I'm back to Matthew chapter 11.
Matthew chapter 11. I titled this message Divine Sovereignty and Human
Responsibility. Now, I'm not going to spend the
next several minutes trying to make them harmonize. Truth is
truth. Our Lord begins, it says here
in verse 20, He begins to upbraid those cities wherein most of
His mighty works were done. The people in those cities witnessed
things that no other people have witnessed before or since. The blind see. The lame walk. The deaf hear. The dead are raised. They witnessed these things.
They saw them. And they repented not. For the most part, they remained
in unbelief. They remained lost. Miracles
seen do not save. It is a miracle performed in
you by the grace of God that saves. As Frank said this morning,
it's God doing something in us as well as for us. Now, there's
two things here in verses 20 through 24 that we have. Two truths that are true. Divine sovereignty and human
responsibility. Mighty works. He says, Mighty works were done
in one place and not another. He says, Woe unto thee, Chorazin!
Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! If the mighty works which were
done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have
repented. And he ought to know, he's the
one who grants repentance. He said, If I had done the same
things in those places that I have done among you, They would have
repented. But why didn't He do that? Why
didn't He do that? Because it was not His will to
do it. Even so, Father, it seemed good in Thy sight. Mighty works
are done in one place and not another. The gospel of the grace
of God is sent to one people and not another. The gospel is
sent here. and not in other places. There
are many other places that do not have the gospel. God sends the gospel to whom
he will. This is true. He sends it to
whom he will. How blessed we are, and yet how
responsible we are. God has sent the gospel to us.
You can take a congregation. One person sees and hears and
believes and others don't. Why is that? Why is that? I'll show you a Scripture here
in a little bit why that is. God does not owe men salvation. When I first heard the Gospel,
this is the one thing that struck me. And I mean it struck fear
in me. I had heard, God wants to save you. God wants to save
you. God wants to save you if you'll
let Him. I had a couple of men when I
was about 18 years old pin me down in the living room trying
to get me to make a profession. God wants to save you if you'll
let Him. And then one day I heard the
gospel. One day I heard, God saves whom He will. And I realized
that salvation was in His hands, not mine. And for the first time in my
life, I feared God. There's mercy to be had with
Him, but He's to be feared. He may show mercy and He may
not. That's divine sovereignty. He does not owe men salvation.
Salvation is a free It's the gift of God's grace. It's the
free gift of grace. And we know through this teaching
of the Scripture that God does everything according to the counsel
of His own will. I wasn't in that counsel. Were
you there? Do you know anybody that was
there? I know there's three people. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. He does everything according to the counsel of His
will. His sovereign, free will. He does everything according
to that. Look over in Psalm. Let's look at a few scriptures
here. Psalm 33. Psalm 33. In verse 11. The counsel of the
Lord standeth forever. The thoughts of his heart to
all generations. That's whose counsel is going
to stand is his counsel. Thoughts of His heart, not mine,
not yours, His. Look over in Isaiah 46. Isaiah
46. In Isaiah 46, verse 10. We're looking
at verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning. Only a sovereign can do that.
Only a sovereign can do that. Declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times of things that are not yet done. Saying
my counsel shall stand. My eternal counsel and purpose
shall stand. And I will do all my pleasure. When I read those scriptures,
they came alive to me. And for the first time, I'm telling
you, I feared God. My counsel shall stand. I will
do all my pleasure. And there's many, many others.
Over in Acts chapter 428 and Hebrews 617, I'm not going to
turn to all these. But there were several scriptures.
I've got several scriptures written down here. He says, My counsels
will stand. Christ was delivered up by what?
The determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. That's how He was delivered
up. God created the heavens and the
earth according to His will. According to His will. Therefore,
He can do with them As he will. See, nobody fears God, and one
of the reasons that men, other than the fact they're just lost
and dead, do not fear God is that the God that's being preached
is not to be feared. Really, you listen to these TV
preachers. That's the ones you hear the
most. They don't preach a God to be feared, a God to be worshipped,
a God to be bowed down to. They don't preach a sovereign
God on the throne. Not at all. The Lord saves whom he will. He sends the gospel where he
will, to the people whom he'll send it to, and God saves whom
he will. Is that so or not? That's the
Bible. That's the God of the Bible.
