"Blessed Assurance"

As many of you know, I wish I had a deep voice that could just bellow that tune out. I have the all the heart to do it but I’ve learned the hard way that I can’t hold a note nor can I carry a tune. Dreadful. That doesn’t stop me from belting it out when we worship together! I’m just trusting that you all are singing to our Lord with all your heart and mind and soul and love for him because as it says, love covers a multitude of sins, including the sin of my terrible key selection.

It also doesn’t stop me from learning about songs like “Blessed Assurance.” Things like the fact that “Blessed Assurance” is a hymn written by a woman named Fanny Crosby in 1873. Imagine, Christians have been singing that hymn for 150 years now. That hymn has been around longer than FBC Devine itself. If you don’t know this about Fanny Crosby, she was blind, and yet, to her credit, there are over 8,000 hymns that she was led to write.

We might think about a disability like blindness as so limiting, but look at what Fanny said about her blindness as it related to her faith in Jesus Christ:

"When I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.”

Think about the expression of confidence that Fanny Crosby is communicating in that statement. Blind but in no way is her faith restrained, Fanny Crosby knew that the scales of darkness that blinded her vision would be taken away in eternity where she would look upon Jesus Christ, her Savior.

Fanny said that her inspiration when writing “Blessed Assurance” was that profound verse found in

Philippians 1:21 (ESV)

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

I cannot begin to fully unpack that single verse and the depths that it mines, but let me ask you, what is your outlook on death? “Do you welcome death?”

The Christian perspective on the subject of death is that there is gain that awaits those who are in Christ by faith. We look forward to the rich reward of being in the presence of our Savior so that all the beauty and wonder of this life that we know pales in comparison to the heavenly gain of being with Jesus. Now, let me just balance this briefly by saying that in no way is there a biblically-informed outlook that permits you or I to bring about our own death, because that would be a sinful act of rebellion against the one, true God who has given us each life. It is God who has numbered our days. It is God who has placed us in this world and it is God who calls us out of it. Our lives are not our own to individually decide when we leave this world, and yet, because of the God who loves us, we do not need to have fear of death itself because of who Jesus is, what he’s done, and what awaits those who are in him.

Yet, I’m sure this seems odd to hear right now. It’s odd because we live in a culture that would have us soften the reality of death. What do I mean by that? Well, example: I’ve attended memorial services where there are no remains of the deceased, not even a picture, but the event is held in an outdoor setting with just a wide array of colorful flowers against the backdrop of the rich, green of springtime grass. All with the attempt to skirt around the reality that someone we knew has died. We even go so far as to say things that sound so sweet and nice about our loved ones, but they’re absolutely false. You know them, you’ve seen them on Facebook during outpourings of grief. “God needed him/her more.” “Heaven gained another angel.” They’re false! God doesn’t need any one of us - if he did, he wouldn’t be God! When we die, and that day is coming for each of us sooner than we would care to think, we don’t become angels! Angels are a completely different creature made separate from humanity. But all those things sound so nice, don’t they? So softening to the sharpness of death.

I understand the desire to soften the message that death preaches. Death is something that no doubt raises anxiety and fear. In one respect, it appears to be the end when we see it. In another respect, it’s a door that we cannot see what lays beyond it until we walk through it. It would be unhealthy to fixate on the subject but also it’s irresponsible to ignore it. So I need to ask this, but I do so with the greatest of sensitivity.

Can the inescapable reality of death be softened?

Let me start by addressing where our anxieties and fear about our own death comes from - it comes from the fact that God, our Creator, intentionally designed us to live! And fear is a natural response to what we do not know or what we cannot control.

I don’t know if fear is the right word to assign to John the Baptist in our text this morning, in fact, I wouldn’t go that far based on how John is presented as the fearless prophet preaching against the evil ways of Israel while calling the nation to repentance and expectation for God’s Messiah to arrive. And in the way that our text opens this morning, I think it would be at least fair to say that John the Baptist is concerned and is seeking some assurance. Notice in

Luke 7:18–19 (ESV)

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”

Reminding you, the things that were reported to John is what we studied about the dead man made to rise at the command of Jesus that we saw in Luke 7:11-17. Why didn’t John see this himself and why did he need such a report from his disciples? Well, that’s because among all the things that John had been preaching about, John found himself jailed for bringing attention to the sinful acts of the local ruler, Herod.

