Are You the Expected One?, Part 1

Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for the opportunity we have to study your word. We do pray that the things we learn today will enable us to live for your glory and your honor. Help us, Lord, to remove ourselves from the equation. And Father, truly you would be the sole focus of our lives, that you'd be honored and glorified in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn with me to Luke chapter 7 this morning, Luke chapter 7.

And as you're turning, I want to read to you a hymn. I'd sing it for you, but you probably wouldn't recognize the tune anyway. But it's a hymn written by Charles Wesley. Charles Wesley was a great hymn writer, wrote 6,500 hymns. And they're theologically sound hymns. And this one he wrote in the 18th century, Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus. It goes like this, Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus, born to set Thy people free from our fears and sins, release us. Let us find our rest in Thee, Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou art, dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a king, born to reign in us forever, now Thy gracious kingdom bring. By Thine own eternal spirit, rule in all our hearts alone, by Thine all-sufficient merit, raise us to Thy glorious throne. Great hymn, theologically sound because it's based on what the Bible says, particularly in our text today, Luke chapter 7.

It's a song about Israel's consolation. It's about Israel's Redeemer. It's about how God would come to deliver His people. The longing of every Jewish heart was for the coming of the Messiah to release them from their captivity, to set them free that they might serve the King of kings and Lord of lords. So when Charles Wesley wrote that hymn in the 18th century, he wrote it based on the longing desire of the heart of every person who seeks to have Jesus Christ as King and Lord of their life. And it's all based on Luke chapter 7, the great expected one.

Let me read it to you, Luke 7 verse number 18. And the disciples of John reported to him about all these things. And summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord saying, are you the expected one? Or do we look for someone else? And when the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you saying, are you the expected one? Or do we look for someone else? At that very time, he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits. And he granted sight to many who were blind.

And he answered and said to them, go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me. The implications of this text are far reaching for us today. To help us understand what it is Jesus is saying to the disciples of John. John is John the Baptist. Luke brings him back on the scene after talking about him at great length in Luke chapter 1 and of course in Luke chapter 3.

John was born before Jesus some six months before. His mother was Elizabeth. She was related to Mary. And he was chosen by God to be the last of the great prophets. He would be the forerunner to the Messiah. He would come and pave the way so people would hear about the truth of the Messiah. He was that great prophet who pointed to the Messiah. Behold, he said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And once he made that statement he began to slowly move off the scene because in the gospel of John he says that the Lord Christ must increase and I must decrease.

And so as he pointed to Jesus the Messiah and people were able to see that Christ was the one that John had been preaching about all that time he began to slowly go off the scene. And when you come to Luke chapter 7 John is in prison. He's been there for quite a while. We're about a year and a half into the ministry of Christ when we come to Luke chapter 7 and John's been in prison for quite a while. And John is there and John has a question. In today's sermon it centers around the question and then the answer to the question.

It's the same sermon we're going to preach next week except we'll go into greater detail about the question and the doubts that John had. The question begins with John asking his disciples go see Jesus and ask him if he is the expected one. It's good that it's capitalized because it's a title for the Messiah. Ha Erkamanos the coming one. Are you the coming one or should we look for something or someone else alas another of a of the same kind. You look like the Messiah. You sound like the Messiah but if you're not the Messiah there must be someone else of the same makeup as you.

So are you the expected one? Are you the one we long for? Is there somebody else? Or are you Israel's strength and consolation? Are you the one that we desire? Are you the one we've waited for for such a long long time? And Israel had waited for their Messiah for many many years having read the Old Testament understanding the predictions about the coming the Messiah. They had been looking for the Messiah for years and years and years and so we would expect the people of Israel to ask this question but we don't expect John the Baptist to ask this question.

