There Came a Man (Part 2)

Gospel of John, the first chapter, the sixth verse says, there came a man sent from God. That's the verse we're looking at. Last week and this week, we are slowly making our way through John's gospel.

This is week number 10, and we're only on verse number 6. So it's gonna take us a while to get through the entire gospel, but that's okay. There's no hurry.

And we're only gonna take the first part of that verse, verse six, there came a man. The question is, what kind of man came? What kind of man was sent from God? That's the question. And the unique thing about this is that Jesus answers that question by saying, the greatest man ever born of a woman is John the Baptist.

Greatest man ever, greater than Moses, greater than Elijah, greater than David, greater than Jeremiah. The greatest man born of a woman is the man sent from God, John the Baptist. The greatest of all commendations comes to John.

Christ commends him extremely, extremely well in terms that we would never even think to describe someone, but Jesus does. And so this great commendation comes to John the Baptist. And so we have to ask and answer ourselves this question, what kind of man is the greatest man born of a woman? And the gospels tell us about this man, John the Baptist.

And so we wanna describe him to you. We're looking at the peculiarity of the man. We told you we're gonna talk about his identity, his ministry, his testimony, and his legacy, but we must first tackle his peculiarity.

What makes him so peculiar? What makes him odd? What makes him so bizarre? What makes him so outrageous? What makes him so different than everybody else? What separates John from everyone else that's ever existed for Jesus to say that the greatest man born of a woman is John the Baptist? Well, we began last week by telling you that we have eight principles that will describe him for you. We covered seven of them last week. We'll cover the eighth one today, but that's not all-inclusive.

That's just the tip of the iceberg to help you introduce to you this man, John the Baptist, this forerunner to the Messiah. So as you recall, last week we told you that principle number one was this, is that he was uncompromising in his message. That's principle number one.

He was uncompromising in his message. John never backed down, never backed away from the truth of the gospel. The Bible says in John 1, verse number 8, that he came to testify about the light.

In John 10:11, it says he came to talk about nothing but the truth. So John's whole ministry was to preach the truth about the light. He did it fearlessly, he did it faithfully, he did it forcefully, he did it fervently, but he always told the truth.

He was uncompromising in his message. And if we are gonna be men of God, men like John the Baptist, because he actually becomes a model for biblical manliness. Think about that.

If he is the greatest man born of a woman, he becomes the quintessential example for manliness in the Bible. So ladies, if you're looking for a man, look for this kind of man. If you're a man, you need to be this kind of man.

If you're a father, you need to raise these kinds of boys to be these kinds of men. Then you might understand true biblical manliness. People that are uncompromising in their message.

When Jesus said, when you went down to the Jordan, what did you go to see? A reed blowing in the wind? Somebody tossed to and fro? Somebody changing his message to whoever comes to talk to him? Nope, same message, same person, never compromising, always speaking the truth. He came in the spirit and power of Elijah. He came to preach that truth uncompromisingly.

So that was principle number one. Principle number two is that he was unorthodox in his mannerisms. Completely unorthodox in his mannerisms. Different than everybody else. The way he dressed, the way he spoke, the things that he did.

Remember, John was in line to be a priest. His father was Zacharias. And so he was in line of the priesthood. But his dress was the contradiction to the priesthood.

The way he lived his life was one of self-denial, not self-indulgence like the religious leaders of his day. His whole life was a contradiction to the religious business of the day. And that's why he ate locusts and wild honey.

And that's why the Bible says that, in Luke 1, verse number 17, that no wine would come upon his lips because he would take a Nazarite vow, a vow for life, completely unorthodox, completely unusual. But this is John the Baptist. And he came baptizing Jews.

And what he did to Jews was what Jews did to Gentiles, when Gentiles wanted to convert to Judaism. But instead, these were Jews coming down to the Jordan River. These were Jews being convinced that they were separated from their God, that they weren't a part of who God really wants them to be.

And even though they're descendants of Abraham, even though they are the seed of Abraham, they are far from God. And they began being baptized by confessing their sins, that they were separated from their God, completely unorthodox in all of his mannerisms. Again, that was last week.

And then number three, we said he was unequaled among men, unequaled among men, unparalleled among men, unrivaled among men, nobody like John. Why? He was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb. That's unequaled among men.

He came in the spirit and power of Elijah. He came, as his father said, the prophet of El Elyon, the God most high. He was unequaled among men, so much so that Christ said he was the greatest born of a woman.

