Luke 7:24-28: And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the
At some time or another, every one of us, particularly those of us who are in the ministry, have probably thought or said, ‘I wonder who is the greatest preacher in all of the world.’
Have you ever thought that? Have you heard somebody preach or evaluated somebody’s ministry and then you said, ‘I wonder, of all the preachers who ever preached, who was the best.’
Surprisingly, Jesus, on this occasion, passes His divine evaluation upon those who preach. And He gave us the one single solitary person that He said was the greatest of all the prophets. Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.
You don’t have to look at the surveys and the studies and the evaluations of men to know the best preacher who ever preached. Jesus told you who he was – John the Baptist.
The question that logically arises is – Why was he? What was it about John? What were some of his characteristics? What were some of his abilities and his stance that would prompt Jesus to say that about him?
I don’t know what all of them are, but I believe I know what some of them are, because the Bible tells us about them. I want to give you some of the characteristics that prompted Jesus to say of John, “He is the greatest of all the preachers.”
Brother, if you want to be a good preacher, you would do well to emulate these things that John the Baptist had. The greatest desire of my heart is to hear Jesus one day finally say, “Well done.” If He wants to say, “Well done,” He will probably want to see some of these things right here that I’m going to talk to you about.
Let me give you several things that I believe prompted Jesus to say that about John.
Number 1, John was unimpressed with who he was. He was unimpressed with who he was. If anybody in the world ever had cause to be proud, it was John the Baptist. He could have been proud about the prophecy that was uttered about him. The Bible says that, even before John was born, the angel Gabriel had said to his father, Zacharias, For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of
Second, look at his privilege. John the Baptist had the privilege that no other man in all of human history has ever had or will ever have again. One single solitary man who walked across the face of the earth did something that no other living person has or ever will do again. He introduced Jesus as the Son of God. Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. What a great privilege that was.
Third, look at his popularity. The Bible says that all of
Fourth, look at his professions. By almost any standard of evaluation you want to use among Baptist preachers, how many people you baptize is generally considered a mark of recognition. Whether that’s good or bad, I’m not here to pass judgment on it, but that is a fact. We magnify those men who are blessed to have many baptisms. But look at John. The Bible says that all of
If anybody had cause to be proud, John did. If he had been like a lot of us, he would have strutted and bragged and boasted. But there is not one single evidence that John ever cast any kind of glory on anybody but Jesus. When they asked him, “Are you the Christ?”, he said, ‘No, I am not the Christ.’ They said, “If you are not the Christ, then who are you?” And John didn’t even bother to tell them what his name was. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. John apparently was not too much interested in making a name. He was interested in doing what Jesus told him to do.
We have a little bit too much impression of who we are. Sometimes, we get to thinking we’re somebody in the sight of God.
Forty years ago, I was a young Pastor. I was pastoring
A very well known preacher came to our state to preach in our evangelism conference. I had read his books, and I had followed his ministry. He was a superstar among Southern Baptists, and I was excited to hear him.
I drove to the state conference and got a seat right on the front. When that outstanding preacher stood to preach, I was enthralled with what he said. I was fascinated. I said, “When the service is over, I’m going to speak to him. I want to meet him.”
After all of the people had kind of subsided, I walked up to him, and I said, “Sir, I enjoyed your message. I’m Junior Hill. I pastor a little church out here.” And he never even looked at me. He never looked me in the eye, talking to the next one coming along.
I’ve never forgotten that. I’ve remembered that. And every time I am in a meeting where there are a lot of preachers, and I have the privilege of being one of the preachers, I am always conscious that, because I am introduced, everybody knows me when they see me. If you’ve heard me preach, you’re going to know me when you see me out there in the audience. But the sad part is I don’t know many of you, because you’ve never been introduced to me. And every time I come to a conference, I pray, ‘God, turn my eyes in the right direction. Let me speak to everybody that wants to speak to me. Let me acknowledge everybody.’ I want to be God’s best. And I can’t help if you think I’m a big man, because I weigh 295 pounds. But I pray to God you shall never think I’m a big shot. Ladies and gentlemen, we don’t need any big shots, because a big shot, in essence, is just a big squirt. John the Baptist was unimpressed with who he was.
Second, John the Baptist was uninterested in how much he had. The Bible goes to great length in telling us he was dressed rather crudely and he ate locusts. So, apparently, John the Baptist was not too involved in the economy of how much he possessed. I’ve been preaching 50 years. I would not think preachers make too much money. But there is a lot of difference in how much a man has and how much he wants. It does seem to me, based upon the influence of a lot of slick, name it and claim it preachers, we have an ever growing and increasing amount of preachers who are more concerned about what they have. You say it doesn’t matter. It apparently mattered to Jesus, because he said, about John, he wasn’t dressed gorgeously. And he did not live in the luxury of the king’s court. Apparently, Jesus took notice of what he had and commended him for it.
