Let me direct your attention
to verse 25 and the very first statement or expression
In that verse, in Matthew 11, 25, at that time, at that time
Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth. At that time, the expression
at that time is found only three times in the New Testament pertaining
to the Savior. once here in Matthew 11, 25. Once, and we'll consider this
this evening, in Matthew chapter 12, the next chapter in the very
first verse. At that time, Jesus went on the
Sabbath day and He picked some corn. And then the third time
is in Matthew chapter 14, I believe it is, chapter 14 in verse 1. and that has to do with Herod.
But this is what I like to stress. This expression at that time,
it denotes a very specific, a very designated, a very particular
hour. And when it says, at that time
Jesus answered and said, there are a couple of things that have
just happened. Number one, the Savior had just
rebuked the cities where most of His mighty works were done.
He rebuked them for their unbelief, their rejection of Him. Go back
and look at verse 20. Then began he to upbraid the
cities, to rebuke them, to bring them to, actually bring them
to shame. And these are the cities where
most of his mighty works were done. Healing the sick, raising
the dead, casting demons, out of those who were possessed. And yet in these cities where
he did most of these works, the scripture says they didn't repent,
they repented not. So he rebukes them about this.
And unbelief well deserves to be rebuked. Those who don't believe God,
they ought to be put to shame. Because unbelief is a shameful
thing. It says He upbraided them. And then He pronounced a woe
upon them. He said, Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! Those are cities in Galilee. He says, For if the mighty works
which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they
would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. There would have been a repentance
like the repentance of Nineveh, which was not what we might refer
to as an evangelical repentance. In other words, it wasn't a repentance
of dead works and then fleeing to the Lord for salvation. But it was a realization of their
immorality and their unthankfulness and that God was going to judge
them. And therefore, the people of Nineveh, in repenting, they
weren't destroyed, at least not then. And that's what the Lord
is saying here. He's not talking about evangelical
repentance. Because being an eyewitness of
the miracles of our Lord Jesus, they don't result in faith in
the Lord Jesus. Now, being an eyewitness of His
miracles left these people without excuse. But just seeing the Lord's omnipotence
and the way He healed people and that He could raise people
from the dead, those things in and of themselves will not bring
a sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ in real faith. Rather, it takes
a work of the Spirit of grace. God has to use His word working
in the soul, working in the heart, working in the spirit. And He
brings us to see ourselves as we are before God. He shows us
something of the beauties and the glories of our God. Of the
wonders of who He is in His attributes, in His characteristics. The Spirit
of God shows us something of the holiness of God. Something
of the justice of God. And then the Spirit of God, He
shows us what we are by nature. Our sins have separated us from
God. Our iniquities, they stand in
the way. And then the Spirit of God shows
us what God has done about our sins and about our iniquities. He sent His blessed and only
begotten Son into the world who laid down His life in order to
satisfy infinite justice which demanded death for sins. And
when God the Holy Spirit reveals to us the Lord Jesus Christ,
as being the very Son of God, as being that One who left heaven's
glories and entered into this world to save His people by His
substitutionary sacrifice on the cross. When He shows us that,
then we exercise real repentance, because real repentance is a
gift of grace. Our Lord Jesus has been exalted
up to heaven to give repentance and remission of sins to all
of His Israel. So I want you to understand,
when it says here, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth
and ashes, this is not an evangelical repentance. This is not a repentance
unto salvation. But rather they would have repented
of their evil deeds, the evilness of their lifestyles. They would
have had some sort of fear of the Lord. And changed their doings. And God would have spared them. But he says in the 22nd verse,
But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum." Now this
is where our Lord grew up. He grew up in Nazareth. But you
might think of this city of Capernaum as being like His headquarters.
