Greeneville Seventh-day Adventist Church: for a place of sweet rest. I didn't used to rest. get on my kindergarten teacher's nerves, because we had rest time. And I was the only kid that did not go to sleep during rest time ever. And after 15 minutes, she'd say, ⁓ get up. I like to rest now, a lot. And I appreciate rest that she was singing about. Looking forward to that day. When I would date Susan, she would be in Orlando, Florida. I'd be in College Dell, Tennessee. And I found that I could drive, I'm not gonna tell you how many hours. ⁓ Very few. From there to there. And I would only stop once and that's because I had to get gas. I could hold it. Old age, rest areas are important. Wednesday night, I drove after prayer meeting from here to East Atlanta. And Thursday morning, I drove, or afternoon, I drove back. And we know where all the areas are and how far it is to the next one. Okay. And these are important because in my old age, I find that I need to stretch. and move. I used to sit on an airplane all the way to Europe and never get up once. And I'd get up and I wouldn't be stiff. And then we'd take another flight on down to Africa to our home and I'd sit again the whole time. And now I find if I do that I can't get up. Like, ouch. And so I need to stop at these rest areas. And I got to thinking. ⁓ Who invented the rest area? How many of you ever thought that? Okay, one, two, okay. This is interesting stuff. The rest area in the modern age before is like, okay, there's a tavern at the crossroads where, yeah, you pay some money and you can come in here and take a break from your horse ride. But now, with the invention of the automobile, Where did the first rest areas come from? Well, we have the state of Michigan to thank for that. In 1919, the state of Michigan experimented with a pull-off that had some picnic tables and trash cans. And it went pretty well, but didn't really catch on that much. And, you know, back then, you you open the back of your station wagon and you fixed lunch wherever you could find a place to stop, but no picnic tables. And then 10 years later, 1929, Allen Williams, remember that name, it's important. He's known as the father of the rest area. He's also from Michigan and he invented this pull-off that had shelters and picnic tables and trash cans and it started to catch on and he started providing more, buying up a little land here and there. But in 1956 Dwight D. Eisenhower caught on and he said we need this place called Safety Rest Areas and in the Interstate Highway Act the rest area was established, complete with restrooms. And that's where this all happened, actually not that long ago, where we were given a safe place to stop and go, ⁓ without expecting to buy anything. When I was 15 years old, my parents and I took a summer trip out west. The main purpose was to visit my grandfather on my dad's side. I only saw him twice in my life, and this was the second time. He lived so far away. Well, my grandmother on that side of the family had died about the same time I was born, so I never met her. But my grandfather remarried and moved to Arizona to be with her side of the family. And there he stayed. And so we were going to see him for my second time. And he lived in the town of Portal, Arizona. I know you've heard of it. Back then, population of 14. I looked it up. Today they have 188 people in that town. That's church growth right there. Now he was quite a character. He would sit out there in the desert and write books on Daniel and Revelation. It kind of reminded me of a way I visualized John the Baptist out in the wilderness just trying to share what he knew with whoever came along. Kind of a wild, rugged type of small man. When I met him, I was so self-conscious because he was about a head shorter than me. I'm not used to feeling tall. But he was wiry and he was strong and quite an amazing guy. He had grown up as a very sickly young man and then found the Seventh-day Adventist Church, ⁓ changed from his pork diet, and he was building houses into his 80s. Not too many houses, population 14. And he would print these books that he was writing on an old press in a shed behind the travel trailer that he lived in. And I was perusing the personal library of a general conference president, Robert Pearson, one day. And I found my grandfather's book in his library. I'm like, whoa, I had no idea that. You never know where it's going to go. But being only 15 as we made this trip, I just had my learner's permit from the great state of Tennessee. Dad would let me drive the 27-foot motorhome on the interstate where I learned to counter steer while the big trucks passed and tried to blow me off the road in that boxy machine. But on the curvy highways and the back roads, my dad would wisely take the wheel. And we'd been on such a road, a little two-lane highway in the middle of the desert, and we'd been on it for a long time, and it was getting late. And since no campgrounds were to be found, because not very many people knew the word Google back then. And you had to look for road signs. And there were no campgrounds out there. But finally, Dad got excited because there was a sign that said, rest area. It was simply a large parking lot with a decent restroom in the desert across the highway from an imposing barren outcropping of rock. I have no idea where this was. It was very peaceful. We were the only ones there. It seemed quite safe. The restroom was well lit. The only noise was from a lone coyote somewhere behind the hill. After supper, we crawled into our beds and settled down happy for a nice, safe, free place to stay. then they showed up. Our initial idea that this was the right place was shattered. Our peace was gone. The music coming from the old van was not the reply that the lone coyote was looking for. It was not what we were looking for either. The van parked crossways a few car lengths ahead of us. And there's a big parking lot. Why'd you park right there? Anyway, they parked right there and the squeaky squealy sliding door of that van came open and the music got louder with the open door. And out fell out this group of, well back then we called them hippies. I mean this was late 70s, hippies were late 60s, so