Walking on Water Bible Church

Pastor Mike Holloway: We're in the Gospel of Luke and we're going to be talking about when the kingdom doesn't feel like the kingdom. Sometimes the kingdom won't feel like the kingdom. We'll get into that today. We've been doing expository teaching through the Gospel of Luke. One of the powerful gospel writers, Luke is the only Gentile writer in the entire Bible. He's the only non-Jewish author in the scriptures. Yet, God has ordained Luke to write. As we've talked about before, remember he received his testimony from eyewitnesses.

Eyewitnesses. So Luke, though he was not there to see the Lord Jesus Christ perform the miracles, he spoke to credible witnesses. How many of you know credible witnesses are important? You can't just receive everybody's testimony. Do any of you know anybody who comes and tells you something, and every time they tell you something, you look at them and you say, "I'm going to have to double-check behind this"? Anybody know anybody like that? Not here. They walk on water here. But in other places, they tell you something and you're looking at them like, "Come on, man. Did that really happen like that?"

But Luke was smart enough to go to credible witnesses. He went to the mother of Jesus. He went to the disciples of Jesus. No doubt, perhaps even interviewed the brothers of Jesus to obtain his testimony. Now, in chapter number seven, we have reached a point where we're going to talk a little bit today about John the Baptist. So we'll pick it up right here at Luke chapter seven, verse 17 through verse 23. It is on the screen if you can see that. You can read along with us or you can open up in your Bibles to Luke 7:17. And those who don't mind, let's read these verses together.

Amen. Let us read. And this report about him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region. Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, "Are you the coming one, or do we look for another?" Interesting question John is asking. Verse 20. When the men had come to him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, 'Are you the coming one, or do we look for another?'"

And that very hour, he cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind he gave sight. Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead are raised; the poor have the gospel preached to them." Last verse, 23. "And blessed is he who is not offended of me."

This passage of scripture we will be covering is how Jesus is showing himself to be the promised Messiah that the prophets talked about and how the kingdom of God—and we've been hitting on this week after week, even in our Bible studies—has now entered into human history through Christ. The kingdom's presence does not mean the immediate absence of hardship. So again, we're going to be talking concerning when the kingdom doesn't feel like the kingdom. How many of you realize that just because we are saved, just because we are born-again believers, it doesn't mean you won't experience some type of hardship, test, or trials?

You will not be able to wave all of your troubles away. Just because you're saved doesn't mean everybody is going to leave you alone. Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean that people are just going to say, "Oh, he's a Christian, don't bother him. He doesn't have to pay his mortgage. He's a believer; he trusts in God." Don't you all wish it was like that? We'd have more Christians, I tell you that, at least confessing Christians. But it doesn't work like that. Jesus told us explicitly in the gospels that in this world, you are going to have some tribulations.

In this life, you're going to have some ups and some downs, some high points and some low points. As the Southern preacher would say, some tests and some trials. You're going to experience some things. Sometimes in your own household, sometimes on the job, sometimes with the ones you love the most. Here's what we want to convey to you today: don't interpret the truth of God or His Word through the pain of your prison. Often times, people measure how good God is by how good things are in my life.

"I got the promotion; God is good. I lost the job; the devil is busy." Do you see how we know how to flip that thing? "Wife treating me right; God is good. She doesn't want to cook; the devil is busy." I got a word for you: God is good in every situation. Oh yes, He is. But He never promised that people will always treat you that way or that your circumstance will always mirror or reflect the goodness of His power and of His glory. He never promised that. So don't interpret God through the pain of your prison.

Interpret what you're going through—your prison—and we call it a prison, and we'll get into that today with John, because those are those situations that it seems like I can't get out of. I've been stuck here for a while. Has anybody been going through something and you've been trying to get through that thing for a while? I've been stuck here for a while. It's like a prison. I wake up to it, I lie down to it, I think about it in the midnight hour. I can't seem to get away from it. It's that thing that bothers me, that thing that hurts me, that thing that perplexes my mind. It confuses me, and this is the thing that I want God to help me in, yet my prison situation has not changed.

