In the sermon 'The Gospel According to Jesus,' Jason Dohm explores Matthew 11:20-30, focusing on Jesus' rebuke to the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum for their failure to repent despite witnessing His miracles. These cities are compared to the infamously sinful cities of Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom, which would have repented if given the same opportunities. Dohm emphasizes the relationship between human responsibility and divine sovereignty, explaining that while people are accountable for their response to the 'means of grace,' God's will ultimately governs revelation and concealment of truth. The sermon also highlights the profound theological implications of Jesus' invitation to find rest for the soul, contrasting the crushing weight of worldly burdens with the light yoke of Christ. This invitation is extended to those who are weary and heavy laden, pointing to the necessity of repentance and reliance on Christ for salvation.

Sitting here thinking another magnificent passage. I just, every time I get up here I find myself thinking that thought. Here we are again and we're just tackling another beautiful, unbelievably wise and helpful and powerful passage of Scripture. It's right on the heels of the first half of the chapter, or a little more than the first half, which last week was all about John the Baptist. The question that he sends two disciples with and it's, are you the one who is to come or should we wait for another?

And then Jesus, we find out from Luke's account, just does a bunch of miracles in their presence. The very same hour they came to him, Jesus just does all these miracles. And he sends that report back as the answer. See the things that I'm doing. See how they match up with what the prophets said the Messiah would do.

This is your answer. And then Jesus begins to teach the multitudes about John the Baptist and who he is. John the Baptist has an incredibly important and an incredibly unique office as the forerunner of Jesus Christ to prepare the ground for the Messiah, to make the ways straight for the ministry of Jesus Christ. And he's more than a prophet. He's actually a prophet that is the object of prophecies, which is very unusual.

I believe Jesus is the only other one that would fit that profile. But there are prophecies about the prophet, John the Baptist. And that makes him more than a prophet because all these prophets, they longed to see the things that God had given them a glimpse of, but they only got the glimpse. But John the Baptist, he's here. He's seeing Jesus.

He's actually laying his hands on Jesus. He's hearing the voice from heaven. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. He's seeing the Spirit Come down from heaven and light on Jesus. He definitely is more than just a prophet.

The title for the sermon this week is The Gospel According to Jesus. John MacArthur wrote a book of that title. But it really fits this text, Matthew 11, 20 through 30, well, because we see so many core components of the gospel as we should be preaching it in this text. So Without further ado, let's get right to the text. The first portion of this text that we're going to address is verses 20 through 24.

Then Jesus began to rebuke the cities in which 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 which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will 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. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. Jesus begins our text today with a rebuke. He says woe to you.

He says it twice and he is pronouncing a judgment and he's pronouncing a judgment specifically on three different cities. So we have these these cities that are being compared to one another. There are three cities where Jesus has been concentrating his ministry. It actually says that most of his miracles were done in these three cities. They were done in Chorazin.

They were done in Bethsaida. They were done in Capernaum. And so the preaching and the miracles, the mighty works of Jesus Christ, has been concentrated into these cities. And they haven't repented. They haven't responded to the mighty works that they've seen right before their very eyes.

And so Jesus comes and is actually pronouncing judgment on these cities. Now, geographically, it's interesting. These cities are very close together. Two of them are right on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum is there and then about three miles to the east of there is Bethsaida.

Those are the two that are right there. They're fishing towns right on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And then a little north, about two and a half miles north of Capernaum, is Chorazin. So these three cities where Jesus has been concentrating his ministry, they're within a very tight geographical range. They're within about three miles of each other.

They form this little triangle right there at the top of the Sea of Galilee. So we've been reading repeatedly that Jesus was going about the towns and cities and villages of Galilee. But we find out in this text that not only has his ministry been concentrated in one region of Israel, that even within that region, there's been a concentration within these three cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. He begins speaking about Chorazin and Bethsaida. Now, we know something about Bethsaida already, because at least three of the 12 disciples are from Bethsaida.

Peter and Andrew and Philip are all from a little, little fishing village of Bethsaida. And so Jesus is speaking of Bethsaida, and he's speaking of Chorazin. And he's making a comparison. He takes these good Jewish cities, just honest, blue collar, people of God, normal, regular towns in Israel. And he compares them to two infamously sinful cities of Tyre and Sidon.

Tyre and Sidon are west of here right on the coast of the Mediterranean. And they're Gentile cities, they're pagan cities, and they're famous cities. They're infamous cities that are spoken of frequently in the Old Testament. Ezekiel prophesies against Tyre and Sidon. Isaiah prophesies against Tyre and Sidon.

