Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. Last Sunday
morning, we looked at the majority of the verses here in Matthew
11. And in these verses, our Lord
was telling a multitude of people that John the Baptist was His
true messenger that He had sent. John was sent with the message
of truth about God, the truth about man, and the truth about
salvation. And it says in these verses that
the Lord upbraided the cities. The multitudes of people in the
cities where John preached, the Lord rebuked them because they
did not believe the message that was sent to them. Now, because
of man's sinful flesh, because of this sinful flesh that we're
all walking around in, man cannot, and he will not believe the message
that God has sent. All right, sinful flesh cannot,
sinful flesh will not. Therefore, in verse 25, the Lord
declared the only hope that men and women have before God. Verse
25 says, at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them
unto babes." The only hope that any man or woman has, the only
hope of knowing the truth of God and believing the truth of
God, this is it right here. It's if God will reveal the truth
to that man or woman. That's the only hope that any
of us have. is if God will of His own will, of His own power,
of His own work, of His own doing, is if God will reveal the truth
of these things to men and women. Men and women are naturally blind
to the truth of God. Men and women are naturally dead
to the truth of God. And if you think about it, you
don't have to necessarily hide things from a blind man. And you sure don't have to hide
anything from a dead man. All that God has to do to hide
the truth from anybody is just not reveal it to him. Because
of our nature, it's already hidden to us. So God has to reveal it. And
that's, that's the point that I want us to get ahold of. That's
what I want to emphasize. God has to reveal it. This is
God's to reveal. We all need to approach the word
of God, the gospel of God, the message. Worship. We all need
to approach it with this mindset, this heart, this attitude. God
has to reveal this. We're coming in here at His mercy. We're at the mercy of Him revealing
this to us or Him not revealing this thing to us. It is God's
to reveal. If we don't get anything else
out of this message, let's get a hold of this. God is God. God is God. All things belong
to Him. God does what God wants to do. God gives whatever God wants
to give to whoever he wants to give it to. God takes whatever God wants
to take from whoever God wants to take it from. Just ask Job.
He said the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. God did this. God does all these
things. God reveals whatever God wants
to reveal to whoever He wants to reveal it. And God doesn't
reveal whatever God does not want to reveal to whoever He
does not want to reveal it to. This is God. This is God. He's not trying to be God, He's
God. Men try to find out God and search
out God. Well, He's not trying to be found
out. He will reveal Himself when He's
ready to reveal Himself. He's God. He's God. Now this is the truth of what
our God has said in His Word. He said, I am the Lord. I'm the Lord God. I'm the Lord
your God. And I'll hide whatever I want
to hide, and I'll reveal whatever I want to reveal. I will do all
my pleasure. That's what His Word says. I'll
do all my pleasure. This is who He says that His
truth has been hid from and been revealed to. Let's read verse
25 again. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes." Why? Why is that? Why would God the
Father do that? Verse 26 says, "'Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight.'" Verse 27 says, "'All
things are delivered unto me of my Father, And no man knoweth
the son, but the father neither knoweth any man, the father saved
the son and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. What our Lord is clearly telling
us right here is this is all in the hands of the sovereign
God. God is sovereign. What that means
is he's the one who is in control. He is the one who holds all things
in his hand. And that includes this revelation
of who he is and this revelation of what he has done for his people. And we need to be asking him
to reveal it to us. We do Lord revealed these things
to me. If we care about the truth, some
people don't, I know some people are not interested in truth.
Some people hear the truth and say, I don't care what it says.
I'm going to believe what I want to believe. If we are at all
interested in truth, if we are at all interested in God's truth
and God's eternity, then let's ask him, Lord, would you reveal
these things to me? Reveal the truth to me. Reveal
the word to me. Reveal the gospel to me. Reveal
Christ to me. Has to be revealed by you. Look with me if you would at
a few scriptures here. Let's go to Matthew 16. Matthew 16, verse 13, it says, when Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, whom do
men say that I, the son of man am? And they said, some say thou
art John the Baptist, some Elijah and others, Jeremiah, or one
of the prophets, just one of the, one of the old prophets.
He said unto them, but whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter
answered and said, thou art the Christ. Oh, if people only knew
what that really means. It's not just his name. That's
who he is. Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood
hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father, which is in heaven. A true understanding of what
it means to say that the Lord Jesus is the Christ. God manifest
in the flesh. God himself come down the only
mediator between God and man, 100% God, 100% man. That understanding does not come
by flesh and blood. A preacher can't reveal it to
us. Let me just go ahead and tell you all this. Don't look
to me. Don't rely on me. Don't trust me. Look to God, look to the Word
of God, look to the Lamb of God. A preacher cannot reveal these
things to us. We cannot reveal these things
to ourselves. This has to be revealed from
God Almighty. God has to do it. A true understanding
of what Christ came to this world to do, and what He did, and who
He did it for, and why He did it, God has to reveal it. God has to reveal it. Go with
me to John 12. Verse 35, it says, Then Jesus
said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you,
Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you.