Then number four, we told you that he was unlimited in his mission. In other words, he realized that he had a mission to accomplish, and that was to be the forerunner to the Messiah. So whether he was speaking to Jews or whether he was speaking to Herod the king, who was an Idumean, who was a descendant of Esau, he was an Edomite, and they hated the Jews.

He still, in a very loving way, would reprimand the king. He would tell the king that he was living in an immoral relationship with his half-sister, who was married to his brother, and that he had committed all this wickedness, and John would confront Herod, because in all reality, if you love somebody, you're gonna tell them the truth about their sin and how they need to get right with the true and living God. So John didn't care about your ethnicity.

He didn't care about your social background. He didn't care if you were poor or rich. He didn't care what it was.

You needed to hear the gospel. You needed to hear the truth. His mission was an unlimited mission.

And then, number four, he was uninhibited in his ministry. Nothing stopped him, not even the king. Oh, the king would silence his voice by having him beheaded at the request of his daughter, which came through Herodias, Herod's wife, but the fact of the matter is is that John was uninhibited.

He didn't back down from confronting Herod, confronting anyone about their sin, confronting the religious establishment. You brood of vipers, who told you to flee from the wrath to come? He was completely uninhibited. He would not back down, even in the midst of horrendous circumstances, the fear of losing his life.

He was uninhibited in his ministry. And then, we told you, number six, that he was unpopular with the multitudes, unpopular with the multitudes. And I'll be honest with you, I got some pushback from this last week, from several of you.

Well, how could he be unpopular among the multitudes? I mean, Herod wouldn't kill him because the multitudes knew he was a prophet. And there were scores of people coming from Jerusalem to be baptized by John in the Jordan. He was the most popular person around.

Why would you say he was unpopular by the multitudes? That's because Jesus said he was unpopular with the multitudes. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke's Gospel, the 7th chapter, verse 31. "To what then shall I compare the men of this generation? And what are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another and they say, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread, drinking no wine, and you say ‘John has a demon.’"

I would say that's unpopular. If someone says you got a demon, you're not a very popular person. And so he was unpopular to the multitudes. You see, they got tired of his message. Yes, they were coming down in scores.

The novelty of John would soon wear off. They were coming down to the Jordan, they were being baptized, and everybody got on the JB wagon and were going down to be baptized there in the Jordan River. But soon they got tired of the sin and the preaching against sin and repentance and judgment of God.

They got tired of that, that war on them. They wanted to hear the nice, cushy, cozy sermons. They wanted to hear those things that made them feel good on the inside.

And John didn't make anybody feel good on the inside. And they got tired of that, so much so they would say he has a demon. Oh, his message was serious.

His message was severe. His message was intense because he wanted people to know time was short. The kingdom of heaven was at hand.

So he was unpopular with the multitudes. Fitting in was not a part of John's modus operandi. He didn't care if you liked him or didn't like him.

He wasn't out to make friends. He was out just to do what God called him to do. He wasn't out to socialize with all the people of society.

No, he was just there to do one thing and one thing only, be a forerunner to the Messiah, to make sure people understood the way to the kingdom of heaven.

And then number seven, we told you last week, he was unforgettable as a man. Completely unforgettable. Why? Because he's in the pages of the eternal word of God, always to be commended. And Solomon tells us that blessed are the righteous for they shall be remembered forever. And that was John.

He was an unforgettable kind of man. But note this, even though he was uncompromising in his message, like all of us should be, even though he was unorthodox in his mannerisms, even though that wasn't necessarily his push in ministry, he wanted to live a life contrary to everyone else in the world around him. And even though he was unequaled as a man, and even though he was unrivaled as a man, even though he was unlimited in his mission, even though he was uninhibited in his ministry, even though he was unpopular with the multitudes, he was a man that was completely unforgettable, there was one thing in his life that I think you need to know, and that he was unimaginable for one brief moment.

Unimaginable. And I say that because it's hard to imagine a man with these qualities would begin to be disillusioned. Turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter seven.

I know we're in John's gospel, but we're looking at the man that came from the Lord, John the Baptist. In Luke 7, John's in prison. John's in prison at a place called Macarius, which is seven miles north and east of the Dead Sea.

There are two dungeons at this summer palace of Herod's. They are deep, they're dark, they're damp, they're depressing, they're debilitating, they are discouraging. And John finds himself sitting in this location.

But that's not the dungeon that weighs heavily upon him, because he's in a different kind of dungeon mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. He's in the dungeon of disillusionment. Listen to what it says.

Luke 7, verse number 18. The disciples of John reported to him about all these things. What things? Well, the things that were just happening.