Amos prophesies against Tyre and Sidon. And it's always for tremendous wickedness and particularly Baal worship. And so they were lifted up. If you look at particularly Ezekiel 26 through 28, those are the most interesting prophecies of judgment against Tyre and Sidon. In fact, when you look at Ezekiel 26, and you compare it to the actual history, so the judgment that God proclaims, the things he says he's going to do against Tyre and Sidon, and then you go and compare that with actual history, It is stunning.

Alexander the Great comes and does exactly with Tyre, exactly what you read in Ezekiel 26. Tyre is leveled by Alexander the Great. It was a little island off the coast of the Mediterranean. And Alexander the Great comes, and they won't surrender. So he does something that Nebuchadnezzar never did when Nebuchadnezzar was not able to conquer Tyre because they were an island nation and it was strongly fortified.

Alexander the Great came and stone by stone, his army built a land bridge out there. And Tyre is no longer an island, because after the land bridge was built, the oceans came and filled in with sand, what Alexander had done with the rocks. And it's now just a peninsula. The land bridge is still there. Tyre is just part of the coastline now.

And that's exactly what is said will happen in Ezekiel 26. So it's a fascinating history last night. But that's not the point. The point is these cities were infamous. They were famous for their sinfulness.

And so Jesus, on one hand, is taking these good blue collar towns, these normal towns, and He's saying, you're worse than Tyre and Sidon. You're worse than these cities that the prophets cried out against at the command of God. You're worse than they are. Jesus says that most of his mighty works were done in these two cities, in Chorazin and Bethsaida. And Jesus was healing the sick there.

He was cleansing lepers there. He was casting out demons there. He was raising the dead there. And why was he doing this? As a demonstration of who he was so that his preaching would be ratified.

So if you had any doubts about what Jesus was preaching, when he came saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven was at hand. If you had any doubt that this was the voice of Almighty God Himself, you could see Him raise people from the dead and know that what He was saying is true. You could see Him heal the sick. You could see Him cleanse the lepers. You could see him casting out demons.

Paul says this in Romans 2, verse 4. Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. Not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. Every time Jesus healed someone who was sick in Corazine and Bethsaida, It was the goodness of God that was designed by God to lead them to repentance.

They would turn from dead works to the living God. Every time Jesus cast out a demon in Chorazin or Bethsaida, It was a merciful design of God to bring them, to bring them so gently, so kindly to repentance, to turning away from their sins and turning towards the living God. And we would have to say that even Jesus now, even his pronouncement of the judgment, even him saying, woe to you, Corazine and Bethsaida, is an act of mercy. Is there ever a worse position to be in than to be teetering on the edge of judgment, but not to know it, to be oblivious to it, to not be sensible that the hand of God is against you. To die in that position is the worst tragedy in the world, not to know that you're teetering on the brink.

So even Jesus coming and proclaiming these judgments is an act of divine mercy towards the people, that he would tell them, that he would plead with them to see things as God sees them, that they're not just a good old blue-collar city on the Sea of Galilee. That the judgment of God is set against them. Asaph says this in Psalm 81, Psalm 81 verses 11 through 14, But my people would not heed my voice, and Israel would have none of me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own councils. Oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways.

I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries." And this, what Asaph, the voice of God that Asaph is recording in Psalm 81 is exactly what's been happening in Galilee. God is crying out to them Just like Taylor read in Proverbs 1. I'd come across Proverbs 1 and had those thoughts this week, but I hadn't incorporated it in the sermon. It was just a perfect lead into this. Wisdom calls aloud.

But if you won't listen to wisdom, she'll laugh at you in your day of calamity. Jesus is preaching on Proverbs 1 in Matthew 11. The overlaps and the tie-ins there are stunning. This is what God is identifying in Psalm 81, that if we will have none of Him, if we will not heed His voice, He'll just let us have our own way. Friends, there is nothing more terrifying than the thought of just being given over to our own way, to our own plans, to our own thoughts.

So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own counsels. Jesus is saying, Chorazin Bethsaida, you have not heard me, I will give you over to your own councils. I'll give you over to the stubbornness of my own heart. And then he draws this comparison to these infamously sinful cities. And he says, if these miracles, if the healing of the sick that happened in your town, if the raising of the dead that happened in your town, if the casting out of demons that happened in these places would have happened in Tyre and Sidon, long ago, long ago, they would have prostrated themselves in sackcloth and ashes and would have repented before me.

