In Matthew 11, there's a familiar
verse of scripture towards the end of that chapter. Matthew
11, verse 28. Come unto me. This is the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. At the time that the Lord spoke
this, He had been speaking to a multitude about John the Baptist. And He had been speaking about
the excellency of His ministry. How that He was sent by God to
make ready the way for the King that was coming. And He said,
that John was rejected and he said of how he was rejected by
a host of men who were wise and prudent in their own eyes. And
he said that he yet received publicans and sinners. This was the, this was the off-scouring. These were
the rejects. These were the thieves and robbers
and harlots and people who you would naturally think last to
ever be saved. But as he was speaking about
those who rejected John and rejected him, he said there in verse 16,
he said, Whereunto shall I liken this generation. It's like unto
children sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows
and saying, we've piped unto you and you've not danced. We've
mourned unto you and you've not lamented. John came with one
message and his message was this, behold the Lamb of God. This is the one of whom all the
Law and the Prophets have spoken. This is the Lamb of God. God providing Himself a Lamb. This is the one who takes away
the sins of Jew and Gentile, bond and free, male and female. This is He whom God has sent
to make satisfaction for the sins of His people scattered
throughout the world. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
with the same message. He came with the same message.
But they were wise and prudent. They knew everything and they
couldn't be taught anything. They considered it wise to outwise
the otherwise one. They considered it wise to always
have something to say to sound smarter than the other fellow
that just said something. always have a comment to appear
more knowledgeable and understanding of the next fellow. Boasting,
proud, arrogant in their wisdom. But wouldn't submit to wisdom
himself. Wouldn't submit to the one he
sent before him to declare him. Wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't
do it. He says, and the reason that
they excused themselves for not bowing to this truth was by finding
fault with the messengers. They found fault with John the
Baptist. He said, verse 18, for John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say he hath a devil. But they also found fault with
the master. Will a man find fault with another
man? We found fault with the master.
The son of man came eating and drinking. John didn't socialize enough.
He didn't come out to them. God said, you go to him. And
the Naamans didn't like that. They wanted God's message to
be always catering to them. Well, the Lord came and he went
in and out among the people and was with the people. Is that
going to satisfy them? They said, behold, a man gluttonous,
a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. He just spends too
much time sitting at the table eating and dining with publicans
and sinners. So that's not going to please
men, is it? Whether they're as John the Baptist or whether they're
as the Lord was, that's not going to please men. But wisdom is
justified of her children. Wisdom is justified of her children. It pleased wisdom. It pleased
wisdom to save and give unity and give peace of heart and to
reveal the tie that binds in the hearts of His people one
way. He declares how that way would
be. He sent John the Baptist. Look over at 1 Corinthians 1.
1 Corinthians 1. Wisdom. Did you see that? Wisdom
is justified of her children. This is wisdom speaking. After
that, in the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1. This is wisdom. After that, in the wisdom of
God. The world by wisdom knew not God. The wise men, the scribes,
didn't know God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That's how He's going
to save them that believe. Continue saving them that believe. Salvation is not a one-time deal. It's a lifetime deal. This is
how He's going to save. For the Jews require a sign and
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach. What did John
the Baptist preach? Christ and Him crucified. This
is where their fault was. This is where the fault was.
Where they found fault with John the Baptist. This is where they
found fault with Christ Himself. We preach Christ and Him crucified.
No other way to God. Period. You're not going to get
any glory. We're not going to get any glory.
