Matthew 11 in verse 20 this morning. Then began he, the Lord Jesus
Christ, 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 at the day of judgment
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if
the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in
Sodom, it would have remained until 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. Now, this is a passage of scripture
that you may have read and wondered about before. I have. And there's
a lot of speculation about what our Lord means here. If he had
done the mighty works that he did in these cities that he named,
Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum, if he had done those works in
Tyre and Sidon and Sodom, they would have repented. Now what
can he mean by this? There are two possibilities,
two conclusions that we can draw from this statement of our Lord. Number one, and this is the false
one, if the people of Sodom would have repented had they been given
the same outward advantages as Capernaum, then we might conclude
that the people of Sodom were in some sense naturally better
people than the people of Capernaum. They had a lower threshold of
rebellion, if you will, somehow or other than the people in Capernaum. But we know from the scripture
that this is not true, spiritually speaking. We know that some men
are outwardly and manifestly more evil, that the Lord restrains
others some, that the evil that they would do if they were let
go to do what they would, it would be worse, we know that,
that some people are manifestly and openly more wicked than others,
but by nature, spiritually speaking, there's not any difference. Paul
said in Romans 3.22, there is no difference between Jew and
Gentile, citizen of Capernaum or Sodom, there's no difference. In men, there's one lump. Romans
chapter nine, where we're studying in our Bible class, there's just
one lump. It's all the same lump. God makes
one vessel into honor and another into dishonor. But the lump doesn't
start out as two lumps. It's not two lumps. It's not
a lump of honor and a lump of dishonor. It's one lump. And
God does something to make a difference between men. So we know that
there's not any difference in men's depravity by nature. We're all totally depraved. We're
all hell-bent. and completely incapable of doing
anything about it. What then is our Lord teaching
here in this passage? Well, John Gill, who I read quite
a bit when I'm studying, is a very wise expositor of scripture. He said the Lord is using hyperbole
here, which is using an over-exaggerated statement to make a point. I'm
not sure that's true here. I think we can say And I think
the right word to use would be that this is hypothetical language.
And that's clear. I think we can say that without
speculation, don't you? Because there is no more sodomy.
This is not going to be a reality. They're not going to repent.
They're already dead in hell under the judgment of God. There
is no more time. There's not going to be repentance
in Tyre and Sidon. This is not a... It's not an
actual... possibility. It's a hypothetical. Think I'm using the right word
there. You know what I mean anyway. It's not going to happen. So
the Lord was using this to illustrate a truth that we're to acknowledge,
understand, and react to right now. And so that truth that he's
teaching is the important thing. I don't claim to understand for
sure what he's saying here, but I also know this, that repentance,
he said that Sodom would have remained until now had the mighty
works been done. That doesn't mean that they had
saving repentance, just like there's a false faith. Many believed
on him because of the miracles who didn't savingly believe on
him. There's also a repentance because of Hearing things, there's
an outward repentance, isn't there? That could very well be
what's being spoken of here. And again, I don't pretend to
know for sure the answer to this. I know this, the scriptures are
always to be understood literally, unless there is clear reason
not to. And I think here we have clear
reason not to understand this literally because Sodom cannot
remain until this day, it's already gone. So what we're to focus
on here, I know this too, I know what our Lord's teaching here
with this hypothetical statement. To show that there was a great
and special judgment upon these people in Chorazin and Bethsaida
and Capernaum. He's showing what a great judgment
is upon them. He's saying even worse than Sodom
and Gomorrah, even more certain is their judgment and more terrible
is their judgment. It'll be more tolerable for Sodom
than it will be for you. Why? Because the gospel was preached
unto them and they rejected it. There was never any gospel preached
in Sodom, as far as we know. Pretty sure there wasn't. Tyre
and Sidon. So here's what we're to learn
from this. I'm sure of this. I don't know
for sure if I'm right about it being just a a Natural and not
saving repentance that he's speaking of here. I'm not completely sure.
I'll be honest with you I don't know for sure most men completely
avoid the issue on this And I couldn't find anybody that even addressed
it But I want to be honest with you, I don't know for sure, but
I know what the Lord is teaching here for us. What you're doing
this morning is a very serious matter. You're sitting there
listening to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a
serious matter. Men like to argue about things
like this, don't they? About how would Tyre and Sidon
have repented if Capernaum did not? You know, what does that
mean? And they like to do that and
then ignore the clear teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the teaching here is clear, which is this, to willfully, knowingly
reject the gospel of Christ is greater evil than anything that
ever happened in Sodom. Is that clear enough here? Do
you believe that's what the Lord is teaching here, these people?