But you've hardened yourself against me. And there is a precedent of this, of infamously sinful city, prostrating themselves before the living God in sackcloth and ashes. It's Nineveh. It's the book of Jonah. That's exactly what happens.

And a prophet who's nothing like Jesus Christ, God sent this wavering prophet that had to be vomited out of the belly of a whale to this infamously wicked town. He's nothing like Jesus Christ. He doesn't preach like Jesus. He doesn't raise the dead like Jesus. He doesn't do miracles like Jesus.

He doesn't cast out demons like Jesus. And yet, they threw themselves on their faces in sackcloth and ashes, and they repented. And yet, these people of God who had the law of God, who had all the prophets pointing towards this moment in history, and had the benefit of all the miracles done right in their presence, right before their very eyes, and had the perfect, the most pure preaching that has ever been preached on the face of the earth, they hardened themselves against God. Now Jesus takes up Capernaum. And he again makes a comparison to an infamously sinful city.

He says, Capernaum, you're so much worse than Sodom. You're so much worse than Sodom. Think of the honor given to Capernaum. We've seen Capernaum a couple of times in Matthew already. In chapter 4 verse 13 it says that he left Nazareth And he came and dwelt in Capernaum." So Jesus has been using Capernaum as his base of operations for all this time since he was tempted by the devil in the desert, chapter four.

All this time he's been operating out of Capernaum. And in chapter nine, verse one, when Jesus has been asked to leave the Decapolis after casting the demons out of this man, and the people come and they're disturbed that the swine have been drowned in the sea. And so they ask Jesus to leave, and he comes back over. It says that he returns to his own city. Capernaum is actually called Jesus's own city.

It's become his home. What an honor. What if Jesus would just take up residence in Youngsville? This is what it means to be exalted to heaven. Think about Jesus Christ taking up residence in Youngsville.

What an honor it would be for our town to have the presence of the very Son of God, to enjoy His preaching week to week, to see the miracles that he would do here, week to week, right here in his hometown of Youngsville. Imagine that. What an honor given to this city of Capernaum. And yet, they harden their hearts. And so Jesus says, you will be brought down to hell.

You were exalted, you were given this honor that no one else was given. But because you've hardened yourself to me, you'll be brought down to hell. You'll be brought down to Hades. Revelation 1 verse 18. I am he who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore.

Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death. Jesus Christ has all the authority for those who reject Him to bring them down to Hades because He is the resurrected Lord who has been given the keys to Hades and to death. Think of the depravity of Sodom, the comparison city. We have Capernaum honored, given the presence of Jesus Christ.

Now think of who they're compared to. Sodom. Open sin. The things that are wicked and are done behind closed doors, even in wicked societies, paraded in Sodom. Done in the public square in Sodom.

With no shame, with no pretense, this is Sodom. This is who Capernaum is being compared to. The total loss of a sense of shame. And yet Jesus says, rejection of me is worse than this. Rejection of Jesus Christ is worse than paraded, open, shameless sin.

He says in the day of judgment, The infamously sinful cities will be better off. It'll be more tolerable. It'll be more bearable in the day of judgment for these cities that are known for parading sin than it will be for Chorazin, for Bethsaida, for Capernaum. Because they had all the means of grace at their doorstep, but they would not repent. All the means of grace right outside their door, but they would not repent.

Matthew 10, this is just last chapter. Jesus is sending out the 12, Matthew 10, verses 14 and 15. And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." Wisdom is crying aloud. At the heights of the city, wisdom is crying aloud.

God is sending out his gospel into the world. And the penalty for rejecting it is to receive a fate on the day of judgment that is worse than the judgment for the open paraded sin of Sodom. Please turn to Luke 12. Turn to Luke 12. Luke 12, Jesus expands on this in verses 47 and 48.

Luke 12, 47. And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required. And to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more." Here in Luke 12 we have two kinds of servants.

Neither repented. Both have earned their beating in Luke 12, 47 and 48. Both of these servants have earned their beating. There's not an innocent servant in view in Luke 12, 47 and 48. And this is what we have in the comparison that Jesus is making.

Jesus is not commending Tyre and Sidon and Sodom. That's obvious from the text. He's not commending them. Both are guilty. None of them have repented.

All have earned their beating. And yet, Jesus makes a distinction that the servant who knows his master's will, but doesn't prepare himself or do according to that will, will be beaten with many stripes. It's worse the more knowledge you have, the more you've been entrusted with, raises the level of accountability and increases the intensity of the guilt. So to be in a city where Jesus is raising the dead and to hear the preaching from his lips and to reject him incurs An intensity of guilt that is significantly different, even than parading around the most shameful sins in the city square. Many of the commentators talk about essentially levels of hell, levels of punishment in hell.