That's the God of the Bible. Look over in Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. I tell you
what, this is not hard. I'm glad it's so. If God were
not sovereign, nobody would be saved. He wouldn't have the power
to do anything. He couldn't save any of us. The
very fact that He is sovereign assures us that somebody's going
to save. Somebody's going to be saved.
He's going to save some sinners. Over here in Romans chapter 9, listen
to these scriptures. For He saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Well, thank God He's going
to have mercy. We are rejoicing there. You see, the natural man
gets upset about that because he says, I'll have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. Well, the believer just rejoices
because he has mercy. Thank God he shows mercy. And
I'll have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then
it's not of him that willeth. Let's just put it in the right
light. Let's give the honor and glory to whom it's due. It's
not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. Let's give the glory to whom
it's due, of God that showeth mercy. It's not because I will
to, because I ran, or my efforts, it's because God showed mercy.
God was pleased to show mercy. Mercy is His to give, or it's
His to withhold. He said to His disciples concerning
some Pharisees, you know what He said? Leave them alone. That's what He said. Leave them
alone. He can be gracious. He can show
grace or he can leave a man alone. He can leave him alone. He's
the potter. We are the clay. He can make
one vessel under wrath or one under mercy. It's his royal prerogative
to do whichever. Over here in Romans 9, I still
have it here. Therefore hath he mercy, in verse
18, therefore hath he mercy, on whom he will have mercy and
whom he will he hardeneth. How does he do that? Leave him
alone. That's how he hardened it. That's how God hardened it.
That's how he hardened Pharaoh's heart. He left Pharaoh to himself. Sin has a hardening effect. Just
leave a man to himself and he'll harden him. Thou wilt say then
unto me, why dost yet find fault? Who hath resisted his will? That's
the natural response. Nay, but, O man, who are you
to reply against God? Who are you to bring God into
judgment? These little peanut minds of
ours. How are we going to bring infinite
wisdom into judgment? Who are you to reply against
God? Shall the thing formed? We've been going through Genesis.
Genesis chapter 1, 2, and 3. And what does it say He did with
Adam? He formed him out of the dust
of the earth. Now, shall the thing form? Say
to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power, or that is right, over the clay of the same lump
to make one vessel under honour and another under dishonour?
Does he not have that right? That's what he's saying. Does
God not have the right? Do we not send men and women
to die in this country so we have our rights? So we have the
right to freedom, the right to vote, the right... We do that
in this country. We send men and women out to
die on the battlefield to fight for our rights. Does God not
have the right? Whose son died? Oh, He has the
right, alright, it's His. Mercy is His. The Lord is holy
in all His works. And the Scripture says, and He
gives no account of any of His matters. I just trust Him. We just need to trust Him. He's
infinitely wise, infinitely good, holy, can make no mistakes. A whole lot of this I don't understand. I'm serious, I don't understand.
The older I get, the more I study, the less I feel like I understand. Who can comprehend God? Who by
searching can find out God? God must reveal Himself. You
can search all day and you can't find Him out. No, you can open
the books, you can study. Science can study all of nature
and you cannot find out God. He has to be revealed. Thou hast
revealed these things unto babes. He has to be revealed. If God
is pleased to make one man white, one man black, one live in America,
one live in Africa, that's His business, so to speak. That's His business. This doctrine of divine sovereignty
is loved by His children. I'm glad God is sovereign. You
know what that's saying? He's on the throne. I'm glad
our Father is on the throne. I'm glad our Father rules and
reigns over all things. I'm glad He keeps the stars in
place. I'm glad He rules and reigns
over the hearts of men. I'm glad He does that. His children
love to hear of their Father's reign. But the world, like their father
the devil, hates it. They hate divine sovereignty
because it places all things, all things, all people in the
hands of God Almighty and gives Him the glory. And the world
hates it. I asked this question. Last night
I was going through these notes and I asked this question. You
know anyone better to do it? You know anyone better that can
do it? Do you know anyone that's infinitely
wise? Do you know anyone infinitely
good, infinitely holy? Do you know anyone like that?