Luke 3:19–20 (ESV)

But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

When God calls you to preach, you undoubtedly deal with sin in calling people to face the truth of their actions and any time you deal with truth, truth will make them mad before it sets them free. So Herod has been called out and he’s mad, his brother’s wife that he’s taken for himself isn’t happy either, and it’s fair to say that in his time in prison, John the Baptist knows that his chances of walking away are slim. The inescapable reality of John’s death has confronted him. It may be fair to suggest that he’s looking back on his life. He believed everything that his father Zechariah told him that he was to become.

Remember how an angel showed up when Zechariah was on duty at the temple and foretold about how his not yet conceived son would be named John and would be filled by the Holy Spirit in his mother’s womb and how he would make a people prepared for the Lord? He had lived that and here he was, facing execution. Talking about terribly wrong things that people say about faith, you can look at John the Baptist and see that nowhere in the Scriptures that God promises you a smooth and easy life.

So, John sends his disciples to Jesus with a question and it’s a request more than anything else. Jesus is asked,

Luke 7:20 (ESV)

‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’

But behind that question is a need for assurance. John’s at a crossroads and he’s reflecting and he’s wondering… “You know, was all this stuff about living for the Messiah right?” And let’s get down to the nitty gritty of it. All of this stuff about God’s kingdom and God’s Messiah rides on the shoulders of John’s younger cousin, Jesus. And John’s asking, “Are you really him?”

And in his response, Jesus isn’t recorded as speaking. There’s not a head nod. There’s action.

Luke 7:21 (ESV)

In that hour he (Jesus) healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.

What is the Lord doing here? Why didn’t Jesus just give a simple “Yes” answer? Because in his hour of trouble, John required assurance of who Jesus is.

Even the strongest of us will come to places of need for assurance. Think with me back to those times, when as children, you and I were terrified by something. It might have been a strong thunderstorm that rolls through at night in the springtime. Perhaps your imagination got the best of you after watching something scary. Where’d you go when those times arrived? For many of us, we ran straight to the arms of our parents to be comforted. We needed to be assured of their love and their protection.

Now, imagine if that wind was howling and lightening was striking outside your bedroom window, if your mother simply said, “I love you, now go to sleep.” Not exactly comforting, is it? There a’int now way that words alone would’ve comforted any of us in most cases. We’d need action to back up the words of love and comfort and nurture we had heard before the time of trouble.

For John the Baptist, he was aware of the Father in Heaven’s promise of a Messiah. It had been written for hundreds of years that:

Isaiah 35:5–6 (ESV)

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;

Or even thinking back to what John was originally told by his disciples about the son who was made to rise from the dead:

Isaiah 26:19 (ESV)

Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.

He’d heard the Father’s promise of a Messiah and here now, Jesus is offering assurance of just who he is. Imagine, when these disciples of John return in all their excitement reporting again what they’d seen, the incredible comfort of being wrapped up in the loving arms of God that assured him that all that he had committed his life to was truly to prepare the way for God himself to arrive.

Loved ones of God, I only know in part the adversity you have faced since you’ve been called into the salvation that Jesus Christ offers. The relationships ended. Maybe even aspects of the so-called American Dream that you’ve passed on. There may be times of doubt that creep into your mind. You may wonder if it makes sense to live a life dedicated and sold out to Jesus Christ because you hear bits of worldly wisdom like the best thing to do as an investor is to diversify your portfolio. In other words, don’t ever put all your eggs in one basket. Yet that’s exactly what Jesus Christ demands of us. To put all our eggs in his basket.

You need to remember this when it comes to the adversity and doubts: When the Holy Spirit calls and we come to Jesus Christ in faith, God makes a promise and when God gives a promise, he always tries our faith. Just as the roots of trees take firmer hold when they are contending with the wind; so faith takes a firmer hold with it struggles with the adverse appearances.

Rest assured that Jesus Christ is who he says he is

He is King of all, worthy of all reverence and honor and glory. He is Savior, who will heal you.

