Luke chapter number seven has 50 verses in it, but there's a strong theme that runs throughout this chapter.
The book of Luke is very thematic. It groups things together, not always in a perfect chronological order, but by theme.
And in this chapter, the themes are, number one, people who have faith versus people who doubt.
And we see that throughout the chapter, certain people having very strong faith, other people having a lot of doubt.
And then the other theme that we see is people that are very humble in this chapter, and then we see some other people that are prideful.
And you'll notice also that it's the people that are the most humble who have the most faith in this chapter.
Let's look at some of these stories in Luke chapter seven, beginning in verse number one, it says,
Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people he entered into Capernaum,
and a certain centurion servant who was dear unto him was sick and ready to die.
And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.
And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy for whom he should do this,
for he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.
So here's a man who's a Gentile, and he has a servant who is very dear unto him, that he loves very much, and his servant is at the point of death.
And when he hears about Jesus, he wants Jesus to come and heal his servant.
Now this is a man who already has his faith in the Lord, because, notice it says,
he loved our nation and has built us a synagogue.
Obviously this guy's worshiping the God of the Bible, he's worshiping the Lord the best that he knows how,
and when he hears about Jesus, he wants Jesus to come and heal his servant.
The leaders of the Jews, when they come to Jesus, they said to him that he's worthy.
Please do this for him. This guy's a great guy, he loves our nation, and so forth.
It says in verse 6, then Jesus went with them.
And when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him,
Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof.
So notice, this is a very humble man.
He's a centurion.
So this guy is a commander of a hundred soldiers, and yet, he says, I'm not worthy that you would even enter under my roof.
Just speak the word only, he says, and my servant shall be healed.
Look what it says in verse 7, wherefore, neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee.
But say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.
For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one,
Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him,
I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick.
Now this Gentile man that has such great faith, faith that Christ had not even found in all of Israel,
is a foreshadowing of the fact that there would be multitudes and multitudes of Gentiles that had just as much faith as this guy,
that are going to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved by the droves.
Millions and millions of Gentiles who would be saved.
And then the Jews, who would by and large reject the Lord Jesus Christ, and not have faith.
That's what's pictured here, you say well prove it.
Well there's a parallel account of this over in Matthew chapter 8, and right after he mentions this guy's faith,
he says, I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west,
and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and ashing of teeth.
So that shows that this guy was the forerunner, or the picture of the many people from east and west and all over the world,
that would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that would be saved among the Gentiles,
including even us today who are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ,
not because we're Jews or because we're part of the nation of Israel,
but just by believing in Christ just like this Centurion did.
And so this man is a very humble man, and he has great faith. Jesus marveled at his faith.
I mean Jesus was impressed by his faith.
Now later in the chapter, Jesus goes to eat with the Jewish Pharisee.
Now that guy doesn't say, whoa Lord, I'm not worthy that you should come into my roof.
In fact it's the exact opposite.
He says, I want you to come eat at my house.
He brings him under his roof, and then he doesn't treat him well.
He does not go through the proper etiquette or politeness.
He doesn't give him any water to wash his feet.
He does not greet him with a kiss.
He does not give him hospitality or treat him well.
And not only that, but he doubts Christ's word, because in Luke chapter 7, if you just go down to verse number 39, it says,
Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying,
This man, he's talking about Jesus.
This man, if he were a prophet,
So does this guy have a lot of faith in Jesus?
No, he's doubting if he's even a prophet, let alone being the Son of God, let alone being the Messiah.
This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she's a sinner.
So here he's exalting himself.
He thinks he's worthy, but this woman's unworthy.
Yeah, Jesus, you can come into my house, and I'll treat you like a second-class citizen while you're here, versus the centurion, the Gentile, who said,
Lord, I'm not even worthy that you'd come under my roof.
In fact, I didn't even feel worthy to come talk to you.
That's why I sent someone else.
Just speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
Now this is the way life is.
The people with the most faith are also the humble people.
And the people who don't have the faith are usually the most prideful.
Now look at this in regard to salvation. We're saved by faith, not by works.
The people who have great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to save him are the same people who are humble enough to say, I'm a sinner.
I don't deserve to go to heaven. I deserve to go to hell.
In fact, I'm not going to heaven by any of my own merit.
It's only by grace that I'm saved.
It's a free gift of God.
It's only just a gift that's paid for by Jesus Christ.
It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us.
All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we don't trust in any of our own works or our own deeds or giving up this or repenting of this or that.
But rather, it's all based on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
The people who have the faith in Christ are the same people that are humble enough to realize that they can't get to heaven on their own.
And that it's not a team effort between them and Jesus.
It's what Christ did on the cross alone. It's that free gift that's just received by faith.
But the people who trust in works, they lack faith in Christ. They are not saved by faith.
They're prideful enough to think that they're good enough to go to heaven.
And we talk to them every week out soul winning.
So, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? Oh, well, I'm a good person.
Well, I live a good life. I treat people.
The I, I, I, they start telling you all the wonderful things that they do and about their works.
And you know what? Most of the time, they won't even mention the name of Jesus.
I mean, it blows my mind. You ask somebody who's supposedly a Christian why they're going to heaven, and Jesus doesn't even come into the question.
It's just, well, you know, treat people right, live a good life, do this, do that.
And I just flat out tell them, I just say, well, you know, if that were the case, then, you know, what do we need Jesus for?
If you're just good and you just go to heaven, it doesn't make any sense.
So we see that these two things go hand in hand, humility and faith, pride and unbelief.
These things can go together, as we see in this chapter where this man is super humble and he has a lot of faith.
