Greater Than John The Baptist

Introduction

You’d open your Bibles to the book of Matthew and then take a quick left to the book of Malachi. We will actually be in Matthew shortly, but we’re going to start in Malachi in just a moment in chapter 3. It’s good to see all of you tonight. I see some different faces tonight. Those who perhaps were not able to come because of a sick child have swapped and things of that nature. There are so many who are ill. Some of you were away this morning, and I need to add to our college students returning, Jared and Cayley, to the three that I mentioned during Bible class this morning. Great to have all of you back for a couple of weeks as I mentioned, Brett is coming in on Wednesday, Lord willing, and I think Morgan’s going to be here eventually as our college people are coming home.

Is she coming? Yes, okay, she is. I figured she’d be home by Christmas, you know, as the song goes. Great to see all of you. Thank you, visitors, for coming our way, and we have a number tonight. We talk about fulfilled prophecy a lot, and rightfully so. What a great proof and foundation for our confidence in the scriptures. We talk about the virgin birth, and we talk about the place that Jesus would be born as great examples of prophecy. But what about even the one who would precede Jesus, the one that we call the forerunner? His birth and his life was the subject of prophecy 400 years before he bursts on the scene in the wilderness. In Malachi chapter 3 and verse 1, behold, I am going to send my messenger, and he will clear the way before me.

Oh, this sounds like a significant task. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. The last book of the New Testament prepares us for this great event. In chapter 4, verses 4 and 5, as we mentioned this morning, the names of people, as we mentioned in our adult Bible class, the names of people as significant ways of delivering God’s message. This is interesting. Behold, I am going to send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he, Elijah, will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.

That’s 400 years. But if you slip back to the book of Isaiah, 300 years prior to that, the initial announcement, 700 years in advance of his arrival. Isaiah 40 and verse 3, a voice is calling, clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Immediately making us think of the highway of Isaiah 35, but that’s for another sermon. Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low, and let the rough ground become a plain and the rugged terrain a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. And so it was, as John the Baptist emerges on the scene in Luke chapter 3, he is indeed the fulfillment of these prophetic messages.

Isaiah 40 is quoted in Luke chapter 3, verses 4 through 6, and John the Baptist is the one who proclaimed himself to be the fulfillment of these texts. Jesus leaves no doubt as to whom Malachi and Isaiah pointed to. In Matthew chapter 11, while this is similar to the Luke 3 account, in Matthew chapter 11, in verse 10, Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you.

Law prophesied until John. And if you care to accept it, he himself is Elijah, who was to come, he who has ears to hear. Let him hear. So you can’t go back to the book of Malachi and really miss who that passage was about. Jesus makes that abundantly clear, not just in Matthew chapter 11, but a few chapters later in Matthew’s narrative, the question was asked of Jesus by the disciples, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Of course, they’re thinking literally, as we talked about in our Bible class this morning, they’re thinking a literal coming of Elijah. Elijah did come literally during Jesus’ days on the Mount of Transfiguration. But that wasn’t the point of the prophecy. One like Elijah is the point of the prophecy.

And he answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. But I say to you, that Elijah already came.

But did to him whatever they wished. So also, like the Elijah who was to come, who came, so also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. Then, if you didn’t get it already, then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. Who is the Elijah who was to come, who already came, Jesus said. It is clear that John the Baptist is the fulfillment of those prophecies. And when he comes on the scene, and his birth occurs as a result of prophecy, it says in verse 80 that child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts, just like Isaiah 40 had suggested. He lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance in his.

But I want to go back to a statement that we’ve already read in Matthew chapter 11. It’s an incredible statement.

No one has a risen of woman greater than John the Baptist. I have marveled at that statement that Jesus. This is Jesus, by the way. The creator.

