You can see in this psalm the
prayer to God. The man here praying is obviously
in distress of soul, which is why I wanted to read that. It
goes well with Matthew chapter 11, where we're going to be for
our sermon today. You want to turn there and we'll
ask the Lord to be with us. Father, we thank you for this
prayer that you've given to us by your Spirit, directing our
hearts to pour out our souls to you. Lord, we pray that we
would be enabled by your grace to do that today, that we would
pour out our souls as the psalmist has here done. We know, Lord,
that as much as you've done for us, we still depend upon your
very grace to cause us to come to you and call upon you to know
our distress and our need and then see you as our full supply.
Lord, help us to long for you and to thirst for you, as the
psalmist describes here, his soul thirsting and longing for
you. Lord, may we find your spirit in us. reciprocating in call
to our Savior, that we would come to you and be found in you,
and you would find us, you would know us, and we would know you.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Matthew chapter 11, now we're
at the end of the chapter. We're going to read from verse
25 through the end of the chapter. I suppose I could make a career
out of this chapter in Matthew chapter 11. The gospel is here
in many different ways, and you'll see in these verses here, there's
so much said, that we can never really plumb the depths of these
few verses here. But let's read them together,
and depend on the Lord to give us insight. He says in verse
25, at that time, after he pronounced judgment, The strictest, the
most severe judgment on Chorazin and Bethsaida and on these men
who rejected Him, who were like children, who would neither hear
John nor Christ, rejected both them and their message. And in
light of the fact that he was still saving these blind, and
lame, and leprous, and the deaf, and dead, and the poor, he 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. Even
so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things
are delivered unto me of my father, 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. Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is
light." What a wonderful text of scripture. I encourage you
to read through this and meditate on it. often and until it's just
burned down into your heart. It's really hard to give a complete exposition of these. It's hard
to understand fully what these verses are saying in the short
time that we have, or even a lifetime. But you can see out of the context
here, the Lord Jesus Christ is crying out here to His Father
in prayer. He's thanking Him that He has
hidden these things from the wise and prudent, hidden the
things of the gospel from the wise and prudent, hidden the
fact that He is the Lord and He is the Christ from the wise
and prudent. What does it take for God to
hide Himself from us? All He has to do is leave us
to ourselves, and we're as blind as we can be. We're as deaf and
as dead and as spiritually poor as we can possibly be, and we
don't know it unless the Lord, in His grace, shows it to us.
But in Isaiah 49, it's anticipated here in prophecy, in verse 5,
He says in Isaiah 49.5, this is a prophecy spoken of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's His prayer. He says in verse
5, "...and now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb
to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him. Though Israel be
not gathered, yet will I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and
my God shall be my strength." This is what the Lord Jesus consoled
Himself with as our mediator. When after coming to earth, after
taking our nature and coming to His people, miraculously demonstrating
His power over all sorts of sin, and calling in the gospel to
sinners to come to Him and have men, oppose Him in their own
salvation, He turns to His Father and He says, Yet, even though
Israel is not gathered, I will be glorious in the eyes of the
Lord. And He thanks His Father here in verse 25. He says, I
thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. The Lord of
heaven and earth means God is sovereign. There's nothing outside
the scope of His will and His control. All that He does is
considered in this. Those who reject Him, they hear
the Gospel and it's the savor of death to death. Those who
hear it and receive it and find it the savor of life to life,
those are the ones here He's thanking His Father for in both
cases. It's the Lord's will. Why does he say that? He says
in verse 26, "...even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight." We saw John in prison. His disciples are just beginning
their ministry. John is ending his. His disciples
have the privilege, the high privilege, of sitting and hearing
and being with the Lord Jesus Christ day in and day out. In
the boat, on the hillside, walking through Galilee. Him ministering
to them, and Him healing and doing these miracles of mercy,
and giving them power over unclean spirits and to heal these diseases.
They're just beginning their ministry and John is ending his.