Look at verse 11, it came to pass the day after that he went into a city called Nain, and many of his disciples went with him and much people.
Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and much people of the city was with her.
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said unto her, weep not.
And he came and touched the beer, and they that bear him stood still.
And he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise.
And he that was dead sat up and began to speak, and he delivered him to his mother, and there came a fear on all, and they glorified God, saying that a great prophet is risen up among us, and that God hath visited his people.
So this woman's in a bad situation because she's a widow and she only has one son.
So she's not going to have any more children, and this is the one that was going to provide for her, her son, because she doesn't have a husband to provide for her.
So she's all alone in this world, and then Christ, he feels bad for her, he has compassion on her, and so he raises her son from the dead.
This is one of the couple times in scripture where Jesus actually even raised a dead body back to life, which is an amazing miracle, obviously.
It says in verse number 19, and John, calling unto him two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, art thou he that should come, or look we, for another?
Now this is when John is in prison, so he sends his two disciples to check, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Now this is John having doubts. He's doubting. His faith is wavering a little bit here because of the fact that he had already seen the Holy Spirit like a dove descending on Christ at his baptism.
He's already looked at Christ in front of the whole multitude and said, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
So he knew that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, that he's the Son of God, and he's just doubting here.
Why? Because he's in prison, he's probably upset, he's probably down about being in prison.
Obviously if we were in prison, we would probably have a bad attitude at times, but who knows?
We can't really judge if we've never been in that situation.
But he doubts, and he says, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
Now this goes to show you that even if you're saved, you can still have doubts.
Because John the Baptist was the greatest man who ever lived, he was obviously saved, and yet he doubted.
And all throughout scripture, we have examples of godly people, saved people, doubting.
Even in Matthew 28 right before the great commission, verse 16, and when they saw him they worshipped him, but some doubted.
But some doubted. Even of the 11 apostles, some doubted in Matthew 28.
So if you have doubts, it doesn't mean that you're not saved.
I think everybody has had doubts from time to time where they doubt the word of God, or doubt Jesus Christ.
That's normal, it doesn't mean that you're not saved, because obviously we're human.
We have faith, but our faith isn't perfect. We're human beings.
It's like the guy said to Jesus, Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief.
So here we even see the greatest man who ever lived, John the Baptist, having doubts.
And he said, art thou he that should come, or look we for another?
When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, art thou he that should come, or look we for another?
Verse 21, and in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits, and unto many that were blind he gave sight.
Then Jesus answering said unto them, go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard,
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,
and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.
And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John.
What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
Now the reason he asked this question is because pretty much everybody went out to see John.
When John was out in the wilderness preaching, word got around. It was kind of the talk of the town.
So even the Pharisees and the Sadducees went out there just to check it out, just to hear what he's preaching, just to see what's going on.
People sent them from Jerusalem. The higher ups at Jerusalem sent their deputies, you know, go see what's going on with this John the Baptist guy.
So the multitudes and all the people, they'd all gone out to hear him.
And it says, what went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously appareled and live delicately are in king's courts.
But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.
So John the Baptist was much more than a prophet. So Jesus is speaking very highly of him.
And, you know, one of the lessons here is that, you know, when one of our friends or some godly person that we know goes through a hard time or goes through a period of doubt, don't just throw them under the bus.
You know, Jesus doesn't just get up here and just start ripping on how John the Baptist is lacking in faith and he's doubting and everything like that.
He's lifting him up and bringing up all the good things about him, at least.
You know, because he's not a bad guy. He's in a rough situation. Give him a break. He's in prison. And Jesus is lifting him up here.
This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
For I say unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.
But he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And all the people that heard him and the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism of John.
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized in him.
So when Jesus preaches about how great John the Baptist was, then the people, they received that message.
They justified God. What does it mean to justify? It means to declare him to be righteous.
So they're praising God. And the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism of John.
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized in him.
So what's he saying here? The people who were baptized by John, they're receiving the word of God and they're justifying God.
Whereas the people who refused to be baptized by John the Baptist because of their pride and arrogance and refusal to humble themselves to that,
they are rejecting the word of God and they are rejecting the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized of him.
And so when we reject the messenger of God, when we reject the preaching of God's word, when we reject the Bible being preached to us,
we end up rejecting God as a result. I mean, think about it. If somebody comes and knocks on somebody's door and they're bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ,
and that person just blows them off or rejects it or laughs at it, they're not really rejecting that person because we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord.
They're not really rejecting that person. They're actually rejecting the word of God. They're actually rejecting the gospel.
They're actually rejecting Jesus, you know, when somebody's bringing them the true gospel and they will not receive it.
You know, it's like Moses and Aaron. When people got mad at them and fought with them, they said, who are we?
You're not murmuring against us. You're murmuring against the Lord. You know, don't kill the messenger.
You know, when a preacher gets up and preaches what the Bible says and they've got chapter and verse to back up everything that they're saying
and they get up and preaching it and you reject it, you're not really rejecting them. You're actually rejecting the Bible.
You know, and if a preacher is actually preaching right where he's proving everything from the Bible and preaching what the word of God actually says,
then people don't reject him. They reject the Bible at that point.
You know, if I preach a sermon and people walk out of here and they're mad and they never want to come back,
I want it to be because they're rejecting God, not because they're rejecting me
because I want to make my sermon so airtight and I want to prove everything from the Bible so strongly
that the only way they can reject that sermon is just by rejecting the word of God itself.