You've heard the gospel. You've heard a prophet. You've
heard me and you've heard John the Baptist. We've piped and
you haven't danced. We've mourned and you refuse
to weep. And it'll be more tolerable in
the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be
for you because you've heard the gospel that they never heard
and you willfully rejected the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We can talk about what he might have meant by them repenting
or whether that was saving repentance or not. But what we need to be
understanding here is this. To hear the gospel of Christ
is a solemn and serious matter. It's not time for jokes. It's
not time for games. It's not time for plays and cantatas. It's time for clear bold declaration of God's truth. And it's time for sinners to
take heed to what's being said. Paul said, seeing that we have
such hope in the face of such judgment, we use great plainness
of speech. And he also said this, you take
heed how you hear, lest that come upon you, which the prophet
spoke of saying, I will declare the gospel in your ears and you
won't hear it and you'll go to hell. Lest that come upon you
beware lest that come upon you To willfully knowingly reject
the gospel of christ is to reject christ And he said to reject
me is to reject my father which sent me Remember what our lord
taught his preachers in the previous chapter listen to matthew 10
14 He sent them out to preach the gospel of the kingdom. Same
gospel we preach now. And he said, whosoever shall
not receive you nor hear your words when you depart out of
that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily
I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. That's why
I want to be earnest with you when I'm preaching the gospel.
I'm not just throwing it out there and you can take it or
leave it." Paul said, we persuade men. He said to Agrippa, I would
to God that you were like me except these bonds. I would to
God. What we do in this ministry,
all of us now, is serious business. We can't let our petty differences
get in the way of it or distract in any way from what the Lord
has sent us to do here. This is serious business. We
can't let any foolishness besmirch the name of the great God that
we serve, the great Savior that we preach here. We have this
example in Sodom of God's manifest judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.
He rained fire down from heaven to consume them. Can you imagine
witnessing that? And all the good Christian folk,
you know, and I use that word here, In the worldly sense, everything's
a Christian something or other, isn't it, these days? All the
good Christian folks say, boy, they deserved it. Oh, you know,
the homosexuality and all the godless debauchery and all the
vile indecency, every imaginable kind of wickedness was rampant
there. They deserved it. But what the
Lord Jesus Christ is teaching here is that if you hear the
gospel, and do not violently rush upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
begging for mercy, then you are more vile and damnable
and will be punished more severely than the sodomites. This is why
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16, 22, if any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. Anathema means accursed
from God. And Maranatha means when the
Lord comes. In other words, if you don't
love the Lord Jesus, if you hear this gospel, and you don't fall
in love with God's darling son, then he ought to come back right
now and throw you in hell. Is that what he said? Now, in case you insist on thinking
now that our Lord was teaching in that passage before that we
just read, that man, given enough outward advantage, can repent
on his own. You know, there are some that
think that and would use this text, I'm sure, as a proof text and
say, oh, did you hear what he said? If they were just They
would have repented. They had good sense to repent
and these other ones don't, you know. It's just that you just
need enough outward advantage, you know, and you'll repent on
your own. You really think that's what that means? Then look at this
next passage. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes. That's how sinners repent. God
reveals the truth to you and you hit the dust like there's
no tomorrow. That's how sinners repent. Is
that clear? Now the Lord Jesus here, did
he go away dejected and defeated and sad? You know that religion
likes to talk about how sad Jesus is that you won't come to him.
Really? You know, he had done so much
hard work. He said, well, I've done mighty works for you. And
it just, it just has failed. Nobody's made a decision for
me. And he went away sad. No, he said, I thank thee father.
He said to these reprobates, we've piped and we've mourned
and you playing around like a bunch of little children with the things
of God and have no interest. in the in the most solemn of
truth. Mighty works have been done in
your midst. The son of greater than Abraham
is standing in your presence. And you despise me and hate me
and reject me. And then he lifted his eyes toward
heaven and said, I thank you, Father. And by the way, You might
think I missed something by taking the mighty works in verse 21,
where he said many mighty works have been done. If the mighty
works had been done in Sodom that were done here, I take those
mighty works to be the preaching of the gospel. Oh, but what about,
you know, cleansing lepers and making the lame able to walk?
