Well, I'd like to thank you all
for your good old Missouri hospitality. Enjoyed being here. I won't keep
you too long this morning because I know you smell that food back
there. We were talking this morning,
the average attention span of an American citizen is about
20 minutes. And, you know, if you can't get
enough said in 20 minutes, you need to go home anyway. So I
won't keep you too long this morning. Matthew chapter 11.
I'm going to take my text from verses 28 through 30, but I want
to read what our Lord says in verse 16.
He says, But whereunto shall I liken this generation? Matthew 11, 16. It is like unto
children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,
and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced.
We have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John
came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
And so a man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold,
a man gluttonous, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners,
but wisdom is justified in our children. Then began he to upbraid
the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because
they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! 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. But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon the day of judgment
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which are
exalted unto heaven shall be brought down to hell. For if
the mighty works which have done in thee had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained to this day. But I say unto you that
it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day
of judgment than for thee." And 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 the prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for it seem
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 ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and
My burden is light." There can be no doubt that the words of
our Lord here, especially verses 28 through 30, are some of the
sweetest words that He spoke concerning His heart of mercy
for the laboring and heavy laden sheep that He spoke to. He spoke before He said all of
these things to those who had ears to hear. If you have ears
to hear, then hear. Hear what He has to say. This
passage that is often quoted in verses 28 through 30 is at
once a very gentle call and is also a very distinctive doctrinal
truth that is set forth. Seen in this context, it declares
a definitive work of the gospel preached and the sure result
of that preaching. He and John the Baptist are addressed
in this passage. Their response of men has been
to despise John for his lack of social graces and despised Christ for His liberality
and kindness. The end result of that vehement
hatred for truth was that the Lord stood and called for those
whose heart was heavy laden and laboring to come unto Him. And often, and rightfully so,
this speaks of those who have been heavy laden and laboring
under sin. But in the context, the sin that
is spoken of here, the labor that is spoken of, is the intensive
labor that weighs heavy on those that are under the thumb of hard
and judgmental religion without Jesus Christ, because that's
these children that he speaks of, this generation that he speaks
of. They have a view of what it is
to preach, and their view is that John the Baptist was just
a hard man. He wasn't social. He didn't come
to the house. I remember many years ago a fellow
came and he had been in a church where the pastor required him
to come to the pastor's house every week. And there they had
a meeting other than when they met at church. And he would tell
them what motorcycle to buy and whether or not they had to have
their teeth pulled. And they went along with that mess. And
they were required. The women couldn't come. The
women were treated badly in those homes. And when he finally saw
the truth and came to my house, he said, do I have to come over
to your house? I said, stay away from me. Spend time with your family.
And I'll be here three times a week and you can show up then. John the Baptist was not a social
man. He was a hard man. He came out of the wilderness
wearing clothing of camel hair, eating wild locusts, said what
he had to say and walked away. Christ was not like that. What
they said of John, he told us we ought to be mourning. We ought
to be repenting. But we're not mourning. We're
not going to do that. That's not for us. And the Lord
came and preached to them, and they said his preaching was like
piping, like playing the flute. It was happy stuff. He went to
their houses, sat down with them, had wine with them, ate with
them. The worst of the kind of folks,
the publicans and the sinners, a very social man our Lord Jesus
Christ was, especially with the worst of society. And they said,
look at him, some preacher this is. He's a drunk. winebibber,
brownbagger. Ain't nothing to him. He's a
glutton. And he eats with the worst kind of people. Hangs around
with the worst kind of people. You've piped. But we're not going
to dance to that tune. We're not going to dance. You
can play your pretty little things and be nice and sweet and all
that. We're not dancing to your tune. That's what he felt of
John the Baptist and that's what he felt of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord doesn't call those people.
They're not heavy laden. They're not labored. He makes
a clear distinction. He described them distinctly
as opposite of those who practice hard and judgmental religion.
These are children that wisdom justifies. What's the wisdom?
They've come to Christ. They've sat at Christ's feet.
They've not said, we're not going to dance, we're not going to
mourn. They did mourn when John preached and they did dance when
Christ preached. And their wisdom was justified.
The reason being that Christ was their wisdom. For God has
made Him to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. These are the children to whom
the call is made, come unto Me. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest. He didn't say come unto Me then
I could care less. He said, laborers and heavy living
folks, you come to me. And the promise to those who
come is that they will have rest, sweet respite from the weariness
and laborious hand of useless religion. Our Lord calls, come,
come unto me. What does it mean to come to
Christ? The word come is in the imperative form here and means
come hither, come now. And being in the imperative is
the same as a command. Come on, come now, you heavy
laden, come. He is in the heavens, enthroned
in glory as Lord over all. Men cannot physically come to
Him now. Paul made that clear in Romans 9. He says, don't say,
dig down deep to find Christ or climb up high to find Christ.
