Alright, let's look at Matthew
chapter 11. Look at verse 16, that's where
we're going to start today. You know, one of the passages
that we look at quite often is in the book of John chapter 1,
verse 11. It says, He came unto His own,
Christ came unto His own, and His own received Him not. And
then it goes on to say, but as many as received him. Now understand
what he said there in John 1 11. His own received him not, but
as many as received him. So there's a line of demarcation
there. There's those who received him
not, and then there's those who received him. And those who received
him, to them gave he the right, the privilege, to be called children
of God, even of those who believe on His name, which were born,
not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man,
but they were born of God. And so what it tells us there
is that if we have received Christ, and to receive Him means to believe
in Him, it means to have God-given faith in Him, to rest in Him
as our whole salvation, That one single person who did that
one single work on the cross to put away our sins, if we receive
him, we believe in him, we rest in him. Like David said, this
is all my hope. This is all my salvation. It
doesn't lay on me, but it's on Christ. And so I've been made
a follower of him by a new birth. Well, in that phrase in John
111, when it says, his own received him not, I believe there are
two applications to that. Most commentators will say, well,
that means his own nation. He came into the nation Israel
because God had chosen the Jewish people to be the, what you might
say, the keepers of the flame, so to speak. And of course, they
failed miserably, as we all would. Never think that, well, we could
have done better. I think at the heart of most
false Christianity today, when they think about the Jews under
the old covenant, they have to kind of think this way. They
say, you know, if I'd have been back then, I would have done
better than them. But we wouldn't have. But he chose that nation
to bring the Messiah through. And when the Messiah come, on
the whole, they did not recognize him. They did not receive him. Now, he came into his own, and
his own received him not. I believe you can say that refers
to his elect as we are by nature. By nature, we're sinners, unbelievers,
in darkness, rejecters. But when we're born again, we
receive him. And that's the power of God.
Now I say all that to say this, look at verse 16. Christ says
here, now, and you understand he'd been preaching, he'd been
performing miracles, and he'd been rejected. And he'd been
speaking of John the Baptist, talking about how great John
was in the position that the Lord had put him in as the last
of the Old Testament prophets, and they didn't believe John.
So they didn't want Christ, they didn't want John, the message.
And so he says in verse 15, he that hath ears to hear, let him
hear, spiritual ears. So he says in verse 16, but where
unto shall I liken or compare this generation? His generation,
the ones to whom he was preaching, the ones to whom John was preaching.
And so how can I compare this, he says, It is like unto children
sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows, their friends,
their playmates, and saying, we have piped unto you and you've
not danced. We played a happy game, a joyous
game, and you refused. You turned your back on it, you
didn't want to join in. And then he says, we have mourned
unto you like a funeral judge. We played a game like that. You
know how children are, they play games and all kinds of different
games. He says, and you have not lamented. And so what's he doing here?
He's drawing a parallel between those who heard his preaching
of the gospel and John's preaching of the gospel and a bunch of
children playing games, but the children are contrary. You ever
heard that? to describe a child, he's a contrary
or she's a contrary child. In other words, whatever you
wanna do, they want the opposite. And that's what he's comparing
this generation of unbelievers to. As children, they could not
be satisfied. They could not be content. And
what was the problem? Well, here come John the Baptist
preaching. Now John, as you know, he wasn't
your usual fit-the-bill preacher. He didn't consort with the high
muckety mucks in religion. He was out in the wilderness,
he wore sackcloth, and he ate wild locust and honey, and he
was like a wild man, you might say, something like that. And
he preached the gospel message Of Christ crucified, risen from
the dead, satisfaction to God's law and justice by the blood
of Jesus, behold the Lamb of God, he said. What's the Lamb
do? The Lamb is a sacrifice. The
Lamb is a propitiation. That's the Lamb. All the types
in the pictures of the Lambs in the Old Covenant, what did
they picture? This person, Jesus of Nazareth,
who came into the world, the Lamb of God. who beareth away
the sins of the world, God's elect all over this world. And
that's what John preached. And John preached repentance,
which is the issue that no sinner by nature wants to face. You
mean to tell me I've got to call everything that I naturally think
recommends me unto God, I've got to call it evil? and bow
to Christ and submit to his righteousness. And that's what John preached,
and it was offensive. He told the Pharisees, he told them,
he said, you're vipers. You're leading the people wrong.
He preached morality. He stood against the king at
that time, Herod, and his adulterous marriage. And all of that. So
John had that message. They didn't want to hear John.
So what did they say about John? They said, well, he's crazy.
