"The Forgotten Beatitude"

Hi there, this is Lon Solomon and I'd like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor that God has given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward. And I'm so glad you've tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio. And now let's get to the word of God. Have you ever sort of expected that things were going to go a certain way and then they didn't go that way? Is that ever happened to you? You know, not having things go the way you expect can really mess up your whole day. In fact, I'll tell you, not having things go the way you expect can really shake your faith even. And that's what's going to happen to a fellow named John the Baptist we're going to see this morning where when things didn't go the way he expected, it really shook him up. And Jesus responds to him and teaches him a great spiritual lesson that not only is good for John, but good for us.

And I hope you'll follow along and that what we're going to talk about will really change your life and your perspective on life as a result. Now, let's look, verse 18, chapter seven. John's disciples told him about all these things.

All what things? Well, all the things that Jesus was doing, healing and raising people from the dead and all this kind of stuff and calling two of them. He sent them to the Lord to ask, are you the one who was coming or should we expect someone else?

Now, let's stop there for a second. You understand John's question? His question is, Jesus, are you the Messiah or should we be looking for somebody else? Now, of all people, can you fathom that is John the Baptist asking this question? I mean, remember, John the Baptist was the one who introduced Jesus Christ to the world. He was the one whose mission it was to proclaim the appearance of the Messiah to the world. So of all people, how could John the Baptist be the one who's asking, hey, Jesus, are you really the Messiah or did I, you know, did I miss something here?

Is there somebody else coming? The reason he asked that question is found in the fact that he had to send two of his disciples to ask Jesus. That's what verse 19 says. You see, why didn't he go himself? The reason is that he was incarcerated. John is in jail.

That's why he didn't go himself. Luke Chapter three, verse 19. And when John rebuked Herod, who was the king because of Herodias, his brother's wife, see, he was living with his brother's wife, but he wasn't supposed to be.

She wasn't divorced and it just wasn't supposed to happen. And all the other evil things he had done, Herod added to all those evil things by locking John up in prison. See, here's the point. When Jesus Christ first appeared, John proclaimed him as the Messiah. Then John had some expectations as the key word about what was going to happen next. Look here in Chapter three, verse 16. He, meaning Jesus, will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork will be in his hand to clear his threshing floor of all trash, and he will gather the wheat into his barn. But he will burn up the chaff, the useless part of the wheat, with unquenchable fire. See, John expected that when the Messiah came, Jesus would clean house. He would winnow his threshing floor, meaning he would sweep it clean of all trash.

He would gather the wheat in the barn and he would take the unusable part of the wheat and he'd burn it up with unquenchable fire. People like Herod would be out of there. People like Pontius Pilate would be kicked out. The Romans would be run out of Israel.

The kingdom of God would be set up and there would be a rain of righteousness and godliness that would happen. And so John's expectations, based on some very good Old Testament teaching, John, in response, went out and began to rebuke Herod and say to him, You don't deserve to have your brother's wife. This is wrong. This is sin.

You shouldn't be doing this. And he expected Jesus to back him up. But what ended up happening was John ended up being thrown in jail and he was rotting in jail. The Jewish people were rejecting Jesus Christ as their Messiah.

The Romans were not thrown out of Israel or even close. And this day of vengeance that John the Baptist had been expecting wasn't anywhere on the horizon. So John begins to wonder if maybe he got something wrong here. I mean, maybe the train came through and he missed it. So he sends to Jesus and says, Jesus, you know, are you really the Messiah?

Maybe there's somebody else coming. Did I did I miss something here in the translation? How could John, of all people, ask this question? Listen, the answer is because things were not going the way John expected.

Do you see that? Now, that's the most important thing here, because if you miss that, you miss what makes the passage cook. John had a set of expectations and Jesus was not doing it the way John expected it to go. And as a result, it shook John up and he began to wonder, well, gosh, maybe maybe I got this whole thing wrong. Now, what does Jesus say in response?

Let's turn back to Luke seven. What's the answer that he gives? Well, he gives two answers to John. The first one was, hey, John, not to worry. I really am the Messiah.

Relax. Verse 21. At that very time, Jesus cured many who had diseases and sicknesses and evil spirits and gave sight to many who were blind. And then he replied to John's messengers, You go back and report to John what you've seen and heard, that the blind receive sight, the lame walk. Those who have leprosy are cured. The death here, the dead are raised.

And the good news is preached to the poor. Now, why would Jesus answer John's question like this? Well, do you remember the rascal song that used to go, How can I be sure in a world that's constantly changing?

How can I be sure? Want me to sing it? No, no, no.

OK, well, you know the song. Well, that's what John was asking about Jesus. How can I be sure you're really the Messiah? And the answer is that God had given a whole list in the Old Testament, a whole list of signs that would identify the Messiah really coming.