For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whether he goeth.
While you have light, believe in the light that you may be
the children of light. These things spake Jesus and
departed and did hide himself from them. Verse 37 says, but
though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on him, that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,
which he spake. And this is Isaiah 53 verse one. He said, Lord, who hath believed
our report, And to whom is the arm of the Lord? To whom hath
the arm of the Lord been revealed? Revealed. When Isaiah saw his
glory, the glory of what took place on the cross, he said, this has to be revealed.
This is of God and it has to be revealed by God. To whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed? The apostle Paul said in Romans
one, our brother just read it to us. He said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ for there in is the righteousness of God
revealed. The righteousness of God, the
righteousness that God demands, the righteousness that God has
supplied. in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therein is
the righteousness of God revealed. Therein do we see that it's Christ's
righteousness and not our own. Therein, in the truth of the
gospel, do we stop looking to our own righteousness and start
looking to His, looking unto the Lord Jesus. All right, that's exactly what
the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 1. Look with me over there. Galatians 1 verse 11 says, But
I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. For you have heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews'
religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more
exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach him among
the heathen. Immediately I conferred not with
flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which
were apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned
again unto Damascus." The Lord called him there and he revealed
the truth to him personally. Even though God's people don't
have this physical audience with the Lord, like the apostle Paul
did, they have a spiritual audience with the Lord. And He reveals
it to them personally. The Spirit of God Himself takes
the things of Christ and shows it to His people, reveals it
to His people. And they see it and they believe
it and they rejoice in it. They do. What once was dead to
them, I know, believe me, I know, I understand. I'm flesh too.
There is a point where people hear the things of God and they
are dead to them. And they're curious about them.
They want to know what all the fuss is about. Why is everybody
so interested in this and excited about this? But they don't see
it until it's revealed to them. And then once it's revealed to
them, they see it, they rejoice in it, they see Him, that's what
they see. Before they're just seeing religion
and all of a sudden they see Him and they see them. They see the reality of this
law. People break the law and they
think, oh well, I'll try again next time. They see the reality
of what a broken law means before God. They see the reality of
condemnation. Think about this eternal condemnation. It's all fun and games right
now. They see the reality of what
redemption means. They see the reality of remission
and forgiveness and salvation eternity with the one who accomplished
all this for them. Once the Spirit reveals the Son
and reveals the Father, God's people rejoice because they realize
the same thing that a man named Manoah's wife realized. There's a story of a man named
Manoah and his wife and God came to them and showed them some
things and they saw something and Manoah got afraid and he
said, God's going to kill us. And his wife said, no, he's not
going to kill us. If He were going to kill us,
He would never have shown us all these things. He would never
have revealed all these things to us. And when God's people
see that, they rejoice. He has revealed all these things.
Now, all right, we're talking about a revelation, this revelation,
He'll reveal it. What is it? If this revelation
is given to us, what will we see? What will we see? If the Spirit reveals the Father
and reveals the Son, what will we see? Turn with me to Isaiah
45. Our brother just read this to
us. We'll read it again. Isaiah 45,
this is what we will see. Isaiah 45, look at verse 20. Assemble yourselves and come,
draw near together ye that are escaped of the nations. They
have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image
and pray unto a God that cannot save. Tell ye and bring them
near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord, and there
is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior? There is none beside me. If the Spirit reveals the Father
and the Son, number one, we will see their oneness. There is no God else beside me. Who's saying that? The fullness
of all three persons of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the
Spirit, they are one God. But when they each shine the
light on each other, they are one God. But when the sun shines
the light on the father, this is what we see. All right. We
see a just God. No one knows the father, but
the son. And no one can know the Father
if the Son doesn't reveal Him. And if the Son reveals the Father
and we get a good look at God the Father, this is what we will
see. A just God. When the Son reveals the Father,
we see holiness. We see perfection. We see absolute
purity. We see strict justice. We see the giver and the demander
of an unbending law. We see the one who hates sin
against that law, hates it, won't have anything to do with it.
It will not stand in his presence. We see the one who must punish
sin against his law. When the son reveals the father,
this is what we see, a consuming fire. We see one who it is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Fearful thing
to fall into the hands of. All right, that's when the Son
reveals the Father. But when the Father reveals the
Son, we see a Savior. We see a just God. and we see
a Savior. We see the One who lived in holiness,
lived in strict purity for His people. We see the One who satisfied
by completely fulfilling God's unbendable law. We see the One who gave all of
His perfection to His people. They were robed in all of His
purity. Man tries to figure out, how
can I be as pure as God demands me to be? And then the revelation
comes. You never will. Christ was that
for you. All of a sudden, we see Christ.