And you might wonder, why one suffering the death of a martyr
while others are going forth in the victorious triumph of
the gospel ministry alongside the Lord Jesus Christ? You feel
sorry for John. And yet, Jesus, in all these
things, He says, it seems good in your sight, Father. It's His
will. It doesn't mean that John was was disadvantaged by no means. Paul says in Philippians 121,
for me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. John was looking
forward to glory. Jesus told the thief on the cross,
this day you shall be with me in paradise. To be absent from
the body is to be present with the Lord. There's nothing about
death that a believer has to fear. Whether in life or in death,
he says in Romans 8, 35-39, it doesn't matter. We have always,
the Lord always gives us the victory. 1 Corinthians 15-57,
He always causes us to triumph in Christ. He saved us from so
great a death. He does now save us and we trust
that He will yet deliver us from this death. This is the frame
of mind of the believer. He's always looking to Christ.
So when John's in prison, he sends to Christ. He asks Him,
are you the Christ? That was his one desire in all
the world, to see and to hear and to know and be with Him.
Are you Him or should we look for another? And Jesus sends
back the glad report. He tells them of what He did.
How He saved His people. Healing, opening the eyes of
the blind. Giving the lame the ability to
walk. The deaf to hear. The blind,
I mean the dead to be raised up. And the poor to have the
gospel preached. All of these things teaching how spiritually
the Lord saves His people. And He sends the message back
to John. This is what I've done. I've come to save my people from
their sins. And here He's doing it. And he's
fulfilling scripture. All the Old Testament prophets.
This is what he did. And he sends that message back.
It all seems good in the eyes of his father. And he thanks
him for that. Thank you father. It seemed good in your sight
to do all this. And then he recalls the ministry
of John to these people. All that the Lord gave Him to
do, and the moment in history that He was sent to do this,
the closing of the Old Testament, the issuing in of the New Testament,
and that the Gospel was being sent forth, the Kingdom of God
is at hand, the King is at hand, His victory and triumph over
sin and Satan and our enemies, and the ushering in of all the
Gentiles, it's all about to, it's beginning to transpire even
now, and He's telling them this, I thank Thee, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, It seemed good in your sight." And yet, in the
midst of this, we see the contrast of the rejection of the greatest
number of the Jews, that they would reject the message of John.
They would reject the warnings. Look, at this time in your history,
the whole nation will be destroyed, and you yourselves face eternal
perdition. And they don't heed His warning.
And Christ comes and announces the gospel to the poor, and they
don't receive the wooing of the gospel. They reject their own
mercies. They forsake their own mercies.
They oppose their own salvation. And the Lord pronounces greatest
judgments on them, even greater than Sodom and Gomorrah. And
He thanks His Father for this. He says, Father, I thank Thee,
Lord of heaven and earth, because You hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them to babes, because it seemed
good in Your sight. And so He's thankful to His Father
for this. All the Lord Jesus Christ did, he did as one who
had his eyes and gaze fixed upon his father's face. And his father
was always beholding his son. You know, sometimes you have
your children and they do something and you're proud of them. They
do something and you think, wow, how could you do that? I wish
I could still do that. I never was able to do that. That's amazing
what you're able to do. And you're proud of them and
you think, actually I find more enjoyment watching you do it
than if I were to do it even for myself. It pleases me more
to see you be able to do that than for me to be able to do
it myself. Whatever it might be, playing the piano, doing
gymnastics, being successful in school, having children, whatever
it is. But the Lord of Glory, He views His Son, and all that
He does, He's so pleased with Him. He says it pleased the Lord
to bruise Him. Why? Because He took some sadistic
satisfaction in punishing Him? No, because in punishing Him,
He was pouring out His justice, and the result of that was the
ingathering of all of His people and saving them. And He looks
at His Son, and He thinks of Him. All the way, His ministry,
He says, I really love you. You are my beloved son." What
a testimony of God the Father to His Son. He always did those
things which were pleasing in His sight. And the Son of God
turns in response and He says, I thank Thee, Father, it seemed
good in Your sight, because it pleased the Son to do His Father's
will. All that His Father wanted pleased
His Son, and all that His Son did pleased His Father. And so
the Lord Jesus says in verse 27, This is one of those verses
that you should commit to memory. Or at least remember where it
is in Scripture. You don't have to memorize it, but remember
the truth that's in it. What is this verse saying? It's amazing what this verse
is saying. Look at the very first phrase.