You can go back if you want. We don't have time this morning and read them. Isaiah 35 is the key passage. And in Isaiah 35, it says that the Messiah will do this. He will help the blind to see. He will cause the deaf to hear.

He will cause the lame to walk. And Isaiah 61 says he'll preach the gospel to the poor. Now, John knew the Old Testament. John knew his Bible. And by taking the disciples of John out and doing all of this in their sight and saying, Now, you go back and tell John that I've done all six of these things. What Jesus was doing was sending a message to John big time.

And his message was this. John, I'm the one. All right. You can relax. The signs are here so you can be sure I really am the Messiah. Don't worry, John.

You didn't get it wrong. I really am the guy you were looking for. And that's the message he sent to John. John, you don't have to worry.

I'm who I say I am. Now, there was a second message he sent to John, and that's found in verse twenty three. He said, And John, by the way, blessed is the person who does not fall away on account of me.

The King James will say blessed is the person who doesn't stumble on account of me. You say, Lon, I don't get it. What's he trying to say that that verse doesn't make any sense to me.

But what Jesus was saying was this. John, you know what's shaking you up, pal? What's shaking you up is that I'm not running the show exactly the way you expected me to run the show. But, John, I'm running the show the way I want to run the show. John, I'm running the show the way I know it's best to run the show. And, John, blessed is the person who lets me run my business my way.

You understand what he's saying? Blessed is the person, John, who lets me run my business, my way. Vance Havner, the great southern preacher, calls this the forgotten beatitude. You remember all the beatitudes that begin blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are you when people, you know, persecute you. Blessed are those on, you know, all those in Matthew Chapter five. Well, this is the only one that's not in that list. Vance Havner calls it the forgotten beatitude.

But this one is just as powerful and just as life changing as the rest of them. And this is the message that Jesus sends back to John in prison. John, it's not going the way you expected.

That's all right. It's going the way I want it to go. And blessed is the person who lets me run my business, my way. You know, John's going to need this beatitude, folks, because for John, things are going to go from bad to worse. You say, really?

How? I want you to turn back and let me show you. Chapter 14. If you're using our copy of the Bible, it's page six hundred and ninety two. Matthew Chapter 14, verse three. Matthew 14, verse three, page six ninety two.

Ready? Verse three. Now, Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison. Now, we know that already. Right.

We've already seen that. And he did it because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for John had been saying to him, it's not lawful for you to have her. See, John had his expectations went out, expected Jesus to back him up. Boom.

He's in jail. Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people because the people thought John was a prophet. Now, on Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked for. If you're a parent, don't ever do this. Don't ever tell your kid they can have whatever they ask for. That's a big mistake because they'll take you up on it. Always say we'll see. That's a classic answer.

Just stick with we'll see and you cannot go wrong. OK, now prompted by her mother, this girl prompted by her mother, she said, give me on a platter the head of John the Baptist. The king was distressed, but because he made an oath and because his dinner guests were there and he didn't want to embarrass himself, of course, he ordered that her request be granted and they had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl who carried it to her mother.

This is not the kind of woman you wanted for an enemy. But can you imagine what the scene was in prison when they came to get John? They tied his hands behind his back.

Right. And they forced him down onto his knees and they laid his head over sideways on the chopping block. And then that guard stood over top of him and took that big old ax up like this.

And while he was up in the air, get ready to come down. What do you think John was saying to himself down on his knees with his head on that block? I have a feeling he was saying, blessed is the man who lets God run his business his way. Blessed is the man who lets God run his business. Lord, you run your business your way.

Lord, I sure hope you know what you're doing. Blessed is the man who lets God run his business. And it was over. John was going to need this beatitude.

But you know what? When we meet John the Baptist in heaven, I think John's going to say to you, blessed is the person who let God run his business his way. My job was done. It was time for me to go. Here I am up in heaven enjoying the rewards of having served God faithfully. It was OK. They cut my head off. It was all part of the plan of God.

I have no regrets. That was the message Jesus wanted to get across to this man. And that's the message he wants to get across to you and me. Now, that's the end of our passage, but it leads us to ask the question. So what?

So what? I wasn't back there. I'm not in jail. Nobody's going to cut my head off, I hope. Well, listen, let me talk to you about that.

Whether we realize it or not, friends, all of us have expectations about how God ought to run things in our life. You say, oh, no, I don't. Yes, you do.

Yes, you do. Usually they go something like this. I expect that God should keep me healthy and strong forever. I expected God should keep my family healthy and strong forever. I have the expectation that God should make my career prosperous and that God should provide me with the financial wherewithal to do anything I want to do when I want to do it and how I want to do it. That's my expectation. I expect God was going to make my car go two hundred thousand miles without ever needing a repair. I expect that. I expect God should rescue me from every stupid mistake I make and that God should extricate me from every cow pie.