1. A Truly Great but Unappreciated Man

And he says of John, no one has arisen of woman greater than he. And so the first thing that I want to do tonight as I talk about the text of Matthew 11 is to point out that this was indeed a truly great man. But unappreciated, as Jesus would say in Matthew 17, just as he’s going to be unappreciated to the extent that they will kill him, he says they did to him whatever they wished. And ultimately that anticipates his martyrdom, as that we’ll speak of in a moment. But it wasn’t just that. It was just the general rejection of the Jewish leaders. And Jesus calls them on the carpet about that when he asked them about the baptism of John. And he says, Why weren’t you not, why were you not baptized of him if they were to simply say that he was a prophet?

Then why didn’t you listen to him? was what Jesus’ response would have been, they so calculated. This was a truly great but often unappreciated man. Now, let’s make comparisons here. Of those born of women. How many people does that encompass? Okay, that’s a lot of people. Of all the people that had ever lived, no one greater than John the Baptist. That’s an incredible statement. Esther was told by Mordecai. Who knows if you have achieved royalty for such a time as this? And if you know the story of Esther, she was in the right place at the right time, with a unique opportunity to help God’s people.

He had a role, the subject of prophecy, that no one else ever had. No one else ever served in the place that John the Baptist did. Alone. The prophet who would be the forerunner for the Christ. And what do we know about him? This one who is a risen of woman, no one greater than him. Well, he was the subject of criticism. Just like they didn’t like the way Jesus was doing it, they didn’t like the way John the Baptist did it. And Jesus talks about that in Luke chapter 7, verses 30 through 35. Here John was isolated out in the wilderness, and Jesus is eating and drinking with the sinners, and they didn’t like either approach of things. Isn’t it amazing how someone who Jesus styles, the greatest of those born of women, is still criticized by some.

I don’t care who you are or how great you are, somebody will criticize you. And that’s so hard for us sometimes. We think I’m trying to be a good person, I’m trying to be humble, I’m just trying to serve the Lord. I realize it’s not all about me, it’s all about him. I don’t care how humble you are. I don’t care how genuine you are. Or how your character measures up to everybody else in the church or in the world. Somebody’s going to criticize you. If they criticize Jesus, do not think it’s his disciples that we will be above criticism. They not only criticize Jesus, they criticize John. Jesus said, no one is arisen a woman greater than him. John was unafraid to preach a message of repentance.

I said this morning that I think messages that approach people’s convictions about things are going to become a little less popular in the future. A little more unwelcome. John wasn’t afraid, as we would say, to call a spade a spade. Even standing before someone as powerful as Herod. As he says regarding his marriage, it is unlawful for you to have her as your wife.

She belongs to your brother Philip. Sort of an odd scenario that he would end up being married to his brother’s former wife. But John says, it is not lawful for you to have her. To say to somebody of importance a message like that, to tell them what they need to hear, knowing the repercussions that could follow. And they did in that case. What a great man. That he could be so courageous in that circumstance, even to the extent that he would be martyred because of the dislike of Herod’s wife for him. As the situation was arranged for the dancing of his daughter, and the opportunity to make a request of Herod, and the request was the head of John the Baptist on a player. But that’s not all that made this man great.

One of my favorite statements that is made by John is in John chapter 3, when the disciples of John are oh, so concerned about all the people that are now following Jesus, many of whom used to follow John. His crowd is dwindling, and Jesus’ crowd is growing. And he says in one of the great statements of Scripture, he must increase, but I must decrease. A lot of people have just way too much ego for something like that. To say that he must increase, but I must decrease. Help us, Lord, to be as lowly in our estimation of ourselves as this great man was. Okay, so Jesus says this man, John the Baptist, the subject of prospective prophecy, is a great man. So what is Jesus’ criteria for true greatness?

2. Jesus' Criteria for True Greatness

Would be something neat to explore here. When we talk about somebody being great in a particular field, what are we, what do we really say about them? Think of someone that you might perceive to be a great athlete. I mean, there are athletes. There are good athletes. There are athletes that are better than other athletes, but there are some who are great. What is it about the people that are great in any given field, whether it’s athlete, actor, politician, not too many great ones of those, but wish there were more. What would be true of them? Well, we would say things like they’re distinguished, they’re unparalleled. They do things that others cannot do with the same kind of ease and fluidity that they do. They excel.