Unto the Jews, that's a stumbling block. They're looking for the
sign somewhere else. And unto the Greeks, that's just
utter foolishness. But unto them which are called,
in whom this wisdom is revealed, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, and the wisdom of God. This is wisdom, justifying
wisdom. The wisdom of God. The Son given. The child born. We see Him and
behold Him and we behold, here is the wisdom of God. This is
wise for God. Why did He do it this way? Because
the foolishness of God, the foolishness of God is wiser than man. This is an earthly way of speaking
so me and you can kind of understand something here. The foolishness
of God is still wiser than man. And the weakness of God is still
stronger than men. There's no foolishness in God,
no weakness in God. But what could be called the
very weakness and foolishness of God, it's still wiser and
stronger than me and you are. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise. Publicans and harlots
preaching. A man like John the Baptist,
rough and living in a wilderness, not in king's courts and in king's
attire, and somebody that they would look at and say, this man,
he knows, he's somebody that knows something. God has chosen
the weak things of the world. You know why? Our strength is
in weakness. Utter, absolute, total weakness. And the Pharisees look at that
and say, we need somebody bold and strong. Weakness. Then you have boldness and strength.
Because then our boldness and our strength is God. Our Savior,
the wisdom of God, the power of God. And that's power and
wisdom. And He did it this way to confound
the things which are mighty, the wise and the prudent. Base
things of the world and things which are despised. Despised. This was the problem, He said,
this generation had. They despised the things God
chose. But God chose things which are
not to bring to naught things that are. He chose things that
are nothing and made them something. And passed by those that were
something and made them absolutely nothing. Why? That no flesh should glory in
His presence. No flesh should glory in His
presence. No flesh should glory in His
presence. but of Him are ye in Christ. Christ Jesus, who of God is made
unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that according as it is written, according as God said it shall
be, and it shall be, he that glorieth, let him glory in the
Lord. Now look back at our text there. He said there, but wisdom, verse
19, but wisdom is justified of her children. At that time, let
me read to you what he said over in Luke. You can look there if
you'd like, Luke 7. Luke 7. He said this, This is the same account. He
said, I say unto you among those that are born of women, there's
not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. We're talking about
humility and meekness. You know how God's estimation
of least and greatest is he that is the least. And I'll tell you
who the least is, he who's preaching Christ the most. declaring Christ
only. John said, there's one coming
after me. I'm not fit to even bow down
and loose the laces on his shoes. And the Lord said, how be it?
There's one. He that's least in the kingdom
of God is greater than he. We know who that one is, don't
we? That's Christ himself. He is the least. And he's great. He's the greatest. He came And
no greater love hath man than this, and he laid down his life
for his friends. And he laid it down in a way
no man ever laid it down. Many men by faith received torture,
choosing not to be freed from their condemnation of men. But this one died under the wrath
of God in the place of his people, having been made sin for them
that they might be made the righteousness of God in him. But he said this,
look, And all the people that heard and the publicans justified
God being baptized with the baptism of John. They justified God. When John came preaching, they
said, this is wisdom. This man has come not declaring
himself, he's come declaring Christ Jesus, the salvation of
my soul. And they said, this is the wisdom
and power of God under salvation. Christ Jesus and Him crucified. And they bowed. They submitted
themselves. And John said, repent and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized. They were back.
They followed Him. They submitted and followed Him
as He followed the Lord Jesus Christ. They did. And He said
they justified Him. At that time, at the same time
that He's saying this, His disciples had come back. And they justified
Him. They came back rejoicing in His
name and the power of His name. Rejoicing in it. And he told
them, he said, you've seen things that men haven't seen. Men have
desired to see and haven't seen. And at that time, wisdom himself
justified God. The child of God, the Son of
God justified God Himself for choosing the way He chose. Look
here at verse 25. He said to them that rejected
Him, He upbraided the cities and He said, it will be more
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah. Think of the sin and wretchedness
and just things that are just wicked to even imagine that went
on. Sodom and Gomorrah. He said it
will be more tolerable for them than for those who heard this
gospel through the through the one God sent and rejected Him. Be more tolerable for those that
never heard Him and just were base, vile, wretched sinners
than for those that heard Him and rejected Him. But this is
what He said. Look at this. Verse 25, At that
time Jesus answered and said, I thank Thee, O Father. He said, Wisdom is justified
of her children. This is the child. The child
born. He says, 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. Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. This is wisdom,
justifying wisdom. justifying the all-wise Father
for choosing whom He would and giving them to Christ, for revealing
Christ in them through the preaching of the Gospel, and rejoicing,
praising Him for hiding these things from the wise and the
prudent. And this was His Spirit in the
whole matter. He said, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And I'll tell you, That's the
spirit of every child born of God that believes on Christ.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. I'm glad You
reveal these things unto babes. Verse 27. Aren't you glad that He does?