I step in and help me come out smelling like polo if I'm a man or Chanel No. I expect that God should never let anything bad happen to my children. I expect that God should always let the God fearing politicians win. I expect that God should never let any of my appliances break. You ever been there with the washing machine on the fritz? And what do you say to God? You say, now, God, how could you let this happen to me? This is not a good time for my washing machine to break. Well, by the way, when is a good time?

Well, there's never a good time. That's why God should never let it happen. And I've had conversations like that about my disposal and my dishwasher and my microwave and my stove and you name it, my dryer, haven't you? See, if you're a Christian, our expectation is our appliances go on forever. Rest of the world's appliances break. But God somehow keeps ours going forever.

We never have to fix them. And maybe you expected to marry that girlfriend or that boyfriend and God didn't have it work out that way. Or maybe you expected that marriage to go on forever and it just didn't work out that way.

Or maybe you expected to have children by this time in your life. But you don't. Some of us expect that God should so fill us with the spirit and so control our life that when we walk on the golf course, we shoot scratch.

Have you ever had that? I walk out on the course and I go, God, you can shoot 72. I know you can. So if you can shoot 72, why can't I shoot 72? I know it can be done. And I always shoot 72 by about hole 10 or 11.

I always shoot 72. Hey, look, friends, did you notice that none of those expectations that I just named included anything bad happening to you? Did you pick that up? We always expect God's going to do all the great stuff for us. Nobody ever says, God, I have the expectation that today I'm going to wreck my car.

You should do that for me. Nobody does that. But, you know, when something does happen, when God does fail to comply with our expectations, when things happen that upset our little apple cart, as they did with John the Baptist, isn't it true that we often struggle just like John did? I think so, if we're honest.

And you know what? Usually we respond in one of two ways. Either, number one, it shakes our faith. You remember Moses who went out to deliver the children of Israel, went out and he killed that Egyptian and then presented himself to the Israelites and said, Here I am, guys, I'm here to lead you out. What did he expect? He expected them to say, Oh, Moses, it's so good to see you. Our bags are packed. Let's go. And what they said is, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?

Who put you in charge? Jack, get out of here. So he went off and was a fugitive for 40 years in the wilderness. It shook his faith when God appeared to him in the burning bush. You remember Moses said, God, I can't do that.

God, I can't do that. God said, But 40 years ago, you thought you could do that. Moses said, Oh, no, no. But that was 40 years ago, God. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.

I don't think I can do it anymore. It shook his faith. Or if God doesn't do things the way we expect, the other thing we tend to do is to take matters in our own hands and say, Well, you know, God's not working it out the way he needs to, which by definition means the way I expect him to. Therefore, God needs my help.

Therefore, I need to get involved and manipulate this thing to get it to go the way that I know it ought to go anyway. Maybe God doesn't agree, but God will once we work it out my way. Abraham's a great example of that. Remember, God kept saying, Abraham, you're going to have a son. You're going to have a son. You're going to have a son. You're going to have a son. And meanwhile, Abraham's not having a son. Finally, Abraham said, Well, you know, I don't know when God's going to come through on this, but I can't keep going.

I'm almost 100 years old. I've got to make a son here. So he went and got Hagar, Sarah's handmaiden, and he made a son named Ishmael. That wasn't the son God had in mind at all. What God wanted Abraham to do was wait and wait and wait on the plan of God.

God knew what he was doing. But boy, Ishmael caused a lot of problems to Isaac. And there was a lot of conflict between these children and between their races and all because Abraham took things into his own hands and regretted it, just like we always do when we take things in our own hands. And, you know, friends, just think how much less complicated the world would be today if Abraham hadn't done that. Just think what the Middle East might look like today if Abraham hadn't done that.

In contrast to Abraham, who took matters in his own hand, and Moses, who let it completely shake his faith, I'd like to offer you the example of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Remember those three fellows? Remember King Nebuchadnezzar set up this huge statue of himself. And then he said, Now, fellas, I brought in the brass band and when the brass band starts, here's the deal. Everybody's going to get on their knees and they're going to bow down to my statue, you know, and if everybody does that, we're going to have a big party and everything's going to be great. But just in case you don't do that, we got this fire over here, about a thousand degrees, and we're going to throw you in it and incinerate you.

So there's the program, fellas. And so then he said, all right, maestro, hit it. And the band started with the zithers and the liars and all these other things that I don't have a clue what they are. And then everybody bowed down except for three people. Remember who they were?

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. So the king says, oh, wait a minute. Well, stop. Stop the music. Stop the music. Come here, fellas. And so they come over and he says to them, cool hand Luke, what we have to hear is a failure to communicate, fellas.