That was the very center of His activities. Thou, Capernaum,
which art exalted unto heaven, thou shalt be brought down to
hell. For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had
been done in Sodom, why, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall
be more tolerable, more bearable, more endurable for the land of
Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. Because these
people, they absolutely despised the means of grace. I want you to understand the
word of God does indeed teach different levels Or maybe we
could say different degrees of punishment for sin. But it doesn't teach, it doesn't
teach different degrees of heaven. There are different degrees of
hell, and I don't know how God does that. I know that God can
bring to the memory of those who perish in their sins. He
does in fact bring to their memories thoughts of messages that they've
heard or passages that they've read or songs that they've sung. And indeed this will be like
a worm gnawing in the conscience. And God will give to those who've
heard more greater punishment. Greater punishment. You see, those of you who are
here today who don't believe this gospel, the Lord Jesus and
His work of redemption is not all of your hope for heaven and
for salvation. You just feel like you've got
to make some contribution to your salvation. So you're trying
to be a good person, maybe you're trying to keep the law, or maybe
you're coming to church, to the church service thinking God is
more pleased with you since you've come to church, and therefore
He will be more inclined to let you into heaven. You have heard from this pulpit
many times that salvation is altogether a matter of grace. You've heard about the Savior,
that there's only one way to God. There's only one way of
salvation. I heard a little bit on the news
this morning, there was an actress, there is an actress And she's
going to be starring in a movie that's going to come out, I don't
know if it's later this month or next month, whatever it is,
that doesn't matter. But anyway, it's going to be,
kind of have a religious theme to it. And she said something
along this line, you know, whether you believe in God or you believe
in goodness or you, whatever you have hope in, As long as
you're sincere. She said, that's the main thing.
That's the main thing in all of this. No, that's not the main
thing. The truth is the main thing.
The truth. I don't discount sincerity. But sincerity without the truth
of God's Word is worthless. It's worthless. You've heard salvation is by
sovereign grace. You've heard salvation is in
the Lord Jesus. You've heard He's the only way
to God. He said Himself, I'm the way,
I'm the truth, I'm the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. Mary is not the way to God. Obeying some laws, that's not
the way to God. performing good works, that's
not the way to God. Being baptized, that's not the
way to God. The way to God is Jesus Christ
the Lord, His person and His Word. That's the only way. The
only way. And you've heard this message
before and if you have never heard it before, you're hearing
it right now. That this matter of being accepted
of God is a matter all of grace and all in Jesus Christ. You without excuse. You'll never
be able to say at the judgment or when you perish, if you do
perish in your sins, you'll never be able to honestly say, I never
heard before. Nobody ever told me. Oh yes,
you've been told. Consider yourself told. That
salvation is by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
saves sinners for Christ's sake. You've got to be washed in His
sin-atoning blood and robed in His righteousness alone. It's
all of grace and it's all in Christ Jesus. Is that clear? Surely that didn't go over anybody's
head. I'm not trying to impress you
with my intellect. I don't have much of that. I'm
not trying to impress you with my grasp of the English language. I don't do so good on that. But
I do understand and believe and know how God can be just and
justify the ungodly. And it is through Christ Jesus
only. And you are responsible to believe
this message. And if you don't, if you don't
believe, you are going to perish in your sins. Our Lord said if
you die in your sins, You can't come. You can't come where I
am. That's an impossibility. And for you, if you perish, and
I ask God from my heart, oh God, reveal your salvation to the
souls of sinners. That's what he's got to do. The
title of this message is, Who Will Obey the Gospel? And the
answer is, only those to whom the Lord reveals it. And I pray
that He'll reveal the gospel to you, reveal Christ Jesus to
you. But if you don't believe this
gospel, you'll perish in your sins and there will be a greater
degree for your punishment, your damnation will be greater than
that of somebody who never heard the truth. I do believe in degrees of hell.
The Lord says it right here, that's what, you can't get anything
else out of this passage but that. He says in Hebrews, He says of
how much, of how much sore punishment shall he be thought worthy? Who's
trodden underfoot? The blood of Christ. This gospel
of grace, this message of redemption, it's the sweetest story in the
world. You just walk all over it. It's like casting pearls
before the swine. Here God has brought us out today,
oh the goodness of God, and bring us out here to read the word
of God, and to listen to His servant, exalt His Son, And if
you sit there with disinterest, and you don't bow to who Jesus
Christ is, you don't bow to His claims, you say, well, I know
that's what He says, but I believe another way. I've always believed
this other way, and I know that preacher. He seems like he's
preaching from the Bible, but I just can't go along with that.
You're going to die in your sin. You're going to perish in hell.
And you'll forever remember That preacher said, look to Christ
Jesus alone. That's going to be so painful.