How was it the great the greatest prophet of all who preached about the coming of the Messiah who pointed directly to the Messiah all of a sudden begin to doubt that Jesus is that Messiah. Quite a fascinating story isn't it? To come to grips with this great prophet and what is taking place in his life as he sits in prison. Remember John having his mother related to Mary would know in depth about the virgin birth. He would know about the sinless one. John the Baptist would be the one who in baptizing Jesus would hear the voice out of heaven this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

And upon that baptism he would see the Spirit of God descend down upon Jesus which would be a fulfillment of Isaiah 11 1 and 2 that the Spirit of the Lord would be upon the Messiah. He would actually see that. He would actually hear the voice of God the Father from heaven yet he would come up with this question. Are you the expected one? Are you truly the Messiah of Israel? Why? How is it that this great prophet the greatest of all prophets according to the words of Jesus would begin to doubt even the message he preached and the man he pointed to?

How is it John came to this conclusion as he sat in prison? Because there was something about the Messiah that didn't fit. There was something about this one Jesus who didn't seem or appear to be all that John thought he was to be. And that was his kingliness his royal splendor that was missing. If Jesus is that Messiah why is the religious establishment rejecting him? Not only are they rejecting him they hate him. They're even plotting to kill him. If he is the Messiah why is he not ascending his throne?

If he is the expected one why is it Herod is still in office? If he is the Messiah he's able to do what it is he does. Why am I in the predicament I'm in? Why am I in prison? Why am I not released? Why am I here? If Jesus is who he says he is then why are these things happening contrary to what I believe the Bible teaches about the coming of the Messiah? All legitimate questions because it was the greatest question of the day. If you are the expected one if you are truly the Messiah if you are the coming one how is it upon your coming things have not worked out?

As John would say as I preached. Remember back in Luke chapter 3 verse number 17 John said these words about the Messiah. His whittling fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the weed into his barn and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Well that wasn't happening. And so John is in prison. Makarus is a place that's located not too far from the Dead Sea on a high plain region. The remnants of this prison are still there today because it was one of Herod's palaces and that's exactly where John was.

Tucked away in this prison trying to figure out why he was there. And why is it if Jesus is the Messiah and he was the forwarder to the Messiah and he was the greatest prophet ever to exist that would point the way to the Messiah that he would be in prison. It doesn't seem to fit. It doesn't seem to to be rational. It doesn't seem the way the Old Testament reads to me John would be thinking. Maybe even saying. So he says to two of his disciples you go and you ask Jesus. It says in verse number 18 and the disciples of John reported to him about all these things.

All what things? Well the widow's son at Nain had just been raised from the dead. The centurion's slave had been healed. And these are remarkable miracles. And John's disciples had had seen and heard about these great things. And so now they go and they report to John what they have heard and seen. And remember we told you last week that the people left the city of Nain reporting to the region all throughout Judea and Galilee the surrounding districts that there was a great prophet that had risen among us.

And that was their conclusion as to the ministry of Christ. So these men would go back to the prison talk to John and say John there is a great prophet that's risen among us. He's Jesus of Nazareth. And John's thinking well no that is the Messiah. He's more than a prophet. Yes the Messiah will be a prophet. But the Messiah will also be a priest. And the Messiah will also be a king. He's more than a prophet. Because you see John knew the virgin birth. He knew of the incarnation. He knew about it because his mother would have explained it to him thoroughly because she was related to Mary.

And she and Mary were very close. And Mary went to Elizabeth after the angel had come to her and told her that she would be a child. And she would be bearing in her womb the son of the Most High God. So John would know all that. He would know the story about his father and how he was unable to speak for nine months because he didn't believe that his mother that John's mother Elizabeth would conceive and bear a child. So he would know the testimony of his father. He would have read all about Zacharias's song in Luke chapter one.

