You can turn in your Bibles, please, to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. As I mentioned at the beginning of the service, I'm here barely, as far as energy goes. I'm not sick anymore, but had two different kinds of illness this past week, so my battery is pretty low. So if I seem subdued, that's why. But we are, for a few Sundays here at least, we are, I'm cherry picking some hopefully helpful sermon texts out of the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew was our first sermon series on Sunday mornings here at what was then Glen Collin Baptist Church in the beginning. My first Sunday morning sermon series once I came here. So there, I think it was like 84 total sermons or something for the whole gospel. And now I'm picking out three, I think. Um, not that they're necessarily the best, but I thought what might be edifying to just pick out without much context. So we are in Matthew 11 verses 20 through 30 today. We're going to see some hard hitting and profound. but in the end, gracious truths about the response of sinners to Jesus. The response of sinners to Jesus. Right before verse 20, where we'll pick up, help if I'm in the right chapter, there we go. Right before verse 20 in chapter 11, where our sermon text will begin, Jesus had been commending John the Baptist who had been sent to prepare the way before him as his herald. But then he says, verse 16, but to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates. We played the flute for you and you did not dance. We sang a dirge and you did not mourn. 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 at him, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Yet wisdom is justified by your deeds. What he's saying is the people of Israel, by and large, the generation of his day, they couldn't be, you couldn't make them happy. You couldn't, because God was not dancing to their tune. sent them John the Baptist, who was very definitely one kind of prophet, very austere and very stark, and they found a reason to reject him. And God sent, as John the Baptist prepared his way, God sent his own son, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus, who was the friend of sinners and ate and drank with them to give them eternal life, to lead them to eternal life, they wouldn't accept him either because they wanted God's prophets, God's messengers, even God's Messiah to dance to their tune. So there's this background of people's self-righteous rejection of Jesus. that's leading us into this text today. People's self-righteous rejection of Jesus. And that should give us some helpful context as we begin reading in verse 20 and we'll read down through to verse 30 about the response of sinners to Jesus. So starting in verse 20. Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum! Capernaum was Jesus' hometown at the time on on the Lake of Galilee, where he truly did most of his great works at the time. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. At that time, Jesus declared I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the son except the father, and no one knows the father except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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 light. First thing we see here about the response of sinners to Jesus is that Jesus, in verses 20 to 24, pronounces woe upon impenitent sinners, those who, from what he says, had not really repented. Perhaps they had enjoyed his ministry. Perhaps they had been temporarily impressed with the miracles, eaten, perhaps, of things like the multiplication of the loaves and fish. Perhaps they'd benefited from having their loved ones themselves healed by Jesus, having demons cast out. But they hadn't repented. They hadn't recognized that this that when Jesus said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that meant them. They had to have an about face. They had to turn from their own way. Religious Jews, as most of them were, churchgoers, we might say today, they had to turn from their own stubborn, natural way, from their own sin, and they had to turn to God through his Messiah. and let him transform them. But they would not repent. And so he pronounces woe upon impenitent sinners. And the first thing he communicates about this is really the fact that religious sinners can be more hardened than ignorant pagans. He at least shocks and probably insults them here. Because of the infamous towns and the infamous Gentiles to whom he refers, with whom he contrasts them. First of all, he brings up Tyre and Sidon. He speaks to these little towns in the Galilee there, Chorazin and Bethsaida. Bethsaida was the hometown of Peter and Andrew, here in the Gospel of John. It was also a town on the Lake of Galilee. He says, Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. Now remember, in biblical history, Tyre and Sidon, that was Jezebel's homeland. That was very blatantly pagan territory. And so Jesus could have hardly picked a more insulting, really, couple of towns to compare them with. And God had already severely judged Tyre and Sidon, though they still existed in some diminished form in that day, perhaps. We find in the book of Ezekiel some stark things said about God's judgment on these pagans who knew they were pagans and They knew they didn't serve the God of Israel But God is the king over all the earth and so he brought judgments on them for instance Ezekiel 26 In verse 2 The word of the Lord came to me, son of man, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem, aha, the gate of the peoples is broken. It has swung open to me. I shall be replenished now that she has laid waste. And then it goes on and God says because Tyre was glad to see my city Jerusalem fall. They will fall as well for that says the Lord God verse 19 when I make you a city laid waste like