It has long been a conviction
of mine that a man's service to God and his life ought to
go off of the stage together. And so, as long as this old sinner
has breath in the grace of God and anointing of the Holy Spirit,
I wish to speak. of my Redeemer who so graciously
laid down his life for me, so graciously and with purpose came
into this world and lived and died a vicarious life and death
in order to save sinners like me. I want you to open your Bibles,
if you will, to Matthew chapter 11. aware of the time and will adjust
my remarks accordingly. Matthew chapter 11. I'd wish
to read verse 27 through 30. 27 through 30. Matthew chapter 11. The Lord
Jesus here is speaking. He says, 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 labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me, for I am meek, lowly in heart, and ye
shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden
is light." I was thinking a great deal in
the last few days about the claims of our Lord, the claims that
were made by our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. And I realized
that among believers, we believe those claims. Whatever claims
our Lord made, We believe them, those that are the Lord's children,
those that have experienced the grace of God truly in their souls. They believe the claims of Jesus
Christ. But then there are unbelievers.
There are those who do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God. And when they hear the claims
that He made, I wonder just what all does really go through their
minds and hearts. What do they think when we read
such claims as we've read here this morning in verse 27? All
things, the Master says, are delivered unto me of my Father. Everything's been turned over
to me. that I'm in the position as being mediator, there's one
God and one mediator between God and man, that's the man Christ
Jesus, and the Father has delivered all things into my hands. Now that is an astounding statement.
That is a claim that either you must receive or reject. It is a claim that you must look
at and analyze and say, well, either this one who has made
this statement He's either God, He's either God in the flesh,
or He's a liar, or He's crazy, or He's an imposter. He's telling
something that is not true. Well, beloved, those, as I said,
that are true children of God, they say, Amen. We believe that
the Father has delivered all things into the hand of the Son.
And no man knoweth the Son, Jesus said. No man knows me. No man
left to himself, no man in a state of nature, no man apart from
the working of the Spirit of God in them, no man knoweth the
Son. Nobody knows Him. He cannot be
known, but by divine revelation and by the intervention of the
Spirit of God opening the heart of a man so that he knows who
the Son is. I was surprised the other day
listening to a little segment of the news. It was mentioned
the fact that there was some sort of a reference to, although
I didn't hear the speech, in the inaugural speech of maybe
sharing the experience of America as far as Christianity is concerned
or a word that would reflect that thought. to the world. And I was surprised by one of
the Congresswomen who spoke up on this news broadcast and said
that is impossible to do because of the fact that it must be revealed
to a person. And I was very surprised. at
what this lady had to say about that. And while I didn't know
about the reference, what she was referring to first-hand,
I thought that that was very interesting that one of our Congresswomen
would know that the Son must be revealed to the hearts of
men and women. Now, as you think about the various
claims which our Lord made, He went on to say here, He says,
the Father knows me. But he said, neither knoweth
any man the Father. Nobody knows the Father save
the Son. Now the Lord Jesus is telling
us here that there's not a single creature that God Almighty has
ever made in the world that knows who the Father is but the Son,
apart from being taught and instructed and tutored by the Holy Spirit. These are astounding claims.
And then he said, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. In other
words, it's left up to me to make the father known, and if
I don't make him known, he will not be known. Because no man,
he can get all of the books he can find, he can go through the
libraries of the world. and get all of the books, the
literature, and whatever information he can glean here and there,
but he'll never know who the Father is, but the Son knows
Him, and the Son must reveal Him. He must make Him known.