A hot shot preacher the other day told one of my pastor friends, a pastor of a little church he wanted to come help him, “I can’t come unless you give me $5,000.” Do you know what I would have told him? I would have said, “I wouldn’t let you lead in silent prayer in my church.” The very idea that a man of God thinks he deserves anything. Brother, listen, I’m telling you you’re not going to make any money if you’re in the ministry, no matter what part of the ministry. But we need to recognize, once and for all, we’re not in it for what we can get out of it. We’re in it for the One who put us in that ministry. He wasn’t interested in how much he had.
Third, he wasn’t concerned about where he served. It’s interesting that the Bible tells us that John the Baptist was in the wilderness. One of the writers calls it a desert. That’s a dry place according to the Greek word. John the Baptist was out there in a dry wilderness place. Stop and think about it. What if the angel of God came to you and said, “I have chosen you to announce the coming of the Messiah. You’re going to be the announcer of the Messiah.” What would you think would be the logical thing for you to do? Would you think you would go where there are the most people and the Pharisees and the Saducees and the Scribes and the Sanhedrin and the High Priest? Wouldn’t you think you would go where those people were? That’s logical, isn’t it? The marketer would tell you to go there. As a matter of fact, the slick growth experts would tell you you can’t grow a church in the wilderness. “John, you can’t do anything out here in this forsaken wilderness. Why don’t you go to
But John the Baptist was out there in the backwoods of the wilderness. The Bible tells us that he never went anywhere other than around the regions of the
One of my pastor friends said to one of our mutual friends, “I wish you would recommend me to another church.” And the pastor said, “You’ve got a good church. Why would you want to be recommended for somewhere else?” Listen to what he said. He said, “Because I deserve better.”
You don’t deserve the breath you breathe. If God has honored you by choosing you to be a preacher, how dare you tell God it’s not important where He puts you.
Some of you pastors are serving in churches that the world calls small. Some of you pastors are in a difficult church, way out there somewhere. You’re not seen. Nobody brags on you. I want to tell you something, sir. You are somebody. I get so tired, so weary, of hearing pastors belittle the small churches and pastors who are doing their best for God. Do you know who my heroes are? Most of you are going to be out there in the wilderness. Nobody’s going to brag on you. You’re going to die, and not many folks are going to remember where you served. I’ve got news for you. You guys are the real heroes of the faith. I have friends who spent all of their ministries never pastoring a church that ran more than 50, and they did it gladly where God put them.
I was in
I was snowed with invitations. I had more than I could do. I already had a full schedule. And I said, “Brother, I thank you so much for asking. I’m honored that you would ask me that. But I’m so sorry. I’ve just got more than I could do.”
He wrote me a letter. He said, “Junior, you’re just like all of the other big shot preachers. You won’t come to a little church.”
I’ve never had anything sting my heart like that. I wept, because it’s a lie. Every year, I preach in scores of churches that don’t have 50, 60, or 70. And don’t you ever dare tell anybody that that’s true about Junior Hill. You’re a liar if you say that.
I was going to preach in a little bitty church in the country. I mean the country. I pulled up to the parking lot, and it was rocks scattered under a tree.
I got there early. Nobody was there. I looked at that shotgun building. It had a 50-watt bulb hanging from the front porch. I was sitting there looking at that scene. I thought, ‘I wonder what I’ll preach here tonight. Maybe I’ll preach on the church at
About that time, a big old mangy dog came running around the front of the side of the building, right up on the front step, and lay down right at the door. He began to lick his paws. I thought, ‘Lord, I wonder if he’s saved.’
As I was sitting there, looking at that scene, I thought, ‘Lord, it sure is a hard place I am tonight.’
I’ve never heard God’s voice, but I have heard His spirit often, and God’s spirit whispered to my ear. ‘Son, these people right here are as important to me as anybody else.’
If Jesus thinks that, we do well to think it ourselves. Nobody is anybody in the sight of God except by the grace of God.
John the Baptist was not afraid of what he said. John the Baptist never had any courses on how to win friends and influence people. He didn’t have any more sense than just to address the issues of the day.
And when he came to those who had two coats, he said, “Give one of your coats to the poor.” He said to the tax collectors, “Don’t take more than what’s due.” He said to the soldiers, “Be content with your wages.”
He didn’t have any more sense than to preach against the political correctness of the day. When Herod came out with all of his pomp and ceremony and all of his guards and all of his razzmatazz, John the Baptist greeted him by pointing his finger in his face and saying, “Herod, it is not lawful for you to have another man’s wife.”
But he reserved his most harsh criticism for the religious leaders. He used a lot of political correctness with them. He was culturally relevant. He said, “You generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee the wrath of God to come?” He made everybody mad. But I want to tell you something. John the Baptist was a man with the courage to speak his conviction. And Jesus looked at him and said he wasn’t a shaken weed, blown with every wind of the day. He was a strong, straight reed that stood up and said what God put on his heart.
I want to tell you something. I’ve been 50 years in preaching. I’m 70 years old. I want to tell you what I think. I’m a little sick and tired of hearing these little whiny, compromising, lazy, cocktail-sipping Baptists running around the country telling us what’s wrong with the Southern Baptist Convention.