He just raised the widow's son at Nain, and Christ was doing all kinds of miracles. The Bible never tells us that John ever heard Jesus preach a sermon. The Bible never tells us that John ever saw Jesus do a miracle.

He was a forerunner to the Messiah. He paved the way. We're 18 months into his ministry, he's now in prison.

And so John's disciples come to him and say, look, I'm gonna report to you the things that Jesus is doing. So John is caught up to speed as to this Messiah who's doing all these miraculous deeds. Then it says, summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord saying, are you the expected one? Or do we look for someone else? When the men came to him, they said, John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, are you the expected one? Or do we look for someone else? Now just stop right there for a second and think about that.

John's a forerunner to the expected one. The expected one, the Erchomai, is a title for the Messiah. Take it from Psalm 118:26, Psalm 40, verse number 7.

He is the coming one. In fact, when he goes into Jerusalem, on that Palm Monday, not Sunday, on that Palm Monday, they quote Psalm 118:26, saying blessed is the coming one who comes in the name of the Lord. So he is the expected one.

That's a title for the Messiah. That's why there was this great anticipation around the arrival of the Messiah. But here's John.

We would expect the crowd to ask this question, but not the forerunner to the Messiah to ask this question. And John comes and says to his disciples, go and ask Jesus, are you the Messiah? Are you the expected one? See, this is unimaginable. That this man who would preach as he preached, live as he lived, knew that he was a forerunner to the Messiah, his father had given him all the information that he needed, he knew who he was and what he was about.

All of a sudden, he is completely disillusioned as to what is happening in his life. Completely. Completely.

So much so he begins to doubt that Jesus is who he said he was. And yet John was a forerunner to the Messiah. This is a very important passage of scripture.

Because you see, every one of us in the room, at some time or another, finds ourself in this same kind of dungeon. The dungeon of disillusionment. Where we are taken back.

We begin to question all that God is doing and why he's doing it. Now this is the greatest man born of a woman. And he is disillusioned as to the activity of the Messiah.

And so he begins to ask this question. It's perplexing to us. But it's encouraging to us.

Because when we ask the question, Lord, what are you doing? Why are things happening the way they are? We find ourselves in this dungeon of disillusionment. John does the right thing. John goes to the Lord. He goes to the source. He goes to the Christ. And he asks him, are you the expected one? He sends his men there.

How did John get here? How did, not how did he physically get in the dungeon. We know how he got there. We know he's gonna die soon.

But how did he get here mentally? How did he get here spiritually, emotionally? How did he come to this place where he's doubting the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and he is the preordained forerunner to the Messiah? How does he get here?

Four ways. One was simply because of personal affliction. Personal affliction.

When personal affliction arises in our lives, personal persecution arises in our lives, we can come to a place of complete and total disillusionment. John was a faithful preacher. John was a consecrated man.

He was a courageous man. He knew about his mission in life. He knew about his calling in life.

He fulfilled that calling. He didn't back away from it. He was very, very faithful.

It wasn't like John was living in sin. Like John had a young girl in every little village that he went to and he spent the night with her. No, it's not that way.

John wasn't living in sin. It wasn't that he was sinless, but he wasn't living in known sin. He wasn't rebelling against the Messiah.

He wasn't backing away from his call so that he'd be thrown in the prison. No, he was faithful. He was true to the Lord.

He was committed to his God, and now he's in prison. So is this what happens when the Bible says, he who honors me, 1 Samuel 2:30, I will honor. Is this the honor John gets? He's honoring the Lord with his life, and now he's thrown in the prison.

Who does that? Why would God do that? It's like the person who says, you know, I'm committed to serving the Lord. I want to honor the Lord and live for the Lord and raise a godly family, and then all of a sudden, one of my children dies. Say, whoa, wait a minute.

I'm not living in sin. I'm not rebelling against the Lord, and yet the Lord takes my child. I don't understand.

Or you're living the life. You're obedient to the Lord. You're serving in the church, and you're glorifying his name.

You're preaching the gospel to everybody you know, and you go to the doctor and he says, you got an inoperable cancer. You got three weeks to live, and then you're gonna die. You're like, whoa, time out.

I've been faithful to the Lord. I've been true to his word. I've been committed to Christ, and this is what I get? Death three weeks from now? This is what I get? My child being killed in an accident? Or you're married for 40, 50, 60 years, and God has brought you through your life together with your wife and your husband, and all of a sudden, your spouse dies.

