Luke 7:18-35

As we come to our text today we are going to find John the Baptist in prison.  Let me remind you how he got there:

Luke 3:15-20:: Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, 16 John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 “His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, 20 also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.

John the Baptist preached boldly… he preached a message of repentance.  He even called the religious leaders of his day a “brood of vipers.”  John did not stop short of declaring the whole counsel of God.  Yet what did John have to show for it? 

Luke 7:11-17

We have spent the last 2 weeks looking at the account of the centurion. 2 weeks ago we saw Jesus heal the centurion’s servant and in doing so we examined the purpose of the miracles. Jesus never performed miracles to show off. The main purpose of the miracles was to demonstrate that Jesus is who He claimed to be… the Messiah, God manifest in the flesh.

As we examined the character of the centurion, we learned several valuable lessons for us today… it is still possible to be compassionate, it is still possible to be a person of faith regardless of your environment. and it is still possible to be humble regardless of your position in life. Our Lord Jesus raked Capernaum over the coals for their lack of faith, but the centurion in Luke 7 was unaffected by the city’s unbelief.

Luke 7:1-10

I know we looked at this text last week, but sometimes it is impossible for me to cover everything that is important in one sermon.  There is one principle in this text that needs to be examined… it is a principle that is not “in season” today… either in the world or in the church, and this principle that I am referring to can be summed up in one word, the word authority.  Let’s review how it is used in this text.

Luke 7:1-10

In the first 17 verses of the 7th chapter of Luke we are going to see Jesus perform 2 miracles. Before we look at the miracles themselves, I want to take a moment to consider just why Jesus performed miracles.

Let me say right up front that Jesus didn’t perform miracles to show off. Now if you and I had the power to heal the sick or raise the dead, what thoughts do you think might come to mind? How about, “Look at me… look at what I can do.” Now you might not struggle with that thought, but I know I would ☺ Jesus, however, didn’t perform miracles to show off. Consider the following:

Luke 6:46-49

Luke 6:46-49: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say? 47 “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 “He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 “But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

What is the thrust of this passage? I believe it is this: obedience to Jesus’ commands is not optional. This gets tricky, so please stay with me… as Brad Bigney says frequently, “I don’t want you going away today hearing what I am not saying.”