yeah, it's not that far. And... The group that fell out far exceeded the van's seating limit. They look like a throwback in time. Beads and stuff. Some of you wore these things. I thought, okay, they're just going to go to the bathroom and then they're going to leave. Well, they went to the bathroom all right and the way they staggered across the parking lot, I'm surprised they made it that far. And they were talking to each other way louder than was necessary and our hopes were dashed when they didn't leave. They had the same plans we did, spending the night right there, only they were not peaceful about it. I remember the slogan back there was peace, baby. Well, they didn't have peace, and neither did we. Finally, the music stopped, and they seemed to go to sleep. And I was glad because I was seeing my normally very patient father losing that patience. They were getting on his last nerve. But we finally all went to sleep, and then it happened. The straw that broke my dad's patience, the squealing side of that van opened up again. loud enough to wake us all up. WD-40, I don't think, was an invention. People wrapped up in sheets and sleeping bags were piled around on top of all each other, tangled up, and one fellow stumbled out and headed for the restroom again. But he wasn't going there to rest. Evidently, the lights around the eaves of the building were hurting his chemically imbalanced brain cells because he fell into a nearby ditch and came out with some large rocks. And he began heaving them up with the lights, smashing the fixtures and putting the lights out. My dad was done. He got into the driver's seat of that old motor home, cranked up the engine, and I simply thought dad was gonna leave. But no, he had decided that he could disturb the peace as well. The engine of that motorhome was a 454 cubic inch Chevy with a glass pack enhanced exhaust system to help us to get 10 miles to the gallon. When he cranked it up, the people watching seismographs in California took notice. He turned the lights on bright and he slowly pulled the nose of that motorhome right up into the still open side door of that van. We were in the van with those people. And he started revving the engine and then he laid on the air horns. The confusion that happened next was reminiscent of the Tower of Babel. People were screaming as they tried to extract themselves from their sleeping bags while wondering why they had parked on the railroad tracks. One fellow had wet spots on his clothes. Terror was in their bloodshot eyes. We then backed up, much to my relief, and drove off. But Dad wanted to see the aftermath. He pulled up onto the road where we could watch, and the van door slammed shut, and they burned rubber getting out of that parking lot and headed up the road in the opposite direction. They evidently didn't care about doing a head count. I wonder if they ever realized the light breaker had been left behind because when he heard that motorhome cranked up, I saw him dive into that ditch. Maybe he and that coyote became friends. After the excitement, we realized that what had seemed like the right spot to rest was a frightening, great disappointment. We still needed to find rest. Just not there. I wonder what John the Baptist felt like. He was so sure that he had it right. But when Jesus didn't behave the way that he had thought he would, he wondered if he should look somewhere else to find the Messiah. I thought I had it all good, but what if I don't? He had been much at peace in his belief, but now not so much. We have explored the ministry of Jesus from the gospel of Matthew. We have seen him demonstrating his authority that we had heard his preaching on the Sermon on the Mount. We saw him heal a man with leprosy, heal a centurion servant, heal Peter's mother-in-law, drive out demons. We saw him calm a storm, hear a paralytic, call a disciple named Matthew out of the tax booth, and feast with Matthew at his house. Heal a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, raise the daughter of Jairus from the dead, heal the blind and the mute, and send out his 12 to do the same while preaching the good news that they had all heard on the Sermon on the Mount. The response? Not so good. Not as good as we would like to think, of course. The legalistic scribes, the Pharisees, They're mostly just skeptical at best and behaving as legal as do when they hear that it's not all about them and what they do. also John the Baptist was showing doubt. I wonder how Jesus felt when he heard that the very one who announced him to the world was now among the doubters. Look at Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11, we're gonna start with verse one. Now it came to pass when Jesus finished commanding his 12 disciples that he departed from there to teach and to preach their cities. And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to him, are you the coming one? Or do we look for another? John's heart and mind were no longer at rest. At first glance, one might believe that John was discouraged because of his physical circumstances. After all, he had had a run-in with Herod Antipas because of his criticism of Herod's relationship with his sister-in-law. As a result, John the Baptist, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, had been imprisoned in the fortress of Macarius situated east of the Dead Sea. Today you can go to Jordan, well I don't recommend. But if all this calms down, which it probably won't, ⁓ you could visit that fortress. It's high up on a hill and quite a climb. And you can actually walk around on the palace floor, which is now open to the sky. And you can think, what happened here? ⁓ yeah, that's where she did that dance right here on this floor. The dance that messed with Herod's mind. and got John the Baptist beheaded. But before he was beheaded, you can see that John is desperate to know the answer to his question because this palace is 120 miles from where Jesus is preaching. So he sends his disciples on a 120 mile hike to find out the truth. That's like walking from Greenville, Tennessee to Greenville, South Carolina. And Jesus had done nothing, it seemed, to get John released from his physical bondage. Wouldn't that be