Now, beloved, I believe this statement, and He to Whomsoever
the Son will reveal it. I didn't know the Lord until
He was revealed to me. And that's the only way that
a man can find out who God is, is by the revelation through
the Son of God of Him. Now then, he goes on to say,
Come unto me, all you that labor and are heaven-laden, and I will
give you rest. Now, isn't that something? Now,
if you don't believe He's God, then you certainly would laugh
at that statement. You mean this man, who never
traveled probably a hundred miles in his lifetime, this man, he
only lived 33 years, This man who said he came down from heaven,
this man who was with the Father, he said he was with the Father
before the world began. He said in the beginning I was
with the Father. Now this one that has made all
of these claims, he said I was in the world and the world was
made by me, but yet the world did not know me. He said the
world did not receive me. But as many as were enabled to
receive me, they did receive me. And I give them the authority,
hear him again, this is his claim, I give him the power, the authority
to call himself a child of God. I give him the authority, I'm
the one that has the authority to give to a man in order that
he might call himself a believer. Now you see how serious this
is. We're talking about the one who
said that he came down from heaven and that he had life. As the
father has life in himself, even so has the son have life in himself
that he might give it to whomsoever he will. John chapter 5 verse
22 I believe it is. So he has life, and he says,
I've got it, and I can give it to whomsoever I will. I can reveal the Father, I can
reveal my salvation, I have the authority to do it, and I can
do that. Now that is his claim. Did he
not say, made another statement in John 6 that astounds me, he
said, I'm the bread that came down from heaven, and a man,
if he eats of me, he'll live forever. He said, if you eat
my flesh and drink my blood, you have eternal life in you.
What an astounding statement that is for an individual to
make if he's not God. Now, if he's God, then we say,
Amen. That's right. That's proper.
That's all right for him to speak of himself thusly. But beloved,
if you're in unbelief, you cannot accept that. You have to stand
and say, this man is a liar. He cannot possibly give me life. He cannot possibly give me that
bread, I could eat of it and live forever. He can't possibly
do that. Well, beloved, I want you to
understand this morning that you're faced with these claims.
And you must deal with these claims. Now back to our text,
and he said, I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Now, beloved,
he can fix you up if you're heavy laden and burdened with a load
of sin. And if you feel that you're just
ready to go into eternity without a thread of hope, my friend,
he can give you rest. He can give you rest wherein
you will be able to just relax your soul in his hands and trust
him for life and for eternity. He said, you take my yoke upon
you. He said, You take my yoke upon you, that is my will you
do. And he said, that's my yoke,
my lordship. I'll be your lord and master.
You submit to me. You bow your knee to me. And
he said, this yoke, as I put it upon you, he said, you can
learn of me. Be a disciple of mine. That's
what a disciple is, is a learner. Someone who's learning of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, for I'm meek and lowly
in heart. The Lord Jesus is not, and was certainly not proud.
He was meek, submissive to the Father's will in all matters.
And He would lead you to do the same, lowly in heart, always
submissive, always bowing to the Father's will. He said, I
come into this world not to do my own will, but the will of
Him that sent me. And you shall find rest in your
souls in doing it. Now, beloved, the only way you
have rest is bow your knee to the Lord Jesus Christ and submit
yourself to Him. Be in submission to the Lord
Jesus Christ and you shall surely find rest for your souls for
His yoke is easy and my burden is light, he says. Now does he
understand life? He understands life. And he said
the easiest way for you to get from point A to point Z is for
you to take my yoke upon you. And you will find that my yoke
is easy and my burden is light. Now then, how do you know, you
might say to me this morning, that he is the Christ of God? How do you know? How can we know?
You're in a state of unbelief. You're here this morning and
you've heard these claims, a few of the claims that our Lord Jesus
Christ made. He said he was sent of God. He
said that he was the fullness of the Godhead bodily, it dwelt
in him. And how do we know that he's
the Christ of God? Well, I want to be as simple
and elementary as I know how to be. And I want to say by experience,
we know. Some of us know by experience
that the Lord Jesus Christ, He's truly the Son of God. As somebody
said, just cause. I just know it by what has happened
in my life. The Word of God says in 2 Corinthians
5, 17, that if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation.