The first phrase, "...all things are delivered unto me of my Father."
What does that mean? There's several places in scripture
the same thing is said in so many words. John 3.35, it says,
"...the Father loveth the Son, and hath committed all things
into his hand." Here, everything is yours. Everything. My will,
my people, the work to save them, my glory, my honor. The creation
is yours. Devils are yours. Angels are
yours. The worship of heaven is yours. He gave it all to his
Son. It says that in John 3.35, "...the
Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand."
Or in John 16.15, it says, "...all that the Father hath is mine."
All that he has is mine. And in Hebrews 1.2, he says,
"...he is the heir of all things." the heir of all things." That
means everything is Christ. In Colossians 1.16 it says, "...all
things were made by Him and for Him, and He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist." This is the Son. God the Father
has taken everything and given it to His Son. Yet He Himself
retains it. It's not like He is nothing now. The Father still has everything,
but He's given it all to His Son. He's put it into His hand
to do with what He would do with it. Because He knows that His
heart is His own heart. His will is His Father's will.
His love and His work is His Father's. All things are delivered
unto Me of My Father, and no man knoweth the Son, But the
Father. Who is this One into whose hands
God has delivered everything? It's the One that only the Father,
God the Father, only can comprehend. Think about it. I can't comprehend
myself. But I'm not so incomprehensible
that people can't understand me. I'm pretty simplistic, actually. Almost embarrassingly so. But the Son of God can only be
truly comprehended by God the Father. And what does that say
about the Son? It means that He, in Himself,
is infinite. He cannot be fully comprehended
by any but God the Father. So He is God the Son. He is the
Son of God and He is God the Son. Infinite in His mind and
His wisdom and in His power. And yet He says here, "...neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son." So not only can no
one comprehend the Son but the Father, but the Son Himself alone
can comprehend God the Father. So He Himself is infinite in
His understanding. Not only can He not be comprehended
by any but the Father, but He Himself comprehends all things. And He comprehends His Father.
Not only comprehends Him, but they both have this intimate
communion that cannot be experienced or known by any but themselves. God the Father to His Son and
God the Son to His Father. Now, He's telling us this for
a reason. To tell us, first and foremost,
who He is as God. The Son of God is God. If you
read the book of Hebrews, what is the first thing that is established
in the book of Hebrews? It's that the Lord Jesus Christ
is God Almighty. It summarizes it in several places.
In chapter 1, he says in verse 8 of Hebrews 1, "...unto the
Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever." And he
says, of the Son, he says to the angels, that God the Father
said to the angels, worship Him. Worship Him, the Son. He's the
Creator. He's so far above the angels as the Creator is above
His creatures. As the one worshipped is to those
who worship Him. The Son of God is God. The Son
of God is God Himself. He's God over all. And God the
Father has put all things into the hand of His Son. But He didn't
put all things into the hand of His Son as God. Because as
God He already had all things. So, what I would say first of
all in this verse of scripture, what God is teaching us, what
the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us, and this is important. This is important. Because this
is, I think, one of the three points in this chapter that I
want you to understand. The first one is this. That the
Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator between God and men. The mediator. That's what this verse is saying.