And I don't know exactly what to make all that. The text that they tie that to seem to indicate it, but you don't get a fleshing out of it. You don't really know exactly what that means. But at a bare minimum, at a bare minimum, we would have to say that this is true. That all those days, weeks, months, decades, centuries, Millennia spent in the torment of hell, regretting the missed opportunities, are so much worse for those who were entrusted, given, lavished upon the means of grace.

That the thought of having 1, 000, 1, 000 millennia to regret the works seen, the truth heard, makes the day of judgment intolerable for those who have been given the means of grace. At least Jesus is saying that. In Luke 19, 44, Jesus is pronouncing judgment over Jerusalem, and at the same time, he's weeping over it. Now this helps us to understand this rightly. Jesus isn't happy about the woes that he's pronouncing over them.

He does pronounce the judgment and he weeps over the cities at the same time. This is what he did does in Jerusalem in Luke 1944 and he says to them because you did not know the time of your visitation you missed it You missed the time of your visitation. Expositor's Bible commentary says these three things about this portion of Matthew 11 that we've been speaking of. Three large theological propositions are presupposed. The first is that the judge has contingent knowledge.

He knows what Tyre and Sidon would have done under such and such circumstances. The second is that God does not owe revelation to anyone or else there is injustice in withholding it. The third is that punishment on the day of judgment takes into account opportunity. So what they're saying, and this is absolutely true, is there are some things that aren't explicitly said in the text, but when you look at the text you say these things have to be true for Jesus to teach what he's teaching. The first is that Jesus knows exactly what Tyron Sidon would have done if he'd have come and cast out devils in that city and preached those same sermons in that city.

Jesus knows what they would have done. And he says they would have repented, and he's right. Secondly, that God never owed it to Tyre or Sidon or Sodom to go and raise the dead in those cities or to preach the gospel in those cities. So for everything that wants to rise up within us, for us to say, that's not fair, God says not true. He didn't owe the revelation to Chorazin, to Bethsaida, to Capernaum.

And he didn't owe it to Tyre and Sidon and Sodom. All of these things are done at his pleasure. And we'll get to that more in a minute. But God did not owe that. And finally, that the day of judgment takes into account the opportunities given.

All hardness of heart is not the same on the day of judgment. The hardness of heart that occurred in the presence of the means of grace makes the day of judgment more intolerable. Here's the point. Here's the point of the whole first section here. You must repent.

What means of grace do you not have at your doorstep? Is it Bibles? Is it preaching? Is it the ministry of the Holy Spirit among us? What means of grace are you lacking that you would harden yourself against the Gospel?

You must repent. For us that be drowning in the means of grace as we are, we should read these verses and tremble. J.C. Ryle says this, May we all think often about Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Let us settle it in our minds that it will never do to be content with merely hearing and liking the Gospel.

We must go further than this. We must actually repent and be converted. We must actually lay hold on Christ and become one with him. Till then, we are in awful danger. And so we find this at play that the means of grace are what we need to be saved.

The Bible is able to make us wise to salvation. That's 2 Timothy 3, 14 or 15. Able to make you wise to salvation. But the other side of that is that if you have been given this thing that is able to make you wise to salvation and you harden yourself against it. You make the day of judgment unbearable, intolerable.

Back to Matthew 11, verses 25 through 27. 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 had 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 to whom the Son wills to reveal him." This is fascinating.

Having pronounced the woes, having pronounced judgment on these towns, Jesus then praises His Father. It says, I thank you Father. Some translations say, I praise you Father. And He praises His Father. He praises Almighty God that the things he's just described, the things he's been experiencing, the things that he sees as he looks out and sees the rejection of the Gospel, are actually the will of God.

These cities, in the first part, are held accountable by God. They're responsible. They were given the means of grace. They hardened themselves against them. They're responsible.

It will be intolerable for them on the day of judgment. And yet, at the same time, in the next breath, he praises his Father for being Lord of heaven and earth, for being the sovereign God over all these things. And he acknowledges that the things that he's seen in Chorazin, in Bethsaida, in Capernaum are not an overthrow of the plans of God. God is Lord of heaven and earth. All these things are in accordance with his perfect will.

And so here, in this single text, We have human responsibility absolutely taught and thundered from the heavens and we have the sovereignty of God absolutely taught and thundered from the heavens. Spurgeon was asked how do you reconcile these things and Spurgeon said you don't need to reconcile friends. Friends don't need to be reconciled. And in Spurgeon's mind, these things didn't have to pull against each other. They're seemingly contradictory, but not really contradictory.