He's not there. The Word is upon your lips. For
to Him, to come to Him, to come to Christ, you'll find He's already
seated in heavenly places where you can't reach Him, where you
can't come to Him. Come is a verb. A word that asserts
action, yet men cannot physically act to that end. Now in this
day, they could have physically approached Christ in the day
that He spoke these words, but not today. You can't physically
approach Christ. We've never seen Christ. I know
some people say they've seen Him. I saw some guy on a cross
on the way in here off of 146. nice tan fella and had a beard
and hair and he was hanging on a cross and had a pair of yellow
gym shorts on is what it looked like. Out in their yard, and
I bet if you asked them they'd say, that's Jesus. That's not
Jesus. I remember that The big yellow
butter Jesus up near Detroit that caught on fire several years
ago. I cracked up when that happened. I don't know whether you've ever
seen that. It was out in the middle of a great swimming pool
in front of this great big church. And this thing was like 40 feet
tall. It was coming out of a swimming pool, coming out of the water.
It caught fire. For years it was called the butter
Jesus because it was yellow. One woman saw Jesus' face when
she bought an egg McMuffin. She saw His face in the McMuffin,
or the muffin, I guess it was. Jesus in a McMuffin. And she
built a shrine in her house. People say, nobody who knows
Christ has ever seen Him. Never seen Him. And yet, everyone
who knows Christ has come to Him. How do you come to Christ? How is it done? To come to Christ? You must actually
come to Him. Religion has made ways to do
it. Folks can walk an aisle, come down front, come to the
church altar, and they've been convinced that it's synonymous
with coming to Christ. It's a slick lie, but it works
for the church roles. That does not change the fact
that the Lord says to men, come to men, and the Bible says men
do. And we know that men come to Christ. Everyone who is here
who knows Christ this morning, you've come to Christ. You've
come to Christ. Some men do come. Our Lord said
that. In fact, in the face of unbelief,
when men wouldn't believe Him in John chapter 6, He said, we
don't believe you. He said, I know you don't believe me. But all
that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. He said in John 6, 45, everyone
that the Father has taught comes to me, comes to me. They are
said to be those who God the Father has given to His Son in
election, in betrothal. They come. They, however, cannot
come unless they are drawn of the Father. No man cometh to
Me except the Father which has sent Me to draw him. Some men
will not come, though they are very religious and love the Word
of God. There are people who actually
love this Bible. They study it. They spend their time in it.
They'll tell you all the verses they've memorized. They know
this book. They know it from stem to stern. There were those
who did that, who wrote it down in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ in John chapter 5. He says you do study the Scripture.
You search them. Because in that searching, in
that effort that you make, you think you have eternal life.
This makes you a Christian because you like the Bible. You think
you have eternal life, but you won't come to me that you might
have life. So they must have felt like they
had life without Christ, much like those today who talk about
your life and your Christian life. Like you have a life without
Christ, who is life, so if you don't have Christ, you don't
have life. But they believed they had life by searching the
Scriptures. They're those who do that. But
they wouldn't come to Christ. They would come to the Bible.
They'd come to the synagogue. They'd come to the miracles that
He did. But they wouldn't come to Him for life. For life. The endeavors and merits that
the endeavors merits are right standing with God is what they
believe. The wisdom that is justified by the children of God is revealed
in that simply this, they come to Christ. They come to Christ. The question remains is that
if we are unable to come to Christ physically or in the flesh, how
can we come? And what does it mean to come to Christ? If not
in the flesh, then those who come to Christ must come another
way. They must come in the Spirit. that automatically disqualifies
everyone born of the flesh, for they are born spiritually dead.
They can't come in the Spirit. Coming to the Lord is the same
as believing on the Lord. You remember when our Lord said,
at the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, after some 800
beasts had been slain, and it was one bloody mess, an eight-day
period. And historically, the writers
say that they took a big tub of water and poured it over the
altar and washed all that blood off the altar. And some said,
I think it was Josephus said at that time, probably Jesus
came up as they were pouring the water on the altar and said,
anybody out there thirsty? You've been eight days in religion. 800 beasts have been slain, blood
has been slain all over this place. You're getting ready to
pack up your tents and go home and you got nothing. Anybody out there thirsty? Come
to me and drink. Come to Me. What is it to come
to Christ? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's to trust the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believing on Christ is born of
God-given faith. We're not born with it. All men
have not faith. If God gives it, you have it,
and you'll always have it, and you'll never lose it. And that
faith comes one way. It only comes one way. It comes
through hearing the gospel preached. I know that's strange. And people
come up with all ideas of how they get faith. And one fellow
said a bluebird flew on his windowsill and that's how he come to Christ.