the cities that are not inhabited when I bring up the deep over you and the great waters cover you that I will make you go down with those who go down to the pit to the people of old. And I will make you to dwell in the world below, among ruins from of old, with those who go down to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited. But I will set beauty in the land of the living. I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more. Though you be sought for, you will never be found again, declares the Lord God." Or in Ezekiel 28, says of Sidon, Son of man, set your face towards Sidon and prophesy against her and say, thus says the Lord God, behold, I am against you, O Sidon. And I will manifest my glory in your midst. And they shall know that I am the Lord when I execute judgments in her and manifest my holiness in her. For I will send pestilence into her and blood into her streets. And the slain shall fall in her midst by the sword that is against her on every side. Then they will know that I am the Lord. And for the house of Israel, there shall no more be a briar to prick or a thorn to hurt them, among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God." So God was very severe with Tyre and Sidon. But why? Well, they were neighbors, neighboring areas to the land of Israel, to God's people. They had been happy to take advantage of God's people at times. They had been happy to see the defeat of God's people, their downfall. That was a great sin, and God said, I will bless those who bless you, my people, and I will curse those who curse you. But Jesus says, now look, if I had shown up in Tyre and Sidon, and I'd done the same things I've done in your towns, they would have repented long ago. Notice here, God does not owe anyone great works that might turn them away from their sins. This was a great grace that these cities in Galilee had Jesus living among them, doing his works there, a great undeserved gift. But religious sinners can be more hardened than ignorant pagans. Jesus had done the works that no man has ever done. And his own neighbors, essentially, in his home district of Galilee, by and large, it didn't change them. It shows us our human condition, our natural human condition, doesn't it? apart from God's supernatural grace at work in our lives to utterly change us from our hearts. We might be temporarily impressed, temporarily moved in some way, but even having Jesus stare us in the face and work miracles, it's not going to change our hearts unless God reaches into our hearts with his grace. And another point Jesus is making here is that Christ rejecting sinners Merit worse punishment than ignorant sinners. He says here, I tell you, it will be more bearable or more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. We'll talk about this a little more. It actually comes up in the afternoon. Though the judgment will be horrific for every sinner who faces God without the righteousness of Christ standing in their place. So though the judgment day will be terrible for every sinner who faces God in their sins, there are degrees, as Jesus indicates here, there are degrees of condemnation and punishment according to people's works. We do believe in the doctrine of total depravity, but understand total depravity means that it's talking about a thoroughgoing depravity that affects and taints and spiritually disables every part of our humanity, every part of our being, our wills, our minds, everything. Sin corrupts every part of us. However, Total depravity does not mean that God has let every sinner go as far in their sin as they could. And so the worse we sin, the more we have to answer for on the day of judgment. And if sinners reject Jesus to his face, that merits worse punishment than than whatever relatively ignorant sinners have done, like the Gentiles, who simply like to see their neighboring rival nation fall. And then we see also that self-righteous sinners are destined for hell, just like flagrant sinners. And it really seems that people in Jesus' day had fallen into, I shouldn't say seems, I should be more dogmatic than that. You really see that many of the Jews in Jesus' day had fallen into a legalistic, in the true sense of the word, a works righteousness religion. But a lot of it was not even about their own works. It was just, we are sons of Abraham. We're on the right team. We go to the synagogue, we go to the right temple, we're not those nasty Samaritans that have their fraudulent temple. There was the great temptation to think that, well, I'm good with God because I'm a Jew. And in this case, I even live in the land of Israel. I'm not those questionable Jews in dispersion all over the empire who can't even make it to the temple often enough, perhaps, and all this. We're Jews in the land. We go to synagogue every Sabbath. We believe. Intellectually, we believe the promises of God, we would say. We don't call God a liar when we see what he says in our scriptures. But they were self-righteous. Self-righteous sinners are destined for hell, just like flagrant sinners. He says in verse 23, and you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? The way he says that, apparently, He might be using a little bit of exaggeration, but not much. He's indicating Capernaum might think that they will be exalted. Maybe because they have Jesus in their midst. But he says, no, you won't be exalted to heaven. On the contrary, you will be brought down to Hades. And really it seems clear here. He's referring to Hades as he did in the gospel of Luke when he talks about the rich man who thought himself as a son of Abraham, but he died and was buried. And in Hades, he lifted up his eyes being in torments. Hades here is the place of torment for the impenitent sinners who have died. You'll be brought down to Hades for if the mighty works