Who is our mediator? What is a mediator? Well, a mediator
is a go-between. And God has determined, God has
made it so that men cannot know God, cannot hear from God, cannot
see God, cannot come to God, except they come in the mediator. No man can know God except they
know Him in the Mediator. And the Mediator is Himself God
and man. And that's why God, the Father,
is said here to deliver all things into the hand of His Son as our
Mediator. God has put all things concerning
our salvation and our life, creation, and every administration of providence
into the hand of His Son. He's put it all in His hands.
is put it into the hands of the Mediator. The Mediator, the One
God has appointed and determined would be for the salvation of
His people, to bring them to God. God Himself doesn't come
to men except in the Mediator. God doesn't approach men. God
doesn't reveal Himself to men, except He reveals Himself to
them in the mediator. We can't know God apart from
Christ. And God makes Himself known to
no man apart from His Son, except in His Son. We don't hear from
God, except we hear from Him in His Son. We don't see Him. We don't know Him. It says in... This is so... Well documented
in scripture. So well established. Think of
John 1. In the beginning was the Word. That in itself conveys
not only the name of Christ, who He is, but it says when God
speaks, He speaks in His Son. And the Word was with God. And
the Word was God. All things were made by Him.
And without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life. And the life was the light of
men. The life we're given. The life in our soul, in our
spirit, that God gives to us. The light of the Gospel. I mean,
the life that we're given is the light of the Gospel. His
life is the light of men. It's the life of Christ in us.
And that life is light. He says this throughout scripture,
the Lord Jesus Christ is God and He's the Mediator. The One
Mediator, 1 Timothy 2.5. He is the One Mediator between
God and men. The Man, Christ Jesus. And it's
important that we understand that this is what this is saying.
This is about our Mediator. Everything is in the hand of
our Mediator. All things concerning your life
and your salvation are in His hands. Notice now what he says
at the end of this verse. No man knows the Father save
the Son. You see, no man can know the
Father except the Son. That means that Christ is not
just a man. He has to be God. And he says,
and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. Now here you
have, again, you see the unfolding of what it means when God says
He has put all things into the hand of His Son as our mediator. The Son of God reveals His Father
to those He chooses to make Him known. That's what he's saying.
To whom the Son will reveal Him. How can I know God? The Son must
reveal Him to me. How is it that the Son will do
this? What will motivate Him? His own
will. Do I have something I can do
to influence Him? No, it comes from His will. He
works all things after the counsel of His own will. Ephesians 1.11. And so, we see in this verse
the fact that Christ is our mediator, He knows it, He is God, He is
comprehended only by the Father, and He alone knows the Father,
and He is God and man because He makes God the Father known
to men in Himself. He tells Philip and Thomas in
John 14, if you had known Me, Philip, if you've seen Me, you've
seen the Father. And so, in so many places in
Scripture, you see that Christ is spoken of as revealing Himself
to His people. He revealed Himself to Paul on
the road to Emmaus. Not on the road to Emmaus, but
when He was on the road to Damascus, remember? On the road to Damascus,
He revealed Himself to Paul. And in doing so, Paul says that
the Father has revealed Christ to me. He revealed His Son in
me, in Galatians chapter 1. All these things teach us that
God the Father makes His Son known, and Christ makes His Father
known, and it's all in the hands of Christ as our mediator. It's
a mystery, isn't it? It means that God the Father
and God the Son are one. They're one in essence. God the
Father knows the Son. God the Son knows the Father.
They only can know each other and have this communion. It's
something that's unique to them. They're one. One in will. And
they're one in purpose. They're one in work. There's
nothing that is not true about God that's not true about the
Son of God. And the Son of God makes God
known. And we only know God and His Son. Now that's a significant
truth. And by itself, there's nothing
really to add to it, except it goes on here in Matthew chapter
11. By the Spirit of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ says these words to us in verse 28. Now think
about this. He had just comforted his servant
John. given sight to the blind, walked
to the lame, cleansed the lepers, given ears to the deaf, raised
the dead, preached the gospel to the poor, said the kingdom
of God is being assaulted by those who are the least likely,
and they're coming in by the droves, while those others are
rejecting and forsaking their own mercies, and he pronounces
judgment, and it's all according to the will of his father, and
it's all in his hand. He's bringing it to pass. What
is the Lord Jesus Christ? This One who is so high and lofty. What does He say? What does He
do? What's He like? If we were to look in His heart,
what would we see? Verse 28, Coming to me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This
is the Lord of Glory, the one mediator between God and men
who makes God known in Himself, by His will. And in his work,
he says this, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. The second thing we see here
in this chapter, and this is throughout the book of God, but
you see it prominently in this chapter. Not only is Christ the
mediator, but we see something here that sets us back and sits
us down and causes our mouth to be quiet. And that is this
thing of humility. Humility. And I say that because it's so
prominent throughout Scripture that it's astounding, really. No man will be saved who isn't
brought by God to be humbled. And it says so in verse 25, when
Jesus says, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
you've hid these things from the wise and prudent. In their
own eyes, they're wise and prudent. And has revealed them unto babes.