And I know, you talk about the flames of hell and people debate,
are they real? I don't know how God's going
to punish people in the flames of hell and still preserve their
bodies. I'm not worried about that. God
who made the world out of nothing, He can certainly take care of
punishing the wicked. and punishing them forever so
that they'll never be annihilated. There's no consumption of sin
nor of the sinner in the flames of hell. That's a continuous,
ongoing miracle. That's right. That's a miracle.
Always to be the object of God's wrath. You say, well, what is
hell going to be like? The nearest description we have
of hell is when our Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross and
uttered those words, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? To go to hell is to be forsaken
by God. It's the absence of God. God
is light. What is hell? Darkness. Darkness. God is life. What is hell? Death. The second death. An endless
death. Everything that God is, in His
goodness and in His daily mercies, His temporal mercies to everybody,
there's no experience in those things in hell. There are different
degrees of hell. To whom much is given, much is
required. That's what the Bible says. To
whom much is given, much is required. How much is required of you?
Some of you have listened to the gospel over and over again. You go back to the days of Brother
Mahan. You go back to the days of Brother
Parker. And I hear you said you're hearing
a third preacher. All of us saying the same thing.
All of us telling the same story. Oh, God help you to believe.
God help you to believe. Now, there are differences, there
are different degrees of punishment in hell, but I want you to understand
this also. There are no degrees of heaven.
There are no degrees of heaven. The Bible doesn't teach degrees
of heaven. For everlasting glory is the
gift of grace. And based upon the blood and
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, all of
God's people are saved by the same grace. Our sins have been
washed away by the same blood. We all wear the same wedding
garment. That's the fine white linen robe
of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ freely imputed to
us. All of God's elect were blessed
with the same spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
before the foundation of the world and they were all spiritual
blessings. You can't have more blessings
than I have because He blessed me with all spiritual blessings
like He blessed you with all spiritual blessings. None will
have more, none will have less. We all share in the same inheritance. And Jeremiah said in Lamentations
chapter 3 and verse 24, The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. And you can't have any more than
Him. He is our portion and we want
no more than Jesus Christ. Having Jesus Christ, we have
all things in Him. In the book of Revelation chapter
4 we read of the 4 and 20 elders which I believe is a symbolic
number for all of the elect of God, twelve representing the
patriarchs of the Old Testament, twelve representing the twelve
disciples of the New Testament, a representative number of all
of God's elect. And we read of them, they were
all clothed in white raiment, and they had on their head crowns
of gold. They were all robed in the same
garment, the righteousness of Christ. They all worshipped the
same Lamb, Jesus Christ. They are all redeemed by the
same price, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are all
around the throne. They are all made kings and priests
under God. They shall all reign with Jesus
Christ on the earth. And all of them, it says, had
on their head crowns of gold. Are believers going to be given
crowns in glory? Yes. Yes. The Bible speaks of five distinct
crowns, which every child of God will receive the gift of
God's grace. There's the incorruptible crown,
which is the reward of perseverance. Read 1 Corinthians chapter 9,
24 through 27 on that. You see, all of God's elect shall
persevere to the end because we're all preserved by the power
of God through faith. He keeps us believing. There's
not only the incorruptible crown, but there is the crown of life,
which is the reward of faithfulness, of continuation in the faith. Revelation chapter 2 verse 10
and James chapter 1 verse 12 are verses to read on that. Those
who do not desert and forsake the gospel, those who do not
turn their backs on the Lord Jesus Christ and His work of
redemption during times of severe trial, their refusal to leave
the Lord Jesus Christ is evidence that their faith is real. There
is another crown mentioned, the crown of righteousness. When the Apostle Paul was ready
to leave this world, he rejoiced to know that he would receive
a crown of righteousness. And he said, it's not only for
me, but it's for all who love Christ at His appearing. Well,
that's all of God's people. And then there is the crown of
rejoicing. 1 Thessalonians 2 and verse 19
and 20, which is the reward of those who seek the salvation
of God's elect scattered throughout the world. I know this. All of
God's people who are gathered here this morning, you have a
concern that other people believe the same gospel. I know that. There is a crown to be given.