No. No. The judge of the earth will do
right. He will do right. He can do no wrong. He can do
no wrong. He can make no mistakes. He'll
do right. I heard someone say this once,
and I've never forgotten it. He will save all that he can
wisely save. Now, the Lord God of heaven and
earth, the sovereign of the universe, is not going to answer to His
creation. What kind of God would that be
that we could call Him into question? If He wills to work mighty miracles
in Bethsaida, if He wills to work mighty miracles in Capernaum,
that's His business. That's His business. If He wills
to leave Tyre and Sidon and Sodom alone to meet His justice, that's
His That's just a simple way of putting
it. That's his business. That's his royal prerogative
to do as he will. Now, divine sovereignty is where
we get human responsibility. Simply put, that's where we get
human responsibility. I can settle this whole, well,
you won't ever settle anything in this world, but who made who? Who made who? Answer that. Did God create Adam? Or did Adam
create God? We are subject to God as our
Creator. He made us. I believe I preached from Psalm
100. Thou hast made us and not we ourselves. We didn't make
ourselves. We didn't make ourselves human. We didn't make ourselves
believers. He did. He did. We are a creation of God, not
just physically, but also spiritually, born of the Spirit of God. If
you're a believer, he made us. He made us. He's the potter. We're the clay. He remembers
our friend, and it's what? Dust. Dust. The Scripture says He's the Lawgiver
over here in Isaiah 33. There's one Lawgiver. There's not many Lawgivers. They
might be in this country, but there's only one Lawgiver of
the universe in Isaiah 33. Let me read verse 21 with it. But there the glorious Lord will
build to us a place of broad rivers and streams wherein shall
go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ships pass thereby.
For the Lord, the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king. He will
save us. He's the lawgiver. We're subject
to him. We are subject to one lawgiver when it's over. He's
the lawgiver. That's what James says over in
James chapter 4. He says there's one lawgiver.
Men and women are responsible for their thoughts. You see, he goes to the heart.
This lawgiver reaches to the heart. Responsible for our thoughts,
our actions, everything about us we are responsible to God
for. Responsible. who's the judge
of all the earth. Look over here in Romans. See,
I'm already over here in Romans 14. Romans 14. Romans 14. In verse 11, for it is written,
As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every
tongue shall confess to God. So then, every one of us Every
last one of us shall give account of himself to God. Every last
one of us. Aren't you thankful for Christ? Our substitute took the punishment
for the sins of all his people. He took our hell. He took our
death. He answered for us. And now we stand before God in
Him, complete. When I read Scriptures like that,
we must give an account of ourselves to Him. Well, I thank God for
Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we stand. All men everywhere are commanded,
the Scripture says, to repent and believe the Gospel. God commands all men to believe.
God is to be believed. Is he not to be believed? He's
not to be debated. God is to be believed. He commands all
men everywhere to repent and believe. And they'll stand before God
for not doing it. Listen. Inability. Inability. Does not do away with responsibility. Write that down. Inability does
not do away with responsibility. If I leave here today and I have
a car wreck and I become paralyzed, the bank, I'm not able to go
to work and pay my bills. The bank that owns my house and
my car, they're not going to say, well, he's not able to pay
now. He was in a car wreck, so we
just had to forget it. They have the right to put me and my wife
out on the street. Now they can make arrangements
maybe and work around it, but they have the right to put me
on the street. My inability does not do away
with my responsibility. Everybody is responsible to God.