He has a devil. That's what they said. Look at
verse 18 and 19. For John came neither eating
nor drinking. That is, John was a man of abstinence. He didn't indulge in the pleasures
of that life. Some people say he took the Nazarite
vow that he wouldn't drink, he wouldn't cut his hair, all of
that kind of stuff. And so they said, he hath a devil. And the way we'd say it today
is he's gone mad. He's nuts. So anyway, so that's what they
said about John. But now here comes Christ, the Messiah himself,
Jesus of Nazareth. And he did eat and drink. And
he did speak with publicans and sinners. And he did, he was a,
what you might say, a person who was outgoing, who was personable,
Not like John, see. But they didn't like his message
either because he preached the same message of John, the gospel
that calls sinners to repentance. Repentance of dead works. And
so in verse 19, he says, the son of man came eating and drinking,
and they say, behold, a man gluttonous. You see him eat? Well, he's eating
too much. A winebibber, he drank wine,
he made wine. Now, he wasn't a drunk, but they
called him a drunk. That's what they said. A friend
of publicans and sinners. And boy, I tell you what, when
they make that accusation, when I read that in the scriptures,
I always say, well, thank God he's a friend of publicans and
sinners. Because if he wasn't a friend of sinners, he wouldn't
be a friend to me. Or you. That friendship brought
about our salvation. by the grace of God through the
blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
they said he was a glutton, a drunk, a friend of, what they're saying
is he was just like the publicans and sinners. He was a sinner
like them. Well, he wasn't. He did eat with them, he did
speak with them, he saved some of them, but he was never contaminated
or he was never indulging in their sinfulness at all. And
so this is his generation. Well, isn't that our generation
too? We preach the gospel, we tell sinners the truth, and what
do they do? They go after us, they go after
our character. They say, well, y'all got a cult
over there. You know, things like that. I don't even know
what a cult is, by the way, so anyway. But here's what Christ
says in this statement. This is where I got the title
of the message. But wisdom is justified of her
children. Wisdom, who's wisdom? God's wisdom. The wisdom of God that's found
in Christ. Christ is the very wisdom of
God. Who of God is made unto us? Wisdom
and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Proverbs chapter
8 portrays Christ personified in wisdom. And what is the wisdom
of God? It's the gospel. How God saves
sinners. How God can be both a just God
and a savior. And it's all based upon the merits
of the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ as the
surety, the substitute, the redeemer of his people. And that is such
a precious, unique, miraculous, powerful message. Sometimes we
don't really appreciate it that way, the way we should. But I
can tell you there's no other religion on earth, I don't care
what they call it, what country it is or what tribe it's from,
Even in false Christianity, there's no other religion that addresses
and answers that question. How can a sinner be justified
before God, be made right with God, be forgiven of sins in a
way that God's justice is honored? To be declared righteous, a sinner,
think about that, declared righteous. The only thing that man can come
up with, well, he's got to do something. He's got to decide,
he's got to make the right decisions, he's got to do the right works,
he's got to try his best, he's got to be sincere, dedicated,
all of those things. But what they don't understand
is that none of those things will make a sinner righteous
in God's sight. The gospel reveals how Christ
is the perfection of the law for all his people, identified
by The Holy Spirit bringing them to faith in Christ. And that
message is not preached in anywhere but where the gospel is preached.
So this is the wisdom he's talking about. The wisdom that we can
only find in Christ. The glory of his person, the
power of his finished work. Well he says wisdom is justified. Now the term justified can mean
different things. Most of the time when you, well
any time that it's talking about the justification of a sinner
before God, it's speaking of those two aspects that I mentioned.
Number one, the forgiveness of sins. I'm forgiven. You're forgiven if you're in
Christ. And the ground of that forgiveness
so that God can be a just God as well a forgiver, a savior,
The ground of that is the blood of Jesus Christ, period, nothing
else. Not your tears, not your repentance,
not your changed life, it's the blood of Jesus Christ alone. That's the simplicity of the
gospel. So the first aspect of being justified, when it talks
about being justified before God, is the forgiveness of sins
on the ground of the blood of Christ. The second aspect is
being declared righteous in the sight of God. And the reason
that's such a marvelous thing is that God, listen to me, this
probably should be all I have to say on this for you to get
the picture here. God knows and sees our hearts. He sees our thoughts. Isn't that enough? Now, knowing
that, how can God, who knows our hearts and sees our hearts,
how can he look at you or look at me and say, that's a righteous
man or a righteous woman, without being false? How can he do that? And the ground of that is the
imputed righteousness of Christ. That righteousness that he worked
out on the cross as our surety, substitute and redeemer. Now
that's what justified means when it's talking about the justification
of a sinner. But sometimes the word justified
means vindicated. Proven to be real and right. And that's what it means here.
Wisdom is vindicated of her children. The wisdom of God is proven right
in the fact that God brings his people to believe in Christ and
rest in him, to plead his blood and his righteousness alone.