And that's what's going on. I mean, when you can sit there and just prove things in the Bible over and over and over
and just have people walk out, I can't believe it. I mean, at some point they're rejecting the Bible.
At some point they're rejecting the Lord.
You know, when you want to listen to people that are giving you the gospel if you're unsaved,
or you don't want to listen to people that are preaching you the true word of God,
you know, you're going to end up like the Pharisees and the lawyers if you don't listen.
You know, when God sends a preacher to you, you better listen.
When you read the Bible, you better listen to what the Bible is saying.
You don't want to end up like these people who got hardened and they just kept rejecting the truth over and over again.
But he says, what did you go out to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
You see, a reed shaken with the wind, that's like one who's tossed to and fro
and carried about with every wind of doctrine.
Now, that's not how John the Baptist was.
When he was out in the wilderness, he wasn't a reed shaken with the wind.
He was a man on a mission. He was a man with a message to preach.
Now, unfortunately, at this point, he's having some doubts.
But when he was out there preaching and doing his great works, he wasn't having any doubts.
I mean, he was preaching hard. He was preaching a strong message.
So we shouldn't be a reed shaken in the wind.
We shouldn't be someone that's swayed by public opinion or swayed by whatever is the trendy new doctrine
or the trendy new teaching or just with what everybody else is doing or what the crowd is doing.
We shouldn't let that stuff sway us.
We should be firmly rooted and grounded.
We shouldn't be a reed shaken with the wind.
He said, What went you out to see, a man clothed in soft raiment?
Behold, they which are gorgeously appareled and live delicately are in kings courts.
It's interesting because later in this book of Luke, that word gorgeous is used again.
In chapter 23, it talks about how when they make fun of Jesus
and they're beating him and spitting on him and whipping him before his crucifixion,
that they put him in a gorgeous robe, in a gorgeous robe.
So what are they doing? They're dressing him up like royalty.
They're dressing him up like a king because they're mocking him and saying,
Hail, king of the Jews, hitting him in the face, spitting him and so forth.
And so Jesus, when he lived on this earth and his apostles and John the Baptist and the rest of them,
they did not go around in gorgeous apparel.
They did not go around in delicate clothing and soft raiment.
Jesus did not live delicately.
He said, The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests,
but the son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Jesus slept outside many times.
Jesus wandered around in sandals and with a staff and just in humble clothing.
And everybody says, Well, Jesus wore a robe.
Jesus never wore a robe unless he's being made fun of.
That's the only time you ever see Jesus wear a robe
because robes are something that kings and rich people would wear.
Jesus wore humble clothing.
And all the prophets in the Old Testament, they wore a rough garment.
The Bible used that term, a rough garment.
Now, John the Baptist himself was clothed in camel's hair.
So that was the material that was used for his clothing.
I'm not an expert on textiles of the Middle East,
but obviously it's not some delicate clothing that is,
I mean, I've never seen it in any fancy stores or anything.
The camel's, this is camel's hair, tweed, sweater or whatever.
It's not exactly cashmere or whatever.
So John the Baptist, and by the way, there's so many dumb teachings out there.
Oh, John the Baptist wore a loincloth.
What in the world? Where does this come from?
What kind of sick minds come up with this stupid doctrine?
His raiment, his clothing was made out of camel's hair.
He's still dressed. That's just a material.
It's not like it's one hair. It's clothing.
He's actually wearing clothes that are rough clothes made out of camel's hair.
And he has a belt on, a leather girdle around his loins.
Okay, that's a belt. That's not a loincloth, okay?
Just because it has the word loin in it.
So he's clothed in camel's hair and he has a leather girdle around his loins.
And his meat is locust and wild honey.
So he's living outside. He's living an austere life.
He's living not delicately at all. He's not gorgeously appareled.
But neither were Jesus and his disciples gorgeously appareled.
Now Jesus and his disciples, they did eat and drink normal food.
And they did not live by the austerities that John the Baptist lived by.
Now did they sleep outside sometimes? Yeah.
Did they walk around everywhere on foot? Yeah.
But they're eating in people's houses.
They're eating food. They're drinking.
They're enjoying and everything like that.
And he mentions that a little bit later.
How John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine and they say he hath a devil.
Son of man came eating and drinking and ye say behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.
Jesus and his disciples were actually rebuked for not fasting.
And Jesus basically told them, no, we're not going to fast.
They'll fast after I'm gone.
But while the bridegroom is with them, they're not going to fast.
So Jesus and his disciples, they did eat. They drank.
They lived a pretty normal life. But they lived a humble life though.
They lived a humble life.
Now, we as preachers today should follow the example of men of God in the Bible.
We should preach like John the Baptist.
We should preach like Jesus.
We should preach like the apostles.
We should preach like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.
But I also believe that we as preachers should not be clothed in soft raiment and we should not be gorgeously appareled.
They that are gorgeously appareled, they live in king's courts.
And that is not our mission on this earth.
We are to be humble servants of God.
We are not to be rich and wealthy and especially not just flaunting fancy clothes.
But look, a lot of the preachers say that's exactly what they do.
The false prophets, they wear soft clothing.
They wear the Armani suits and the super expensive shoes, the super expensive belts,
just crazy expensive ensembles that cost thousands and thousands of dollars.
And you know what? I think that it matters how we dress.
I'm not one of these guys who says, hey, it doesn't matter how you dress.
I think it does matter how you dress.
And I think the Bible has a lot to say about how we dress.
And obviously the outside is not the most important thing.
We don't want to emphasize the outside because it's the inside that's more important.
But Jesus said, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also.
So we do want our outside to reflect what's inside.