discouraging? Wait, I'm his cousin, I've announced him, he's the Messiah, I'm not worthy to tie his shoes. and he's not doing what I want, he's not freeing me, even though I'm in prison for the wrong reasons, John's feeling discouragement and doubt. Discouragement is Satan's favorite weapon. He can get you doubting once he's got you discouraged. Well, that problem may have bothered him. Another issue lay behind his doubt. As he saw, Jesus wasn't acting like the predicted Messiah. Beyond the Jewish understanding of conquering Messiah, John himself had implied that Jesus would bring the axe down on the root of the trees, that he would be a powerful Messiah who would baptize with fire, and that he would be a judgmental Messiah of Israel's enemies, a Messiah who would appear on the threshing floor with a winnowing fork. and gather God's wheat into the barn and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Sounds like John, doesn't it? Things that he said, things that he believed. In his frustration, John questioned his own experience of certainty at Jesus' when he heard the Father's voice say, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And he saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. But Jesus didn't act even like John was expecting. Not even like the Messiah he had been announcing to the crowds. On October 22, 1844, the Millerite movement experienced what's been called the Great What? disappointment. Jesus did not come as they had predicted. Later it was discovered that this date marked the beginning of the last days, not the end of the last days. John the Baptist is here is experiencing the great disappointment in a similar way. He had been predicting the coming kingdom of the Messiah, but as we shall see, he discovered that the coming of Jesus marked the beginning of that kingdom, not yet the final culmination of all that was He was at the beginning, not the end. So what is the answer that Jesus gives to these disciples of John the Baptist who have traveled so far? What did Jesus say to put John's heart and mind at rest? Desire of Aegis says that Jesus did not answer right away. He allowed them to watch what was happening around him. Verse four. Jesus answered and said to them, go and tell John the things which you hear and see, the blind see and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of me. Jesus replied to John's disciples very important in our understanding of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus doesn't come out with a direct reply to John's representatives. He merely tells them, back 120 miles to John and tell him what you see and what Well, that might not sound like much of an answer to us regarding John's specific doubts. To a Jew steeped in Old Testament prophecy, it was the same as claiming to be the Messiah. Jesus based his reply on Isaiah 35, five and six, and Isaiah 61, one, texts that were widely accepted at the time of the messianic, as messianic prophecies, which predicted the Messiah would do the very works that Jesus was demonstrating. Slowly but surely, Matthew's unfolding the complexity of the kingdom. A kingdom of grace established at Christ's first advent that would be followed by a judgment phase at the second advent. John was correct, but he had failed to realize the unfolding nature of the kingdom and the unfolding role of the Messiah. In the next few verses, Jesus will compare John the Baptist to Elijah. There's one comparison between the two that you may have missed though. Both John the Baptist and Elijah were discouraged. Pretty much the same. Both John the Baptist and Elijah had to be taught about the grace and the still small voice of God. Verse seven. As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, what did you go into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed those who wear soft garments are in the king's houses. But what did you go to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before Here's, he's quoting Malachi 4 5 and applying it to John the Baptist. Jesus is again making a bold statement. I am the Messiah. But then he says something about John that seems confusing. Verse 11. Assuredly, I say to you among those born of women, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist. But he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Confusing. Nobody's greater than John the Baptist except somebody that's in the kingdom. And they're greater than he is. And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets in the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has an ear, let him hear. Okay, but what does it mean? that one who is in the kingdom is greater than John the Baptist. Because that's what it says, among those born of women, there's not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist, yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. There was an old theologian over 100 years ago named Alfred Plummer, and he put it this way, John's office and mission was higher than that of any of his predecessors. He not only prophesied of the Messiah, he was his herald and pointing him out as come. But he was not within the kingdom which he announced. And in the kingdom, the humblest members are higher than the greatest of those who are not members. In spiritual privileges and knowledge, Christians are above John. He is a friend of the bridegroom They are his spouse. Both John's doubt and his lack of understanding about the nature of the kingdom's principles demonstrate that that he is still outside the kingdom. For John the kingdom is only near as he had been preaching. Desire of Aegis says that the answer that Jesus gave was enough for John. And I believe that's when John accepted the answer. He also accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. and felt. He now knows he's inside the kingdom. He's not just preaching about Jesus. Jesus is in his That being said, his physical life did not improve. that's okay now, because he's in the kingdom. That makes a huge difference in our lives. We can know about Jesus and have something rotten happen, or we can know Jesus and have something rotten happen. It's totally different. There's a contentment and a joy being in the kingdom. After Jesus deals