You're left all alone, and you don't know what to do. You say, well, wait a minute, Lord. Our marriage honored you.

We were faithful for all these years. We were true to you. We served you together.

We lived in harmony together. We raised a godly family, and now you take my husband from me, and I'm all alone. You become disillusioned.

This is the plan and purposes of God in your life. It happens. Here's John.

He's going through a personal affliction. He's still in the prison, not because of any sins that he's committed, not because of his rebellion or disobedience to God, simply because he's been faithful to the Lord, true to his God, honoring his God. Now he's in prison.

And his response is, well, maybe he's not the expected one. I mean, didn't he come to release the captives, set the prisoner free? And here I am in prison. Well, what's the deal with that? How come things are the way they are? Why is it I'm about to die, and I've been called to be the forerunner to the Messiah? I was willing to step aside.

I was willing to say he must increase, I must decrease. I was willing to do all that, Lord, and this is what I get, death? Is this a result of a faithful, courageous, true, committed ministry? You know, sometimes we go into those places in our lives and realize that a lot of that's out of ignorance and, unfortunately, selfishness. Because somehow, we think that there are certain things we do not deserve, and if we get them, what's wrong with God? I say, why do we get it? I don't deserve this.

And we would say, John didn't deserve that. But, you know, God has a plan and a purpose for everything. He's in charge, which leads us to the next element.

Not just personal affliction, but how about this? Popular misconception. John had a popular misconception about the Messiah. He had bought into the populist view of the Messiah.

Even though the Bible taught that the Messiah would come and die, the Old Testament teaches this, that he would rise again. Even though the Old Testament taught this, there was this misconception about the Messiah that was taught by the religious establishment that the Messiah would come as a military-conquering hero. He would overthrow Rome, he would set up his kingdom, he would rule from the throne of David in Jerusalem, and we'd all be at peace together.

And he would destroy the enemies. That was a popular misconception. And believe it or not, John, to some degree, bought into that.

I mean, after all, Peter bought into that, right? Remember in Matthew 16, when Christ said to them that he was gonna suffer and die, and Peter says, oh no, no, Lord, no, no. You're the Messiah, you're not going to die. And Christ said to him, get thee behind me, Satan.

Why? Because Peter had bought into the popular misconception about the Messiah, his coming, and how he would operate when he arrived, and what he would do when he got there. He had been sold the bill of goods. Habakkuk was the same way, was he not? Habakkuk's praying for revival in the nation, praying that God would raise them up and strengthen them, and so he's praying, and God says, I'm not gonna do that, Habakkuk.

Habakkuk says, what do you mean, you're not gonna do that? No, no, I'm gonna do something different. In fact, I'm gonna send the most wicked people I know that are gonna take them into captivity, and they are going to learn so much in that captivity, and Habakkuk says, why, why are you gonna do that? Why? He's completely disillusioned, until God begins to explain his providential plan to Habakkuk, to finally he capitulates to the plan of God and realizes that God knows exactly what he's doing, but it's easy to buy into a misconception of the Messiah and his plans and purposes for our lives. Abraham did, right? God said he was gonna have a son.

Well, years went by. He still didn't have a son. So he and Sarah got together and conjured up a plan to have a son through Hagar the handmaid, because they had a misconception as to how God was gonna orchestrate his plan in their lives.

Gideon had the same thing. He had all these men, and God wills them down to 300, and he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, 300 men, we can't go against the enemy of 300 men. Completely disillusioned as to what God is doing.

Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. The angel Gabriel comes to him and says, your wife Elizabeth's gonna have a son. He's like, whoa, she's 80 years old.

80-year-old women don't have kids. And God made him deaf and dumb for nine months, so he could not speak or hear. Why, because he was disillusioned as to the plan of God in his life, even though he was told his wife would conceive the forerunner to the Messiah.

See, we get there because there is this conception that we have of the Messiah that unfortunately has been sold to us by TV preachers and books that have been printed today. We've been told, hey, yeah, you give your life to Christ, man, your marriage is gonna be great, man. Just give your life to Jesus, and marriage will be great.

I give my life to Jesus, and my marriage is in shambles. Or give your life to Jesus, and your children will be obedient to you, because now you love the Lord, and they're gonna follow the Lord, and they're gonna serve the Lord, and I give my life to Christ, and my wife gives her life to Christ, and my children rebel like nothing else. Give your life to Christ.

God will give you a great job, best job, more money. Why? Give my life to Christ. I lose my job, I lose my money.

