Sermon for Sunday, November 9th, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament Reading:
[Isaiah 35:1-10 ESV] 1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; 2 it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 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; 7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
New Testament Reading:
[Acts 3:1-10 ESV] 1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8 And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Gospel Reading:
[Matthew 10:40-42 ESV] 40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”
Sermon Text:
[Matthew 11:1-19 ESV] 1 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities. 2 Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” 7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. 13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates, 17 “‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
Introduction
One of my favorite books to read to the children at home is “Brown Bear, Brown Bear.” I have to be honest and say that I actually SING the book because of a very good video we know of it where they sing through the words.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do YOU SEE? I see as a Red Bird looking at me.
And it goes through the various animals. A red bird, a yellow duck, a green frog, etc.
What do you see?
This is an elementary question for children before they even come to elementary school.
What you see is what you get.
There’s a brown bear.
There’s a red bird.
There’s a yellow duck.
All easy to identify BECAUSE of their characteristics.
Now we find John the Baptist asking Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
And how does Jesus respond?
He says, “What do you see?”
“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
What do you see?
AND, what do you hear?
Those same genius’s who wrote Brown Bear Brown Bear, created another book, perhaps even better than the first called “Polar Bear, Polar Bear.” And there, they have the phrase, “What do you HEAR?” Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear? I hear a Lion roaring in my ear.
If a child can identify an animal by sight, he can also identify an animal by sound.
So Jesus says to John the Baptist, and to all others, “What do you see?” and “What do you hear?”
I. Jesus is the Messiah, to One to Come.
The implied question is “What can Jesus be BUT the messiah?”
And the implied answer is JESUS IS THE MESSIAH.
And at the end of the passage Jesus explicitly called himself the Son of Man.
So What do you See? And What do you Hear?, he asks to John the Baptist.
And THEN, Jesus gives an immediately answer:
the blind receive their sight
and the lame walk
lepers are cleansed
and the deaf hear
and the dead are raised up
and the poor have good news preached to them.
Those are 6 things that Jesus has been doing in his ministry. 6 miraculous things.
These are things that have been seen by many, even crowds of people. And the accounts of these things are being heard, for the accounts are spreading through the country. The people are hearing that Jesus is healing many. (and he has now also sent out his disciples to do the same, multiplying the impact)
But Jesus has reference not only to the fact that these miracles are being SEEN and HEARD about. He is also saying that these miracles are fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament.
Primarily, we seem to find the prophet Isaiah in mind.
[Isaiah 29:18 ESV] 18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
Even more important that physical sight, the people are being awoken to faith in Jesus Christ. He is opening up the eyes of the spiritually blind.
Then, especially we find that last of the 6 statements of Jesus fulfilled. He had said “and the poor have good news preached to them.” That fulfills Isaiah 61:1.
[Isaiah 61:1 ESV] 1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
There is another fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in Jesus being “the one who is coming.” This is a phrase used multiple times in the Old Testament. “The one who comes” referring to the messiah:
Genesis 49:10 might be the first reference to “the one who comes” but there is debate on the translation of the Hebrew.
But there are other references:
[Ezekiel 21:27 ESV] 27 A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it. This also shall not be, until he comes, the one to whom judgment belongs, and I will give it to him.
[Psalm 118:26 ESV] 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD.
And especially in Isaiah, because references to Isaiah seem often in the mind of our passage.
[Isaiah 11:1 ESV] 1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
[Isaiah 59:20 ESV] 20 “And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.
And now it is used in the NT for Jesus. “Are you the one who is to come?”
[Matthew 3:11 ESV] 11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
[Matthew 23:39 ESV] 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”
So that is a messianic reference and fulfillment. Jesus is “he who is the one to come, the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”
II. John the Baptist’s Situation
What do we make of the fact that John the Baptist is asking the question and not some peasant or even some religious leader who opposes Christ. Shouldn’t John the Baptist know that Jesus is the Christ?
We have to remember that in the last chapter Jesus knocked down those false expectations that the messiah would bring peace. He came not to bring peace, but a sword, Jesus said. And now John the Baptist is in prison! Perhaps John was started to wonder, even to doubt, what is going on? Is this the messiah? Jesus has warned his 12 disciples about persecutions, but John Baptist didn’t have that warning. He’s in prison, and that is leading him to doubt.
John KNEW about Jesus. He had declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and Son of God (John 1:34), and that he was “sent of God” (John 3:34).
But languishing in prison he desired to be more fully assured of that truth.
III. To Be Assured of the Truth
John is asking for assurance, and Jesus is providing it. “Look, I am the messiah.”
If he looks like a messiah, and he sounds like a messiah, and he fulfills the prophecy about the messiah, then he is … drumroll please, the messiah.
What you see is what you get.
So we are to know, and be assured, that Jesus clearly is the messiah, the one who is to come.
Take heart. Be assured. Be encouraged by what is seen, and what is heard; Jesus Christ heals the sick, raises the dead, and fulfill the prophesies. HE IS the messiah. Believe in Him.
Application 1: Where there is true faith, a person yet may struggle with doubt.
WCF 14:3, This faith is different in degrees, weak or strong; may be often and many ways assailed, and weakened, but gets the victory: growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance, through Christ, who is both the author and finisher of our faith.
John the Baptist has doubts despite having faith.
Isn’t that interesting? John doubts while having faith.
It is like the man who said “I believe, help thou my unbelief.”
It is OK to doubt. That is, you are in good company.
BUT, know that there is evidence. Evidence that destroys doubt! That conquers doubt. Evidence so strong that there is only one conclusion: Jesus is Lord.
Application 2: We have great evidence for the truth we believe.
An important application from what Jesus is saying is that there is evidence for belief. We are not to make a blind leap, but rather are to know with confidence that Jesus is Lord. The prophecies are fulfilled, and the miracles testify to the truth.
A blind leap doesn’t distinguish one faith from another. Every faith could tell you to take a blind leap. And they do.
But we have the works of Christ. The blind see. The deaf hear. The dead are raised. And in the end, Jesus is resurrected.
We have Faith in Jesus Christ, we trust in Him, because He is trustworthy.
You don’t trust a person blindly, you trust them because of their reputation, of your previous experience with them.
So it is that Jesus is to be trusted because of all that we SEE and all that we HEAR.
And what he speaks of in Matthew 11 is only the beginning of it!
Ultimately, the reason for the hope that we have, as Peter says, is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That is the great stamp of approval from God. It is the ultimate evidence.
Conclusion:
Look to Jesus. He is the Christ. He is the one who is to come. We SEE, we Hear, we KNOW that He Is the great I Am, and He is our only hope.
At the end of our passage we have further encouragement and assurance. Jesus is “a friend of sinners.” I always saw that as a criticism of him, but recently I realized it is something more. I saw this from a minister friend earlier this week:
“Jesus, a friend of sinners. A title given by the enemies of Jesus, but a title designed to comfort the people of God.” I had never thought of it that way; never realized that half of the equation. We are sinners, and Christ is yet friends with us.”
That is assurance that puts away doubt: hear this all SINNERS who believes in Christ; Jesus is your friend. Even you.
Let us pray.