for that. And then there's the crown of
glory, 1 Peter 5, 4. This is the reward of our union
with Jesus Christ. These are the only crowns mentioned
as being the gifts of God's grace to His people. And of course,
they're not literal crowns. They really would be wreaths,
as we would think of them, or diadems. But they're given to
us, and then what are we going to do with them? Cast our crowns
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, we will
attribute all that we honor by grace to Him alone and will say,
Thou art worthy to receive honor and glory and blessing and praise
and honor for Thou hast redeemed us unto God by Thy blood. You see, all of God's people
receive the same. Degrees of hell, yes. Degrees of heaven? No. No. You see, those who serve
the Lord Jesus Christ for 50 years or 60 years or 70 years,
they will receive no more than those who serve His cause for
5 minutes. You say, but people like the
Apostle Paul? Boy, he did so much. He founded
so many churches. He covered so many miles preaching
the gospel on his three missionary journeys and he was persecuted
and suffered. He finally lost his life for
Jesus Christ. You mean to tell me he's not
going to get any more in heaven than let's say that believing
thief who in the last five minutes of his life was brought by the
sovereign Savior to believe him and rest in him as his Lord?
I'm saying they both get the same, the reward of grace. And if you think by your doing
you're going to get more, you have abandoned salvation altogether
by grace. Because in this matter of our
acceptance with God, works, they have no part, they have no place
in our acceptance before God or in us having a higher standing
with God. Now, do believers perform good
works? Yes. We are ordained to good
works. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
10 says that. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. But our works which are performed
by the power of Christ within us have no merits before God."
None whatsoever. And as we look at this scripture
here, I want to have you to behold the sovereignty of God. You know,
He says to these people, He abraded the cities where most of His
mighty works were done, and He says to them, Woe unto thee,
Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For
if the mighty works which were done in you had been done entirely
in Sidon, they would have repented long ago and sacked cloth and
ashes. Which brings to mind this question,
at least it brings it to my mind, why weren't those works performed
there? Why didn't he do those mighty
works in Tyre and Sidon? And what about Sodom? Why didn't
he do those mighty works in Sodom? Why did he do them in Capernaum?
Because he works where he wills. That's why. This is his sovereignty. At that time. At that time. After he had upbraided these
people for their unbelief. But there is something else that
has just happened. I said, I want you to consider
two things. The other thing is, go back with
me to the book of Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. Go over to the book of Luke. Luke chapter 10. Our Lord has
sent forth the 70. Two by two. Luke 10 verse 9. He sent them forth. He said,
Heal the sick that are therein and say unto them, The kingdom
of God has come nigh unto you. Preach the king and his kingdom.
And they did. They did. Now look at verse 12,
but I say unto you, Luke 10, 12, but I say unto you that it
shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city,
that city who hears you, but they're not interested in what
you've got to say. He says, Woe unto thee, Chorazin!
Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been
done in Tyre and Sidon, which had been done in you, they had
a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it
shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than
for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down to hell. Now he says, He
that heareth you, heareth me. He that despiseth you despiseth
Me, and he that despiseth Me despiseth him that sent Me. And then the 70 return to Him
with joy. So in between, like over here
in the book of Matthew in chapter 11, in between what our Lord
had to say in pronouncing these woes, in between verses 24 and
25, the 70 come back. The 70 come back and they are
rejoicing. They said, the devils are subject
to us. And He said to them in verse
18, He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from
the sky. In other words, He said, I was
watching. I knew what was happening. I saw the demons fallen, being
cast out. Behold, I give you power to tread
on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy,
and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding, in
this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather
rejoice because your names are written in heaven." The 70 had
returned with good news. Many people had believed. We've
cast out demons out of a lot of people. And then the Savior,
at that time, this is what He said. At that time, He's pronounced
His woes upon these cities, and then the 70 come back, and they
give their report, at that time, at that specific hour, Jesus
answered and said, and I'm back in Matthew 11 now, verse 25. He said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight. Here the gospel
has gone forth. Our Lord has performed many works,
many mighty works. People in these cities, most
of them didn't believe. He sends forth the 70. They go out preaching the gospel.
And they come back and they're rejoicing. It's been a time of
harvest. See, there's a time to sow, and
then there's a time of harvest. And people have been converted
by the grace of God, and they're rejoicing. They're rejoicing. Now, I ask you this. Who makes
the difference? Here's a group of people who
won't believe, and here's a group of people who do believe. Here's
a group of people who refuse to obey the gospel, and then
here's a group of people, they gladly obey the gospel. Who made
the difference? The Savior says, God made the
difference. I don't know if you can understand
this or not. And I can tell you this, there's a lot of things
in the Bible you don't have to understand. You can't understand
God. I'm going to tell you something.