Well, why is that? Completely disillusioned, because there's this popular misconception that if you come to Jesus, and you give your life to him, everything's gonna be a bed of roses, you're gonna walk down the primrose path of success, and everything will be fine. That's, you didn't read that in this book. This is the only book that matters.

Jesus said, if you give your life to me, I'm gonna divide your family. I'm gonna separate the father from the mother. I'm gonna separate the husband from the wife.

I'm gonna separate the daughter from the father. I come to bring a sword, not peace. If they hate me, they're gonna hate you.

If they persecute me, they're gonna persecute you, right? It's been granted to you not just to believe on his name, but to suffer for his sake, Philippians tells us. See, we've been sold the bill of goods. We have this popular misconception of the Messiah, and what he does, and how he works, that when it doesn't meet the standard that I think it should, I completely disillusioned as to his working.

This is John the Baptist. It's where he is. It's like, I don't understand, I don't get it.

So, go ask Jesus if he's the expected one. Because I'm expecting things a little bit differently than what I'm getting right about now. So, just go ask him, right? And then another one is partial revelation, because you don't have the full revelation of all that God is doing.

Here's John. He only has the Old Testament. Although the Old Testament taught about the coming of the Messiah, the death of the Messiah, the resurrection of the Messiah, that the Messiah was divine even though it's clearly taught in the Old Testament, not all of that was connected together in his mind.

See, all the pieces of the puzzle were not fitting together perfectly for John. So, he's disillusioned. And that's because he only had partial revelation.

Didn't have all of the truth. Didn't know anything about the second coming. What do you mean, there's two comings? What do you mean second coming? Didn't know anything about the church age.

Knew nothing about the mystery of the church. Knew nothing about the mystery of the lawless one, second Thessalonians chapter 2. Knew nothing of the mystery of one body, Ephesians chapter 2.

Knew nothing of the mysteries of Christ in you, the hope of glory. Didn't know any of that. Because he had partial revelation.

We can become very disillusioned when we only know parts of the Bible and not all of the Bible like we should. We know bits and pieces here and there, and we glop onto those verses, but there are so much more in the scripture that explain to us our God. That's why theology is the greatest study, the study of God.

Need to know your God, right? What did Daniel say? Those who know their God will do great exploits and take great courage. But if you don't know your God, you can't. You gotta know him.

And so we come to life and we have a little bit of the Bible here and a little bit of the Bible there, and then all of a sudden things begin to go haywire, and we're like, whoa, what's going on here? And not knowing that God is sovereign and God is all authoritative and that God's providence is at work and that God is orchestrating every event in life to bring about his great glory and the reason God answers prayer is not to meet my needs, but that the Father will be glorified in heaven, John 14:13, but I'm going to prayer thinking he's gonna meet my needs and my needs aren't being met and I'm praying fervently and it says the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and nothing's happening in my life. That's because God answers prayer not for your sake, but for God's sake, that he might be glorified. That's because we only have partial revelation.

That's why you need to be in the book, need to be in the word, studying the word, learning the word, growing in the word all the time.

Number four, and that's this, a perceived expectation, a perceived expectation. Whenever you expect the expected one to meet your expectations, you will always be in the dungeon of disillusionment.

Whenever you expect the expected one to meet your expectations, you will always find yourself in the dungeon of disillusionment. That's John. John had expectations.

He's coming with an ax, with a winnowing fork in his hand. I baptize you with water, he's gonna baptize you with fire.

He's healing everybody. He's letting the blind see. He's raising the dead. He's curing everybody.

Where's the fire? Where's the ax? Where's the judgment? Where's the throne? Where's the military prowess of the Messiah? Where is all that? And Jesus is just showing the kindness of his mercy and his love to those all around him, eating with tax gatherers and sinners, presenting the kingdom of heaven to them. So many times we have expectations, do we not? We expect God to do this or do that, and he doesn't.

We're like, why wouldn't you do that, Lord? Why won't you answer this? Why won't you do this for me? I grew up at home and I expect to get married, but now I'm 35 and I'm not married. Those are my expectations.

I grew up and I grew up at home and I get married and I expect to have children, but I'm barren and I have no children. And I find myself in the dungeon of disillusionment, wondering, God, what are you doing? How come my expectations are not being met?

Here's John the Baptist asking his disciples to go and say to Jesus, are we supposed to be looking for somebody else? Or are you the God? Because if you're not the guy, we need to know now. But if you are the guy, why is it that our expectations are not being met? So look at the next verse, if you're still in Luke 7. Verse 21, at that very time he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who were blind. In one motion, in one word, in one wave of the hand, however he did it, everybody that was there, instantaneously, totally healed from any disease they had.