Both absolutely true. Both taught in one breath after the other by the Lord Jesus. Jesus praises God. He says, Father, you are Lord of heaven and earth. Father, you have hidden.

Father, you have revealed. For so it seemed good in your sight, just seemed good to you. And so he praises him. Oh, that we would be a people who would define good as whatever pleases God. This is how Jesus was.

This is what he requires of his people, that whatever my God ordains is right. It is good because he is God. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. I believe in the last six months this is the third time, it's at least the third time this has been a cross-reference text.

And all I could tell you is it we keep hitting places where this is a fantastic cross-reference text. So we have to come here, because this helps us to understand what Jesus is teaching. It unfolds human wisdom and heavenly wisdom. It unfolds God's plan of being pleased with withholding from the wisdom of the world and giving to babes. And so Paul is teaching this in 1st Corinthians 1.

I'll start in verse 18. Beginning in verse 18. For the message of the cross is foolishness 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 bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God.

It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness. But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than man.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. That's the punchline, verse 29, that no flesh should glory in His presence. To some the gospel is foolishness.

To some the gospel is the power of God. And what's the difference? The pleasure of God. God's pleasure is the difference between the gospel being foolishness and the gospel being the power of God. Verse 18, to us who Verse 18, to us who are being saved, not to us who figure it out, not to us who apply wisdom and cry out to God, but to us who are being saved, we are being acted upon by God, to us who are being saved.

2 Corinthians 3, 14, just another letter to the Corinthians later. But their minds were blinded. But their minds were blinded. For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. He reveals to some.

He hides from some. And when we look at the cities, we would have to say this is true. A divine choice has been made to do the miracles here and not to do them there, to preach the gospel here and not to preach it there. That the means of grace would be given to Chorizin and Bethsaida and Capernaum and would be withheld from Tyre and Sidon and Sodom. At least the same level of the means of grace.

There is certainly evidence that God had a witness in Sodom. So at the end of the day, Calvinists and Armenians have the same difficulty. And here's the difficulty. This universe is not here for us. It's not here for our glory.

It's not here to put ourselves on display. It's not here for our pleasure. The universe is here for God's glory. The universe is here to put God's worth on display. The universe is here for His pleasure.

We live in a God-centered universe, And this is the difficulty that our flesh finds so revolting when we look at the doctrines of grace, and we just want fairness. And the whole thought is so human centered. The whole thought is so human centered. And so we cannot escape from Romans 9.15. I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.

The Expositors Bible commentary says this, God is dealing with a race of sinners whom he owes nothing. This is the reality. God is dealing with a race of sinners whom he owes nothing. This is the reality. God is dealing with a race of sinners whom he owes nothing.

Thus to conceal these things is not an act of injustice, but of judgment. Did you get that? This is incredibly important to understanding this. To conceal these things, to say, I'm doing my miracles in Chorazin. I'm not doing them entire.

I'm preaching the gospel in Bethsaida. I'm not preaching the gospel in Sidon. I'm raising the dead in Capernaum. I'm not raising the dead in Sodom. Is it an act of injustice?

It's an act of judgment on those places, because God wants to. His judgment on Bethsaida, Chorazin, Capernaum is every bit as just and righteous as it was for Tyre and Sidon and Sodom. Back to Psalm 81, It is not an act of injustice to leave us to ourselves. It's not. To just give us over to what we wanted and thereby be destroyed, because we destroy ourselves is not an act of injustice by God.

To give us over to our own stubborn hearts. Romans 929, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been made like Gomorrah. Friends, this is fair. Reset your minds about fair.

Fair is we all go to hell. We all get what we deserve. That is fair. That's what Romans 9 teaches. And mercy is exactly its definition.

It is the undeserved Goodness of God given to people who have heaped up for themselves something else altogether. Back to Matthew 11. Matthew 11. Matthew 11. Matthew 11.

We see the gulf between the wisdom of God and the wisdom of man. And it's not that one is a tweak of the other. Wisdom of God really high, and the wisdom of man doesn't quite attain to that. So it's just almost touching it really. No, no, no.

No. They're antithetical, meaning that having one often keeps you from the other. They're pulling in completely opposite directions, so that if you have the wisdom of the world, You cannot possess the wisdom of God and If you have the wisdom of God you have we want nothing to do with the wisdom of the world Calvin says this If able and learned men had led the way, it would soon have come to be the general conviction that men obtain their faith by their skill or industry or learning. In no other way can the mercy of God be so fully known as it ought to be, than by making such a choice from which it is evident that whatever men bring from themselves is nothing? And therefore human wisdom is justly thrown down that it may not obscure the praise of divine grace.