They’re above the norm, above the average. John the Baptist was that. Shakespeare, a great writer himself about human existence and tragedy, said, some are born great, some achieve greatness, others have greatness thrust upon them. Jesus says, truly, I say to you. Preceding the statement about John’s greatness. Why is no one greater? Just because this herald was the subject of prophecy and that he fulfilled a unique role in God’s plan? Is it not also the marvelous manner in which he fulfilled the task? He did exactly what God needed him to do. Maybe we learned something in that in regard to greatness. Are you doing what God has instructed you to do? This isn’t about what the world thinks is great. You know, if you were to ask, who’s the greatest person you’ve ever known of the greatest person that’s ever lived?

Somebody might say Jesus Christ, but if they somehow overlook him, how many of you, how many do you think would choose John the Baptist? And yet of all the people that have preceded him, Jesus said, no one has arisen of woman greater than John the Baptist. Where does Abraham fit in there? That’s an interesting thought.

And there are other great ones equal to John, like Moses and Abraham and David. But he says, no one greater than John the Baptist. How do we measure true greatness? And when I think of the example of John and the things that we’ve already seen about this great but unappreciated man, that we have to measure this not by like those in Corinth who were measuring themselves with themselves or comparing themselves to others. But the one who examines me, Paul says, is the Lord. What is heaven’s calculation of true greatness? And let me just get to where you and I are. How do you perceive yourself? Most of us in this room would say, I’m pretty ordinary. So that’s where I want to go with this. How ordinary are you?

Are you ordinary? Am I ordinary? And by what measurement would we make that assessment? Oh, depending on the standard by which you measure these things, there is a sense in which all of us in here are pretty ordinary. We’re not running even the metropolis of Tomball. Or Magnolia. You know, when they’re making a decision about the future of Tomball and where it’s going, I don’t get a vocal. Do you? They don’t even ask me about Decker Prairie. Whatever this is, this little township area that we meet in, and we call ourselves the Decker. I don’t even know where Decker Prairie starts and ends. But whatever it is, I don’t even have a say in that.

We’re pretty ordinary folks. Or are we? Are we? You ordinary? I might beg to differ with you tonight if that’s your assessment of yourself. Oh, but there are people smarter than me. I don’t know what John’s intellect was. Do you? What was his IQ? Was he the brightest man that ever lived? Is that what Jesus is saying about him? It’s all about your intelligence quotient that made him no one who was born of woman greater than John the Baptist. What was it that made him extraordinary? How does heaven judge greatness? How do you see yourself? I believe this text tells us something very important about greatness. And that the key ingredient is the godly link in our lives. It is about our rightness with God. It is about our likeness to God.

It is about our readiness for God. As really we were talking about this morning.

When the disciples were fighting about who’s going to be the greatest in the kingdom, they were concerned about positions on the right hand and the left. They fought about this more than once during Jesus’ ministry. And that’s just the accounts we’re told about. I wonder how often the subject came up between them as to who was going to be first lieutenant in the new kingdom. Probably a good number of times. And so he says, look, this kingdom is not going to be like the kingdoms of the world. Where there are rulers and despots and lords who exercise authority over people, and that makes them in the position of greatness. He says, It is not so among you. Man, we need to learn that. I have preached this passage until I’m blue in the face.

It is not so among you. It wasn’t so among the apostles, and it’s certainly not so among us. It’s not about wielding authority and power and influence. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. And we could go on to read verse 28: just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, as he did in John 13, as Rick studied with us, did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. John was great because he was a selfless servant in God’s plan. What did he do? He served the Messiah. And when the Messiah came, he said, He must increase, but I must decrease.

He not only served the Messiah, he served us. All future generations. When he paved the way of the Lord. So we should say of John, yes, he was first rate. He was top notch. He was class act. No other born of woman.

Exceeded him. Young people, I want you to mark this passage if you haven’t already. It’s 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 6. I was teaching on this in another sermon, and something leaped out at me. There’s no higher aspiration. There is no greater achievement. Higher than this. 1 Timothy 4 6. As Paul says to Timothy in pointing out these things to the brethren, these things that he’s teaching him, and these are to be instructed to others. He says, In pointing out these things to the brethren, you’ll be a good servant of Christ Jesus. Constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. A good servant of Jesus Christ, that ought to be your goal. That’s true achievement in this world.