done and you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Sodom. Sodom, of course, was famous for its outrageous sin against the angels of God. It would be hard to, and that was on top of all their sins for which the angels sort of came down to make an inquiry, you might say. It'd be hard to get more flagrant in your sin than Sodom. We all know that if we know anything about the Bible. But self-righteous sinners are destined for hell just like flagrant sinners. Just like Sodom and Gomorrah of which God said in Genesis 18, the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave. And in chapter 19 we are told what the Lord did when they proved themselves every bit as wretched and evil as their reputation was. After he had rescued righteous lot from the town of Sodom says then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven and He overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground But lots wife behind him looked back and she became a pillar of salt and Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord and He had pleaded, if there were as many as 10 righteous people in Sodom, he pleaded that the Lord would spare the city, but the Lord didn't find as many as 10 righteous. So it says, he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. We find 2 Peter 2 and Jude verse 7, that the flagrant sinners of Sodom actually, they suffered a punishment of fire, yes, actual fire in this world. Fire and sulfur out of heaven poured out upon them. But their punishment of fire was actually a sign, the New Testament says, of what impenitent sinners all suffer after death. 2 Peter 2, Peter says, if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly. It was purposefully a very graphic portrayal of God's hatred of all sin, not just Sodom's. Which is another reason why there's such a connection between that one time, fire and sulfur, fire and brimstone, and the eternal fire and sulfur, the lake of fire. Or Jude 7, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, they serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire, indicating that they went down to Hades, and they will eternally be in the punishment of eternal fire, just as all sinners will be. So self-righteous sinners are destined for hell just like Sodom and Gomorrah. Capernaum, just like Sodom and Gomorrah. That's quite a sobering, quite a, something that will shake us to our core if we really grasp it. It's quite a shocking way to start talking about the response of sinners to Jesus, but Jesus does start here pronouncing woe on impenitent sinners. And then he does something in the next breath that I don't think would ever come naturally to any one of us after saying those sorts of words of condemnation and doom against his fellow humans. Jesus is one of us. But next, in verses 25 to 27, Jesus gives thanks to his sovereign father. He gives thanks to his sovereign father. Verse 25, at that time, Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the son except the father, and no one knows the father except the son, and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Before we get into breaking this down, do you catch the fact it's a privilege, not a right, to know God personally? It's a privilege, not a right to know God personally. Fallen sinners that we are, if you understand, taking into account the fact that we are a fallen race in Adam. And so first, as we think about what Jesus is saying here, he indicates as he thanks, gives thanks and praise to his father in heaven, he indicates that the father chooses to hide gospel truth from the naturally wise. Now this is a general statement, of course. We know from the scripture that sometimes God chooses to reveal gospel truth to those who are counted among the wise of the world, but not often. That seems to be the exception to the general rule, the general way God likes to do things. Generally, The father chooses to hide gospel truth from the naturally wise. Um, as he says here, I thank you for doing what father, I thank you that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. This fits in with. how God throughout the scriptures looks down on, he actually looks down on those who are considered wise in this world. Jeremiah 9, 23 through 24, thus says the Lord, let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, which is the greatest privilege of all. that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For these things I delight, declares the Lord. So don't boast in your wisdom. Or let me translate that a little bit, because we may not use that word. We may not just say in everyday language, even to ourselves, I think I'm pretty wise. We might like to have others say about us something like, Oh, he understands the way the world works. She's pretty shrewd. He's not naive. She's well educated. All those sorts of things, what the world would view as wisdom and smart. That is something that if we take any pride in it, the Lord despises. Don't boast in your wisdom because God is able to hide his truth from you in plain sight and he has every right to do so. Now again, um, it's as we'll say again later, how does God do that? Isn't it? It's not that God is hiding things from sinners who would otherwise love to know them. God hides things from sinners by letting sinners do their own thing, what they want to do anyway. They don't want his truth. They suppress his unrighteousness. As Romans 1.18 says, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Isaiah 6, you remember what happened after the famous scene in which Isaiah has a vision of the Lord on his throne, the seraphim crying out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is filled with his glory. Isaiah has his mouth symbolically cleansed to go speak God's message. And Isaiah receives an assignment when the Lord says, who shall I send and who will go for us? Then I said, here I am, send me. And the Lord said, go and say to this people, to the people of Israel, keep on hearing, but do not understand. Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn. Same idea as being converted or repenting and lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed. Jesus quotes that, you know, about the people in his day, Luke 8, 9, and 10, when his disciples asked him what one of his parables meant, he said, to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. You can be looking right at God's truth in a natural sense, right at the scriptures even, and just not get it and not want to get it. First Corinthians two, starting in verse six, Paul says about his gospel ministry, yet among the mature, he's talking about how there is an actual spiritual maturity. those who really know the inside secret, if you will, of God. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age. This age, this world, this present evil world, you could say. It's not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age who are doomed to pass away, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God. which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, or if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. These things God has revealed to us through the spirit. For the spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. Then now verse 14, this is the key part for our consideration. He says the natural person. So the person who is in their natural fallen state apart from having the Spirit of God, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Did you catch that? Again, to hide his truth from the wise of this world, God does not have to keep them from discovering what they would otherwise naturally perceive. His truth is in plain sight. The problem is that the natural person, the person still in his sins without God's spirit, that person sees God's truth as stupidity. So it's only by a radical operation of the Holy Spirit that a sinner can be made to see the truth of God for the wisdom it is. You should all sort of intuitively know this, right? If you know anything about the world around us. Just try telling the intellectual elites that the entire history of the world was designed to rise and fall on the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. See what response you get. They would ridicule you. Why? Is it because they don't know the fact that Jesus was crucified? Well, most of them admit that's a historical fact, even though there's some so foolish as to question that fact. Maybe it's because they'd never heard of the significance of the cross in Christian theology, these intellectual elites. No, it's just because they think that that's a stupid thing to believe. It's beneath them to even consider, seriously. And that's because of their horribly hard hearts, their sin, which calls out for their damnation. They hate and despise God, and God has every right to leave them to be further blinded by that spiteful hatred. Now, of course, just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem, which rejected him, just as the apostle Paul said, if it were possible, I wish I could be damned in the place of my Jewish brothers, that they may be saved. In this life, while there is yet hope for sinners, we are earnest, working as much as in us lies for their repentance and for them to believe the truth. None of this is to deny that. But we're talking here about the sovereignty of God and what he has the right to do in the end analysis. Romans 9, starting in verse 14, what should we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, Pharaoh who oppressed the Israelites and wouldn't let them go from Egypt. For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then, Paul says, he has mercy on whoever he wills and he hardens whoever he wills. Now, of course, even we Christians who love the Lord, we may, our next reaction might be, to defend God, so to speak, say, but God is gracious. You know, this seems harsh, harsh things to talk about, to speak of our gracious God, that he, that some he simply determines to have mercy upon, and some he determines to harden their sins. Yes, God is gracious, and he has the freedom to lavish his grace when and where he chooses, but he's also just, he's also, totally righteous and just, to hide his truth from any sinner, and particularly, all the more, to hide his truth from sinners who are confident in their self-made wisdom that shuts him out. We've already determined, like the Psalms say about the fool, the fool says in his heart, and it's not talking about directly about the intellectual atheism of our day. It's just saying practically, the fool says in his heart, there is no God, no God. They've already shut God out. Intentionally, they suppressed it. So God is just when he does hide his truth from any sinner, and particularly those who have gone to great lengths to shut him out. But still he does choose to reveal his redemptive truth to many sinners. And are these sinners better than those who remain blind? Of course not. But God's grace makes them, makes us, the redeemed, humble enough to hear and acknowledge God's truth. We have to come to God knowing our own ignorance and folly. And God especially loves to do this with those of least account in this world. Some of us, I want to be careful to say us and not act like I'm just pointing the finger at some of you. Some of us, the greatest, perhaps the biggest reason we can point to as to why God perhaps chose us instead of others is that we look so silly to the world. We are the weak things of the world. We're low, despised. God loves, on the whole, usually to reveal himself in the gospel to those whom the world despises that he may get more glory. And that leads into the good news here of which Jesus also thanks his father that not only have you hidden these things from the wise and understanding, you've revealed them to little children. Now, hopefully that is your glory and not Hopefully that's not uncomfortable for you to realize that Jesus is talking about you if you believe in him as little children. The Father has revealed these things to little children. That's what they are in God's eyes. The Father chooses to reveal gospel truth to the simple. Like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, 18, for 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. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs. miraculous works, and Greeks seek wisdom, something that fits in with their philosophical outlooks. But we preach Christ crucified, the Messiah hung on a cross, a stumbling block to Jews and folly, stupidity to Gentiles. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the fruitlessness of God is wiser than men, And the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. so that no human being might boast in the presence of God, and because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, like we read from Jeremiah earlier, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. It's a really good sign that you're genuine in your faith. If you rejoice that God considers you simple and childlike. And you know, you have to come to the Lord that way. If you're going to deal rightly with this truth, you have to understand I'm dealing with, with the one person who is totally outside creation in his own category. He is my maker. He is my King. What do I know? What do I bring to the table with him? I just have to come like a little child and just hold out my hands. And he has to give me everything. He has to give me knowledge about the very basic things. And if the things I consider most basic that I know about the world, if he says those things are false, I have to trust him. and he will enlighten me, he will show me more and more, yes, this is true. But if I come to God with a level of pride, I'll never get anywhere. A good sign that God is working on someone in true saving faith is not that suddenly someone knows a lot of theology. It's that suddenly someone is humbled. and his childlike just wanting whatever the Lord has to give them. Wanting Jesus. Whatever they have to lose, they just want Jesus. Now, not spending a lot of time on all these sub points, I was just kind of trying to leave the breadcrumbs there as it were so you can see the flow of thought. Jesus goes on to say that the Father entrusts all things to the Son. It's a great privilege, as we mentioned, the way he's talking here, he's showing how great a privilege it is to be on the inside, to know personally God the Father and God the Son. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. It's one of the great secrets of this world. We encountered it in Ephesians chapter one, for instance, the father entrusts all things to the son. It all belongs to Jesus. So you have to deal with God, the son. And then he says that the son can only be fully known by the father. Even though these people in the towns that among whom he basically grown up as a human lad, Jesus' fellow Galileans didn't really understand who he was. They didn't really know him. The son can only be fully known by the father. And the father can only be fully known by the son. He says, no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. Similarly, quoting from the Nazby in John 1 verse 18, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the father, he has explained him or he has made him known. No one can know the father unless the son chooses to reveal the father to them. That's what he's saying. The son is the word of God. He is the one who reveals God. And only the son can reveal the father to people. Notice there's no other route to the father. No one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. So, I don't want to be pedantic, or insult your intelligence, but that means Muhammad cannot reveal the father to you. The Quran cannot reveal the father to you. Christless Judaism cannot reveal the father to you. If it rejects God the son. No religion, no spirituality, can reveal the Father to you, only Jesus. Otherwise, you don't know God at all. You know some things about God that you suppress in unrighteousness to a degree that you don't really know God. As Jesus said in John 14, verse six, famously, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father, and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father? And notice also what Jesus is saying here is that only those chosen by the son know the father. No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. The key choice here is not that of the sinner first, it's of the Son. I'm going to choose to reveal God the Father to this sinner. We can go to John 17 for sake of time, I'll just leave the references there in your notes. But how do I know that I'm one of the elect, one of the chosen ones? We touch on this a lot, of course, in this church. But people naturally overcomplicate this. They imagine a difficulty here where there is none. They say, well, then how can you call me to believe in Christ if the real issue is who God has already chosen? How do I know if I'm one of the elect, one of the chosen ones? Well, do you believe? Only those chosen by God can believe in Jesus. And Jesus commands you to believe in him. You can't know. In other words, no one can know until, until eternity. If you are the elect, as long as there is a humanly speaking, a, an opportunity for you to repent and believe you might be one of the elect. If you believe in Jesus, now you can be certain you are one of the elect. But you do not have the option of waiting to see if you feel like believing at some point. That would be sinful folly and