We don't want to dress in a way that is disrespectful or dishonoring to Christ or to ourselves or to our family or the people around us.
We should dress right.
Now what does it mean to dress right?
I believe that we should wear modest apparel and the primary definition of modest is that it's not expensive.
That is the primary definition of what that means.
When it says modest apparel because it's right there coupled with not with broided hair and gold and pearls and costly array.
Costly array. He says no costly apparel.
He says dress modestly and that goes for both male and female.
It is not right for us to go out and spend a bunch of money on all these fancy show off, show boating garments.
Now I do believe that we should dress nice and look nice and I don't think there's anything wrong with looking fashionable and looking good.
But we should not be just gorgeously appareled and in all these fancy clothes and fancy jewelry and everything.
That stuff is vanity. It's unchristian. The Bible condemns wearing it on both men and women.
So you say well Pastor Anderson you dress fancy. Really?
Well you're wearing a tie.
Yeah but here's the thing.
My clothes are never fancy.
My clothes are always a rough garment.
Always.
Because all of my clothing is bought at the thrift store 100% of it unless I receive something as a gift.
So if I ever get a new garment I pretty much got it as a gift or I bought it at an airport or something in a bind.
So I don't go around wearing fancy clothes. My wife and kids they don't go around wearing a bunch of fancy clothes.
And you know what a lot of Christians today they're just like the world in this area where they feel like they got to keep up with the Joneses on the shoe brands and they got to have the Nike Airs and the Air Jordans and they got to have all the brands.
And that's a carnal worldly attitude that we shouldn't have.
Where kids are competing with the brand names of the hats and the sunglasses and the women with the purses and the shoes.
You know that's all very carnal.
We should just pick clothing that's humble and where we fit in.
Now somebody said to me recently well why don't you dress like John the Baptist?
You know and I'm like well first of all I don't know what John the Baptist dressed like number one.
Because the Bible doesn't really go into great detail exactly what that garment was like that he wore.
So I can't really emulate that number one.
Number two John the Baptist wasn't married.
He's living out in the wilderness.
He's eating locusts and wild honey.
I'm following Christ the eating and drinking method of the Christian life.
Okay I'm on that program all right.
Who's on that program with me.
All right. Yeah.
So you're on the John the Baptist program but most of us are on the Jesus and the Apostles program of the Christian life.
Okay and that's fine.
You know God doesn't expect us to live out in the wilderness and eat locusts and wild honey and and and wear camel's hair.
But the point is though that we should also not be just living deliciously and living delicately and just living gorgeously.
Dressed in all these fancy clothes.
You know we should just wear humble modest clothing.
And listen if you're a man and you're a little too into fashion that's effeminate.
That's a feminine behavior.
Our society considers that effeminate.
And I believe that all societies would probably look at that as as effeminate.
I mean just being all into beautifying yourself as a man is not normal.
Right.
Okay.
And so when we see these men who have the designer jeans and they've got everything all tailored and everything all perfect their jewelry and everything like that.
It's effeminate and and and sissy and we should stay away from that.
Just put on a rough.
You know what a rough garment is.
It's the car hearts.
Dickies.
You know what a rough garment is.
It's a garment that's actually made to do something in.
I mean these Armani suits.
I'll bet you they're probably not that durable.
You probably can't get on your knees in them.
I wonder how much praying these pastors are doing in the Armani suits.
The first time they get on their knees and pray to the Lord they're going to start wearing through that delicate clothing.
They need to get a rough pair of pants on.
They can handle some wear and tear on their knees and they can handle just doing a little work.
And you know what when you go out soul winning your clothes could get damaged if they're too delicate.
I mean imagine taking some Armani suit and fancy shoes and out on one of these Indian reservations soul winning for a couple days.
And Jesus is walking on foot and everything.
He wore a practical garment and that's what we should wear a practical garment.
We're not supposed to live like kings on this earth.
Let's wait till the next life to live like kings.
Right now we need to be humble servants of God and not so into being in style and everything.
Let's just wear sense.
And you know what I also think that you should wear sensible clothing that fits in with the culture that you live in.
Why? Because part of modesty is not standing out like a sore thumb.
Hey everybody look at me.
So look if I'm in America I'm going to dress in an American garment.
If I were in another country, if I'm in Japan, if I'm in China, if I'm in India, if I'm in Africa.
I would dress in whatever garment the people there wear unless it's something too weird like cross dressed or some goofball.
You know what I mean?
But if it doesn't violate scripture, if it doesn't violate right and wrong then when in Rome you do as the Romans do.
You know I'm going to dress like whatever, I'm going to become all things to all men that I by all means save some of them.
And so we should dress just the normal way that the people around us are dressing.
Modesty apparel but not how the rich people dress but just how your average Joe dresses.
And not trying to be trendy and stylish and cool but just trying to look nice and normal and fitting in and modest.
And you say oh this is all just man made rules.
Hey look you go dress however you want but you know and I know that it's a carnal heart that goes and spends several hundred dollars and then stands in front of the mirror posing and making everything look perfect.
That is vanity.
Anybody knows that.
It's common and if you want to call it legalism.
No, no, no it's just me exposing you as being carnal.
And you can take it or leave it.
And if you want to go out of here and spend two hours every morning preening yourself in front of the mirror.
And if you want to go spend a full paycheck down at the clothing store buying all your Gucci and your whatever Dooney and Burke or whatever people are into.
You know go right ahead.
But don't expect me to get up and condone that as being the right way for a Christian to live their life in 2017 or in any other time.