The Son is revealed. The Father reveals the Son. At
first we're going about our business not worried about anything and
the Son reveals the Father and we are struck with fear and dread
and then the Father reveals the Son and we see salvation. We see a remedy. We see the One
who gave everything that He was to His people. They were all
robed in His purity. Doesn't it bring such comfort
and rest to you to think of being robed in His purity? Wouldn't you love to wear His
purity? All of God's people do. They
were all covered in His law-fulfilling righteousness. You know what
righteousness does? It obeys the law. It's right. All of God's people were made
to be brand new, sinless, spotless creations in Him. All made to
be before the all-seeing eye of God as He is. We don't know what we shall be,
but we know when we see Him, we're going to be like Him. As
He is in all of His glorious character. And that was done. Everything that Christ was, was
laid on His people. All of that was done by having
everything that His people were laid on Him. All of their sin was laid on
Him. You know, we just think about
how wonderful and amazing and glorious it is to be robed in
His purity. Just think about what He was
robed in. All of the filth of their sin,
just robed in filth. He was covered in all of the
transgressions that God's people ever committed against His law.
Just covered in transgressions. They were all given to Him. He
took them. He owned them. He wore them. He bore them in His own body
on the tree. A true, literal transaction took
place. A true, literal substitution. We received holiness and He received
sin. And as we all stood before the
judgment throne of a just God who cannot do wrong, and must
do right or he won't be just and he won't be holy. If he doesn't
do right, then he's not holy and he's not just. When he assessed
all parties before him, he condemned the guilty and he set the innocent
free. The transaction of Christ's righteousness
to us and our sin to him, that was a real transaction. All parties
were made to be what was laid on them. Christ never committed
sin, but he was made to be it. How
can we understand that by this? We never committed righteousness. Never, never, but we were made
to be it. How do we know that? Here's how
we know. The just God forsook His Son, turned His back on His Son, condemned
His Son, slayed His Son, and then He ripped the veil of the
Holy of Holies wide opened so all of His people could come
right on in. Amazing. That's amazing. God is a just
God. And He will by no means clear
the guilty, and He will by no means punish the innocent. He
will not do it. He will not condemn. He will
not slay. He will not turn His back on
the innocent. He is a just God. He is a just God. Never has He
been an unjust God who condemns the innocent one and sets the
guilty one free. Two men go into a courtroom.
both accused of murder. The jury finds one to be guilty
and one to be innocent. According to justice, which one
has to be locked up and which one has
to be set free? If that judge locked up the innocent
one and set the guilty one free, he's an unjust judge. Our God is a just God. He's never
been unjust. And thank God, He never will
be. Because Christ was made to be guilty by us being in Him. And because we were made to be
innocent by Him being in us. And because the just God condemned
Christ for our sin. Because in Christ, our sin has
been dealt with. It has been settled according
to the law. It's done. what justice required, which
was death, because Christ suffered it and He died. Because that,
God will never bring that condemnation to us. Never. He won't, He can't, because He
made us to be innocent. That transaction of the Father,
Son, and Spirit, in Him, we are innocent. We're spotless. as
He is, in the death of Christ, through the condemnation and
the punishment of Christ. The scripture says, by His stripes, we're healed. We're healed from
it. We've been made to be innocent. We've been made to be just before
the just and holy God. All right, now, God can and He
will reveal that to whoever He's pleased to reveal it to. He can
and He will. I sincerely pray that He will
reveal that to us. Let's ask Him to. Let's ask Him
to. Let's ask Him to reveal to us
what Christ did. We talk about what Christ accomplished
on the cross. May God actually reveal to us
what Christ accomplished on the cross. What He did for His people,
what that made them to be. Verse 22 right here in Isaiah
45, he says, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the
earth for I'm God and there's none else. Lord, if you will
reveal yourself, we will look to you. We will look to you. We will trust in you and we won't
boast in it. We won't be lifted up with pride
as though we were wise and prudent in anything. We'll receive it
as babes, knowing that you revealed it to us, and we'll give you
all the glory, and we'll give you all the thanks. May God reveal
Himself, honestly. I don't want to sit down. It's
time for me to close my Bible, but I don't want to sit down,
and here's the reason why. May God reveal Himself to us. May
we not have the... May the adversary not pull the
wool over our eyes and let us walk on out. May God reveal himself
to us. May he reveal Christ to us. Jacob said, I can't let you go
unless you bless me. May we be given a heart by him
to say, I can't walk out of this room except you reveal yourself
to me. If you ask, He's the one making
you do it, He's gonna get the glory, but I'm telling all of
us, ask. Lord, reveal yourself to me.
Reveal Christ to me. Reveal to me what this is and
what this means and what was done. If life eternal is knowing
the true and living God, reveal yourself to me. Let me see you. Amen. All right.