That makes you not ordinary but extraordinary. A good servant of Jesus Christ. One person observed, and this is sad.

3. How Can I Be Greater Than John?

Nobody misses you. What about John? When he was beheaded in Matthew chapter 14. It says in verse 13. Now, when Jesus heard it, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place by himself. John was missed. Okay. How can I be greater than John? The rest of Matthew 11. No one has arisen of woman greater than John the Baptist, but he who is least. Oh, I don’t want you to focus on that. He who is least in the kingdom of heaven. And again, we see ourselves pretty ordinary, right? As kingdom citizens go. He who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. How in the world? Isn’t that possible? And so I started thinking about that. And it couldn’t be. Let’s see.

He who was least in the kingdom of heaven could one day be saved and experience the eternal kingdom of our Lord. I’m pretty sure John’s going to be there. It’s not that.

I’m not sure if I’ve gotten there. I don’t think that. I don’t know if my faith is any greater than John the Baptist was. Or my character. A more consistent expression of holiness and the likeness of Christ than John’s was. Well, what about my holiness, my purity or devotion to the Lord? Does that somehow exceed John’s?

No. I don’t think that’s it either. But I think the clue to the answer to this is in the context of Matthew chapter 11. Remember, John is in prison. Death is nearing. And he sends word by his disciples to Jesus, and he says, Are you the expected one or shall we look for another? Matthew 11, verse 3. And some have said, okay, John must have only been asking this for the benefit of his disciples who will go to Jesus and say, Yes, I’m the one. And so they would be convinced. I’m not sure John was convinced.

I don’t think everything was laid out on the table for John. He knew that the Messiah was his relative in the flesh, Jesus of Nazareth. But there were some questions in his mind about the nature, perhaps of the things Jesus was talking about and whether or not he was the full fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. I think there were some questions in his mind. And that’s why Jesus doesn’t just answer the question when the disciples come, he says, go and tell John. And he speaks of the fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture. He had a question. But as we read on in the text, I think we’re given the answer to why he says what he does in verse 11 when he says, and from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence.

The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John, but since then the gospel of the kingdom is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. That’s Luke’s account in Luke 16. And verse 16. And so what I think this passage is telling us. The reason why he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is because of our association with the Christ. Because of the exalted privileges we have as recipients of God’s grace and salvation in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. He did not receive these privileges. He died prior to the coming kingdom that he prepared the way for.

And verse 11, when it says in Hebrews 11 and verse 40, that all of these individuals’ examples of faith that we’ve been reading about, from Abel and Abraham and Noah and Jacob and all the people that are listed, these individuals of faith of the Old Testament, these people that we’ve admired for years and years as we’ve studied them, it says, but God has provided something better for us. Whoever the Hebrew writer was, he’s included in that. And I don’t think he’s just talking about the initial recipients of the letter. I think he’s seeing everybody that’s in Christ. God has provided something better for us, so that apart from us, they could not be made perfect. Chapter 12.

4. The Exalted Privileges We Have in Christ

The people of Moses’ day came to a mountain and quaked with fear. We have come to Mount Zion. To the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. To the spirits of righteous men made perfect. That goes back to Hebrews 11 and verse 40. You see, they preceded all of that. We’re partakers in this. Jesus said, we receive, verse 28, a kingdom which cannot be shaken. Let us show gratitude by all means. By which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and all. It is the exalted privileges that we have in Christ that we are able to draw near. Whereas there was separation, and there was a veil that separated men from the most holy place.

That veil was torn in two with Jesus’ death, and men were given access to God. I don’t know, I’ve talked about this so many times. I think it’s really hard for us to appreciate what that means. That veil being torn and us being able to come into the holy place because of what Jesus did. We are able to draw near. The Hebrew writer is writing to an audience who is very well aware of the Mosaic law and what now has been provided in Christ. This is something else. I said it had to do with our association with the Christ. John never had Jesus as his high priest. Again, something that I think sometimes we take for granted. He who ever lives to make intercession for us, he who is able to come to the aid of the tempted, because he is our high priest, who sympathizes with our weakness, and we can go boldly to his throne of grace in a time of need.