It's our nature to look at the harlot of Babylon and all her
adornments, all the religion and the wisdom that this world
can conjure up and all its blasphemy in the name of God, taking God's
name in vain. It's our sinful, wretched nature
to want to imitate that and look at that and follow that. Oh God,
give us the spirit to know God chose to reveal this. You see your calling brethren,
not many wise, not many noble are called. That's just how God
chooses to save. We don't, this nation's not a
Christian nation, you know that? This nation is a proud, arrogant,
boastful, rich, haughty, mighty, wise, and prudent nation is what
it is. And we're right here in the middle
of it. And God's revealed something to you. He's chosen to make you
a child, a baby. And passed by, left those wise
and prudent in their wisdom and their prudence. Just left them. Verse 27, He said, All things
are delivered unto Me of My Father. Now this is how we're going to
find out this revelation. This is why John the Baptist
came preaching Him. This is why God chose to save
through the foolishness of preaching Christ and Him crucified. This is why. Because all things
are delivered unto Christ of the Father. Now, as the Son of
God, He's God and nothing can be delivered to Him, but as the
mediator, as the righteous servant of God, everything's been put
into His hand. And it says, And no man knoweth
the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. And
He had just said, Father, I thank You. that you hid these things
from the wise and prudent, and you revealed them unto babes. We just read 1 Corinthians 1.30. Of God are you in Christ, who
of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that we might glory in the Lord only. And he
says here now, when through the Holy Spirit
the Father reveals the Son, in you. The Son, seeing the Son,
knowing the Son, we see the Father. We know the Father. Because all
things have been given into His hand. Look at Colossians 1. All things, all things, the fullness
of all things. Look at Colossians 1. Colossians 1.14. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, even the forgiveness of sin. All things. Who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature, for by Him were all things created. The Father delivered this into
His hand. And by Him all things are created that are in heaven,
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created
by Him and for Him. They are all serving His purpose,
even the wise and prudent. And He's before all things and
by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body,
the church. This same one we've been talking
about. Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. He said, all
things have been delivered unto Me and My Father. For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. And having
made peace through the blood of His cross, God is satisfied
with him. God's satisfied with him and
satisfied with all those he put in him. And having made peace
through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things
unto himself. By him, I say. Paul can't say,
buy him enough. Talking about this one unto whom
all things have been delivered. This is why, this is the offense of the cross.
You mean all things aren't delivered into my hand? No. They're delivered
into his hand. Delivered into his hand. And
we ain't got the first things if we ain't got that. All things. I say whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven, all things. Now here is what
the Lord said then, having said all that, then here's what He
says now. Standing there in the midst of
this multitude, He says this now. Verse 28, Matthew 11, 28,
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll
give you rest. What is it to come to Christ?
You might think, well, if He was here in a bodily presence,
I'd walk up to Him. That would be coming to Him.
The Pharisees and the scribes came to Him that way. Many came
to Him that way. And none of them believed Him.
Coming to Him is believing on Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believe on Him in the heart,
from the heart. Believe on Him. Seek His face. Ask Him. Call upon His name. Come unto Him. All, all that
labor and are heavy laden. These are the all things that's
been delivered into His hand. All that labor and are heavy
laden. This is believers and lost folks that don't get no.
who they are, whose they are. All that labor. Are you laboring
to seek salvation by some work of righteousness,
by some something in you? Do you think there's something
in you good that will commend you to God? If so, you're working, laboring
under a load that's going to crush you. It's going to crush
you. Listen, Galatians 3. Look there
real quickly with me. I want to get to the point of
why, how this message came about. But get to, look at Galatians.