All about the coming of the Messiah and who Jesus was and that the son had risen, S-U-N, had risen upon us to show the way to the truth. And John would have known all that. He would have spent those years in the wilderness preparing for the day he would come on the scene and begin to preach, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is upon us. Believe the gospel. Repent of your sins because the kingdom of God is here. And then when Jesus would show up on the scene he would say, there, right there, behold, right there, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

There he is. That's the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. That is the Messiah. And he would baptize that Messiah. He would hear the voice from heaven. He would see the Spirit of God descend upon him. And yet John would come with the infamous question, are you the expected one? Are you the one who is to come, the Messiah? This phrase, the expected one, is a title for the Messiah out of Psalm 118 verse number 26 which says, blessed is the coming one who comes in the name of the Lord. Ergomanos is a title that speaks of the coming of the Messiah, the coming one.

It's the same phrase used in Mark 11 9 when the crowd called him the coming one. Same phrase used in Luke 13 35 where Christ referred to himself as the coming one. In Luke 19 38 where the people called him the king who is the coming one. And so it was all throughout his ministry. Not only were the crowds speaking about him as the coming one, not only was Christ speaking of himself as the coming one, it was throughout his ministry. Even the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 10 verse number 37 says, for yet in a very little while he who is coming or the coming one will come and will not delay.

It's a title of the one who would come. Even in Zechariah chapter 9 verse number 9, rejoice greatly oh daughter of Zion, shout in triumph oh daughter of Jerusalem, behold your king is coming to you. Behold your king is the one who is the coming one who will come to you. And how will he come? He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt the foal of a donkey. And that's why at Passover in Luke chapter 19 the people would praise him for coming because they hailed him as the king of Zechariah 9 9 who was the coming one.

Because that's who he was. And yet John asked the question, are you the coming one? Having kept track of his ministry having kept track of his miracles, having kept track of his message, having kept track of all of his movements, he still had this question. Are you the expected one? Now folks, the Old Testament paints a picture of the Messiah. A very clear, accurate, concise picture of who the Messiah is. And there's no question in our minds as to who that Messiah is. He's Jesus of Nazareth, Lord of the universe.

We know that because we have studied the Bible and we know what the Word of God says. But there is something that Christ says that is very unique that not only opens the door to his Messiahship, but opens the door as to why it is we come to a place in our lives where we begin to doubt the work of God among us.

And this is where this passage will meet us where we're at. Because there are times in our life, like John, where we see ourselves in predicaments or situations that we don't understand. And we ask the question, if Jesus be God, if Jesus be king, why am I here? Or if Jesus be God, the king of the universe, why is it I find myself in this predicament? After all, I am a Christian. This isn't the way it's supposed to happen to Christians. And we find ourselves having doubt upon doubt upon doubt upon doubt as to Christ, his plan, his purpose for our lives.

That somehow he must have made a mistake. That somehow he didn't do it right. That somehow I got the wrong deal. That it just didn't happen the way I thought it was supposed to happen. And there's an answer as to why we find ourselves, listen, doubting God just like John the Baptist doubted God. Here he is in prison. I mean, this isn't just some low life off the street saying, wow, you know, are you, are you the Messiah? No, this is the forerunner to the Messiah. This is the one who was prophesied to come in Malachi three before the Messiah.

He himself was a fulfillment of prophecy. He was the prophet who was prophesied to come. John knew that. And all of a sudden, the prophet who was prophesied to come to preach about the ultimate prophet who would come has doubts about his ministry, his message, and the man he pointed to. See, this is very good for us. Because what John does is the right thing, not the wrong thing. We'll talk more about that next week. But what he does is absolutely right. He goes to the source. He goes directly to Christ himself.

Because he wants the answer. And listen to the words of Christ. As he spoke to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who were discouraged, downtrodden, disheartened. Why? Well, maybe Jesus wasn't the Messiah. Maybe everything we believe wasn't true. And they were down in the dumps because they doubted the plan of God. They doubted the purposes of God. And Jesus shows up to walk side by side with him. And they don't even recognize him. Now, why is it they didn't recognize him? Well, number one, he was in his glorified body.

And number two, he wasn't ready to reveal himself to them just yet. And so listen to what Jesus says.