I spoke at one state evangelism conference. Two of the speakers spent most of their time telling the congregation how mean Southern Baptists were. “All you ever do is preach about this and that, and the world don’t like you. You’ve got to lighten up and relate to the culture.”
I tell you I’m pretty proud to belong to a denomination that says it’s wrong to kill little babies before they’re born. I’m glad this Convention has said it’s not wise for a child of God to drink alcoholic beverages. I’m grateful to God that this Convention stands for something. Would they feel better if we didn’t stand for anything?
I had a guy the other day tell me, “Brother Hill, the church has to make peace with the world.”
Let me tell you something. There is no way under God’s heaven that a New Testament church can ever be at peace with a pagan world that hates God and despises Jesus. If you think they can, just stand outside and tell them Jesus is the only way to get to heaven and see how the world loves you then.
Have we so soon forgotten that Jesus said, “If they hated me, they will hate you”? Ladies and gentlemen, we’re not in a popularity contest to try to appease the pagan world. We’re the servants of the high God who called us to declare the truth of the Bible.
I’m glad some of you are like John the Baptist. You’re not afraid to say what you need to say. I don’t think there is any virtue in being harsh and judgmental and mean-spirited, and I’m not saying that at all. I don’t want to be that kind of preacher. But I want to be a preacher that, when I stand up, I’m not afraid to say what God puts on my heart.
John the Baptist was unshaken by what he saw. Every time John the Baptist got up, he probably had some counters who counted his crowd. If he was a Baptist, he counted them.
I want to tell you something, if you’re a Baptist and ever go to a meeting, you’re going to get counted. I guarantee you you’re going to get counted.
I was at a meeting and a pastor was showing me Sunday School attendance. I was looking at how many he had, and, down at the bottom, he had this little entry, 10% added. I said, “What’s that 10% you’ve added?” He said, “That’s for all the ones who didn’t get counted.”
Let me give you some Junior Hill philosophy. If you go to a Baptist church, you will get counted. And if you ever make the mistake of going to church with an upset stomach, and you have to go to the bathroom several times, they’ll have a record attendance that Sunday—“I saw 10 going to the bathroom! Put them down!”
And if John had counters, they might have come and said, “John, there weren’t quite as many here to hear you preach today.” And John never said a word. The next time he stood up to preach, they said, “John, only half of your crowd is here now.” Finally, they came and said, “John, we don’t have anybody to hear you preach today. We hear they’re all over yonder listening to Jesus.” And I feel John lifted his hands. “Did I not say that I must decrease and He must increase.”
If John had been a carnal preacher, like we’ve got today, he would have been to the marketing experts. “Where has my crowd gone?” But John was pleased that the crowd had heard Jesus, who he said was the Lamb of God.
John was unashamed of how he felt. I want you to see John when Jesus said those words about him. He’s over there in a jail cell. All of his crowds have forsaken him. His critics have beaten him, and Herod is getting ready to cut his head off. And, in that moment, John the Baptist fell into one of those moods of doubt, uncertainty, and depression.
And, my dear brothers and sisters, there is one of those jail cells waiting on you. You can do like a lot of super spiritual people do. You can put a smile on your face and say, “Hallelujah, praise God, everything’s fine.” And you can lie about it. And we’ve got a lot of super saints of God that go around lying. Do you not think God’s got enough sense to know what’s in your heart? Do you think, when you stand up and lift your hands and tell Jesus how proud you are the way things are going, that He doesn’t know that you’re in a valley of despair? Do you think Jesus doesn’t know that? I can fellowship with carnal people better than super spiritual people.
I had a fellow the other day tell me, “I don’t understand all these preachers getting discouraged. I’ve been preaching 50 years and have never been discouraged.” I thought, ‘I know he’s not a Baptist. I guarantee you he’s not a Baptist.’
Can’t you see one of the feel-good preachers come and sit down with John? “John, put a smile on your face, sir. It’s all right. Something good is going to happen to you.” ‘Yeah, I’m going to get my head cut off in the morning.’ “Oh, John, it’s just a snap. Don’t worry about it. It’s just a snap. Let me give you my latest book on 20 Steps to Peace of Mind.”
We used to sing an old song when I was a young boy, growing up. Are you weary? Are you heavy-hearted? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Are you fretting over joys departed? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. He is a friend, that’s well known. You’ve no other friend or brother. Tell it to Jesus.
And John called two of his disciples. “Fellows, I’m down in a valley, and I don’t know if Jesus is who He said He was. Fellows, go tell it to Jesus.” I see those disciples as they walked over there. “Jesus, John is in a cell, and he’s discouraged, and he wants you to tell him—are you the one, or should we look for another?”
At that moment, John the Baptist was the worst he ever was. But do you know what the dear, loving Savior said about him? At John’s worst, Jesus gave him his best compliment.
Are you weary? Are you heavy-hearted? Tell it to Jesus.
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