Galatians 3 verse 10. As many as are of the works of
the law, You know you can know in your head that salvation is
not by the works of the law and still be trying to come to God
in the works of the law. You can say that doctrine is
true. I know by the works of the law no man is going to be
justified. and still be striving to come to God by some merit
of your own. And I guarantee you, if that's
the case, you've got no peace in your heart. We don't have
peace that way. We're not going to get a refreshing and a reviving
in our hearts that way. It's just not going to come.
Listen, as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse. For it's written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. There's to all things that was delivered unto him. to do
all things that's written in the book on behalf of His people. And He's done them. He's done
them. But if you do not trust in Christ
to have done them, you've got to do them. All things. But that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it's evident.
For the just shall live by faith. That's who those that Christ
justified live one way, by faith in Christ, who declared God just
and justified. And the law is not of faith.
If it's by works, it's no more grace. If it's by grace, it's
no more works. If it's of law, it's no more
faith. That's plain and simple. Christ And the man that doeth
them shall live in them. That's what he says. You gotta
live in the law. You gotta do everything. Not
just hold everybody else to a standard higher than you hold yourself
to. That's a double standard. But you gotta do them all. Thought,
word, and deed. Everything. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. You believe him? He's purchased
us a lock, stock, and barrel. You know where that saying came
from, lock, stock, and barrel? A man takes his gun to the gunsmith
and he says, what do you think of this gun? He said it'd be
a good gun if it had a new lock, a new stock, and a new barrel.
That means everything's got to be made new. He's redeemed us
from the curse of the law. Be made a curse for us. For it
is written, Curse it, as everyone that hangeth on a tree. That
the blessing of Abraham That one who was 430 years before
the law was ever given. That one who was saved from that
one transgression in the garden wherein is the breaking of the
whole law. The blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ. That we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Faith. Come to Christ. He promises this, I will give
you rest. And this is for believers too.
believers to. We still labor and we still become
burdened heavily. Is that not the case with you?
Burdened heavily. This is how I began to think
on this message. I began to be, I was laboring
to find a message for you. And I was burdened, I mean burdened. So much so, literally, like you
bear the burden of a yoke, my neck was hurting. And I just laid down, and this
first came to my mind. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And I just kept
mulling that over in my mind and just thinking about it and
thinking about it. And it went from my thoughts
into my soul. It permeated me. And I found
myself asking, Lord, take this burden. Give me rest. Give me reviving. Give me refreshing. And He did. I literally felt I felt myself,
my body loosen up. I felt myself just loosen up. I felt a load come off of me.
And it was because it started from the inside out. And it just,
coming to Him and asking Him, Lord, save me. Whether it's temptation
from Satan, from the devil, whether it's wrestling with sin and the
corruption of our own flesh, or whether it's some worldly
weight that's on you right now, responsibility that you cannot,
no matter how hard you try, how hard you want to, you can't fulfill
it. You can't bring it to pass as
you would. And He gives us these things, brethren,
I'm convinced, so we come to Him and say, Lord, give me rest. And He gives you rest. And that
rest is seeing Him, reviving, being refreshed by Him. For He
Himself has suffered being tempted. He's able to comfort them who
are tempted. And He says, everybody that comes
to Me, I won't cast him out. I'll give him rest. Look at verse
29. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest unto your
soul. You know how heavy a yoke and a burden the Pharisee puts
on a man? Now the gospel is going to be
offensive and that's why the Pharisees couldn't stand John
the Baptist and despised Christ the Lord. But the yoke and their
problem was They're not living up to the law. They're not living
up to what they ought to be. And they took their finger and
they shoved it at them, and they put a yoke on them, and a heavy
burden upon them, and they oppressed them, and they bound them, and
they yoked them heavy, heavy, heavy, and did no restoring unto
their soul, spoke no words of comfort to their hearts, spoke
no words to refresh them and revive them and point them from
themselves to Christ, just Ugh, yoke. This yoke is everything
opposite to that yoke. He says, come unto me. Learn of me. Be taught of me. Be taught about me. Submit and
obey me. Follow my example. For I am lowly,
meek and lowly in heart. He left us an example that we
should follow His steps. And in leaving us this example,
He redeemed us. He bought us. He saved us from
ourselves. And the example He gave us was,
there wasn't any guile found in His mouth. When He was reviled,
He didn't revile again. This One who knew no sin, this
One who did no sin, this One who had every reason to revile
again, His speaking the truth and upbraiding those cities was
not reviling again. It wasn't a passionate revenge. It was Him speaking the truth. He bare our sins in His own body
because He didn't threaten, He didn't turn again and rend those
that rebelled against Him, but He committed everything to God
who judges righteously. That's meekness and lowliness
of heart. He did it in meekness and lowliness
of heart, with love for God and His brethren. Unparalleled, matchless
love. So commit all to Him. You do
the same as He did. Commit all to Him. We don't have
a high priest that's not touched with a feeling of our infirmities.