All things are passed away, behold, all things have become new. Christian
experience is an unanswerable claim, and if we can find one
person under this roof this morning in this building who has been
changed, this proves that he is indeed the Christ of God in
every claim he ever made, it proves that it's true. Is there
one person in this building, and I know there is, whom God
Almighty has taken into hand? Their lives have been gloriously
changed. They've been made new creatures
in Jesus Christ. They've been regenerated by the
Holy Spirit. The principle of righteousness
has been implanted in their very being. And the faith of God's
elect is in them, and they have been blessed to live eternally,
blessed to have the life of God in their soul. They've experienced
the grace of God in truth. They've experienced the power
of the Word of God. Now, I know some of you, and
I've been around long enough to know the change that took
place in your life. And I can talk about that change
that I know took place in your life, some of your lives, and
how gloriously God saved you and what He's done for you. We could just point out example
after example. I've heard your own testimony
and witnessed what the Lord has done in your own life. To me,
beloved, And I want to emphasize this, that Christian experience
is an unanswerable claim. If we can find this one person
that's been changed, this proves that Christ is truly God. Now,
God does not save a man and give him a lawless, rebellious spirit. When you find somebody that God
has saved, they're meek and they're lowly of heart. When you find
somebody that God has saved, they are walking, attempting
to walk as their Master directs. They are attempting to walk in
the footsteps of the Son of God and to imitate the Son of God. If they claim to know Him, they
attempt to walk as He walked. They attempt to obey Him and
do His will and to follow His Word. And so, beloved, look around
you. Do you know anybody that this
describes that wants to do the will of God, that hopes that
they can fulfill the good pleasure of God in their life? They want
to honor the Lord. They do anything they can do
in order to so live that they not bring a reproach upon the
name of their blessed Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. They want
to walk and live for His glory and for His honor. Now, if a
man is in rebellion, we don't look to him for any proof that
God's done anything in his life. No, we do not. Now, some people,
when they talk about being saved by grace, they're talking about
a man living like hell and still going to heaven in the end. But
we don't know any such doctrine as that. We've never preached
any doctrine like that, and we don't believe any doctrine like
that. We believe that when God saves a man, he's different.
We believe that Christ has the power to support his claims. And if he claims that he makes
a man a new creature, when that man comes into him in faith,
then, beloved, that's exactly what he will produce. He'll produce
a new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has the power to support
his claims. Do you believe that God can change
a sinner? I know He can. He changed this sinner, and I
know some out there that He changed also. And I know that He can
save and that He has the power. We read in Hebrews 7 and 25 that
He is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him,
seeing that He ever lives, to make intercession for them. He
can save to the uttermost. He can deliver our poor sinner
and save him. Now, if you can get to Jesus
Christ, he will do for you only what God can do for you. He can do for you all that God
would do for a sinner if you can get to Jesus Christ, if you
can come to him. Now, the only way to get to Christ
is by faith. If you're here this morning and
you're in unbelief, I'm here to tell you that the Bible is
crystal clear, that the Lord Jesus Christ is going back to
heaven, and he's not here in the flesh now, and he's not over
in one corner of the building or in a room that you could direct
people to go in there and meet Jesus. No, no, no. It's a matter
of faith. You can get to Him by faith. All we've got to go on now is
the naked, unadulterated Word of our blessed Redeemer, the
Lord Jesus Christ. And you must believe His claims,
believe what He said. Come unto Me, and I will give
you rest. I will give you rest. Come unto Me. And so you come
to Him in faith. You come to Him trusting. the
Lord Jesus Christ. Well, he can only be reached
then by faith because he's in heaven. Now, when we preach like
we ought to, and I hope we could, men will ask the question, where
is he? Where is he? If so be that this
one who has made all these claims, if he is alive, and he is alive,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, if he
is alive, where is he and how can I get to him? And that's
the way we would like for sinners to respond to our message. Well, he's in heaven, seated
at the right hand of power. All power is given to him, both
in heaven and in earth. And he has everything in his
hands, life to give to dead sinners. He has it in his hands, and so
you believe on him and trust him. Now, there are about four
things, quickly, that we find in this 27th verse. where we read a few minutes ago
and made some commentary that I want to point out to you. First
of all, then, in seeing that all things have been put into
the hands and delivered into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ,
then we can deduct from that that he is the appointed mediator. Now, he did not place himself
in this position of mediator or high priest. According to
Hebrews 5, he was called as was Aaron of old, and he was appointed
priest forever to be after the order of Melchizedek. And he
is the appointed mediator. He didn't put himself in this
position. The Father sent him and anointed him to be in this
position. He is well qualified. He can
handle the position. He is the one mediator, the one
that can reach out to a sinner and reach and touch a holy God
and bring the two of them together and reconcile them through faith.