Humility here, we see this humility. Look at Matthew chapter 18, just
a few pages over. What is humility? What is meekness?
Verse 1 of chapter 18. At that same time came the disciples
to Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? The
disciples are asking Him. And Jesus called a little child
to Him. And He set that little child
in the midst of them and He said, Verily, which means, This is
most assuredly true. Everything Christ said was true,
but He draws a point on this. Verily I say unto you, except
you be converted, and become as little children, you shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall
humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in
the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such
little child in my name receiveth me. And whoso shall offend one
of these little ones, which believe in me, it were better for him
that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were
drowned in the depth of the sea." No man is going to see the Lord
who has not been humbled. has not been humbled look at
chapter 23 Matthew he says in verse 8 of Matthew 23 be not
ye called rabbi for one is your master even Christ and you are
all brethren and call no man your father upon earth for one
is your father which is in heaven Neither be ye called masters,
for one is your master, even Christ." How many times? You
see this on TV all the time. It just irritates me to death.
You see people doing this. They raise their hands and they
wave them down like they're bowing down to somebody. in a mock idolatry. It's idolatry. Showing honor
to men as if they are to be honored for something that they can do
or something they are. It's repudiating. It's repugnant. And it's against the Word of
God. Don't call men rabbi. Don't call men father. Don't
call men your master. You're just fawning to them.
You're trying to get their approval and attention to weasel your
way in. And He says in verse 11, "...but he that is greatest
among you shall be your servant." Do you see this in the world
today? Do you see anybody? Do you see
the leaders? that are appointed or elected
in the country. Do you see them serving? No.
They raise themselves up. And in the churches, what do
you see? You see men exalting themselves. I want to be at the
front. I want to lead things. I want
to be a leader. How can I? No. You don't want
to do that. If you want to be a leader, then you humble yourself. Jesus said to his disciples as
he's washing their feet, he says, you call me master and Lord. And you say, well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and master,
have done this to you, washed your feet, what should you do
to one another? And whosoever shall exalt himself
shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be
exalted. To be humbled. Look at 1 Peter
5. I spent a bit of time studying
this this week, and I'm not going to take you through all that,
but look at 1 Peter 5. He says, verse 1, "...the elders
which are among you I exhort..." He's speaking to the pastors,
the teachers, the leaders. Leaders is not the right name
for people in the church. who am also an elder and a witness
of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory
that shall be revealed." Peter's saying, look, I saw Christ suffer! And I am also a partaker of the
glory that should follow. He says to these, now this is
what you are to do. What did Christ tell him to do?
Feed my sheep. He says feed the flock of God
which is among you. And what does that mean? Taking
the oversight. Be concerned about their spiritual
life and health and minister to them the gospel of Christ.
Point them to Christ like John the Baptist did. Tell him he's
the Lamb of God, the Son of God who takes away the sin of the
world. He says, not by constraint, don't do it because you have
to, but willingly. Not for money, not for filthy
lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither as being lords over God's
heritage, but being in samples to the flock. You expose to them
yourself as a sinner in need of a Savior, because there's
nothing more than that about you. You just point men to Christ.