No, I don't. That ain't the way it works.
God hasn't written it in the sky. He's raised up poor old
jack-legged nobodies like me and like Drew and like Joe and
we stand up on our hind legs and we tell people what God has
showed us in Scripture. We just repeat the things over
and over again. All of us are preaching exactly
the same message. In only that way, wondrously,
is the seed of faith planted in the heart, and faith thrives. He said, we're not born of corruptible
seed or semen, but incorruptible. Even the Word of God which liveth
and abideth forever, and this is the Word which by the Gospel
is preached unto you. That's how it comes. What a wonder.
What a wonder. I haven't figured it out yet,
and I don't think I ever will. It's an amazing and a wondrous
thing. Because I'm nothing. I can't make it happen. I have
nothing to do with the result. All I am is a mouthpiece, one
crying in the wilderness, standing up and saying it over and over
again. And then all of a sudden it bears fruit. How does that
happen? It finds purchase in people's heart. Not what I say,
but God speaking through this Word. It's a miracle and a wondrous
thing. And when that happens, people
come. They come. They show up like
the dew of the morning. You ain't expecting them. You
didn't cause it to happen and there they are. Believing on
Christ is born of God-given faith through the preaching of the
gospel. And if God has given you faith, I know what you'll
do. You'll come. You'll come to Christ. You'll
believe, and what you'll believe is what God has said. Faith is
not power. Faith is confidence in the Word
of God. Faith is subjective. Now, it has an object. The object
of faith is Christ. But faith itself is subjective.
What do we believe? Only what God has said. We don't
believe nothing else. Concerning God is what He said.
You grown-ups, you people can rub two cogent thoughts together. You have synapses working in
your brain. You actually believe that what
this book has said for 3,500 years, that's it? That's what
you live on? That's what you thrive on? That's
what you eat and that's what you drink? That's all of it?
Yeah. Well, prove it. I can't prove it. Show me your
faith. I can't show you my faith. I
have no evidence of my faith. In fact, the only time evidence
is used in the Word of God is used as faith. Faith is the evidence
of things hopeful. Faith is the substance of things
not seen. It's believing. That's what it is to come to
Christ. Believing what God has said concerning His Son. Come unto Me, He said. Come unto
Me. These words are uttered in a
clear distinction. They are not a general call to everyone because
in the context our Lord has declared that some will never come and
will never hear these words. They don't have the hearing ear
and the seeing eye that God gives according to His good pleasure.
He has already said that the children in whom wisdom is justified
are the opposite of those who will not come. Our Lord makes
it very plain that the sin against the light of truth is worse than
the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Worse! He said, I've done great
works in your midst and you didn't repent. It's going to be easier
for Sodom and Gomorrah than it is for you. Sodom and Gomorrah
is a pretty horrible place. And then he makes a further distinction.
He gives the reason why these are not addressed with the words
coming to me. These children, this generation
of religious people. He's not addressing them. In
verse 25, one of the most powerful statements in all of Scripture,
He lifts His eyes to heaven and He says, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, I thank You that You have hid these things from the
wise and the prudent. I thank You for that. I thank
You that You have hid these things from the wise and the prudent.
The wise and prudent are religiously so, thinking themselves that
they are wise, they've revealed themselves to be fools. They're
wise in their own conceits, which means they are unduly enamored
with their own value and their own worth. And it's why they
could say what they said about the Lord in John's preaching.
They said, we don't want anything to do with that. Why? Because we're wise and we're
prudent and we're not going to mourn when you're preaching repentance
and then we're not going to dance when you're preaching salvation.