with ⁓ John the Baptist's honest questions, he then turns on those who have seen and heard the things that John was not privileged to see and hear. Look at verse 16. But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions and saying, we played the flute for you and you did not dance. We mourned for you and you did not lament. Can you picture the scene that Jesus is describing? Jesus calling out to other children who will not play with them. We played a party tune and you wouldn't come and dance with us. So we sang a funeral song and you wouldn't come and cry with us. What is it you're looking for? You'll accept nothing that we have to offer. verse 18, for John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he has a demon. The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say look a glutton and a wine-bebber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners, but wisdom is justified by As we look at the ministries of John and Jesus, we see that the way John did things led many to repentance. And the way Jesus did things, multitudes heard him gladly. Be careful of thinking there's only one way of doing things. Jesus himself recognized various methods of work for differing times and situations. took this to heart as well in the foreign mission field. He says, I became like those I was sent to. I understood their culture and their way of doing things the way they think. Seeing the lack of repentance and the rejection of his ministry among those who he had witnessed so much to, he had this to say, verse 20. Then he began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent. Woe to you, Corazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, They would have repented long ago and sat cloth and ashes. But I say to you, it'll be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, you're exalted to heaven. Will you be brought down to Hades? For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. For I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. Whoa. Jesus is laying it on pretty heavy. He compares the town that he's adopted as his home to Sodom. And Sodom comes out ahead because Capernaum had so much more opportunity to believe in God. The Son of God had lived in their very midst and they were rejecting. There could be no true rest for those who are rejecting God's rest area, a place in his kingdom now, today. Verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one whom the Son wills reveal him. Come to me all you labor and are heavy laden and I will give you what? Rest. There's that lovely word. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is Do you want rest? Like I said, when I was young, I used to drive fast, almost all the time. I knew how to use a CB radio and a radar detector and all those things. ⁓ And then I slightly matured, not much, but got slightly more mature. I don't want to go beyond what Jesus says that we all need to be like little children. So stay in there as close as I can. But I slowed down to legal speeds most of the time. In the transition, I started to notice something. Rest. When I arrived at my destination, I found out I wasn't near as tired as I had been in my past. In my past, I'm watching, waiting, ⁓ are there any blue lights around? I'm watching, and I'm constantly scared, running fast, and I get to my place. In reality, only a few minutes ahead of driving the speed limit. You know, they did a test in Atlanta that driving from one end of Atlanta to the other, from one side of the Beltway to the other, You had the cars that just stay in their lane, and then you had the cars swerving lane to lane, trying to get through the fastest. And I was those, and they found out as they tested different vehicles watching them, that those that did all the weaving and swerving made it through to the other side less than three minutes ahead of the other people that were taking it easy. Hard to believe. And those people were far more rested and at peace. Rest areas. The rest area was not actually invented in Michigan. The rest area was invented in the Garden of Eden. The Sabbath is a wonderful day of. It's like a rest on a road trip. You pull off at the end of the week, the sun sets. You get out of your week and you stretch. Sabbath is here. And you get a rest for 24 hours before you enter the next week. And the next week, it's going to be full of potholes, drunk drivers, people on their phones, people dozing off for lack of rest. I fell asleep at a red light one time. just because I'd had no rest. That's what people are doing. They're not experiencing Sabbath rest. And that is so important to us in this world. Yet there's another kind of rest that Jesus has provided, not just a 24-hour rest called the Sabbath. It's called being a part of His kingdom now, every single day of our lives. It's a rest area that you can pull into and never have to get back on the road again. Never have to leave it behind only to look for the next rest area. When you pull into this rest area, you are often still facing what the world throws at you and your family, yet you can still be at peace. There's no time limit in this rest area, but the enemy will drive in with lots of noise and distractions and try to get you to forget that you're a part of the kingdom of God. Try to drive you out. Don't allow. That's what's happening in this world right now. This world is not at rest. This world is not at peace. But we can be. From Sabbath to Sabbath, from every moment to every moment in God's kingdom that is on this earth at this point. We can and should remain parked in this kingdom of Jesus completely fulfilled when all tears will be wiped away and no sin can ever disturb the peace again. I invite you to become part of that kingdom today as we await the culmination of that kingdom tomorrow. Yes, the enemy will still try to throw rocks and knock your lights out. Don't let him. Dear Father, may we not be content with simply knowing about you. to know you so that we can be in that rest area where no matter what's going on around us, we know that we're part of your kingdom. And we long for the day when your kingdom is complete, that we can live with you face to face for eternity. Come quickly, in Jesus' name we ask, amen. ⁓