Let me try this one more time with you. See the statue? Hear the band. Bow down. Okay. Very simple.

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to get this. All right. You got it right. Okay.

Now, guys, hit it. And so they, the zither and the liar and all those other things start up. Everybody bows down.

Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. Still standing there looking at him. King says, oh, wait a minute. Stop. Wait a minute. What's wrong with you guys? We have a learning disability here. What's wrong with you people?

Didn't you get this? Look what they say. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, verse 16, replied to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, we don't need to defend ourselves before you about this. If we're thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it. And he will rescue us from your hand, O king. This was their expectation.

Here's what they were expecting. You throw us in there. God's going to save us. God's going to deliver us. But now watch. But, they say, even if he doesn't.

Oh, there's an interesting statement. Even if we fry up so bad that you can't even find any of us anymore. You can't even find our teeth to do the dental records, King. Even if that happens, we want you to know that even if God doesn't do it the way we expect, we will not serve your gods. We will not worship the image of gold and we will not bow down to you.

You got that, King? In other words, what they were saying is God can run his world any way he wants to run his world. We'd like to see him run his world by saving us from this fire. But if God decides not to run his world that way, that's perfectly OK with us. It's God's world.

He can run it any way he wants. And either way, we're sticking with God. We're trusting God. We're obeying God. We'll let the chips fall where they may. Now, this is the point that Jesus is trying to get across to John. John, it doesn't matter whether I do it the way you expect. You need to stick with me. I know what I'm doing.

And this is the point that God wants to get across to you and me if we're Christians today. You say, I get it, Lon. We're talking fatalism here, right? Fatalism.

You know, ca sera, sera, whatever will be. Fatalism. What does fatalism say? We're not talking fatalism here. Fatalism says nobody's running the world. It's all random.

It's all chance. Nobody has any control over it. So you might as well just take it as it comes because nobody can do anything about it anyway.

That's fatalism. This is not what Jesus is trying to talk to John and you and me about. What Jesus is saying is that he's running the world. It's not that nobody's running the world. Jesus says I'm running the world and I got it completely under control.

I knew exactly what I'm doing. I'm doing exactly what's best for you. I'm doing exactly what's best for the plan of God in this world, even if it doesn't meet with your expectations. So I'm asking you to follow me and trust me and submit to me because I'm running the world and I'm doing it right. Friends, fatalism is not the issue here. The issue is the lordship of Jesus Christ over every area of our life, including our expectations. God wants to get you and me as Christians to the place where we have given God permission to run our lives any way he deems best, where we've decided that our job is not to dictate to God how he should run his business, but that our job is to obey him and be loyal to him and follow him regardless whether we agree with his choices or like his choices or whether we don't.

That's where God's trying to get you and me. You say, Lon, this is stupid. Nobody lives like this. No, this is impossible to live this way.

No, it isn't. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego live like this. Thousands of other Christians down through the centuries have lived like this. And friend, you can live like this, too.

With God's help, so can I. If you and I will make the lordship of Jesus Christ the central issue of our lives, we can live like this. If you're here and you're a Christian, never forget that God's business is taking care of you. God's business is running your life and making it turn out right. That's God's business.

He's your father. And it may not always go the way you expect, but remember what Jesus told John. Blessed is the person who lets me run my business, my way. And dear friend, maybe you're here this morning and things aren't going exactly the way you expected in your life. Maybe you've had some tragedy or you've got some real heartache and pain in your life. And you said, I never expected it would be like this.

That's all right. God knew it all the time. Nothing has surprised God. Blessed is the person who lets God run his business, his way. And if you'll let God run your life his way, believe me, there will never be a day that you'll live to regret it. It may be some short term pain and some short term loss, but it'll always be long term happiness and long term benefit. Let God run your life, his business, his way.

You'll be glad you did. Let's pray. Dear Father, thank you for the word of God this morning and thank you for not sanitizing it so that the real people that we see in it never have a problem, never have a struggle, never have a failure.

Lord, that would be no help to us. Thank you for telling us about the real problems and the real struggles and failures of people, even like John the Baptist, so that we can identify and so that we can benefit from what you taught him. Lord Jesus, I pray that you would take this great truth we've talked about this morning, the lordship of Christ, the forgotten beatitude.

Blessed is the person who lets you run your business, your way. And Lord Jesus, that we would appropriate that for our lives and we would imprint it in our brain. And Lord, that it would change the way we think about our lives. Lord Jesus, teach us that you never do anything except that it's for our good, that you love us so deeply. And Father, I pray that we would have what it takes from you to follow you and be loyal to you and obey you even when things don't go the way we expect because we've given you permission to run our lives the way you deem best. Thank you for speaking to our hearts this morning. Lord, may it change our lives. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We hope you will join us next time when Lon seeks to answer one of life's most important questions. So what?