That's not for us. That's not for us. They act this way because God
has hid the truth from them. That's what he said. I thank
you that you've hid the truth from them. And the Lord thanks
him for doing so. It's a good thing, you see. that
God hides the truth from some. Isn't it? The Lord said it's
good even so because it seemed good in thy sight. Proverbs said
it's the Lord's glory to conceal a thing. The Lord's glory. Who's going
to hear it? Who's going to come? Those who
are called. Those who are heavy laden. Those
who are burdened. They're going to come. And our
Lord declares to whom the call is made, ìCome unto Me, they
are babes.î Youíve hid these things from the wise and the
refuted, but youíve revealed them unto babes. Thatís who the
Gospel is revealed to. The word revealed is here the
same word we know to be apocalypse. It means not some grand calamity
like everybody's talking about in the news. It means to uncover
or to lay open or to make bare, to unveil that which is covered
up, to disclose, to make known, to make manifest. Disclose what's
unknown. Now, it's revealed. Disclose, make known, manifest
what was unknown to you before. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
To these babes the Gospel is disclosed. It's laid open. These
babes, when they hear the Word coming to me, they'll come. They'll
come. They use the words babes, and
it does not describe them as to age, but as to inability,
lack of knowledge, helplessness, utter neediness. And those who
can't do anything are those to whom the glory of the Gospel
is revealed. in all its beauty. In a moment,
in a twinkling of an eye, these babes are made aware of everything
that will put them in a right standing with God, and they, wild as it is, believe it. Ephesians
1 said, The Lord abounds toward them in all wisdom. All of a
sudden, they're know-it-alls. They are. He abounds toward them
in wisdom and knowledge. In another place He said, we
have the unction. We know all things. In another
place He said, we have the mind of Christ. Now the child of God
knows everything. Everything worthwhile to know
in this universe, you know. You're just a bunch of know-it-alls.
That's all you are. It's been revealed to you. It's
been given to you. He gives you this Word. He puts
this Word in your heart. You don't even know it's there.
But it's there. It's part of the process of regeneration. When God regenerates you, part
of that new covenant He has, He said, I'll write My words,
My laws in their hearts and their minds. It's there. It's there. How do I know it's
there? Drew will get up here on a Sunday
morning and preach the gospel and all of a sudden you hear
something you never heard before but your mind says, that's right. That's it. I know that's the
truth. How do you know that's the truth?
It's what's been written in your heart responding to what's being
spoken in the pulpit. That's how you know it's the
truth. You didn't even know you knew it was the truth but there
it was already written in your heart and in your mind. revealed
to you when the gospel is preached. When they hear these words coming
to me, they know who Christ is and what He's done, and they
come with all speed. The kingdom of God, suffer the
violence and the violence, take it violent, take it by force.
You ain't got to beg, you ain't got to cajole, you ain't got
to try to gang-save nobody, you ain't got to have an altar call,
you ain't got to do any of that stuff. What you got to do is
get out of the way. Because if they're coming to
Christ, they'll walk over you and anybody else who gets in
their way. They're going to have Christ, because there's nothing
else. Come unto me, all you that labor
and have it laid, and I'll give you rest. The Lord makes a final
distinction in verse 27. He says, All things are delivered
unto Me of My Father. No man knoweth the Son, but the
Father knoweth any man. The Father saved the Son, and
He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. The revelation of
the truth is the sole prerogative of God. It's His sole prerogative. He doesn't owe you anything except
what you've earned. And what you've earned is eternal
hell. No one will know the truth unless God has purposed to reveal
the truth to them. Barnard used to say, salvation
is by revelation. And it is. Truth is not some
commercial commodity to be plucked at will from the universal shelf
of some salvation superstore. It's not floating in the ether
for men to decide whether or not they want to pluck it down.
No, brothers and sisters, if you know the truth, then this
ought to tear us down. It ain't cause we smart. It ain't
cause we educated. We know the truth because God
revealed it to us. Has God revealed it to you? Has
He? Have you heard it? Then this call is to you. Come unto Me, He says. Are you
weary and heavy laden with the requirement that religion is
placed on you like an iron yoke? Do you long to rest in the delicious
freedom of knowing the truth and lie down in the arms of the
Almighty? Do you want to cease from your empty works and only
believe? Then hear the words of our Lord,
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I will
give you rest. Shabbat rest. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me. Oh, to learn of Him. Reminded
of a story. Of a man, a Christian. Back in
the days of Roman persecutions of Christians when they would
feed them to the lions. And those lions would devour
those Christians in arenas and people would stand around and
clap their hands and shout for joy when they saw them. And this
poor Christian was carried out to the middle of the arena and
staked down. And then they turned loose the
lion. And he said, I saw him coming. And he was drawing nigh. He wasn't
running. He was walking slow. I couldn't
move. He had his prey. He said, and
he came up to me, and he opened his huge maul, and there was
those sharp, huge teeth, and I fainted. A little later, I woke up, and
there beside me, the lion was laying dead, his head crushed. And I looked, and there was one
walking out of the arena with some blood on his heel. And I
said, I want to know that guy. I want to learn about that guy. Take my yoke upon me, you, and
learn of me, and you shall find rest unto your soul. My yoke
is easy. My burden is light. Come unto
me. God bless you.