This matter of salvation, it's all up to God. Totally His work. He said, I'll show mercy on whom
I'll show mercy. I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. And that's the way it is. And God sends forth His gospel.
And He saves whom He will. I have no argument with that.
I have no problem with that whatsoever. And I hope you don't either.
I say it's the Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good
in His sight. I also know this, you are responsible
to live this gospel. I didn't say you have the ability.
You don't have the ability. You have lost, you and I lost
all abilities in Adam, but as it doesn't relieve us of our
responsibility. And if you perish in your sins,
I know this, it's not this church's fault. because there's some folks in
here who have provided for many years. There's still some charter
members here who built this building, have been supporting this gospel.
If you perish in your sins, it's not the fault of 13th Street
Baptist Church. And if you perish in your sins,
it's not Henry Mann's fault, and it's not Bill Parker's fault,
and it's not my fault. You know whose fault it is? That's
your fault. That's your fault. Because God
has set His Word before you in great clarity and in simplicity. Not works, grace. Not you, Christ. Not your deeds, the blood. Not
your self-righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
These things have been set before you very clearly for years and
years and years. If you don't believe, that's
your fault. You got nobody to blame but yourself. And if I
could put it this way, you're going to be kicking yourself
forever. It's like Abraham said to the rich man who in hell lifted
up his eyes being in torment, and Abraham said, remember? Remember? Gonna be a lot of remembering
in hell, isn't it? Gonna be a lot of remembering. On the other hand, if you're saved, if you're righteous,
if you're an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ,
if your sins have been put away and you're robed with the garment
of Christ's righteousness, That's all due to God's grace. We only
obey the gospel. We only believe the gospel because
He reveals it to us. And He reveals it to whomever
He wants to. Let me just read this to you again. He said, at
that time, Jesus answered and said, and by the way, if we'd
continue to read back there in the book of Luke, it says, He
rejoiced. He rejoiced. Listen, sovereign
grace, it's a reason to rejoice. He rejoiced. I thank Thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things
from the wise and the prudent. Oh, He hides it from people. If He doesn't make the gospel
known, you'll never see it. What does God have to do to hide
this from you? Leave you alone. Just leave you
alone. You'll never find it. You won't
have any interest. All He's got to do is just leave
you alone. Like He said to the Pharisees, when the disciples
said, oh, they're so offended by the things that you said,
He said, just leave them alone. Don't preach to them, don't witness
to them, don't testify to them, don't give them a tract, don't
do anything for them, just leave them alone. That's all God's
got to do, just leave us alone. If we got any brains in our head,
we'd say, oh God, don't leave me alone. Don't lead me to my
will. I'll go to hell if you lead me
to my will. Lord, interrupt my fatal plunge
toward the pit and you do something for me because I can't do it.
I wish God would give us some spiritual sense. That's what's
got to happen. We're just ignorant of spiritual
things. That's the problem today. We're just ignorant. People,
we're blind. Have no understanding. Why does He hide it from some
and reveal it to others? Verse 26, For so it seemed good
in thy sight. Because that is what God is pleased
to do. He says, All things are delivered
unto me of my Father. No man knoweth the Son but the
Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and
whomsoever and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." Who
will obey the gospel? Those to whom the gospel is revealed. And to those to whom it's revealed,
Christ says, now, come unto me. Is this for everybody? No, I'll
tell you who it's for. It's for all those that labor
and are heavy laden. And He says, I'll give you rest.
I'll give you refreshing of the soul. My friends, is there anything
more refreshing than the absolute full forgiveness of all of your
sins? Refreshing? God's not mad at
you? The everlasting love of God for
His covenant people? That you stand in the righteousness,
the very righteousness of the very Son of God? Man, that's restful. And the
word rest is refreshing. That's refreshing. The gospel
refreshes me every time I hear the gospel. He says, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me. I'm meek and lowly and hard.
You'll find rest to your souls. Anybody want rest for your soul?
He says, come to me. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light." I'm going to kind of pick up there this evening
as we go into this next at that time on the Sabbath day when
he went to pick corn. He says, you come to me for rest,
for rest.