Because what he says is absolutely crucial to this text and why it is people like you and me doubt God, his plan, his purposes in my life. Verse, I'm sorry, I need to go to Luke. I'm in John. Luke 24. You know the verse. Verse number 25. And Jesus said to them, O foolish men and slow of heart to believe, listen carefully, in all that the prophets have spoken. O foolish men and slow of heart. You are slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets said. I want to let you know that when discouragement and doubt arise in your life, it is because you do not believe all that Jesus says.

Oh, you believe some, but you don't believe in all that he said. And you see, that's the issue. In Luke 24, you foolish men, you slow of heart because you didn't believe not just some of what the Bible says, not you didn't believe what the Bible says.

You didn't believe all that the Old Testament says. He goes on to say these words. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Was it not necessary? Was it? Well, I don't know, was it? You see, Christ says there are certain things you want to believe.

There are certain things you even like to believe. But there are some things you want nothing to do with. You don't want to believe. That makes you foolish. It makes you slow of heart, because you don't want to believe all that Jesus says.

Folks, this is so deep for us to get a hold of, because we go through life just believing some of the things we want to believe, not all that Jesus really said. That's a problem. He said to the Pharisees, the religious elite of his day, who were meticulous about the law, you search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that bear witness of me, and you are unwilling to come to me, that you may have life. How is it that you search the scriptures day after day after day, and yet you have missed me in the scriptures?

How do you do that? How is it that you can spend hours upon end searching the scriptures, and yet miss my identity? How do you do that? Jesus would say in Luke chapter 24, same chapter we were in moments ago, in verse 44, 40 days after the ascension, I mean after the resurrection, right before his ascension, he says this, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things, there's that phrase again, all things which are written about me in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms, must be fulfilled.

All things. You see, you missed the all part. You got the some part, but you missed the all part. And then he goes and says this, then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.

He opened their minds. They might understand, because they didn't believe it all. They just believed some of it. They like the part where Jesus is the king. They like the part where he overthrows the enemies. They like the part where the son of David would ascend his throne, and begin to rule, and to reign. They like all that part. I mean that's the good part. That's the juicy part. That's the part where they win, and they like all that. But when you talk about the Christ, the Messiah, and his suffering, and his death, they don't like that part.

They don't want to hear that part. They don't want to deal with that part. That's just so sad. So sad. And Jesus says, you're foolish.

You're slow of heart to believe all that the Old Testament says about me. And you know what? The same thing is true today about us. When we begin to doubt God, his plan and purpose for our lives. And Jesus says, oh, you foolish men, you people who are slow of heart, that you won't believe all that I have said about who I am, and about how I operate.

Folks, this is so important. Because you see, the whole Bible is about the coming one. That's what the Bible is about. It's about the long expected Jesus, the Messiah. It begins all the way back, and I wrote these down. I've given to you before, but just real briefly, I'll give them to you. You got to write really fast if you're going to take notes. So hang on to your hat. If not, you can always buy the tape. It's probably easier. But way back in Genesis chapter 3, he was at, the promised one was the promised seed that would crush the serpent's head.

Fulfilled in Galatians chapter 3, verse number 16. Hebrews chapter 2, verse number 14. Romans chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. The coming one was the promised seed. In Genesis chapter 22, the coming one was the promised substitute on Mount Moriah, where Abraham, according to John 8, verse 56, would rejoice to see my day. When was it Abraham rejoiced to see the day of the Messiah? It was on Mount Moriah, which means foreseen by God. And he named that place Yahweh Yireh. The Lord will be seen on the mount seen by God, by all people, because this is the sacrificial substitute.

When God says, I will provide myself as lamb. So in Genesis chapter 22, he is the coming one who comes as a substitute. In Genesis chapter 3, he is the coming one who comes as a seed. In Genesis chapter 28, he is the coming one who comes, listen carefully, as a staircase that descends out of heaven. Remember Jacob, he had a dream and there was a staircase that descended out of heaven. It didn't go from earth to heaven. It came out of heaven to earth, right? Very important. The Hebrew syntax is very clear.