And the Bible says we should buy durable clothing and we shouldn't just be out there trying to gorgeously apparel ourselves with a bunch of sequins and rhinestones and whatever.
So let's let's move on here.
I don't want to spend the whole night on that.
He said you know they that are delicately living and gorgeously apparel during King's courts.
He said what went you out for to see a prophet.
Yeah I say unto you and much more than a prophet.
Verse 27 this is he of whom it is written Behold I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee.
For I say unto you among those that are born of women.
There is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist but he that is the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Now a lot of people have been confused by that statement.
There's not risen a greater prophet than John the Baptist but he that is the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Now I've heard some pretty weird interpretations of this verse.
I've heard people say things that like oh well because John's a different dispensation and and if you're in this other dispensation even if you're the biggest loser you're greater than him and I'm thinking like what.
Poor John.
You know he's born in the wrong dispensation you know whatever.
Even dispensationalism.
But what I believe he's saying here is that you know when we're in the kingdom of God.
When we enter into the kingdom of heaven we have no more sin.
I mean we're completely regenerated body soul and spirit.
I mean he that's in the kingdom of God is he's already shed the sinful flesh.
And he's totally without sin.
I mean once we get to heaven we're never going to sin again.
The only reason we sin on this earth is because we're in the flesh.
And so that's why he that's least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Because even John the Baptist was a sinful human being even though he's the greatest he still comes far short of the glory of God because he was a sinner just like anybody else.
So that's the way I believe that that verse should be interpreted I think that some people have gotten into some crazy stuff with that.
I've heard some other weird interpretations but says in verse 29 all the people that heard him and the public ends justified God being baptized with the baptism of John.
We already talked about that jump down to verse 31.
And the Lord said we're unto shall I liken the men of this generation and what are they like they're like unto children.
Now this is so true with what I was just talking about.
Now we see grown men dressing like children.
Even the pastors dressing like a teenager.
Dressing like a junior high kid or dressing like a student.
And it's just it's weird it's unseemly.
It's perturbing.
You see these these 45 year old men and they're trying to look all cool.
They got their shredded jeans.
They got their they're they're kind of like low rider jeans and their t-shirts a little too tight.
You know they got their necklace.
They got their hair all greased up and all you know.
It's so ridiculous because that you know kids they really worry about what they look like.
You know well I take that back.
Teenagers really care about what they look like.
You know kids don't care.
Little kids.
But then they get to a certain age where all of a sudden it's really important than what they look like.
Where I mean if they don't if they're not wearing the right outfit tears begin to flow.
You know if they have to wear the wrong shoes or the wrong shirt or the wrong pants or whatever.
You know they get really upset.
And they stand in front of the mirror and you know.
Now look I'll admit when I was a teenager I was doing the same thing.
You know worrying about what my clothes were.
And you know school trains you to be that way too because you know you got to fit in and peer pressure and all that.
So you know when I was a teenager I did the same thing.
I'm looking in the mirror.
I'm fixing my hair.
I'm putting on the clothes and worrying about it and everything like that.
When I became a man I put away childish things.
Now when you're a child you're foolish.
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.
And so when you're growing up you're dumb.
That's why you worry so much about your parents.
It's simple because you're dumb.
Now you say well Pastor Anderson actually it's because you know when you're a teenager or a young adult.
It's because you want to get married.
And so you want to attract the opposite gender by looking good.
So it makes sense to put a lot of time.
Wrong.
Because everybody knows that the way that you attract the opposite gender is by having confidence in yourself and just being yourself.
But see teenagers don't know that.
They haven't learned that so they're still preening in front of the mirror for hours.
My sister she always tells this really funny story.
It's so true.
About how there was this girl at her high school.
It was a Christian school. It was a pretty good sized school.
And there was this girl at her high school that was the most popular girl in the school.
And nobody could figure out why.
Ronnie was just like what is it with this girl?
She wasn't that pretty.
And she'd come to school.
I mean she would just throw on whatever the clothes.
Her hair was like a bed head.
She'd show up. Sometimes she'd show up like wrapped in a blanket.
And just everybody loved this girl.
She was just the coolest girl.
And nobody could figure out why.
But the reason why is because she wasn't sitting there worried all the time what everybody thought.
She wasn't trying too hard.
And I hope you young people are listening.
Just be yourself.
Put on your clothes in the morning.
Quit worrying so much about what you look like.
Just be who you are and quit trying to emulate the Hollywood stars.
Emulate the cool kids.
Emulate the rock stars and the rappers.
You look like an idiot.
And you might look in the mirror and think yeah I'm looking pretty cool.
To the people around you, you look like an idiot.
And actually the person who looks cool is the person who doesn't care.
Just because they just got to.
And I remember the most popular girl at my high school when I went to public school was pretty much the same way.
She put like no effort into her appearance.
And everybody thought she was so cool.
Just because she was that cool.
Why? Because she didn't care.
And then we have these overgrown junior hires behind the pulpit now.
That are trying so hard to be cool and they got the purple lights and the bar stool.
And they get up and they preach about being a Jesus follower.
Because the word Christian is not good enough.
You got to learn what it means to be a Jesus follower man.
I'm talking radical discipleship man.
It's stupid.
It's a generation of children.
When you see these like 55 or 60 year old guys on their Harley Davidson.
And they're like unto children.
Right? The midlife crisis.
So it says here, where unto shall I liken this generation?
It's like unto children sitting in the marketplace and calling one to another.
We've piped unto you and you have not danced.
We've mourned you and you've not wept.
Now I think that this is a great, we heard a sermon on this last night in the preaching class.