Now God has the right and the power through the Lord Jesus
Christ to put away all my sins. But He also has a right to make
me pay for them in hell and still be a just God. He's a just God
if He saves me by His grace or if He damages me. Isn't that
so? That's so. My inability does not do away
with my responsibility. Not at all. Adam had the ability not to sin,
but he did anyway. And now he must answer to the
lawgiver. Adam, where are you? Who came looking for who? He
came looking for Adam. Adam, where are you? Man's will
is not supreme. God's will is. God's will, God's
way, God's counsel is supreme and it'll stand. It will stand. And the greater the light, the
greater the responsibility. He says to them over here, it
would be better in the day of Tyre or Sidon than for you in
the day of judgment. Spurgeon said the day of judgment
is going to be a day of surprises. A day of surprises. He said it
will be better for the land of Sodom than for those people living
in Capernaum who saw these mighty works. And yet repented not. Responsible for what God gave
him. Responsible for the light God
sent him. Responsible. Like I said, I'm not going to
try to make it harmonized or just so. It's true. It's true. People will cry, not
fair. But you know what? God doesn't
deal with what's fair. God deals with what's right.
He deals with what's right. And what we call not fair is
not fair. We don't have a real understanding
of it. We don't have a grasp of it. God deals with what's
right. The judge of the earth will do
right. He doesn't say the judge of the earth will do what we
think is fair. No, he's going to do what's right.
You can count on that. Now notice what our Lord says
about this in verse 25. At that time, after upbraiding
these cities, you know what our Lord said? He said, I thank Thee.
Oh Father, Lord, Sovereign of heaven and earth. Divine sovereignty
is a doctrine of praise. I thank Thee. I thank Thee. He who rules the earth and sky
is to be thanked for all that he does. He is to be thanked.
And here's what he thanks him for. Because thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and you've revealed them to babes.
The wise of this world, those who count themselves wise, those
who count themselves as knowing something. He says you've hid
these. Where did he hide them? Well,
they're hid in Christ. If you want to know them, go
to Christ. If you want to know, look to
Christ. They're hidden. All the wisdom and treasures
of God are hid in the Lord Jesus Christ. You just got to look
to where they're hid. You're looking in the wrong.
They looked in the wrong places. They're not hidden. They're hidden
in Christ. That's what it says over Colossians 2. Even so, Father, this is how
he handles this. Even so, Father, it seems what? Good. God would not have done
it if it were not good. Those whom God reveals the gospel
to, those to whom it's hid from, that he does not reveal the gospel,
he leaves them alone. Even so, Father, what? It seemed
good. It seemed good, and I'm going to
leave it there. I'm going to leave it right there. It seemed
good in his sight. But I thank God all is not lost
and all are not going to be lost. Some are going to be saved. He's
going to reveal these things, how God saves sinners through
the blood and the righteousness of His Son. These things that
concern the Lord Jesus Christ. These things that concern salvation. You've revealed them to babes.
The world calls He calls them babes because the world looks
at them as unlearned and ignorant men. That's what they called
the disciples. They were unlearned and ignorant men. That's the
way they were looked upon. But he said he revealed them
to babes. I thank God he does. I thank God he does. Let me be
his babe. Let me be one of those babes. He's going to reveal the gospel
The wise and prudent of this world can't see or understand
it, while babes see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
How's that? He revealed it. Salvation comes
by revelation. And these things that are hid
in Christ are revealed to babes, chosen babes to see them. We make no excuse for God's sovereignty. Make note, God is sovereign.
Here's what I say. Here's what the church says.