He was touched with them. Every infirmity we have, he was
touched with the same feelings of those infirmities without
sin. But he knew the effects of the
sin. He knew the feelings that come
that we experience. So come confidently. Come with assurance to His throne
of grace and ask Him, commit it to Him, even as He committed
all things unto Him that judge righteously. All judgment has
been given to Him. Commit it unto Him that you may
find mercy and grace to help in time of need. And He says,
you shall find rest unto your souls. Rest for your souls. refreshing and reviving for your
soul. You know, I see, don't you see
a lot of things that people do, sports and entertainment, different
things that men do. And you watch a football game.
I mean, that's, that's That's college, especially college.
I like to watch it because they're not getting paid. They're out
there doing it, and it's work. They're going through a lot of
things. They'll come off a field and have an injury, and they'll
have that leg wrapped up, just some temporary makeshift remedy,
and they'll run right back out there and start playing again.
And we stomp our toe, and we can't come hear the gospel preached.
But there's the point I'm making. When something is a joy in your
heart, it's not work, is it? You want to do it. You make every
sacrifice that you have to make to do it because you love it
and you rejoice in it. This is the refreshing. This
is the rest it gives to our soul. And he says, verse 30, for my
yoke is easy and my burden is light. It's easy and it's light. This is His commandment, that
you should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. He's
kept all the commandments of God. We establish the law by
trusting Him who is our full, complete obedience to the law
of God. And this is what he said, and love one another. This is
the fulfillment of all the commandments. Love one another as He commanded. And He said, and I've spoke these
things unto you, I've told you this, I've told you to do this,
I've commanded you to do this, that my joy might remain in you. It's not going to be what makes
the joy stay in you and continue in you. It's going to be the
joy that's going to be the refreshing of your soul, the strength of
your soul, the reviving of your soul, that you may continue in
His joy and experience the fullness of His joy. There's no joy. I've been walking
around for a while saying, I want my joy. I want my joy back. Oh, this is, He is my joy. Just come unto Him and say, Lord, I'm laboring and I'm heavy laden.
Take this load. And He refreshes you by saying,
I've taken it. Come on, follow me. He fills
us with the love of God. He is that love in our hearts,
that refreshing in our hearts, so that we enjoy following Him
and walking after Him. Trusting His obedience unto death
as our only righteousness and redemption, we have rest of a
good conscience with God. Following His example, what He's
revealed and taught us by what He did, we obtain the rest of
a faithful servant, entrusting His providence. He said, if they rejected Me,
they'll reject you. Entrusting His providence. If
He's allowed the messenger of Satan to buffet you, if He's
given a trial that you can't bear, trusting His providence,
we'll find the rest of a believing heart. Where is it all found? Come unto Me. Come unto Him. And you will find
rest. He will give it. That's his promise. And he shall. Amen.