Verse 4, And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive
a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, you younger,
do what? Submit yourselves unto the Elder. Yea, all of you, be subject to
one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the
proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time." Now I say all that To point back to Matthew chapter
11 and verse 28 and following, he says, "...Come unto me, all
you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
What is this? These are those whom the Lord
has humbled, has laid low under the weight and the burden of
what? their own sin. Sin humbles us,
doesn't it? Remember what happened when David
had sinned with Bathsheba? And the Lord sent Nathan the
prophet to him. And Nathan gives him the story
of the man who had all this money and land and sheep. And he looks
down on his neighbor who has one little ewe lamb that he raised
from his birth, and kept it in his bosom, and cherished it like
his own daughter. And that rich man looked at this
man's one ewe lamb, and he had someone come to dinner, and he
says, I think I'll take that man, that poor man's lamb. And
he killed it for his friends. And David was so angry when he
heard of that, that man who's done this shall surely die. The
king himself has pronounced it. And it was his own self that
he was condemning. Nathan said, hear the man. God's word came to David in his
sin and humbled him. And David said, I have sinned. I have sinned. The weight of
his own wickedness came down on his head, and what did he
do? He pours forth Psalm 51, Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, according to Thy lovingkindness, and blot
out my transgressions. Read Psalm 51. This is what humbles
a man. The Word of God. It comes, remember,
in the book of Acts? The preaching of Christ to the
Jews who had murdered Christ. And they said, You, by wicked
hands, have taken him and crucified him. And then later in the sermon,
he explains who he is. That God sent him. That he's
exalted to the throne of glory to save his people. And they
say, what should we do? What should we do? They're humbled.
They're broken down. And Jesus says, come unto me,
all ye who labor and are heavy laden. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. Remember Peter, be in samples
to the flock. Who is the example? Learn of
me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest
for your souls. Hear the Lord of glory into whose
hands everything has been deposited, who administers the events of
everything in time and eternity, who gives life to whom he will,
and withholds it at his pleasure, who only wants his father's will
and he himself fulfills it, who saves his people by himself.
He says, come to me, learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart. In heart. There is nothing more
disarming than when someone humbles themselves. When you're guilty
and they humble themselves and they call to you in wooing, assuring
consolation to come and find that they have known you in your
sin and have done everything to reconcile you to themselves,
that is the most disarming thing of all that I can think of. This
is what the Lord Jesus is talking about here. You sinners. And
He says this to the multitude. Most of them, the largest part,
were totally indifferent to what He is. Don't understand it. But
He speaks to those who are heavy laden and burdened under the
load of their sin. I was thinking about this verse
for the last, whatever, how much time I've just been studying
for this. And I'm thinking, you know, it seems like all I do
is lament what I am, and what I've done, and what I haven't
done, and my failures. And it seems like there's no
progress or improvement. And then I heard this verse.
And I realized, the one who's calling here is the Lord Jesus. And he says, come to me, and
you shall find rest. What am I doing? I'm so self-focused
looking at my own progress, or lack of it. And I'm forgetting
that the whole point here is to take my eyes off of myself
and abandon all trust in myself and look away to Christ. And
be so satisfied with Him that I find perfect rest knowing that
all He is, is all I am and all I need and all I have. And so He says, coming to me.
What does it mean to be meek? Now I look up that word, I look
throughout scripture, the word meek, and I can distill it down
for you like this. I think this is what it means.
Remember what Jesus said, unless you become as a little child.
Think about a little child. You tell them, now I'm not talking
about when a child is kicking you in the shins and being rebellious,
but I'm talking about a little child who believes your word.
And you tell them something and they believe it. And you ask
them to do something and they do it. What is that? It's the
will of a man who has been made as a child's will to believe
what he's been told and to be obedient to what he's been asked
to do. And he doesn't resist it, but
he bends to it. This is the heart of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His father speaks to him. He
hears his father's word. He knows his father's heart.
He looks into his face, and he sees all that he wants to do.
And he does it happily and willingly because he loves his father.
As a little child, he has all power as God, and yet he makes
himself nothing in order to serve his people out of his love for
his father. That is meekness. It's the power
of a mighty horse under the control of a little bridle. Or the ship
that's steered about by a little rudder. And you see this great
and mighty thing submitting willingly, in the case of the horse or the
ship, and yet you see the meekness in the Lord Jesus Christ. John
was humble, wasn't he? John was humble. He said, Of
course everyone's going to Him. He's the Bridegroom. I want that
to happen. He must increase. I must decrease. And actually, in prison, He did
just what He was meant to do. God brought Him to the point
where He was going to be martyred. And He's content to look forward
to that. Just like Paul and all the Apostles.
