If you would like to, please
open your Bible to Matthew 11. I'd like to speak about when the
Lord said, Come unto me. So Matthew 11, we'll start in
verse 28. Matthew 11, verse 28. The Lord says, Come to me, all
who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble
in heart. And you will find rest for your
souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I'd like
to also read a similar verse in the Gospel of John. You don't
have to turn, I'll read it. It's John chapter 7, verse 37.
The Lord says, The verse says, Now on the last
day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying,
If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. So I'd
like to concentrate on these two thoughts. It seems negligent
to take one of these verses, our primary focus being that
one in Matthew's gospel, and teach it without first examining
the context in which it lies. This is especially important
for the verses because these verses in particular, because
they are often interpreted to be open and invitations to all
who may come without exception to Christ for salvation. In the
beginning of Matthew chapter 11, we read that the men from
John the Baptist had come to verify the identity of the Lord
Jesus. Pastor McDaniel preached a sermon
on this not too long ago. And after they had left with
good report, the Lord turned to speak to the crowd publicly.
I believe this is important to remember that this is a public
thing the Lord is doing. And he did not have great words
of comfort, but rather words of judgment, even of sharp rebuke
aimed at that generation of Jews. Throughout the gospel accounts,
the Lord Jesus called that generation of Jews many names. including
adulterous, sinful, wicked, a generation of vipers. He had many things
to say about them. So let's read back above our
verse. Let's go to Matthew 11 verse
16. The Lord says, But to what shall
I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in
the marketplaces who call out to the other children and say,
We have played the flute for you, and you did not dance. We
sang a dirge, and you did not mourn. For John came neither
eating nor drinking, and they said, He has a demon. The Son
of Man came eating and drinking, and they said, Behold, a gluttonous
man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.
Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds. The Lord here compares
that generation of Jews to children who respond unfavorably to the
sound of a merry flute, and also unfavorably to the song of mourning
or sadness, the dirge. Within this comparison, there
are presented two groups of children. The first group is the group
that's making the songs. The second group is the children
who are listening to the songs. The first thing that the children
who are playing do is that they play the music of a flute. Flutes
are high-noted, cheerful instruments often played with the intention
of imparting joy or happiness. This seems the intent here. Yet
when the flutes are played, the other children did not dance.
They were not entertained by the merriment. They desired no
part in that joyful song. So one would think such sullen
children should be satisfied to hear a mournful song then,
since they had no desire for merriment. Yet even when they
were accommodated by songs of sorrow, they still had no appropriate
reaction. These children simply could not
be satisfied either way. So the Lord makes this comparison
because the Jews he faced were neither satisfied with John the
Baptist, nor were they satisfied with himself the Lord. John came
living a very humble, self-sacrificing life, taking no part in either
good food or good drink. Because of this, and certainly
because of the message he brought, the wise Jews said that he had
a demon. The wise Jews said that he had
a demon. Well, then surely they would
be satisfied by one who does partake of good food and good
drink. No, neither were they satisfied
by the Lord. When he came eating and drinking,
instead they called him gluttonous and a drunkard. In the same way
as the children who were not satisfied by happy songs or sad
songs, these Jews were neither satisfied by John the Baptist
nor by the Lord Jesus. A commentary by Matthew Poole
has this to say, quote, The doctrine of John the Baptist and Christ
was the same. But their temper and converse
was very different. But these Jews would neither
give the one nor the other a good word. They reviled both of them. So these words about John are
a sharp rebuke from the Lord, a public rebuke from the Lord. But he didn't stop there. Let's
continue reading Matthew 11 verse 20. Then he began to denounce
the cities in which most of his miracles were done. because they
did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to
you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred
in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented
long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless, I say to you, it
will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment
than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not
be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades. For
if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you,
it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I say to you
that it will be nor tolerable for the land of Sodom in the
day of judgment than for you." So the Lord here continues to
reprimand his audience by denouncing the inhabitants of the cities
which had a great deal of miracles and signs performed, yet they
did not repent. No doubt some cities had a greater
witness of God's power than other cities did. These cities which
have seen the Lord in person are named and compared with three
cities of old who did not have that. The cities of old are Sodom,
Tyre, and Sodom. Each of these cities was destroyed
by the hand of God, as recorded in the Old Testament. For Sodom,
in Genesis 19, we have the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah
brimstone and fire. For Tyre and Sidon, we have recorded
in Isaiah chapter 23, Tyre is destroyed without house or harbor. Be silent, you inhabitants of
the coastland, you merchants of Sidon. Oh, what tragedy! Who would have done such a thing?