Don't view God's goodness based on your circumstances. You've got to base who God is in your life based on what He said, not on what they did. Don't do it. So as we move here and talk about a man by the name of John the Baptist, John was familiar with Jesus. As a matter of fact, they were related. They were cousins. That's my cousin. If anybody's going to have my back, it's going to be my cousin, my close relative. As a matter of fact, John is the one that announced Jesus even before Jesus came. John was out there preaching before Jesus revealed himself. John was out there preaching, saying, "There's one coming. He's coming, y'all, mightier than I am. I'm not even worthy to tie his shoes. He's coming."

John is the one that when Jesus came, who do you think baptized Jesus? It was the Apostle John. They had a relationship with him. And it was John who saw the Spirit of God descend from heaven like a dove and descend on Jesus. John was so convinced that Jesus was the one that he looked at Jesus coming from afar, and John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world." What he's saying, John is saying, "I know Him. He's the Messiah. He's the one the prophets talked about. He's the Redeemer. He's the one that comes to help me. He's the one that when I'm down, will pick me up. He's the one that when I'm struggling, He'll give me strength. When I'm discouraged, He'll encourage me. He's the one. I know Him. I have a relationship with Him. God revealed to me it was Him."

Then John goes to jail. John went to jail. He was locked up. And John wasn't locked up, he wasn't in prison because he had broken the law because John was saved. And saved people don't break the law. Somebody just said, "Hey," they didn't say, "Amen." They were like, "Hey." Saved people do what they're supposed to do. John wasn't in prison because he had violated anything. He didn't steal anything. He didn't break any laws. John was in prison actually because he was faithful to God and was doing what God called him to do.

What was one of the things God called John to do? Number one, John was a preacher, the last of the Old Testament prophets. And John was commissioned—and somebody would say, "John ain't in the Old Testament." Yeah, but he's the last of the Old Testament prophets because the new covenant hadn't started yet. That started when those who came to Christian education, we talked about the birth of the church. But this was before that. So John, the last of the Old Testament prophets, came preaching the gospel, preaching that there's a Messiah coming, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

John was doing what he was supposed to do. He was living right. He wasn't sleeping around. Oh, Lord, have mercy. He was doing what he was supposed to do. And guess what else John was doing? John wasn't afraid to call out sin. I'm scared of preachers that are scared to call out sin. "No, don't preach on that. The saints aren't going to come." Well, if they're not coming when you're calling out sin, they probably aren't really saints. But if you call out sin, they can get converted, repent, and become saints. Because John saw a leader of society, Herod the Great, who had married his brother's wife.

John said, "You're not right, Herod." He wasn't afraid to call out sin. How many of you know you can't be afraid to deal with the sin issue? It always gets quiet when we talk about this, but it's important. If there's sin in our lives, we've got to deal with it. It doesn't just go away. How many of you go out to your yard and see dandelions and just wish them away? No, you've got to get out there. My mom doesn't let any dandelions grow in her yard. I wish I could say the same. She gets out there and she digs that thing up because she realizes that if I don't stop it, what is it going to do? It's going to spread.

And so if sin is not addressed and dealt with properly, it will impact the good grass around it. So that's why it has to be addressed. It has to be dealt with. And John looked at this man and said, "No, Doc, you're wrong." But Herod was upset with him and locked this man up for preaching the truth of God's Word. Listen, even in this country, I want you all to hear me very closely. This nation is going backwards away from the things of God. And you never know, there's going to come a time, and some of the laws that they're even trying to pass now, they're going to want us to put a transgender bathroom in. The devil is a liar.

We will not do that. We've got to be faithful to the Word of God, you all. That doesn't mean that we hate the person that might be struggling. I want to be clear there. We don't hate the person that might be struggling. We love them and we're going to do our best to help them. But we're not going to help you by condoning your sinful acts. And John didn't do that either. John said, "I love you, but I've got to tell you the truth." How many of you know real love is going to tell you the truth? Hello? You've got to tell them the truth. You've got to say, "Listen, I love you and I don't want to see you destroyed, so I'm telling you the truth."

This isn't about your feelings; it's not about us being friends. See, some of us have too many friends in here that we're too friendly with them to tell them the truth. No, tell them the truth. A real friend is going to tell you when you're wrong. I don't want a friend that's just going to let me do whatever. I'm playing in the middle of the street about to get hit by a truck and you don't say anything? No, tell me, "Move!" Hello? And so John did that, and that's why he was in prison because he faithfully confronted Herod's sin.