Having Jesus as our high priest, folks, that’s amazing. John didn’t have that. Jesus had not ascended to that place. You know, John’s baptism, as great as it was, a baptism of repentance. When Paul came in Acts 19, he found some individuals who had been baptized by John’s baptism, but he instructed them to be baptized into something new. In the name of the Lord Jesus. In the name of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit of Matthew 28, baptized into his death, raised up with Christ. And then this. We see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.

What is all of that about? It’s about the maturity of revelation. When the perfect comes, the partial, prophesying, speaking in tongues, those miraculous spiritual gifts that imparted God’s information. All of those things shall be done away. They’re going to vanish. But when the perfect comes, we shall know as we are known. Face to face. We have a perfect intimacy with the will of God. You know what? We don’t have to send a question to heaven to Jesus and say, are you the one? Or shall we look for another? We know what John didn’t or wasn’t sure that he knew. Jesus is the one. There isn’t any other. We take that for granted. That we know that. There’s salvation and no one else. Acts 4 and verse 12.

The peace of God that surpasses all comprehension. One of the reasons why we possess that is we know this is what it’s really all about. Pleasing God? Doing his will, following this message. Hmm. That’s not only the measurement of a quality life, that’s the measurement of true greatness. And I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty fortunate. That from the time I was a little child, this message was laid in my lap. That my parents just happened to be people who had been exposed to the truth and embraced it and took me every week to a place where God’s message and truth was laid in my lap. From the time I was a very little child. And I want to tell you, if that has been your experience, sometimes it’s hard for us to really appreciate what we have.

Conclusion

I preach this message to you tonight because when Jesus says, There is a risen of woman, no one greater than John the Baptist, we’re talking about one of the greatest persons in terms of character and faith and achievement and work that has ever lived on the planet. But little old me, ordinary me. In Tombaugh, Texas. The least in the kingdom of heaven. I don’t know who the least is. We may have a competition. Who can be the least? But even the least among us, the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Do you realize the awesome privileges? That we have.

Well, I’ve heard Tony preach a thousand sermons, already preached two last week, or no, actually, it was two weeks ago. I only preached one two weeks ago. Well, you heard me preach a lot of sermons. Just another message of truth.

It’s never just another message. Not because I’m delivering it or Rick’s delivering it. It’s the message of truth. You know how many people are out there listening to messages that aren’t messages of truth? It’s the message of salvation. The creator’s will for your life. And if you know what an individual must do to be saved, if you know what the walk of the Christian is supposed to look like and are pursuing it in your life and are getting instruction to help you along this way, blessed are your eyes if you see it. And your ears if you hear it. And I preach things like this. Because sometimes I take things for granted. But we better not do that. Because our God is a consuming fire. That warning is given in Hebrews chapter 12.

See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking, because to whom much is given. Much is required. I haven’t even talked about 2 Peter chapter 1. Partakers of magnificent and precious promises. Partakers of the divine nature. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Sometimes we get foolish and want to dabble in it again. Don’t we? We get foolish and we want to dabble in it again. But why is that? Because we fail to realize what Christ has brought us out of.

Least in the kingdom of heaven. Yeah, I’m just the least. There are so many people that are more talented than me and more knowledgeable than me, but even the least in the kingdom of heaven. Greater than John the Baptist. That’s pretty rich.

And that’s what we have in our Lord because of our association with him. Because we’re his people. A chosen race. A royal priesthood. A priest. Serving in the greatest, ministering in the greatest kingdom that has ever existed. A holy nation. May I live up to that calling. That I might proclaim the excellencies of him who called me out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Will you respond to his calling? Leave the darkness for the light. You could be greater than John the Baptist. That’s the invitation of our Lord to you tonight. Won’t you come while we stand and sing together?