That vindicates God's justice, God's word, God's mercy, God's
work. And so this generation, Christ
said, you can't please them. But God has a people, and he
brings them to a saving knowledge of Christ. God has been reconciled
to them on the basis of the righteousness of Christ, and God brings them
to be reconciled to him on that same basis. And so wisdom is
justified of her children. This wisdom is vindicated and
then it reveals the righteousness of God as the sinner's hope. And that again is Christ's righteousness
imputed. And it's this righteousness by
which all people are gonna be judged. And you know when that
judgment comes, God's wisdom will be vindicated then in the
salvation of his people and in the damnation of the wicked.
So what's our only hope? Our only hope is to be found
in him, not having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faithfulness of Christ. The righteousness
of God by faith. And then it says in verse 20,
he began to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works
were done, his miracles, where he preached. And it says because
they repented not. Now upbraid means to denounce,
it means to speak a word of condemnation. A word of woe. We're gonna be
talking about a word of woe in Revelation. Woe, woe, woe. The
second woe today. And that's distress, that's grief,
that's anguish. And again, in this upbraiding,
God's wisdom is vindicated because he brings a charge that sticks. Now nobody can bring a charge
against God's chosen people who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect. But the Lord rebuked these people
in these cities because he had been there, he'd preached there,
and he'd done many wonderful works, and they refused, which
we know by nature all people will do, and they repented not. Now we know this. If you believe
the gospel, and you've repented of dead works and former idolatry,
That's a gift from God. That didn't come from you naturally
or me naturally. We know that if left to ourselves,
none of us would repent. And yet he upbraids these cities
for that very same thing. The Bible says in Acts 17 30,
that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent. How can
God do that? When he doesn't give repentance? Well, let me tell you something.
We are so inadequate in our limited, finite, and even sinful minds
to answer these questions, and so we have to depend solely upon
the word of God. What is the answer that God gives? And the main answer we're gonna
deal with next week is in verse 26 of this Matthew 11, look at
that. And like I said, we'll deal with this next week in the
last lesson on Matthew 11. He says, even so Father, for
so it seemed good in thy sight. Whatever God does. And here's
where we are like children who are totally dependent upon God
in his purpose, in his mind, in his will, in his working.
That whatever God does is right. God doesn't do right because
he's chained to some standard. God does right because he is
the very being of rightness itself. And if he does it, he's right.
God knows what's best. He doeth all things well. Abraham said it when God went
to punish Sodom, and Sodom's mentioned in this verse, shall
not the judge of all the earth do right? Are we going to accuse
God of doing wrong, of doing wickedness, or being unfair or
unjust? Read Romans chapter nine and
you'll have your answers. And the answer is basically,
who do you think you are? Who do you think you are? Who
do I think I am? To reply against God. Are you
gonna debate with him? Are you gonna argue with him?
You remember when Job got in a debate like that? And God said,
well, let's see, Job. Let's see your qualifications
to argue and to answer and to debate with me. This is what
God's saying. And he said, the first question
is, where were you when I formed the earth and brought it into
existence and put Leviathan in the ocean? Where were you in
all that now? Well, where was Job? Well, he
was a glimmer in the eye of God. He wasn't even existing yet.
And he's telling Job there what he tells us in Romans 9. We're
not qualified for that. God is God. He's sovereign. He has a purpose. He has a will. He reveals that in his word.
Men and women by nature don't like it. They think they've got
a better way. They think they would be more
fair and more just than God. Isn't that right? Until God brings
us down like he did Job. I've heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, now might I see of thee, and I repent in sackcloth
and ashes. Put me down in the dust where
I belong. You know why? Because that's
where I came from. That's where I came from. So he upbraised
the cities. that he'd done many wonderful
works. And listen to what he says. And I know these verses
here are used by people who believe in the inherent or innate goodness
of man and the free will of man. They use these verses, but they've
got a big, big problem. And I wanna show it to you here. And what you have to do, you
have to understand what is Christ doing here? What's his point?
Well, look at what he says. He says, Woe unto thee, Chorazin. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida. Now,
these were infamously sinful people. For if the mighty works
which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they
would have repented long ago and sat clothed in ashes. Well,
wait a minute now. What's he saying? Well, if I'd
have gone over here and preached, they would have repented. What
does that mean? Okay, let's go on, verse 22.
He says, but I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for
Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. Now we'll
deal with that issue in just a moment. Let's go on, verse
23. And thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven. How
is Capernaum exalted unto heaven? This is a symbolic language. This is where Christ made his
headquarters. from where he sent out the disciples
and done many wonderful miracles and preached the gospel. So Capernaum
was lifted unto heaven in that way to hear the gospel, to see
the miracles. And he said, you shall be brought
down to hell. For if the mighty works which
have been done in thee had been done in, where? Sodom. You know about Sodom, don't you?
What do you think of when you think of Sodom? You think of
sodomy. You think of homosexuality. You think of gross immorality. And here, Chorazin, I mean Capernaum,
was a religious people. And he said, it's gonna be worse
for you than for those in Sodom. He says, verse 23, if the mighty
works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day. But I say in you that
it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day
of judgment than for thee." Well, what's he saying here?
