he was wrong for marrying her.

See, Herodias was the wife of Herod’s brother Philip.

Herod took a trip to Rome at one point in time and met his brother’s wife, and he liked her and wanted her for his own.

When we arrived back to Galilee, he divorced his wife and then married Herodias.

John the Baptist, being the fiery spirit that he was, publicly confronted Herod about his sin and told him, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mk 6:18).

This landed him straight in prison.

Herodias wanted him dead but Herod feared the people and considered John to be a righteous man and liked to listen to his preaching.

He was imprisoned in Machaerus which was about 10 miles east of the Dead Sea.

When you put together a timeline of the synoptic gospels, John was in prison from a year to almost two years.

That helps explain for us the text that he “heard of the works of Christ.”

John had been unable to witness the miracles of Jesus, or hear his teachings.

He has not been able to observe first-hand Jesus’ ministry.

This is why he is sending his disciples to ask Jesus a question.

He’s unable to go himself and he’s had a lot of time to think.

So the question John asks is, “Are you the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”

So John is sending a question to Jesus, asking Him, “Are you the Messiah?”

Now let’s not be quick to condemn John for his question.

His doubt is not that unreasonable.

John, just like the rest of the Jews, were expecting a different Messiah.

Look with me at Matthew 3:11-12.

John said this as he was preparing the way for Jesus.

“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John was saying here that “the one who is coming after is mightier than I, I’m not even worthy to untie His sandals, and He is coming in judgment.”

John describes Him as coming with a winnowing fork in His hand.

You would use this “pitch fork” like tool to separate grain from the chaff.

A farmer would winnow the grain by tossing it up into the wind so the chaff—the useless husks—were blown away and the grain would fall down to the threshing floor.

The grain would then be gathered up and the chaff would be burned.

John was expecting the Messiah to come in judgment.

And He is coming in judgment.

Revelation 19 tells us that at the second coming, Jesus will appear riding on a white horse, from His mouth will come a sharp sword, He will rule with an iron rod, and He will release the fierce wrath of God on all who oppose Him (Rev 19:15).

But that is still to come.

That was not the purpose of His first coming.

“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (Jn 3:17).

Jesus came the first time to save the world.

He came to seek and save the lost (Lk 19:10).

Jesus was also not who the Pharisees wanted Him to be.

See as they read about Isaiah’s prophecies, 700 years before, they were waiting for the Messiah who provided the hope of deliverance.

They were waiting for a redeemer much different than Jesus was.

They wanted a temporal salvation.

They wanted an earthly kingdom now.

It wasn’t faith, repentance, or baptism they were longing for but the destruction of their enemies and an earthy kingdom full of peace, prosperity, and justice.

Jesus wasn’t giving them that.