This is a great picture of the contemporary Christian fun center churches.
Where unto shall I liken these fun center churches?
These liberal churches of today.
These non-denom fun centers.
It's like children in the marketplace calling to one another and saying we've piped unto you and you've not danced.
See what it is is that it's all based on emotionalism.
It's all about the music.
It's all about piping unto you and getting you to dance and mourning unto you and getting you to weep.
Because they want to bring you to the altar and have all the tears flow at the altar.
They're praying and crying and weeping for revival to come.
Oh God, please send us revival.
But you know what, then when any real preaching comes, they reject it.
It doesn't matter what form the real preaching comes, they reject it.
John the Baptist comes, he's not eating, he's not drinking.
Oh, he has a devil.
Jesus comes, he's eating, he's drinking.
He's a glutton, he's a wine-bibber.
You're damned if you do and damned if you don't with these people.
You can't win wine.
Because they don't want to hear the truth, that's why.
All they want to do is play their music and have their crying.
And that's what you'll find at these liberal churches.
A lot of dancing and a lot of crying.
That's a liberal church in a nutshell, right?
They rock you out and dance and woo.
And then it's like ahhhh.
That's a charismatic church.
It's an emotional rollercoaster.
That's what he said, you're like children.
And you know what, that's how children are.
Children are on an emotional rollercoaster.
I mean, think about it, virtually every day a toddler has a crying breakdown at some point.
And think about how they cry.
I mean, they don't just cry, they cry.
I mean, think about it, what would it take to get you to do that as an adult?
To cry like that.
I mean, something really bad would have to happen.
To weep like that.
They do it every day.
And then a second later it's ahhhh.
That's how these churches are.
Everybody's down there crying at the altar.
And then 20 minutes later they're back to living exactly the way they were.
They're not doing any soul winning.
They don't want to listen to any real preaching.
They don't want to get the sin out of their life.
They don't want to read their Bible cover to cover.
They want to pipe and dance and mourn and weep.
And when John the Baptist shows up, they don't want to hear it.
When Jesus shows up, they don't want to hear it.
You think that today's modern watered down Christianity would accept the preaching of John the Baptist?
Are you kidding?
John the Baptist gets up and preaches, hey, you know, the governor, the King Herod, he's living in sin.
He's married to his brother's ex-wife.
It's divorce and remarriage, it's adultery.
You know what they'd say today?
Oh, that's so judgmental.
Well, you're unpatriotic.
You don't love America.
Why are you judging him?
Why are you such a legalist?
That's what they would have said.
I mean, think about it.
And he's preaching against the Pharisees and the Sadducees, generation of vipers.
Who's warned you to flee from the damnation?
They'd be saying, hey, you shouldn't even be saying damnation.
Damn is a cuss word.
And, you know, how dare you criticize other religions.
I mean, we're all worshiping Jehovah.
We're all worshiping the Lord.
We all believe in the scriptures.
Why are you so divisive, man?
That's what they would have said about John the Baptist.
He's dividing people.
He's offending people.
You're turning people away from Christ.
That's what they would have said.
Even though he's pointing at him and saying, behold the Lamb of God,
they would say, man, you're pushing people away from Christ, buddy.
You know that's what they would say about him.
If Jesus and the apostles and Moses and Elijah and Isaiah and Jeremiah,
if they showed up and preached, they would be so hated it would be unbelievable.
And look, they hate me.
And I'm mild compared to these guys in the Bible.
You may not think so, but it's true.
They preach harder than me.
And they hate my guts.
I'm too mean for them.
How could they handle these guys?
They never could.
We piped unto you and you haven't danced.
And I remember that's how they were when I was in the liberal church.
They'd play all this liberal music and the teens weren't into it.
And then they'd get mad at the teens and they're unspiritual
because they weren't getting into the song service.
They're all kind of just like trying to sing along
and weren't that into it.
And then they rebuke you for not coming down the aisle and crying at the altar.
Why aren't you down here weeping?
You know, it's a perfect illustration of that.
Verse 35, but wisdom is justified of all her children.
He's saying these people are not the children of wisdom.
They're the children of foolishness.
And they're likened to literal kids in their understanding.
One of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him.
And I don't know if this guy is really that bad of a guy.
You know, just because he has this one wrong attitude and doubts Christ here.
I mean, at least he wants to eat with Jesus.
I mean, at least he has some interest, it seems like.
We don't really know this guy's heart.
But while he has him down to eat, behold a woman in the city which was a sinner
when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house,
brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping,
and began to wash his feet with tears, and had wiped them with the hairs of her head,
and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
Now, when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it,
he spake within himself, saying, Well, this man, if he were a prophet,
would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him, for she's a sinner.
Now, he says that inside of himself, but Jesus answers him.
See how it says in verse 40, Jesus answering said unto him?
So ironically, he's saying, Well, if this guy were really a prophet,
he'd know what kind of woman she is.
But in reality, because he's a prophet, he knows what kind of man he is.
So that's why he's able to answer his internal monologue.
And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee,
and he saith, Master, say on.
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors,
the one owed 500 pence and the other 50.
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.
Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most?
Simon answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most.
And he said unto him, Thou was rightly judged.
And he turned to the woman and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman?
I entered into thine house.
Thou gavest me no water for my feet,
but she hath washed my feet with tears
and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gavest me no kiss,
but this woman since the time I came in
hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
My head with oil thou didst not anoint,
but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Wherefore I say unto thee,
her sins which are many are forgiven,
for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little.