would only increase your condemnation. You're responsible to throw your soul on Jesus in unreserved trust. And if you do that, Jesus will never reject you. It'll actually show that you have been chosen for salvation. We are not called, in fact, it's presumptuous of us as preachers to Try to figure out God's plan for history, including his plan for our lives before the fact. And figure out what his full list of the elect are. That's not what God has told you to do. God has told you simply to do what is right. What is the only right thing for you to do? And that is to believe on Jesus Christ. You are morally responsible to believe in Jesus. As Jesus said in John chapter six, All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. In other words, think of it this way. You're not going to slip through the net and you're going to come try to come to Jesus, say, Lord, I believe. And he says, Oh, sorry. That was a glitch in the system. You weren't supposed to believe go away. He says. All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. And he says further down, this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. So there's this overwhelming theme that we've been awash in, um, for this, this whole text so far, you see how utterly completely dependent we are on the mercy of God. The only fitting response is to cry out for that mercy. If you really believe that you're that dependent, the only fitting response is to cry out for mercy. But you never will unless God gives you the heart to do so. We can't wrap our little minds, our sinful minds around these kinds of truths. We don't see how they could all be true at once, but we have to believe that all God says is true. You have to believe that you're a desperate sinner, which makes you guilty. God is gracious, and that engages his almighty power to rescue sinners like you. So throw yourself on his mercy now, because he has every right to do as he pleases with you. That's his glory. But you know what brings God all the more glory? To save all who come to him through his son, just as he promised. God gets glory from the damnation of the wicked. But the highlight, as the scriptures present it, the highlight, the high point, the pinnacle of God's glory that he displays to all creation is redemption. God is a good God, and it's not as if he is chagrined, that he chafes at having to save one more sinner. So let me ask you, shifting gears a little bit for the end of this text, are you tired? Knowing your natural fallen and sinful state, are you tired? Are you toiling under a heavy burden? And has the recognition of your desperate plight before a holy God just increased your burden? You feel like, well, now I'm weighed down so much I can hardly walk. Well, then the rest of this text is for you. Again, look at the pivot that none of us would naturally do, but Jesus does here. Next breath, next verse, verse 28, Jesus extends welcome to burdened souls. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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 light. You remember what a yoke was? Not that any of you are old enough, I'm saying, to remember people using yokes on animals. Not trying to say that. But in the Bible times, A yoke would be harnessed to one or two animals, typically two, to pull a plow, some sort of farming implement. And so, let's say the farm animals, they are working for the person who put the yoke on them, right? It could be a heavy yoke or a light yoke. It could be something that was easy to pull or hard to pull. It could be smooth and easy on their shoulders, or it could chafe and irritate and be a pain on their shoulders. And this was a metaphor, a figure of speech often as well, for serving a king, for instance, in the Old Testament. So keep all that in mind as we're talking about a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light. First of all, Jesus is saying that as he extends welcome to burdened souls, he's saying that he can and will relieve you of your heavy load. And really, this is such an all comprehensive thing. It's hard to just, it's almost like you mess it up if you try to explain every aspect of it, because it's so beautifully simple. But there's the burden of sin. And then I think there's all that comes with sin, being a creature in this fallen world and our fallen state, all the weakness and sin and death and hopelessness apart from God. It's a heavy, heavy load. Now, the wise, those who consider themselves wise in this world and the proud of this world, they, may not even want to admit that they have that heavy load on their back. But those who are humble, childlike, coming to God, they have to understand how heavy their load is to a degree. Jesus says he can and will relieve you of your heavy load and he will care for you with gentle compassion. It seems like that the major thought that keeps getting repeated in different words here is rest. Come to me, one early translation of the New Testament into Syriac. It's very closely related to what Jesus would have spoken in his home area. It says, come to me and I will rest you. I'll give you rest, for I am restful. Later, and you shall find rest for yourselves. William Hendrickson points that out, saying, this or something very similar to it may well have been what Jesus, speaking Aramaic, said that day to the conscience-stricken multitude. We have something else that may be helpful. We have the record in the books of the Chronicles of how God had promised King David a son who would be a man of rest. And his name was Solomon, which means peace. And God said, I will give peace and quiet Israel in his days. The ironic thing is that Israel had relative peace and quiet during Solomon's reign, but he gave them a heavy yoke. That's the word that's used. Immediately after Solomon died, Israel appealed to his son, Rehoboam, to