They were blind, they could see. They couldn't walk, they could walk. If they had a demon in them, that demon was cast out.

Just in one moment, in one brief moment, boom, everything's gone. Everybody's healed, and then he says this. He says, go and report to John what you have seen and heard, the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

You go tell John that everything I said in Isaiah 35, everything I said in Isaiah 42, everything I said in Isaiah 26, everything I said in Isaiah 61, just happened before your eyes. Because all this is a preview to the coming kingdom of God. And I'm showing you how it all happens instantaneously, in a moment.

You go back, you tell John that. And then as you go back, you tell him that, tell him this too. He says this, verse 23.

Blessed is he who does not take offense at me. Or blessed is he who does not stumble over me. Or, better translation, blessed is the one who doesn't quarrel with me.

With me about the way I do my business. That's the blessed person. Stop questioning me.

You wanna be blessed? Stop questioning the way I do my business. The way I operate. I'm in charge, I got a plan.

It moves perfectly. It moves exactly as I designed it to function. So just trust me, wait upon me.

Tell John to trust and wait upon me. Tell John to just, just wait. The plan is in operation exactly as I designed it.

And blessed are all those who do not take offense at the way I do my business. And he says this. When the messenger of John had left, he began to speak to the crowds about John.

What did you see? Or what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written.

Behold, I send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare your way before you. I say to you, among those born of women, there is no one greater than John. It's in this context.

When John's in the dungeon of disillusionment, when John had that unimaginable moment in his life when he began to question the way God did his business, it's at that moment that Jesus says that this is the one, the greatest man born of a woman, John the Baptist. Jesus didn't condemn him. Jesus didn't rip on him, saying, what a lousy prophet this guy is.

He doesn't even believe in who I am. Who chose him to be the forerunner? What was my father thinking? No, no, no, mm-mm. Well, now Jesus responds.

He said, what'd you go out to see? Reed shaking in the wind? Guy dressed in soft clothing? You kidding? Camel's hair? Smelly body? No brushed teeth? Hair all disheveled? Eating locusts and wild honey? What do you think he went out to see? I'm gonna tell you, this guy, this guy is the one who prepared a way in the wilderness. Here's the guy. And this man is the greatest man born of a woman.

But the next phrase says this, yet he was least in the kingdom of God is greater than the greatest man born of a woman, John the Baptist. Whoa. What? How can that be? The least in the kingdom, any of us, the least in the kingdom of God is greater than the greatest man ever born of a woman.

Not greater in character, not greater in influence, but greater in terms of a revelation because of what we know, because of what we have. We got the entire New Testament. We know all about the rapture of the church.

John didn't. We preach Christ crucified. John never did that.

We preach the fullness of the gospel itself, that Jesus came and lived and died and rose again and is coming back again. John couldn't preach that. He didn't know about that.

John knew nothing about how God would indwell you. He knew about God with us, God above us, God among us, but he never heard about God in us. That's a mystery.

Reveal the New Testament. We preach Christ in you, the hope of glory. And Jesus says, well, you know, this guy's the greatest man born of a woman.

Yet, yet those in my kingdom, the least in my kingdom, the very least of my kingdom is gonna be greater than John because of the revelation you will receive about who I am. Wow. What a great passage of scripture.

For I know that every one of you, including myself, have all experienced the dungeon of disillusionment and ask ourselves, what are you doing, Lord? Why are you operating this way? And God is patient. He is so kind. He is so loving.

Doesn't rag on us or rip on us, beat us over the head. He's very kind and gentle. He just leads us to a greater understanding and knowledge of himself that we might fully come to grips with the plan and purposes and providence of the living God.

And so they would go back and they would tell John what took place and John would die. He'd lose his head. But you know what? I bet you when John died, he couldn't wait.

He couldn't wait to be in glory. And that's where he is today in the presence of almighty God. And so we come today to realize that there is a man sent from God.

What kind of man? Well, we described him a little bit for you. And next week we'll move on to the next phrase. There was a man who was sent from God as we make our way straight to heaven.

Slowly through the gospel of John. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for what you've done in our doing. We are a blessed people. You have given us the knowledge of the scriptures.

You've given us your word that will allow us to understand the blessedness and the beauty of your character and your plans. We thank you for that. For everyone in the room today, Lord, I pray that you do a mighty work in their heart and life.

Draw them closer to your presence until you come again as you most surely will. In Jesus' name, amen.