Now, it’s apparent from the text that the question that’s posed by the disciples of John was asked in a public setting. Notice that in the first part of Luke 7:24

Luke 7:24a (ESV)

When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John:

Why does Jesus feel the need to address the crowd about his cousin, John the Baptist? Well, for one thing, John was well-known for his preaching in the region and no doubt, his arrest and imprisonment by Herod were likely suppertime conversations at many Jewish tables. And let’s remember that John’s preaching was confrontational and somewhat in-your-face. He called sinners to a baptism of repentance and there was no one in leadership in Jewish society whose sinful hearts dodged his preaching. The ministry that God called John the Baptist to was one that gave many a sense of encouragement that God was at work in and through John. Certainly John’s confidence and wild appearance endeared him to many.

And this question of John’s had the potential of sending those in the crowd into a sense of doubt…doubt about who John was, if what they had come to believe through his ministry was questionable, maybe they might just doubt it all. Jesus senses this and where he assured the disciples of John of who he is earlier in this text, Jesus now offers two more words of assurance. The first assurance he offers to the crowd is who John the Baptist is.

Luke 7:24–27 (ESV)

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “ ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’”

What’s Jesus saying? Let me put it in these terms… Jesus is saying, “Don’t you dare begin to doubt who John is. Why did you go out to see him in the first place? You know that you didn’t go out to see someone who had all the outward appearances of power like the rulers in these lands. No, you saw a man through whom God’s power was revealed in seeming weakness. Don’t you dare doubt who John is, for he is the greatest of prophets God has provided, for John is the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a messenger to announce the arrival of God himself.”

And in this response, I hope we have a sense for the loving and merciful God for whom John the Baptist prepared the way for. John asked, “Are you really the one?” and in meeting the request for assurance, Jesus didn’t wash his hands of John. What I hope that you can see right now is that this same Jesus, who we know suffered and died in the place of sinners, won’t give up on you.

Rest assured that Jesus won’t give up on you

You may have done something regrettable in this last week. You might find yourself thinking about heavy things like your own death. And whether its a regrettable decision you’ve made or those moments where uncertainty wants to creep in, you need to know that Jesus Christ will not give up on you. Where it says in Hebrews 8:6 that “Christ has obtained a ministry that ... is enacted on better promises.” The promise from God in Christ is that though we waiver, though we doubt, though we are unfaithful to King Jesus, Jesus is always faithful. And we see that because John was God’s child, God himself didn’t deny him, no…God himself affirmed him. Don’t fear taking your doubts and your sin before the Lord, my friends. Jesus won’t give up on you, but he will remind you who he has made you and is making you to be because of what God in the Person of Jesus Christ has done in the cross.

The other thing that Jesus assures the crowd of is the otherworldly nature of God’s kingdom that is arriving.

Luke 7:28 (ESV)

“I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

What’s Jesus getting at here? Why is John considered to be so great?

It has everything to do with the time in which John the Baptist was born. So far in our studies of Luke, we have seen God’s Spirit ensure that Luke connects the dots in how both John the Baptist and Jesus serve to fulfill promises that God had made hundreds of years before the time that this morning’s text takes us back to. God has called John to prepare the way for the arrival of God himself in the Person of Jesus Christ. And saying this another way, God called John to announce the end of the old covenant where in Jesus would come the arrival of the new covenant. I wish that I had more time this morning to dive into the covenants or the promises of God throughout history, but I’ll have to leave that for you to explore on your own time.

For now, I’ll ask, do you remember when we read earlier from Hebrews 8 where it was talking about an old and a new covenant? God gave that Old Covenant to Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai and in short, what was commanded by God under the Old Covenant wasn’t how Jews were supposed to earn their salvation, but it was intended for them to understand how their sins couldn’t be easily or permanently forgiven and how much they needed God. Yet you read through the Old Testament and you find how often men and women had disregard for God. And it’s John who is the greatest born under this Old Covenant, this old age that is soon to pass away.