lighten the heavy yoke of your father. And Rehoboam was too proud to do that. He consulted the people he wanted to hear anyway, his peers. And he answered them, my father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it. My father disciplines you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions. That's a picture of a, of a cruel taskmaster for a king. But Jesus is the perfect son of David, the greater than Solomon was coming. And the Messiah would be a man of rest. He would be gentle and lowly. He would gather a people made up of Jews and Gentiles who would gladly unite under the Lord's yoke. No longer would the Lord's people be arrogant and proud, but in the days of the Messiah, Zephaniah says his people would be gentle and lowly. Turn with me to Zechariah chapter three, please. Zechariah chapter three. This is tricky, not Zechariah, where we've been a lot recently. It's actually two books before that, Zephaniah chapter three, starting in verse nine. I'm going to add in here how this would sound in the Hebrew and then in the Greek translation that is often used in the New Testament. Zephaniah 3, starting in verse 9. Speaking of the last day of the days of the Messiah, the Lord says, For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord. The Hebrew says they will serve him with one shoulder. The peoples will serve the Lord with one shoulder. Now, the ancient Greek translation said they will serve him with one yoke. From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones shall bring my offering. On that day, you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me. For then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haunting in my holy mountain, but I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. Now that, in the Greek translation, is exactly the words that Jesus uses in Matthew 11, 29. I am gentle, or I am meek and lowly in heart. I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord. So God sent Christ, the Messiah, his ultimate king in humility and as one who would be infinitely gentle with his people. But he is only the king for those who are willing to humble themselves before God and not no longer be proud. They're willing to take the yoke. Lenski, the old commentator, says that the heart of Christ is not haughty and overbearing, but humble, stooping down to us. First, his majesty and his omnipotence as the son, and these attributes bestowed also on his human nature and the unity of his person, this in order to guarantee all his mighty promises. That is, he is an almighty savior. He is the son of God. Then, his gentle and humble heart, this to attract us to come to him, and to take his restful yoke upon us. Because as we see lastly here, freedom and rest are found as his obedient disciple. This is counterintuitive, right? Come to Jesus so he can lay a load on you. He can give you a yoke. But freedom and rest are found as his obedient disciple. He says, take my yoke and learn from me because you can trust me. By the way, biblically, you're always gonna have someone's yoke on you. You're always gonna be serving some master. You need to choose the right master. Jesus says, 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. It might seem daunting to you if I claim Christ as mine. And I say, I'm yours to do with as you wish. You are anyway, in a sense, but you realize I'm willingly your disciple now. I'm going to take your yoke on myself. That may seem daunting at first. What's he going to ask me to do? What's he going to ask of me? Can I do it? Well, Jesus tells you here, he encourages you. He says, learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart. He's not overbearing towards his people. you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Again, Lenski, this sounds like exchanging one load for another. For a yoke is placed on an ox that by means of it he may be harnessed to a load. Indeed, the gospel and the doctrine of faith are a yoke in that they are full of commands, all of them gospel commands. However, they are commands to take, to trust, to feast, to inherit, and the like. The rest and the yoke are two pictures of the same blessing. By taking this yoke upon us, we shall find rest for our souls. Indeed, this is a yoke that rests its bearer." Counterintuitive, but it's true. So I think the scriptures here have been clear. There's the warning from Jeremiah 6.16. The Lord calls all of us sinners to rest. Jeremiah 616, thus says the Lord, stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it. If you choose to reject the rest that Jesus gives, that's your fault. That's your choice. But there's a welcome in Isaiah 65 verse two. God says, why would you go anywhere else but to me? He says, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. And I will make with you an everlasting covenant. My steadfast, sure love for David. And in verse six of that text is the invitation. Seek the Lord while you may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Let's pray together. Father, please make your word clear, as clear as it can be to limited creatures, but help us to submit to your word in such a way that we accept and believe the obvious points, that we accept and bow before your sovereignty and your right to do as you will with your creatures, all the more so us fallen creatures who are depraved, sinful, Help us to accept that the sinner's condemnation is just, and especially the religious sinner, especially the sinner who has been confronted directly with the truth of Jesus Christ and has rejected it. But Lord, may we not stop there. Help us also to embrace and welcome the fact that Jesus calls us to himself to find rest and peace and joy in serving him. Help us, for Jesus' sake, to accept all these things as your truth and to respond as we are. We pray this in his name, amen.