Who would have destroyed these cities? Well, if we read back,
we see again in Genesis chapter 19, in the case of Sodom, it
came from the Lord out of heaven. He overthrew those cities. For
Tyre and Sidon, we have recorded again in Isaiah 23, the Lord
of hosts has planned it to defile the pride of all beauty, to despise
all the honor of the earth. Isaiah 23, 9. So these cities
contain so much sin, that God judged them and destroyed them
because of their sin, being his plan to do so. Even so, with
such rampant sin and depravity requiring God's judgment, the
inhabitants of the latter cities, the newer cities that he visited,
they personally saw the Lord Jesus perform works and miracles
and heard him preach. They are said to have saved up
even more wrath for themselves in the final judgment than these
cities of old. What occurred in Sodom? I'm sure
we all remember. We know specifically that the
men of the city aggressively desired to have homosexual relations
with the angels who came to visit Lot. Can we picture in our minds
the atrocity of this action? To have a large public group
of men, very public group of men, in a city, all together,
trying to do such a thing. How depraved and wicked can we
imagine such a city to be, full to the brim with homosexuals
and rapists? Even so, on the last day of judgment,
when God separates the weak and the tares, sending some to heaven
and the rest to hell, it will be more tolerable for the city
of homosexual rapists than for the cities who saw the miraculous
ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and rejected it. They rejected
his deity and his messiahship. These cities, which have a greater
and more public ministry straight from the Lord himself, are under
greater judgment than the cities rife with homosexuality and public
depravity. It is not only the literal cities
themselves which are under judgment. This should be obvious. It is
not just the geographical location or a group of buildings. It is
the inhabitants therein, the people, even the Jews of those
cities, who will pay the price of rejecting God's Messiahship,
and this at a more severe price than sinners of old who were
not so readily presented with great signs and miracles straight
from the Lord Himself. It seems profitable to chase
a small rabbit here. When the Lord says that these
cities would have repented in sackcloth and ashes had they
heard these words and seen these things, I don't think it's necessary
that we conclude that miracles and signs are able to bring about
true repentance of the spirit. We know that the Lord's account
of Lazarus and the rich man, they talk about this according
to that parable or reality as it may be. that miracles alone
cannot bring about a saving faith in the Lord. Quote, The rich
man said, No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from
the dead, they will repent. He said, If you resurrect someone
and they go and preach the gospel, they'll repent. But Abraham said
to him, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they
will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead.
So clearly, miracles do not cause one to repent. True repentance,
saving repentance. Repentance in sackcloth and ashes
may be summed up to say that these cities of old, had they
had the Lord's public ministry, would have at least recognized
that he was a powerful man of God by his works. And so this
may have brought about in them a fleshly recognition of sin
and fear of God's judgment. John Gill says in his book The
Cause of God and Truth, Here is no mention made of faith and
conversion, only of repentance, and that not spiritual and evangelical,
but external and legal. So the Galilean cities did not
even do this much. They rejected the Lord outright,
they mocked Him, they even plotted to kill Him. The Lord Jesus was not comforting
his audience with kind words here. He was not speaking kindly
or sugarcoating the truth. Instead, he gave his audience
a public lashing with his tongue, and he brought about the reality
of sinners who, having rejected him as the God-man, would soon
perish in greater hell torment than these great, famous cities
of old full of depraved men. Now the Lord having said all
this, what does he then do? What does he do following this?
Does the Lord weep and lament the loss of so many souls? Is
his reaction that of a doting friend who has been rejected
and discounted? Does the holy God-man suddenly
wish that he had done more, that he had preached a friendlier
gospel, that he had taught with greater fervor? What does the
Word say? Let's read Matthew 11 verse 25. At that time Jesus said, I praise
you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these
things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.