The staircase comes out of heaven to earth and all rabbis to this day will tell you that that staircase is the bridge between earth and heaven, but they never tell you what the bridge is. It's the Messiah. How do we know that? Read John chapter one, verse number 51. When the Lord God told Nathaniel that from this day forward, you will see the son of man and angels ascending and descending upon him. He was a fulfillment of the prophecy way back at the staircase, way back in Genesis chapter 28 that would descend out of heaven, come down to man.

And it was Jacob who said on that day that God is in this place that he had seen, listen carefully, the gate or the door to heaven. And so he was the coming one in Genesis 3 as a seed. He was the coming one in Genesis 22 as a sacrificial substitute. He was the staircase in Genesis chapter 28 that would lead man to heaven. And then in Genesis chapter 49, he is Shiloh, the one who was to come. Remember when, when Jacob was blessing his sons in Genesis chapter 49, verse number 10, it says, and the scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes.

Translated by the, by the Jewish people as the one to whom it belongs. What belongs? The scepter. The Messiah was the Shiloh who would hold the scepter in his hand because he would rule. Remember the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. Mary was from the tribe of Judah. Joseph was from the tribe of Judah. Bethlehem was in Judah. And Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. Revelation 5.5 calls him the lion from the tribe of Judah. So the expected one was the seed in Genesis 3.15. The substitute in Genesis 22.

The staircase in Genesis 28. The Shiloh in Genesis 49.10. The star in Numbers chapter 24, verses 17 to 19. A star shall rise out of Jacob. And we know that Christ says in Revelation 22, verse 16, that he is the bright and morning star.

And we know that Christ says that he was the light of the world. In Amalekai 4, verse number two, we know that the Messiah is the one who is called the Son, S-U-N, of righteousness, who will rise with healing in his wings.

And every rabbi will tell you that that is a prophecy of the coming Messiah who will be the light to the world. And Jesus is that light. And Jesus says, oh, you foolish men and slow of heart, that you don't see the expected one as the seed of Genesis 3.15.

That you don't see the expected one as the sacrificial substitute in Genesis chapter 22. That you don't see the coming one as the staircase in Genesis chapter 28. That you don't see the coming one as Shiloh in Genesis 49, verse number 10. That you don't see the coming one as the star that will rise out of Jacob in Numbers chapter 24, verses 17 to 19. That you are foolish and slow of heart, that you don't see the Messiah as the seer of Deuteronomy chapter 18, the prophet that will be greater than Moses, that will come down to you and show you the way to God.

And you can read about that in John 1.45, as well as Acts 7.37 and Acts chapter 3, where Peter points directly and Stephen points directly to Jesus Christ as that ultimate seer, as the fulfillment of the great prophet, the great seer that will come based on Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 15 to 17. Foolish and slow of heart, that you don't believe that the Messiah, the coming one, is the son of David in Psalm 89, verses 20 to 29 and 35 to 36. Because that was the Messiah's title. He was the son of David.

And isn't it interesting that in Matthew chapter 22, Christ says these words to the Pharisees, verse 41.

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question saying, what do you think about the Christ, the Messiah? Whose son is he? He said to them, they said to him, the son of David. He then said to them, then how does David in the spirit call him Lord? And he quotes Psalm 110, saying the Lord, who is Elohim, said to my Lord, Adonai, sit at my right hand until I put thine enemies beneath thy feet. If David then calls him Lord, how is he then his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask him any more questions.

No more questions. Because in the spirit, David called his son Lord. How can that be? How can his son be his Lord unless his son, the son of David, is the God-man, the Messiah of the universe? And what did Christ say in Revelation 22? He says, I, Jesus, am the root and offspring of David. I am the source of David's life and line, and I am the son of David's life and line. And Jesus says, oh foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the Bible says.