In Jesus, there would begin to arrive an age that is altogether different than the old age John was born under. Like the ocean’s tide that is beginning to come in, with Jesus comes the fulfillment of all that God has promised in the arrival of God’s kingdom. In this new age, under this new covenant, sin can be forgiven once and for all because of who the sacrifice for sin is. And those who have been forgiven by God are granted entrance into the the kingdom of God because they have been born again. And Jesus says here that those who have been born again are greater than the greatest person born by the human generation. It matters more to be the least and the last person in this age, born from above by the Holy Spirit.

Rest assured in the promises to those who have been born again

My friends, if you have Romans 10:9 "confess[ed] with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,” you are reborn to a new life and a new hope. You were bought with a price that we cannot begin to fathom, a price that assures you that you are forever forgiven and you are perfectly loved.

All these assurances that I’ve spoken of this morning come by faith in the everlasting, Triune God, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Yet it is faith in God that seems to be the thing people push back over the most. I’ll summarize that from Luke 7:29-35, we see the Word of God laying judgement upon those who reject God. Coincidentally, do you see how the Word of God reveals the nature of people’s hearts? With John the Baptist and Jesus in our view, Jesus is preaching that many people have rejected God’s working in and through them because at the end of the day, the people who have rejected God have done so because they expect things on their terms. Do you see that in Luke 7:32? “We played a flute and expected you to dance.” “We said ‘jump’ and not only did you not jump Lord, you didn’t ask how high!”

Isn’t this the same today? Think with me about this for a moment. It’s vitally important that we recognize that the allusion to the children in Jesus’ parable are people who are in the Church. Jesus is talking about how so-called believers of God...didn’t get it! Here you have John making the way in the power of Elijah, as promised! Here we have Jesus fulfilling every expectation of the Christ, as promised! And still, even though God is checking every box, pride and power has blinded everyone to God’s own presence in the world. These are the very same people who would crucify Jesus Christ in his innocence. Why? Because the message of God brings you and I to the place of conviction for the terribleness of our sin and the dreadful awareness that we are unable to save ourselves.

And for people today, and I fear this may include some of you, you reject the gospel message that God came in the Person of Jesus Christ. That Jesus lived, that he died, and that he rose again. You reject this because the gospel call is to depend fully in and only upon what Jesus accomplished in the cross. And where this gets too many of us tripped up is that in our heads, we’ve heard this countless times, but we’re still banking on what we can do. Kinda like we’re saying we are just looking to get a better grade than the person next to us in the pew today. We tell ourselves that they are earning Fs in life and by comparison, we are a C. We believe that we just need to be good people who try to live good lives and expect God to grade on the curve for “good” people. And that’s why the Apostle Paul said that

1 Corinthians 1:18 (ESV)

...the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

We really want to believe so much in ourselves, but it is to our own demise. There is no hope of a softened death for anyone who rejects the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. It’s in the cross that all our beliefs in ourselves are laid naked and bare and found wanting. For when we look upon the terrible wrath that Jesus suffered for our sake, we cannot but be struck to the heart with the truth that

“You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”

Don’t reject the cross, loved ones. Don’t reject what God has provided as the central point in human history. Don’t reject the power of God to save everyone who believes. Don’t reject what God has done in Jesus Christ which offers all who believe upon him unto salvation a promise of death’s sting to be removed. Don’t reject that blessed assurance because

Blessed assurance is Christ’s love at the cross

When you doubt, when you fear, return to the cross and you’ll find Jesus is near. Near to you in every sense, granting a peace that surpasses all understanding.

I can’t will you to this, all I can do is tell you about it. I can only point you to the one who offers such assurance. The one, Jesus Christ, whose death upon a cross offers all those who believe the reward of great gain in death and even in staring death in the eye, grants the saved sinner the ability to proclaim, like Paul

1 Corinthians 15:55–57 (ESV)

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed assurance comes by the bloody the cross of Jesus Christ. Do you believe this? Do you believe that God has forgiven you through what Jesus did for you on that cross? Then, like Fanny Crosby, praise your Savior, all the day long.

And for each of you this morning who have yet to come to Jesus, in that cross the arms of Jesus were nailed so that he laid wide open. Fitting, if you ask me. Fitting of the fact that in the cross of Jesus, you would know today that the arms of God are open to you, to welcome you as you repent of the sin you contributed that made the cross necessary. Those open arms will not reject you. Surrender to him. Trust that he has done it all.