And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
And they that sat at meat with him
began to say within themselves,
Who is this that forgaveth sins also?
And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee,
go in peace.
So here Jesus is talking about the fact that
if you've had a really sinful past
and you've been forgiven of a lot of wickedness in your life,
that could just cause you to love Christ more.
So just because you had a wicked past
or you grew up in a sinful home
or you have lived a rough life,
that doesn't make you second class in the eyes of Christ.
Because Christ just looked at this woman and said,
Hey, she loves me a lot because I forgave her a lot.
And so God is glorified by forgiving a lot of sin.
Now obviously that doesn't mean
that we should continue in sin,
that grace may abound.
God forbid that we that are dead to sin
should live any longer therein.
So God does not want us to go out in sin.
If we sin, grace will abound,
but he doesn't want that.
What he wants to do is he wants to take
people who have committed a lot of sin
and forgive them.
That's how he wants to be glorified.
He's not glorified by his children
going out and committing a bunch of sin
so that he can keep forgiving them more.
He wants to forgive new people
that we go out and reach
that have lived a very wicked and sinful life.
So don't ever underestimate your own potential
as a Christian because of your past
or the potential of other people.
Don't just think to yourself,
well, Pastor Anderson grew up in a Christian home,
but I have a rough background.
I don't think I could ever be a pastor.
I don't think I could ever do great things.
It's not true.
You could do great things for God.
Now there are some things specifically
that disqualify you from being a pastor, obviously.
If you've been divorced
because the pastor has to be the husband
of one wife and so forth.
But just because you've had a sinful
or wicked past, it doesn't mean
you can't be used greatly by God.
And even if you've been divorced five times,
you could still be used greatly by God,
you could still go out and win souls
and be a pillar of the church
and do great things for God with your life.
So don't use that as an excuse
to be second class.
Christ doesn't consider you second class.
He even says that some of those people
even could love him more
than other people that grew up in the Christian home.
Now, I'm glad I grew up in a Christian home
and I think that that's obviously the best option.
Not that you get to pick, right,
where you're born.
But obviously, being born and raised
in a Christian home is a huge blessing.
And obviously, unto whom much is given
of him shall much be required.
And it saves you a lot of the mistakes
and the heartaches.
And you know what?
I've seen for the last 11 and a half years
that I've been pastoring
and just for the last 30 years
that I've been a Christian,
I've seen people get saved
after living a sinful life.
And you know what?
They continue to suffer for their sinful past
for the rest of their life.
Just because that's just the way life is.
That's the way life is, folks.
It doesn't mean that they don't
have great love for Christ.
It doesn't mean that they can't
be used greatly by God.
It doesn't mean that we think
they're second class citizens.
It doesn't mean that Christ thinks
they're second class citizens.
No, no, they're accepted with everybody else,
but there's just natural consequences
if you're born into a Christian home,
if you're raised in a godly home,
and don't be jealous of somebody
because they have some radical testimony.
I've never felt that way, ever.
I've never wished I had some wicked past.
I could get up and brag about
how I was pulled out of the drug culture
and the rock and roll lifestyle
and out of all this wickedness.
No, no, I think it's a better testimony
to just grow up in a Christian home
and actually stay in church
and stay with the things of God.
You know, at least then I spent
my whole life learning the Bible,
and I don't have a lot of the baggage
that some people could have
from living in sin.
Now, obviously, if you've grown up
in a rough past, hey,
God can still use you.
And that's what this story is teaching us.
And in fact, you might even love Christ
more than I do. Great.
Doesn't mean I want to trade places with you,
but that's great.
Praise the Lord.
And you might do more for God than I do.
Praise the Lord.
So we don't want to look down on people
because what's this Pharisee doing?
He's looking down on her.
When in reality, she's doing right.
I mean, she's worshiping
at the feet of Christ.
Her heart's in the right place.
He should be extending some mercy,
some grace, some compassion.
You know, whatever she's done in her past
isn't really the issue.
If she's coming to Christ now,
she should be received right there.
So that's what we see here in this passage,
where she cries at the feet of Jesus,
literally washes his feet with her tears,
dries them with her hair,
and then anoints them with ointment
that was costly ointment,
expensive stuff that she's putting on his feet there.
So one last thing I want to focus on
in this chapter is
I love this verse, Luke 7.50.
And I think this is an important verse
that we should remember this verse
and really let this verse sink in
because it says,
Thy faith hath saved thee.
And he said to the woman,
Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.
Now, first of all,
the obvious thing we should see from this verse,
the bottom shelf truth here
is that we're saved by faith.
It's important to always realize that.
And there are hundreds of verses to prove it.
Here's another one.
Thy faith hath saved thee.
But the other thing I want to point out
is that it says,
Thy faith hath saved thee.
Thy faith hath saved,
your faith has saved you.
Why is that important?
Well, because of the stupidity of Calvinism,
right?
That tells you that you're,
well, we're just saved by the grace of God
through no act of our own,
when in reality it's our faith that saves us.
Our faith.
Our faith saves us.
My faith has saved me.
Oh, how could you say that?
I mean, you know,
don't you understand that it's all God that did everything?
No, no, no. My faith saved me.
Your faith saved you. Her faith saved her.
That's what the Bible says.
And the Bible says this over and over again.
It says, for by grace are you saved through faith.
Now listen, the faith is your part.
You provide the faith, God provides the grace.
Now, granted, we all have faith.
Every person on this planet has faith.
We were created by God with faith inside of us.
But it's a question of where we choose to put our faith.
And when we put our faith on Christ through a conscious decision that we make,
then our faith saves us.