Yes, Father, for this way was well pleasing in your sight. The Lord Jesus does not lament
the loss of souls. He does not weep for them, nor
is He saddened by their rejection of Him. He praises the Father. He praises the Father. The word
translated here as praise in the NASB has the meaning of open
confession with joy or thanks and even celebration. As it is
in the King James Version, I thank Thee, O Father. or in the Young's
literal translation, I do confess to thee, O Father. Luke's account
of this occurrence in Luke chapter 10 adds that the Lord Jesus rejoiced
greatly in the Spirit, in the Holy Spirit. That's Luke 10,
21. It is clear in both Gospels that the action of God in hiding
and revealing the Gospel should be viewed as good. Both of those
actions approved and desired by both the Son and the Father
together. The Son is joyfully confessing
that the Father has done something for which he deserves praise.
It is well-pleasing in God's sight that some should not understand
unto repentance and meet their eventual end in hell. Equally
so, it is well-pleasing in God's sight that a selected group of
saints would understand the gospel leading to eternal life with
the Lord. What are we to think when a person
says there is much rejoicing in heaven when a sinner first
believes in the Lord? Yet much weeping in heaven when
a sinner dies in their sin. Sometimes I listen to Christian
radio stations and there's a song that talks about the weeping
in heaven when a sinner does not believe in the Lord. And
I can't help but change the channel when that one comes on. So is
this true? Is this true that there is weeping
when a sinner does not, and joy when a sinner does believe in
the gospel? Or is it true that both are well-pleasing to God? Going back to the text, there
seems important to the words, at that time, or at this time,
in verse 25. The Lord has been publicly addressing
a multitude, as shown in verse 7. Verse 7 says, He began to
speak to the crowds. And then He goes on to reprimand
the crowds. So, obviously, this is a very public address to a
crowd. In verse 28 of the same chapter, which follows these
verses, the Lord gives a public calling for all who are weary
and heavy laden to come to Him for rest. Again, a public calling. These verses of praise to the
Father are sandwiched between these public statements and preceded
by the words at that time. A fair conclusion must be that
verses 25-27 were also stated for the public to hear. To even further solidify that
these words were spoken publicly, in Luke's account he includes
a moment just after this when the Lord turned to his disciples
to tell them something privately. Quote, turning to the disciples,
he said privately, that's Luke 10, 23, obviously implying that
the words coming before that were spoken by the Lord publicly.
So at that time and publicly, the Lord Jesus gave praise to
his father for hiding the things which lead one to repentance
from some and revealing it to others. Notice here that the
Lord refers to his father not simply as father, but also ascribes
to his father a title that fits well with these words of praise.
He calls his father the Lord of heaven and earth, honoring
him as the all-sovereign of the universe, the one who does as
he pleases among men, the one who has mercy on whom he will
and hardens whom he will, according to Paul in Romans 9. The emphasis
of this title that he ascribes to the Father is sovereignty
and power. The Apostle Paul speaks of hidden
things in 1 Corinthians 2.7, but we speak the wisdom of God
in a mystery, even the hidden mystery, which God ordained before
the world unto glory. Again, in his letter to the Colossians,
Paul very explicitly states that the mystery which has been hid
from ages and from generations is now manifest to the saints.
This mystery is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Colossians
1.26 and following. One obvious example of the way
God hides things is in parables. During the Lord Jesus' ministry,
he told many parables whose true meaning were hidden from those
who they were not intended. He even explicitly states that
the reason he teaches in parables is so that they will not understand
and be converted, referring back to a prophecy made in Isaiah
6-9, when Isaiah was receiving his commission from the Lord.