Do you see what Calvin is saying here? That if the wise of the world are the ones who attain to faith, then the praise of divine grace is obscured because people start to think that it's the worldly wisdom, that it's the skill of it, it's the merit of it that attains to faith. And so Calvin says, in no other way can the mercy of God be so fully known than to have it be this way, than to reveal to babes but withhold from the wise and the prudent. This is for the glory of God. As God seeks to put himself on display in the universe, this is how he does it.

He overthrows the wisdom of the world, and he reveals to babes. So of those filled with human wisdom, not many are called. That's back to 1 Corinthians 1. Not many are called. But the foolish, the babes, it's revealed to them.

Matthew 18, 2 through 4. Then Jesus called a little child to him, set him in the midst of them, and said, Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 11, the wise and the prudent are those who are lifted up in their heart. They're worldly wise.

They're proud. And the child is the humble one, the dependent one, the one who's so aware of where the provision comes from. Finally, in this section, we see the relationship between the Father and the Son, the relationship between Father and Son. We see two things. First, that all things have been given to Jesus.

Second, that the Father and Son have an exclusive knowledge of each other. So the first thing, an almighty Father has delivered all things to the Son. It's already been said that the Father is the Lord of heaven and earth. He's almighty God. And now Jesus says that this Almighty God, this Father of His, has delivered all things into His hand.

And this is very important when we come to the next section, when Jesus makes the offer, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden. He is establishing in this section his ability to even make that offer. There is an Almighty Father, there's a Lord of heaven and earth, and he has delivered all things into the hand of Jesus. So Jesus can make the offer come to me, you who are weary. Now the week began with really scratching our heads about this, Because we were trying to figure out how this related to Matthew 28, 18, and Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Of course, that's post-resurrection. We were thinking, How's the timing of all this works? Jesus here in Matthew 11 is saying that all things have been delivered into His hands by the Father. How does that relate with Matthew 28, post-resurrection, post-glorification of Jesus Christ, where He says that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. I think I understand it so much better now thanks to the Gospel of John.

The Gospel of John says this, there are two places I'll read to you. John 3, 35, the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. John 13, 3 and 4.

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded himself. Early in the Gospels, Jesus is identifying that all things have been given into his hands by the Father. This is not to diminish the glorification of Jesus Christ and the amazing nature of what happened at the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But that was not the beginning of all things being given into his hands. It was done before he ever arrived here on earth.

Before he ever was incarnated and given A body, all things had been given by the Father into the hands of Jesus Christ. And it makes him able to make these free offers. It makes him able to look at the paralytic and say, Son, your sins are forgiven you, which we've already seen in Matthew. The second thing is that we see that the father and son have a unique relationship. They have an exclusive knowledge of one another.

In the New Testament, the word no is 535 times. The word no, 535 times. This Greek word that is translated no here is only 42 times, and this is two of them. So in English, the distinction is lost. It's just no, no, no, no, no.

We don't know which Greek word it is. But this is An unusual Greek word. When we see no in the New Testament, nine times out of ten, it's not this. This Greek word means to know thoroughly, to know fully. And it has the second sense, to perceive who a person is, to know who they are.

So this is an unusual Greek word. In English it all gets jumbled together, no is no is no is no, but in Greek not so. There's different words And this one means full knowledge. And a clear recognition of identity. And both of these senses are meaningful here.

Luke 10-22 highlights this. Now, Luke 10 is a passage that teaches almost word for word what we have in Matthew 11. It's difficult to figure out whether it's exactly the same instance or whether Jesus just taught the same thing on multiple occasions. It could be either. It doesn't really matter.

But in Luke 10, 22, we read this. All things have been delivered to me by my father. And no one knows who the son is except the father. And who the Father is except the Son. So that's almost exactly the same words but in Matthew it's no one knows the Father but the Son.

In Luke it's no one knows who the Father is except the Son. And no one knows who the Son is except the Father. So in Luke it's so crystal clear that this is about the identity of the Father and the identity of the Son. The light of nature can teach us many things about the universe, the world, even about God. And this is taught by the Bible, right?

Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God. You can go outside and look around. You don't need the Bible to know there's a creator. You just need some created stuff. And we can go outside, look around, and say there is a creator.