That's what it means to be saved by faith.
When the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith,
it's saying your faith has saved you.
For by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast.
Now, don't even get me started on the stupidity
and the grammatically bankrupt teaching that says that faith is the gift of God.
That is a false doctrine.
That is a lie. That is grammatically impossible in that verse.
And it does not jive with the rest of scripture.
Eternal life is the gift of God.
Being saved is the gift of God.
For by grace are you saved through faith,
and that, what's the that?
Being saved is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast.
See, if faith were the gift of God, that verse would make no sense
because it'd be saying that faith is not of works.
That doesn't even make sense.
By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works.
So what is the gift of God?
The same thing that's not of works.
And what's not of works? Salvation.
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Now go to Galatians 2.
This is a verse that I've heard people abuse
to teach this weird Calvinist doctrine.
They'll say this. They'll say,
Well, it's not even our faith that even saves us.
I mean, I've heard this a ton of times.
It's not even our faith that saves us.
It's his faith that saves us.
That's what they say.
But hold on. What was that?
Tyler Baker taught that?
Yeah, well, wow, I'm shocked.
He taught heresy.
It's not even our faith that saves us.
Yes, it is!
Because he said, Thy faith hath saved thee.
I mean, Luke 7.50.
You see why it's an important verse?
So they'll take Galatians 2.16,
and they'll try to use this to say,
Well, it's not even your faith that even saves you.
Which is like they're trying to get you into Calvinism with this.
But look at Galatians 2.16.
Galatians 2.16, it says,
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law,
but by the faith of Jesus Christ.
So they say, Look, we're justified by the faith of Christ.
So it's his faith. Wrong.
Keep reading.
It says, But by the faith of Jesus Christ,
Look at the next phrase,
Even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ,
and not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
So the Bible here defines what the faith of Christ means.
You know what the faith of Christ means?
It means we have believed in Jesus.
That's what it means.
Because look what the verse says.
He says, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law,
but by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Jesus Christ.
That's what that means.
We've believed in Jesus Christ
in order that we might be justified by the faith of Christ.
So how do we get justified by the faith of Christ?
How do we get justified by the faith of Christ?
So faith of Christ does not mean that it's his faith.
It's the faith of Christ
because it's the faith that has to do with Jesus Christ.
Because it's faith that's placed in Jesus Christ.
Look at Romans chapter 10.
Romans chapter 10.
Romans chapter number 10.
Or actually, you know what?
Keep your finger in Romans 10.
Flip back over to Romans 3 as well.
Romans chapter 3.
Look what Romans 3 says.
It says in verse number 20,
Therefore by the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
even the righteousness of God,
the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.
For there is no difference,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God had set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood,
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,
through the forbearance of God,
to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just
the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Where is boasting then?
It is excluded.
By what law of works?
Nay, but by the law of faith.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law.
So it's believing in Christ that saves us.
It's our faith in Christ that saves us.
If we say the Christian faith
versus what? Buddhist faith or Islamic faith.
That has to do with not who owns the faith
or who possesses the faith.
It has to do with where the faith is being placed.
So the faith of Christ is faith in Christ.
It's not Jesus' faith.
It's your faith being placed on Christ.
That's the faith of Christ
if we actually let the Bible define itself in all these verses.
Galatians 2 16.
Look at Romans chapter 10.
It's the last place I'll show you.
Romans chapter 10, the Bible says in verse number 4,
For Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law,
that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them.
But the righteousness which is of faith
speaketh on this wise.
So notice, the righteousness of faith.
Now does that mean faith's righteousness?
No. The righteousness of faith
is the righteousness that comes from
placing your faith in Jesus Christ
and that righteousness is imputed unto you.
The righteousness which is of faith,
meaning the righteousness which is related to faith,
springing forth from faith.
It comes from faith.
Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven,
that is to bring Christ down from above,
or who shall descend into the deep,
that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.
But what saith that the word is nigh thee,
even in thine mouth and in thine heart,
that is the word of faith which we preach.
Now what about that phrase?
Word of faith.
Is that faith's word?
No.
So we need to understand that the preposition of
is not just a possessive preposition all the time.
OK.
But rather, when it says the word of faith,
it's the word that is related to faith
or having to do with faith.
Right?
I mean think about it.
I say word of faith.
What if I said word of knowledge?
It's a word that has to do with knowledge.
The faith of Christ is the faith
that's related to Christ
because it's faith in Christ.
It's your faith on Christ.
Keep going.
It says the word of faith which we preach
that if, and here goes unconditional
or lying Calvinists,
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shalt believe in thine heart
that God has raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved
for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
And so we see that we have a part in salvation.
We must call upon the name of the Lord by faith.
We can't just sit there and say,
oh, God chose me.
I'm one of the elect.
I'm unconditionally elected.
That's a false doctrine.
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead,
you shall be saved.
And it doesn't matter who you are.
The word is nigh you.
Even in your mouth and in your heart,
the word of faith which we preach.
Anybody can call upon the name of the Lord
and be saved if they would so desire,
if they would so choose to.
And so Calvinism is a false doctrine
and let that scripture sink in.
That's a great scripture to keep in mind
when you start hearing this false doctrine about,
well, it's not even our faith that even saves us.
Well, Luke 7.50 puts that to bed
because Jesus just explicitly said,
thy faith has saved you.
Let's pray this in our word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this great chapter
and for that great verse,
and we pray that you'd please just bless us all
as we go our separate ways, Lord,
and help us to continue to grow in grace
with the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And it's in his name we pray, amen.