So faithfulness to God's Word doesn't guarantee comfortable circumstances. Your circumstances may not always be comfortable. Faithfulness to God doesn't mean you always get the promotion, the job, the friends, the fellowship. It doesn't mean that. Sometimes it means the opposite. Being obedient doesn't exempt us from trouble. Being in a difficult place does not necessarily mean you're outside the will of God. So I want to make that clear too. Just because you've got problems in your life doesn't mean you're outside of the will of God. Sometimes it means I'm doing the right thing.

Does anybody ever make up your mind, "I'm going to do the right thing," and that's when the devil shows up? "I'm going to do this thing God's way," and that's when every test happens, that's when the devil tries to attack your life. But listen, stand on the Word of God because the God that inspired you to do right, He's the God that can equip you to be right and live right and be what He's called you to be. So don't let your circumstances control you. John didn't let his circumstances control him. It would have been easy to go to jail and John says, "You know what, Herod? Man, you know what, I was just playing. You're good, man. You can marry whoever you want to marry."

How many of you know marriage is serious? Who you marry is serious. It's never to be entered into lightly or unadvisedly. She knows the Bible; that's what I'm talking about, sis. No, you don't enter into that like that because he's got wavy hair. Those waves aren't going to do anything for you. Because she's got hair down her back. I feel like I need to meddle here for a while. No, no, that's not why we do it. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong—you know, the brother's got waves, that's cool. That means he takes care of himself, he brushes his hair. I used to have some. I've got like three left.

Gray hair doesn't wave that easy. Gray hair just stays—you can brush it all you want, it just pops back up. Thank you, thank you. I'm holding on to three though. All of them. But that's not why you get married. You get married because, one, they love God. See, that's not how we typically start. We get married because, one, they look good, and if they love God, that's a bonus. Can I get the married folk to help me for a moment? Nobody's fine when you're arguing. Nobody's fine. Somebody over there was like, "Nobody!"

Nobody's fine when you're arguing. You could have just been like, "Ooh, I'm so blessed. She's so fine." And then you get in an argument, and "if you don't get your ugly..." Nobody's fine when you're arguing. You'd better get somebody that loves God. That wasn't even in my notes, you all see it's not on the slide. But John knew Jesus, yet he ended up in prison. He had a relationship with Jesus, yet his circumstances went left. Everything wasn't right in his life, but he knew Jesus. He was doing what he was supposed to do.

You know how we say, "I've been faithful to that church. I've given." Yeah, we start running down our resume when we start going through something. "I've given, and they're going to do me like this?" How many people have been mad with God because your circumstance doesn't look like you thought it was supposed to look? The kingdom didn't look like the kingdom. My blessing didn't look like a blessing. There are a lot of people mad with God because something happened, something tragic occurred in their lives. This is what John was wrestling with because he was in prison while Jesus was out here healing people.

Now, John is locked up. My cousin, the one I know, I'm the one who announced Him. Can you imagine how we'd have been talking? "They wouldn't even have known about you if I wouldn't have announced you. I'm the one who told them. The crowd was coming to me first." And that's true. John had droves and thousands of people coming out to him, and he kept pointing them to Jesus. That's the job of every preacher: not to point people to themselves. This isn't about me. This isn't about any leader here. This is about Jesus.

What we do isn't about us. There are no superstars here. If your name doesn't start with a J—and I'm not talking about Jesse either—I'm talking about Jesus. If your name isn't Jesus and you're not the Christ, this is not about you. This is about the Lord Jesus Christ from glory. Every song we sing, every note they play on the instrument, every word we preach is about Jesus Christ. Jesus is out here healing people, John's in prison. Jesus is out here bringing other people out, John's still not brought out that physically. Jesus is restoring people's sight, restoring their relationship, and John's prison door is still closed.

Jesus is out here even raising the dead, and John's prison door is still closed. When are You going to do it for me? Anybody ever prayed that? Somebody else comes up to you like, "Oh man, God gave me that job," and you be like, "Oh, happy," but you can hardly be happy because when are You going to do it for me? Disciples of John came back to John and said, "Hey man, Jesus is out there healing everybody."