The miracles that accompanied and confirmed the gospel preaching
were no doubt impressive. And we know why the Lord used
them, to confirm the gospel preaching. But the great work, the mighty
work is the preaching. Our Lord is saying this in the
very context of talking about what a great man John the Baptist
was. You've heard the preaching of
John the Baptist and won't repent. It'll be more tolerable for Sodom
than it will be for you. Never has there been born of
a woman, a man greater than John the Baptist. And did you know,
John never did a miracle, never did a miracle, but he preached
the Lord Jesus Christ. He pointed to the lamb of God
that takes away sin and declared him. He preached the kingdom
of God. He said, repent, because the
kingdom of God is at hand. And it was testified of John
later. They said, every man that John, everything that John said
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ was true. There's your mighty
works right there. I thank thee, O Father, Lord,
Lord, the Lord who hides and reveals these things, these truths
that cause men to repent, this gospel of the repentance because
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The one, the Lord of heaven and
earth, that's who he is. He'll hide or he'll reveal at
his sovereign pleasure. And you've hid these things from
those who, naturally speaking, you might think would see them.
The wise and the prudent. Well, if I know my Bible, boy,
I feel like I've got a pretty good knowledge of the scripture.
Yeah, that's right. The Lord Jesus said, you search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have life. But they are they which
testify of me, and you will not come to me, but you might have
life. The wise and the prudent, the
Bible scholars, the scribes, and the Pharisees. Blind as a
bat. Spiritually speaking, can't put
two and two together and get four. Foolish. Foolish. But you've revealed
them to babies. Spiritual babies. Helpless. Dependent. Needy. Hungry and got no way to find
food or feed itself. Even so, Father, why'd you do
it? Because to God, it seemed like
the right thing to do. Doesn't seem right to men, does
it? For God to hide and reveal, but it seems right to him. And
so that's what he'll do. It seemed right to you. It seemed
good to you. I thank you. I thank you. You see, God does what seems
right to him, not what seems good to you. What seems good
to us is evil. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father, Christ said. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. None of you know me, he said. He's talking to all these people. He said, nobody can know me. Only the Father knows me. Neither
knoweth any man the Father. You don't know God. You probably
think you do. Nobody knows him except me, the son. And thank
God for that next word, and. And I've revealed him to some
of you. At that time, Jesus answered. At that time. When there was
great rebellion against an opposition to the gospel that he preached
and that John preached. When there was great spiritual
darkness and rejection. and hatred for the gospel and
for the one who preached it. At that time, the Lord Jesus
and John, both rejected by so many, entire cities upbraided
for their unbelief. But at that time, he said, I
thank God. And let's think about something
here. Let's look at our godless generation for a little bit.
You think about what's going on in our day. When men and women
gather by the thousands to rejoice together in the religion of men,
they have itching ears to hear about man's almighty will and
to practice their religious rituals, godless rituals, and delight
in their entertainment-based religious activities and have
no interest whatsoever in the true Christ of the Bible or his
gospel. The gospel of free grace toward
the totally depraved sinner. No interest in it. They have
no interest in the sovereign God. The one that our Lord Jesus
prayed to here, the Father in heaven. He said, I thank the
Lord of heaven and earth. Oh no, no religion won't tolerate
that God. They have their own God who waits
upon them, who's waiting to see what they're going to do so he
can do something. They have no interest in the truth about themselves
because they cannot bear to think of themselves as helpless and
hopeless and hanging up on the mercy of God. By God's grace,
I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, would you? But hanging
up on his mercy. They despise the gospel of free
sovereign grace because they have their will and their way.
They will not hear of a victorious Christ who redeemed all that
he died to redeem, because he infringes upon their sense of
fairness. What's our response to all of
this? I thank Thee, O Father, Lord, Lord of heaven and earth. We rejoice in God on the throne. we rejoice in the Lord of heaven
and earth. I'm thankful to Him that He rules
and reigns and sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants
thereof are as grasshoppers. You ever just thank Him for being
God? That's what our Lord Jesus did here. I thank Thee, O Lord
of heaven and earth. And we thank Him for revealing
what is hidden from most. to such as we. We praise him for coming to little
babies who don't know anything, can't do anything. They need
everything and have no way to get it. Like that little baby
that Ezekiel saw in chapter 16 of Ezekiel, lying out in the
open field covered in its own blood. And the Lord came where
we were and said unto us, live, I thank you. that you came to babies cast
out and rejected, but loved, loved of God. And you revealed
yourself to us. Isn't this what our Lord said
when he, when he said in John 17, when the Lord revealed his
son in us, when he revealed the Lord Jesus Christ to, he didn't
hide the truth from us. He revealed it. He made it known. He caused us to understand it. And he said, live when he did.