He is the appointed mediator. And then, secondly, he is an
able mediator. Now, we conclude from various
verses in the Bible, but there's one verse that I like to use
when I'm talking about him being an able mediator, and that's
John 17, verse 2, where it says that he has power over all flesh,
that he might give eternal life to as many as the Father has
given to him. Power over all flesh. Now, beloved,
the world, and especially the religious world, they stumble
over this verse of Scripture. In His hands, in the hands of
the Lord Jesus, has been placed the conduct of the whole human
race. And you say, well, you know,
I have trouble believing that statement of scripture that all
power is given into his hands, and that he can give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given to him. I just believe
that anybody can get saved any time they want to, and any way
they want to, they can get saved. As I said, that verse, many stumble
over it, but we will not relinquish our grip on that verse of Scripture. We will believe that verse of
Scripture. that He has power over all flesh. If He wanted to save, somebody
was talking to Pat the other day, and wanted to know the difference
between our church and other churches, and Pat said, well,
one of the main differences is that we don't believe the Lord
is trying to save everybody. If we believed He was trying
to save everybody, He would save them. And that's exactly the
truth, beloved. And that's what that verse of
Scripture says. That He's able to give eternal life to as many
as the Father gives to Him. The Father has a people, He chose
an old eternity, and He gives those people to His Son one at
a time, a dozen at a time, or a thousand at a time, but He
gives eternal life to as many as is given to Him. He's got
the power to do it. I'm talking about ableness is
what I'm talking about. If you're here this morning and
you're not a believer, He is able to deliver you. He's able
to save you. He's able to give you eternal
life. And so we will say this, that
the human race, that they're on his hands. You say, well,
preachers like to tell sinners that they have Christ on their
hands. But the truth is, he has you
in his hands. That's what the truth is. So
we say that according to Colossians 1.27b, that in Christ there is
salvation and there's rest. It says that he is the hope of
glory in Colossians 1.27b. And then outside of Jesus Christ
is the wrath of God. The wrath of God. John 3.18 says
that he that believeth is not condemned, but he that believeth
not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name.
of the only begotten Son of God. In John 3 and 36, he that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So in
Christ, glory and rest. Outside of Christ is the wrath
of God. And so you can very quickly see
that if you're an unbeliever, you're outside. If you're a believer,
you're in. Praise God. It's wonderful to
be in. And so the third thing I see
here is that he's a wise mediator. And I say that because of his
omniscience, the fact that he knows all things. And he's such
a wise mediator, only he knows the Father. Only he knows him. And so, beloved, can't you see
that if you want to know God, you've got to come to Jesus Christ. You've got to know Him. You've
got to, as the fellow says, do business with the Son of God. Because He knows the Father. And He knows the decree of election. He knows it. Do you think the
Lord Jesus Christ knows those that are His? He does. Scripture
says the foundation of God standing sure having this seal, the Lord
knows them that are His. The Lord knows them that are
His, and everyone who claims to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ should depart from iniquity. So the Lord, He's a wise mediator,
and He knows the decree of election. Election is the friend of the
gospel. Now you think about that. Election
is the friend of the gospel. And I mean by that, that there
would never be anybody saved if it were not for God's elective
grace. Nobody. Because nobody would be given
to the Son, and we just quoted John 17 and 2, when we told you
that Jesus has been given the ableness, the power, to give
eternal life to as many as the Father gives to Him. And so seeing
that that be the case, Then we see that nobody would be saved
apart from the Father choosing them and giving them to the Son. And the Son knows them. He knows
them. They are His sheep. He died for
them. He suffered death on their behalf.