Isaiah 6-9, quote, he said, go and tell this people, keep on
listening, but do not perceive. Keep on looking, but do not understand. Render the hearts of this people
insensitive, their ears dull and their eyes dim, otherwise
they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand
with their hearts, and return and be healed. Does this sound
like God is sending out a gospel message intended to be understood
by all? All these words of encouragement
toward the prophet Isaiah, embarking on a mission to save everyone,
How does the modern-day evangelist make a defense against such obvious
words which indicate the clear intention of God to hide the
gospel from some? Paul talks of a veil covering
the Jews' hearts when scriptures are read, and that this is because
their minds are hardened in 2 Corinthians. This wisdom is not hid by accident,
nor do men reject it despite God's every desire to reveal
it, as some would have us believe. God does not give every man an
equal chance to accept the truth of the gospel. He hides it from
some and reveals it to others. So I think we've established
that God hides as He pleases, but He also graciously reveals
as He pleases. What of the revelation then?
What makes one man who hears the word to differ from the next?
The writer of Hebrews answers this in part when he says in
Hebrews 4, 2, For indeed we have good news preached to us, just
as they also. But the word they heard did not
profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who
heard. So the difference between one
man and another who hear the gospel, to one it's hid, to the
other it's revealed. The difference is faith. And
without faith, one cannot understand the spiritual things of God.
Paul in Romans 8 even goes so far as to say that one is not
even able, not even able, not that they don't want to, not
that they won't, but they're not even able to set their minds
on spiritual things while they are without the Holy Spirit of
God. For He is the true teacher of
life and peace. Furthermore, Paul says, a natural
man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them. He cannot
understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. The
word comes to a man who does not have the spirit of regeneration,
and it is hid from him, leading to torment. The word comes to
a man who has been regenerated of the spirit, and it is accepted,
and it is profitable. All of this, again, is well pleasing
in God's sight. What does the Lord say to Peter
after his great confession? He said that Peter was blessed
because flesh and blood did not reveal unto Peter that he was
the Christ. But God, the Father in heaven,
did. Matthew 16. Again, the Lord says
in John's Gospel that no man may come unto me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him. It is necessary that the sovereign
three of the Godhead desire to reveal the truth of the gospel
to a man before it can be sold. If the holy three do not reveal
the gospel, it is clear that they will to hide it. If they
do not desire to reveal the gospel, then they desire to hide it.
There is no middle ground. Faith is clearly the gift of
God. So finally, we come back to our original text. Following
the Lord's thanksgiving to the Father, following his reprimand
to the Jews, he says something that is misinterpreted far and
wide in the world of Christendom. He says, Come to me, all who
are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He says
all who are weary. All. All means every single person,
right? Here all is qualified, and only
some meet these qualifications. will try to be weary of depravity
and under the heavy weight of sin. This is not every man. Are you weary of your own depravity? Do you feel the sin weight of
your transgression? Then you may come to the Lord
Jesus. This is a special requirement,
though, because it is not the worldly sorrow that we see so
much today. It is spirit rock, a sorrow,
quote, according to the will of God, producing a repentance
without regret unto salvation. It is not, quote, the sorrow
of the world producing death. Both of those in the 2nd Corinthians
chapter 7. It would be a great travesty
to take this statement, come unto me all, or any like it,
such as the one we read in John, out of context, completely ignoring
what has preceded it to come with some idea that all persons
are being beckoned to salvation here. After the Lord Jesus has
rebuked many and praised the God for hiding the gospel from
some, that they will be tormented in the last days, are we to believe
that he is now turning around to these same individuals and
inviting all of them and expecting all of them, without exception,
to come to him for rest? How can those to whom the gospel
is hidden come to the Lord? They are in the flesh. Their
minds are hostile toward God. They do not have the spirit of
life leading them to repentance. They cannot and will not come. This text is an example of a
time when the Lord Jesus taught the sovereignty of God and salvation. The truth of unconditional election,
the truth of sovereign regeneration are apparent here in his words.
God has hidden the gospel from some, and more importantly, and
blessedly so for us, he has revealed that same gospel to others. So
all who are weary and heavy laden are those whom God has made to
be so by his own action in their hearts. We have found rest in
Christ. I have found rest in Christ,
for he is our surety. He has done all through the cross.
Salvation is wholly dependent on what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done. All of his work is apart from us, and I thank the
Lord for that. I also thank you for listening.
Please stand. Brother Dale, would you like
to dismiss us, please?