God is sovereign and we are glad. God is sovereign and we are glad. And notice here in verse 27,
and I'll wind this down. Divine sovereignty has put all
things into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. After declaring
divine sovereignty, notice the grace of our Lord here. First, he says, all things are
delivered unto me of my Father. He's speaking here of his mediatorial
office. Everything has been vested in
Christ. Everything that God has is channeled,
that He has for us, is channeled through the Lord Jesus Christ. As Pharaoh said, if you want
corn, go to Joseph. If you want to be fed, go to
Joseph. He was put over all of Egypt. If you want any blessings
from the Father, if you want salvation, if you desire forgiveness
of sins, to have your sins washed away, go to Christ. Go to the
Son of God. All things are delivered into
His hands. If you want to be forgiven, pardoned, justified,
go to the One who can do it. Everything has been vested in
Him. Oh, how simple. How simple. That's just so simple. He put everything in one person. How immense this person is. You
know, he says, come unto me all ye labored, heavy laden, I give
you rest. You know, I could not take one family in this congregation
and say, now, cast all your cares on me. I could not say, all your labors,
all your cares, all your troubles, You bring them to Me and I'll
meet them. I can't say that to one family
in here. But He says this throughout the world. He says this throughout
the whole universe. He says, at one time, come! I'll give you rest. I can take
care of your problems. That sin issue, I can put it
away. That guilt, you know what guilt is? He said, I can put
that away. I can give you rest. I can give
you soul rest. He's not just talking about rest
for these bodies, but he said, I can give you soul rest. I tell you
what, if you ever get soul rest, you also get some physical rest.
You'll be able to sleep at night. You'll also be able to sleep. But he says here, all things
are delivered unto me of my Father. No man knoweth the Son. No man
knows the Son. They didn't recognize Him when
He came. The Son of God came and they missed Him. He came
unto His own and His own received Him not. They missed Him. But
the Father, the Father knows Him. Neither knoweth any man
the Father save the Son, and listen, and He to whomsoever the Son
will reveal Him. There's divine sovereignty. You
see, first, God lets us know. He's letting us know this first.
Salvation is mine to give. You're the beggar. I'm God. Grace is mine to give. It's not
a debt I'm paying. It's mine to give freely. And
he gives it, he says, here to whomsoever he will. Then he turns
and says, now come to me. Anybody laboring? He said, well,
he's not speaking. So if that's so, what if he didn't
choose me? What if he passes me by? Are
you laboring? Are you heavy laden? Well, the
message is to you. Are you thirsty? He says, come
and drink. You see, the gospel is to a certain
people, thirsty people, guilty people, laboring people. If you have these things, He
says, come, come on. Come on. But now if you're so
full of yourself, stay home. If you have your own righteousness,
you don't need any, just stay away. I'm not talking to you.
I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to people who are
laboring under the guilt of sin. People who are laboring to produce
a righteousness that they can't produce. And heavy laden. Religion. Without Christ is heavy
laden. It's bondage. It's bondage. And I'll give you rest. A rest
that you can not get anywhere else. A rest that no one else
can give you but me. And take my yoke upon you. And learn of me. We're not trying to learn a bunch
of commandments here to keep, are we? We're just learning of
a person. And he's not difficult here because
he says, I'm meek and lowly in heart. Easy to be entreated. Easy to approach. No one is more
easy to approach than the Lord Jesus Christ. My sinners. No one. He says, I am meek and
lowly in heart. Come on in. You know, one of
the things that the Pharisees charged him with was one of the
things we dearly love. This man eateth with publicans
and sinners. If you're a real Jerusalem sinner,
he says, come on. Come on. I'm making lowly in
heart, and you'll find rest of your souls when you come to me. Come to me. My yoke is easy. My yoke is easy. And my burden
is light. How would you like to go back
under the law that Israel was under? How would you like to
offer all those lambs and all those offerings and have to go
through all those rituals and all those ceremonies? Aren't you glad those saints
are gone? He said, just come to Me. Learn
of Me. We sat here this morning. Frank
taught the class. We opened the Bible up. We have
this message. And we are learning of Christ.
Learning who He is. God in human flesh. He's God. He's the Mediator. He's the Sacrifice. He's the High Priest. He's everything
I need. Come, learn of Me. I'll give
you rest. You'll find. Come learn with
me and you'll find rest unto your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden
is light. Unload yourself on me. Can you
do that? Can I do that? Unload yourself
on me. Well, God is sovereign and we are glad.