He knows them. The blood mark is on all His
sheep. And He must give all of His sheep
eternal life. And they shall never perish.
So, he is a wise mediator, election is the friend of the gospel,
and Jesus Christ knows the Father's will. I want you to look at a
verse of Scripture quickly here, John chapter 6 and verse 64. If you have your Bible, open
there please to John 6, 64, and I want to read this verse of
Scripture to you. Listen to what it says. Jesus speaks and He
says, there are some of you that believe not. There are some of
you that believe not. Now, would that not be a true
statement in any congregation in America this morning? There
are some of you that believe not. Now, those of you that believe
not, you say, well, I know whether I believe or not, but I don't
think the Lord does. You best listen to what the rest
of the verse says. Listen to what the verse says.
For Jesus knew, from when? From the beginning, who they
were that believed not, and who should betray Him. He knew it
from the beginning. Now then, do you see what I mean
when I say He is the wise mediator? He's the one that knows from
the beginning who they are that believe, and who they are that
believe not. What conviction that ought to
bring on the heart of a sinner that's in doubt, standing in
unbelief before the claims of such one as the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, lastly, I want to say
this in the fourth place. The thing I learned here and
see in this verse is that he not only is a mediator, but he's
the only mediator. The only one of them. It's Him
or nothing. It's Him or buckle up, my friend. It's Him or nothing. There is
no salvation. There is no life. It's Christ
or nobody. Where are you going to go for
help? You say, I don't believe. Where are you going to go for
help? You're going to hell. That's where you're going. It's
Christ or nobody. There's a verse of scripture
that I think that we pass over very quickly, too quickly, and
we don't pay attention to it like we ought to. And as I was
thinking out these things, I thought about this verse of scripture,
and I looked at it, and I looked at it, and I looked at it, and
I thought, my soul, what does that verse really say? And that
is Acts chapter 4, verse 12. The word says, neither is there
salvation in any other. There is no salvation in any
other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Now, does that not shut a sinner
up to just one place? one person, and that is the Lord
Jesus Christ? It surely does. That verse of
Scripture there, I think you ought to memorize that verse
of Scripture. There is no salvation in any other, in any other, for
there is none other name, which means Savior, except the name
of Jesus, given among men. He is the only Jesus that God
appointed the only Jesus that God has sent to be the Savior
of sinners. He is the Savior. Know the name
under heaven given among men, and then that last phrase, whereby
we must be saved. That's it. That shuts the door.
You say, well, Scripture says He's the door. He is. He is. But He is the only door. He is the door. Go in there. If you go in there, then you
have life. But once that door there is shut
out by your unbelief and by the fact that you say, well, I just
can't believe his claims. I just can't believe that he
could give me rest. I can't believe all these claims that he's made.
Well, my friend, you better study and think on and ask God to reveal
to you this Christ. that we've attempted to describe
to you this morning in these few scattered remarks, that you'll
look to Him as your only Mediator, as your able Mediator. I'm just
glad, you know, of course, coming down to the end of the pipe,
but the Lord has been an able, an able Savior of this center,
an able Savior. And as we've looked to Him and
looked to Him and looked to Him many, many times, so disgusted
with ourselves, So put out with ourselves. But He has been able,
always coming, always coming back, and always reviving, always
blessing, and leading in the way, and giving strength, strength
to strength. Able, able mediator. He can save you. He can save
to the uttermost. Look to Him. You don't have to
go out of this world lost. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. and beg Him to save you and to
have mercy on you. Believe His claims. Every time
you read the Scriptures, draw a line under when the Lord Jesus
speaks of Himself, you believe it. He is God in a body of flesh. God invaded this world in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And without controversy, that's
a great mystery. But it happened. And there's
salvation and life in this one. Father, we ask that you...