In Psalm 118, 22, this coming one is the stone that the rejecters, or the builders, would reject. In Isaiah chapter 4, in Isaiah chapter 11, the coming one is the shoot, or the sprout that will spring from the stem of Jesse. In Isaiah chapter 41, Isaiah 43, Isaiah 45, the coming one is the Savior of the world. In Isaiah 48, verse number 17, the coming one, the expected one, is the separate one, or the holy one. He is separate because he is utterly distinct from anything that we understand or know, because he is the holy one of God.

In Isaiah 49, Isaiah 53, the holy one, the coming one, is the servant of the Lord. In Isaiah chapter, I'm sorry, Ezekiel 34, and Zechariah 13, he is the shepherd who would give his life for the sheep. In Daniel 2, 44, he is the sovereign whose kingdom will come, and he will rule. In Daniel 7, 13, he is the son of man who descends from heaven. And in Isaiah 9, verse number 6, the coming one is the son of God. The child would be born, but the son would be given. And the son that was given has a title.

That title is wonderful. And Judges chapter 13 tells us that the title wonderful is the name of the pre-incarnate Christ. We also know that the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 9, verse number 6, that he is the mighty God, El Gabor.

So we know that the Bible calls the coming one, the Messiah, God, in Isaiah 9, 6, El Gabor. Also calls him the father of eternity, or the architect, or the creator of eternity. Equal with Micah chapter 5, verse number 2, which talks about that Bethlehem will give birth to the one who is from everlasting to everlasting, that he truly is the God of the universe. And Jesus says, oh foolish men and slow of heart, because you see you only believe certain things about the Old Testament.

You didn't believe everything about the Old Testament. That's the problem. But what does Jesus do? The disciples come and say, are you the expected one? John has sent us. Now Jesus had great love for John. Great love for John. The Bible says these words in Luke chapter 7.

At that very time he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits. He granted sight to many who were blind. They come and they ask him a question and instantaneously, wham, across the board. He heals hundreds of people just like that, bang. Is that good enough for you? And then he says, you go and report to John what you have seen, what you have heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

Four verses in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 26, Isaiah 29, Isaiah 35, Isaiah 61. What he did was take these disciples of John right back to the Old Testament to show him all of his messianic credentials. He didn't just heal everybody and say, okay, go back and show him what you saw. He says, you go back and show him not only what you saw, but what the scriptures actually prophesied about the Messiah who would come. That's what they did. Now listen to the next words. Jesus says, and blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over, what?

Me. Me. Jesus is very careful in how he phrases what he says. Blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me. Jesus says, don't fall away.

Don't be offended because of your disappointment or because of your discouragement with the way I choose to work. Don't do that. Instead, believe everything I say. Believe it all. Not just some of it, every part of it. Because if you do, you'll be blessed. You'll be blessed. And you know what? John did. His disciples would go back to him, explain to him, and you know what? He would believe it all the way to the very end because he would lose his head in a few short weeks after this encounter. He would believe it all the way to the end.

Why? Because when you believe all that God says in the midst of your discouragement and the midst of your disappointment, because it didn't work out the way you thought, know this, it's working out exactly as he has ordained it to work.

And you must believe all that he has said in the midst of it. You can't just take bits and pieces of it and say, well, I believe that and I believe that. Oh, I don't believe that. I believe that though. I don't believe that. You can't do that. You got to believe it all because it's all part of his plan and purpose for your life. So here was Jesus. They missed the whole part of his suffering, his death. And Jesus says, tell John, tell John that the nature of people must change before the nations of the world will ever change.

And I've come to change man's nature. I've come to recreate my image in him. I've come to die for him, that he might live forever with me. In the midst of all that, we learn a very valuable lesson about doubt and discouragement. And next week we'll take you through why it is we doubt God and how it is God answers all those doubts in his word so that we can never hear those words. Oh, foolish men and slow of heart that you refuse to believe all that the Bible says.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day and the truth of your word and the opportunity we have to study it together. And I pray that Lord, the people that are here today would truly believe your word and be committed to following you with all their hearts, knowing that what you have said speaks truth to their lives. In Jesus name, Amen.