But to know, to fully know, to understand the identity of the Father or the Son takes not natural revelation, but takes specific revelation. And in addition to having the specific revelation the Word of God it requires a person of the Godhood to reveal it to you and this is the nature the son fully knows the father. He knows exactly who he is. And he knows him fully. And the father knows the son.

He knows exactly who he is. And he knows him fully. And they can reveal. They do reveal to us. So if you know the Son, you know the Father and the Son.

If you know the Father, you know the Father and the Son. You either know them both or you know neither. This is the implication from this text. You think of Peter and his declaration, who do you say that I am? You are the Son of God.

What does Jesus say? Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. My Father has revealed this to you. And contradictions to this on both sides exist. Don't they?

Don't we see that? People who have an image of Jesus, they want that image of Jesus. So I'm with Jesus, this image of Jesus. They don't really want anything to do with the Father, as they understand Him. You don't know the Son.

Most of the religions of the world say, oh yeah, we know that father. Want nothing to do with Jesus. They don't know the father. You either know the son and the father, or you know neither. To end this section, I'll quote Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24.

Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24. Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his might. Nor let the rich man glory in his riches. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these I delight, says the Lord." This is what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 11. That the mighty man shouldn't glory in his might. That the rich man shouldn't glory in his riches. That the wise man shouldn't glory in his wisdom. But that all glorying should be in the knowledge of God, the Father and the Son.

The knowledge that God is the one who exercises loving kindness and judgment and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight says the Lord. Our last section, verses 28 through 30. Come to me, come to me, all you 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." This text started with the woes. It started with the judgments pronounced against those who are hardened against the means of grace that they've been given. But now we're at an invitation.

An invitation actually that would extend to Chorazin, to Bethsaida, to Capernaum. Come to me. Jesus says, come to me. All who labor and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest." And then he clarifies, it's rest for your souls.

It's not peace in this life. Brother might hand over brother to death. You'll still have rest for your soul. You might be dragged before kings and councils. You'll still have rest for your soul.

Take up your cross. Lay down your life, but you'll still have rest for your soul. Jesus is inviting to salvation. This is salvation. Come to me.

Come and be saved. This is peace with God. There is no peace with God without being saved. He's inviting you to have rest in your soul, rest for your soul. All who labor, some translations, all who are weary, That's because the Greek word has really both.

All who have labors to the point of weariness. That's what the Greek word actually means. So both are valid and actually putting them together is the best of all. All who have labors to the point of weariness. If you're heavy laden, then you're invited to come to Jesus.

Here's what Matthew Henry says. All those and only those are invited to rest in Christ that are sensible of sin as a burden and grown under it. That are not only convinced of the evil of sin, of their own sin, but are contrite in soul for it. That are really sick of their sins, weary of the service of the world and of the flesh, that see their state sad and dangerous by reason of sin, and are in pain and fear about it." And then Matthew Henry goes on to talk about the Prodigal Son and to talk about the publican. The Prodigal Son, who went, he spent his wad serving himself, having everything he wanted, any time he wanted.

And that leads where it always leads, which is feeding the pigs, Wallowing, wishing you could eat what you're feeding to the pigs. That's where that leads. And the son is weary from labor. He's sick of sin. He's come to the end of himself.

And so then, he can come to Jesus for rest. Now six months earlier, you couldn't have told him anything. Because he hadn't spent his wad yet. He wasn't weary yet. He hadn't been laid low, brought low yet.

But now, when all he has is to feed the swine, rest in Christ is looking very different than life on the farm had looked before. The publican, the sinner who knows he's a sinner And he can't even raise his eyes to God. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. These are those who are weary and heavy laden, who labor and are heavy laden. Calvin says this.

Let our miseries drive us to seek Christ. And as he admits none to the enjoyment of his rest, but those who sink under the burden, let us learn that there is no venom more deadly than that slothfulness which is produced in us, either by earthly happiness or by a false and deceitful opinion of our own righteousness and virtue. Calvin actually fingers the things that would keep us from our sense of being weary and heavy-laden. And it is earthly happiness and self-righteousness. And so all those who have been brought to the end of earthly happiness and just have learned that it there's no such thing Really not happiness there and all those who have learned that there's no such thing as self-righteousness And they've been crushed down by the weight of the knowledge of knowing now that they can't be self-righteous.

That there's no happiness in the world. And they're brought low. They can come to Jesus for the rest that their souls need. God brings his elect to this place. Do you see that?

Only God will bring a person to this place where they know that there is no earthly happiness, where they know that there is no earthly happiness, where they know that there is no self-righteousness. Who will come? John 6.37. All that the Father gives me will come to me. This is the interpretive key to this verse, John 6.37.