Well, as I said, I know those who believe in free will, which
you know is a myth, The Bible doesn't say that man has a free
will to make any choice he wants to make. The will is connected
to the mind, the heart, the conscience, the nature. And why will not
men and women naturally now, without being born again, why
won't we receive Christ? Why won't we believe? Because
we don't want to. And why don't we want to? It's
because of our sinful, depraved, fallen nature. Isn't that right?
You will not come to me that you might have life. Somebody
said one time, if God came down and gathered the whole human
race together in one audience, and without doing any work of
power and grace in their hearts, just said, now how many of you
will accept and worship me? There'd be no hands going up.
not if they understood who God is and how he works, how he operates. Man by nature does not want salvation
God's way because it gives him no room to glory, no room to
boast. Now that's what the Bible teaches.
And a verse, I quote this on television all the time, 1 Corinthians
2.14, the natural man Now what is that? That's the
unregenerate, natural man and woman receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, they're spiritually
discerned. And he doesn't have spiritual
life, he doesn't have a spiritual mind, he doesn't have spiritual
desires. So he won't do it. Those who believe in free will,
and to believe in free will the way they do, they have to believe
in what we call some inherent goodness in the natural man. Well, what does the Bible say?
The Bible says there's none good, no, not one. There's none that
seeketh after God. That's what the Bible says. Somebody
told me one time, well, it only says that one time. Well, first
of all, that's not true. It doesn't say it one time, it
says it a bunch of times. But let me ask you this, if God
says it one time, isn't it just as true as if he said it a thousand? The natural man, all right. So,
when they use these verses to try to prove that men and women
have the natural ability to repent and believe, if given the opportunity,
And of course, we know the Bible says otherwise. Well, God says
this. He says, I'll have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Who's saved and who's lost is God's business. Now from our
viewpoint, we're responsible and accountable for the things
that are revealed. And I can tell you right now,
I don't want to die in a state of damnation. How about you?
I don't want to die like that. I don't want to die and go to
hell. So what I want to do is look into the Bible and pray
that God will reveal himself to me. And that's what Christ
says, again, look at verse 25. Now, I'm going into this next
week, but he says, at that time, Jesus answers it, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid
these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them
unto babes. Well, by nature, we're all wise
and prudent in our own eyes. And if God has humbled us as
babes, That's his business, isn't it? Even so, Father, it seemed
good in thy sight. Well, those who take these verses
that we've read and say, well, see there, if he'd done this
in Sodom, they would have remained. Well, here's the problem that
they have with that. If Sodom, if Tyre and Sidon, if they would
have repented if given the opportunity, why didn't God give them the
opportunity? Huh? He held back that opportunity? Why did he do that? That makes
him worse than anything that God's sovereignty would say.
You mean they would have, but you didn't give them the opportunity?
Well, that's worse than cruel. He let him go to hell anyway?
But had he given them the opportunity, they would have believed? No,
that's not the way it is. You know, the point that Christ
is making here, here's what he's doing. And I'm not going to go
into the Greek of all this and everything, you know, people
can get confused on it. Here's what he's saying to these
people. To hear the gospel and refuse
to believe it is the worst of the worst because it is an onslaught,
an actual attack upon every attribute of God. It's worse than the sins
of Sodom. It's worse than the sins of Tyre
and Sidon. And what does that tell us? And
I'm closing the lesson on this. I copied here Hebrews 2, 1 through
3. Listen to this. The writer of
Hebrews wrote this, therefore we, that is we who are under
the preaching of the gospel like you are, like I am, we ought
to give the more earnest heed to the things which we've heard.
Earnest heed. lest at any time we should let
them slip, or lest we should drift on by them, sitting in
the pew, hearing the gospel, and just drift on by, ignoring
it, huh? For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation? which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him,"
what he's saying is this, God will be vindicated in the judgment
of those who heard the gospel and left it. Now, some commentators
believe that this passage preaches that there are degrees of punishment
in hell. And I gotta be honest with you,
I don't know for sure. I've always told people this,
whatever degree of hell there is, I don't wanna be there. We
know there are no degrees of rewards in heaven because salvation
is by grace based on the righteousness of another. We know that. But they say that there are probably
degrees of punishment in hell. So I'm not sure the Bible teaches,
he talks about judgment here. He says, it shall be more tolerable
for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment. Whether that
works out to a greater degree of punishment, some say that
it means a greater distress of the mind, realizing that I heard
the gospel and I had that opportunity, but I rejected it. So I don't
know, but I do know this. The only way a sinner is going
to be saved and get to heaven is by the grace of God. And any
sinner who stands before God without Christ having their sins
charged to them, they're going to be eternally damned. And none
of us want any part of that, okay?