So John was humbled. He was meek. Moses was the meekest
man on earth. Remember when Aaron and Miriam
said, what are you doing marrying that Ethiopian woman? And Moses,
he didn't put up a strife. He didn't get into a big shouting
match with them. God himself had to step in and
say, look you guys, what are you talking about? Moses is my
servant. I speak to him face to face.
And you didn't even respect that? And Miriam becomes white with
leprosy and Aaron is begging Moses, Moses, ask the Lord to
heal her. He knows they're in trouble.
And Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.24, he says, "...the servant
of the Lord must not strive." He must not strive. But in meekness,
instructing those that oppose themselves, that peradventure
God would give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
The servant of the Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ, preeminently. Here he's not striving, he's
calling. He's instructing those who are
laden with sin. That's me, that's you, if the
Lord has given you that to humble you. To know that you have no
hope unless God has saved you in Christ. Come to Him. Don't put your trust in what
you see in yourself. Don't expect to see things changing
in you. Look away to Christ and see that
God has done everything in Him. He's justified you. He's perfected
you. He's sanctified you. He's reconciled
you. He's established everlasting
righteousness for you. He's done everything. The fullness
of the Godhead bodily dwells in Him. And you, who come to
Him in faith, are complete in Him. What does it mean to come
to Christ? It means to believe Him. What
does it mean when Jesus says, take my yoke upon you and learn
of me? I looked up the word yoke. I
looked it up. What does it mean? A yoke is
something that couples two things together. Joining them together
like two oxen. You would say, I went and bought,
it says in Luke chapter 14, I think he says, I went out and I bought
a yoke of oxen. He means two. harnessed together
in this yoke. They're like locked together
for life, stuck together, yoked together. That's what a yoke
is. A yoke also in Scripture can
be something that's put on someone As a bondage, like a yoke of
bondage, like a slave is made to be a slave by his master.
He would rather be free, but he can't because his master has
power over him and he's a slave. So that's what a yoke is. But
here the Lord Jesus says, take my yoke upon you. And learn of
me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest
for your souls." Look at Acts chapter 15. See this wonderful
picture of what this yoke is. Acts chapter 15 verse 10. Now
therefore, Peter is defending He's defending the fact that
we're saved not by what we do. Not by circumcision. Not by any
of these things we did as Jews. But by the grace of God. He says, "...now therefore why
tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which
neither our fathers nor we could bear?" God made the difference
between them. He purified their hearts by faith.
He says in verse 9. And so these men who were trying
to put a yoke on them were saying they needed to be circumcised.
They needed to keep the Law of Moses and all these things. And
Peter says, no, no. Why are you tempting God to put
a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor
we were able to bear? We couldn't bear that. We couldn't
do the Law. The Law was constantly put us into a hopeless state
of mind. Always demanding of us. Always
holding out to us life. And we could never fulfill it.
Because every time we attempted to, we ended up sinning and incurring
greater debt. We can never do it. Can't get
ourselves out of debt. Can't fulfill one thing in the
law. Because if you've broken one thing, you've broken it all.
And everything has to be kept perfectly with your whole heart,
soul, mind, and strength. And we haven't done that one
time. He says, so why do you put this yoke? But, he says,
listen, this is the yoke, but we believe that through the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they. What is
this yoke of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's the yoke of His grace. It's
the yoke that He has done all for His people and He gives them
faith And that faith couples them to what he's done. And they
walk in that grace. And they live in that grace.
Look at John chapter 6. I want you to see this. John
chapter 6, he says this. The people, he had just worked
a miracle, fed all these people with bread, and they followed
him. And Jesus answered them in verse 27 of John 6, "...labor
not for the meat which perisheth." Don't work for bread. Not bread
of the earth. "...but for that meat which endureth
unto everlasting life." which the Son of Man shall give you."