He gave us life. And our Lord said in John 17,
three, this is life eternal, that they might know thee. The
only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent. If God has
been revealed to you, if he has revealed himself to you and you
know him, that's life. He said, under thee live. when
He was pleased to reveal Himself to you. Thank God for electing
grace. It's the only kind of grace there
is. Electing sovereign free grace. If you had to do something to
earn it, it's not grace. If you distinguished yourself
from other men, it's not grace. It's got to be free grace or
it's not grace. 2 Thessalonians 2 13 Paul said
we are bound to do what our Lord did in our text give thanks to
God for what the same thing he did for you brethren beloved
of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit he set you apart
from all other men by sending his spirit where you were The
wind blows where it pleases. You can hear the sound thereof,
but you can't tell where he comes from or where he'll go. So it
is with everyone that's born of the Spirit. He goes where
he pleases. And through sanctification of
the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, and through belief of the
truth, through faith in his gospel, he's not going to save you apart
from believing the gospel of Christ now. That's the way He
saves sinners. How shall they believe on Him
of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? The Gospel got to be preached. And there's got
to be faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because He that believeth
in His heart and confesseth with His mouth shall be saved. Through sanctification of the
Spirit, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and through faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ, belief of the truth, He chose you to
salvation. And if you ever see what you
are before God, you'll thank him for electing free, sovereign,
distinguishing grace. If you ever see yourself as you
are before God, another chance to do the right thing is not
gonna get it for you. You're gonna thank him for having
mercy upon whom he will. In verse 27, it's so clear and
beautiful. All things are delivered unto
me of my Father. He's talking about hiding and
revealing. And he says, God is hidden from
everybody. Nobody knows the Father or the
Son except the Father and the Son. But He is revealed to some. Hidden from some, revealed to
some. Revealed to some by the Son.
And here's the clear truth here now. Your soul, your very soul
is in the hands of the Son. He can reveal the Father to you
if He's pleased to do so, or not. If He wants to reveal God
to you, He will. Nobody can stop Him. He's able.
He's able to open your understanding that you might understand the
scriptures. He's done that for millions. He who is rich in mercy
is able to bestow mercy upon whom he will. He'll quicken you
if he will. That's what he said. As the father quickeneth whom
he will, so has he given power, authority under the son to give
life to whomsoever he will. And here is his word to you.
Now you think with me. We're establishing who He is
now and what He does. He hides and He reveals at His
sovereign pleasure and discretion. And you're at His mercy. It seemed
good unto God. It doesn't seem good to most
sinners, but it seemed good unto God to reveal Himself to whoever
He will. And He's to be thanked and praised
for it. And here's what this one says to every sinner. the
one who has all authority in heaven and earth and is able
to reveal these things to you says to you come unto me. Now the only way these words
will mean anything to you is if you understand who he is that
speaks them. And by his grace now understand
who he is and by his grace understand what you are. And then when he
says, come to me, you're coming. The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence is taken by force of those who know him and know themselves
and know their problem and how God can be just and solve their
problem. by the righteousness and blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, by this gospel that John preached
and the Lord Jesus preached and all of his apostles preached
and that we're by his grace preaching this morning. Come unto me. How does God reveal himself?
Come unto his son. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God is in the face of his son. You've got to come
unto Christ. He that hath seen the sun seeth
God. All you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light." Now how deluded is religion and
how true are the Lord's words that these things are hidden
from them. When religion says that, you know, this is our yoke
of service, the Lord's calling you to put on the yoke of service
unto Him, you know, we're to put the yoke on and labor for
the Lord and you'll be saved. No, the Lord said your problem
is that you're laboring. The solution to the problem is
rest, not more labor. Come unto me, you that labor.
You're already working for God, aren't you? That's what the Jews
were doing. Paul said, oh, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for my brethren according to the flesh for Israel,
the Jews. is that God would save them.
What's their problem, Paul? Well, they have a zeal of God.
They're already laboring all the way to hell. But they don't
know Christ. They don't have a knowledge of
Christ. Their problem is not that they're
not doing enough. Their problem is that they are
doing everything they know to do to please God and to get to
heaven, you know. They're singing it probably with
somebody on the radio. Working hard to get to heaven.