All that the Father gives me will come to me." This is the interpretive key to this verse, John 6 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. The one who comes to Jesus he won't cast out. He'll give them rest for their souls. And so Jesus is preaching to the multitudes.

He just makes this offer to all. And yet, it's not really to all. It is, but it isn't. He shouts it from the housetops and so should we. Because we don't know who's weary and heavy laden.

But those who are weary and heavy laden have been brought there by God and they will come to Him and He will not cast them out. This is how you come to Jesus. You take His yoke upon yourself and you learn from Him. This is what it means to come to Jesus. You take his yoke upon yourself and you learn from him.

The end of chapter 10 talks about taking up your cross, about laying down your life. You say, well how does that fit with this? I have to take up my cross, but now the yoke will be easy? Yes, both those things, very true. And just like we said with the cross, you remember when we were talking about taking up the cross, everyone will take up a cross.

There's no exemption. But will you take up the cross of Christ, the light one, or will you take up the heavy one? Same here. Everyone bears a yoke. You'll bear the world's yoke, Or you'll bear the yoke of Christ?

He represents His as the light one. He's right. It's true. His yoke is easy. His burden is light.

You say, I want Jesus, but I'm not sure about the yoke, then you don't want Jesus. It's a package deal. There's no wanting Jesus without wanting to bear His yoke. That's not true desire for Jesus. It isn't.

This is what you find. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. What he says in Matthew 11, it's true! To the nth degree, times a thousand, what Jesus says is true.

His yoke is easy, his burden is light. Matthew 23 verse 4. Jesus is speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees. He's speaking about the scribes and the Pharisees. He says this, For they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders.

But they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. There's your options, friends. There's 1, 000 people out there who have a yoke for you. And they really are heavy and they won't lift a finger. Jesus is the contrast to this.

1 John 5, 3 and 4, for this is the love of God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome. That we keep His commandments and His commandments are not burdensome. Matthew Henry says this. Such is the nature of all Christ's commands, so reasonable in themselves, so profitable to us, and all summed up in one word, and that is sweet word, love. Love is the fulfillment of the law.

His yoke is easy. His burden is light. Now the law is a crushing weight to those who would try to achieve righteousness by it. The law can be crushing. The law is designed to be crushing.

It will bring you to Christ. But once you've been justified, once you've been declared not guilty because of the blood of Jesus Christ, then the law is a sweet yoke, a light yoke. His commands are not burdensome. Love is the fulfillment of the law. Jesus is gentle and lowly in heart.

Think about the Gospels. Think about how he relates with his disciples, these thick-headed men. So slow to learn, so slow to understand, so prone to do the wrong thing at the wrong time, to say the wrong thing. He's so gentle with them. Even his rebukes of them are so mild compared to what we would do.

He is gentle and lowly of spirit. Isaiah 55, 1 through 3. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to me. Here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you the sure mercies of David." In conclusion, Jesus begins this text with the sternest of warnings about what happens when we are given the means of grace and we harden ourselves against them. God commands all men everywhere to repent.

You must repent. You must turn away from your own thoughts, your own words, your own deeds, and you must turn towards the Living God and trust in the provision that He has made for your sins. And put all of your weight upon it. Or it will be worse for you in the day of judgment than it will be for Tyre and Sidon and Sodom. These cities that paraded their sin shamelessly in the city square.

It will be worse for you because you have heard a hundred times. You've been the beneficiary of so many means of grace. Secondly, we had the doctrine, the sweet doctrine of election. That all things have been handed over to Jesus. And He reveals to whom it seems good to Him to reveal.

And He hides from whom it seems good to Him to hide all these things for His own glory. We live in a God-centered universe. That's the universe that we live in. And it won't do to look about on the human plane and accuse God for not being fair. If you want fair, we all go to hell.

The last thing we want is fair. And finally we have the beautiful invitation to be saved. Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest for your souls. This is the offer of Jesus Christ. He will give you rest for your souls to those who will come to Him.

Put on a light yoke. He is gentle. He is lowly in heart. Let's pray. Oh God, we praise you.

We praise you. You are gentle. You are lowly in heart, even to a race of rebels to whom you owe nothing and yet you give so much. You're so full in your mercy And yet you're also sovereign in your mercy. So we join with Jesus Christ to praise you for your sovereignty in your mercy.

It seemed good in your sight, and so it's right, oh God, it is right. Make us a people so humble before you so thankful before you so like the Lord Jesus Christ make us this way oh God we pray in Jesus name Amen.