Okay, so that naturally raises the question in my mind. Okay,
don't labor for meat that perishes, but labor for the meat that endures
to everlasting life. What do I do? What kind of work
should I do? Work is the word. What work should
I do? Verse 28. Then they said to Him, What shall
we do, that we might work the works of God? And Jesus answered
and said to them, This is the work. I said labor. You don't
labor for that meat. But do this instead. This is the work of God. That you believe on Him whom
He has sent. What is this yoke? It's faith.
Faith in the grace of God. Faith in Christ. God gives it
to us. His yoke is easy. He says in
so many places. Think of Romans 4.16 where he
says that it is of faith that it might be by grace. To the end, the promise might
be sure to all the seed. Why did God make our salvation
of faith? Because, first of all, faith
is His gift, but faith abandons all hope in itself and always
looks away from itself to Christ. What a light yoke this is. This
is a yoke where Christ does it all. And faith acknowledges that
and rejoices in it and comes to God and opens its heart and
says, "...here is one whose heart is so meek and lowly, so mild
and gentle, and he's provided all for me and commands me To
come to Him under the burden of my sin, not bringing something
to unburden myself, but to come to Him with my burden, and find
that my burden has been lifted in Him, and He's borne it all
away. Isn't that an easy yoke? Doesn't
that just take the stress off? To find that the Lord Jesus Christ
has done everything for His people? come to me and you shall find
rest for your souls." Remember in Genesis, look at it, chapter
one, Genesis chapter one, he says in the last verse, and God
saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good,
very good, very good. and the evening and the morning
were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth," chapter
2, verse 1, "...thus the heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them. And on the seventh day," our
Saturday, "...God ended His work which He had made," because it
was all done, "...and rested." That means He stopped working.
He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had
made, and blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because
in that day He had rested from all His work which God created
and made." Why did He rest? Because the work was complete,
and it was very good. What did Jesus say from the cross?
It is finished. The last words. It is finished. Having fulfilled all the scripture,
He says, it's finished. The work is done. Jesus says,
"...come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden, I
will give you rest." Noah sends the dove out of the ark. The
dove searches, couldn't find a place of rest. So what did
the dove do? Goes back to the ark and finds
rest in the ark. Our rest is in Christ. Hebrews
chapter 4 verse 3, Isn't that wonderful? Let us labor therefore
to enter into that rest. Let us lay aside everything Let us not be content with anything
less than finding our all in Christ, bringing nothing to God
but what He has brought to us in Christ, and done for us in
Christ, and finding this in Christ our Lord." That's the yoke He
wants us to take on. He's meek and lowly in heart.
There's nothing that should keep us from coming and pouring out
our souls to Him. Lord, I'm all that, and I'm none
of that. And you're everything, and we
find it all in Him. The one who is high and lofty,
Isaiah 57, 15, and inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, is pleased
to dwell with Him that is of a broken and a contrite heart.
The Lord is nigh to them of a broken and a contrite heart." The Word
of God comes to us, it's meant to make us know the guilt of
our sin, our inability to do anything, to save ourselves and
to leave us with Christ as the one who calls us to himself and
says, find in me, find in me the total fulfillment of all
the will of God and rest. Because it's all done and it's
all very good. Let's pray. Father, we thank
you for our mediator. Thank you that he is so humble
and meek and lowly of heart, so gentle, and calls to his people
in wooing melodious tunes to ruined sinners, blind and lame,
deaf and helpless, dead in their sins, leprous and unclean, and
He heals them. Humbled by our sin, Lord, we
come to You with nothing but our foulness and filth and look
to You for all of our cleansing. You are the shepherd, You are
the light, You are the way, You are the one meat-eater, the one
in whom alone we can know God and come to God and find our
all. Thank You, our Father, for giving
us Your Son, our Great Mediator. Lord, bring us to Yourself and
let us not depart from You. Help us, Lord, that we would
not be offended in You, but come to You and run to You as those
eager and urgent to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In Jesus'
name we pray, Amen.