Where I come from. Where everybody comes from, that's
what they're doing. They're working hard to get to heaven. The Lord
said, come to me. Come to me if that's what you're
doing. I'll give you rest. To put his yoke on is to take
off the yoke of the bondage of the law under which we labor
by nature. The law is a cruel taskmaster
that requires perfect obedience. Paul said, if you be circumcised,
if you start out obeying the law in order to please God and
be saved by God, to have merit with God, you're a debtor to
do the whole law. In other words, you're a goner.
You're a goner. The more you perform, the more
there is to do, because even that which you perform falls
short. It just adds to your wretchedness
before God. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Do you not see the hopelessness?
You, Paul asks, that would be under the law. Don't you hear
the law? Don't you have any idea what
the law requires of you? If you did, you would have no
desire to be under the law. But Paul said, you're not under
the law. You that believe on Christ, you're under grace. You're
under grace. You've come to him and found
rest under your souls now. Don't you hear the law? Don't
you see the hopelessness and endless and fruitless toil of
trying to satisfy God by your obedience? He will never be satisfied
with you or anything you do outside of Christ. By the deeds of the
law, Paul said, there shall no flesh be justified. So just quit
laboring. Come to me and rest and be yoked
together. To be yoked together with Christ
is to rest. Why? How? Because He has done
all the work. If you're yoked to Him, you're
just along for the ride. He's done everything required.
He pleased God. He said, I do always those things
that please the Father. You've never done one thing that
pleased the Father, and He's done all things that pleased
the Father. Everything He did from birth
to death pleased the Father. That's why He's the Lord my righteousness. I don't have any of my own, and
so I own Him as my righteousness before God. That's what it is
to come unto Him. I'm taking the yoke of the bondage
of the law off, and I'm yoking myself to Christ by His grace. That's how you take the kingdom
of heaven by force. You take his yoke upon you. Paul
said, I wouldn't have my works and my heritage and my righteousness.
I'm casting that off that I may win Christ and his precious. Now think about
that. Everything that he ever did is your righteousness before
God. He is your righteousness, him
and his obedience. That's your righteousness before
God. If you come to him, and take his yoke upon you. And everything
that you did is paid for by his precious blood. Take his yoke
upon you and rest. Do you know what rest is? It's
not just talking about resting from physical labor. Physical
rest is such a sweet thing, isn't it? There's something a lot sweeter
than that. It's soul rest. It's finally
realizing that you're unable to please God, no matter what
you do, no matter how much you do it or how well you do it.
And then by God's grace, realizing you don't have to. Martin Luther
tells about how he realized that one day he was doing everything
he knew to do to please God. He was walking up the steps of
some great building that had many, many steps on his knees
and that his knees were bleeding because he was trying to please
God. And then one verse of scripture, The Lord brought to his mind
and put down in his heart, the just shall live, not by law,
by faith. And he got up off of his knees
and put Christ's yoke upon him and found rest unto his soul.
Are you laboring? Are you laboring? Hebrews 4.10,
for he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from
his own works. as God did from his. When did
God rest on the Sabbath? Paul said Christ is our Sabbath.
He's our rest. Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief. There is a striving, there's
a laboring in the believer, not to gain favor with God by our
obedience, but to rest in Christ. That's what we're laboring toward
to rest in him, not to please God with what we do. We're laboring
to abandon our own works of righteousness and fully rest in Christ as our
law keeping and propitiation sin offering in his finished
work, his living work and his dying work, his finished work.
He's my hope. I rest in Him. All of our effort
in the flesh as believers is not exerted with the idea that
we do anything that's meritorious before God or ever can. But it
is a fighting against that very thing. It's a striving like that which
Paul describes in Philippians 3 and 7 through 14. We won't
turn there because I'm out of time, but you read that again.
Paul describes a striving, an endeavoring, a reaching, a running. But it's away from himself and
everything that he ever did. All of his heritage, you know,
being a Pharisee of the Pharisees, born of the tribe of Benjamin,
circumcised the eighth day according to the law. As far as everybody
could tell, all of his peers said he's blameless. And he said, I count all of that
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done that I may win Christ. I'm pressing, but
not pressing under the law in order to please God. I've taken
that yoke off. I'm pressing toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God. Where's that, Paul? In
Christ Jesus. May God give us grace to take
his yoke upon us and find rest unto our souls. Let's bow in
prayer.